Food Chain

This Dwarf Tree Frog or Green Reed Frog Litoria fallax is the most commonly seen frog around our house, as it is happy to be out during the daylight hours and even sunbaking on a leaf or stem. This character was on a leaf of an orchid in our shadehouse and I noticed it was waiting for the ants that were coming to the scale insects on the orchid, where they collect the sugary excretion form the scale. A scale insect can be seen on the elbow and an ant was out of its sight on its leg, but any that wandered down the leaf were gulped down. The colour of these frogs can vary from the bronze-green like this one to bright leaf green.

What's in a name

Many Australian birds have been given names that are more correctly applied to birds of the northern hemisphere, as the first Europeans arriving here based the names on the resemblance to birds of their homeland.
This bird is known for it's melodious song and was given the name Grey Thrush, but it also had habits that reminded people of shrikes, so it became the Grey-shrike Thrush, although it is not a member of either family.

Grey Shrike-thrush (female)

There are 5 species of Shrike-thrushes found in Australia and the Grey-shrike Thrush is the most widespread on the north and  east of the continent. The Western Shrike-thrush takes its place in the west, centre and south west. They are resident birds in our area, so we have the pleasure of their song throughout the year.

The hunter waits

Masters of the air, these dragonflies (I think Diplacodes sp) were on a break between their hunting flight that they were taking every minute or so, catching their prey on the wing. We have some 195+ species of dragonfly in Australia and fortunately we have many in our area with this being one of the most colourful.

Lesser Wanderer a frequent wanderer

Lesser Wanderer Danaus chrysippus petilia butterflies are regular visitors at Japara, particularly during the warmer months, as are their larger more colourful relation, the Wanderer (Monarch in the Americas). The lesser Wanderers are one of the most widespread Australian butterflies found throughout the country and the islands of Torres Strait. The spread of introduced cotton bushes Asclepias sp has probably assisted as they tend to be the plant that the larvae are found on most often. So even though the plants are a weed we keep enough for the butterflies. This one was in the vicinity of the cotton bush A fruticosa  that grow on outhe property.

 

A handsome problem

This young Rusa Deer buck is one of the animals we would rather not have in the district. A descendant of a herd that were let out or escaped from a deer farm and found the area to their liking and ideal breeding.The herd multiplied rapidly and cause significant damage to the native vegetation as well as posing a major problem on the roads. Without any predator to make any impact on the numbers a shooting program has been implemented to try and eliminate them but so far they have only been reduced. It is unfortunate that such a handsome animal has to be killed, but as with so many of the feral animals that plague our country they are a huge environmental problem.