Rush Around

Ha Ha! - make your own !

Life has been very full lately - a trip away with work for fire networking/training...weeding with volunteers on weekends....roadworks (me on a roller for a day) ..... and burning the bush (hazard reduction burning that is).

It's all been work stuff but this weekend I've been cooling my heels at home and relaxing reading the Sydney Morning Herald and catching up on domestic chores (bliss!).

The fire went well in some places and in others was pretty doughy - due to high fuel moisture.

A weird green beetle (looked a bit like a big slater) saved from the fire that flashed its red hinged bum at me when I picked it up and put it on the bonnet of the Landcruiser. I'll identify it on Monday at work with a little help from the Australian Museum.

Me cutting a tree off the trail!

Mind numbing work (for me at least)! I now have a new found appreciation for professional roller drivers!

Cockatoo Capers

At Hamilton Island - in the Whitsunday Group of islands off Queensland - the sulphur crested cockatoos are wicked thieves. They warn you at the hotel reception to leave your glass sliding doors closed in your room or apartment because they break in through the screen doors and steal food.

While we were there the room above us was being ransacked with the cockies sitting out on the verandah railing above us eating the loot. They had a box of breakfast cereal and were shredding it.

Elsewhere friends of our reported them breaking into their room through louvred windows and eating very expensive gluten free bread and leaving the white bread. Evidence of them trailed through the apartment across the lounges and beds!

At the open air restaurants you can't afford to turn your back from your food for a moment...they're very cheeky and not at all afraid of people.

Amazing to see up so close though!

This is the Life!

I've just returned from a "forced holiday" to Hamilton Island where our very good friends kindly decided to have their wedding....

It was amazing...snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef.... relaxing on palm fringed beaches....eating , drinking and being merry...tropical sunsets. All very idyllic but sadly over now (the Visa card completely exhausted).

Camping with Critters

We're just home from a few days camping in the very special Crowdy Bay National Park with some of our good friends...

Wildlife abounded so here's a few shots.
The Lace Monitor (aka goanna) is an unusual yellow morph - it's normally black with yellow banding.

The half eaten Long-nosed Bandicoot was dropped by an eagle I accidently disturbed sitting low in a short sapling.

Hybiscus Jewel

I pinched this beautiful hybiscus from out the front of the local police station and got an unexpected surprise...

Wolf Spider Runs from Fire

This pretty Wolf Spider beat a hasty retreat from the area we were hazard reduction burning yesterday at work.

The aim of hazard reduction burning is to reduce fine surface fuel, elevated fuel and bark fuel, which may help to lower the intensity and spread of bushfires in summer. Autumn and winter are the preferred times for these burns as they have less of an impact on birds and animals that mostly breed during spring and summer.

There was a mass exodus of bush cockroaches, beetles and skinks as well from our fire but this beautiful rusty patterned arachnid just caught my eye.

A Whale of a Time

Well, work seems to be looming large in my blog this week...but it has been fun. Today we did a Large Whale Disentanglement Exercise where we practised cutting ropes/nets off prosthetic whales.

It truly was a whale of a time... The first picture is of me posing on the surf rescue boat. The second is of me at work - using the gaff to cut a rope off the tail off the "whale".

In reality this task is very difficult, tiring and dangerous - performed at sea in marginal conditions. Today we were on the river, with slow, compliant pretend whales and beautiful weather...

Being able to practice this type of work often is the key to success in a real life situation. Luckily the populations of both Humpback Whales and Southern Right Whales are on the increase in our hemisphere. Unluckily for them, they are therefore statistically more likely to get tangled up in crab/fish trap lines or nets.

Whirly Weed Whacker

Had a fun day at work yesterday - aerial spraying Bitou Bush with a helicopter!
It's a great way to spray inaccessible areas like the front of cliffs. We're starting to make a real dent in the stranglehold of this insidious pest plant.
(I did take these photos!)

Heel

I cannot tell a lie (even by omission) the Green Catbird in my last post is not my photo, it was

photographed at Thylogaleby David & Diane Armbrust at the Australian Natural Safari site.

...and I'm embarrassed to say I forgot to write that.
Do I feel like a heel, YES!!! argh!

The catbirds at my house are oh so timid and when I blundered out with my Kodak digital camera to get a shot, this is what it turned out like....

Daily Visitors

A pair of Green Catbirds visit us at home everyday. You always hear them before you see them. The call is a cross between a cat yowling/meowing and a baby crying.
They're very shy. If they catch anyone looking at them they quickly hop from branch to branch and get out of sight.

The old mirror we hung near the laundry door provides hours of entertainment for both of them. They sit on the shelf under it and check themselves out thoroughly most days. I don't think they see their own reflections as rivals as they just closely examine the reflection, and occasionally touch bills with the 'other bird'.

I've thought about doing a study on the contents of their scats to see what they eat here locally - I have a pile under the mirror that I have to clean up every week.

The strangler fig in our backyard (providing catbird meals) will hopefully equate to years of beautiful pea-green catbirds ahead of us!

A Sporocarp In My Garden

I have no idea which species of sporocarp (fungi) this one is (40mm long). There are thousands waiting to be identified. Maybe mine is a new one?

Fungi comprise a huge proportion of Australia’s biodiversity in terms of sheer numbers. There are many times more fungi in Australia than plants - maybe 250, 000 fungi compared to 21,000 to 23,000 native plant species. There is little known about most of them – maybe only about 5-10% have been named to date. FungiBank!

Spider Poo

I was downstairs on the weekend weeding my pavers (frustration!) when I came upon this little pile of white dots. At first I looked up thinking a tiny bird has roosted above here - but of course it was a spider!

Spiders don't eat solid food - they inject/extrude digestive fluids over their prey to liquidise it before beginning a meal.

Special hairs around the spider's mouth filter the liquefied food as it is swallowed and prevent any solid fragments entering the pharynx and stomach. Both these organs are muscular and contractile and "pump" the liquid food into the gut. Beyond the sucking stomach as it is called, the mid gut branches off into the legs (yes legs), while the main tube of the gut passes through the narrow pedicel or waist into the abdomen. Here it is surrounded by a massive liver or digestive gland.

The excretory malpighian tubes (functioning like our kidneys) enter the gut behind the digestive gland. Just before the anus there is a large pouch which stores faecal material while reabsorbing water from it prior to defaecation.

Fecal excretions are coated or filled with guanine (a highly water-insoluble organic compound, containing five nitrogen atoms per molecule).

Under a spider's web you often find sucked-dry bugs cut free from the web by the spider while house cleaning. You may also find white dots, as I did, looking like paint spatters, 1.5mm to 3mm in diameter, often with dark centers - that is spider poo!

Koala Cloud

Here's a little critter that was at work yesterday.

He wasn't very high up in the tree which sometimes indicates illness but he looked okay - with clear eyes & a clean bum.

Have a look at his bum - it's covered in white patches. This is a camoflage technique; if you're a predator under the tree looking up for dinner you see fluffy white clouds instead of koala rump. Clever eh?

Poor Possum

Lucky for you I didn't take a photograph of the remains of a ringtail possum that the cat up the road was eating this morning when I went for my walk. I could see it was eating something furry so I walked over for a closer look. The black cat stood up, barred it's teeth and hissed and growled at me - scary. There was only the tail and guts left. It's not the cat's fault, just the owner who must not be feeding it or supervising it properly. Absolutely shameful!

PS. I copied this photo from the FAWNA site which is a marvellous volunteer organisation in my local area who rescue hundreds of injured and orphaned animals every year.

More Dog Art

How's this for a work of art?
Our dog, Muddi is the white one on the left.
The neighbour's dog, Rose is on the right.
They're sleeping on each other's bed.
They look related but they're not - just good friends.

Kangaroo Koala!

How cute is this little fellow? I found him in a local op shop.

My younger brother had one when he was quite young (he's 37 now) and he loved it so much he rubbed most of the fur off. He named it Coojee Bear after a koala that Rolf Harris (Australian entertainer) used to appear with in the 70's.

The fur, by the way, is kangaroo fur - weird eh? These toys were pretty popular, especially with tourists when we were growing up but it seems you can still buy one. Mine only cost $4.00 AUD.

Please Be Kind to Spiders

It seems everyone is freaking out about my spider (see my previous post) - I can't believe it!
Hey you guys, spiders get such a raw deal - they are so important to our ecosystem. If we didn't have them insects would eat us out of house and home - literally. Spiders do the really important job of eating all the insects that would help themselves to our crops if they didn't have their numbers kept in check. Seriously there just wouldn't be enough food to go around.

Spiders have amazing personalities too. They know if you are not terrified of them and if you talk nicely to them they get friendly. Ever read Charlotte's Web?
Okay here's a challenge for you - make friends with a spider today.

Or that seems a little beyond the pail - If you find one in your house and you'd rather it was outside, instead of spraying half a can of fly spray on it try this method...

Tell it you would rather it stayed outside. Them tell it kindly that you'll help it get outside. Then get a plastic container larger than the diameter of it's legs and calmly place it over the spider. Next slide a piece of paper under the container and the carefully slide your hand under the paper keeping the paper flat on the bottom. Then calmly take it all outside and drop it on the lawn or garden. Your spider will appreciate your assistance.

Let me know how you get on. Remember spiders are sentient beings too!

Check out this gorgeous baby gecko I saw when I was in Mooloolaba up the coast recently.

Spider Times

You can tell it's raining outside - the spiders are inside. Here is a beautiful Huntsman spider (harmless) sitting on the big clock on my kitchen wall. She is about 10cm across from the tip of one leg to another.

Work has been mad since I got back and I find myself doubting I actually have a life when I drive in the gates each morning. Still it's the weekend now and so I have opportunities to do my own thing.

There's a low off the east coast of Australia and places are flooding an hour or so north of us. Really we haven't had the amount of rain they have but it's headed our way.

Home Again

My goodness. I feel as though I have been away for ever. The house looked bigger when I walked in the door last night - the dog still remembered me though!
I guess Blogging The Artists Way is nearly over...I need to check in and see how you all went.

Away fighting fires

G'day

Finally I'm back - well sort of anyway - I spun off into a parallel universe - fighting bushfires in the Grampians National Park, Victoria (Australia).

Now I'm at my Mum's house in Queensland - she's in hospital after an operation. I'll be looking after her when they let her out.

There's plenty of artistry at fires! More about that later - I've been thinking about the AW crew and knowing I'm way behind - oh well - it happens.