Leptospermum continentale – Prickly Tea Tree
To 2M. Upright dense shrub, main branches stringy to fibrous. Small, rigid prickly dark green leaves.
Masses of small white 5-petalled flowers. Nectar source for butterflies and other insects.
Lasiopetalum baueri – Slender Velvet Bush
To 1M. Open shrub. Narrow grey-green leaves pointing downwards, especially in dry conditions, hoary or rust-coloured below. Small loose groups of cream to pale pink flowers, greenish towards the base. Flowers Sept to Nov.
Juncus pallidus – Pale Rush
To 2M. Robust perennial tuft. Long dull green to blueish-green stems with similar narrow leaves. Erect panicle with many straw-coloured flowers scattered or clustered. Flowers Dec-Apr.
Juncus krausii ssp. australiensis – Sea Rush
To 1.2M. Stout perennial rush. 1-3 dark green sharp-pointed leaves per stem, similar to stems.
Panicles with several radiating branches, small reddish-brown flowers towards the ends of smaller branches. Flowers Dec-Mar.
Juncus amabilis – Hollow Rush
Densely tufted perennial. Greyish-green or dull green stems. Clusters of reddish-brown flowers and seeds near top of stem. Flowers Nov-Dec.
Hakea ulicina – Furze Hakea
To 5M. Rigid upright shrub. Twisted, spreading, narrow pointed leaves. Clusters of small white to cream flowers along branchlets. Nectar source for butterflies and other insects.
Our 2nd night time walk for microbats
21 nest boxes at Westgate Park were monitored on Saturday night by the microbats team. They found spider webs and a few insects but no microbats! This is not surprising. It could take years for them to take up residence so patience is essential.
At least this small possum is making use of one of the bird boxes, its sleep rudely interrupted by our Ferret camera on the end of the extendable stick.
On our walk with the echo locators we did discover microbat activity in the southern section, not far from the bridge. So given the fact that it was rather cold and windy it was probably not a bad result.
The spectogram below is a digitiised version showing the shape of the call in green. It is very likely to be the Goulds Wattled Bat – one of the larger and more common microbats in Victoria.
If you would like to know more about microbats or to join our microbat monitoring team, let us know here.
November 4 bird survey
Apologies for the late delivery of this report, which, thanks especially to the remarkable efforts of Ursula Dutkiewicz, clearly indicates the continuing range of interesting and sometimes unexpected birds visiting Westgate Park.
Water levels remain high, attracting more Grey Teal than usual. Stilts have returned in modest numbers, and, of unusually high numbers of Superb Fairy Wrens, almost half are ‘blue’ breeding males and those seeking to breed in the future. Sightings of a Brown Quail and a Grey Shrike-thrush are very welcome, compared with a group of six or so Noisy Miners buzzing each other on the access track to the compound.
Note that Noisy Miners are generally only observed along park boundaries.
The female Musk Duck has been resident since last March – we are hoping a mate materializes. Interestingly, the number of Clamorous Reed-warblers has strengthened over the last 2-3 years.
October 2 bird survey
Despite the park still looking in very good condition, the weather on the day was not so favourable for birds as reflected by the results. On the other hand, a combination of observations over the last month on eBird and those by our photographer and artist, Ursula Dutkiewicz, have added many more species to the list. Water levels have dropped somewhat, which may account for the absence of our ever-present Musk Duck.
The team was surprised by the unusually small number of Welcome Swallows, as at ground level there was an abundance of small insects, more than we have seen for at least a year.
As can be seen in the sightings and photographs below, the number of observations for September is unusually high with an additional 22 species. A high proportion are highlighted in red due to these birds being occasional or very infrequent visitors.
