Our regular kingfisher pair returns
The returning Sacred Kingfishers are perhaps the loudest claimants to the local forest. They arrived back two weeks ago and have been noisily announcing themselves ever since.
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Several species of cuckoos take advantage of breeding Fairy-wrens, Robins and Thornbills, laying their own eggs in the nests of the smaller birds. This adult Fan-tailed Cuckoo was hunting caterpillars among the shrubs and grasses.
Orchid colour variants
Caladenia carnea - Pink Fingers - is not always pink. It is the most common orchid flowering in the forest this week. Some are white, while others are pale or even bright pink.
Waxlip Orchid
Glossodia major has begun to put on a show. Like many orchids, each individual flower is surprisingly long-lived, lasting for many days or even weeks.
Short-lived flowers
In contrast to the orchids, each Purple Flag flower (Patersonia) lasts less than a day.
Sedge Moth
Another new moth species for the home list - Glyphipterix cometophora. No doubt they have always been here, but I'd not noticed them until this week. Small - and easily overlooked - but very pretty up close.
Hover Fly
Hover flies have just reappeared, and will become an increasingly common sight as the weather warms. They are valuable pollinators for a wide range of flowering plants.
Orange lauxanid fly
These pretty little, slow-moving flies are around in large numbers this week.
Fly scrub up
I enjoyed watching this lauxanid fly washing its face
Paper wasp
For several weeks now, a single wasp has been constructing this nest made from chewed wood. She is clearly feeding developing young in the open cells. The colony is sure to grow!
Mud wasp
After some web trawling, I'm reasonably sure this is Paralastor sp., a 'Potter Wasp' in the group renown for building their nests from mud. The one I saw was not building, however, but rather seems to be feeding rush flowers.
Creamy Candles
Stackhousia are small, erect herbs that produce a showy display of tiny white flowers.
Flower-feeding beetle
This Wasp-mimicking Longicorn Beetle (Enchoptera apicalis) is just one of the many insects to feed on Stackhousia.
Bee Fly
The decorative wings of this large Bee Fly (Aleucosia sp.) are amazing for their artistry.
Damselfly season begins
The Wandering Ringtail damselflies are back! I spotted this female resting in the undergrowth - the first Austrolestes leda sighting of the season. Later in the day a tandem pair were laying eggs in the pond.
Frog on the deck
We nearly stepped on this Emerald Spotted Tree Frog while hunting wolf spiders late one night. (That is, we were the ones hunting wolf spiders ... not sure what the frog was hunting)
Sundew flower
Early October seems to be the peak time for flowering of the Tall Sundew. They're all over the block right now.
Yet another weevil
This is the sixth weevil we've found on the block to date. Bound to be more - there are 6,500 described species of this beetle family in Australia. We think this is Meriphus sp.
Stiletto Fly
As Spring gets into full swing we discover a new fly species almost every day. It took me the best part of a day to work out who this one is - Ectinorhynchus variabilis, the Stiletto Fly. It's a new family for us - Therevidae. They're related to robber flies.