The native robin

I've been wanting to get a picture of one of the robin species for ages. This is the female Scarlet Robin (Petroica multicolor), although the photo has made his breast look more like an orange-red than a rose-red.

Wrens having a winters feast

During cold weather I make a mixture of oats, animal fat and honey that I smear all over a pine cone and then I hang out the cone for the wrens to come and have a feed. It makes life just that little bit easier for them, and they love it. The Grey Shrike-thrushes also like it as well.

Another successful Grey Shrike-Thrush brood

Anyone who lives near bushland in Australia will probably know the musical call of the Grey Shrike-Thrush (Colluricincla harmonica). Some people think the soft-gray plumage of these birds is drab, but what they lack in colour they make up for with the most beautiful song of the Gippsland forests. Although they resemble true thrushes, which were introduced from Europe during the 19th century, Shrike-Thrushes belong to a different family that includes Bellbirds and Whistlers. It’s surprising to learn that they are found all over Australia and New Guinea, except in some of the driest parts of the desert. They breed between July and February, and they like to build their nests in a shady and secluded place. For the past four years a couple have been using a nest that they built at the back of the shed where I live. They have their first batch of about three eggs in September. The mother and father take turns to sit on the nest and then spend most of the day finding food for the fledglings after they hatch in October. The young birds will hang around in the shed until they are big enough to fly about and hunt for food by themselves, which usually means worms, insects, fruit and seed or even small skinks. Then the female lays another batch in November and they go through the same routine all over again. Sometimes there are only two fledglings and other times there may be three but the last is a runt who doesn’t survive. However, in December there was a successful brood of three raised, the last to leave pictured here perched on a ladder.

Currawong and Waratah

The waratahs were spectacular this year and some of the currawongs seemed to appreciate them.

Bronzewings

This year the Bronzewing Pigeons have been coming into the garden more often, especially when the dog is inside and it's quiet. They like to check-out what's in the bird-feeding tray and waddle around on the driveway looking for things to eat.

Moths

Batwing Moth (Chelepteryx collesi)





























Bogong Moth (Agrotis infusa)
















Newcomers to Gippsland may sometimes be startled at night by a light tapping on their windows, especially in the autumn, only to find that the noise-maker isn’t a pesty neighbour or prankster, but a big fat moth. In some cases the would-be intruder might be the famous Bogong Moth (Agrotis infusa), but it could also be a member of some larger moth species that make their presence known in our region when the autumn nights begin to cool: the Emperor Gum Moth (Opodipthera eucalypti) and the Giant Anthelid or Batwing Moth (Chelepteryx collesi). The three species are easily distinguished. Bogong Moths have a mottled dark grey or brown and white pattern with some scalloped lines on their wings, which only measure 3 to 5.5cm when spread. Emperor Gum Moths are a dull red or orange colour with a single spot on each wing, which span between 8 and 13cm. And Batwing Moths have a more distinctive brown patterning that includes some pronounced scalloping, their wings spanning up to 16cm. The first are found in temperate regions of southern Australia, while the other two are found all over eastern Australia; and whereas Bogong Moths will feed on crops, their larger cousins prefer the foliage of trees, including eucalypts, pepper trees and silver birch. The Bogongs belong to a moth family called Noctuidae, which has more than 25,000 species spread across the globe, while the Emperors belong to the Saturniidae family, numbering over 1,000 species worldwide, and the Batwings are part of the Anthelidae, which has fewer than 100 species, all confined to Australia and New Guinea. One interesting fact about both of the bigger moths is that the tongues of the fully matured adults are greatly reduced, thereby preventing them from feeding. There are numerous other moth species around Mirboo North, which is not surprising given that Australia has a huge variety – 20-30 thousand species, compared, for example, to 11-12 thousand in North America and about 2400 in the UK.

Garden images from spring and summer 2010-11