Wildlife June 2011

[Anthony Darby]

The pupae are big enough to be a goat moth (Cossus cossus), the caterpillar of which feeds in the solid wood of various trees, especially elm, ash, birch and willow. It takes three to four years to complete growth and leaves its burrow in search of a suitable place for pupation. They make a cocoon under vegetation and would probably incorporate soil particles in it? The key to identification is the smell - very like that of a billy goat.

[Armin]

Anthony,
thank you very much for your reply - I think it is a bull's eye. I checked the smell - brrr
And there is a big willow in one of the neighbours garden...

[Anthony Darby]

Armin, if you spread some honey on a tree trunk or fence post and check during the night, although the females don't feed, they are attracted to it. You are very lucky. I've always wanted to see one of these moths.

[t00lie]

Took the children to Waitomo caves on a less-than-half-price three cave deal with Treatme Auckland. Each cave is different, but they all have amazing stalactites and stalagmites. We saw glowworms in the first cave we went to.

Just catching up on a few posts .....

Anthony --less then 20 meters from our house behind the garage is a bush creek where hundreds and hundreds of glowworms reside. At night they light up the banks of the watercourse --a wonderful sight.

At one time ,maybe 3-4 years ago we had quite a number of people wanting to view them ,so i built steps down into the small gorge at the top end of the property.
Your comments are a timely reminder to check on how well the population is doing.

Might see how i can capture the scene in the next night or two, on my SLR.

In the meantime i managed to get a decent shot last weekend of this 'fella' having a feed on top of one of the walk in frames--seems it's easier for 'him' to peck at the fallen fruit/seed rather than try and obtain a meal from up high in the trees.... .(New Zealand Pigeon or kereru)

Cheers Dave.
     

[TC]

I got a shock when I saw this pigeon on Stewart Island.  Compared to our varieties it is enormous - about the size of a Common Buzzard
When I was tidying up in the glasshouse an hour ago, I came across this Elephant Hawk Moth on the bench.  At first I thought it was a leaf which had fallen off a plant and was about to crunch it and throw it in the bin.  Luckily I stopped just in time.  I think it looks quite spectacular in close up.  It seems to want to stay where it is but I had to move it by putting it on my finger and depositing it on a dwarf Rhododendron

[Anthony Darby]

The elephant hawk was the first moth I reared, from two caterpillars found at Stratford upon Avon. Boy, those caterpillars made an awful noise in its cardboard box in the caravan!

Dave, I wonder if there are any places in and around Auckland where glowworms can be found? I briefly saw a native pigeon at Shakespeare Point but it's turtle doves that are around here.

[daveyp1970]

Like Anthony,the elephant hawk is the first one i reared from caterpillars found on some willow herb,my school teacher allowed me to take them to class and rear them there,what a star that teacher was.

[arillady]

Mother Nature continues to amaze me so much with her artistic skills.

[Anthony Darby]

I've just been given about 30 emperor gum moth (Opodiphthera eucalypti) cocoons. Must make a list of all the handy eucalyptus trees nearby. It's an Australian import, so no rules governing it. Contrary to many YouTube and Flikr sites it's NOT found in the USA. Just about the only silk moth found in NZ. They say Samia cynthia, an escapee from the University of Auckland, is found in and around Albert Park but I couldn't find any Ailanthus trees, its main food plant, there.

[daveyp1970]

Anthony what a stunning moth that is.Can i ask do you mount set any specimens?

[Anthony Darby]

I don't usually Davey. I used to have a big butterfly collection from old collections, some dating back to the 19th century, but it had to go before I came to NZ. My ambition is to visit the jungles of PNG or the Solomons to see birdwing butterflies. I have some specimens of these from the IFTA where they farm them for such purposes. I have books on birdwings and they're not cheap. One, written by a Japanese doctor Hirotaka Matsuka, was written and photographed by him showing all but one species in all its stages in nature. He describes himself as "a collector of tropical diseases". A friend, who has also written a book on birdwings called "Fluttering Encounters in the Amazing Archipelago", is moving back to Cairns and I hope to visit him and see the Cairns birdwing (Ornithoptera priamus euphorion). I have a dentist friend in the US who breeds silkmoths and sets them in his spare time. My good friend Robert Goodden (www.wwb.co.uk) can supply live and dead stock and I recently bought a spring frame net to catch flies and moths to feed the geckos from him. A good source of livestock from amateur breeders is the Entomogical Livestock group ( http://www.pwbelg.clara.net/index.html), although it's not much use to me, as imports are virtually banned.

[mark smyth]

Stephen any reaction to the swift CD? Any neighbours complaining?

[mark smyth]

swifts at my house this morning
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrIssJvh6oQ[/youtube]

[Anthony Darby]

Sunshine and showers, so I was checking the jade plants to see if there were any flies for the geckos. Spider this face off between a small house hopper spider (Trite parvula) and a blue bottle. I reckoned the spider had no chance! The spider would gradually inch forward, and eventually the fly would spot it, turn round and then fly off to another position nearby. The spider would then repeat the process.

[Anthony Darby]

I checked the windowsill a couple of minutes later. The more I looked, the more the spider and fly weren't there, so I checked the ground under the window. I guess I underestimated its ability as a hunter!