Tiny Mantis

Tiny mantis (3cm) on the railing of the deck this morning which I have found the ID as one of the Bolbe genus and this one found in Australia is known as the Pygmy Ground Mantis.

 

Night Heron at the small dam today

Today I had the second sighting of a young Nankeen Night Heron Nycticorax caledonicus at our small dam, that is amongst the trees behind our shed. The previous time I surprised it and it flew off the perch on a tree branch, some distance from me and I only had my phone, so the photo I took was poor quality and difficult for identification. However I thought it looked like an Australasian Bittern based on the colouring and markings. Today I had my camera with me and although I spooked it and again it flew to a branch in the same tree as previously I was able to get a better photo (not the best, as I was on full zoom and handheld)

 The markings are similar to the Australasian Bittern as this is a juvenile with very different plumage to the adult which has a black crown, with rufous upper body and a white belly and breast.

They range through most of Australia other than some of the desert regions, also New Zealand, New Caledonia, Micronesia, Philippines and some Pacific Islands.. As the name suggests they are active at night feeding around swamps, dams, rivers and creeks where frogs and night insects are their prey. During the day they roost in trees near the water sources

Scarlet Percher sunbathing by the pool

 A new dragonfly photo today when a Scarlet Percher landed on the stone edging of the pool, something that this species is known often prefer rather than on leaves and twigs.

The Scarlet Percher Diplacodes haematodes is a dragonfly which occurs throughout Australia (except Tasmania), Timor, New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It is locally common in hot sunny exposed sites near rivers, streams, ponds and lakes. The male has red eyes, face, thorax and abdomen and orange suffusions on the wing bases. There are no markings on the abdomen. The female has yellowish colouring with black markings. 

 

A few seasonal visitors today,

 At last we received some rain just in time to keep some vegetation that was really suffering after trying to cope with extremely dry conditions following two years of above average rainfall.
The wildlife also appreciated the rain and more sightings as they make the most of the conditions.

Today we had a few seasonal visitors to the garden, first, Brush Cuckoos that have been busy calling to organise partners to breed and deposit the eggs in the nest of poor unwitting foster parents.

Second, a Black-faced Monarch one of the fly-catcher group.

Third, another cuckoo, a Shining Bronze Cuckoo that was very busy working over the vegetation for caterpillars, worms and small insects.

 

Another new sighting

It is quite sometime since I have posted anything but it has been a year of activity not associated with nature in the backyard. Much of the nature activity has been similar to many previous posting and I haven't had much time to go looking.

However I didn't have to go searching for this posting as it was in my area of usual activity on the property. 

I had sighted a bird that I was sure I hadn't seen previously but didn't have my camera and was only able to get a distant shot with the phone. Not good enough to identify the bird but gave me a couple possibles.

A week later the bird was in the same area and I managed to get the camera and be back to get some photos.

 Trying to identify what species the bird was I found two very similar looking birds but after some consultation with a friend and then further confirmation on INaturalist it is a Russet-Tailed Thrush.

They range from northern Queensland east coast down to just south of our location on the mid-north coast of NSW and found in rainforest fringe and  woodland forest. 

An exciting first sighting

Today a friend who was visiting to collect his wildlife camera that he was using to track feral rusa deer was surprised to find  Koala almost next to the camera. He messaged me and I quickly went to the location to get a photo. This is the first Koala sighted on our property so it is a wonderful find, as we have hoped we would have Koalas living in the forest.