MT ROGERS 2015 AND IT’S MID-NOVEMBER ALREADY

Several events seem to have crowded into everyday life recently leaving little time for my Mt Rogers wanderings.
In recent weeks though, Kirsty has seen three Speckled Warblers when ‘up there’ with her nephew. These delightful birds spend much of their time feeding on the ground and typically their nests are amongst long grass. With three seen it would suggest they have out-smarted the foxes so far.

NESTING
Congratulations and thanks to Barbara and Lyndon for sending in their evocative photographs of the Tawny Frogmouths. These are of the ‘behind the twin tanks’ pair (photos below). 



Both pairs were on their nests (or rather the males during the day) when I checked them out on 25th October for the COG Bird Blitz Weekend.  By 10th November the Schwarz Place family had moved away but the twin tanks incubator was still on the nest. A magpie was foraging on the ground nearby. Hopefully the magpies and Currawongs adopted a live-and-let-live attitude towards these Frogmouths after showing me where the nest was by their harassing flights last month.
I expect you each have tales of nesting birds near or in your gardens. Wattle-birds have at least one fledgling here but a Currawong was hoping to catch them unawares yesterday. A week ago I came across a very young fledgling Silvereye being fed in friends’ front yard, also in mid Flynn. I had wondered where and when the Silvereyes nest as their flocks were still regularly coming though here after the garden’s insects about 4 weeks ago.

10th NOVEMBER WALK THROUGH MT ROGERS
I again saw Double-barred Finches within 70 m of the Flynn playground.
A Butcher-bird was heard and is presumably the Deasland–Avery Place (Fraser) one reported several times and, may we assume, a resident family? Noisy Friarbirds were heard as were the ‘ooming’ calls of the Common Bronzewing Pigeons. I thought I heard a Corella’s call amongst Cockatoo screeches and did see two Eastern Spinebills in Schwarz Place. I’d rather thought they moved to higher country to nest but I need to do more research on them also. I did see a few Superb Parrots at the Australian Institute of Sport on Monday 9th November but I gather that sightings have been fewer this winter–spring. Wouldn’t it be a shame if they’ve decided it’s not in their best interests to become ACT residents? Will they return in time to eat unharvested Loquats? The Cockatoos are enjoying wattle pods already.

WHAT’S IN FLOWER
Elsewhere grassland wildflowers flowers are having a magnificent year. In certain places Spur Velleia, Native Plantain, Chrysocephalum ‘button’ daisies, New Holland Daisy, Australian Bindweed, Yellow Rush Lily and Bluebells are adding colour amongst the Mt Rogers native Spear Grasses and Wallaby Grasses.  Hop Bushes and Cassinia are shrubs in flower. Eucalypt species continue to take turns in providing insects, birds and small nocturnal mammals with nectar. November is the flowering time for pale-yellow Black Wattle Acacia mearnsii. Personally I find the perfume cloying but others like it.
And the introduced Capeweed is also flowering pale yellow particularly along the paths we use. The odd brownish fruits stick to fur and clothing but sometimes the Rosellas can be seen eating them.
Chris has been working on Mullein or Verbascum flower spikes. Cutting them down now will prevent the production of hundreds of tiny seeds per flower spike. Salsify (Maroon-pink) and Goats Beard (Yellow) are flowering. They’re two different species but each has wonderful large dandelion-like seed heads with seeds often 1 cm long ready to blow away. When young their parsnip-like roots are edible. Here is my photo of a Salsify seed head.


WHIPPER SNIPPERS
In mid-October there was a team of three young men working north of Jacob Place with whipper-snippers/brush-cutters. Presumably they were part of Chief Minister Barr’s allocation of money for ‘tidying up Canberra’ and mowing as they said they were reducing the fuel load. I haven’t been back to see whether the whipper-snipper thongs will have ring-barked the young trees and shrubs they cleared around.

INVASIVE GRASSES
Steve D has been fitting in spraying African Lovegrass and Chilean Needle Grass (CNG) where he comes across individual plants alongside the tracks and paths we use. There’s a healthy and extensive population of CNG around the Flynn playground. It was mown on 2nd November. Half-fortunately the operator said they were next going into other Flynn areas. In spite of this population being reported I doubt if the three operators cleaned their mowers before moving into the suburbs’ green spaces. Ted and I cut flowers off and then dug out scattered Serrated Tussock (ST) plants on 2nd November. The ACT is surrounded by ST, so it’s not surprising that seeds have made their way to Mt Rogers in recent years…perhaps on bike tyres that have previously been ridden around rural properties?

IT’S A BEAUTIFUL WORLD
The reports you’ve sent in and the everyday inspiration we draw from the views and skyscapes from Mt Rogers help to remind us of the health benefits of enjoying and having time to reflect on the ‘simple things in life’. We’re also lucky to be living in the digital photography age where capturing images from everyday nature is ‘easy’ with portable cameras and phones. 
Images of Capeweed (see above), a huge moth on a post in the garden (below), the fleshy remains of a possum being consumed by ants, a cluster of galls (or perhaps eggs) on the back of a eucalypt leaf (below), old fence-posts and water dripping into a clear but gritty-based puddle are a few of my ‘crazies’. 


There’s a place for our ‘instant’ images alongside the evocative studies Lyndon a (nd Steve W create with their large cameras and videoing respectively. If you search for Canberra Nature Map you’ll find a way of sending in your photos so they can help build a record of where and when species were found. You become a Citizen Scientist.
Natalie Maras has concentrated on the soil’s crusts during her Artist-in-Residence time with CSIRO Research. The results are in her Interface exhibition at the Botanic Gardens until 6th December. Botanical sketches are part of her collection but her polymer creations based on studies of lichens, mosses, fungi and the minutiae of soil organisms are magical. This soil-level world is one we readily take for granted, yet the crust species hold the soil together and prevent erosion and encourage the growth of mosses and tiny ground-hugging vascular plants.

29th NOVEMBER is special as there’s a huge gathering and short march planned for the lawns of Parliament House near the Lake. This is Canberra’s chance to join the rest of the world’s everyday people in demanding that we be no longer ignored … immediate genuine action against climate change is vital for everyone and all the species and habitats we share the planet with. As observers and appreciators of Mt Rogers’ spaces and nature, please swell the numbers by being there on 29th from noon. You can choose to wear colours based on which message is closest to your thoughts or come as you are: Blue…the future, Yellow…the solutions, Red…Impacted by Climate Change now, Green…voiceless species & habitats, Orange…a just transition, Purple….many faiths, many cultures.


See you there!…..Rosemary, Convenor Mt Rogers Landcare Group.  6258 4724

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