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
Well, my weekend at Paluma was a very eventful one, thanks to the local reptilian population. No doubt the recent warm and dry weather within our little village has contributed to the flurry of activity for the local lizards and snakes.
It all started last week when Len Cook told me that he has a new tenant at ‘Len Cook Ceramics’ on Lennox Crescent. Indeed, a rather large goanna has recently appeared and made Len’s garden its home and regular foraging ground. Len has spotted the goanna daily over almost a week. It’s favourite place to forage is at the large concrete drain along the front of Len’s block. Len has named his new friend ‘Leonard the Lizard’.
Leonard the Lizard at Len Cook Ceramics.
Len (Cook that is) notes that he has not seen goannas in the village in the past, although Jennie Robinson told me that she has occasionally seen them at the back of her garden at the western end of the village. We were speculating as to whether the recent dry conditions might be contributing to this individual foraging over a broader territory, or whether it might be seeking water.
‘Leonard the Lizard’ appears to be a fine specimen of Varanus varius (Lace monitor). These ground-dwelling goannas are fairly common in the wet tropics region (https://www.wettropics.gov.au/dragons-and-monitors). They are diurnal and their diet includes insects, lizards, mice and snakes. Monitors are reported as being immune to most snake venom and they will readily kill and eat venomous snake species.
Editors note: (May 1, 2020) Recent correspondence from a herpetologist at James Cook University indicates that Leonard is in fact a different species (Varanus panoptes – Yellow-spotted Monitor)
Which leads me to the second reptilian encounter of my weekend………
Late on Saturday afternoon I encountered a rather large red-bellied black snake in my garage, happily checking out my gum boots . After I almost trod on it, it retreated to find refuge under some gear stored in the garage. A quick call to Len (Cook, not the Lizard) and he arrived with sturdy rake in hand to deal with the invader. The snake was expertly wrangled by Len with rake and wheelie bin and marshalled out of the garage and back into the garden. I, of course expertly directed the whole operation from a suitable but distant vantage point. Many thanks to Len Cook for his fine herpetological wrangling skills, which he seemingly took in his stride.
Lessons Learnt by me: 1). Don’t leave the garage door open. 2). Clean up the garage and reduce potential snake hiding places, and 3). NEVER put my gum boots on without first taking a look inside to see what might be in there!
Saturday evening the close encounters with reptiles continued, but to my considerable delight! In my laundry I found the most incredible specimen that I have ever seen of the Northern Leaf-Tailed Gecko. This lizard is an absolute stunner!
The Northern Leaf-Tailed Gecko (Saltuarius cornutus) is described as a large gecko with a triangular head, narrow neck and a broad, leaf-like tail. Unlike most geckos it has clawed toes rather than adhesive discs on its feet. The dorsal surface of the skin has sharply pointed tubercles (horns). All of these features are clearly seen in my photograph.
These geckos are nocturnal tree dwellers and they prey on large insects, spiders and cockroaches. Their colouration usually depends on their habitat and they are experts at camouflage. Because I disturbed this specimen at night by switching on the light, it clearly did not have time to adapt its colouration (camouflage) to the surroundings (the grey concrete laundry floor). I am pleased to report that it reappeared on Sunday night so it would seem the laundry and garage are now part of its regular foraging territory.
Most exciting of all is that the literature I have read indicates that the average body length of these geckoes is about 14 cm. This guy is therefore a giant at very close to 20 cm in length. It even allowed me to take some measurements as proof (see photo below). Perhaps I have found a new sub-species of this gecko? The Giant Paluma Northern Leaf-Tailed Gecko? Sounds very good to me!
You just gotta love where we live!
Text by Michele Bird. Photos by Len Cook and Michele Bird.
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.
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!
This large python spotted on the Range Road this evening (12/9) by Len Cook at about 6.30 pm. Len reports that the snake was about 2.5 metres in length. A timely reminder to Paluma residents and visitors to watch out for snakes basking on or crossing the road now that the weather is warming up.
In recent weeks the Satin Bower Birds of Paluma have been busy with the breeding season and courtship rituals. Male birds have been chortling and calling in the canopy and busily working on their remarkable bowers to attract a female mate.
This year I am lucky enough to have a bower in my own garden. (And I am going to brag about it!).
My bower was constructed over a period of about two weeks and not long after it took form, the blue trinkets and treasures started to appear. A quick inventory last Sunday noted the following:- 2 x bottle tops, plastic straw, surveyors tape, 4 x pen lids, lolly packets, cellophane, half a peg, electrical cable ties and plastic cord. All the items are of a similar shade of bright blue. None of the items observed in the bower have been collected from nature.
While the hard work and ingenuity of these birds in constructing their bower and decorating it with a variety of blue treasures is to be truly admired, it is very disconcerting to see that every item in this bower is made from plastic.
Is this a remarkable adaptation of the satin bower bird to the modern world, or a sad indictment of the intrusive impact of humans in every facet of the natural world?…….I can’t decide.
A plant you may see fruiting in and around Paluma at present is the Red Gourd, scientific name Trichosanthes pentaphylla. This is a vine with very conspicuous rounded, bright red fruit. The fruit grow to nearly cricket-ball size (40-70 mm x 50-60 mm). The usual fruiting season is from February to June, but sometimes there are a few late-comers (or late bloomers….!).
The fruit of the red gourd vine, almost the size of a cricket ball.
The distribution of this vine is from Cape York to Home Hill, south of Townsville. It is a tendril climber with both male and female plants. Leaves are compound with 3 to 5 leaflets, 40-170 mm x 22-110 mm in size and are slightly rough (resembling sandpaper) on both sides. Flowers, not particularly conspicuous, are white with 5 petals, 12-14 mm long.
The fruit, which is eaten by cassowaries, is distinguished by its dark-brown to black, 9-17 mm long seeds which are suspended in a slimy, dark green pulp.
Wilfred and Suzanne at Mount Spec Road have a beautiful spider orchid in full bloom at present (Dendrobium tetragonum var. giganteum). The orchid is growing on the bark of a large tree and it is a rather small and inconspicuous plant – that is, until it is in flower. It currently has multiple delicate blooms which are spider-like in shape.
Spider orchids have distinctive four-angled stems. They generally grow in mountain rainforests, on tree trunks and often near watercourses. The flowers can be up to 10 cm long with attractive markings. The flowers are greenish to yellow in colour with prominent red to purple blotches. Spider orchids flower intermittently from April to November.
Further Reading: Lavarack, B. and Gray, B. (1992) Australian Tropical Orchids. Frith & Frith Books, Malanda.
Substantial winter rainfall at Paluma over the past few weeks has meant that conditions are still rather wet and boggy round the village and in our gardens. While many of us are keen for things to dry out a bit so we can get into the garden and prepare for spring, the local frogs appear to be relishing the damp conditions.
In my garden there is a small, but apparently permanent population of very handsome brown/coppery coloured frogs that like to inhabit both the leafy garden and the back veranda. They especially love living inside the foliage of pot plants on the verandah where it is cool, shady and damp. I finally managed to capture a photograph of one of these frogs last weekend.
In consulting Clifford and Dawn Frith’s book on ‘Australian Tropical Reptiles and Frogs’, I have tentatively identified this frog as the ‘Green-eyed Frog’ (Litoria [serrata] genimaculata).
In describing the Green-eyed Frog, the Frith’s note that it is tropical species confined to rainforests in Australia and New Guinea. They note that this species has evolved to be a master of disguise as it can transform its colour and shape to closely match its microhabitat. It has developed rows of small pieces of skin (lappets) along the edge of its limbs – these can be seen in my photograph on the front and hind limbs. The lappets obscure the normal frog outline, or contours of the body, making the animal more difficult to see amongst its usual habitat of rainforest and vegetated creeks (and my garden).
The Green-eyed Frog is highly variable in colour, with the body usually a shade of brown, reddish-brown or copper, with irregular darker patches. There is usually a dark or russet larger colour patch between the eyes – this patch can be seen quite clearly in my photograph. These frogs grow to an average length of about 65 mm.
Another reference book, Tyler and Knight’s ‘Field Guide to the Frogs of Australia’ notes that the upper half of the frogs iris is green (hence the common name). This I cannot discern from my recent observations or my photograph – but next time I see a Green-eyed Frog in my garden I will be sure to look deeply into its eyes!
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
