Jones Creek Rd and thereabouts

 We went for an explore on 29 August.  The objective was to visit a couple of sites on (or near) Jones Creek Rd and then use WB Line Rd to cross to Chandlers Creek and explore spots on the West Cann Rd to Norinbee. 

The first stop was about 1.5km past the Drummer track at a site where Glossy Black-Cockatoos have been recorded in the past.  On the side of the road were quite a few Caladenia catenata.

And many specimens of Hovea heterophylla.

This is definitely a Leucopogon!  Possibly L. parviflorus.  iNaturalist has gone for L. affinis.

Patersonia occidentalis: flowers above the foliage.

Coronidium scorpioides

Lots of Hakea decurrens.

This is even more attractive in close up.

Goodness me I got confused when looking at this image.  What is it of: my eyes focused on the fuzzy blue bits rather than the masses of Allocasuarina cones!  The latter is what should attract the Golossies if they are in the vicinty.  Not only were the birds not in the area, none of the trees had chewings under them, suggesting Glossies haven't been around any time recently.

Our next stop was off Horse Hill Track (or Leptomeria Track).  The target there was White-throated Nightjars seen several times last Summer.  I have since  read the species account in HANZAB  regarding movements of these birds: it seems that they are migrants and the birds seen here are likely to still be in Queensland!  Damn, but at least it explains why we didn't find them.  

This is an Allocasuarina flower: about 6 times life size!

Nearby was a flowering Wonga Vine (Pandora pandorea).

After we paused to photograph the vine a loud squeak was emitted by Frances.  She expanded on this as being due to "A bloody great snake."   Apparently it was well fat (about as thick as an upper arm) but length not assessed.  As I peered back there was  no sign of the reptile, so presumably it was under cover, hissing to the effect that "Two bloody humans nearly stepped on me."

The road sign has 2 bob each way on the track name!

Having failed on Nightjar spotting we headed along Jones Creek Rd, finding out where Jones Creek crosses it.  Another sign here pointed to WB Line road crossing the bridge and suggesting "4WD recommended".  I have been told the road is not especially well maintained at this end.

Here is the mighty Jones: not exactly in flood.

Just over the bridge the road kicks up and a couple of road works cones marked a boggy patch.   High Range 4WD dealt with that.  On up the road noting that there seemed to  be a bit of erosion here, and also there.  WE got to the junction with the Ivor Track and were pleased to see it well signed.  Unfortunately there was also an erosion crevasse in W B Line Rd: not that wide (could easily have been straddled) but about 60 cm deep.  Having had 2 patches of grot in what Google Earth (GE) told me later was 2.3 km (the yellow section below) was a bit of a worry.  The total length of the track to Beehive Falls seemed to be about 25 km so the prospects of getting through without a winch (which we don't have) seemed a little unlikely.  So we did a 5 point turn and headed back.

Looking closely at this image from GE suggests that while the road more or less runs along a ridge there are plenty of places where it dips in to the head of a gully with much scope for mud and erosion.  This confirms the high quality of my decision to turn back.  (I have since been told that the road is closed at the far end, most likely because of a lot of fallen trees across the road.  There also a lot of steep sections which could have been badly eroded by recent bad weather.)

As we got back to Jones Creek Rd Frances commented that she had seen a bank of Pomaderris as we drove in.  We found an isolated plant fairly soon.  It was, by the standards of that genus, very colourful.  I have put all following photos of Pomaderris on to iNaturalist, expecting to be told that I have missed out all the key features.  However my bet on this one is P. elliptica due to the bright colour and the wavy leaf margin visible in the second image.

I had no idea below genus for this one. iNatuaralist has said P. lanigera.

This is a third species of Pomaderris.  I will have a punt at P. intermedia due to the venation and the yellow colour of the one open floret (see image below) we found!  It is a fairly good match to images of this species in Flora of Victoria.

There were very few flowering beans around.  This one is Platylobium parviflorum (although the taxonomists seem to be as confused as usual. with some mention of it being a subsepcies of P. formosum).

This species caused a little difficulty until iNaturalist suggested Bauera rubioides, at which point I remember being confused by this species in the past.

Genoa Peak stands out very nicely in this area!

Getting back to the highway we swung in to Genoa Creek track.  As hoped for there were a few (~10)  Caladenia caerulea near the start of the track under the powerlines.

A small, but rather lurid Acacia becomes I think A brownii: Naturalist agrees with me.

Both myself, Flora of Victoria agree that this is Epacris obtusifolia.

An early clumpf of sawfly larvae (aka spitfires).

Our final stop was the Genoa Creek Falls.  A nice flow of water.

Getting back to the car park there I noticed a small cluster of Caladenia carnea (based on the shape of the dorsal sepal).

August 2022 Bird Report

 August 2022 has been rather quiet on the birding front at least in terms of diversity I have been able to detect for reports to eBird and Birdata.  The total number of species reported was 118: the lowest of the 4 Augusts since we purchased our property here.  My feeling is that there were relatively few birding visitors in town this month, and we were away for 10 days.  As always, it is possible that there will be later reports apparent when the full eBird database becomes available.

Here is a summary situation over time.

A full species list is here.

Looking at the number of species classified to broad category is always interesting.

The slight over-representation of waterbirds seems to be  a balance between some less common species in this category being seen regularly  

• Striated Heron - now seen every month; Lewin's Rail - seen in several sites recently; and Pied Cormorant - not usually seen but has been in several sites this month

and other expected (but not common) species being missing:

• White-fronted Tern and Nankeen Night Heron.

The other outperforming categories are Honeyeaters and Flycatchers, possibly reflecting the resumption of a La Nina weather pattern.

The two most notable species are Brown Cuckoo-Dove which returned to the garden in Gipsy Point towards the end of the month and Lewin's Rail seen regularly near the town end of the Lagoon Boardwalk (and one crossing the road near Genoa).  As the latter is rated as threatened in Victoria this is an important development.  Another good bird was the Square-tailed Kite hunting over Stingray Point on the 31st.

In terms of seasonal matters:

• Breeding  season is beginning with several species demonstrating a range of behaviours applicable to this category.  They are indicated in the linked Google Sheet.
• Migrants have begun to appear, most notably Fan-tailed Cuckoos, Olive-backed Orioles and Scarlet Honeyeaters.  While a few Yellow-faced Honeyeaters overwinter they have returned in numbers with their song very evident through the bush.

To do with birds

 I'm putting this image first to get it on Facebook.  It was get explained a bit further down.

My first effort today was a bike ride to Bucklands to see if the Nankeen Night-Herons were around.  They weren't, as far as I could tell.  En route I checked the huge fig tree opposite the school bus stop for fruit: very little that I could see,

Getting past Mullet Creek I looked back at the jetties and realised that I had 5 species of Cormorant and relatives in one image!

1 Little Pied Cormorant; 2 Little Black Cormorant; 3 Great Cormorant;
4 Pied Cormorant, 5 Australasian Darter

I have previously managed to get these 4 Cormorant species + Black-face Cormorant in one shot (on the Breakwater at Glenelg SA) but never before 4 Cormorants and a Darter.

Here is a closer shot of the Great Cormorant and the Pied Cormorant.

A little further along Lakeside Drive (the jetty near Schnapper Point Drive) I spotted a familiar shape on the jetty.

Yes!  A Squidgy Heron.

I came back over Stingray Point mainly to check the figs by the grassy area,  Both trees seemed covered with fruit so will I think be good for Figbirds, Topknot Pigeons and Channel-billed Cuckoos a little later in the season.  On the way down the hill I saw this person checking things out.  Laid back as usual and only about 1.8m off the ground.

We then went off to the Bunker Museum site to check out the BLA nest boxes to see if there was any activity.  The opening image is me preparing to insert Caroline's pole camera into one of the boxes.  (That was the second highest we found: I couldn't get the probe in the highest.)  Here is the route we followed: the pink ring is the site of the Bunker.

In total there are 33 boxes here: 20 put up by BLA and 13 by the Historical Society.  We found 26 of them, but none were currently occupied.  Here is a link to a summary.

Mainly seasonal stuff

 Of course with that title, my first two snaps are not seasonal: sunrises occur daily and colourful ones at any season!  The first view is from the deck looking North (as proven by Mt Imlay).

The second was from the Street, with a good bit more East in the orientation.

My main outing for the day was to the Waste Water Treatment Plant (aka poo pits) to hopefully add a couple of missing species to the monthly list.  I walked in from the Tip, seeing some nice bush along the way.  Acacia longifolia is getting its act well together.

A less flamboyant wattle is Acacia myrtifolia.

As always Spyridium parvifolium stands out in the bush because of the white, dusty-looking, leaves (hence the vernacular name "Dusty Miller").  The flowers are tiny and not all all obvious unless really looking closely.

Epacris impressa is beginning to impress.

Hardenbergia violacea is crawling up in most places.

Australian Shelduck were in the usual numbers (I think at least 10) on the ponds.  This group of 4 appeared to be in a mating display.

At times both the males adopted this position.  From reading the accounts in HANZAB for several Shelduck species this appears to be a response by the male to incitement by a female.

I noticed this Black-fronted Dotterel in a cleared area.  I subsequently noted 3 others in a gravelled area, which would appear to offer nest site potential.  As none of them did a distraction display I assume they haven't yet laid their eggs.

Some could define a bird as "a thing with wings" in which case a passing Roulette could fit the bill.  It did one lap of the town then one of the pits before heading back in the general direction of Sale.