We all mourned the passing of Roy Mackay this year. He made a major contribution to Village life, and is perhaps best remembered for his regular articles in Turkey Talk under the banner of “Nature Notes”. These articles contained a wealth of information on the comings and goings of local plants and animals, but also wandered into philosophical musings and historical anecdotes. While its possible to use the online Turkey Talk archive to look up past Nature Notes articles, I thought it would be useful to compile all of them into a single document that can be perused at ones leisure or used to look up accounts of particular species or events. After a few stops and starts during the year, this compilation is now completed and available in our Documents Library in the Nature section.
The compilation lists all nature-related articles published by Roy from 2011 up til the end of 2018. Some of the early contributions had different titles, but the majority used the familiar “Nature Notes” banner.
I enjoyed putting this booklet together and reading through all the past contributions. I learned a lot and got to feel I knew Roy better as a result. I hope you will take a moment to look through it. There is a subject index, but if you are reading the pdf file on your computer, you can use the Find function (Ctl-F) to look for occurrences of any word
Late last Friday night when I went to turn out the lights before bed I noticed some movement in our bird feeder and realised that we had a nocturnal thief chowing down on some leftover mashed dates. I have often noticed distinct non-bird droppings in the feeder when cleaning out the dish and had suspected a native rat was the culprit; and I was right. Here it is looking quite at home and not at all concerned about my iPhone sticking out the louvre window at him.
Its nice to see one of our native mammals as they are not easily spotted unless you get out at night with a spotlight in your garden or on the tracks, where bandicoots and pademelons are regulars.
Short video of our nocturnal visitor
While this is clearly a rat, I am not at all confident what species it is. However the possibilities are not that large. To my understanding there are basically 3 species of native rat that are common in the rainforest around Paluma (and no non-native ones thank goodness). The white-tailed rat that wreaks havoc with local garbage bins can be eliminated based on size and tail colour. The video above shows that tail is uniform and brownish grey, and it’s not nearly big enough for a white-tailed rat. That leaves the Bush Rat (Rattus fuscipes) or the Fawn-footed Melomys (Melomys cervinipes). My guess is that this is the Fawn-footed Melomys. The Bush Rat tends not to climb as much as the Melomys (its a bit tricky getting up to our feeder) and it also has a fairly distinctive pattern of circular ridges on its tail (see photo below of a Bush Rat) that I could not see in the albeit soft focused video. Perhaps someone can offer a more knowledgeable identification?
The Bush Rat has a distinctive pattern of circular ridges on its tail as can be seen on this individual seen at our house last year.
Recently Michele Bird resigned from the position of PDCA Secretary due to work commitments. Michele did a fantastic job in this role and put many hours into ensuring our meetings were recorded accurately and promptly. She was also an effective and thoughtful voice in many of our discussions on important issues affecting Paluma. Many thanks Michele!
Michele has also been a prominent and prolific contributor (and co-editor) to our new website. I am delighted that she has indicated that she will continue in this role.
Fortunately, we have been able to find a highly capable new Secretary in Anne Bruyeres. Ann has a long association with Paluma and I am sure she will be a great addition to the Executive Committee. Welcome Anne!
The updated list of PDCA Executive members can be found here
Jamie Oliver
A record of accomplishments
Our numbers for paid up membership this year are a bit down compared to previous years, and we hope that this is more a matter of forgetfulness than a lack of support for the PDCA and its efforts on behalf of the Paluma community. However the Executive Committee also felt it would be worth documenting the various efforts and achievements of the PDCA in recent years. It turned out to be a fairly impressive list and we would like to share that with all of you, and also let you know what our priorities are for the next 12 months or so. Hopefully this list will help reassure paid members that their dues are a worthwhile investment into ensuring we maintain Paluma and a fantastic place to live or to retreat to on weekends and holidays. We also hope that those of you who have forgotten to join this year will be motivated to do so – you will be receiving email reminders shortly! Or you can click here to download a renewal form.
If you have any thoughts or ideas on how the PDCA can better contribute to the Community, or what our priorities should be, please don’t hesitate to contact any of the executive by email, or phone. Or you can add a comment to this post and start an open conversation.
PDCA Achievements/Activities over the last several years
Lobbying local and state government to achieve more favourable policies or better facilities around Paluma
Strongly opposed proposal to re-open Paluma Dam for motorized boats
Extended campaign to improve quality of drinking water in Paluma
Joint meeting with TCC and Transport & Main Roads to discuss need for more coordinated clearing of roadside vegetation, effective management of road closures
Holding various community meeting to discuss important issues and to communicate to local government
Key outcomes include:
Council decided not to pursue the opening of the dam for motorboats
Sealing of initial part of Hussey Road
More timely maintenance of Paluma Dam road potholes and erosion ditches
Paluma Water issues and new water treatment plant -– resulted in commissioning of a new $300,000 water treatment facility in 2018
Agreement with TMR to include significant upgrades to the Range Road in the next budget for major road works
Installation of rubbish bins at Crystal Ck. Picnic Ground and additional bins in the Village Green – TCC liaison.
Repair of Loop Rd. retaining wall by TCC
TCC funded free Wi Fi facility at hall/Village Green
Liaison with TCC re design and equipment choice for new playground and moving the footprint out of the PDCA lease area.
TCC installation of a new technology sewerage system at public toilets in Village Green- PDCA campaigning to overcome leakage issues.
Re-siting of the public playground to ensure it was not on PDCA leased land, thus avoiding a liability issue
TCC resurfacing of bitumen road from village to Dam turn-off
Successful applications for funding for new facilities
New Telstra mobile phone tower – 2018
Contributions for funding of the new Community Hall extension obtained from Qld Gaming Commission ((Through the Paluma Rural Fire Brigade)
Grant for the establishment of the Paluma History Display
Grant for Replacement of hall chairs and gallery fittings.
Activities that improve village facilities or enhance community coherence amongst residents or provide important target activities for visitors
Contribution of $23,000 from PDCA fund raising activities towards cost of hall extension from past PDCA
Various social evenings/meals throughout the year
Quarterly publication of “Turkey Talk”
Paluma Garden Competition
Regular Sunday markets and BBQ
Paluma History Display most Tuesdays
Making the hall available for external hire by relevant groups
Assisting with successful signature events such as the annual Paluma Push and Dam Good Run
Establishment of the “Trees in Memory” grove on the village green, together with memorial stone
Signage for the Andreé Griffin Track and official launch
Bruce Plant Memorial function at the Community Hall and the Plant Memorial stone installation and Service. Assisted by a RAAF grant and donations
Art Exhibitions promoting local and district artists
Liaison with National Parks re refurbishment of Crystal Ck. Picnic area and McClelland Lookout facilities and maintenance of existing walking tracks
Promoting Paluma through regular posts on Paluma.org and providing additional resources through our members only pages
Organizing working bees to help maintain the Community Hall and surrounding grounds
Installation of the PDCA Honour Board in the Community Hall
Future Plans
With continued support from PDCA
memberships and community volunteers, the PDCA hopes to achieve even more in
the next 1-2 years. Current projects in various stages of conceptual
development include:
Enhancement of roadside verges with plantings of appropriate species that showcase Paluma’s unique climate
Creation of new garden beds and hedges around the Community Hall
Development of enhanced signage and interpretation along local walking tracks
Construction of a walking loop and viewing platforms along around the village weir to highlight the various flora and fauna (including platypus, water dragons, rainbow fish and key flowering plants)
Development of a new annual or biennial event(s) that incorporates elements of previous events such as the Paluma Rainforest Festival, Ephemera in the Mist and Paluma Art Exhibition etc.
While Michele has described the efforts of our local Satin Bowerbirds in attracting a love interest, in the surrounding forest another Bowerbird, the Golden Bowerbird (Prionodura newtoniana), is also busy constructing bowers that are the largest of the all the Australian bowerbirds, and they are made by the smallest species. Despite its diminutive size, the Golden Bowerbird creates twin towers of twigs that can be up to 3m tall. It decorates them with lichen and pale cream flowers and places a horizontal stick between the base of the towers to serve as a display perch.
Golden Bowerbird at his bower
The bower. The perch is the small stick just visible near the bottom. Note that this picture was taken a week after the previous shot and the lichen ornamentation has been shifted by the male.
The male often perches in a nearby tree looking out for females or other marauding males
It takes a fair bit of work to make these bowers and it turns out that other males (including young males still experimenting at bower-building) are prone to stealing material and ornaments from other bowers to build their own. Immature males sometimes build small bowers close to a more established structure in the hope that they can distract a female over to its more humble edifice while the dominant male is away foraging or stealing from other bowers. If a mature bower-owning bird dies, his bower is usually taken over by another bird in matter of days. One recent study used game theory to determine at what point the pay-off from raiding other birds bowers exceeded the risk of abandoning a bower to other marauding males (distance between bowers was a key factor). The competition and intrigue is worthy of a Game of Thrones plot-line.
An immature male Golden Bowerbird discretely approaching the bower
Immature male at the bower just before being attacked by the resident male
Last week, while photographing one of our local birds, I observed a small dull bird flitting ever closer to the bower through some dense foliage. I thought it might be a female, but I was able to get a shot of it as it took off from a branch just behind the bower and this clearly showed the yellow tinges to the wing that are diagnostic of an immature male. This immature male then went straight to the perch between the two towers of the bower and began inspecting the ornamentation. In a flash the mature male bower owner dived down and the two birds tumbled off into the ground foliage behind the bower in a flurry of feathers and screeches that lasted several seconds before the birds flew off in different directions. The younger bird was not seen again, but I can’t help but feel it is out there somewhere awaiting another chance to steal the throne and the females.
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A small single towered bower made by an immature male less that 15m from the established bower
Don Battersby is our local bird-whisperer -actually it’s more of a shout, but the birds certainly come flocking to his call. When I told him about my observations he regaled me with a complete history of this particular bower, which has occupied at least 4 different positions over the last decade or so, having been abandoned due to damage by tree-falls or in response to over-enthusiastic bird photographers. He was also kind enough to show me a small satellite bower near the site where I had witnessed the altercation. This might well have been built by the immature male that I had seen.
Don knows where virtually all the bowers, and some of the nests are. He is exceptionally generous with his time and is known nationally and internationally amongst “birdos” as the person to visit if you want to get good views and photographs of our rainforest birds. Thanks Don!
In case you have forgotten to book this into your calendar, the annual Bush Dance featuring the band Wattle ‘n’ Gum is next Saturday, June 29 at 7:30pm. And on Sunday (June 30th) we have our Sunday Market and Sausage sizzle.
Over the last few weeks, increasing numbers of Pied Currawongs, Strepera graculina, have arrived in Paluma. The onomatopoeic name currawong reflects the liquid, ringing tone of their call, heard all day throughout the village.
Pied Currawong
The currawong is a large, (42-50 cm long), handsome, black and white bird, with yellow eyes and a lilting, liquid warbling call. But do not be beguiled by the good looks and melodious carolling. Beneath the beauty lies a rapacious nature. Currawongs plunder the nests and feast on the chicks of other birds. The cruel beak says it all.
Currawongs are similar in appearance to magpies and butcher birds, and were once known as crow shrikes or bell magpies. They are found throughout eastern Australia from North Queensland to Victoria in diverse habitats including woodlands, coastal to alpine forests, rain-forests, scrublands and farmlands. They often form large flocks and are seasonally nomadic, ranging over large distances. In the breeding season, from July to January they are mostly seen alone, in pairs or in small family groups.
They tend to move into Paluma from the west as the weather becomes cooler. Sometimes a flock of fifty and more will move into the area. Today, I disturbed a gang of seven or eight on the roadside plotting their next raid.
Pied currawongs’ diet includes small lizards, insects, mice, caterpillars and berries. They also take large numbers of small and young birds. Larger prey, up to the size of a young possum can be taken and birds will sometimes hunt as a group. Prey may be stored in a tree fork or crack to be eaten later. It has been reported that pied currawongs eat more vertebrate material during the spring breeding season than they do during autumn and winter when berries are available. A pair may kill about 40 broods of small birds (up to 2 kg) to raise one brood of their own.
Raising young is a joint effort. Both sexes gather the material, sticks, grass and other soft vegetation, for the bowl-shaped nest which the female builds high in a tree fork. She incubates the eggs while he feeds her. The male supplies food to the female for the first week after the chicks hatch and she feeds them. Incubation time is 21 days and there are usually three chicks.
The dishes and trays of fruit put out by residents for the honey-eaters, rifle birds and other small birds have become fair game for the currawongs who swoop in, terrorising the other birds and taking all the food. They seem to be afraid of humans however and fly off as soon one appears. Perhaps they have a collective memory of being shot at or stoned by people! It was amusing, and surprising to see therefore, two rainbow lorikeets at my bird-feeder yesterday driving off a currawong. The attack was quite vicious with lots of pecking and screeching until the bigger bird retreated.
It will be no surprise to know that pied currawongs are not on the endangered species list: on the contrary, their numbers are increasing. They have adapted well to living in urban areas and their growing numbers have been implicated in the decline of smaller bird species.
Some information sourced from Google entries from Australian Museum and Birdlife
Beginning around the middle of last month (May) some of the tracks around the village had patches of colourful but strangely shaped fruit on the ground. These flattened orange to yellow fruit often have a single seed stuck in the middle. While most rainforest trees are difficult to distinguish based solely on the trunk or leaves, their fruit and flowers can often be distinctive and render them easily identified. Such is the case with McIntyre’s Boxwood (Xanthophyllum octandrum). The best example I have found (although it may now be finished fruiting) is on the H-track just uphill (towards Lennox Crescent) from the old mining test pit and creek lookout. Two mature trees stand near the track (on the left as you face uphill).
MacIntyre’s Boxwood is endemic (i.e restricted to) Queensland, occurring in rainforests from Cape York to the central Qld coast1. Flowering occurs in early summer but the flowers are fairly inconspicuous. The fruit are round, marble-sized and green to pale yellow. When ripe they split open (dehisce) while still attached to the tree to reveal a dark seed attached to the now flattened internal yellow flesh. At this stage the fruit are fairly conspicuous on the tree, and even more so on the dark leaf litter of the forest floor once they have fallen.
Two mature trees on the H-track. The trunk is relatively smooth with no buttress.
Ripe fruit are just discernible in the canopy of the two trees
The fruit is eaten by Cassowaries. The trees are slow growing and large specimens are likely to be very old. The timber has been used commercially and was commonly used to make wooden rulers.
While citrus trees around Paluma are full of fruit at present, providing sustenance more to the Cockatoos than human residents, there is also a native rainforest tree/shrub that is currently laden with large round fruit that are beginning to turn yellow or bright orange. From a distance the fruit looks very much like an orange. This is the Native Gardenia or Yellow Mangosteen (Atractocarpus fitzalanii – previously known as Randia fitzalanii1)
Native Gardenia is a native under-story tree in eastern Queensland rainforests. The star-shaped white flowers appear in spring and (unsurprisingly) look at bit like simple gardenia flowers (they share the same family) and have a pleasant perfume.
The fruit is edible and is reported to be good bush tucker2. It can be eaten raw or used in salads, tarts, cakes or other deserts. In fact one author reports that it is one of the few plants that was consumed for is aphrodisiac properties!1 Cassowaries also eat the fruit, but the literature is silent on whether these birds also use it to enhance their reproductive drive. Perhaps you should exercise caution if you see a large male Cassowary with a gleam in its eye when you visit our local grove!
The Native Gardenia is fairly commonly sold in nurseries for its lush foliage and perfumed flowers. The fruit can be quite sweet in some trees but this is quite variable. I confess I have not sampled the fruit but Wilfred had a quick taste of the one at Jourama Falls and found it unremarkable.
Listed below are the social events that the PDCA is organising for the year. The PDCA has decided to add a few new themed nights this year as well as continuing with popular ones from previous years. We hope they will be a success and encourage you to put these dates into your calendar.
Sat 8th June: Soup and Casserole – Country Music night with dress in jeans and check shirt etc.
Sat. 10th August: Dance the Night Away with music suitable dancing and a theme of “Glamour and Glitz”.
Sat. 2nd November: Music from Around the World with International Food as a theme.
Sat. 7th December: Tropical BBQ with Music from the Pacific . BYO meat as usual.
During this long weekend, the birds at our feeder have become more and more numerous, with Satin Bowerbirds making their first appearance for the year, and Catbirds sneaking in at dawn and dusk. But it is the Rainbow Lorikeets that have dominated the show. Since we first put up our feeder in 1996, I have recorded the same 10 species coming in for a feed (see list below). The species composition may vary at other feeders depending on the food offered (we consistently use dates, softened and mashed up in water). Originally, Lorikeets were almost never at our feeder, but since cyclone Yasi the Rainbow Lorikeets are often a dominant visitor, with the occasional Scaley-breasted Lorikeet thrown into the mix
Yesterday morning and this morning the Rainbow Lorikeets came in numbers I have never seen before. I suspect the entire population of the village was at or around my feeder. The picture below reminds me of the old competition one saw at fairs where you had to guess the number of jellybeans in a large glass jar. I reckon there are 24 in the first photo and 27 in the second (both images have been cropped to include the central mass of birds only). Any other estimates?
Here is my list of birds that I have recorded at my feeder (the last two I try to discourage). I would be interested to hear from other residents who could add to this list. Please also include what type of food you put out.
