varied sitella

Yesterday, I went up to the property again. Mum and dad had to meet someone so I took advantage of the lift to properly check out the changes. Apparently it is a lot easier to look for fungi when it isn’t incredibly windy?

I’ll talk about the fungi in a future post as there were a LOT of photos.

This photo was taken to compare with the photos of the burned cars I shared in the first post. There is one main difference. There is a lot of greenery on the grown! Two weeks and decent rains can make a difference.

This is to contrast with the green fields in the background.

The sundew is coming up really nicely, accompanied by grass.

I tried to experiment with little dew drops on the sundew. Alas, it was incredibly muddy so I kept on sinking into the ground.

This is a little dip where there are a lot of quartz around. I’m not sure what the proper explanation is for it. Regardless, there is NEVER water in it. Yesterday, it was full. Was a great area for fungi too.

Plants:

I didn’t notice any orchids on this trip but I did notice other plants growing from the ground. Not sure what they are or if they are relevant.

The above photo I took because it reminded me of the monster from “Little Shop of Horrors.” I showed Seth the photo and he saw the similarity. YES! It means I’m only slightly weird.

Birds:

Great day for birds to, in many respects it reminded me of what it was like before the fires.

Grey fantail chasing a varied sitella. Haven’t seen a sitella here for ages!

Young grey strike thrush. Two hanging around as we were walking back to the car.

Wedge tailed eagle! It was sitting on a tree and then it flied off. I swore in front of my parents because I didn’t expect to see a wedgie that close. A friend since told me it’s common to find them near farming areas, as they get easy feed with the dead lambs.

I also heard a whistling kite and kookaburras. It definitely sounded like the birdlife was back.

Creative:

Mum had an interesting comment recently. She said a lot of these photos weren’t my style, that I’ve been trying to emulate someone elses style. She is true, to a degree. I’ve been pursuing citizen science projects and my number #1 priority has been getting all the diagnostic features I can. This really limits creativity when you are pressed for time or when the animal is at risk of moving.
Or when it is really muddy.
These are a couple of experimental shots. I may explore properly next time, if we have longer.

I’m hoping to get more scientific in future trips. Look into ethical surveying techniques, like tiles for reptiles and and wildlife cameras. Just need to do my research and wait until the clean up has finished.

Yesterday, Mr Sethy and I went to my parents bush block with, well, my parents. I was initially thinking of taking the little dude to Eastern Beach, or even trying to get him down to Point Addis. Then mum said that they were planning to go to the property.

I instantly asked if I could go. I had gone there last year with my family and it had proven itself to be a pretty good place for birding. I wanted to explore it in depth looking for birds with Seth, and also looking for fungi and bones.

Birds

Sethy was very excited about adding a couple of lifers to his list, and the property certainly didn’t disappoint. We went to one of the back corners and the birds all showed up.

First, there was this white naped honeyeater. It would be awesome to visit here more frequently and monitor the various types of honeyeaters that call the property home. Alas, I don’t think that is possible.

He was pretty stoked to see this scarlet robin though. I’ve learned how to tell the female robins apart – the flame has red that goes all the way up to the chin. Seth was pretty excited to see this. I’ve seen and photographed it several times – and always love it! – but Sethy doesn’t often get to go to as many places as I do. We got extended views of several male and females.

I got a photo of what I’m presuming is a grey strike thrush. The picture turned out blurry, as the bird was moving pretty quickly, but the bird was eating a moth 🙂

Got a really beautiful, clear photo of a male golden whistler. Seth had seen the female in the boardwalk near balyang, but nothing compares to the bright colours of the male. Methinks I’ve passed on a whistler obsession to the little dude.

He also saw his first white throated treecreeper! I’ve been seeing this guys a lot lately, but I loved showing Sethy their behaviour. We also got to see the little red dot on their cheek, which I’d only learned about three days prior on my birthday.

This little guy is a varied sitella. Another lifer for Sethy and only the second time I had seen one! I struggled with the ID initially and had to ask for help. Fortunately the people on the facebook group were super helpful.

I was told to watch out for their distinctive way of feeding, which is apparently by spirally down a tree. They are also meant to hang out in groups, which is curious as I’ve only ever seen the two by themselves. It could just be because I take so long to find and identify the birds. I need to get better at ID’ing them quicker so I can watch for their behaviour.

Not sure I am fond of them yet but hey, I love learning.

Fungi

The fungi was a definitely highlight, although nothing will ever match that one brilliant year we had their. I have no idea what we found. As such, there will be no commentary ;P

Other

Sethy discovered this large mosquito, which we eventually learned we everywhere. Later, he found one caught in some sundew.

He also discovered what he called a bush cockroach and asked me to get photos of it. Darn his love of science.

A spider in the door. I hate spiders

We stopped off at a picnic area near a creek in steigletz while driving back and found these wallaby bones. It was fun trying to figure out what they were from.

We did also find bits of bones, which we decided must have been from the sheep that live in the opposite paddock. I didn’t think mum would approve of any more bones 😉

Sethy had fun. He’s becoming quite the nerd that is fascinated by everything. At the start he was awesome too, uncharacteristically quiet. I didn’t get to suss out the whole property, as one of the neighbours was cutting down trees and scaring away the birds.

We did find a complete rabbit skull though. We were able to definitively ID it from the book. Sethy has also watched some of the interviews of Jakes Bones and has decided he wants a similar collection. My work here is done 🙂

Groundcover is Returning At The Property