Week in pictures
16th to 22nd October, 2017
(including a quick boat trip offshore)
This is a nymphal stage of a stick insect - probably either Podocanthus typhon or Ctenomorpha marginipennis. Hard to tell till it grows up.
In the last week we've sighted the first Tiger Orchids (Diuris sulphurea) of the season. These ones were gone the next day - swamp wallabies love them!
We sighted dozens of these plants on an orchid hunt in Nadgee Nature Reserve a month ago. At that stage the flowers had not yet opened. We returned to the spot with friends a couple of days ago and were delighted to find many of the plants in full flower.
The zucchini and pumpkin seedlings in our vegetable garden have now grown decent sized leaves. And as happens every year a couple of species of small, colourful flies have taken up positions on these leaves - I presume to stake out mating territory. This is one of them - Parentia vulgaris.
This is another species of these long-legged flies. I haven't been able to identify it yet, but it certainly belongs to the family Dolichopodidae. A long family name for a rather small fly - 2-3mm long.
Pretty elegant beasts, I think. This and the previous species are predators. They catch and eat even smaller insects.
The very earliest stages of nest construction and colony establishment – just one of several such developments underway at our friends' nearby property.
Beach-nesting shorebirds often wear identifying flags, as part of long-term study and conservation programs. H5 is well-known to us. Wonboyn Beach, NSW.
It's worms, not oysters, that these birds are usually pulling from the beach sands. H5 was banded near Melbourne in 2007 and is now at least 14 years old! Wonboyn Beach, NSW.
Austrolestes annulosus, numerous at a beachside lagoon about an hour's drive to our north. Bournda National Park, NSW
... but looks like a heart! Blue Ringtail damselflies demonstrating the classical Odonata mating position. Bournda National Park, NSW
We watched a pod of Short-beaked Common Dolphins surfing alongside the boat during a wonderful whale-watching cruise yesterday. Eden coast, NSW.
One of the more common seabirds of the nearby coastal waters – this one briefly cruising alongside the whale-watching boat, backlit by the early morning sun. Eden coast, NSW.
By the time they reach our coast on their first journey to Antarctic waters, this years' youngsters are about three months old - and very active! Eden coast, NSW.