by Tanya | May 23, 2023 | eucalypts, Gang gang cockatoo, insects, Sawflies
Spitfires are a well known but somewhat mysterious feature of the Australian bush. What are they? Particularly tough caterpillars? They are actually the young of an insect called a sawfly – which is not a fly at all but a benign relative of wasps. There are about 200...
by Tanya | Apr 14, 2023 | citizen science, eucalypts
The first time I really ‘met’ a Snow Gum was not in classic Snow Gum habitat; on top of a mountain in the high country. This Snow Gum was by the Campaspe River, on a private property in Ashbourne, west of Woodend. The landholders had done a capital job of restoring...
by Tanya | Jan 20, 2021 | eucalypts, wombats
In late November I visited a couple of landholders in Eganstown – and discovered a new lovely spot! Sue has been getting into permaculture and bee-keeping in a big way, and got in touch wondering if I could visit their property and identify the local eucalypt...
by Tanya | Jul 27, 2017 | breeding behaviour, eucalypts, feeding signs, Gang gang cockatoo
Gang gang cockatoos are known mainly in this district for their habit of feasting on Hawthorn berries in Autumn. But one Winter delight I am privileged to witness is the behaviour of a family of gang gangs on my bush block! Gang gangs are small, stocky cockatoos that...
by Tanya | Feb 2, 2017 | eucalypts, flowering, marsupials
The Messmates are in flower! This year’s flowering event is a rich fulsome flowering, each tree covered in masses of small white flowers, and the surrounding air alive with insects and honeyeaters. This is wonderful to see after the sad, impotent flowering of drought...
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