Moth weekend in Canberra

On the weekend before last, I went to the Australian National Insect Collection, (part of CSIRO) at Black Mountain, in Canberra.
They had invited a group of professionals and some amateurs like me, to a weekend where we could meet other Moth-ers, and exchange notes, get to know eachother, and also, of course, have access to the "Collection".
Marianne Horak and Ted Edwards and Youning Su were there from ANIC, as well as Dave Rentz, a former CSIRO entomologist, and many other experts.

In addition to posing for a group photo, we also went to lunch at the Botanic Gardens (ANBG) Cafeteria, and I took a few "happy snaps".

John Landy, (former Governor of Victoria)
(facing camera, on left)
a keen amateur entomologist,
with Don Sands (close to camera, centre)
with the Kuranda "gang" of Entomologists,
Dave Rentz, Buck Richardson and Max Moulds

cabinets holding the ANIC Lepidopteran collection

some of the Library reference books

These Swift Moths are common at my place, in winter,
especially on wet nights.

Oxycanus dirempta specimens
showing variability between individuals

Specimens of a Butterfly from Asia
which has recently been recorded in Darwin
(males)
"Tawny Coster"

Specimens of a Butterfly from Asia
which has recently been recorded in Darwin
(females)
"Tawny Coster"

Post Script: Dave Rentz also has written about the Mothing weekend, with lots of nice photos as well.
http://bunyipco.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/mothfest-2013.html

Post Script 2: Len Willan sent me a Paper by Ted Edwards re two newly described species of Hepialids from the Kosciuszko National Park:  "Two new species of Oxycanus Walker (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) from Kosciuszko National Park, one with a sub-brachypterous female" Edward D Edwards and Ken Green. Australian Journal of Entomology (2011) 50, 78–85:

I was particularly interested in the comments about weather and Oxycanus, as I have observed a very obvious weather-related pattern in their appearances at my place - they fly on rainy nights, especially, in May and June.

• Introductory notes on both new species:  "In this and other species of Oxycanus adult emergence is closely timed to weather fronts (Helson 1970; Common 1990) and this simplified the search for males."

• (Oxycanus oreades) Biology. Like other Australian species of Oxycanus the larvae and pupae live in tunnels underground and the adults emerge mostly on a single night, at a closely similar date each year and timed to coincide with the passage of a westerly or south-westerly weather front producing rain and a rapid drop in temperature.
• (Oxycanus oressigenes) Biology. The species has a similar general biology to O. oreades except that the female is fully winged. Adult females were found on 15 March 2009 and 6 March 2010 in daylight following or during rain resting on a dense sward of Poa costiniana accompanied by loose pupal shells, but almost all the males were taken at light in rain. O. oressigenes flies with the first rains after about the beginning of March, and into April if no suitable rain occurs during March.

So, my notes about the Swift Moths at my house appearing during rainy nights clearly fits a well-established pattern (of which I was blissfully unaware until today). Thanks again to Len Willan.

That all confirms the wonderful co-operation demonstrated amongst the "Moth-ers" of Australia, and the value of such gatherings as the ANIC Mothing weekend.

Some birds of the Botanic Gardens - in Canberra

Here are a few pictures of some of the birds which hang out at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra.

The White-winged Choughs of the Botanic Gardens are like the Silver Gulls and White Ibis of the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. They hang out around the public lawns around the restaurant, but they also live in the bush-like parts of the Gardens.

Chough family grooming themselves in the sun

This one was very busy walking (running) around.
Note the red eye, and the curved beak.
Ravens have white eyes and much heavier, straighter beaks.
This Chough was perched in a tree above the tables
and it was very busy preening itself.
You can see the white primary wing-feathers.
That is a feature or which they are named, but
which is not visible until they fly.
The other really obvious birds are these Wood Ducks.
The female looks tired, and when "junior" decided to go exploring
she sent Dad off to keep an eye on things.
The male bird was in fine plumage.
This shot makes it look as if my brother, Brendan has his foot on the head of the male bird.
Of course, he does not, but with the foreshortened image (of a zoom lens) it does look that way.
Here is the duckling (a single one, by the way, which means almost certainly, the local Ravens got the others in the clutch, when they were very much smaller.)
Very cute, but totally without fear - not a good attribute for a duckling!
When the Male Wood Duck decided that the little duckling
has strayed too close to Brendan it intervened.
It came between the duckling and Brendan.
It then hissed at him, with its neck stretched out.
Get the message?
Unmistakable, I would have thought.

Most unusually, throughout this little "charade", which we "set up" to see how close Brendan could get as a test (but a non-threatening one, I stress), the female Wood Duck did not move from her comfortable spot on the grass. That's why I say all this threatening body language was a charade, for it is normally the females who do the serious guarding of the ducklings. She knew junior was not in any danger, but Dad was on the baby-sitting roster - so he had to make it look good!