Flutterings at Franke Scrub

The dam adjacent to Franke Scrub

My latest visit to the scrub was on a beautiful autumn morning. It was still quite cool in the scrub but the edges were alive with fluttering. Along the road verge it was all Caper White Belenois java, Cabbage White Pieris rapae, Wanderer Danaus Plexippus, and Large Grass Yellow Eurema hecabe butterflies. As I walked down the fenceline towards the water course my eye was caught by fluttering at the edge of the neighbour’s dam. Although in heavy shade there was much bird activity so perhaps the water was warming up enough to stir the insects. A number of small birds were flying down to the water then back to the wires on the fence or the scrub. They included, Willie Wagtail, Grey Fantail, Double-barred Finch, Superb Fairy-wren, White-throated Scrubwren and Yellow-rumped Thornbill.

The constant to-and-fro made me pause and I sat on the grass to watch for about fifteen minutes. They were mainly after insects and I watched a beautifully coloured male Superb Fairy-wren bash the living daylights out of a large moth it had caught. The finches were more involved in drinking and bathing, but what interested me the most was one White-throated Scrubwren that looked as if it was actually after insects in the water. It was dipping its face into the water and making small movements. When it raised its head it didn’t seem to drink, but neither did I see it catch anything. I’ve never seen or heard of this with Scrubwrens before.

Lesley

April in the scrub

A small group attended our monthly working bee.
It is very pleasant in there with the birds and seeing small scrub plants appearing as we remove the asparagus vine. We still come across occasional large vines which we hope to eradicate before they next set seed. With the favourable weather in recent months the reserve is coming on well and we are doing a good job of keeping the new asparagus plants under control. The results of our efforts are seen in the interesting canopy now almost devoid of strangling asparagus vine.

April meeting reminder

We will be meeting again next Wednesday 28th April from 9-11 am at Franke Scrub for working bee/social stroll/morning tea.
Hope to see you there.
The place is looking great after the good rains.

More on Franke Scrub

For those of you who do not regularly follow the Toowoomba Plants blog, our local plants gardner has a couple of recent items of interest to us.

Butterflies at Franke Scrub and

White-root

Lobelia purpurescens (Pratia purpurescens)

Autumn in Franke Scrub

Went to Franke Scrub on Tuesday. Beautiful weather with plenty of bird and butterfly activity. In fact it was difficult to pick out the birds because the butterflies were everywhere. Especially Yellow-spotted Jezabel Delias nysa I took a couple of photos.

Just as I arrived a couple of Magpies flushed something large from the upper canopy. All I got was an impression of grey and large. It may have been an Australian Goshawk, but don't quote me on that. Another one to not quote me is a female Rose Robin. I quite distinctly heard a robin 'tick' call and saw the face with it's pale rimmed eye. It likes moist gullies so Franke is perfect habitat. However I didn't see enough of the bird to give it a positive identification.

Rufous fantail taken by William Jolly.

The changing season

For a birdo the change of season is not so much the cooler weather, shorter days or changing leaf colour. It is the birds that disappear or reappear. Franke Scrub is the home to a pair of Rufous Fantails Rhipidura rufifrons from Spring to Autumn but as soon as April arrives they depart. They tend to leave us for warmer climes moving away from the Great Divide to the coast or inland to about Chinchilla, or north with some even crossing to New Guinea. There are individuals that will stay over winter but the majority of Rufous Fantails are hugging the coast north of the Queensland border. In summer they can be found as far south as the South Australia/Victoria border.

They are such chirpy residents and I miss seeing the flash of rufous as they search through the mid-canopy after insects. However, nature always compensates and a Grey Fantail Rhipidura fuliginosa has moved in to replace them. A close cousin to the Rufous Fantail, the Grey is just as active but has a sharper, more scolding call. In fact one of it's bush names is Cranky Fan. Though often seen in our area throughout the year, the majority of Grey Fantails spend their summers south of the Queensland/NSW border returning to Queensland in large numbers for the winter. Who can blame them?

Lesley
President
Toowoomba Field Naturalist Club Inc

Have you seen our blog? http://toowoombafieldnaturalists.blogspot.com/

March meeting

With some members away last Wednesday, a small team of 4 still managed to remove 2 full bags of older roots of asparagus fern. "Asparagus fern has certainly been reduced.. it was a good feeling not seeing too much of it."
At this rate we will be starting a competition to find the bigger ones.

The indignant owl

Our resident Southern Boobook is not impressed with twitchy people poking around in his scrub. [photo - Don Gardner]