The excitements of 23 October

We have joined a Mallacoota group who go for natural history walks on Wednesdays.  On 23 October the venue was the Captains Creek trail.

At the start of the walk large clumps of Pultenaea sp (I think P. mollis) were evident.

 At the usual spot we found an on-going clump of Caleana major, the Large Flying Duck orchid.  That simply started the appearance of this species which seemed to be everywhere along the track

 A few clusters of Lyperanthus suavolens (Brown Beaks) were also found early in the walk.

 Thelymitra ixioides (Spotted Sun-orchid), with variable amounts of spotting, were common.

Then I found this one: pure white apart for the tip of the labellum which didn't match anything in the book or the wisdom of those assembled.

Here is the leaf and stem. The species I looked at in the book all seemed to have a dark green leaf with red at the base.

 A close up of the column/labellum.

 On seeking advice from experts it appears that it is an albino form of Thelymitra ixoides. which s quite unusual.  That was thus the first excitement of the day.

There was a lot of Burchardia umbellata (known for some reason as Milkmaids) along the way.

 At the conclusion of the walk we went to Bucklands Jetty for tea and chat.  A very large mistletoe is growing in a nearby eucalypt.  I suspect it is Dendrophthoe vitellina which has large orange flowers and will be very pretty when it flowers.

 A member of the group found this jumping spider and demonstrated how it jumped (in this case from one finger to another) but kept a web harness.

 A group of kayakers - presumably from Marshmead - came by.

 We were joined by a nearby property owner who commented that 4 Topknot Pigeons had been observed in a fig tree in Radley Pl.  So after returning home I took myself off to check this site.  There they were.

 Here are the figs - of which there are a lot.  The tree will need to be checked frequently.

 Here is the whole tree.

 After a few minutes the Pigeons flew off to the North landing in a eucalypt and sitting there for a while.

The excitements continued on 24 October when I revisited Radley Place.  3 Topknot Pigeons were in the tree but soon retreated uphill.  However there were a good number of Australasian Figbird.  In case you wonder why they are called Figbirds check this female's beak.

 There is a male in there somewhere...

 ... also scoffing figs.