Summer sightings
While spring’s theme is the creation of new life, summer is a very different season in the forest.
It is all about the hunters.
Few flowers bloom, and most bees and butterflies disappear. In their stead are robber flies, dragonflies, spiders, and wasps. Some are parasitic, others kill their prey outright. Some consume their catch themselves, others gift it to their offspring. In addition, weird and wonderful flies of all types suddenly make a brief appearance as adults.
For us, it is a season of prowling. We can’t simply sit by a flowering shrub and watch to see who visits. Instead, we wander the forest on the lookout for anything new or different. And despite this being our 12th summer living here, we’re still discovering locals we’ve never met before.
A myriad of flies
Yes, there are the pesky, biting march flies … but they are perhaps the least interesting of flies taking flight of late. Given their diversity and numbers this season, the flies warrant some extra attention.
Damsels & dragons
Quintessential hunters, all. Masters of the air as adults, voracious aquatic predators as larvae.
The spiders … including a large & dedicated mother
Spiders are present year round, but they seem a little more obvious during the warmer months. Or perhaps we just venture outside at night more often in summer.
Large wolf spiders have been few and far between since the fire. So this Tasmanicosa godeffroyi (Garden Wolf Spider) was a welcome sight when she made an appearance in the spring. Conveniently, she set up home in a good-sized hole close to the house, which had been made by a foraging Southern Brown Bandicoot.
We closely monitored her activities over the summer as she raised a large family of young spiderlings.
The plants
Over summer, various grasses flowered and cured. The few nectariferous flowers that appear are a magnet for insects, but they are few and far between on the forest floor. And some of the flowers are tiny, like Mitrasacme and Cassytha. The showy Geebungs are a striking exception.
Moths & butterflies
This has been a bumper season for ghost moths. Elhamma australasiae are smaller than many of their cousins, but the sheer biomass is staggering. Thousands on the wing, night after night, week after week. They provide a feast for spiders, birds, and even mammals. At least one Antechinus has been doing the rounds of our windowsills by night, and all that’s left come morning is a dusting of wings.
A mixed bag of other ‘bugs’
Beyond invertebrates
A quick trip to the beach
Despite what some may think, we do realise there is life beyond the forest ;)
References:
Humphreys, W.F. (1974) Behavioural Thermoregulation in a Wolf Spider. Nature 251: 502-503
Humphreys, W.F. (1976) The Population Dynamics of an Australian Wolf Spider, Geolycosa godeffroyi (L. Koch 1865) (Araneae: Lycosidae). Journal of Animal Ecology 45: 59-80
Humphreys, W.F. (1978) Ecological Energetics of Geolycosa godeffroyi (Araneae: Lycosidae) with an Appraisal of Production Efficiency in Ectothermic Animals. Journal of Animal Ecology 47: 627-652