Week in pictures
2nd to 8th October, 2017
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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!
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.
This Wasp-mimicking Longicorn Beetle (Enchoptera apicalis) is just one of the many insects to feed on Stackhousia.
The decorative wings of this large Bee Fly (Aleucosia sp.) are amazing for their artistry.
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.
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)
Early October seems to be the peak time for flowering of the Tall Sundew. They're all over the block right now.
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.
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.