Nature – Page 17 – Paluma – our village in the mist

Rainforest Tree of the Month, February 2019 – White Bollygum

WHITE BOLLYGUM Neolitsea dealbata

Approximately 80 species of Neolitsea are found in the rainforests of tropical Asia and Australasia. Three are found in Australia with two of these being found from the south coast of NSW to Cairns in Queensland. Neolitsea dealbata is a common under-storey tree growing to about twelve metres and is especially noticeable in spring when, soft drooping, pale new leaf growth appears, giving the tree a chandelier-festooned appearance. They are a member of the Lauraceae Family.

The soft pale leaf growth of the white bollygum

White Bollygum and the very similar Green Bollygum (Neolitsea australiensis) share many common names with species of the closely related Litsea. Being known by common names can be the cause of much confusion to a non-botanist, often leading to incorrect identification.

For example, some of the names Neolitsea dealbatais known by are: White Bollygum, Velvet-leafed Bollywood and Grey Bollywood, while Litsea australiensisis known as Green Bollygum. Across the species, Litsea and Neolitsea share common names of Grey Bollywood, Bollygum, Bollywood, White Bollygum and White Bollywood. It can be very confusing!

The name ‘dealbata’ derives from dealbatus, meaning ‘covered with white powder’. The underside of the leaves of this tree have a waxy coating which gives them a powdery, whitish bloom. Leaves are simple, between 80-220 mm x 35-85 mm in size and are clustered in groups of three or five. They are usually hairless on the upper side, but may be slightly hairy at the leaf base or along the mid-rib. Leaf twigs are clothed in white or pale brown hairs which may persist on mature twigs.

Perfumed flowers usually appear from March to July. These are tiny white or yellow clusters growing on branches or in leaf axils. They are so tiny, between pin head and match head size that they are almost unnoticeable. Male flowers are 2.4 mm, the female is only 1.7 mm.

The tiny flowers appear on the leaf axils.

The clusters of fruit which follow, from January to July, are small, 9 mm, globular drupes, (fleshy with seeds enclosed in a woody endocarp), containing one seed. The fruit goes from red to black when ripe and is relished by cassowaries.

The fruit appear in clusters. These fruit are green and will colour to black when fully ripe.

There are many of these trees in and around Paluma, notably clustered in amongst many other trees in the Gumburu gardens and the forest edge outside Paluma Environmental Education Centre. They are easier to spot when new leaves appear, nevertheless the distinctive leaves make it easy to identify.

Text & Photos by Colwyn Campbell

‘To Catch a Chowchilla’

The Chowchilla (Orthonyx spaldingii) is one of my favourite birds inhabiting the upland rainforest in the Paluma area. It is not a particularly large bird, nor does it have striking plumage. It does not build an elaborate bower like the numerous local bowerbirds and it does not have the impressive dance moves of the riflebird.

BUT, the Chowchilla has a loud and unmistakeable call that echoes throughout the forest, usually at dawn and dusk. Any bird with a call like the Chowchilla demands your attention and admiration. Scientists report that their complex vocalisations vary quite markedly from place to place and there are identifiable local dialects. Imagine that – a unique Paluma Chowchilla language!

Chowchillas are also known as ‘logrunners’. They are ground dwelling birds, living and foraging in small family groups of between 3 to 8 birds. Each flock has their own permanent territory. Chowchillas spend most of their time foraging for invertebrates on the forest floor. They have strong legs for scratching in the leaf litter and their tail is used to support their body whilst they vigorously throw leaf litter aside.

Chowchillas are common in and around the village of Paluma. I see them regularly (or at least flashing glimpses of them) in the forest adjacent to the walking track to McClellands Lookout and along Lennox Crescent. They are regular visitors to the forest margins in my back garden.

I find them absolutely endearing for their elaborate songs and their lively and gregarious nature. When foraging as a family group they happily chatter away, enthusiastically intent on their search for food. They are oblivious that they are excavating precious garden beds and pot plants.

But, I have to admit that Chowchillas are the cause of considerable consternation and ongoing frustration for me!

For about two and a half years I have been trying to ‘capture’ a half decent photograph of a Chowchilla. Dozens and dozens of attempts and not one decent photograph!. Blurry, dark and unfocused images of Chowchillas are my speciality!

If I manage to find a bird within photographic range, it will rarely sit still for more than a split second and will surely move just at that moment when I press the shutter. Because the birds inhabit the forest floor, the light is usually poor and it is hard to see the bird clearly, let alone focus the camera.

I am well aware my frustration is shared by many fellow birdwatchers and photographers. ‘Photographing a Chowchilla’ is high on the wish list of many bird enthusiasts who visit Paluma, but it seems not many people actually achieve their goal.

So, after two and a half (long) years, this is my best effort at a Chowchilla photograph. Blurry, too dark, not centred and the bird is obscured by vegetation. And I am sure that Chowchilla is grinning at me, just before it darts back into the cover of the rainforest foliage. I’ll keep trying……….!

Please let me know if you have had better success in capturing images of these beautiful, but very elusive birds in and around the Paluma area!

Text & (Blurry) Photo by Michele Bird

Rainforest Tree of the Month, January 2019 – Quandong

QUANDONG

Elaeocarpus grandis, synonymous with Elaeocarpus angustifolius

Most of you will be familiar with the Quandong’s moss-covered buttressed roots projecting out from the forest onto the edges of walking tracks. Many of these magnificent trees may be seen in the Paluma rainforest with some especially good specimens along the Witt’s Lookout track. The Quandong, a tree emblematic of tropical rainforest is also known as Blue Quandong, Silver Quandong, Blueberry Ash and Blueberry Fig.

A pioneering tree, the Quandong can grow to five or six metres high in just a few years, eventually reaching a height of up to 35 metres. A strong identifying feature are the buttresses with vertically flat, visible roots, so large in some instances that they are capable of sheltering a cassowary. Moss usually covers the trunk and roots so it is difficult to readily see the nature of the bark, but the cut timber is hard and white and highly regarded as a cabinet timber.

Flowering occurs between October and March, the softly fragranced flowers, growing in racemes from axils or on branches are usually high in the tree and difficult to see. They can be green, white or cream with tiny petals about 5 mm long.

Fruiting can occur at any month. You can sometimes find the blue to purple fruit lying among the fallen leaves on the rainforest tracks. Their colour is often enhanced with a metallic sheen. The fruit is a drupe (fleshy with one or more seeds inside) and can be anything from the size of a small grape to that of a golf ball. The fruit is edible and has a higher Vitamin C content than oranges. It is best eaten when slightly over-ripe or it can taste bitter. It can be used in jams or pickles. Many bird species eat the fruit which is also eaten by Bush Rats, Spectacled Flying Foxes and Musky Rat Kangaroos.

The leaves of the Quandong are glossy and about 80 to 150 mm long. As it ages the leaf turns a bright red before dropping. Many can be seen at any time along the walking tracks.

The Quandong was highly valued by rainforest Aboriginal people. The fruit was recognised for its medicinal properties and as a food source. They would also make an edible paste from the ripe fruit. Shields were made from the large buttress roots.

Look for these spectacular trees next time you take a walk along one of the rainforest tracks.

Text & Photos by Colwyn Campbell

Shape Shifting Survivors – Slime Moulds

On New Year’s morning, there were a few million animals hanging out together on a decaying log on the forest floor on ‘H Track’, doing their thing. This is a Slime Mould, and most likely to be Physarum polycephalum, the Many Headed Slime Mould, and some of the things they do are quite funky.

Slime moulds are thought to be approximately 600 million years old, although some think they could be as old as a billion. They arrived on land as soon as there was land, making them hundreds of millions of years older than other animals or plants. So, okay, they have been around for a long time, but what are they?

Slime moulds are Protists, or single celled organisms, which like moist, humid, dark environments, such as the rainforest floor. They favour rotting and decaying vegetation, where they feed on micro-organisms, including fungi, algae and bacteria. A single slime mould cell, in favourable conditions exists as an Amoeba, basically a nucleous surrounded by cell fluid, contained within a membrane. Amoeba travel by moving this fluid within the flexible cell membrane in a process known as cytoplasmic streaming, which is handy when you need to hunt down your prey, before engulfing it with your body. But what about when food is scarce, and too difficult to find when you’re a microscopic bag of fluid?

Slime moulds form a plasmodium, which is the part of the life cycle shown in the photo. Huge numbers of single celled amoebae find each other in the environment using chemical signals, and join together, losing individual cell membranes to form a complex organism. This organism is also able to move to search for food, which it surrounds, before secreting enzymes to digest it. This is also the primary reproductive stage for slime moulds; if food runs out, conditions become too dry or receive too much light, the plasmodium begins to make spores. This is the stage the photographs show, with the bumpy bits (the many heads of our slime mould) containing the spores.

The spores are able to survive unfavourable environmental conditions for long periods of time. When conditions improve, the spores rupture, producing a single cell amoeba. However, if things get too wet, this amoeba is able to rapidly transform into a flagellated organism (a flagellum is a long, whip-like structure which helps the animal move in water, similar to swimming). This shape is also reversible when conditions are not quite so wet, and being an amoeba is more convenient.

But you don’t get to be nearly a billion years old without having a few more tricks up your sleeve. If life becomes uncomfortable at the plasmodium stage, the organism can become dormant, and it can survive like this for many years. Amoeba can also transform into cysts to survive when conditions are unfavourable. It’s kind of like being able to go into suspended animation whenever it’s too hot, too dry or too bright. Amoeba can also fuse with other single amoeba to form a reproductive organism, or a single amoeba can reproduce by just splitting. Plasmodia can also fragment or enter another dormant phase called a spherule which can survive indefinitely. So, Slime Moulds have lots of options, including shape shifting, mind (and body) melding and suspended animation to enable them to survive in this unpredictable and changeable world. And that’s why they’ve been around so long!

These amazing creatures have fascinated scientists, and provided many opportunities for research. They are easy to culture in laboratories, and provide a model organism to study amoeboid movement, cell motility, and other anatomical and physiological processes. The real surprise however is that slime moulds also provide opportunity for behavioural research. They have been observed finding food in mazes and forming networks between food sources to provide efficient nutrient transport that rivals our own transport design systems. These adaptable and resilient organisms will probably be around for the next billion years!

Text & Photos by Sarah Swan

Fascinating Fungi

Anyone visiting the Village Green in recent days will have noticed the amazing fungi that has sprung from the ground in the wood-chip mulch at the Trees In Memory. This fungi is commonly known as ‘Stinkhorn Fungi’ – distinctive for both its foul odour and phallic shape when mature.

Stinkhorn fungi are widespread throughout Europe and North America having been introduced into Australia. My research would suggest the specimens at the Village Green are the species Phallus impudicus. Stinkhorns occur in moist habitats rich in wood debris, such as the forest floor and gardens. This would explain why they are growing so happily in the wood chips at the Village Green.

The fungi emerges from an egg-shaped fruiting body in the ground. The fruiting structure (stalk) grows tall, up to 25cm, and it is white with a slimy white to brownish conical head. The head tends to darken in colour as the fungi matures. The head exudes a gelatinous slime which contains the spores. Insects such as flies are attracted by the foul smell of this spore-laden slime. Unlike many other fungi, the spores of stinkhorns are not distributed in the air, but by their insect visitors.

Make a point of visiting the Village Green in the near future to check out these amazing fungi. They may not last long, so don’t miss out on these fascinating and very smelly phallic fungi!

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

Monty’s Christmas Dinner

Walkers on the short ‘Paluma Rainforest Walk’ opposite the Community Hall last week came across a legless Paluma resident slowly heading home after a large Christmas feast in the village.

When this sizeable amethystine python (Morelia amethistina, aka scrub python) was first noticed the Saturday before Christmas not far from the start of the walking track (off Mount Spec Road) it had already finished Christmas dinner. By the size and shape of the bulge in its belly it seems most likely the festive feed was an unwary scrub turkey (Alectura lathami). It wasn’t until well after Christmas on the Thursday that the 3 metre-plus serpent slithered down the slope and stopped for a breather just beside the track.

The amethystine python is one of the six largest snakes in the world, as measured either by length or weight, and is the largest native snake in Australia and Papua New Guinea. It can be found throughout Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia. The largest known recorded specimen was 8.5 metres in length. The scrub python is non-venomous, but comes with with an awesome set of fangs and very quick reflexes.

It’s not unusual to find a scrub python stretched out across the road in and around the village of Paluma, enjoying the warmth of the bitumen and other times just on its way somewhere at its own slow pace. So motorists please take care!. If you can’t drive around, pull up and have a good look at one of the jungle’s most outstanding creatures while it crosses the road.

Text & Photos by Peter & Jan Cooke

The (Much Maligned) Brush Turkey of Paluma

Brush Turkey (Alectura lathami)

It is time tribute was paid to the much maligned Brush Turkey, the scourge of Paluma gardeners. It is just as much a member of the local birdlife as the Riflebird, Catbird and Satin Bowerbird, and deserves to be acknowledged as such. Yet so often, visitors to Paluma do not give the turkey a second glance so intent are they in spotting the rarer birds. On the other hand, some have mistaken the turkey’s identity and proudly report having seen a cassowary!

In spite of the curses bestowed on the turkey as he or she rummages through the garden, uprooting precious plants and redistributing carefully laid mulch, I suspect most people hold a sneaking affection for them. I find them rather endearing. When I moved to Paluma, I inherited three who roosted in a tree in my back garden. They waited each day at the back steps for breakfast scraps calling with their funny grunting clucks as they followed me to the edge of the forest where I put their food scraps out. Turkeys still have breakfast with me and are usually close by when I work in the garden.

Brush turkeys are expert foragers and are always on the look out for food on the forest floor.

At present the male turkeys are still dressed in the magnificent courtship plumage which they donned during spring when they felt the first pangs of love in the air, with bright yellow wattles hanging in fat coils from their crimson necks. So take a moment to admire them as they strut their stuff through the village. They have been working tirelessly for many weeks, raking leaves, throwing aside sticks and twigs, to build nesting mounds which can cover an area of around two metres square and be up to a metre and a half high.

Their big feet, (Brush Turkeys are Megapodes – meaning ‘big feet’), are useful tools for raking leaves for their nesting mounds and for foraging for food amongst the leaf litter on the forest floor and in our gardens.

A male turkey with his large yellow ‘wattle’ and look at those big feet!

The mound completed, the male has to entice females to lay eggs in it; several hens will oblige – with eggs not necessarily fertilized by the builder of the mound. The hen’s job done, off she goes. She provides no parental care other than providing eggs with particularly rich yolk which can feed the chick after it has hatched. The male turkey will satisfy himself that the eggs are deeply buried in the mound.

The decomposition of the leaves and mulch with which the mounds are constructed provide the heat required to incubate the eggs. He keeps watch, turning the mulch to maintain a constant temperature until the chicks are ready to hatch, (after about 50 days), then off he will go, his job also done.

After the chick hatches it rests for several hours absorbing nutrients from the yolk reserve. During this time its plumage dries and its lungs fill with air. Then it has to work its way out of the mound, an effort that takes on average, 40 hours. It will rest frequently, making a small cavity around itself which allows it to breathe. Once out of the mound, always during daylight hours, the chick has to fend for itself, making its way quickly to the shelter of shrubbery or vine thickets before dark to avoid predators such as dingoes, owls, pythons, carnivorous marsupials and feral cats. The chicks know instinctively to feed on grubs and insects in the leaf litter.

New chicks with their fluffy brown feathers and weighing only about 150 grams, are seldom seen: partly because they gain black feathers at only a few weeks old, partly because they stay concealed within the forest until they are near adult size, (at around 8 months old), but mainly because so many of them do not survive the first few months, falling victim to predators. A hen can lay up to 24 eggs in a season but sadly, of every 200 eggs laid only one will reach adulthood.

So; Salute the Brush Turkey – a battler and survivor.

For more reading, an excellent article on the Brush Turkey written by Dr Ann Goth may be found in Nature Australia (Spring 2005, Volume 28, Number 6).

Article by Colwyn Campbell & Turkey Photos by Michele Bird

Rainforest Tree of the Month, December 2018 – Glochidion hylandii

Rainforest Tree of the Month (December) – Glochidion hylandii

Around the world there are up to 300 species of Glochidion. In the rainforests of tropical Queensland there are 12 with Glochidion hylandii being the one most usually seen in and around Paluma. It is commonly known as Hyland’s Buttonwood and Pinflower Tree, which can be quite confusing as several other species, very similar in appearance, are also popularly named Pinflower, Buttonwood and Cheese Tree, the last presumably because the fruit is reminiscent of a round cheese.

Glochidion hylandii is a shrub or small tree growing to a height of up to 12 metres, usually to be found on the edges of rainforests or in revegetation areas as a pioneer tree. The leaves are simple, elliptic and between 30 and 150 mm long with clearly defined veins. Upper surfaces are smooth, or sparsely covered with fine hair while the undersurface is slightly waxy with fine brown hairs. Flowers, growing in the leaf axils are inconspicuous, being only 2 or 3 mm with 6 green sepals and no petals.

The fruit, about 12 to 15 mm x 8 to 10 mm, is a notable identifying feature of this tree. Nestling in the leaf axils, the pink and pale green fruit is more reminiscent of a padded cushion than a round cheese. It is actually a 5 or 6 valved capsule, containing white or cream seeds enclosed in a red or orange aril (fleshy membrane). Fruiting can occur at any time of year.

Wompoo Fruit-doves eat the fruit of Glochidion hylandii while other species of Glochidion attract a variety of birds such as Double-eyed Fig-parrots, Victoria’s Riflebirds, Silvereyes, Riflebirds and Lewin’s Honey-eaters.

Take a walk around Paluma. You will see many of these small trees, particularly among the vegetation on the road verges at either end of the village and along the Loop Road.

Article & Photos by Colwyn Campbell

Courtship in the Canopy Continues………

Update on Riflebird Courtship at Paluma

In a previous post (5 November 2018) I reported on the frenetic courtship activity of the Victoria’s Riflebird at Paluma during the height of the breeding season for these birds. I noted that many of the juvenile male birds were practising their skills at displaying for females.

While the young males continue to compete for the attention of females, the adult male birds are also displaying with all the finesse that maturity brings. I captured the elaborate courtship display of one adult male bird who managed to win over his female companion. The courtship ritual and display lasted for almost 10 minutes and was a sight to behold.

The adult male arrives and sits on his perch, scanning the forest canopy and calling in a loud raucous voice.

2. A female bird arrives and sits in a nearby tree. He is instantly alert and almost appears to take a bow in her direction.

3. He leaves his perch and flies into the nearby canopy to join her, sitting next to her on a branch. He puffs-up his whole body, raises his wings and the performance begins.

4. He displays frantically over and over with raised flapping wings until he has her full attention. She was looking quite disinterested for a time as the photographs show!.

5. Finally he has her full attention and they copulate. No photographs included here, privacy please!

6. He then flies back to his original perch and turns to display again, raising his wings in the direction of the female who is still sitting in the canopy.

What an amazing and remarkable bird and a truly memorable 10 minutes of my life! Right place at the right time. Or, just another day in the paradise called Paluma.

Article & Photographs by Michele Bird (no pun intended).

Rainforest Tree of the Month, November 2018 – Sloanea australis

Easy to overlook amongst the many trees in the rainforest, the Sloanea australis nevertheless draws attention when its fragrant, creamy white flowers bloom in September and October.

Worldwide, there are about 120 species of Sloanea –named for British scientist and collector Hans Sloan, who lived 1660 to 1753. Four species are endemic to Australia with three of these growing in tropical rainforests in Queensland. Sloanea australis is distributed between the Windsor Tableland and Paluma. Several of these trees may be seen on Mount Spec Road near the Sensory Trail at Paluma Environmental Education Centre where they grow among the stand of forest trees bordering the school property.

The tree grows to 30 meters and may be buttressed. Bark is grey/brown, very lightly textured. The obovate, simple leaves are a glossy green with wavy margins and clearly defined veins. Flowers are dainty with 4 to 6 creamy white slightly fleshy petals, about 6 to 12 mm long. They grow, usually in a short raceme from the leaf axils. They are modest little flowers and easily lost amid all the dense green foliage.

The fruit is more easily detected, its red-coated seeds immediately attracting attention. Ripening around February/March, the fruit is a brown or orange, very bristly, three-valved capsule which splits to reveal three shiny black seeds, encased in a red aril, (or fleshy growth). Already tiny fruit can be seen; not yet much bigger than match-heads, their spiky skins are un-mistakable. The seeds are eaten by many bird species.

Sloanea australis is known by several common names: Maidens Blush, Blush Alder and Blush Carbeen. These names are derived from the colour of the tree’s heartwood which is a blushing pink.

Without flowers or fruit to guide you, it may be difficult to locate one of these trees but have a go! At least, in Spring or Summer, when you come across the flowers or fruit, you may remember to which tree they belong.

Text and photos by Colwyn Campbell