Drosera spatulata

“A small rosette herb, about 30mm wide.” NPOS p.164

The Common Sundew is a small ground herb, it has remarkable leaves that are covered in coarse red hairs and tipped with a clear sticky fluid. When small insects get stuck the leaves roll up and the insect in consumed. In this way the Sundew is able to supplement it’s diet by providing nitrogen that is lacking in sandy soils. The Sundew is a small plant and easy to miss unless you are really looking. They are not rare but I’ve only found them growing in a few areas on sandy / clayey soil that is wet year round.

Dendrobium speciosum

“A spectacular epiphytic orchid with stout swollen pseudobulbs..” – NPOS p.262

While I’m on the topic of orchids these Rock Orchids grow on several rocks in the front yard. Like the Tongue Orchid they too are hardy plants ( you would have to be to survive in my garden ! ) and survive hot dry summers perched on the rocks with no watering. They are supposedly rare in the Sydney area so I wonder if they were planted by a previous owner.

Dendrobium linguiforme

“A remarkably hardy little rock-orchid, common on exposed sandstone cliffs and also in moist mossy gullies” – NPOS p.262

Tom has not been sleeping well the last few weeks, late to bed and early to rise. We went down to the river together for an early walk which gave me the chance to finally take a picture of this tongue orchid. They are meant to be a common plant but I can’t recall seeing another one in the area. This particular one is growing on a sandstone boulder in a gully near a small creek. It really must be a hardy plant to be able to survive clinging to bare rock. In dry times the furrows in the thick leaves deepen and they turn a purple colour. When the rain comes the leaves puff up and turn green. We’ve had a lot of rain in the last month hence the green colour of the leaves in the photo.

Coral Fungus

This unusual looking fungus was growing in the back yard on a rotting tree stump in amongst some dense Fishbone fern. It’s another thing in the backyard that I’ve never noticed before, or more likely have seen and just forgotten.

After a bit of searching around on Google images I think it’s a type of coral fungus.

Coral Fungus $2 AUD for scale

Coral Fungus close up

Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris

I’m pretty sure this is an Eastern Spinebill, it was sitting in the Macadamia tree in the front yard. I’d not head of this bird before and can’t say I remember ever seeing them around. The Eastern Spinebill is a small bird, about 13cm – 16cm, it can be recognized by it’s long fine down curved beak. The bird in the photo is a female, males have more distinctive and defined colourings of black, white and tan across their body. They are found on much of the east and southeast coast of Australia and also throughout Tasmania.

Anthochaera chrysoptera

You would think the Little Wattle Bird’s name comes from the abundant collection of wattle trees in it’s habitat. But I’m pretty sure it comes from it’s cousin species, the red and yellow Wattle birds. The Red Wattle Bird and Yellow Wattle Bird have prominent coloured wattles on their cheeks. The Little Wattle bird doesn’t have wattles itself, but the name remains. Little Wattle birds are common in the back yard, they’re often seen eating the nectar from banksia flowers. I’ve not seen them on the bird feeder before, I guess they’re not fans of the native bird seed mix .

Macropygia amboinensis

The brow cuckoo-dove ( also known as the Slender-billed Cuckoo-Dove ) use to turn up from time to time but since installing the bird feeder out the back it’s one of the most common birds in the backyard! The species is found up the entire east coast and across Papua New Guinea and into Indonesia. Their specific habitat is rainforests and wet sclerophyll forest, particularly at the forest edges, along creeks and rivers. They are also found in regrowth areas and cleared land.

Cacophis squamulosus

My wife found this snake under a house brick while gardening in the back yard.  My 5 year old daughter identified it as a white crowned snake after reading a snake book that our neighbors had given her a few weeks earlier  She was pretty damn close! After more consultation with the book we were confident this is actually a golden crowned snake. The crown marking on it’s head is quite distinctive, unlike the white crowned snake the golden crowned’s crown has a gap at the back of the head near the neck. It’s quite small, it would have been about 30cm long and about 1cm thick in the body just behind the head. It hung around for a few minutes after it was disturbed then calmly slithered away to hide under a nearby wood pile. We don’t often see snakes near the house, we were happy to have seen it, and it was great to be able to identify it too.

A few days ago a pair of Kookaburras started attacking an old steel air conditioner on the side of the house. They sit on a branch and take turns flying right at the thing, hitting it hard with their beaks. It makes a loud clang, sometimes they get their beaks stuck between the slats.

These are the 2 kookaburras that have been attacking the side of the house for the past few days. Don’t know why they’re doing it. They’re hitting an old steel air conditioner really hard with their beaks, sometimes their beaks get stuck between the slats