You Yangs 2013

This page includes reports of visits and photos taken during 2013. For information and images added in other years please see the relevant pages, YY 2016, YY 2015, YY 2014, YY 2012 and earlier. For plants see YY plants.

7 December 2013

Nineteen people attended this BL Birding and Boneseeding visit, the same number as in September, so there were plenty of observers to find birds and many willing hands to pull out boneseed. The blue-sky sunny day was perfect. A highlight was watching birds of several species feeding in trees east of the Park Office and dam. Many people had good views of Black-chinned and Brown-headed Honeyeaters foraging a little above our eye height. A Jacky Winter called loudly from the very top of a bare eucalypt. A Varied Sittella moved quickly from tree to tree showing the distinctive orange patch in its wings. Other special sightings for the day were Olive-backed Oriole, Scarlet Robin, Mistletoebird and our first record of a Satin Flycatcher. The usual flycatcher we see here is the Restless. Although many eucalypts were in flower and attracting numerous butterflies and other insects, we recorded no lorikeets, which was rather surprising. The total number of species we saw was 48, a bit down on our last visit. We removed numerous boneseed plants from our designated site and elsewhere along the way. Many native plants are flourishing on our site.

Native cockroach Ellipsidion sp. These diurnal cockroaches are typically found on plants.

Common Brown butterfly Heteronympha merope. Female above, male below.

Boneseed Chrysanthemoides monilifera seeds after passing through the gut of an animal that ate the fruit. Vertebrates that might eat boneseed plants or fruits include foxes, rabbits, goats, kangaroos, wallabies, and some bird and lizard species. Undigested seeds could then be distributed via their droppings or through regurgitation.

Jacky Winter perched on an old wattle in the Eastern Flat area.

7 Sept 2013

This was a very convivial outing with 19 people observing a total of 60 bird species and pulling out numerous brilliantly flowering boneseed plants.  The day began with some sunshine, but by the time we reached our official boneseeding site in the middle of the afternoon, light rain was beginning to fall. This didn't last long, but when birding again later in the day, thick clouds built up making photography more of a challenge.

Above: One of many Silvereyes busy foraging in low bushes during the morning.
Left: An illusive Swift Parrot crept around high in the branches of a
eucalypt near the Park Office.

Left: A Grey Fantail perched for a moment in the late afternoon.

Left: One of several Jacky Winters active late in the day.

1 June 2013

After a night of heavy rain and thunderstorms, water was dripping off the trees, lying on the ground and even running in the normally dry creeks, but while we were there it only rained lightly for about an hour in the afternoon and then again when we were ready to leave. Otherwise, the weather was calm and mild and the birds made the most of the abundant blossoms. We recorded 38 species altogether at the places we visited, which is normal for this time of year. Numerous Musk and Purple-crowned Lorikeets called loudly and raced through the air to feed on the Eucalypts. They were joined by similarly noisy New Holland Honeyeaters as well as White-plumed, White-naped and others. Late in the day we saw a single Black-chinned Honeyeater on a tree in our Boneseeding site. There were Painted Button-quail scrapings there, too, but we didn't see the birds themselves. Other highlights for the day were Scarlet Robins, Crested Shrike-tits, a Mistletoebird and plenty of Pardalotes. The familiar Tawny Frogmouths were in one of their favourite trees.
Our boneseeding site is looking really good. Attending to it on a quarterly basis over a number of years has made a real difference. Many native plants are growing there instead of boneseed. Unfortunately, many other areas of the park are infested. The patch we cleared last time, when we couldn't easily access our designated site, is still free of the plants. There were many seeds there, however, so we must go back and remove any seedlings as they emerge in future.  

   New Holland Honeyeater feeding on Pincushion Hakea Hakea laurina.

Hakea laurina, not indigenous to the area.

    Wattle Acacia sp. above and saltbush Rhagodia sp. below.

   This Eastern Yellow Robin had been calling incessantly and
    did not stop when we cautiously approached.

2 March 2013

This BL Birding and Boneseeding day was warm to hot, windy and sunny. We usually travel around the Great Circle Drive, birding along the way and eventually arrive at our official boneseed-removal site. Today the Great Circle Drive was closed to vehicles because of grading works and a fallen tree, so after spending some time birding near the Park Office we drove around to the east side of the Park and walked in from the west end of Toynes Road. A large patch of boneseed plants at the nearby intersection of the Great Circle Drive and Branding Yard Road was soon dispatched. The work was tiring in the heat, so we recovered by walking a kilometer or so to the Bunjil Geoglyph area where there are dams and birdlife. The summer has been mostly dry, but there was still plenty of water in the dams. The dam near the Park entrance was also still full. Below are some of the photos taken during the day. 

   A young Little Eagle.

   Whistling Kite.

    One of three Tawny Frogmouths perching in the same tree.

  A young Little Pied Cormorant perched above
   the dam near the Park entrance.

      Rufous Whistler.

  Galahs.

Four Spotted Cup Moth Doratifera quadriguttata caterpillar. Touching this caterpillar results in intense pain and itching due to its urticating hairs that release histamine after breaking off under the skin. I'm glad I didn't handle it. Many thanks to Ken of Museum Victoria via Martin for the identification and warning. For information about the Museum Victoria Entomology Collection, please visit http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections-research/sciences/terrestrial-environments/entomology-collection/
Thanks also to Richard for further information about these caterpillars, which were once common in eucalypts in Blackburn, East of Melbourne, where they were known as 'stingbacks'.
   

   This large ant was laboriously taking one grain of soil at a
     time out of its hole. It seemed to be the only occupant, or at
     least the only one excavating at the time.

On-ground view from Branding Yard Road of the huge Bunjil Geoglyph, set in place in 2006 as part of the Commonwealth Games celebrations. The large rocks form the bill, head and outline of body, wings and tail of a Wedge-tailed Eagle (Bunjil) in flight. The overall Geoglyph is about 100m in width from wing tip to wing tip. In the above photo, the pale rocks, one on top of the other, that are left of centre in the foreground, form the bill. The pile of rocks to the right of the bill is the head. Bunjl's right wing with individual flight feathers is in the left background.  Part of the Branding Yard walking trail can be seen in the distance (to the south).

'Scribbles' on the trunk of a dead eucalypt. These were probably made by larvae of a species of Scribbly Gum Moth feeding under the outer layer of bark when the tree was alive and before the bark was shed.

The Bunjil Geoglyph sign with part of the Geoglyph in the background. An aerial view is shown in the bottom right corner of the sign. The Geoglyph can be seen in some detail from the satellite view in Google maps at  -37.952138, 144.434058 if you zoom in as far as possible.

Bright, shiny trunks of trees growing along the Branding Yard Trail. Plants from many other places have been planted in the past at the You Yangs. I don't know what species these are and they are not necessarily local plants. They look like Eucalypts. Any help with identification would be much appreciated.