Well, the first time caught on camera anyway. This is a striated pardalote, quite common, but more often heard than seen as they feed high up in the top of eucalypts.
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There seems to be almost a sense of desperation as the honeyeaters vie for what's left of this bottlebrush. A bird chasing away others isn't feeding, so there has been some degree of tolerance, interspersed by serious disagreements. I watched them for half an hour - here is the first-born fledgling -
Well, the noise was a little disturbing - a squealing, almost screaming and very loud. Investigations led to behind a shed from where emerged first one koala - who ambled over to a nearby eucalypt - - and then a second, who took off in the opposite direction, executing a neat leap between trees. The first koala is a male - and is the one pictured in the previous post. The other I'm pretty sure is a female, because I don't think they were fighting ...
I think there are three male koalas on the western side of the block. It is hard to be sure, as they can move pretty quickly despite appearances. This one has the territory closest to the house, just on the other side of the rabbit fence, and he can occasionally be viewed in this manna gum.
The poor gum trees are looking almost dead as the psyllids have mostly done their damage and hatched. Thought I'd found a psyllid on this leaf - but it's not, as they have wings. Don't know what is it yet, though. and a shingle-back lizard visited - at first I wasn't sure if it was dead, too cold to move, or playing statues. Fortunately it was the latter, because when I stopped harassing it with the camera it disappeared. The temperature at the time was 21c, which is right at the bottom end of their active range of 21c-35c, so it would have been quite slow I think.
Late yesterday afternoon there was a commotion in the tall banksia. Branches shook and wings flapped. There was growling, 'shouting' and, over the top of all this, the the loud and constant squawking of the LW adolescent. Even when I was standing beneath the tree I found it hard to work out what was going on.
As soon as this male Superb Fairy-wren vacated his perch the female took his place - or did she give him a nudge? On the hunt for native bees - European Honeybees are plentiful - - but finally found a native bee Lipotriches australica big thank you to Linda at SAM Discovery Centre for identification. |
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December 2020
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