The public holiday Monday, 28 January, did not dawn with good prospects for photography being a grey, overcast morning. I was checking the Bureau of Meteorology site hoping the weather forecast would be wrong, with a sunny day replacing the predicted clouds and rain. It was not to be, the clouds lay across the Canberra region cutting the morning light. I had planned to go to Casuarina Sands Reserve as I had not been for a while and I wanted to visit it on a sunny day for once. I was not going to get my wish but as I like the location, plus I was already primed to go, I headed there anyway. I was not expecting much, knowing the photography would be a challenge. There were not many birds around but there was so many other things to see. I went further east than I normally walk, wanting to get to the rapids behind the lower weir to see what was there. The river was browner than I had I had ever seen it, possibly because of the recent heavy rains washing mud into the water. I knew the day was going to be special when I almost trod on a Gippsland Water Dragon that must have been on the track but I did not see before it dashed out from under my foot. I am not sure who was more scared. So while this post is short on birds it still has some other interesting photos, including of some insects I saw along the walk. I hope you enjoy the pictures below.
The Murrumbidgee River at Casuarina Sands Reserve looking upriver to the west - it is a popular swimming spot, with the two Pacific Black Ducks unperturbed by other water users - note the “splashes” in the water are in fact water striders
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 400mm, f/5.6 and 1/640 SEC])
I saw a bird almost as soon as I left my car. Initially I heard the lovely call of an Australian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus australis) coming from some reeds by the river bank. I could not see it until if flew from the reeds to a shrub. It stayed on the internal branches of the shrub until it flew to one of the conifers where it stayed on the lower branches. It was not there long before it flew north, across the river to the other bank. I was only able to take one good photograph but I thought it was a good start to the morning.
An Australian Reed Warbler that did not stay for long
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1250, 400mm, f/5.6 and 1/250 SEC] with flash)
Besides the Pacific Black Ducks in the photograph after the map above, there were also Australian Wood Ducks (Chenonetta jubata). The ducks I saw were all males. I am not sure if these were unpaired males from the breeding season or maybe an early batch of offspring that have reached maturity, although they seemed to be sporting breeding plumage.
Three male Australian Wood Ducks
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 400mm, f/5.6 and 1/1000 SEC])
I will be honest, I was actually photographing the bone-coloured bird in the tree and completely missed the New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae) that flew into this picture, landing on the branch and stayed there making a very easy photograph. I did not notice it at all until I was editing the photograph at home on my computer. I still cannot identify the other bird but I am annoyed I missed a chance for a lovely photograph of one of my favourite birds, the New Holland Honeyeater.
A New Holland Honeyeater with the unidentified bird I was actually photographing
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 400mm, f/5.6 and 1/640 SEC])
The first photograph of the Gippsland Water Dragon (Intellagama lesueurii howitti) below shows the one I almost trod on. I think this may be a female given the lack of colouring as well as the smaller head. The way I came across this lizard was completely unintentional. I was walking east along the path when a “branch” near my foot suddenly ran towards the river. I was a little shocked, as I was not sure what had moved. Fortunately the dragon ran onto a branch which had fallen into the river where it stopped. I slowly started taking photographs as it seemed content there. It kept an eye on me for a while, before it also started to look at things in the water, although I was not sure what it was eyeing off. After I had been photographing it for a while, with a flash and trying different locations, it moved a little further along the branch before pausing again, checking me out from its new location. It repeated this a couple of times, not rushing, just moving at a steady pace but nor moving far until it finally crawled into the leaves at the end of the branch that were resting in the water.
The second lizard was undoubtedly a male. It was about three metres from where I saw the first lizard. It was resting on the end of a tree that had fallen into the river. Initially, I thought I was looking at some moss until I zoomed in. The lizard was wet like it had just been swimming but was in no rush to leave the water. The air temperature was about 22º Celsius so it may have already felt warmed up for the day despite the lack of sunlight. It did not move while I was photographing it, except to look at me a couple of times.
I was so glad to see these two beautiful lizards. I have photographed these water dragons before at the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) where they are so easy to see and they are conditioned to humans walking past. (Yet another great reason to visit the ANBG.) Seeing this reptile in an unexpected location was a real highlight of the morning.
Possibly a female Gippsland Water Dragon, which I nearly trod on
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 182mm, f/5.6 and 1/250 SEC] with flash)
A male Gippsland Water Dragon in the river, with its broader, more coloured head
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 400mm, f/5.6 and 1/250 SEC] with flash)
Initially when I got out of the car then looked at the river I thought it was beginning to rain. All I could see on the water were circular ripples like rain drops hitting the surface. I had not seen any rain drops on the car windscreen driving in nor could I see any drops on the rear screen of the camera. I could not even feel any drops with my hands. When I had a closer look I realised the circles were actually being made by what were probably 100s of Water Striders (Aquarius antigone). They moved incredibly quickly across the surface of the water without being disturbed by the wavelets. They did not seem concerned about how obvious they were but nor did I see any bird, or anything else, predating on them. Below the small weir a group of them did seem to be in a constant battle to stay in one location by regularly charging against the flow of the river before being pushed back towards where they started from. You can see that situation in the first photograph below. In the second photograph you get an idea about how these insects hunt. You can see this strider has caught some prey in its evolved forelimbs, which now serve as tools for capturing food with modified barbs. It has a tube it uses to puncture the prey to then “drink” the good bits out of its food. It will also consume dead insects that fall on the water surface. Its front legs are also used to detect the movement of prey on the water surface.
The Water Striders were out in numbers
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 142mm, f/5.6 and 1/640 SEC])
A close up of a strider with its prey
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1250, 400mm, f/5.6 and 1/250 SEC] with flash)
Another insect that I saw out in force, although not in the numbers of the Water Striders, was the Orange Threadtail Damselfly (Nososticta solida). They seemed to be everywhere. I came across the pair in the first photograph as I was getting ready to crawl under a large tree that had toppled across the path. I saw the front one first as it was hovering above the ground. The second one arrived, when there was some brief interaction such as flying around each other, before they both landed. They were both perched on their respective twigs. These insects were only a few centimetres long making them easy to lose if you took your eyes off them. The front one was most active, going forward, then reversing back to the twig it was on. I did not see any more interaction between them. I am still confused how they are differentiated, as the colours on the wings are stated as being indicators of both either one or the other sex depending on which reference I read.
The two sexes of the Orange Threadtail Damselfly together on the bank of the river
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 1000, 55mm, f/5.6 and 1/250 SEC] with flash)
The male
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 1000, 55mm, f/5.6 and 1/250 SEC] with flash)
The female
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 400mm, f/5.6 and 1/250 SEC] with flash)
There were also a number of Cabbage White Butterflies (Pieris rapae). These are insects that arrived unintentionally in Australia but are thriving.
One of the many Cabbage White Butterflies along the banks
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 400mm, f/5.6 and 1/640 SEC])
I recall as a young child spending an interesting time with a very elderly gentleman who was a friend of my parents. I was there as he was a bit of an expert on the local wildlife around where I grew up. He was an original Anzac and was a past student at the high school I would eventually attend. He had a curio cabinet filled with specimens related to the wildlife of the local area. I can still recall him showing me a leaf that had been wrapped around by a Leaf-curling Spider (Phonognatha graeffei). I never forgot it, constantly remembering it when I walked around our neighbourhood seeing these spiders in their clever camouflaged home. When I saw one at Casuarina Sands I thought it was a good opportunity to take a photograph, as I have not found many of them around Canberra, well not as many as I remember in Sydney, where they were easily seen. As you can see in the first photograph this female has placed the curled leaf in the middle of its orb web, as this spider is considered one of the orb weavers. After making a web the spider will select a leaf that has fallen on the ground which she then hauls back up to the web. She then curls it over, using her silk to secure it. Once you see the leaf in the web it is easy to know which spider you are looking at.
The Leaf-curling Spider showing the central position of the leaf in the web
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 1000, 55mm, f/5.6 and 1/250 SEC] with flash)
A close-up of the spider waiting for food
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 1000, 400mm, f/5.6 and 1/250 SEC] with flash)