Category: Animals

  • Butterfly Gardening in Townsville

    Butterfly Gardening in Townsville

    Image: Tawny Coster

    Guest post by Malcolm Tattersall
    Edited, updated, proofread – Admin
    All images belong to: Malcolm Tattersall

    This is a quick introduction to a subject which, like any hobby, can become as absorbing and delightful as we make it. My three levels are casual interest, getting serious, and (dare I say it) beginning to look obsessive.

    The key to butterfly gardening is that we generally see butterflies in two kinds of places: where the adults can feed, and around the plants on which their caterpillars feed.

    Males of most species can simply hang around the larval food plants for females who want to lay their eggs, leaving the area only for food. In extreme cases, the larval food plant’s flowers provide most of the adults’ food, and the whole life cycle revolves around the host plant.

    Common Crow Caterpillar
    Common Crow Egg
    Cairns Birdwing Caterpillar
    Cairns Birdwing Caterpillar
    Scarlet Jezebel Caterpillars
    Orchard Swallowtail Chrysalis

    Level 1: “I just love seeing lots of butterflies in my garden.”

    Nearly all adult butterflies can feed from any kind of flower, so anyone wanting to attract butterflies to their garden should begin by simply providing lots of flowers.

    • A wide variety is good because their flowering seasons will extend through most of the year.
    • Particular species are not important at this stage.
    • Butterflies don’t care whether the plant is native or exotic, although that becomes significant at the next level.
    Image: Orchard Swallowtail Male

    Level 2: “I wish there were more butterflies in the world!”

    Overall, it is more useful to provide host plants for caterpillars than nectar plants for adults.

    • Growing the host plants means that you end up with more butterflies, many of which will stay in your garden.
    • There is a downside: host plants are eaten! This might trouble some gardeners, but a fully functional ecosystem keeps plants healthier overall.
    • Minimise pesticide use, as anything that kills unwanted insects can also kill caterpillars.

    Caterpillars, unlike adults, are fussy eaters, needing particular kinds of plants. Many will flourish on any plant in a family (e.g., citrus), but others demand a particular species.

    Clearwing Swallowtail on Durata
    Bordered Rustic
    Brown Ochre

    Who’s Who and Who Eats What

    Butterflies are grouped into five families:

    • Swallowtails (Papilionidae): Most of our largest butterflies, e.g., Cairns Birdwing (female wingspan up to 150mm) and Ulysses. Smaller Swallowtails are between 55–65mm.
    • Nymphs (Nymphalidae): Crows, Soldiers, Tigers, etc. Many are similar in size to Swallowtails.
    • Whites and Yellows (Pieridae): Migrants and Jezebels. Some are smaller.
    • Skippers (Hesperiidae) and Blues (Lycaenidae): Smaller butterflies. Many are extremely loyal to a single species of plant (e.g., Plumbago Blue only uses Plumbago).

    Skippers and Blues use a wide range of plants, but many are species-specific. Other families tend to semi-specialise on a group of plants. For instance, Milkweed Butterflies (a sub-group of Nymphs) all prefer Milkweeds.

    Fortunately, the larger butterflies are easiest to cater for. Planting representatives of these families will attract many larger butterflies:

    • Annonaceae (Custard Apples)
    • Citrus
    • Cassia
    • Capparaceae (especially Capparis)
    • Apocynaceae (especially Milkweeds)

    Beyond that, aim for a diversity of native species.

    The Bush Garden Nursery list has a column showing which plants attract butterflies.

    Guide to Bush Garden Plants
    Image: Lesser Wanderer

    Level 3: Gardening for Particular Species

    Gardening for specific species of butterfly will be covered another time. If you can’t wait, these references will set you on the right track:

  • Lorikeet with Black Beans

    Lorikeet with Black Beans

    Image: Mature pods of the Black Bean tree (Castanospermum australe), a significant native species found in the local coastal dry tropics.

    Guest post by Malcolm Tattersall
    Edited, updated, proofread – Admin
    Feature image: by sandid from Pixabay

    No, this isn’t a recipe.

    The Black Bean in my title is a local tree, Castanospermum australe, and you wouldn’t want to cook with its seeds because they are too big and too toxic. Two of our neighbours in Mundingburra have well-grown specimens, and I am simply taking this opportunity to share an October photo of its attractive flowers.

    I know the tree as a local species but didn’t realise just how limited its range was until I looked it up: a patchy distribution along our tropical coast, and that’s all. Nor did I realise just how high it can grow – forty metres! (I wonder if our neighbours know, but I’m not going to tell them in case they start worrying and get their trees chopped down. We need all the trees we can get, and these are very beautiful.)

    Black Bean timber is both beautiful and rot-resistant. This latter quality has seen it used for fenceposts, but that seems a terrible waste when it could be used to make such attractive furniture.

    According to the Australian National Herbarium, “it is native to coastal rainforests and beaches in Australia from around Lismore, New South Wales, to the Iron Range, Cape York Peninsula, on the Queensland coast and 160 km west to the Bunya Mountains. It grows in moist, fertile, well-drained soils on terraces on the side of mountains or along the banks of rivers and streams.”

    A cluster of red and yellow flowers and buds on a branch of a Black Bean tree (Castanospermum australe).
    Black Bean flowers. Ethel Aardvark, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    It also grows in many Townsville primary school grounds, where the heavy seed pods tempt children into mischief. This beautiful native tree is an important part of our local ecosystem, and Coastal Dry Tropics Landcare Inc. encourages its planting and protection.

    Visit the Nursery for Black Bean seedlings

  • Flowerpot snakes

    Flowerpot snakes

    Guest post by Malcolm Tattersall
    Edited, updated, proofread – Admin
    Feature Image: A tiny Flowerpot Snake. Rushen, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Tiny Garden Surprises

    We were moving lots of pot-plants last October, planting out many of them and re-potting others. One day, while doing so, I disturbed what I thought were a few strange worms. All of them were typical worm size, perhaps 8 – 12 cm long and shoelace-thick. Most were black, but one was a delicate lilac colour; and they were all very active, wriggling for their lives until they could vanish into the soil. When I handled them, I found them very dry and slippery, which puzzled me. It didn’t intrigue me enough to stop work, however, or I might have trapped them for closer observation and discovered that they weren’t worms at all but snakes.

    This non-native species, hailing from Southeast Asia, likely arrived in Australia via boat cargo. First spotted in Darwin and the Torres Strait, it reached Townsville by 1998 and now thrives from the Pilbara to Brisbane. Its secret weapon? All are female, reproducing parthenogenetically, so one stowaway can spark a population.

    A reptile chart at the Bush Garden Nursery alerted me to the fact that I had been playing with Flowerpot Snakes, Indotyphlops braminus.

    The species isn’t native to Australia but is a fairly recent arrival from SE Asia, probably arriving in boat cargo. Like the Mourning Gecko, its invasiveness is enhanced by the fact that it is parthenogenetic; that is, all individuals are females, and a new population can be started by a single stowaway. It was first noticed in Darwin and the Torres Strait and was first reported in Townsville in 1998. It is now found in scattered populations from at least the Pilbara to Brisbane.

    I was ready for the next one we found and was able to get a photo (link below to original article and photos). I have to say she wasn’t the easiest portrait subject, being very dark, quite small, and quite uncooperative).

    She (all of them are female, remember) was about 12 cm long, which means she was close to fully grown. Her head was just slightly rounder (blunter) than her tail, although I wasn’t really sure which was which until I saw her tongue flicking out since the eyes are almost invisible, and I couldn’t see the mouth at all. The scales are tiny, shiny, and close-fitting, obviously designed to help her slip through the dirt but making her difficult to hold on to without injuring her.

    Key facts about Flowerpot Snakes:

    • Size: 5–15 cm, the world’s smallest snake.
    • Appearance: Charcoal gray, silver-gray, or purplish; pale underside; head and tail look similar.
    • Behavior: Energetic, light-shy, burrowing into soil or leaf litter.
    • Eyes: Tiny, near-blind, sensing only light intensity.
    • Diet: Ant and termite larvae, eggs, and pupae.

    Wikipedia: Indotyphlops braminus

    Adults measure 2–4 inches (5.1–10.2 cm) long, uncommonly to 6 inches (15 cm). It is the smallest known snake species. The head and tail are superficially similar as the head and neck are indistinct. Unlike other snakes, the head scales resemble the body scales. The eyes are barely discernible as small dots under the head scales. … Coloration ranges from charcoal gray, silver-gray, light yellow-beige, purplish, or infrequently albino, the ventral surface more pale. … Behavior ranges from lethargic to energetic, quickly seeking the cover of soil or leaf litter to avoid light. … The tiny eyes are covered with translucent scales, rendering these snakes almost entirely blind. The eyes cannot form images, but are still capable of registering light intensity. … Their diet consists of the larvae, eggs, and pupae of ants and termites.

    The Wikipedia page also has the best collection of names for the species. The only one which might cause some confusion is Ramphotyphlops braminus, which is the name given to them by Steve Wilson in his Field Guide to Reptiles of Queensland and JCU on their wildlife pages. Australia does have its own blind snakes, all in the genus Ramphotyphlops, and Queensland is home to 18 species. They are all bigger than the Flowerpot Snake (up to 400 mm) but are otherwise very similar: non-venomous, subterranean predators of ants and termites.

    Robust Blind Snake
    Blind Snake Rémi Bigonneau, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    This article first appeared on Green Path, Malcolm’s wildlife and environment blog, in October 2019.

    The Flowerpot Snake, while not native to our region, is another example of the diverse wildlife we sometimes encounter. Coastal Dry Tropics Landcare Inc. encourages responsible gardening practices to protect our local ecosystems.

  • Water chestnuts at Wongaloo

    Water chestnuts at Wongaloo

    Guest post by Carolyn Osterhaus.
    Edited, updated, proofread – Admin.
    Photo by David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.

    Birdlife Townsville folks tipped me off about the Wongaloo wetlands. I learned, to my dismay, that tours offer the only access. Luckily, National Landcare Week in September featured a bus trip to this very spot.

    The Wongaloo visit followed a walk through Mundingburra’s Bush Garden, where nursery manager Christine Dalliston dazzled us with her vast plant knowledge. Folks lingered, reluctant to board a bus that arrived late after a no-show scare. The day wrapped up at Morratt’s Pit, a site Lower Burdekin Landcare Association has revitalized.

    Many locals, even those nearby, miss out on Wongaloo. The bus driver raved about his first visit, awed by thousands of birds thriving on water in a dry region. He claimed it outshone Town Common, calling that an “airport” by comparison.

    Wongaloo Regional Park neighbors the Bowling Green Bay Ramsar site. The Wetlands and Grasslands Foundation—a nonprofit, public charity—teams up with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service to manage it. A grant funds weed removal—lantana, pink bauhinia, candle bush—across the 50-hectare site. Fences stretch several kilometers to manage cattle and curb weeds.

    Wongaloo hosts Australia’s largest recorded brolga gathering: around 12,000. Brolgas and magpie geese breed here, drawn by bulkurru (Eleocharis dulcis), or Chinese water chestnut. This plant forms thick beds in the wet season, then retreats to tubers as waters dry. Birds nest in the wet, then dig for tubers in the dry. Waterbirds and seasonal fish also rely on this habitat—freshwater fish spawn here during wet-season stream surges.

    Three water sources feed the site. Runoff flows from the Mt Elliott Range. A massive sand ridge, built over millennia by the Burdekin River, traps rainwater and releases it slowly into the swamps. Occasional Haughton River floods add more.

    Cattle graze to control weeds, monitored closely. Fences shield lakes, keeping cattle from damaging shorelines. Feral pigs pose a challenge. Conservation Volunteers tackled weeds in the past. Christine stressed, “Managing salt intrusions to restore the freshwater wetland matters most to me.”

    At Morratt’s Pit in Ayr, green tree guards signal big restoration efforts. Lower Burdekin Landcare Association planted over 2,500 trees in the first half of 2017.

    A sausage sizzle capped the day. Vegetarian sausages promised flavor but delivered dirt with a sage twist. Next time, I’ll join the birds and sample water chestnuts.

  • National​ ​Bird​ ​Week​ ​in​ ​the​ ​Bush​ ​Garden

    National​ ​Bird​ ​Week​ ​in​ ​the​ ​Bush​ ​Garden

    Image by David Clode from Pixabay
    Edited, updated, proofread by Admin.

    CDTLI celebrated National Bird Week (23–29 October 2017) with a birdwatching walk through the Bush Garden, guided by Michael McMaster from BirdLife Townsville.

    Seventeen volunteers, including Cub Scouts and parents from Pimlico-Mundingburra, Loam Island, and Bluewater Scout troops, joined the fun.

    The Bush Garden’s tranquil paths were ideal for listening to birds. Volunteer Sue sparked excitement by sharing a discarded honeyeater nest, its sturdy weave amazing kids and adults alike. We explored a recently installed owl box, now home to possums. These boxes offer vital habitat for hollow-dwelling birds, replacing scarce old trees in Townsville’s urban areas.

    Kids loved spotting jacanas, marveling through binoculars at their long toes that let them walk on lily pads. The day’s highlight came at Aplin’s Weir: a family of tawny frogmouths—two adults and two juveniles—perched on a branch. Nearby, we found their nest in a paperbark tree overhanging the river.

    Thank you to Michael McMaster, BirdLife Townsville, and all our volunteers for celebrating our wildlife. We hope you’ll join us in the bush again soon.