Malurus lamberti

[Update] I originally posted this as Malurus elegans – The Red-winged fairywren. It still looks very much to me like the Red-winged fairywren but due to it’s location it’s almost certainly a Variegated fairywren.

In an effort to get some new material to post I camped myself out the back of the house with a camera for a while. I had a first try with Tom but sitting silently in the bush with a 3 year old was never going work! It turned out to be a productive trip in the end, if this bird is what I think it is I can’t find any reference of it being present in the Sydney area. After 15 minutes or so if sitting a pair of these tiny grey birds came into view, playing and chasing each other through the scrubby undergrowth. They really are small, not including the tail I would say less that 10cm from beak to bottom. Their call was a soft shrill, almost like the cross between a buzzing insect and a cherp.

[update] – I thought these were Funnel Web spiders but now I’m pretty sure they are trapdoors, possibly the Sydney Brown Trap-door. See comments below. As much as I hate to do it I recently killed a few large Funnel Web Trap-door Spiders that had taken up residence close to the house near where the kids play. I did it by pouring petrol down their holes until they came out, then squashed them. Not nice but when they’re that close I didn’t feel like I had a choice. They were big ones, it took 2 liters of petrol to get 2 to come out of their holes. I didn’t like killing them, and also didn’t like pouring that much fuel into the ground. It got me searching around for more info on Funnel Webs and how to deal with them. As far as catching goes all that I could find was instructions on how to pop a jar over the top of them. Nothing on how to lure them out of their holes. From looking around I learned that stocks of Funnel Web anti venom is low because of low numbers of the spiders in captivity that are milked to produce the anti venom. The Australian Reptile park, where the anti venom is made, is making requests for anyone able to catch a live Funnel Web to drop them off. That’s cool, if I could only catch them then they could be put to some use. Hoping to come up with something I researched a bit more about the spiders habits and diet. True to their name Funnel Webs live in holes in the ground often with a funnel shaped web at the opening. They lay fine web trip wires near the entrance then at night wait for any small creature to disturb the trip, then they pounce, subduing the prey with potent venom. In this way Funnel Webs eat insects, small lizards and frogs. Late at night I visited another group of Funnel Web Trap-door holes out the front near to the street. It was Funnel Web Trap-door city, I counted about 30 individuals, mostly smaller but about 4 or 5 big ones, all sitting at the mouths of their holes waiting for dinner. I had a go at trying to get a few of the bigger ones out of their holes by lightly scraping a stick near the entrance. Some individuals pounced then quickly retreated back down the hole, others just retreated straight down the hole. There would be no way you could pop a jar over them.

I’ve updated the Sydney temperature and rainfall pages with the latest data from the BOM, we’re pretty much right up to date now, thanks BOM. Something has happened to their sea level pages though, their Fort Denison measurements have not been updated since the end of 2012. It’s the long term trends that are of most interest so nothing mind blowing in these updates, temperature continues to rise on almost all average time periods. I found it interesting that even after the “August of rain” most rainfall averages are still low when you look back over time.

I found out about Muogamarra nature reserve from a friend a few years ago and have been meaning to visit for a while. Muogamarra is located near Cowan just north of Sydney. Due to the sensitive nature of the local environment and cultural sites it’s only open to the public for 6 weekends every year during August – September. I made it out there with the family last weekend. Even though it was pouring with rain we managed to have a good time. To get there you take the old Pacific Highway and turn off a bit past Cowan, there’s a short drive on a fire trail and you’re there. Maybe the rain scared away the casual visitors, the place was a bush enthusiasts paradise, there was a photographic display of local plants and wildflowers, a small army of National Parks volunteers and a large supply of information sheets on what to see. After talking to the volunteers we decided to do the 2km point loop trail, an easy flat walk along the ridge top. Chris, one of the volunteers offered to come on the walk with us.  Chris provided commentary  on what we were seeing and what to look out for, he was very knowledgeable and made the walk fun for the kids.  Thanks Chris! I learnt a few new plants, and the proper pronunciations of a few old ones ( It’s hard when you only ready the names in a book ) We only saw a very small section of the reserve, it was clear there was so much more, we will be back again.

Myzomela sanguinolenta

Last Sunday the two boys and I walked down to the Cascades to meet Mat and some of his friends who were doing the 100km Oxfam walk. We did the salmon thing and headed against traffic from Bungaroo. We were on the Oxfam course between about midday and 2pm, the people we were passing were at the 75km or so mark and had been walking though the night without sleep, some people really showed it, most seemed pretty happy though. Will did very well and walked the whole distance, Tom refused to walk and sat in the backpack until he got too uncomfortable then demanded to be carried! We had lunch and a bit of a play at the cascades, Mat arrived at about 2:30pm, he was fine.

Cacatua galerita

Cockies are a very common bird around here, it can be easy to become a bit indifferent but when you step back and look they really are remarkable. They are are a large bird measuring 44 – 55cm in length, their whole body is snow white, except for the bright yellow “sulfur” crest on the tops of their head. They have a large powerful parrot beak that they use for crushing food and also as an extra grip when climbing.  The sound they make can only be described as a loud piercing screech. Like many parrots they can learn to talk a few words. We have a bird feeder hanging just outside the window out the back. The cockies have become quite aggressive with it, scaring the other smaller birds away and often fighting each other for a perch. When the seed has run out they sit in the feeder and tap on the window, if we don’t feed them they sometime start tearing away at the side of the house. They are not afraid, often when I fill the feeder with new seed they will hold their ground and grab the spoon in their beak before I get a chance to empty the seed into the tray. Their beaks look like they would do a lot of damage to a finger!

Usnea

Another epiphyte observed on the morning dog walk. Beard Lichen looks so similar to Spanish Moss that the scientific name for Spanish moss is derived from it’s name. Biologically it would hard to be any more different. Spanish Moss is a plant, Beard Lichen, like all lichen, is a symbiosis of a fungus and an algae. Beard Lichen grows off the ground, often on tree branches. It appears as a scraggly hair like growth up to 20cm long, it’s also known as “woman’s long hair” and “old mans beard” all good visual descriptions. It’s soft and flexible to touch and is light green in colour. Beard Lichen needs light to grow, it’s often found on sick or dead trees due to the the light permitted by the reduced canopy, but the  lichen itself does not damage the tree. Beard Lichen has antibiotic properties, it’s been used for 100’s of years to treat wounds.

The Banksia tree up by the pool has been hacked at, my guess is the Black Cockies were back, this year it was August 9th or 10th.

Tillandsia usneoides

Since getting our new dog “Louie” Jess and I have been taking him for a walk around the street every morning. I find it a bit of a chore to drag myself out of bed early on these winter mornings but once up it’s been really good to spend time together. We’re both getting to know the early morning dog walking crew and it’s a great chance to look at the plants and houses along the way too. There’s a section of the walk where the paperbark trees on the nature strip have growths of stringy silver hay like clumps of growth hanging from the branches. It’s clearly not part of the tree, but what is it? I thought it looked like some kind of fungus or lichen, turns out it’s neither. It’s called Spanish Moss, an epiphyte flowering plant native to North, Central and South America.