Beware the Aliens

Fox shit! How interesting is that? Why am I wandering around Mt Tarrangower and examining the faeces of Vulpes vulpes, the Red Fox? Well, it's all part of understanding the distribution of the Wheel Cactus, Opuntia robusta, a difficult to eradicate, introduced species threatening our bushland and farms.

Mid-winter and there is still fruit on the Wheel Cactus. This impressive foreigner with its obvious round grey-green wheels, its bright yellow flowers and then the dark red fruit, is now firmly established on the mountain and many properties close by. Classified as a noxious weed, the cactus is proving difficult to control and for the most part this is due to a lack of manpower coupled with some landholder inertia.

Autumn Abuzz

I always think that autumn should be a quiet time, a time when nature winds down from its frantic spring and summer activities and readies itself for the solitude of winter. But that doesn't seem to have happened this year. But then it didn't happen last year either.

The insect world is abuzz. European Wasps are about in plague proportions sending outdoor eateries into disarray and a new native Paper Wasp nest appeared suddenly under the neighbour's front porch eave this week, the wasps already busy raising a brood. Incidentally, the sting from this wasp, while painful, last only a short time. Immediate swabbing with vinegar is one suggestion to alleviate pain.

The Not So Common Koel 

During a conversation with a visitor from Canberra recently I mentioned our lone Common Koel. 

For those of you who don't know, the Common Koel is native to the wetter coastal areas of New South Wales. It is particularly common in Sydney where it can be observed close-up in garden and street trees. A male bird arrived in Maldon late last December and its strong distinctive call, starting at around 4.30 am has been noticed by many residents. 

If you are confronted by a shiny blue-black bird around the size of a magpie and with bright ruby-red eyes, you are looking at our avian visitor.

GOLDEN WHISTLER

How wonderful it is to see some of our less common native birds in the town and in our gardens. Planting flowering Australian shrubs, and if possible, trees like our indigenous Grey Box or Yellow Gum or a flowering Ironbark, provides the food and the incentive for their visits. The exotic Eastern Spinebills who visit our small garden regularly in autumn and winter, only come to feed on the tubular flowers of the Correas in the pots beside the glass doors of the dining area, and in spring, the bottle-brush over near the shed.

We do not have many significant songbirds in our region. Most common would be the Grey Shrike-thrush with its musical song. This bird might visit you as it moves between bush-land and the larger gardens with native trees and with leaf-litter where it forages before flying onto the lower tree branches to sing.

But there is a bird, which once seen and heard, will never be forgotten. It most often visits in autumn and winter. We were lucky enough to have one visit our garden a couple of years ago and which stayed around for almost a week. The Golden Whistler Pachycephala pectoralis is beautiful to look at and to listen to. You will seldom see the bird up close, as it tends to feed high up in the canopy of taller trees. The song is loud and clear and very beautiful, but, as happened to me, I could hear the Whistler clearly as though it was very close, but it took quite a long time to locate it much higher up in the tree than I first thought.

Our birds are always interesting. They are constantly on the move in search of food, be it nectar for the honey-eaters, or insects for the smaller birds, Wrens, Robins, Pardalotes, Thornbills and others. Sometimes you won’t know they are there until you walk out into the garden.

Try keeping a pair of binoculars close to the back door or the kitchen window. On a cold winter’s day in Maldon, it’s well worth it.