Mothing in Wedderburn

This post is just for the record, in case it's something unusual. We pulled in to the lovely caravan park at Wedderburn this afternoon and set about setting up the van, making ourselves comfortable for the next three days and looking forward to exploring the natural environment around here. 

I wasn't intending to do any mothing but this one decided to fly inside to explore our van. I'm hoping that someone will identify it for me as I don't have any references with me. Maybe Duncan, or Marilyn.

Which reminds me. A huge high five for Marilyn Hewish, our resident moth expert, birdo and all-round naturalist. We heard this week that she has been awarded the this year's Natural History Medallion. She's the third member of the Geelong Field Nats to win the medallion and we're very proud of her and excited for her.

Update: MH has identified this as a Noctuidae, an Agrotis species, probably Agrotis munda. She further adds, "As can be said for many groups, Agrotis species in Victoria need a good taxonomic study to sort them out."

You have mail

The wind has picked up quite a lot since this morning. Actually it's blowing a gale. And when I ventured outside to check for mail I found this moth clinging on to my letter box, waving about in the strong breeze.

I think it's an Oxycanus dirempta but am happy to be corrected.

Harvey Street

It was a beautiful morning and I was in Anglesea with some spare time. Perfect. The woodland off Harvey Street seemed like a good option and it proved to be a good choice.

The austrostipas, poas and austrodanthonias were flowering and waving in the slight breeze and as always look spectacular when backlit. There were a few plants flowering (pimeleas, peas, lomandras, an orchid or two, fringe-lilies, daisies and even a few violets), there were a few insects on the shrubs (dragonflies, damselflies, wasps, flies, ants, bees, moths and butterflies), there were one or two birds calling (but as it was midday I wasn't expecting too many) and I had the bush track all to myself. It was a delightful hour.

Thysanotus tuberosus subsp. tuberosus, Common Fringe Lily

Caladenia tentaculata Mantis Orchid

Spider

Day-flying moth. Family Crambidae, Corynophora lativittalis. Thanks MH.

Male Common Brown Heteronympha merope

Varied Sedge-skipper Hesperilla donnysa.

Metallic Jewel (Shield) Bug Scutiphora pedicellata

PS I'll update the IDs when I've done some homework. Any ideas?

Update: All sorted now. Thanks CT for help on the bug, MH for the moth and VWD and DM for the sedge-skipper butterfly.

A Sparshall's Moth

I was looking for orchids near Anglesea today and found Parson's Bands flowering in the heathy woodland. Also found a lovely female Sparshall's Moth Trichiocercus sparshalli resting on grass stalk. She doesn't look anything like the caterpillars I found a while ago.

Moths on Mt Buffalo

There were a lot of day-flying moths on the low vegetation on Mt Buffalo. Thank you Peter and Marilyn for helping me with IDs.

Noctuidae Heliothinae sp.

Geometridae Chrysolarentia chrysocyma

Geometridae Chrysolarentia polycarpa

Geometridae Chrysolarentia perornata

Geometridae Chrysolarentia oxygona

Counting birds, in theory

Yesterday was BOCA's Challenge Bird Count and our team covered the usual route around the Bellarine Peninsula. I don't know yet what our total number of species was but it will be down on our average of about 130 species - the bush was very quiet and the tides were high. We couldn't even find a Pacific Gull! And there were no Mistletoebirds where we always find them. We had a good day though because it's always good to get out and about with fellow birdwatchers.

But I shouldn't have gone. I should have been home nursing my cold instead of being on the move for 14 hours. My other half told me it was a silly idea (not exactly how he put it) and reminded me that I'm not 21 any more, but the 'call of the bush' is very strong so I went. But because I was feeling lousy I didn't do some of the walks in to certain areas with the team and while I waited I wandered around where the cars were parked. In theory I was looking and listening for birds but in practice I had time to give the camera a bit of a workout. Only a bit because, remember?, I wasn't feeling too good. Just for fun I chased this tiny moth that was flying around the grasstrees at Ironbark Basin. It was active and I wasn't but one or two photos turned out OK. I've no idea what it is.

A dainty moth

Tipanaea patulella (2), originally uploaded by boobook48.

We were meant to be searching for frogs around a dam at Bambra but I got distracted by the beautiful little white moths flying around the rushes and grass.

They were Tipanaea patulella. Apparently the caterpillars bore into the stem of rushes.

PS I tried out something new for this blog - I uploaded the photo and comments from my Flickr page. It was easy peasy. (Except I see that the original photo title comes up in tiny font underneath the photo which I don't think is really necessary, and the tags didn't come across either.)

PPS And I've just discovered that when you click on the photo to view large it takes you straight to my Flickr page where you have to click on the 'All sizes' option.

Visitors

I opened the sliding back door and stepped into the living room and was greeted with "Did you stand on the moths?" I stepped outside again to investigate, and found several Swift (or Rain) Moths on my door step. We really haven't had very much rain, more like showers I'd say, but it must have been enough to encourage the moths to leave the ground. Hepialidae family, Trictena sp. maybe. One of you will know. It's worth clicking on the images to enlarge to see the antennae - amazing.

Mothing in the day time

It was good to get out into our bush again - it's three months since we last went down to our farm near Heywood. It was dry of course, and every day over the Easter break was a perfect autumn day, sunny, warm and calm. The debris on the forest floor crackled under foot as I searched for insects on leaves and under bark. The mosses and lichens were pale and dry to the touch, there was no fungi at all and the only plant flowering was the banksia.

I did find a bit of wildlife, mainly spiders under bark, of which more later. But there were also a couple of moths. The first was sitting quietly on a leaf of a eucalypt and has a most unusual snout. Any ideas on what it is? The second is a beautiful Tiger Moth Asura lydia on a dead bracken frond.

Mothing at noon

Here's a challenge for my blogging friends who seem to be able to stay up half the night mothing and record beautiful photographs of their 'catch'. I need my beauty sleep so finding a moth in the daytime is a bonus.

The Billy Buttons (Craspedia sp.) on Mt Loch near Hotham were flowering last weekend, and some had finished flowering. They were attracting a large range of invertebrates, including this colourful moth on a button past its prime.

I'm thinking it might be an Oriental Tiger Moth Phaos aglaophara. Can anyone confirm that?

Helena pays a visit

We pulled up to open the farmhouse gate and I noticed a very large moth fly through the headlights and appear to land in front of the car. I got out to check, and found it sitting on the bumper bar - a large moth called a Helena Gum-moth Ododiphthera helena, a male.

With the help of a torch I took its photo and left it where it was while we drove up the lane to the house. It then decided to move camp again, heading for the outside light of the house, so I took his photo again. I'm no expert at moth photography, but the results are good enough to identify it.

We found a caterpillar of the species in exactly the same spot in March this year. It's very similar to an Emperor Gum-moth Ododiphthera eucalypti, but doesn't have a white triangle on its shoulders. The caterpillars are quite different.

Running the gauntlet

The laneway becomes a race track when the extended family visit the farm. There are rules imposed on the juveniles. They are not allowed to ride the motor bikes, go carts, bicycles or old 4-wheel drive on the farm itself, so they have a circuit around the house and sheds and down the lane to the front gate. One-way traffic only. It is very noisy and dusty, except in the mornings (when the young sleep in) and at meal times of course.

But still we see the Superb Fairy-wrens, White-browed Scrubwrens, Yellow-rumped Thornbills, Common Bronzewings, Galahs, Gang-gangs and Willie Wagtails. And last week a Restless Flycatcher stayed with us all week.

So it was something of a surprise to find a very large Gum Moth caterpillar crossing the laneway and surviving the trek. (Why did the moth cross the road? To get to the other side.) It's an impressively large caterpillar, bright green with coloured spots. There is a faintly-dark line along its back that is the heart - unfortunately I didn't have my microscope with me to check out the pulsations. The breathing-holes on the sides can be clearly seen. We thought this caterpillar was the common Emperor Gum Moth Ododiphthera eucalypti but actually it's the less common close relative, the Helena Gum Moth (although it's also called an Emporer) Ododiphthera helena. It has a pale pink lateral stripe, red spiracular openings (the breathing holes), short white bristles and small paired spikes on the thorax and the eighth abdominal segment. This particular caterpillar is in its final instar (growth stage) - earlier instars have different coloration and patterns.

It feeds in broad daylight on gum trees and will spin its silk cocoon (they are in the same family as the silkworm) in late autumn. The large moth will appear in spring.

The caterpillar was left next to the track. I wonder if it survived the Laneway Grand Prix.

Reference: http://linus.socs.uts.edu.au/~don/larvae/faqs/

Take your home with you when you go

A beautifully constructed larval case caught my eye. It was 1-2 cm long, tapered and covered in many small twigs. The lavae live in the case and feed by protruding their head from one end, and carry the case with them when they move on to another food source. This one was on bracken. It's probably one of the Case Moths of the Psychidae Family.

When a butterfly is a moth

What was it? I searched through my butterfly references in vain, looking for a black and white butterfly with orange tufts on its legs and abdomen. Then the penny finally dropped. I looked in the moth references instead and there it was. The Grapevine Moth Phalaenoides glycinae was flying around and feeding on the blossom of a Melaleuca.

Apparently it's a common day-flying moth but I don't remember seeing one before. There aren't any grapevines within cooee either but as it also breeds on guinea-flowers and willow herbs and both of those plants are in the bush nearby I'm supposing it was 'at home'.

The moth was moving fairly quickly around the blossom and the first photo is blurred but I'm including it because it shows the remarkable orange tufts. Now why would a moth want to evolve that colouring?

And on one of my bush rambles (on a day that wasn't enervatingly hot) this butterfly sat still on a bracken frond long enough for me to grab a couple of photos. It's a female Common Brown. The larva feed on Tussock Grass and Kangaroo Grass.