The Macalba

The dogs and I go for a 6½ km (4 miles) walk each morning just on sunrise – the golden hour (assuming the sun's not obscured by clouds or fog).

A few mornings ago we came across this swarm of bees.

A tea tree (Leptospermum sp.) with a swarm of bees hanging from a branch.

#sunrise #rural #wildlife #wildOz

Frogs identified by the FrogID project

I joined the Australian Museum’s FrogID project in early 2020 to be able to then submit audio recordings of frog calls, via their FrogID app, from each of our dams. The project has identified more frog species than I expected:

Crinia sp.

– Eastern sign-bearing froglet (Crinia parinsignifera) – Common eastern froglet (Crinia signifera)

Limnodynastes sp.

– Eastern banjo frog (Limnodynastes dumerilii) – Spotted marsh frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis)

Litoria sp.

– Bleating tree frog (Litoria dentata) – Eastern dwarf tree frog (Litoria fallax) – Broad-palmed frog (Litoria latopalmata) – Peron's tree frog (Litoria peronii) – Desert tree frog (Litoria rubella) – Whistling Tree Frog (Litoria verreauxii)

Uperoleia sp.

– Smooth toadlet(Uperoleia laevigata)

How common is each species?

With 127 recordings, as at November 2022, here's the number of occurrences of each species: 86 Crinia parinsignifera 73 Limnodynastes tasmaniensis 64 Crinia signifera 60 Uperoleia laevigata 37 Litoria fallax 34 Litoria peronii 10 Litoria latopalmata 5 Litoria dentata 1 Litoria verreauxii 1 Litoria rubella 1 Limnodynastes dumerilii

Sawfly larvae in the foreground on a gravel road, trees in the background.

Spitfire sawfly larvae moving en-masse along the road on a cool autumn morning.

Spider in its web with a string of its old prey nearby. The spider looks poised to spring at its next victim.

“Will you walk into my parlour?” said a spider to a fly …”