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.

Crassula ovata

Another Crassula, this one sits right next to Crassula “Gollum” in the garden. Looking at them side by side it’s clear they are very closely related, I can imagine a single mutation caused the leaves of the Jade Plant to curl back upon themselves, and there we have the “gollum”. Evolution in action.

Succulent leaves of the Jade Plant

Jade Plant, doing well in shallow sandy soil

These ants have turned up at a few different places around the garden, they seem to occupy a nest for a few months and then move on. They are semi-aggressive and will swarm on you if you stand on their nest or get in their path. They don’t seem to bite though.

The photos are from the 3rd location I’ve seen them, and the first time I’ve seen them swarm in such a dense cluster. There was a lot of movement going on but it seemed ordered, like they were going about a task, some of the ants were carrying white sacks around. I dropped a matchstick next to them to give a bit of scale in the photos and all hell broke loose. The ants swarmed so aggressively that it made a sound, like a soft crunching. The matchstick was swamped. With all the new movement I got a better look deeper into the mound and could see many more white sacks underneath.

Gleichenia microphylla

“Habit and Habitat as per G. dicarpa. Uncommon” – NPOS p.314

Yet another Coral Fern! Along with the Pouched Coral Fern (Gleichenia dicarpa) and Gleichenia rupestris, the G. microphylla completes the entire set of coral ferns found in Sydney, according to NPOS anyway.

G. microphylla has features of both G. rupestris and G. dicarpa. It had very fine small fronds that are a deep green colour and convex on the top like G. dicarpa. But on the underside they are flat or just slightly concave like G. rupestris.

Alectura lathami

Like the Swamp Wallaby the Brush Turkey is another animal that I never saw around here growing up, but has recently come back to the area. Brush Tukeys were once common around Sydney but were more or less wiped out during the depression when people found them to be an easy to catch dinner. It’s only been in the last 10 years or so that they are making a come back.

Pittosporum undulatum

“Originally a scattered inhabitant of shady, rainforest gullies, it is highly opportunistic and now aggressively colonises almost any moist, shady location..” – NPOS p.196

Like the Fishbone Fern the sweet Pittosporum is a native plant that is now often considered a weed in urban bushland. Although the Sweet Pittosporum is different in that it’s also naturally found in the Sydney area.

We have a few of these in the front and back yard. It’s a small tree, the leaves are vivid green, shiny and have wavy margins, which is where is scientific name undulatum comes from. It’s meant to have a strong sweet smell when in flower. I’ve had a blocked nose for the week though and have not noticed it. The seeds are edible and were ground for food by Aboriginies.

Crassula multicava

Another breakout that has colonized large parts of the front garden. The Pitted Crassula,  also know as Cape Province Pygmy Weed is originally from South Africa and is considered by some to be a weed over here. It’s a small ground hugging plant with light green thick succulent leaves. The leaves are covered in small pitts or divots, flowers are white to light pink and look like a 4 pronged star.