JadeCraven.Org – Page 105

Ants at Serendip Sanctuary

Jade Craven · June 5, 2016 · Leave a Comment

I normally focus on waterbugs and birds when at Serendip. Usually because I’m there with others. On this visit, though, I noticed a lot of ants were active.

Thanks to the magnificent that is bowerbird, I was able to get both species identified. They are fairly common. It’s amazing how many entomology specialists there are out there. I’m not going to learn about ants as the rest of the insect world is big enough as it is.

Myrmecia nigriceps

Iridomyrmex purpureus

You can learn more about the meat ant here.

Musk Duck Out Of Water at Serendip

Jade Craven · June 1, 2016 · Leave a Comment

I’ve gone to Serendip twice lately. Both times, the musk duck was out of the water! Alas, I didn’t have the chance to stick around and photograph him for too long.

It was great to be able to observe him out of water. I definitely want to return and just spend a couple of hours slowly photographing everything. And yes, I want a poop shot! 🙂

Autumn Regrowth at the Property

Jade Craven · May 25, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Recently, my family went to the property. We hadn’t had the opportunity to go there in months so I was really keen to check out the regrowth. Multiple people had emphasized that there would be good fungi and possible orchids coming up so I was incredibly excited.

We didn’t have much luck with either fungi or orchids. If anything, the ground was mostly dirt. Normally, this would be fine. Except it was incredibly windy and I was spending most of my time protecting the camera from dust instead of documenting.

The regrowth was phenomenal and quite fascinating to see up close. Large branches of new regrowth was forming on some of the trees. It wasn’t little bursts of growth here and there, it was growing right up to the top.

We didn’t have much luck with wildlife on this trip. In the past, we had seen kangaroos. I did find these interesting scratches on a tree between the burnt shed and the dam.

I’ve tried to document the insects with each trip. I know I saw some stuff flying around on the ground however I didn’t try to document it. The above photo shows just how annoying the wind was. I did look closer to the trees for some insects. Saw some young leafhoppers.

Above shows the trees near the dam. We actually went yabbying this day, as usual. Mum was saying how it would be unlikely to find yabbies at this time of year. I’d been reading about how this autumn was warming then usual and thinking we may have some luck.

We did find a fair few yabbies, and Seth was able to find a skink. I swear, that kid should work in wildlife conservation. If something is rare he’ll be able to find it!

The above photo reminded me of the style of photos we took after watching Blair Witch.

I took the above photo of the cleaned up destruction as it very much reminded me of a piece I saw in Wye River, as part of the Lorne Sculpture festival.

I did find the above fungi which was pretty awesome. Mum and I were both pretty disappointed not to find any. Then I saw this and it was one of those fist pump moments.

I got it identified on Bowerbird. It apparently belongs to the Laetiporus genus, possibly L. portentosus. I’ve decided that I’m not even going to try and get into fungi and will give my fungi book to mum/Seth. I have too many obsessions going on as it is! I will try to document what I see, and will submit observations to Bowerbird,

I don’t know if the above plant is relevant. Suspect it is a weed. We did see some sundew starting to grow back though, which is awesome.

Keen to return again soon, on a better day, to properly document any changes. I don’t miss that place in winter though, brr!

Decorator Crab at Marengo

Jade Craven · May 21, 2016 · Leave a Comment

I’ve never really been that interested in crabs. Sure, they are fun to photograph but they didn’t fascinate me the way that other animals do.

That is, until I saw this decorator crab.

This is the coolest thing ever. It is a group of species of crab that use seaweed as a form of camouflage. According to Australian Museum,

The Decorator Crab’s carapace is covered with hooks to attach algae, seaweed or anything in the environment that will assist in camouflage.

When I first saw this species I thought these photos would suffice for identification. Alas, it wasn’t until I got home and spent $20 on a 60 page book about crabs that I realized that these pictures didn’t show enough information. Oops! I now know for next time.

Looking forward to finding more of these.

Ebirds Global Big Day 2016: Western Suburbs of Geelong.

Jade Craven · May 18, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Ages ago, I emailed a mate telling him about the cool frogs we’d found at Balyang. I didn’t got a response to that, but I did get an email in early May asking me if I’d like to join him and another GFNC member birding around Serendip and the You Yangs.

I immediately said yes. My cat had been missing for a couple of weeks at this point and I had been feeling shit. While nothing could replace the Beej, birding may take my mind off him for a bit.

It was just before 8 when we arrived at Serendip. It was earlier then I had ever gotten there before – normally I get there around lunchtime.

I highly recommend you visit there at ungodly hours. I normally avoid being up too early as it triggers migraines but in this case it was worth the risk. No-one else was there and the staff were still feeding the animals. The magpie geese hadn’t moved away from some of the common ponds yet and were sitting a lot closer then they normally would. Next season, I’m definitely returning to get some good photos. Alas,we didn’t have much time to take photos today.

We had just gotten out of the bird enclosure when I noticed these two tawny frogmouths in a tree. I felt so proud of myself. I can’t do bird calls and struggle with a lot of species, but I can always spot movement or when something looks different. Apparently they can be very hit and miss here.

We walked along a back here, behind a waterhole. It had dried up. I saw a group of bones that had once belonged to a roo.

We went to one of back ponding areas.

Two shelducks and a shoveller! Woohoo! I really wished I had my proper big lens that day, and I’d been able to photograph them pooping.

I got a good view of its underwings as well.

We left and started driving towards the you Yangs, when Jeff stopped suddenly.

There was a pair of whistling kites eating a carcass.

I didn’t get that many photos at the You Yangs. We went off the path a bit and the bush bashing was pretty tricky. Some of the bits were steep, which is normally fine. It’s less fine if there is no defined path and the dirt is slippery.

I was too busy trying not to fall over to focus on the birds. Have a couple of scratches from that day – my legs are showing a lot of signs of my clumsiness! I was so pleased with myself, I pushed myself really hard and didn’t get sick at all.

We went to a couple of other haunts in the region before going to Avalon Beach. It was so great to return there, I hadn’t been there in a long time.

There was a decent number of banded stilts there which was great to see.

Also a pied oystercatcher.

It was a phenomenal day, my report doesn’t do it justice. I very much need to improve my fitness though if I’m going to go on more of them.

I’ve learned that one of the reason I don’t see as many birds is because I tend to stick to the paths. Often, some of the best birding can be found off path.

We ended up seeing around 100 species which was pretty awesome. I saw so glad to get home that night though!