Long legs on a wire

Had the camera taking photos of Honeyeaters when I noticed a Daddy-long-legs moving along the balustrade wire and I found the contrast between the multi strand wire and the delicate spider a good subject.

 The Daddy-long-legs Spider, Pholcus phalangioides, is found throughout Australia. It is a cosmopolitan species that originates from Europe and was introduced accidentally into Australia.

They are a regular feature inside the house where they usually end their life in the vacuum cleaner but at times we find them like this one outside where they are welcome to stay. 

Twins out of the nest

The Lewin Honeyeater parents had been very busy bringing food to the youngsters in the nest but yesterday the pair were out of the nest and getting ready to enter the wide world.

There was only a light breeze in the morning when I took the photos but by the afternoon they were getting a buffeted by a very strong wind and ready to move to a more sheltered position.

For the Yellow-faced honey eater the story was not so good as I noticed that the nest was out of position and the adult was looking quite agitated, which led me to expect that the eggs had been eaten by our resident tree snake.

Pollinater portraits

Lots of flowers have brought lots of pollinators to the garden and one of the busiest groups at present are the Honeyeaters. Today the most active of all was a flock of White-cheeked Honeyeaters as the fed on the flowers of the Mistletoes, Grevilleas and Banksias. Food is not the only attraction at this time of year, as many are displaying lots of breeding activity display, calling as they fly up above the canopy then diving back to a prominent perch.

One of their favourite food and display spots is a  Coastal Banksia, Banksia integrifolia that is close to our verandah and they were happy to pose.

Lots of flowers on the spike to get the beak into.

   

A good spot to stand out.

 

Or a ripening pollinated spike to sing.

White-cheeked Honeyeaters range down the east coastal heaths and woodlands and a western race are found in south Western Australia.

Longhorn or longicorn

Which ever way this beetle is named  the long part is certainly true and I found this one on a wall in the house and it most likely came out of one of our firewood logs where it has changed from its larva to the adult beetle.

This species of the Longhorn group is the Large Brown Longhorn or Longicorn Beetle Xystrocera virescens and the larvae reportedly feed in various species of Acacia tunnelling through the wood.