Wildlife mid 2009

[Paul T]

Kees,

Nice pics.  So is your Skink in breeding health, or just been eating too much.  He/She seems awfully plump!

[Ragged Robin]

  I thought the same thing Paul but hesitated to say it was overweight!

Here is a Grasshopper thing that also looks a little rotund and appears to have lost a back leg - the green is amazing and it's feelers remind me of a water shrimp - can anyone tell me what it's called?

[Anthony Darby]

A male bush cricket with a leg missing.

[Lesley Cox]

That's a jumping leg, so how will he get along? Just hobble around on the front legs?

[Lesley Cox]

Maggi will enjoy the weta Kees.She LOOOOOVES creepie crawlies.

I do like the skink, so sleek with longnitudinal stripes. It will be very exciting if it turns out to be a new species, or even a new location for an old one. Do skinks lay eggs or have live babies? Either way, this one seems to be heading for parenthood.

[Anthony Darby]

That's a jumping leg, so how will he get along? Just hobble around on the front legs?

He's still got another!

[Lesley Cox]

So will he jump on just one leg?

[Kees Green]

Yes it was a gravid female, which is good news as when DOC and I went back to find more we only found 8 in total.
That cricket might not need two legs, some species are predatory so may just wait for its lunch to arrive, a species in Australia actually calls like a cicada and catches approaching male cicadas for lunch.
Lots of grasshoppers found in our mountains have only one hind leg, I expect they drop a leg when caught by a predator.
I will have to post a few more pics from my ventures, I have lots of creepy crawlies.

[t00lie]

Although i get a view of the the Takitimu Range whenever i'm heading into/from town i have to admit i've only ever visited it's lower regions ---fishing recently and a number of years ago pig hunting.

Any interesting alpines sighted during your trips Kees ?.

 

[Paul T]

A few wildlife or related sightings today.......

A couple of pics of a crested pigeon on our birdbath.  Finally managed to capture the green and purple in the wing feathers.... not that I've tried that many times.  Was pleased to see the colours right when I loaded them onto the computer.

A Crimson rosella in a tree at the ANBG today.

A couple of pics of one of the Satin Bowerbird bowers at the ANBG.  No sign of the resident male, who has apparently matured to full blue-black colouration this year, the first one to fully mature at the ANBG I have been told.

Enjoy.

[Ragged Robin]

Great photos, Paul, I love watching birds bathing - the A Crimson rosella is very striking and the blue detail is eye-catching.  Are the male and female so brightly coloured?  Would love to see more of your exotic birds 

[Paul T]

Robin,

Male and females of the Crimson Rosella are pretty much identical.  This was a particularly strongly coloured individual, which is why I tried to get a photograph in the trees.  Some of them are just "cleaner" in colour, I think to do with maturity and dominance etc.

[Kees Green]

Dave, there were a few nice alpines on top of the Takitimu's, brought back a couple of branches of Hebe crawii, one for my garden that is doing really well and one for Robin Craw (who it is named after), others were Celmissia's, wipcord hebes and some interesting plants in a few wetlands. To be honest I am not the best on the plant names but will take some pics from now on for everyone. I like the Roulia's, scleranthus and other cushion plants in the alpine herb and fell fields, also the aciphylla and dracophyllums.
I was up in the St Arnauds a couple of years ago, some nice plants there, and cicadas hence why I was there, will like to go back there one day.
This summer I will in tropical North Queensland visiting my mother and doing some major entomological expeditions, not quite looking forward to the 35-40 degree temps and 85-100% humidity but it comes with the territory I guess, will take some habitat and insect pics for the forum.

[t00lie]

Look forward to your future pics Kees.

Hebe crawii is one i don't know .

Might have to have a poke around up there in summer i think.

Cheers dave

[FrazerHenderson]

I've always used "rash" as the collective noun for ladybirds.

I've been advised by those in the know that the "official" collective noun is a "loveliness" - that is surely a reflection of the sentimentality of the Victorians! Me, I'm sticking with a "rash".