February 2015

Having thoroughly explored one tiny patch of Australia, we moved on to another patch called Tasmania. Tasmania has quite similar wildlife to the mainland, but there are significant differences, and judging by the amount of road-kill, considerably greater abundance.  Though birds are mobile and can get across large stretches of water easily, Tasmania does have its own endemic species.  One of the loudest and most common of these is the black currawong. 

Black Currawong

These are large raucous birds, superficially like crows, but with a wickedly large beak and a wide range of calls.  Like crows, they also hang around human habitations and will greedily consume any scraps of food left lying around.  One bird that they don’t have in Tasmania is the emu – which means that the one we saw in a field as we drove past, was on a farm and destined for the table!

Pademelon

Tasmania also has its own unique mammalian fauna.  They don’t have the large red or grey kangaroos, but they do have a rather cute wallaby called a pademelon (pronounced paddy-melon, and also known as the rufous wallaby).  It has shorter legs and tail than other species and is more suited to the dense forests of Tasmania.  It used to occur on mainland Australia but was wiped out by introduced foxes.  Foxes were, of course, introduced to Australia by the unspeakable red-coated lot in pursuit of ‘sport’.  Interestingly, they were introduced to Tasmania first, but are now extinct there, and it is thought that they were out-competed by the indigenous Tasmanian devil.

We were privileged to be able to see Tasmanian devils.  These animals are about the size of a fox, but shorter and stockier, and they are in serious danger of extinction and for once, not because of the stupidity or thoughtlessness of man, but because of a virulent cancer that has spread through the population like wildfire.  In one part of the north of the state, it is estimated that 98% of the population was wiped out in about 18 months.  Prior to 1996 when the disease was first discovered, the population of devils was thriving.  It was thriving largely because of the activities of man.  Settlers cleared the forest and created grassland for grazing animals. 

Tasmanian Devil

Wallabies are also grazing animals and so thrived, and of course wallabies are prey animals for Tasmanian devils.  Since the disease struck, the government has introduced a program to create areas where disease free devils can be separated or that can be kept disease-free, and 3 such areas have so far been created.  We went on a trip to see one of these areas and witness their ‘natural’ behaviour.  Had this been a zoo, where animals are kept in captivity just for show, we wouldn’t have gone, but this was better than a zoo in several ways.  The animals are necessarily in captivity to quarantine them from the diseased population but they are also in a large area – 10 hectares (about 25 acres in English), and are kept away from human contact to keep them as wild as possible.  Proceeds from the trip go to support and expand the programme, and one of the conditions placed on the trip operators is that the visit had to be educational, with a view to spreading the facts about the disease and to prevent persecution of the animals.  This message is largely getting through with many farmers realizing that they don’t take lambs, but will clear away carrion that could spread disease through the flock.  Some idiots never listen though, one of whom has tried to illegally introduce foxes to Tasmania as recently as 2001.  If foxes gain a foothold because of the weakened state of the devils, who knows what will happen to the ecology there.
Devils are, like many of Australia’s mammals, marsupials, which mean that their young are born very soon after conception and complete their development in a pouch.  Australia has another branch of the mammals, the monotremes, or the egg-laying mammals.  There are two notable species – the platypus, which needs more time and patience to see than is allowed on a whistle-stop tour – and the echidna, or spiny ant-eater.  We saw several on our trip, mostly grubbing about at the side of the road. 

Echidna - Spiny Anteater

They are a charming creature with a long snout and small eyes, somewhere in size about halfway between a hedgehog and a badger.  They are relatively unconcerned by people screeching to a halt and leaping out of the car with cameras, but they will either curl up like a hedgehog or shuffle off, and if further threatened will dig straight down and bury themselves leaving only their spines visible.

January 2015

The Nature Notes author is on holiday this month, so he is not able to see what is going on in Pett.  Instead, he’ll try and send a little warmth from the Southern hemisphere and tell you a little about the natural world from an Australian point of view.

Getting to grips with the wildlife in a strange place can be daunting at first because nearly everything is new.  Birds are the obvious place to start because other things like small mammals are shy and hard to spot, insects are small and easily hidden, and many species of both are nocturnal.  Birds being able to fly away are more inclined to show themselves.  Another reason for starting with birds is that wherever you go, there’s an appropriate field guide to refer to.

The first bird I saw on the drive from the airport was, appropriately, the welcome swallow.  It is slightly smaller than our own swallow, but still unmistakeable.  Next, picking up road-kill insects from the side of the road were myna birds.  These are found all over Asia, and have been introduced to many Pacific countries where they seem to thrive and have a more or less detrimental impact on the local ecology.  In one infamous example they were introduced to Fiji to control insects that were destroying the local bean crops.  They were successful in wiping out the insects, but having done that, they went on to eat the beans.  Australia though, has its own endemic myna bird as well as the introduced one.

If I had to choose two adjectives that describe the bird life in Australia, they would be colourful, and vocal.  Many people complain about being woken early in the spring by the dawn chorus.  In Australia, it goes on all day, and at times can seem deafening.  The kookaburra is one example, with its almost demonic laughing call.  It took me a while to identify one bird that had a loud, sharp, ‘ping’ call.  Though quite secretive, I managed to get some photographs, and with the help of a field guide, identified it as a bell miner bird.  The sound is more like a sledge hammer striking a chisel than a bell, but much louder and more piercing.   It’s a small bird with olive green plumage and the most amazing orange legs. 

Bell Miner

Another bird that has a loud call is the sulphur-crested cockatoo.  This has a loud and jarring squawking call, played at a volume to make a noise abatement officer long for retirement.

Amongst all the noise, it can be quite surprising to hear the familiar call of a blackbird. (And can be likened to finding a quaint Spanish village with an English pub in it.) It is the same species of blackbird that may be found in Pett.  There are several species that have been introduced to Australia, such as the greenfinch and goldfinch.  These have probably been introduced for no other reason than to make early settlers feel at home.  Whether they have an impact on the local ecology or not, they certainly don’t make it any less colourful or quieter.

One of the most colourful groups of birds is, of course, the parrots.  I've only been here a few days, but I've already seen 6 different species, from the pure white (almost) sulphur-crested cockatoo, to the unbelievable, but aptly named rainbow lorikeet.

Rainbow Lorikeet

There is plenty of other wildlife here, of course, but it all seems to follow the same pattern of louder and more colourful than the wildlife at home.  I've seen butterflies the size of birds, a startling yellow-headed fly, and one black red-bellied snake – described as poisonous, but rarely fatal.  Well that’s a comfort, at least.

If you would like to see some of the photos, I've started an Australia blog that can be seen at www.akaust14.blogspot.co.uk.