Wildlife mid 2009

[Anthony Darby]

That's a beautiful pic of a Grey Angelfish (Pomacanthus arcuatus) Cliff.

[Stephenb]

Help needed with this one's real identity. It was walking around sluggishly until it found the thyme flower..

[Anthony Darby]

I would suggest the Red Wasp (Vespula rufa)? The facial markings are characteristic, and you couldn't get a better pic!

[Lesley Cox]

A friend was in Ireland and observed a flock of Starlings feeding on Phormium nectar in a hotel garden. Are there other species that have learnt feeding on nectar of southern hemisphere species?

Despite Lesley's assertion to the contrary

I didn'ty say starlings didn't, I said I hadn't seen them doing. In fact, we have very few starlings here now or anything else either, except bellbirds and tuis both of which are very agressive and they have seen off most of the others. I haven't seen a blackbird or thrush for over two years in the garden here. The little birds have gone too with the exception of a couple of dunnocks.

[Lesley Cox]

I like fish Cliff, preferably dipped in egg and breadcrumbs then fried in butter.

[Paul T]

Got so carried away with the peafowl yesterday that i forgot to thank Paddy for his extra goat pics.  They're very handsome goats aren't they.... much better than the scruffy wild goats we get here in Aus.  They must have body builders neck muscles though..... those horns must weigh a ton!

[johnw]

I like fish Cliff, preferably dipped in egg and breadcrumbs them fried in butter.

Lesley - Agreed and especially haddock.  Do you use Panko or your own crumbs?  And why is it the Japanese make the world's best breadcrumbs?

johnw

[Rogan]

On our last camping trip we were visited by this agile little creature. After sniffing about our camp for some time it dove into the back of our car and made off with a block of cheese - never to be seen again! This episode certainly lightened our mood after enduring several days of gloomy weather.

[Stephenb]

I would suggest the Red Wasp (Vespula rufa)? The facial markings are characteristic, and you couldn't get a better pic!

Yes, that looks right - thanks!

[Paul T]

Rogan,

What a cute little thing, although I would hazard it could do some damage if cornered.    Glad you didn't try to stop it taking the cheese, although it obviously looks like it does it on a regular basis. 

[Stephenb]

Over here I have seen starlings, Blue and Great tits and house sparrows taking nectar from pokers. I have seen tits feeding on nectar from flowering currant flowers - Ribes sanguineum

Your mention of Blue and Great Tits learning new foods reminded me of the following. I've had Opium poppies volunteering themselves all over my garden for at least 20 years. About 5 years ago first Blue Tits and now Great Tits have learned that the seeds make a great little snack and now all the seed heads get hacked to pieces before I can harvested any myself. I just wonder if there are sufficient opiates in the seeds that these are happy little addicted tits....(their behaviour seems to suggest this as they are absolutely crazy after these seeds)  Should I remove all my poppies and start up a "Tit Rehabilitation Centre"?

[Stephenb]

On our last camping trip we were visited by this agile little creature. After sniffing about our camp for some time it dove into the back of our car and made off with a block of cheese - never to be seen again! This episode certainly lightened our mood after enduring several days of gloomy weather.

Look a bit like the Quolls that I remember trying to get into my tent in Tasmania (at Mt. Field)

[David Lyttle]

 [/quote]
I didn'ty say starlings didn't, I said I hadn't seen them doing. In fact, we have very few starlings here now or anything else either, except bellbirds and tuis both of which are very agressive and they have seen off most of the others. I haven't seen a blackbird or thrush for over two years in the garden here. The little birds have gone too with the exception of a couple of dunnocks.
[/quote]

What have you done Lesley to be so bereft of birds?  There is nowhere in Dunedin where blackbirds are absent. As for starlings they have all been up here over the winter as they roost in my brother's eucalypt plantation. In the evening you see flocks of hundreds returning. They tend to disperse in the spring and build nests in peoples roofs. I have been seeing silvereyes recently despite people saying they have all disappeared this year.

Rogan,

It is a lovely little creature hopefully worth the loss of a block of cheese.

[gote]

It is now crayfish season.
This guy was quite tasty.
Should I post in the cookery section  
Cheers Göte

[jomowi]

What eats toads?

I always thought they were not very palatable but over a couple of days I have found 3 dead toads, all partially eaten.  The first seemed to have part of the head missing but was too dried up to really tell.  The second was minus the head. The third was just legs and bits of skin, too little to be certain it was not a frog.  I know we have a hedgehog and stoats.  They did not die from eating slug pellets as none have been used recently in the areas concerned.  Any ideas?

Brian Wilson
Aberdeen