Thursday 20 November 2008

The food chain

I've almost forgotten how to do this - it's been so long since I last posted. And to make it worse I haven't even had time to read all my favourite blogs. But I think I'm almost back to my normal routine and catching up on all that has happened in blogworld over the last few weeks.

Today I did something I've never done before - I was asked to deliver a eulogy at a friend's funeral. That really took me out of my comfort zone, but I've discovered that when you mean what you say it's really quite easy. Ev had lived a long and good life. We laughed a lot during her funeral service because she had brought joy to the lives of many others. Death is a part of living unfortunately.

I was reminded of this when we visited our bush bock last week. The leaves on nearly every eucalyptus tree I looked at were severely damaged, and I was getting a bit worked up about the fact that they didn't look perfect. Then I started looking for what was actually doing the damage, and found lots of caterpillars, beetles and insects having a wonderful time eating their way to maturity. And the birds were having a wonderful time gleaning their supper as well. I've never seen so many White-naped Honeyeaters in the Manna Gum near the house. So the biodiversity in my environment was clearly evident and I got my camera out to record some of the nibblers. I've got no idea what they are.

3 comments:

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

What superb photographs you have posted. Thank you. The world is an amazing and beautiful place - except for the moneychangers of course.
w.

Denis Wilson said...

Hi Boobook
Welcome back to the Bloggosphere.
Great to observe the cycle of nature like that - including your friend's passing. I am glad you could share a few laughs - in her memory.
Nice post about the Caterpillars. I shall leave the ID to the experts.
Cheers
Denis

Mosura said...

A nice collection there! If you are interested in ID's,

#2 is the Gum Leaf Skeletoniser Uraba lugens).

#5 appears to be an Anthelid (Anthelidae).

#4 may not actually be caterpillars. They seem to be Sawfly larvae.