Invertebrates all over

This is a somewhat delayed post covering a range of invertebrates we have seen recently.  

The first example is a leaf beetle (I think Paropsisterna octolineata) initially  found on Bastion Beach just above the high water mark.  In view of the black-red pattern I initially called it the Bomber Beetle in recognition of the Essendon Football Club.

I have no idea what a leaf beetle was doing on a sandy beach relatively far from any leaves but assume it had been blown there by the frisky winds we have recently experienced.

A couple of days later we were at the Gun Club Heath looking for orchids (we found a good lot of Horned Orchids, all fertilised) and found another example clinging to a grass stalk.  As noted on Brisbane Insects "It did not try to escape from our disturb, not fly away nor drop to ground as other leaf beetles often do."

There was also a single specimen of Paropsis atomaria in the vicinity.  This is a common species in the area and I have seen t many times this year.

Reverting to our visit to the beach, there were also quite a few other beetles on the sand.

I think this is  what has been identified on iNaturalist.org as Subtribe Lagriina.  Thus far no-one has been game to go below that level.  Again I assume the insects have been blown out of the bush.

We were primarily looking for birds (hardly any about, probably as a result of the large number of bathers and fisherpersons in the area) so left the beach and explored the sandbars.  The most interesting sighting was a congregation of crabs lining a residual pool of water.  They were very active, seeming to be more interested in fighting each other than mating.  After posting these images - the crabs were underwater when snapped - on iNaturalist they have been identified as Carcenas maenas, European Green Crab.

The Museum Victoria Field Guide  "Crabs, hermit crabs and allies" comments that it is an introduced species first recorded in Port Phillip Bay in 1900 and more recently spread to areas including Mallacoota Inlet.

  

Weather Report: December 2020

 In summary mild and damp(ish).  I come to that conclusion as the temperature anomaly was within 0.1C of the long term mean and the rainfall was 105% of the long term median.  WRT temperature the anomaly was basically a balance between above average minima (17 days) and below average maxima (23 days). 

I have included below some graphs showing how December 2020 was cooler and more humid than December 2019.

Rainfall

As noted in the preamble the fall (68 mm) was a little over median (65 mm) but a little under the mean (69 mm).  It was very much over the miserable 6 mm recorded in December 2019.

Clearly we had one major event (22nd -23rd) that accounted for most of the fall.

A chart of the time series of December rainfall shows how variable the falls are.  The upper bound of the 95% confidence interval is 152 mm which was exceeded in 2004 and 2018.  (The lower bound is below zero!)  Obviously there is no point trying to fit a trend to this.

C

Temperatures

My overall measure of the temperature - the anomaly - is the difference between the average temperature for the month and the long term mean monthly temperature.  For this I use only BoM data to avoid the biasing effect of my WS having warmer maxima than the BoM site.  Overall the month ended up with an anomaly of +0.09C, which I regard as being effectively zero.

As has been the case for most months in recent years, as noted in the preamble this outcome is the balance between above average minima and below average maxima.  

The daily extremes show a warm start to the month and a warm spell in the middle but overall mild temperatures.

Maximum temperatures

The average maximum temperature from my WS was slightly above the average (mainly BoM data) but very much below the value for 2019.  

In December 2019 we had 6 days above 30C (peaking at 40.1C on the 30th) while in 2020 the maximum was 29.1C.  (Setting the boundary as a maximum of 25C , that was exceeded on 13 days in 2019 but only 7 days in 2020.)

It is instructive to look at the daily maximum temperatures for December 2019 and 2020.  The build up of heat late in 2019 is clear.  (Note: these are from my WS: the BoM site became unreliable on the 31st as it recorded 60C (and 80 kph winds) when the firefront passed through the site.)

Minimum Temperatures

As indicated above the minima were generally above average: this applies to both the BoM data and my WS which are usually very close in this parameter.

Humidity

As would be expected for the number of days with a non-trivial rainfall the month seems to show quite high levels of humidity from both morning and afternoon readings, with very few readings below 50%

To look further into this I have plotted the average rH readings from my WS by hour for the month and compared it with the overall average values for each hour.  (This is possibly a tad daft, as humidities are higher in the colder months but it is difficult to get many readings form other sources.)  I was surprised to see that only the mid-day humidities were above "average'.

To get a better comparison I compared average hourly humidities for December 2019 and 2020.  Clearly 2020 was moister through the day.

The next two graphs give comparisons for the average rH at the standard humidity times of 0900 and 1500 hrs.  Both well above 2019 and the early time well above the historic BoM average as well.

Wind

Overall about an average month for wind.

On a daily basis the run recorded at home was particularly long on the 14th and 15th, giving the longest 2 day run I have recorded here.  Those two days stand out in a comparison with December 2019, but the rest of the month is not noteworthy.  I cannot work out how to get (without spending serious coin) daily runs from BoM.

The direction of the wind over the month was similar for hourly direction and gust.  The emphasis on wind from the ESE was typical for the month (as far as my limited data can suggest).

A draft poem

 It is well known that Henry Lawson spent some time in Mallacoota (apparently trying to dry out - a strange place to come for that purpose).  It is less well know that he left behind a manuscript of a poem, subsequently reworked by John O'Brien.  

Having heard a few complaints recently about low temperatures I thought I would reveal Lawson's unknown gem.

SAID Hanrahan

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,

In accents most forlorn,

Outside the church, ere Mass began,

One frosty Summer’s morn.

 

The congregation stood in turn,

Boardshorts to their knees,

And talked of waves, and fish, and sunburn,

As it had done to please.

 

"It's lookin' crook," said Daniel Croke;

"Bedad, it's cruke, me lad,

For never since the banks went broke

Has seasons been so bad."

 

"It's cold, all right," said young O'Neil,

With which astute remark

He squatted down upon his heel

And chewed a piece of bark.

 

And so around the chorus ran

"It's keepin' cool, no doubt."

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,

"Before the year is out.

 

"The tans are pale; ye'll likely fail

To spot one dusky chest;

From here as far as Bairnsdale

They're ashen to the West.

 

"They're singin' out for sun," he said,

"And all the tanks are full."

The congregation scratched its head,

And talked a load of bull.

 

"There won't be warmth, in any case,

Enough to heat an ass;

There's lots of cloud o’er Casey's place

As I came through the grass."

 

"If heat don't come this month," said Dan,

And cleared his throat to speak--

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,

"If sun don't shine this week."

 

A heavy silence seemed to steal

On all at this remark;

And each man squatted on his heel,

And chewed a piece of bark.

 

"We want a week of 35, we do,"

O'Neil observed at last;

But Croke "maintained" we need a month of that (or two)

To put the coldness past.

 

"If we don't get some centuries, man,

(Imperial terms to use),

We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,

"all get all of us the blues."

 

In God's good time out came the sun;

And all the afternoon

On iron roof and window-pane

It flamed like Pommie June.

 

And through the week it scorched still,

And lightsome, gladsome elves

On browning grass and distant hill

Kept talking to themselves.

 

It sizzled, sizzled all week long,

A-stinging in its heat,

Till every heart took up the song

Down each and every street.

 

And every creek no longer ran,

And dams dried up and cracked;

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,

"If this heat soon isn’t packed."

 

And packed it was, in God's good time;

And autumn came in to fold

A mantle o'er the hills sublime

Of green, not brown and and gold.

 

And days went by into the weeks,

With skiing-hopes intense,

And laughing eyes beheld the peaks

With snowfields so immense.

 

And, oh, the smiles on every face,

As happy lad and lass

Through frozen grass on Casey's place

Went riding up the pass.

 

While round the church in clothes genteel

Discoursed the men of mark,

And each man squatted on his heel,

And chewed his piece of bark.

 

"There'll be floods for sure, me man,

When this lot melts;

We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,

"So tighten up your belts."

Home and (a little way) away.

 On the last morning of 2020 (the worst year I can remember - so far, 2021 looks to be offering some competition) some of the local New Holland Honeyeaters visited flowers in our garden.  Each one was peered at closely to make sure it wasn't a White-cheeked Honeyeater.

The first image features a garlic flower!  Taken through 3 sheets of glass.

Visiting a Canna and trying to imitate a Hummingbird.

In the afternoon we visited Quarry Beach, close to low tide.  Despite the tide not being really low (0.2m rather than 0.02m) the beach was very wide and lots of rock exposed.  A colourful crab - or as we saw on an exhibit card in the Dar es Salaam Museum 'crap' - was hiding in a crevice.

In the Eastern part of the beach the exposed rocks were hosting many mussel shells.  Doing a very rough calculation from counting a sample of the shells in this image I think it shows about 1200 mussels.  Taking a couple of rough guesses that this was 1 of 10 colonies on this rock, and there were about 20 similarly sized rocks in this part of the beach gives about 2,400,000 mussels!

Not so plentiful but in crevices at the Western end of the beach were lots of Turban shells.

And a few Seastars, of various colours.

The tide was out so far that some of the bull kelp was visible.

At the West end a lot of Chitons were sucked on to rocks.  This was one of the biggest.

Also a Triton.

The west end of Quarry beach.

Looking East from Secret Beach.

Secret Beach wasn't so secret!

A good map of the area at the Quarry Beach carpark.

On the way home we called in at the Davis Beach car park to see if any of the Solanum aviculare fruit had turned colour yet.  (We expected them to go go tomato colour - which seems to be supported by the images and text in Flora of Victoria.)  However most of them were still green ...

.. and where the empty receptacles indicated the fruit had ripened and fallen off ....

... the fallen fruit just looked brown and/or manky.

Accessing birding data for Mallacoota

From my experience the best data set to use for longer term broad-scale information about the birds in an area is eBird.  The Birdlife Australia Birdata application has some benefits, but is far less popular so I will discuss that later.  I will also conclude with some personal thoughts comparing eBird with Birdata.

Use of Ebird 

There are several ways of getting at the data of which the most authoritative is the final data which can be downloaded (at no cost).  There are a few inconveniences about this process:

1. The smallest geographic unit in Australia for which data can be downloaded is the LGA level (in our case East Gippsland.  The file of all records is about 25 Mb which can make an impact on download limits, and a file of records for the past 6 months is 0.5 - 1.0 Mb.
2. East Gippsland is about 8,000 sq miles in area (bigger than 6 States of the US) so I have to subset the data to make it relevant to Mallacoota.  (It would be reely reely good if eBird had a polygon tool as does Birdata (see below). but this seems to not to be realised by the mega-brains at Cornell who need to get out and talk to their users a little more.)
3. The names used by eBird Central (at Cornell U, in upstate New York) use "American" names not those in the Australian portal to eBird used for data entry .  For example:
1. You'd think a country that can put a man on the moon could spell 'Grey' properly.  
2. You'd think that Australians should say whether Chenonetta jubatta is called Australian Wood Duck or Maned Duck.  
4. Nope.  So every update requires a couple of hours fiddling to get it consistent with existing data downloaded and cleaned for previous months.
5. The  data for a month doesn't become available until the 15th of the following month.  This allows time for records to be submitted but is a cramp when trying to produce timely output.

However it is possible to do what is needed with some fiddling around.  

My observations

My starting point is to get a list of what I have seen in the area.  This used to generate a list of sites visited during a period from which those out of the area of interest could be deleted.  However eBird was then "improved" so that the the list of birds seen could only be limited to an LGA: see point 2 above.  I then delete birds listed only seen elsewhere in the shire (eg Cann River; Cape Conran).  I can then use the list of species I have seen. By way of example this gave a basic list of 94 species for December 2020.

Another inconvenience rears its head in that the name of species appears in the form "Common Name - scientific name".  The problem is that most of my information is stored under common name only.  So the next step is to split the name field.  As the EXCEL facility Data>Text to Columns only works on a single character (and splitting on '-' causes havoc as many common names use hyphens eg Black-faced Cuckooshrike) the requires a further step to replace ' - ' with '#'.  Then split the name on the character '#'.

I then import the list of names to my ACCESS database as a table with a name in the form "t <date> MB <month>".  My next step is to add to that table any incidental records I have accumulated from reports to the Mallacoota Birds FB group, conversations with residents, eBird rare bird alerts etc.  This step added about 10 species in December 2020.

As an aside, if the rare bird report alerts me to the presence of someone I consider to be an expert birder visiting the area I will often look at the checklist concerned which can give rise to several other additional species.  No names. no pack drill!

Other Observations x Hotspot

My next step is to go to the eBird "Explore>Explore Hotspots" page and enter the word Mallacoota.  That gives a list with 20 entries of which I start by selecting "Mallacoota, East Gippsland, AU-VIC".  That is a generic site of little use for detailed studies but given my aim is to generate a list for a fairly large area it is fit for purpose, especially as many visitors use the hotspot for all their observations during a short stay.  I typically scan the list of species shown within the month of interest (filtered as part of the eBird process) and note the names of species not previously included in my list.  I then append the new names to the table "<date> MB <month>".

I repeat this for other popular hotspots: this usually includes Captain Stevenson's Point, Bastion Point, Betka Beach, Wastewater Treatment Plant, Gipsy Point; Howe Flat.  This added about 20 species.

Other Observations  x Species

The first step in this is to compile a list of the species seen for the study month in other years, using my ACCESS database.  I then use an ACCESS query wizard to identify the species seen previously in the month and not for this year (which I refer to as MIAs (Missing in Action).  In doing this I score the number previous reports of each of the species to prioritise remaining investigations.

I then work my way down the list of MIA sorted by number of previous records.  The next step is to use the eBird Explore>Species Maps facility.  I enter a species name and zoom the map to show my area of interest around Mallacoota.  If the species has been seen in the last month an orange pin is shown and I add the name to the table.  If no orange appears I move to the next species.

The process is rather time consuming and thus I tend to desist when I have had several species which continue as MIA.  In December 2020 this step added about 20 species to the list.

Use of Birdata

This application has improved dramatically in recent years.  When first launched it appeared to be only useful for repeated scientific-quality surveys of limited appeal to recreational birders (or indeed professional birders working more widely).  Thus most birders took up eBird and, having put in the effort to get their life lists into eBird, and become familiar with using the app in the field, continue to use it.  However some folk do use Birdata to report for the Mallacoota region so I scan the output for the application each month to see if additional species have been reported.  There are 3 major advantages for Birdata:

1. The names used are those commonly used in Australia and are in most cases the official common names for the species; and
2. It is possible to download data for a custom polygon which is a massive benefit for analytical purposes; and
3. Once reported, the data is available more or less instantly across the whole system (rather than having to wait 15 days as with eBird)

The access path to Birdata output may not be familiar to readers so here is an annotated screenshot of how I get at, and use, it.

The yellow arrows point to the 5 sites for which data has been reported in the month.  Note the polygon I have drawn (1) which is close enough to the same as my definition of the Mallacoota area I use in eBird.  Dates are set at (2) to filter results for the month of concern.  I have circled (3) the observation of Painted Button-quail (in eBird, Painted Buttonquail) as that is not included in the eBird output.  (As an aside there are only 3 reports of Painted Buttonquail in all eBird data for the area, none in December.)  So I have added Painted Buttonquail to my table for the monthly report.

Comparison of EBird and Birdata

I stress that what follows is my personal views which, with $5, will get you a cup of nice coffee at Lucies'.  It is my strong belief that the two organisations should work harder to exchange data, since I believe that considerable useful information is lost to researchers under the current arrangements.

I also stress that what follows is written from a perspective of data utility for reporting birds seen each month in the Mallacoota area.  As Birdata is (quite reasonably) restricted to Australia it will have less appeal to those who - if the national borders ever open - travel for birding and have world-wide lists.

The advantage of eBird is well illustrated by elements in the graphic above.

1. The Birdata report covers 5 locations in the area.  I have personally submitted reports for 16 areas in December 2020 and know that others have reported for many more areas.  However data for the area as a whole is not yet available (see point 5 under inconveniences above).  In December 2019, which is probably broadly comparable in terms of birding effort, 41 locations were birded (a few of these - at a glance 4 names affecting 2 localities - are different only in the detail of the locality name (eg Pebble Beach is obviously a typo for Pebbly Beach) so perhaps 39 localities is a better measure).
2. The Birdata report covers 52 species.  At the time of writing eBird has 157 species for the area.  

I mentioned some advantages of Birdata above.  A further point is that Birdata is focused on Australia and can be influenced by Australian Birders.  In contrast there are 614,000 eBirders worldwide as against 13,000 in Australia: which is the dog and which the tail is clear.

Some supporters of Birdata complain that eBird data is of lower quality as "anyone can report anything".  I do not accept that view since:

• eBird data is routinely reviewed to the extent sensible by very experienced moderators familiar with the areas involved;
• filters to identify likely errors are set at quite tight levels in eBird and reviewed as often as possible (of course, the difficulty with making a system idiot-proof is that 'they' keep making bigger idiots); and 
• I have seen extremely dodgy reports enter, and remain for some time in, the Birdata dataset.  By way of example a report of Black Currawong (a Tasmanian endemic) was shown against Central Victoria for several years.

A further criticism of eBird is that the much used travelling and incidental protocols in eBird are too loose for scientific analysis.  Again I do not accept this since:

• the incidental protocol is clearly identified and if wished those records can be filtered out of an analysis;
• Many of the travelling protocols must by definition fit within Birdata protocols.  For example any eBird travelling record with a distance >1km and < 5km must fit within a Birdata 5km radius protocol.

From my view it is difficult, without invoking attractive conspiracy theories, to understand why the two systems cannot talk to each other.  It would be extremely beneficial for birders, analysts and birds if the two groups could work together on data exchange so that the benefits of both systems became available through a common interface.  

An expedition to Howe Flat

 I was invited to join Wendy, a visitor from Melbourne, on a walk along the Howe Flat track.  We used the services of Mallacoota Hire Boats to ferry us across to the Parks Jetty.  The trip over took about 40 minutes and was a little damp from the chop below the boat and a shower above it.  We got a few birds along the way, mainly hauled out on the Goodwin Sands.  We were dropped off at 12:40 and were scheduled for Rohan to return at 16:00 to pick us up: this gave us some parameters to guide our times.

Here is the approximate route we followed (for reasons that escape me now - and that I really don't want to think about in detail because they would be too embarrassing - I didn't have the eBird track logger running).  According too Google Earth this is 2.8km each way With a ridge to be ascended in each direction.

We had not gone too far when Wendy spotted a large reptile looking up a big tree, which it duly ascended.

I do think they are attractive beasts.  I do not think about what those claws could do, if one got between the goanna and where they wanted to go

A view of the forest on the ridge.

A magnificent old tree - I suspect an Angophora.

This shows the nature of the vegetation on the Howe Flat.  Basically a dense tangle of shrubs.  I think these are mainly Meleleuca sp.  

It also shows where the "road" crosses Howe Creek which we took as our turning point.  It took us about an hour to get here with brisk walking and a few pauses to investigate interesting bird sounds,  There is a boardwalk crossing the Creek which we took but the foot path beyond the boards looked rather more muddy than we felt like exploring in our limited time (and non-waterproof footwear).

Coming back slightly from the Creek this is where the track heads off to the beach.  

As we didn't make contact with either of our target species: Ground Parrot (Wendy) or Eastern Bristlebird (Martin),I suspect that attacking from the beach with 1.5 km of heath might be a better approach if the mouth can be crossed.

On the way back we we able to look around a little and were surprised to find the track was a very short distance from the shore of the Inlet.

A Caspian Tern was taking 5 on a sandbar.

Just after I commented about not having seen a single orchid we came across this Dipodium roseum (and did notice a few others on the more relaxed walk back).

The most surprising thing on the way back was finding a car coming along the track towards us!  Someone coming camping.  

Rohan was waiting for us and we trundled back.  The wind had died down and the showers had moved on giving a gentle ride back.

We ended with 34 species of birds with a few other "observations" of noises-off such as clattering wings of a departing pigeon, that we didn't identify to species.