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.
 

Nightjar in the headlights

Last night on the way up the track I noticed something on the ground and thought it might be a nightjar as I have seen them in this area previously, but not had a chance to get a photo. Unfortunately the phone I had with me does not have a great camera but decided to see if I could get a shot just for the record.

 As you can see a poor photo but enough to identify the bird as a White-throated Nightjar, one of the four nightjar species found in Australia. The White-throated Nightjar ranges from the tip of Cape York in Queensland along the dividing range and east coast through to southern Victoria.

This Common Australian Crow is not a bird

 The first butterfly I can recall seeing was a Common Australian Crow (Euploea core corinna) during a lesson in Primary school, when the class watched a butterfly emerge from its pupa, pump up its wings and fly.

The school had many oleander shrubs in the grounds and the plant is a favourite food of the caterpillars in suburban areas, which give the butterfly its other common name as the oleander butterfly. 

Outside of suburban city areas they range from north Western Australia across to tropical Queensland along the coastal range to South Australia where the caterpillars feed on a wide range of native food plants.

We do not have a lot of sightings of this butterfly on our property and this is the first time I have photographed one.