Channel-billed cuckoos have arrived for Spring 2021

Spring 2021 seems to be running a bit later than usual.  My first sighting of a Channel-billed cuckoo this year was at 11:00 am on Monday 4th October 2021.  One adult Channel-billed cuckoo was being pursued vigorous by a mob of angry Noisy miners, and landed in a tree across the road from my home here in Belmont North.

Normally I'd have at least heard their unmistakable raucous calls or seen them much earlier than this, so perhaps the change of seasons is happening a little later this year.  Usually the Eastern koels are right behind them - and you cannot mistake their calls either.  I haven't heard or observed Koels yet either, so it might add fuel to the speculation of a late start to Spring.  

Differing from every year of my life, we have been in lockdown off and on since 2020, and forced to work from home.  So there is no way I could have missed hearing or seeing either of these prominent migratory species arrive in Belmont North.  

Thanks for stopping by and stay healthy !         

Don't Panic - CANE TOADS ABOUT !

 

I was working quietly yesterday, sipping coffee and churning through my tasks with zen-like focus. It was Friday and my weekend was so close I could taste it. Even better, after months of constant, horror bushfires and terrible drought; it was raining heavily outside. Utter bliss !

My serenity was shattered when a friend approached, his face long, asking whether I'd seen today's Newcastle Herald?

On their website, front-and-centre, with a glorious full-colour photo of a beautiful, obviously very "pregnant"*, native Perons tree frog was an article, "CANE TOAD found on Maryland verandah".  To paraphrase, the article went on to reveal how the invasive cane toad had been caught, identified as a cane toad by the resident & put in the freezer.  

I couldn't believe it.  OK, fair enough that a member of the public had made a mistake.  We've all been swamped with the message to watch out for the terrible cane toad - it's on it's way here, it kills everything that tries to eat it, etc, etc, etc.  People are trying to do the right thing by our environment. 

I was annoyed that a journalist didn't take the time to do the obvious.  How hard was it to check the ID with one of our world renowned frog experts at the nearby University of Newcastle (just a few suburbs away from Maryland), the National Parks & Wildlife Service office at the Hunter Wetlands Centre (also a few suburbs away from Maryland), get on the phone to the Australian Museum or do something as simple as a google image search ?

  

Fortunately they corrected the story a few hours later, see screenshot below;  

OK this time the animal was a very common, non-threatened native animal.  It is probable that hundreds just like her will be unknowingly run over by motorists in this evening's rain across the Hunter valley.  But it is food for thought isn't it?  The lesson for anyone who reads articles about invasive animals like the cane toad is clear.  Talk only to your National Parks & Wildlife Service or wildlife authorities before you do anything as drastic as killing an animal that might actually be a native animal, or even worse - an endangered native animal.            

* Not actually "pregnant" - based on the time of year and her very obviously distended abdomen, she was gravid - chock full of thousands of unfertilised eggs and ready to spawn that evening in the teeming rain.    

A rustle in the garden . . .

This video is in very high resolution on YouTube, so if it's not clear for you here on the blog, be sure to click the link and open it in YouTube.  

Look closely next time you hear a tiny rustle in your garden, there might be something interesting in the undergrowth.  I am a life-long naturalist/ecologist and find the antics of the Penny lizards, (Lampropholis delicata) captivating.  

They are one of our most common reptiles here in suburban Lake Macquarie, and a really interesting and often over-looked reptile.  These are fully-grown adults at about 7 cm long.  

At the time of shooting (late April 2018), we are over-run with this years' surviving crop of hatchlings, which are tiny, endearing little beasties about 1/3rd the size of the adults.  See THIS post for more.  I'll try and shoot some footage of them in the next video.  

On a happier note . . .

Sugar Glider, Western Lake Macquarie, 28th March 2018 

One of the great things about working in the environmental field is the opportunity to see wildlife that the vast majority of local residents will never see.  I've been helping out a good friend with a fauna survey over the last three months, and it never ceases to amaze me what species are living in my own back yard.

Working with endangered frogs I learned very quickly that MANY species are far more common than originally thought, it just people are not in the field in the correct weather pattern, because it's not very pleasant.  For example, the winter breeding frogs had relatively little known about them until recently because humans would rather be tucked up in bed or in front of a fire in the middle of winter when temperatures are at their lowest and it's pouring rain, muddy, wet and very slippery.  

There was a species of locally very common frog formally named for the first time recently.  What is not revealed in the literature was that I found the very first specimens because I was in the field at the right time back in the early 1990's.  I have the precise locality data and dates for them in my log books.  I spent hours and hours and hours in the field, spent thousands of dollars, drove my car hundreds and hundreds of kilometres and was lucky enough to find them, and show them to the person they would eventually be named after.  At the time, he thought they were simply a strange colour variation, not a completely new species to science.         

On Wednesday night, we found this Sugar glider photographed above, with my mobile phone in an urban area.  Last night we found a Yellow bellied glider in a very similar area, close to my home.  We've seen Ring-tailed possums, Brush-tailed possums, owls, fruit bats, bush rats, dear little antechinuses and bandicoots in remnant vegetation patches all over the Lake Macquarie area.  It truly is all about spending time in your local patch of bush.     

         

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