Allen was delighted to see a cheeky little face peering out from its safe, secure pouch and very pleased that he just happened to be holding the camera.  The mother Wallaby just looked up in surprise and when reassured by a familiar voice she then went on inspecting the building that was gracing the sunny knoll named in honour of her trust and acceptance.

Inspired by Snail’s discussion I went out with a torch a couple of nights ago to see if I could find any female Stony-Creek frogs – we always have males sitting around the pool edge but the females are not as commonly seen.  And I found one – the male had also found her and he wasn’t letting go even when she frog-leaped quite a distance into the garden.  As you can see there is quite a difference in both the size and colour of the male and female of the species.

These frogs have one of the softest sounding calls of any of our frogs – more like a loud purr.  They are commonly associated with rocky and sandy streams, the males often being found near water where as the females can be located some distance away.  We are amused by the fact that they are attracted to our pool and breed in it quite successfully although they are described as ‘stream breeders’;  we have water moving through an undergravel filter system and spraying over the surface of the pool for about 6 hours a day plus a small fountain which runs directly from a solar panel and is therefore dependent on the sunlight but this seems to be sufficient to keep quite a few different frog species happy as well as maintaining a lovely cooling off place for us.

The photo below (taken in Feb last year)  is of another female showing how well she is able to blend into her surroundings

and this one was attempting to gain entry to our house in December last year.   I have included the photo as it shows the colour variations between females as well as her inner thigh markings.

And just to finish off, when I was walking back to the house from the pool the other night I noticed a fluffy ball on the leaf of a Ginger plant – it wasn’t at all disturbed by the flash from the camera as its head was tucked so far out of sight and I was careful not to brush against the leaf as I walked past.

Click on photos to enlarge. 

Another update on Spotted Whistling Ducks: when we had some heavy rain for a few days the Wandering Whistling ducks departed along with the large flock of Magpie Geese which had descended upon us.  Our resident Magpie Geese are still here and one suspects they may be rather relieved that peace has been restored.  The Spotted Whistling Ducks stayed for a day or so longer but then for nearly a week we didn’t see them anywhere.   However, they are now visiting again and have been trying out all our ponds, we can see where they’ve been by the remnant pieces of water weed, Vallisneria, and shredded water lily flowers!  They actively feed through the heat of the day both on the water surface and diving, staying underwater for 15 – 20 seconds. After a period in the water individuals will fly to a suitable horizontal branch, or in some cases a perching post, where they busily preen and dry off before returning to the water for further feeding.

There have been flocks of Double-eyed Fig Parrots feeding on Glochidion, commonly known as Cheese Tree,  and we have also observed them feeding in Melaleuca cajuputi.  These paperbarks provide food and shelter for many birds, insects and fruit bats and we’re pleased that much of our swampy areas that were cleared of paperbarks in the early 1900′s are gradually returning to useful habitat.
This week the Melaleucas have started flowering, the event was announced by a loud humming sound accompanied by the sweet, nectar laden scent.

An Azure Kingfisher flew past Allen yesterday with a fish in its bill and two younger birds following behind;  a Little Kingfisher used one of our perching posts as a take-off point for fishing and Black Bitterns are frequently disturbed at the spillways both here and at our neighbour’s place, we estimate at least three regulars are moving between the two properties.  We suspect Shining Flycatchers are nesting again but haven’t yet confirmed this.  They are quieter than a couple of weeks ago when we watched some amazing displays from two males competing for a female’s attention as they went through their repertoire of calls.

Spangled Drongos have, once again, successfully harassed a Great-billed Heron until it flew back to the creek.  I confess it is a little disappointing as it would be rather fun to have more regular visits from this majestic bird but I can’t blame it for leaving as the Drongos are very persistent in their attacks.

So we’ve been enjoying the birds this month as we make the most of the sunny mornings and mostly fine ‘though cloudy afternoons - it looks like rain is heading our way.

The gathering storm clouds passed us by, the huge flock of visiting geese departed and  sultry conditions persisted until a welcome 52 mm of rain during the night.  A quick check of Graham’s pond this morning before we left for a day in  Cairns resulted in a count of 10 Spotted W.Ds enjoying some peace and quiet.  We’ll have a good look around tomorrow but we often find the Wandering Whistling Ducks will leave as soon as there is a decent shower of rain.

The big questions are -  will the Spotted Whistling Ducks remain in the local area?
-   we know they rest on branches during the day, do they roost at night?
-  and if they do, where do they roost?

The bean leaf should give some idea of the size of this Giant Grasshopper, (Valanga irregularis).  There is a lot more information available on the Brisbane Insects site including photos of nymphs of various sizes – many of which I noticed today.

The back view, above, shows the spines on the back of the legs which they will use to defend themselves when necessary although their first defence when disturbed is to move into shadow under a leaf .   Below; caught with a mouth full of green and some conspicuous holes in the leaf nearby!

Last September 13 Spotted Whistling Ducks were observed on a pond at Wonga  (about 10 km north of Mossman)  and since then they appear to have been frequenting a variety of swamps and dams in our area.  When we were returning from our weekly shopping expedition to Mossman yesterday we saw them in flight when we were about 10 minutes from home.    We have been seeing them regularly on our ponds or perching in low branches overhanging water but when they flew in this morning I only counted 10 .    They are quite approachable, although they will keep completely still while assessing a situation with normal behaviour resuming within a minute if all seems well.  They are very well camouflaged when totally still!

There is a considerable amount of water weed in our ponds and we’re very happy to see the ducks enjoying it.

Although sometimes its nice to have a bit of variety!

And they also like to perch on branches overhanging the water.

Click on images to enlarge

We have two plants growing in tubs on our verandah, so that we can maximize our enjoyment of their delightfully intense perfume.  The two verandah plants both produce only female flowers.   Both our plants continually set seed which surprised us as they are the only Gardenia actinocarpa growing on the property.  So where did the male pollen grains come from?  At first we thought that perhaps the seed would be infertile.  However, we were able to germinate a few seed and we grew a couple of very healthy, sturdy plants that eventually flowered themselves - beautiful white flowers which have a lovely perfume, not quite as intense as the female parent but the flowers are dramatically larger with a 90mm diameter when fully opened.

After a little head scratching we realized that the progeny bear many similarities to a Gardenia scabrella which is growing in the garden on the other side of the house.   Our G.scabrella, which produces only male flowers, was purchased from a nursery, its area of natural distribution is further north on Cape York Peninsula.  It is a hardy shrub with large, white flowers completely lacking in scent.  The photo below is of a young flower which has not fully opened.

We rarely see our G. scabrella without flowers so cross pollination is not hard to envisage.  The leaves of the new hybrid shrubs are very similar to the leaves of G. scabrella, the shrubs have a similar sturdy growth habit and while the flowers look like G.scabrella they have a perfume similar to, but slightly less intense than the female parent G. actinocarpa.  So, in a serendipitous moment we have accidentally brought two plants close enough to cross-pollinate and succeeded in growing a hardy shrub which produces large, beautifully scented flowers for much of the year.

There are two races of Grey Whistler (Pachycephala simplex).  We have race peninsulae here and we have observed such a huge variation in the extent and depth of the lemon-yellow underparts that we have occasionally wondered if we also have the nominate race.

Another hanging nest;  Brown-backed Honeyeaters returned for their breeding season after a few months absence during the winter.  Their nest is a rounder shape than the Gerygone with a more obvious verandah over the side entrance and they appear to be very fond of using Paperbark from the various species of Melaleuca growing here.  The photo on the right gives a better view of the verandah.

The Brown-backed Honeyeater parents were very busy cramming food into the noisy inhabitants of this nest on Rupert’s Island.  I was sitting in the canoe – stuck in the muddy margin but my proximity was still a bit disturbing so I didn’t stay long.  The afternoon light was lovely but as the sun sunk lower in the sky I sensed an urgency in providing adequate nourishment to satisfy the nestlings through the night.

And in a different area of the property this BB Honeyeater was busy with nest construction - and still has quite a job ahead of it.

After spending a beautiful (and productive) morning in the garden I went looking for the Barred Cuckoo-shrikes I could hear – they were feeding out-of-sight in a large fig tree but I had a happy time observing the Double-eyed Fig-parrots that were much lower down in the same tree, along with Fig Birds and Yellow Orioles.  The melodic calls of the Yellow Orioles seem to increase in frequency as the weather warms until they become a background to our summer days.

It fascinates me how these little parrots roll tiny fruit around with their tongues, patiently extracting the minute seed while bits of
discarded  fruit flesh drop to the ground.
The female Fig-parrot, in the photo on the right, is particularly well camouflaged when viewed side on!

After lunch when many AFL fans were gearing up for the big match, I was attempting to contact Jetstar about an alteration to a booked flight and being distracted by the sight of a Green Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulata) moving up the edge of the glass door adjacent to my desk.  As I watched it reach the top of the aluminium frame a Laughing tree frog (Litoria rothii) took a giant leap to safety on the verandah table.  The Jetstar voice recognition software went into overdrive with my pauses and exclamations so I gave up on the idea of speaking to a real person , grabbed the camera and got a couple of photos.

        It almost looks like a piece of dark hose disappearing into the hollow tube that makes up the door frame;  but I gave it a tickle and a head appeared briefly before the snake slid completely out of view into the tubing.

Back inside I could see it occasionally poke out its head but the slightest movement from me sent it into hiding again – and in the tubing on the other side of this set of double doors another Litoria rothii pondered the situation, ready to leap for safety if necessary.

Luckily we do have a healthy population of many different species of frogs because they seem to be a very popular food source for reptiles as well as some of the larger birds.  We recently listened to a White-lipped Treefrog (Litoria infrafrenata) screaming as it tried to escape the grip of a Black Butcherbird – it did get away, briefly, before the B.B. leapt on it again and carried it off.

A policy of non-interference can be difficult to maintain at times!

Oh and the member of the family who just happens to be a keen Geelong supporter returned triumphant at his team’s success.

As we do not have a television, this occasion had necessitated a short trip to the Daintree Village general store which has a large TV screen!