Outing Report: Sunday 05 MAY to McEWAN STATE FOREST

The weekend of our May outing to Mc Ewan State Forest didn’t get off to an auspicious start. The Saturday saw the general area around Toowoomba and Pittsworth shrouded in cloud with intermittent showers through-out the day. It certainly looked like our Sunday field day was going to be put on the back burner, however it evolved into one of those magnificent autumn days; clear and brisk under a cloudless blue sky. It was one of those “great-to-be-alive’’ days that south-east Queensland can pull out of its hat this time of year. And there was a good number of Club members, family and friends on hand to take advantage of the lovely weather. I always find it a joy to join these sorts of people in the field especially when I have the privilege of being the outing’s leader although “leader” is a fairly flexible definition with this mob. Participants on a Toowoomba Field Nats excursion emulate the inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem. By their own volition they are “scattered to the four winds” and leader is really only a titular title. I managed to attach myself to a small group of about six participants, so this account is very much skewed towards our perspective of the day but, nevertheless, at most times throughout the morning I could see small knots of people scattered over McEwan’s bluegrass flats like grazing antelope on the Serengeti. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. 

We wandered aimlessly without any fixed purpose enjoying things as the presented. It’s peculiar what takes a naturalist’s fancy and our group was particularly enthralled when a lone red velvet mite put in an appearance trundling purposefully over the damp ground like a miniscule, red and hairy turtle. I love these little creatures that belong to a cosmopolitan family of arachnids, the Thrombidiidae of the order Aracina. The Aracina is very little researched and understood in Australia with just 31 described species that probably only represents about 5% of that order in our country. Many of the red velvet mites are large (for a mite), short-haired and brilliantly red, as their common name suggests. Our specimen fitted this description to a tee. It was impossible to identify our little dandy to species level, but it likely belonged to either the genus Parathrombium (11 Australian species) or Allothrombium (five Australian species). Wet weather seems to get velvet mites going and the large northern Indian species, the Giant Velvet Mite Thrombidium grandissimum is also known by the quaint moniker, the Little Old Lady of the Monsoon. It is great to come upon these peasant names that show how in touch these rural people are with their natural world, something we have lost in the hurly burly of our modern-day life. What a pity.

Our group had a good morning with the invertebrates also encountering large numbers of nymphs of the Soapberry Bug Leptochoris tagalicus. This bug can appear in its millions at times although we didn’t encounter any adults this day. Like the red velvet mite their similar colouration likely advertises their unpalatability to predators, which seemed apparent when we encountered several trundling over an active nest of the Meat Ant Iridomyrmex purpureus with impunity. The local pestiferous Velvety Tree Pear Opuntia tomentosa was getting a thorough working over by the Cochineal Mealy Bug Dactylopius opuntiae. This plant is host specific for this very effective control insect. This is not the case with the Cactoblastis Moth Cactoblastis cactorum however, and we saw both Velvety Tree Pear and Prickly (Pest) Pear Opuntia stricta being ravaged by the caterpillars of this very useful insect. Neither are likely to run out of tucker any time soon, though.

Our tally for fauna sightings for the day was 20 bird species, two species of lizard, one native land snail, one dragonfly, six butterflies including the splendid Satin Azure Ogyris amaryllis, two bug species, and one moth. The botanists appear to have had a good outing, as well, as is evidenced by Lisa Churchward’s excellent list. It was a great day and it’d be good to visit this state forest in the spring, especially if we have some good rain, for a completely different suite of its denizens.

Nats at McKewan Forest (Photo: Lisa Churchward)

(Report by Rod Hobson)

Our species list for the day is:

Lizards: Boulenger’s Snake-eyed Skink Morethia boulengeri, and *Straight-browed Ctenotus Ctenotus spaldingi.

Birds: Speckled Warbler, Weebill, Spotted Pardalote, Striated Pardalote, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Grey-crowned Babbler, Australasian Figbird, Olive-backed Oriole, Rufous Whistler, Golden Whistler, Grey Butcherbird, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Torresian Crow, Silvereye, Mistletoebird and Double-barred Finch. Butterflies and Moths: Lesser Wanderer, Cabbage White, White Migrant, Meadow Argus, Satin Azure, Common Grass Blue and Cactoblastis Moth. Other Invertebrates: Nomadic Velvet Snail Neveritis aridorum, Meat Ant, Australian Emperor Anax papuensis (dragonfly), Soapberry Bug, Cochineal Mealy Bug and a red velvet mite (family Thrombidiidae)

*known as Striped Ctenotus Ctenotus robustus in some field guides. Taxonomy of this skink disputed by some researchers.

Plant List – (compiled by Lisa Churchward).

Euycalypts: Eucalyptus cerebra NARROW LEAFED IRONBARK.  Dry Rainforest Trees:  Geijera salicifolia SCRUB WILGA, Pittosporum angustifolium GUMBY GUMBY, Elaeodendron australe RED OLIVE PLUM, Psydrax odorata SWEET SUZIE, Alectryon diversifolius SCRUB BOONAREE, Alectryon pubescens HAIRY BOONAREE, Brachychiton populneus KURRAJONG, Alphitonia excelsa SOAP ASH, Notelaea macrocarpa SMALL FRUITED MOCK OLIVE, Auranticarpa rhombifolia GOLDEN HOLLYWOOD, Denhamia bilocularis HEDGE ORANGE BARK. Wattles: Acacia decora PRETTY WATTLE, Acacia irrorata GREEN WATTLE.

Shrubs: Beyeria viscose STICKY WALLABY BUSH, Santalum lanceolatum NORTHERN SANDALWOOD, Rhagodia parabolica FRAGRANT SALTBUSH, Dodonaea viscosa NARROW LEAFED HOPBUSH, Dodonaea sinuolata THREADY LEAF HOPBUSH, Senna Coronilloides BRIGALOW SENNA, Cassinia Laevis COUGH BUSH, Teucrium junceum SQUARE STEMMED BROOM.

Forbs, Lilies and Ground Covers: Dianellia brevipendunculata SHORT STEMMED BLUE FLAX LILY, Eremophila debilis DEVIL’S or WINTER APPLE, Olearia elliptica STICKY DAISY BUSH, Chrysocephalum apiculatum BILLLY BUTTONS, Einadia nutans RED-FRUITED and YELLOW-FRUITED SALTBUSH.

Climbers: Jasminium simplicifolium STIFF JASMINE, Parsonsia lanceolata ROUGH SILK POD, Eustrephus latifolius WOMBAT BERRY.

Grasses: Austrostipa verticillata SLENDER BAMBOO GRASS, Cymbopogon refractus BARBED WIRE GRASS, Dicanthium sericeum Subsp sericeum QUEENSLAND BLUE GRASS.