November 2015 Outing Report: “Highwoods”, Jimbour SEQ

Our November outing was conducted on the property “Highwoods” about ten minutes’ drive from the small Darling Downs settlement of Jimbour. The outing, which included a night’s camp out was held over the week-end of the 07^th and 08^th November with most attendees opting for a day visit only on the Sunday.

“Highwoods” is owned by Martin and Karen Ambrose of Dalby and Martin was on site for the weekend to show people around the property and share with us his knowledge of its fauna and flora over our stay. “High-woods” was purchased by the Ambroses in November 2012 and is named after Karen’s ancestral home in East Sussex in England; an area of extensive intact oak forest says Martin. The Antipodean “Highwoods” covers 188 acres and comprises elements of Regional Ecosystems R.E.11.8.5 and 11.8.3 that, in turn form part of the Brigalow Belt Bioregion (South) of Queensland. Although R.E.11.8.5 is stated to consist primarily of Eucalyptus orgadophila open woodland this eucalypt is not present on “Highwoods”, however a discontinuous canopy of other dominant species such as Corymbia erythrophila, E. melanophloia and E. crebra are present. A well-developed shrub layer is present under these trees including softwood scrub species forming both tall and low shrub layers. These include elements of R.E.11.8.5a such as Geijera parviflora, Callitris glaucophylla, Pittosporum angustifolium, Alectryon oleifolius and Notelaea macrocarpa. The ground layer is quite dense and dominated by species such as the grasses Aristida lazaridis, A. ramosa, Borthriochloa ewartiana, Dicanthium sericium, Chrysopogon fallax, Heteropogon contortus and Themeda triandra. Herbs present include Brunon-iella australis, Evolvulus alsinoides, Galactica tenuiflora and Indigofera linnaei. 

Regional Ecosystem 11.8.3 consists of semi-evergreen vine thicket that usually has emergent Acacia harpo-phylla present. However this species is absent from “Highwoods”. Dominant species in this R.E. include Eucalyptus spp. and Casuarina cristata. A feature of “Highwoods” and one of the deciding factors in Martin and Karen’s purchasing of the property is the many and magnificent Bottle Trees Brachychiton rupestris that have been retained including one individual known appropriately and affectionately as Fattso. 

Little short-nosed bat (insectivorous) (photo by Jean Gundry)

On the Saturday Martin and I arrived about midmorning to be joined by Lesley and Ben that evening to check three harp-traps that Martin and I had set up that day to try for microbats inhabiting the property. One trap proved successful taking one each of a female Little Broad-nosed Bat Scotorepens greyii and a male Little Forest Bat Vespadelus vulturnus; both new species for Martin’s property list.

The other two harp traps proved fruitless. Other species recorded during Martin’s and my rambles about “Highwoods” on the Saturday included Red-necked Wallaby, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, European Brown Hare, Brown Quail, Rock Dove, Crested Pigeon, Peaceful Dove, Straw-necked Ibis, Nankeen Kestrel, Brown Falcon, Galah, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Cockatiel, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Little Lorikeet, Red-winged Parrot, Pale-headed Rosella, Blue Bonnet, Red-rumped Parrot, Tawny Frogmouth, Southern Boobook, Pheasant Coucal, Channel-billed Cuckoo, Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo, Superb Fairy-wren, Variegated Fairy-wren, Weebill, Yellow-rumped Thornbill (nesting), White-throated Gerygone, Noisy Miner, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Brown Honeyeater, Striped Honeyeater, Grey-crowned Babbler, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, White-winged Triller, Australasian Figbird, Olive-backed Oriole, Pied Butcherbird (with nestlings), Australian Magpie, Torresian Crow, Common Myna, Silvereye, Zebra Finch and Plum-headed Finch. Most members who came for the weekend opted for the nocturnal comforts of the Bell Caravan Park whilst Martin and I spent the night under the star-spangled canopy of “Highwoods” around the campfire and in our swags. Not a mosquito to be heard/felt; a beautiful night with a Southern Boobook lullaby. 

Caper white ovipositing (Photo: Jean Gundry)

On the Sunday morning about 20 members rallied at “Highwoods” for a very good day’s natural historying. We visited several of Martin’s “special” places during the day all of which were generally short and easy ambles from our campsite. One of these included a dam that Martin has fenced to exclude stock and is now a riot of water plants and sedges including, on the day, the very attractive and profusely flowering Water Poppy Ottelia ovalifolia and Water Primrose Ludwigia montevidensis. This is a favourite spot of Martin’s and mine for Plum-headed Finch, which didn’t disappoint with all members getting good looks at these charming finches  that morning. Dragonflies and damselflies were also here in abundance including many Red and Blue Damsels Xanthagrion erythroneurum, also Common Bluetail Ischnura heterosticta, and the ubiquitous Blue Skimmer Orthetrum caledonicum and Scarlet Percher Diplacodes haematodes. Further on from the dam we entered an area of cypress where the find of the morning, and a “first” for “Highwoods” revealed itself in the guise of a male Common Nobbi Dragon Diporiphora nobbi with his show-off mauve flanks. Aside to this great little lizard others of his ilk that we recorded today were Lively Rainbow Skink Carlia vivax, Elegant Snake-eyed Skink Cryptoblepharus pulcher and Boulenger’s Snake-eyed Skink Morethia boulengeri. A veritable potpourri of species ended up on our list for these two delightful days of great sightings and good fellowship that included creatures as diverse as dung beetles, frogs and butterflies. Of these latter animals I’ve notes on two species of carcass beetles (Trogidae), a native dung beetle Onthophagus atrox, the introduced dung beetles Onthophagus gazella and Onitis viridulus as well as Cane Toad and Emerald Spotted Treefrog and the butterflies Orchard Swallowtail, Caper White and Tailed Emperor to which, no doubt, Lesley will add somewhat. 

Nobbi dragon (male) (Photo: Mike Ford)

By Sunday afternoon the weekend drew to a close and members dispersed to their respective destinations. As the shadows lengthened they heralded in a blustering, storm-driven evening in which Martin and I got trapped pulling down the harp traps; a frenzied conclusion to a weekend’s idyll but it all ended well in the long run and we both eventually headed home replete with the weekend’s adventures.

Report by Rod Hobson 

STORY OF A CORAL LICHEN - Cladia retipora

In 1791 Bruni d'Entrecasteaux's ships La Recherche and L'Esperance set sail from France for Van Diemen's Land in the hope of locating the lost expedition of La Perouse. Jacques-Julien de Labillardiere was one of the three naturalists included in the complement of 400 men (and one woman in disguise) aboard the two ships.  Sailing via Tenerife and the Cape of Good Hope they arrived in van Diemen's Land in 1792 and de Labillar-diere, then aged 37, set about collecting specimens which included a coral lichen. He was the first European to explore inland Tasmania.

Both d'Entrecasteaux and his succeeding expedition commander Huon de Kermadec died at sea. In 1794, when the ships reached Java, it was to discover that Louis XVI had been executed and the French were at war with the Dutch. The ships, crews and goods were seized be the Dutch and Labillardiere taken prisoner. Although able to retain his journal the collection of specimens was sent to Europe on the Dutch ship Hooghly. The following year this ship was captured by the British in the Atlantic, the English and Dutch also being at war, and the collection was taken to London as a Royal Navy Prize.

De Labillardiere was able to return to France in 1796 and set about trying to recover his collection. One of the letters was sent to his friend Sir Joseph Banks who returned the specimens to him unexamined because Banks believed "science should rise above political differences".

It was not until 1806 that a description of coral lichen was, for the first time, described in a scientific journal. In the second volume of Novae Hollandiae Plantarum it was classified as an alga Baeomyces retepous.

* When de Labillardiere died in 1834 his collection was acquired by Philip Barker Webb, an amateur botanist, and is still housed in a museum bearing Webb's name in Florence.

* Lichens are composite organisms of fungi and algae or cyanobacteria and by convention now bear the binomial name of the fungus.  

(By Diana Ball)

                                                                                                               

WHO’S A PRETTY BOY, THEN?

Hybrid animals occurring in natural populations are rare and always arouse quite a bit of interest within the natural history fellowship whenever they’re encountered. Birds are the most often reported from the vertebrate classes probably because of the high visibility of these animals and the increasing popularity of birdwatching within the general community. And within the Aves, parrots and cockatoos feature highly as either captive bred mutations or naturally occurring hybrids. Over the years I’ve encountered Australian King Parrot and Red-winged Parrot hybrids a couple of times in the wild but recently got a “first” at Lake Galletly on the University of Queensland’s Gatton campus.

Earlier this year I was at this very popular birdwatching venue with good friend and fellow birder Terry Reis. At one stage our attention was drawn to an odd-looking cockatoo in company of about six Little Corellas. The bird looked like a very pale, “washed-out” Galah and Terry and I had decided that it was indeed one of this species with some sort of pigment aberration. At least this is what we thought until the cocky flew off with the corellas and starting calling to them in “Corella”. It was then that we realised that the bird was actually a hybrid of this species and the very common Galah; an interesting observation duly noted in our field books – then promptly forgotten. Forgotten at least until Sunday 23^rd August when I was again birding in the Lockyer with another birdwatching friend Russell Jenkins over from his home in Japan for a couple of weeks.

On this morning we were at Pechey Swamp on Old Ropeley Road, Lower Tent Hill near Gatton. This is another very popular birdwatching venue but on this morning there was little to see. As we were preparing to leave a small flock of Little Corellas arrived at the water body with a pair immediately inspecting potential nesting hollows in the bankside eucalypts. In their midst was a bird very similar to, if not actually the same as the hybrid that Terry and I had seen at Lake Galletly a few weeks ago. Again it was obviously in company with the corellas and calling in the same vein. It was also apparent that it was an established member of this flock despite its odd plumage. A picture is worth a thousand words as the old saying goes and, as Russell is an excellent bird photographer, I have the luxury of two excellent images of this bird to illustrate this small offering. I firmly believe that the Lake Galletly and Pechey Swamp bird is one and the same animal; these waterbodies are not that far apart as the cocky flies.

In Australian Parrots Vol. 1 Loriinae and Cacatuinae Forshaw J.M. & Cooper W.T. (1980), Lansdowne Editions, Melbourne on p.119 under the account for the Galah it states that this species has been hybridised by aviculturists with Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Slender (Long)-billed Corella, Major Mitchell Cockatoo, Gang-gang Cockatoo and Little Corella. In the wild hybrids between Major Mitchell and Little Corella have been reported. Under the entry for Little Corella on p. 140 the species is stated to have hybridised in captivity with the Galah and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and in the wild with the Galah only.

It is curious how one subject leads to another when you start dragging books from your library shelf. My initial inquires in hybridisation of Australian parrots and cockatoos got me on to some other interesting titbits regarding these ubiquitous birds. In Ian Fraser’s and Jeannie Gray’s Australian Bird Names – a complete guide (2013), CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, we’re informed that the word ‘Cockatoo’ first appears in English in the early 1600’s in the form ‘Cock-a-two’ and its origin is the Malay word kakatua (probably onomatopoetic in origin), which was incorporated into Dutch as kakatoe. Vieillot (1817) is believed to have used ‘cockatoo’ based on the call of ‘white cockatoos’.

Corella is derived from an Australian indigenous language although which one is unclear. The Australian National Dictionary has suggested it to be derived from the Wiradjuri garala whereas the Australian Oxford agrees but suggests the root word is garila. Galah is believed to have come from gilaa from the Yuwaalaraay language group on north-western New South Wales. The Galah has a host of other old monikers mostly derived from the indigenous peoples’ names for this lovely animal including Goolie, Goulie, and Willock. I particularly like Willie-willock thought to be a corruption of wilek-wilek from the Wembawemba of the Riverina and Wim-mera of southern Australia. The Galah’s scientific name Eolophus roseicapillus literally translates as ‘rosy-haired dawn-crest’; brings to mind Homer’s “rosy-fingered dawn”; Eos being the Greek goddess of Dawn and part of the Galahs’ generic epithet.

And so it goes … words – how lovely they are and what a fine tracery they weave through our language; end-lessly if you’ve a mind for it but I’d better stop now. Our Goolie is hanging by his feet from the roof of his cage clamouring for attention; a rose-mantled Narcissus with the screech of a Harpy.   

Article by Rod Hobson, photos by Russell Jenkins