Mt Rogers - Easter update, April 2009

Belatedly thinking “Easter” and of egg-giving I found myself in the Australian Geographic shop asking if there was a fund supporting the protection of Bilbies. It appears the bilby is being promoted as an icon more worthy of support than rabbits. I fell for the pin-on bilbies, of course, as they are fund-raisers but later found two trains of thought traveling through my brain. Firstly: “Shouldn’t I curb my buying of non-essential imported items because they’ve generated emissions in their travels and utilised the planet’s finite resources in their manufacture?”

Secondly, “What about bilbies?” Will they be one of the locally extinct species that will be re-introduced to Mulligans Flat once the predator-proof fence is operational there? Why is re-introduction being attempted? Would bilbies, once widespread in southern Australia, have been part of the original Mt Rogers landscape in pre-European times?

Bilbies look cute but they’re predators of smaller mammals, insects and their larvae and spiders. By also eating fungi, seeds, bulbs and fruit they achieve an omnivorous diet. The bilby is a member of the Bandicoot family. Together with the Antechinus, Dunnart and many species of native rodents, bilbies may have earned a bad reputation through giving early settlers the impression that ‘mice’ were everywhere. In searching for food amongst leaf-litter, roots, tussocky-plants, in decaying logs and branches these uniquely Australian marsupials perform the vital function of loosening soil, moving humus, keeping the invertebrate populations balanced and extending the huge fungal and microbial networks within healthy soil.

The gentry who imported foxes so they could continue hunting didn’t foresee that foxes would decimate populations of small native marsupials and many relatives of the kangaroos. Those who released rabbits to be a source of fresh meat didn’t understand the consequences of their actions; rabbits would over-eat the plants, bulbs and roots on which bilbies and other small mammals depended. We have a ‘cute’ photo of our long-dead cat taken during ‘mouse-season’. It was some years before the truth dawned that the mice Fred caught were likely to be native mice. This morning a neighbour’s cat was stalking Eastern spinebills feeding in the Correas in our yard. It’s no wonder the small Australians have declined.

As a result of losing many of these creatures from their specific habitats Australia has the world’s worst record of mammal extinctions. The effect of such losses on the health of Australia’s fragile and often-thin soils has been under-appreciated until relatively recently. Hopefully the Fraser Cubs who walked through Mt Rogers on March 25^th will realise that leaf-litter, looking dead but teeming with microbes and invertebrate life, is just as much habitat as woodlands and grasslands. The Cubs did see several ants’ nests and noted that some were littered with small pieces of grass stems, twiggy material, millipedes’ corpses. Sometimes small piles of discarded seeds can be seen beside the nests. It’s odd for us to realise that such dry material can be nutritious to other animals. Bird droppings and animal corpses aren’t appetising to us either but ants specialise in cleaning up ‘our’ world, by taking them, micro-piece-by micro-piece, to their nests for their larvae.

The Cubs’ keen eyesight spotted a kangaroo moving just ahead of us as dusk approached. If it had time to graze there are many tussocks of Weeping grass that might be suitable. Mt Rogers is a real contrast to The Pinnacle south of Hawker. There every tussock of edible grass has already been eaten almost to the ground. If you ever need to take visitors to see kangaroos, try a walk through The Pinnacle. Their numbers are high though they can remain well camouflaged. It’s a dogs-on-lead area, and sturdy shoes are essential, but the views are spectacular. You’re likely to see additional bird species such as the Speckled warbler (a victim of Mt Rogers foxes, I suspect) and White-throated tree-creepers for which Mt R. is too small.

April is a time when bird-watchers concentrate on the movement of honeyeaters as large numbers of them move through the ACT towards warmer habitats for the winter. Some Wattlebirds may also leave. In contrast Whistlers, Scarlet robins and the Eastern spine-bills move to the suburbs’ lower elevations for the winter. A few eucalypts will flower through to early winter providing nectar and some insects for them to find. One or two large, pendulous clumps of mistletoe are just finishing flowering. They have attracted butterflies and a range of birds including the previously reported Mistletoe bird… a special sighting.

Unfortunately the arborists advising the Fire Hazard Removal crews targeted the largest clump of mistletoe near the carpark by removing the branch it grew on. There’s no doubt the branch extended over the path but it’s a loss to the birds which relied on it. Similarly, although I requested the green branches be retained, the admittedly scruffy wattle by the car-park has also felt the chain-saws. I contemplated replacing it but the ground is incredibly dry and hard and future mowing would likely go straight over any young plants as happened some years ago. Now the wattle’s gone, the wrens no longer come to see themselves in the mirrors of parked cars.

I also asked that new growth from eucalypts’ remarkable epicormic buds could be spared to continue growing after dead trunks were felled. Apparently such new growth leads to ‘unstable’ trees. The hazard removal has focused on dead trees and especially those in the thirty metres between the houses and the ‘bush’. It’s possible that blue-sprayed stumps will be ground-down at some future date especially in the mowing zone. I found the crews were approachable and knowledgeable and it was good that so many Mt Rogers people expressed their concern for ‘our patch’ by speaking with them.

The patches of Serrated tussock have been mapped and reported but I’m advised that spraying by contractors isn’t useful whilst the plants are stressed by drought or the sap’s not rising. Water’s been brought to the few Button everlastings planted on the mound behind ‘the sign’. They appear to be holding on quite well especially with the current lower evaporation rates.

I have asked the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services whether Mt Rogers could again have a name-sign in the car-park. Mr Stanhope responded that visitor numbers weren’t sufficient to make a new sign a priority at present. When I pointed out that visitor numbers were much higher than the number of parked cars indicated he compared statistics with those of Red Hill, Mount Ainslie, Black Mountain and Mt Taylor: “The site in Wickens Place, Fraser, that accesses Mt Rogers has been recorded for future signage as funding becomes available.”

We have received some amazing photos and sketches that document walkers’ affinity with Mt Rogers. Links to maps and geological information have also emerged. Thank you all for your interest…perhaps the need to be indoors over winter will lead to more cupboard-searches. I know we need that here!

Rosemary