Making an appearance

Coming to the end of summer and we are seeing some of this year's new arrivals making an appearance. Today we had a young tree snake (likely to be the previous season's) make its way onto the deck then slide down  a post back into the garden. Later in the day looking out the office window I saw a very small tree snake exploring the bamboo palm, going up and down the stems.

This is the smallest (about 300mm length and less than a pencil thick) one I have seen of the Common Tree Snake Dendrelaphis punctulatus  which can grow to 2m but usually around 1 to 1.5m. 

The female lays around 4 or 5 elongated eggs so we may yet see some more young ones.

Tree snake branching out

For the past few days we have had a tree snake spending time on the branches of an acacia that is under our deck. It moves out into the sun in the morning and as the temperature goes up  retreats back into the cooler area in the shadow of the deck.

It is that time of year snakes are on the move and this week we have seen a red-belly black snake, a very young diamond python and yellow-faced whip snakes in addition to this tree snake.

The colouring in the Common Tree Snake Dendrelaphis punctulatis is very variable from the olive colouring on the back as this one shows to a bright green with bright blue spots but most have the bright yellow belly colouring. Being non poisonous they are a harmless snake and a real treasure for us to have as a garden visitor.

Off with the old

Found a discarded well-worn outfit this morning, where it was hung up in the branches of a shrub.

Dull, brownish tones give no hint to the beautiful colours that it once had, but just in the palm alongside was the owner of this old outfit. Not too keen to show off the new suit but just give a a quick view before moving back into cover and the security of the sharp spines of the palm. 

Common Green Tree Snake

Insect, reptile and bird

A beautiful day and on a wander through the garden notice a moth with large antennae on the underside of a branch on a grevillea and I took a couple of shots and then  moved the branch to try and get a better angle but no luck it was off. my attempt at identification from the Butterfly House website would seem to place it in the Noctuoidea with two possible species either Epicoma contristis (my best guess) or the similar Epicoma tristis.

 
Later in the morning I heard a slithering as I was walking past a shrub and looked up to see a Common Green Tree Snake that was startled by my presence but was now looking me very closely to see if I was any sort of threat.

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A harmless diurnal species the Common Tree Snake Dendrelaphis punctulatus is found in coastal regions of northern and eastern Australia. Being arboreal and hunting frogs, insects, small birds and mammals it relies substantially on its good binocular eyesight to give it accurate striking distance perception.
A bird nearby where I was working in the garden was in full song with lots of melodious whistling, chattering and being a bit of a mimic of other species. A distant glimpse suggested it was a Spectacled Flycatcher that I had been trying to get a good photo, but it was not going to come close enough. Then a chance would have it whilst we we having coffee on the verandah, I heard the same songs from the tree directly in front, but again couldn't get a good sight of the bird. It then flew to the next tree and sat on a clump of mistletoe long enough for me to get one quick photo.

 

I could see that it was not a Spectacled flycatcher but on checking identification found it to be a Black-faced Flycatcher Monarcha melanopsis that range right down the east coast of Australia and my first sighting of this species on our property so very pleased.

Snakes on the move

With the weather warming up our snakes are starting to get active, but seems like we will not have that many around, as by now I would have expected to see lots of Yellow Faced whip-snakes that are resident in the rockeries around the house, but so far only a couple sighted. Saw the first of our Common Green Tree-snakes yesterday as it was moving into the bushes in front of the house, but as yet have not sighted our Diamond Python, although its shed skin was caught up in the bush behind the house. We hope we don't have a visit this season from the Red-belly Black Snake that gets into our pond and eats the goldfish, and so far have only seen one young one. Photo Common Green Tree-snake