Flying Duck Orchid

The Flying Duck Orchid, Large Duck Orchid or just Duck Orchid, Caleana major, is endemic to the south-east corner of Australia. The genus, ‘Caleana’ refers to George Caley who was an early English naturalist, explorer and botanical collector. The species, ‘major’, refers to it being the larger of two variations of this plant.

I stumbled (happens often these days) on two small colonies of this quirky orchid in Adams Creek NCR recently and again a little later in Sweetwater Creek NCR.

Because of their distinctive/quirky appearance, it is always a delight to come across ‘ducks’ in the wild. Sometimes they are not easy to spot. They grow in a variety of habitats; I have found them in gravelly woodland and, like these at Adams Creek, in almost pure sand.

Notice the spider web. Many orchids and native wildflowers have attendant spiders waiting for some prey to visit the flower.

Because of their distinctive appearance, Duck Orchids are popular amongst orchid hunters and many clever people have tried to grow them - with little success. Propagated plants barely survive one season of flowering. This probably has something to do with the plant requiring a relationship with a particular mycorrhizal fungi in the soil.

Another special characteristic of the Duck Orchid is that it produces a pheromone that attracts male Sawfly wasps. When the wasp enters the flower, the labellum (the duck’s ‘head’) closes quickly downwards (below image) and traps the insect which struggles to escape. After some time, perhaps 15-20 minutes, the labellum opens again and releases the wasp which now has a coating of pollen for its visit to the next orchid. How clever is that?

Yet another weird feature of this amazing orchid is that the structure of the flower is ‘upside down’; the labellum is at the top of the flower and not towards the base like most orchid species.

We are so lucky to live in this amazing corner of our planet!

Trump and the environment

In his first term as president, Donald Trump pulled America out of the Paris climate accords. He downplayed the dangers and even denied the existence of climate change. He reversed, revoked, rolled back and dismantled more than 100 policies governing climate change, clean air and water, wildlife and toxic chemicals.

In his first administration, Trump appointed a number of nominees with close ties to the coal, oil, gas and chemical industries.

In his recent campaign for a second tilt at the presidency, Trump said, “On day one I will tell Pennsylvania energy workers to frack, frack, frack, and drill, drill, drill, baby, drill.”

Trump has voiced skepticism about electric vehicles but has also said Elon Musk will have a role in his second administration because of Musk’s Republican endorsement.

Quote from Dan Lashof, the Director of the respected World Resources Institute:

“There is no denying that another Trump presidency will stall national efforts to tackle the climate crisis and protect the environment…. One can only hope that Donald Trump will put conspiracy theories to the side and take the decisive action to address the climate crisis that the American people deserve. But I won’t hold my breath, and neither will the global community nor U.S. state and local leaders.”

I’m sorry for getting political and no doubt some of you reading this will disagree but I reckon that if we’re not worried, perhaps we should be?

Normal service will resume shortly.

PS: President elect Donald Trump has just appointed former congressman Lee Zeldin as his head of the Environment Protection Agency. Zeldin has a political science and law background. He has a reputation for voting against environment protection bills. Trump has said he is looking to reverse many EPA rules.  

 

Satin Bowerbird

Most field guides list about 8 species of Bowerbirds. They are all endemic to Australia and/or Papua New Guinea. The Satin Bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus, is widespread along the south-eastern seaboard where it can be found in rainforest, moist forest and woodland habitats. (Ptilonorhynchus = ‘feather-bill’ referring to how the forehead feathers extend onto the base of the bill. Violaceus = ‘violet-coloured’)

The adult male only attains his black sheen plumage in his 7^th or 8^th year. For his early years he sports the green-cream-buff, scalloped plumage of the female.

Satin Bowerbirds are described as ‘frugivorous’. Their diet consists mostly of raw fruits, roots and seeds, and some invertebrates. Most of their diet is taken from their natural forest surroundings but occasionally, Satin Bowerbirds will ‘raid’ orchards and vegetable gardens: in some localities they are a significant pest species.

The Satin Bowerbird is a noisy bird and often, in the bush, you are more likely to hear one before you see it. Its variety of calls are variously described as grinding, churring, wheezing, whistling, rattling, sometimes mixed with mimicry of other species.

The most extraordinary attribute of the bowerbird of course is its courtship and mating behaviour in which the male constructs a bower of sticks. Several species build a ‘maypole’-shaped bower. The Satin Bowerbird builds an ‘avenue’-shaped bower on a north-south orientation. He often ‘paints’ the sticks black with a mixture of charcoal and saliva. He spends a lot of time maintaining the neatness of his bower and decorating the platform approaches with flowers, feathers, berries and man-made strips of plastic, clothes pegs, bottle tops, etc. nearly always of a blue colour.

The male may have several bowers in the same vicinity. He is not beyond wrecking another male’s bower and pinching the sticks and blue decorations for his own. Young males are thought to spend several seasons building practice bowers before they reach maturity.

After attracting a female and mating, the male has nothing further to do with rearing his progeny. The female builds her nest some distance from the male’s bower and raises the young on her own.

The Satin Bowerbird is long-lived with an average age of nearly 10 years. One banded male was recorded as living for 26 years.

Isn’t nature grand?

 

Whip Spider

The long, thin, stick-like Whip Spider, Ariamnes colubrinus, is a common Australian spider that resembles a twig stuck in a spider’s web.

It specializes in feeding on other spiders and insects that get caught in its web. The Whip Spider captures its prey tangling it in a web of silk.

Whip Spiders are usually found in forest, woodland and garden habitats. I found this one in Lang Lang Bush Reserve recently.

The female grows to just over 20mm, the male is smaller. Both have abdomens barely 1mm wide.

Forest Boronia

Boronia Muelleri is a native shrub or small tree that grows mostly in south-east Victoria. There are some disjunct distributions in NSW south of Eden.

Credit vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au

Ferdinand von Mueller (1825–1896) was a German-born botanist. In 1853, Governor La Trobe appointed von Mueller government botanist for Victoria and later he became the first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. Forest Borona was first properly described in 1863 from specimens collected from the vicinity of the source of the Bunyip River in what is now the Bunyip State Park.

The feather-like pinnate leaves are particularly aromatic, variously described as pine, cardamon, citrus or camphor – anyway, not unpleasant. The warty glands on the leaves contain the oils that give the smell.

The four-petalled, white-pink flowers occur mainly in spring and early summer but some seasons it is not unusual to see some flowers in autumn. Forest Boronia is in full flower at present in Nangara reserve at Jindivick.

Good native nurseries will sometimes have cultivars of Forest Boronia in stock.

A warty, smelly and beautiful Gippslander.

 

Garden Soldier Fly

The Garden Soldier Fly or Blue Soldier Fly, Exaireta spinigera, is a member of the Stratiomyidae family of invertebrates. World wide there is nearly 3000 species of Stratiomyidae. The Garden Soldier Fly is endemic to Australia (and NZ?).

The adults are dark, wasp-like flies and they are good pollinators. They lay their eggs in decomposing vegetable matter: they love compost bins. (Check out Costa from Gardening Australia learning how to make a Soldier Fly farm on You Tube) You can actually purchase the larvae online and add them to your compost heap or feed them to the chooks!

Soldier Fly Larva. Credit gardeningknowhow.com

In some places around the world, Black Soldier Fly larvae, Hermetia illucens, are used to rapidly degrade organic biowaste that is produced by markets, food industries and restaurants.

Bulk Soldier Fly larvae for industrial use. Credit FAO United Nations

The adult fly only lives for a few days, most of which is spent finding a mate. After mating and laying eggs, the adults die. The larvae look very much like and are often mistaken for maggots. The larval stage can be several weeks long.

Soldier flies are harmless to people, and serve a beneficial role in helping decompose garbage and pollinate plants.

 

Lang Lang Bushland Reserve

Despite being surrounded by development and sand quarries, weed infested, a repository for household waste and an illegal  firewood source, the Lang Lang Bushland Reserve is also a little biodiversity hotspot.

Lang Lang Bushland Reserve

Some encounters on a recent visit included:

Mayfly Orchid - flowers July-October, coastal woodlands, shady situations

Wax Lip Orchid - flowers September-December, widespread in a variety of habitats

This tiger found a log in a sunny spot 

 

Pink Finger Orchid - a common, variable Caladenia

Mistletoebird - always a delight to encounter

Echidna - just strolled past with little concern

Just have to close your mind to some of the things going on around-about.