Lace monitor DOR

Lace monitor dead-on-road 16th March 2018 

I encountered the pathetic sight of one of the largest Lace monitors I have ever seen, dead-on-the-road on the way home from work last week.  This thing was huge, a solid 5 feet long, and thick.  It would have weighed around 10 kilos of pure, savage muscle.  I know because I dragged it's body off the road, so scavengers wouldn't be killed by traffic.  The surrounding environment was mature Eucalypt woodland, and there were raptors and Australian ravens in the area.  I believe there would probably be quolls in the area from past experience in nearby forests.

I wonder if this animal was following the scent trail of a nearby female, as on Monday I saw a much smaller Lace monitor dead in almost the same spot.

The Penny lizard hatchlings are re-appearing

Just a quick note on a happier subject than the last post; I have been observing hatchling Penny lizards, Lampropholis delicata appearing at Casa da Ayre since the 21st December 2017.  

It's now the fifth of January 2018 as I write this post.  To my great delight they are starting to appear in ever-increasing numbers this week.    

Nothing can be done - it's PBFD

Sulphur crested cockatoo with Psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD)

Sooner or later, every ecologist or naturalist encounters something that stirs the emotions, and it's usually being utterly powerless to help a endearing species in dire straights.  After a while, you can't help but become slightly more detached, but you never truly become immune to the feelings.  

I will never forget working as a zoo keeper in the Northern Territory and encountering a very distressed young magpie goose on the ground during my rounds.  It was seemingly uninjured, but clearly distressed and unable to fly.  I took it to the Park's vet centre for treatment, and the young vet, just euthanised it on the spot without even trying to treat the bird.  

Her attitude shocked me at the time, but with hindsight it was completely reasonable.  Here was an abundant species, that had little chance of successful treatment & recovery and eventual release. It was almost certainly botulism - extremely common in the Top End during the dry when the birds were stressed . . . no chance.  Kindest to end the suffering now than waste lots of time, money and scarce resources better spent elsewhere.  

Close-up of PBFD

Yesterday we were visited by the usual three or four Sulphur crested cockatoos, but they brought a new bird with them, clearly suffering from advanced stages of PBFD.  The poor bird looked absolutely terrible, falling to pieces, but it was active and very alert.  This was the first case of PBFD I have seen in the eastern Lake Macquarie area for a long time, and I'll have to pay closer attention to our local Cockatoo, Little corella and Galah populations as these are thought to be the most common victims of the psittacine circovirus.  Rainbow lorrikeets are another potential victim and are probably our most common backyard visitors.  

This is serious business - it's a contagious virus and has been listed as a Key Threatening Process under the Commonwealth EPBC Act for a number of threatened species. 

If you would like more information about this disease, I suggest visiting these Australian Federal Government sites;
          
1.  Psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD)

2.  Beak and feather disease (psittacine circoviral disease) Fact Sheet

3.  Key Threatening Process under the EPBC Act 1999


     

Pacific koels in the house . . .

A male Pacific koel (right) feeding his mate a pandanus fruit, Christmas Day 2017, Casa da Ayre  

This summer has seen the migratory cuckoos appear in profusion, in much higher numbers than typical years.  The raucous shrieks and cries of Channel-billed cuckoos have been echoing throughout the neighbourhood for the last few weeks, and hawkish silhouettes of two or three pairs of large grey Channel-bills have become a familiar sight over-head.  The double-note of the Koels have kept pace, but they are much more secretive rarely choosing to appear in the open.  

We have a few mature Pandanus spp palms in the backyard, and they are fruiting at the moment.  They attract everything from fruit-bats to Blue-faced honey eaters.  A couple of days ago, a male Pacific koel appeared, screaming his "Koe-elllll" repeatedly, until the local Noisy miners and Magpie-larks teamed up to chase him away.  I was wondering where his secretive lady was, because he was being just so plain obvious and noisy,  clearly T R Y I N G  to goad the resident birds into chasing him, that there had to be a female nearby, just waiting for an opportunity to sneak into an unattended nest and deposit her deadly egg.  

Yesterday was Christmas day, and even the Koels decided to have a day of rest.  A male and female appeared in our backyard, and were quite relaxed.  The male spent quite a while feeding on the Pandanus spp fruit and fed the female numerous times with quite a flourish.  It seemed to be done with such exaggerated care and flourish, it had to be courtship or perhaps strengthening the pair-bond.  

Female Pacific koel, completely different to her rather spectacularly coloured mate.  

Male Pacific koel, enjoying the Pandanus sp fruits, Christmas Day 2017, Casa da Ayre

First cicadas for Casa da Ayre for Spring 2017

On Friday night, the shrill cries of cicadas echoed through the backyard for the first time in Spring 2017.  My torch revealed two fresh cicada shells that were not there earlier in the afternoon when I was tending the garden.  Summer is almost here. . .

Travelling through memories . . .

Close-up of a Mountain dragon (Rankinia diemensis)

Environmental shot of a Mountain dragon (Rankinia diemensis)

I had a very pleasant trip down memory lane with my Dad recently, visiting some very important places in the New England area.  We stopped off briefly in the Moonbi ranges, and I was delighted to watch the antics of the local Mountain dragons, Rankinia diemensis.  

These beautiful, energetic little dragons are found in the higher and cooler elevations of south eastern Australia and are Tasmania's only dragon.  They are extremely endearing because of the speed, alertness and intelligence that seems to burn behind their eyes.  There is an awareness and intelligence in these little dragons that is rarely seen in other reptiles, though I am undoubtedly thoroughly biased.  I have spent quite a while watching their delightful antics, head-bobbing, arm waving and suddenly squinting suspiciously at the sky for potential attack from birds.  They are just so alert and so bloody fast !  Though the Moonbi ranges are not part of the Hunter Valley, Mountain dragons are found in the Hunter, so I decided to include this observation on the blog.  

Mountain dragons are slightly similar in appearance to the far more common Jacky lizard, Amphibolurus muricatus which is found over much of eastern NSW at lower elevations.  An experienced herpetologist will pick the two species apart readily from a distance in the field through noticeable differences in head shape, but the casual observer will definitely struggle.  The easiest way to differentiate the species is the colour of the mouth - Mountain dragons have fleshy pink mouths while Jacky lizards have bright yellow mouths like a Bearded dragon.   

Environmental portrait of a Mountain dragon (Rankinia diemensis)

  

Nesting White-breasted woodswallows

White-breasted woodswallow, Artamus leucorynchus about to swap with its mate on their nest.

White-breasted woodswallow on the nest. 

Over the October long-weekend this year, the wife & I took the opportunity to spend some time sailing on Lake Macquarie.  We pulled up on what we jokingly call "Walter's Island", a small island to let the dogs run, swim and generally burn off some energy.  I couldn't help but notice a White-breasted woodswallow, (Artamus leucorynchus) paying a bit too much attention to the dogs' antics. 

I slowly scanned around at the trees nearby and sure enough, there was a rough ball of a nest with a tail hanging over the edge.  It was only about three and a half metres off the ground in the fork of one of the Casurina spp trees.  No wonder the Woodswallow was upset.   

We kept the dogs away from the area and watched with delight as the Woodswallows took their turn on the nest, changing every twenty or thirty minutes to hunt and feed.  I suspect they were incubating eggs as there were no begging cries audible at shift change 

I took a couple of representative images, and we left the area.  It was great to see, and just something the average person would rarely have an opportunity to observe.  The sighting has been logged with the Atlas of Living Australia.