Author: Christina

Busy Frogs and Lazy Reptiles

January 19, 2021January 19, 2021 Christina

The wet season started in late December, and the frogs are making the best of it.

Tiny (less than 30mm) Southern Ornate Nursery Frogs (Cophixalus australis) are calling from low vantage points, usually within half a metre off the ground, everywhere in the forest.

This is a typical position:

That male is one of the rarer colour morphs, with an orange stripe on the back. Usually they are a mottled grey:

Northern Barred Frogs (Mixophyes schevilli) are calling from a few areas along the creek. They are large, handsome frogs with a deep ‘wark, wark’ call.

Orange-thighed Tree-frogs (Litoria xanthomera) have descended from their hide-outs high up in the trees and are gathering along small temporary pools and creeks.

This male got lucky very early in the evening:

It is fun watching them “inhaling’ and ‘exhaling’:

While the frogs are very busy, this Pink-tongued Skink

and the Carpet Python

spent all day lazing in the sun.

Cassowaries and Tree-kangaroos

December 22, 2020 Christina

Cassowary chicks often hatch in September (rainforest fruits usually are most bountiful in spring and summer). As there is not much food for them in the wet sclerophyll forest at that time, we normally get to see the family in June/July, when the chicks are much bigger, have lost their stripes and are almost ready for life on their own.

Yesterday, though, 5 year old “Goldfinger” came by very late in the day with two small striped chicks. They are probably about 2 months old and his first offspring. He mated with “Wattle”, the alpha female in the area, in June 2019 (once even just outside our kitchen window!), but didn’t have any chicks that year.

Notice his wet feet: they had a drink from the creek not far down the track.

Tree-kangaroo joeys normally leave the pouch around September, and this season our female Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo has 2 joeys on foot: last year’s daughter and the new baby.

Waiting for rain

December 15, 2020December 15, 2020 Christina

No sign, yet, of the wet season here. These Green-eyed Tree-frogs are patiently waiting for rain.

I am surprised that the female is tolerating the male. They’ve been hanging out like this on top of the cabin’s window sill for the last few days!

Our creek has almost dried up, so the bird baths are in high demand.

Here are a few of the visitors:

Scaly-breasted Lorikeets.

Many are here now that the Red Mahoganies (Eucalyptus resinifera) are flowering.

Rainbow and Little Lorikeets are part of that flock, too, and in the evenings Little Red Flying Foxes take over the canopy..

Fuscous Honeyeater (“Herberton Honeyeater”)

Red-browed Finch, nicely showing the red rump

adult and immature male Scarlet Honeyeaters

Treecreepers always walk into the water backwards!

White-cheeked & White-throated Honeyeaters

High above the bird bath, a young male Victoria’s Riflebird is trying to attract attention:

Adult male:

If you thought a male Victoria’s Riflebird is a black bird with a few patches of metallic blue, have a closer look at the ‘black’ parts:

Just about all the smaller birds are breeding now, with many hungry mouths waiting to be fed:

Macleay's Honeyeaters — Macleay’s Honeyeaters

A young Tooth-billed Bowerbird came to the birdfeeder:

What a wonderful forest, where you can see Tooth-billed Bowerbirds (a rainforest species) together with Little Lorikeets (a species of open woodlands)!

Victoria’s Riflebirds

November 17, 2020 Christina

The riflebirds’ main breeding season is nearing its end, but it is peak time for the immature males to hone their dancing skills.

They display not only from the main perch near the cabin,

but on just about any suitable branch or post. This one is on a stump less than 2 metres from our computer, just outside the window:

that one on the other side of the house:

They are quite enthusiastic and energetic:

Sometimes more than 2 males display to each other:

The young males are quite impressive, but nothing beats the elegance of a mature male:

Wildlife Cameras

September 21, 2020 Christina

Cameras, which are motion triggered, might not provide the best of images (unless you spend a lot of money), but they are useful for monitoring wildlife. The images are usually good enough to identify the species.

We have a few scattered on our 52 acre property and the ones near the creeks are especially productive.