Not much rain so far this month - around 10mm - but the autumn bloomers are starting to add some colour, along with a good supply of nectar for bugs and birds alike. The Swamp Bottlebrush (from Western Australia) flowers long and prolifically, as do the more standard varieties - this young tree is flowering for the first time. A Grevillea also has some of the sweet stuff available, at a stretch. Always a treat to watch an Echidna going about its business. This hapless Badge Huntsman spider has been paralysed by a Zebra Wasp and will now be placed in the prepared burrow to be food for the wasp's young. As the bowl of this birdbath got redesigned - and the pieces scattered for two metres by marsupial or marsupials unknown - a terracotta pot on the ground has proved very popular with the smaller birds - here the Brown-headed Honeyeaters remain unworried by a bossy New Holland. Finally, a lone Fan-tailed Cuckoo (am tempted to write 'the lone', as a single bird visiting and calling is an annual event but, of course, I have no way of telling if it's the same one each time.) It is, however, a very curious bird that visits each year and often follows me around as I work in the garden. Like other cuckoos, these lay an egg in another bird's nest - this species particularly favours the Brown Thornbill's - a tiny bird that would be working overtime to keep up with the demands of a hungry cuckoo chick. And last night 43 of these moths sheltered from the wind and drizzle on the verandah. I thought they were rain moths, but no. Those have become a rare sight these past few years.
0 Comments
|
Archives
December 2020
|