A dam extravaganza

by Patrick Kavanagh

We’ve had a Little Pied Cormorant frequenting our dam recently and I thought I’d try to catch a photo of him. Birds were nowhere to be seen but as I sat by the dam I was able to see so much happening around me. There were myriad Blue Skimmer Orthetrum caledonicum dragonfly males, which from my reading on are the only ones of this species with the distinct powdery blue coating. Females are yellow and black, as are teneral males (having just emerged into adult form) but the latter are brighter yellow. The males were spending a lot of time chasing each other around the dam.

Male Blue Skimmer dragonfly.

The female Blue Skimmer.

Damselflies (which can be discerned from dragonflies because they fold their wings at rest) such as Eastern Billabongflies  Austroagrion watsoni and Aurora Bluetails were abundant amongst the water plants at one side of the dam.

An Eastern Billabongfly.

A male Aurora Bluetail.

Water Treaders (mesovelids) were skimming the surface of the dam and these mostly seemed coupled. Also more sedate in this area was a Scarlet Percher Dragonfly and a Fishing Spider Dolomedes instabilis, which like the Water Treaders can skim across the surface of the water using surface tension to stay dry.

A pair of coupled Water Treaders.

A Fishing Spider on the floating pondweed.

In case I sound like I know what I’m talking about, I found Arachne.org and http://photos.rnr.id.au/ very helpful in identifying these species and can highly recommend a visit, as well as a visit to a dam near you.

A dangerous time

Grebes have featured a number of times recently, but at the risk of ‘grebe overload’ I thought the following observations worth sharing. Exploring one of the bush dams near South German Track I spotted two tiny (and I mean tiny!) shapes paddling amongst dead branches near the edge of the dam. They proved to be very recently hatched Australasian Grebes … surely not more than a couple of days old. The characteristic striping, which disappears rapidly as they grow can be seen on the plumage and even the bill.

Juvenile Australasian Grebe, South German Track, 26th January 2012.

Presumably the striping provides camouflage at a vulnerable stage of life.

Mysteriously the parents were nowhere to be seen – their floating nest visible some distance away. At this site there are two dams, the first closest to the road is higher in the catchment and I had spotted a well-advanced juvenile at the upper dam on my arrival. I’m wondering if the parents may have been there as well, overlooked as I passed – perhaps the tiny youngsters were the offspring of their most recent breeding effort.

Australasian Grebes nest, South German Track, 26th January 2012.

Whatever the situation I suspect the baby grebes were at great risk without the parents nearby – a Little Pied Cormorant was perched just overhead and while this species prefers yabbies, fish and frogs I suspect the unattended grebe chicks would have made a tasty morsel!

The alert and hungry cormorant.

Lift-off!

The remarkable powers of birds never cease to amaze me. How a bird can go from one moment being deep underwater in search of a meal to high velocity flight leaves me feeling quite inadequate. Earlier this week I spotted this Australasian Darter fishing in the waters of Cairn Curran Reservoir.

Webbed feet and flexible wings come in handy ...

... for this expert fisher!

Their routine is now pretty familiar to me after watching lots of these birds in recent months. They tend to hunt for perhaps thirty minutes at a time before departing to perch somewhere nearby to dry their wings. Unlike many water birds darters lack any real ability to waterproof their feathers – while they do have a ‘preen gland’ it is not very well developed.

Grebe sequence

There are quite a number of Great Crested Grebes Podiceps cristatus on Cairn Curran Reservoir at the moment – at least two pairs can be seen in the Joyces Creek area. Last year they bred successfully but I didn’t manage to find any active nests this year. This evening one of the birds let me observe from a safe distance as it was feeding. For a Great Crested Grebe this involves a series of underwater excursions in search of small fish, staying submerged for up to a minute at a time.

Great Crested Grebe, Cairn Curran Reservoir, 23rd January 2012.

Caught in the act of diving ...

Hold your breath!

This species prefers large open water bodies, especially natural wetlands, but in a dramatically altered landscape it has adapted well to the habitat offered by artificial storages such as Cairn Curran Reservoir.

Raptor landings

I hadn’t ventured out onto the Moolort Plains searching for raptors for some time, until yesterday evening. While actual numbers are not high at the moment the diversity is good and I managed to see an Australian Hobby, a pair of Whistling Kites, a few Brown Falcons and a number of Black-shouldered Kites and Australian Kestrels. One of the kestrels, an immature bird was spotted devouring a mouse and after finishing its meal made a brief flight before returning to the perch.

Immature Australian Kestrel coming in to land, Moolort Plains, 20th January 2012.

I also spotted a Black-shouldered Kite perched amongst some Galahs and Indian Mynahs (aka ‘Rats of the air’) near Plaistow homestead. As I approached the kite took flight, then returned to the perch, causing quite a commotion amongst the mynahs – unfortunately an exotic meal of mynahs is not really possible for this small raptor!

Black-shouldered Kite scattering a flock of Indian Mynahs, Joyces Creek, 20th January 2012.

We’re thirsty too!

As the bush starts to bake it looks like we might be in for an extended hot spell. It’s not just birds feeling the heat. These Eastern Grey Kangaroos – mum and a former joey I suspect, were spotted enjoying a drink at a local watering hole.

Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Mia Mia Track, 16th January 2012.

A different Egret

The Great Egret has featured a number of times in recent months – this species can be regularly seen at Cairn Curran Reservoir, usually feeding alone along the shoreline. I had to look twice however this evening when I spotted a noticeably different Egret at Picnic Point. It proved to be an Intermediate Egret Mesophoyx intermedia – the first I have seen in the area for about 18 months.

Intermediate Egret, Cairn Curran Reservoir, 17th January 2012.

Also commonly known as the Plumed Egret this species in breeding plumage has magnificent long plumes on the back and breast – the remnants of these can be seen on this bird suggesting it has bred during the current season. The Intermediate Egret is markedly smaller than the Great Egret with a shorter neck and bill, more rounded head and breast plumes which its larger counterpart lacks. To compare the two species have a look at Herons compared and Fishing in the shallows.

Not surprisingly M.intermedia is often commonly known as the Plumed Egret.

Eventually my presence disturbed the egret and it departed for a nearby dead standing tree, some distance off-shore – only to be joined by a Great Egret that had been feeding on the opposite shoreline.

Great Egret (top), Darter and Intermediate Egret (bottom), Cairn Curran Reservoir, 17th January 2012.

At the waterhole #3

This evening I didn’t arrive at the waterhole until 6.30pm and stayed on until nearly 8pm – the filtered golden light coinciding nicely with the spot where most of the birds decided to land and drink. Once again it was a feast of different species with the highlights a pair of Hooded Robins and a male Chestnut-rumped Heathwren (perhaps the same individual seen earlier this month).

Eastern Yellow Robin at the waterhole, Mia Mia Track, 16th January 2012.

One of three White-browed Babblers that stopped by for a drink.

The female Hooded Robin.

... and the male - note the moulting wing feather contributing to an untidy appearance!

Immature Black-chinned Honeyeater - note the pale-blue skin above the eye and sooty chin-stripe.

Other visitors this evening included two Eastern Rosellas (adult and immature), Willie Wagtail, Common Bronzewing, Peaceful Dove and a horde of honeyeaters in roughly equal numbers – Yellow-tufted, Fuscous and Brown-headed.

At the waterhole #2

It’s been unseasonably cool  over the past week, until today when temperatures started to rise again. Late afternoon at the waterhole lots of birds were keen for a drink. Here is a selection.

Red Wattlebird, Mia Mia Track, 15th January 2012.

A Diamond Firetail enjoying a drink.

A single Peaceful Dove dropped by to quench its thirst.

As usual Yellow-tufted and Fuscous Honeyeaters dominated proceedings.

Peek-a-boo

Most of our local mammals are nocturnal so apart from Kangaroos and Wallabies you are unlikely to encounter much else during daylight hours. The Yellow-footed Antechinus Antechinus flavipes is a small carnivorous marsupial, quite common in our local bush, especially in areas with lots of fallen timber and tree hollows. From my experience they can be also be active in the daytime and I have seen them regularly over the past couple of years. The trick when you spot one is to stay completely still for up to ten minutes – the animal will often emerge from a hollow or crevice and resume foraging. I spotted this individual along Mia Mia Track, one of the places where this beautiful small mammal can often be seen scuttling over logs and tree trunks in search of unwary prey such as lizards and insects.

Yellow-footed Antechinus, Mia Mia Track, 12th January 2012.

Note the pointed face and pale feet of this Yellow-footed Antechinus.

This species forages with quick, erratic and darting movements across the forest floor, logs and tree trunks.