Dirty skies, hot day, and Flying Termites

Today was one of the most unpleasant days (climatically) I can recall in ages.
Sure there have been much worse days, but we in Robertson need a bit of acclimatisation to these hot north-westerlies. 
OK it was only 27.1 C (max), but the humidity is the clincher. Close to 100% at present.
I can't get a retrospective reading on that, from the Fire Brigade Weather Station, unfortunately. But it was "sticky as...." (as the young people say).

This is what the sky looked like at Albion Park Airport, at lunchtime.

Normally one can see the Illawarra Escarpment
really clearly from here.

This is the view from the top of the Macquarie Pass
Under the dirty cloud
(which is not pollution, by the way)
one can normally see Lake Illawarra
and the Port Kembla Blast Furnaces.
This is simply a result of nasty atmospheric conditions.

The immediate effect of the burst of hot weather was an enormous swarming of Termites.
All the way up Macquarie Pass (through the rainforest)
I was driving through clouds of flying Termites.
If you look at this image closely, you will see little creamy "dots"
They are the wings (the only things clearly visible on these insects)
of hordes of flying Termites.

Termites swarming in the hot air.
There are probably 80 or so in that one frame.
and that was literally a single "snapshot"
of one place, at one time.
The drive up the Pass is about 6 Km long.
How many Termites hatched today?

Late in the day, the sky turned a dirty yellow
with the sun just about to disappear.
This was at 7:02PM
Strange colours. Not a classic sunset at all.
Lets hope tomorrow is a better day.

In writing this, I am aware that there have been bushfires in the Central Coast area, and I am not trying to compare our conditions to theirs. But the "dirty sky" is not smoke haze from burn-offs, and certainly not smoke drifting down from those fires. It was just a very strange day.

Gibbosas in flower now.

This morning I met up with Tony Rodgers, to show him some of the "Gibbosas" at Albion Park. Silly me, I parked in a slightly different place to normal, and spend 15 minutes wandering about before I found the right spot. That is good, for it means the chance of people finding these Orchids on a random basis is not very high. Lets keep it that way.

Judging by various comments and feedback about "lost sunglasses found at Kurnell" etc, it seems many people know where those other rare and localised Orchids are. Who knows when "many" is too many?

A nice flowering stem
of Oligochaetochilus gibbosus

I find these unusual "Greenhoods" fascinating.
The thick, fleshy labellum protrudes on a hinge.
They can snap shut if disturbed, by an insect
or a clumsy photographer.
Oligochaetochilus gibbosus

This plant has the"lateral sepals" deflexed
even more than normal.
Oligochaetochilus gibbosus

A lovely specimen
found away from the main colony.
Oligochaetochilus gibbosus

Close-up of the Labellum
of Oligochaetochilus gibbosus
Note the two stiff fibrous hairs

 The even better news is that we found a number of individual specimens of these Orchids away from the main colony. 

Leaf rosettes of Oligochaetochilus gibbosus
These non-flowering plants are already going brown.

Early-flowering Orchids of Macquarie Pass and Albion Park

This morning I took my Orchid colleague, Bruce Smith down the hill, to Macquarie Pass, and on to Croom Reserve, at Albion Park, to see some of the local Orchids.

Pterostylis hildae

Pterostylis hildae

Pterostylis hildae

A lovely dark specimen of the Maroonhood, Pterostylis pedunculata

Pterostylis pedunculata

Pterostylis pedunculata

Pterostylis pedunculata

Bruce photographing a nice specimen of Pt. curta.

Pterostylis curta,
showing its famous twisted labellum

Pterostylis curta,
showing its famous twisted labellum
and in this case the "pollinia" are visible

Pterostylis curta,
this species has much fatter "bum"
than Pterostylis hildae

 Just a few of these small-flowered Black-tipped Greenhoods were in flower.

Hymenochilus bicolor

A nice grouping of Hymenochilus bicolor

Spring Is coming in a rush, in the "bush".

This post will primarily be about Orchids, but let me just say that the "bush" is coming alive in the Illawarra and Southern Highlands. And it looks great!

Wattles are in flower everywhere, lining the roads and tracks, and the Pea flowers are climbing, scrambling or in the case of the shrubby ones, just standing up and flowering their little heads off.

But amongst these shrubs, the spring-flowering Orchids are just coming into flower too.

Just down my local hill, below Macquarie Pass, at Albion Park, the rare and endangered Illawarra Greenhood - better known simply as "gibbosas", have started to flower. 

The name Oligochaetochilus gibbosus amounts to the unpronounceable in search of the "bent over". 

Gibbous means humpbacked. The other part of the name, refers to its few spiky hairs on the labellum.

It is listed under the EPBC Act as Endangered, because of its limited distribution.

Here is the flower seen from the side
It is demonstrating its "gibbous" posture.

Oligochaetochilus gibbosus

And from the front, with the labellum "set"

Oligochaetochilus gibbosus

The EPBC Act recovery plan for this species includes this Pterostylis gibbosa drawing by A. W. Dockrill (reproduced from The Orchardian Volume 12, Number 3, March 1997 with the permission of the Editor)

">Botanical drawing of this species by AW Dockrill

In the same area, is found a cousin of that first species, Hymenochilus bicolor

It is a Midget Greenhood which has been renamed. In common parlance it is called the Black-tip Greenhood, in reference to its labellum. 

Black-tip Greenhood Hymenochilus bicolor

***************

In the same area I found the first of the regular spring "Caladenias"

This is Petalochilus carneus, best known as "Pink Fingers"

Petalochilus carneus

 There is often considerable variation between different flowers.

Pink Fingers Orchid  Petalochilus carneus

There will be many more of these "Spring Orchids" over the next few days. 

Time and space are running out on me.

Pacific Baza found at Calderwood (near Albion Park) NOW UPDATED

POST UPDATED - SATURDAY MORNING 30 JULY.

Image warning:  This post contains several images of a road-killed bird.

My reason is to record the fact of  this species existence in the area.

But if you find such images unpleasant, please skip tonight's post and please come back to my Blog again tomorrow night. 

Thanks

Denis

*****

My friend Kirsten rang me yesterday in a state of high confusion and high excitement, about an unusual bird she had found as a road kill, at Calderwood, near Albion Park.

Her confusion and her excitement turned out to be fully justified.

It turned out to be an immature Pacific Baza (the so-called "Crested Hawk") It is formally known as Aviceda subcristata. Unfortunately this bird was somewhat damaged and had been damaged on the back of the head (so no crest was evident), and it had lost most of its tail feathers.

On its supposed distribution, the easily searchable sources say: "The Pacific Baza is found in tropical and subtropical forest and woodland in northern and eastern Australia, but rarely south of Sydney." (Source: Birds in Backyards). So, at first we ruled out the Pacific Baza as an option (as to what species we were dealing with)..

Just a word of explanation, it is often surprising how hard it can be to recognise an unfamiliar bird species when one finds one "out of context" such as a road kill.We are simply not used to seeing these things up close and personal. Of course, there is another factor, many species of Birds of Prey undergo significant changes in plumage. In this case, I first thought it might have been a juvenile Brown Goshawk, which are famous for having strong markings on the chest. This turned out to be a red herring  for me, in trying to work out what it was. 

Moral for the day: Just because the references say some bird ought not be where you are does not mean it is not that species. Global Warming (and also changed land use) are clearly changing the distribution of certain species.I mention here two species - the Noisy Pitta, which I have reported from Berrima, NSW (way out of its normal range) and the Rainbow Lorikeet, which has undergone an explosion of its range along the east coast of Australia in the last 20 years. 

Please also see the note below about the Birdata mapping tool to which I was referred by Martin.

Back to the bird in the hand.

Pacific Baza - head with caterpillars in beak (its last meal)

I sought assistance in identifying this bird from the Canberra Ornithologists Group email forum. Part of what was puzzling me is the fact that this bird had clearly been eating caterpillars, probably of grass moths. Such a diet would appear unusual for a Goshawk, as seemingly it had been eating from the ground, not catching its prey on the wing. But the same comment might equally well apply to the Baza.

Anyway, one of the COG people suggest that perhaps my "supposed Goshawk" might in fact be a Pacific Baza. With that thought having been raised, I reviewed the evidence.

What about it supposedly being out of range"?

Unlike what was reported on the Birds in Backyards site, it turns out that Pacific Bazas have been recorded from the Illawarra Region. In fact, near by at Tullimbah. OK - so the Pacific Baza theory is no longer out of the question.

I started to look more closely.

Check out the diagonal nostril line - an unusual feature.

I checked out what the nostril of Goshawk looks like. Geoffrey Dabb has a wonderful shot of  a Brown Goshawk (on the COG Bird Image Gallery) which clearly shows that it has a round nostril hole. OK - so that confirms it is definitely not a Brown Goshawk.

What else can I check out? 

The legs are worth looking at.

Feet and legs are grey; under-tail coverts are pale chestnut colour

Lets look more broadly. The underwings have this colour (which I had previously overlooked). Silly me. 

Under-wing colour and black and white marking on wing tips

Here is the image of a Pacific Baza in flight, from Simpson and Day - "Field Guide to the Birds of Australia" (6th edition).It is blindingly obvious to me - now - that what I have is a Pacific Baza. 

Simpson and Day - illustration of Pacific Baza in flight.

Suddenly it all becomes clear. It is the difference between seeing the details and the overall picture.

The throat colour of my bird is not grey - because it is not an adult - it is immature.

Let me put on record the assistance of several members of the COG chat line,and my Blogging colleague, Martin referring to the HANZAB guide, for sorting out some of these finer details.

POSTING UPDATE:

Since posting that original Blog item on 28 July, I have followed up a suggestion from a COG member, Philip Veerman, to try to get better images of the beak. He has some experience with this species and told me that a Pacific Baza has a distinctive "double tooth" structure on the beak.

That turned out to be absolutely accurate, and a lovely diagnostic point to confirm the ID by (apart from the unusual shaped nostril already mentioned).

Detail of the beak of the Pacific Baza. Note the double "teeth" notches.

Oh, for the record, yes the dead Pacific Baza had 7 Caterpillars in its beak at the time a car hit it.

7 grass-feeding caterpillars found in the beak of the Baza.

Bazas are well known to be insectivorous. My Blogging colleague, and retired CSIRO Entomologist, Dave Rentz tells me Bazas favour Stick insects found in tree canopies, mostly. And further, he notes that, in the tropics, Lizards and Tree Frogs are also popular food items, normally.
However, these caterpillars are almost certainly grass feeding caterpillars, most likely of the Moth family Noctuidae. I am seeking assistance with confirmation of the caterpillar ID.
If I am correct in them being grass-feeding caterpillars, then obviously such grubs are only found from the ground, by searching closely amongst the lush grasses.
It could not have been flying to pick out these caterpillars from within grass leaves. And surely it would not have achieved catching 7 as yet undigested caterpillars, if flying.
The bird was found adjacent to lush dairy farming country in a district known as Calderwood, close to Albion Park.
 

So if nothing else that tells us something interesting about the feeding habits of the Pacific Baza.

Another note of interest, another Blogging colleague, Martin, who is also a fellow member of the COG Chat Line helped me greatly by resolving the accurate distribution (range) of the Pacific Baza. He referred me to this site: Birdata - Atlas Distribution Maps. Note: It is "birdata" not bird data. Type in Pacific Baza. 

Obviously you can use any recognised name for Australian birds. The search is not even case sensitive, which is good. It also suggests options, eg, to test it, I typed in Starling, and it offered me 6 alternative species to select from.

I strongly recommend you visit that site and then "Bookmark it" or save it to your "Favourites".

I often comment on how I greatly appreciate collaboration in getting IDs of unfamiliar species, be they plants or moths, or in this case, birds. I have mentioned a number of collaborators in this "quest" by name, above. Kirsten, Geoffrey, Martin and Philip. There were other suggestions and comments offered too along the way. Thanks to them all.

Long may the spirit of collaboration reign - sharing of knowledge is a great gift. 

The first of the "Finger Orchids" for this season

My friend Alan Stephenson has confirmed the identity of an Orchid I found when exploring Croome Recreation Reserve, at Albion Park, with Kirsten.

The orchid is Petalochilus fuscatus.
(previously known as Caldenia fuscata - but it is the same plant)

I have previously reported finding this Orchid growing on Black Mountain, in Canberra. As I recall it was one of the earliest of the "Finger Orchids" to flower.Here it is with the noticeably long and hairy leaf.

Contrast that tall leaf with the flat (horizontal) leaf of the previous "Blue Caladenia" (now placed in a different genus of Cyanicula)

Centenary of Wattle Day + more Orchids

Thanks to Kirsten's Facebook page, I now realise that tomorrow, the 1st of September, is National Wattle Day. It has not always been thus, (our Queensland cousins used celebrate it in August); but in 1992, the first day of September each year was declared 'National Wattle Day' throughout Australia. The first 'national' Wattle Day was celebrated in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide on the First of September 1910. You can read more about the history of Wattle Day on the Wattle Day Association site.

Here is a Wattle growing in my yard, which grows naturally in the Mittagong area. Close, but not "natural" in Robertson's red soil. But the plant does not mind. Anyway, it happens to be the only photo I have to hand of any flowering Wattle. I have other Wattles in flower, but I am slack, because it is dark outside now and I am not going to try to take any new images now.This is a very narrow-leaved Wattle, which has ball-shaped inflorescence (compound flower structure) not long "rods" as the other flower-structure of some Wattles is known.

*****

More Orchids from Albion Park, on Sunday.

Hymenochilus bicolor.

This one was a complete surprise to me - I have never seen it, or even heard it talked about by the local ANOS enthusiasts. Kirsten showed it to me, but was quite matter-of-fact about it. She didn't expect me to get excited about it, but I did.

Clearly this is a close relative of yesterday's unpronounceable Orchid (lets just call it the "gibbosa". Some authorities put them both in the same group - Oligochaetochilus. More generally, yes, they are both Greenhoods (Pterostylis) in the old classification. This one is now known as Hymenochilus bicolor.

Click to enlarge to see the unusual "knob" on the labellum
and note that the labellum is otherwise thin and flat.

It has a distinctive black beak-shaped gland on the labellum, which distinguishes if from the closely related H. mutica.

What I think of as a "semi-side-on" photo.
It shows the labellum being free-standing from the cupped structure
below the flower, which are actually the lateral sepals.
Although they look to be cup-shaped, they are not.
They are partially fused, but technically they are two separate organs.

It differs from yesterday's Orchid in having small rounded lateral sepals, which are not recurved (sweeping backwards as in yesterday's plant). The top part of the flower (the galea) is very similar in both species. The Labellum is very different from yesterday's plant, being a shallow spade-shaped organ (not a thick protruding structure), with the black bump at the top (well base of the labellum, actually).

That latter clarification is necessary, because Orchid specialists describe the labellum (and other parts of the flower) as having the base as that part which is closest to the point of origin (where it starts to grow from). But of course, as we see the black bump, it is at the top of the labellum. But botanically, it is at the "base" of the Labellum. That's why the labellum illustration below (on the right) appears to be "upside down". Convention has it that you start where the labellum separates out from the rest of the flower, that's all.

Source: PlantNET

Photographed in profile.

This angle accentuates the rounded cup-like structure
of the lateral sepals held below the flower,
and of course, enclosing the Labellum.

This image mimics the angle of the botanical drawing above (top left).

Unlike yesterday's plant, this one is not endangered, and is fairly widely distributed.

"Gibbosa Greenhoods" in flower.

An orchid with the "barely possible to pronounce" name of Oligochaetochilus gibbosus is just coming into flower down at Albion Park. It used be called Pterostylis gibbosa. You could try calling it the Illawarra Rustyhood, but it is not reddish brown as one might assume from that name. Its enough to make one want to give up (but see below, for a little glimmer of understanding, based upon a search for the etymology of the name).

That's why I have referred to it simply as the "Gibbosa Greenhood" in the title of this Blog posting.

Note the prominent brownish labellum, with several (only) stiff hairs.
Presumably these hairs act as a movement detector,
to help trigger the Labellum to snap closed, when an insect is present.
(Click to enlarge the image).

Here it is with the Labellum snapped closed.
That is a pollination technique,
designed to trap an insect inside the "hood"
which is where the pollen grains and the stigma (female organ) are located.
This is the botanical illustration for this species, from PlantNET.

By the way, my favourite on-line dictionary - the Dictionary of Botanical Epithets reveals that "gibbosa" means "humped". It is a very useful reference site, which can help one make sense of strange sounding names.

As far as I can work out the "impossible sounding name" Oligochaetochilus refers to having a few (oligo) long flowing hairs (chaeton) - Gk. khaite "long flowing hair". That actually makes some sense, now that I have tracked back its compounded etymology.

This Orchid is known to occur in very few locations, and several are in restricted (privately owned) sites, which is probably just as well. This plant is classed as an endangered species.

In truth, it is pretty hard to find, growing amongst long Poa grasses in a large reserve at Albion Park, just down Macquarie Pass from Robertson.

I had been invited down to see the "Gibbosas" by Kirsten, a colleague from the Illawarra Branch of the Australasian Native Orchid Society. So I had the benefit of an expert local guide. Thanks Kirsten.

Anyway, we drove right to the spot, and examined some of the first Gibbosas, then went for a walk around the Reserve, to look at other plants (and Kirsten's favourite young Red-bellied Black Snake).

The next Orchid we found was a total surprise to both of us, the "Blue Caladenia", or as it is now known, Cyanicula caerulea. Hardly "sky blue" (its original Latin derivation) to my eyes, but very blue, none-the-less. These days it can mean "dark blue, or even sea-green" There is no green in the pigment of this flower. Blues and purples, yes, but no green tones.I have seen illustrations of this plant in many books, but I have never seen it myself before, so this was a thrill indeed. A solitary flower, with the hairy leaf lying flat on the ground.
I have posted a few images from yesterday's tour on my Facebook site gallery.

Tomorrow I shall show some of the other plants we found.