WILDLIFE OFTEN KNOW MORE THAN US WHEN IT COMES TO RAIN
Waiting for rain is always nerve-wracking and I hope that by the time this goes to press the cool saviour of gardens, forests and paddocks will have arrived to break what is turning into a crippling dry.
All the signs seem to be building up. Frogs are talking about it, cranking up their voices a little shakily as if they have been silent for too long but coming out triumphantly none the less. Ants of numerous kinds are busy. I’ve even heard the haunting cry of red-tailed black cockatoos which seem to call only when rain is coming. And, of course, the storm bird, the koel, has been working overtime telling us storms are on the way.
But they don’t seem to arrive.
Clouds loom tall and fat, then little or nothing happens. Tully and Innisfail get more rain than we do here out in the scrub, but a few large drops splashing warmly around one does not a downpour make. Maybe leaves get a little moisture, but that seems to be all.
Of course, this happens every year and every year we speculate about when “the wet” will arrive. It is true wildlife seems to have a greater sense of imminent weather conditions than we do, but it is often hard to believe them.
One sign is the arrival of Christmas beetles, often as a thump on the window, or a beetle caught in the fly wire.
Our friend Yvonne Cunningham’s Coquette Point rainforest garden and nursery was almost besieged by a Christmas beetle emergence last week.
Curiously, these gaudy beetles climbed up into trees, fed vigorously, then having filled their bellies hid and even slept.
When she disturbed a number of them in a palm leaf they climbed to the top of the leaf and launched themselves to the ground where she saw them burrow into the leaf litter and disappear.
She learned afterwards this is a common defence mechanism but, as she said, not every beetle was lucky for one, as she watched, was captured and quickly trussed up and killed by an orb weaver spider.
Christmas beetles belong to the scarab beetle clan which also contains the familiar cane and rhinoceros beetles.
They pupate in the soil and the larvae feed on the roots of grasses and trees as well as on decaying vegetable matter.
A plant that is always particularly welcome in the garden and the forest is the beautiful nodding native orchid, Geodorum neocaledonicum, sometimes called the shepherd’s crook orchid for its pink flowers bend downwards like the business end of a shepherd’s crook.
Its leaves are emerging from the ground now and it should be in flower by Christmas or soon after.
As its name indicates, it “sleeps” (is deciduous) during the dry season, and this is essential to its growth, so it is perfectly suited to our dry-wet conditions.
The flower stalk, surrounded by fleshy leaves, can grow to about 50cms. It grows from a bulb and clumps can be divided with care. It does best in sandy or granitic soil where drainage is good and will appreciate mulching.
It was, apparently, once common in the region but is now more usually seen where woodland or garden beds are relatively undisturbed.
It was with great sadness we read in the Tully Times last week of the death of two more cassowaries. Allowing more time to get to a destination rather than having to rush is surely a solution?
Both deaths occurred in known cassowary crossing places, and the big birds really do show very little road sense, especially in places where they have been fed by tourists and hope the next motorist will do the same. If one thinks about it, evolution is a slow business and vehicles, in nature’s time-flow, have only really recently appeared on the scene.
Agreed, signage could well help. Perhaps some lateral thinking in the design is called for?
It is saddening to note the majority of people breached for speeding offences on regional roads, away from the Bruce Highway, are local residents. Even more saddening is the fact most cassowary road kills are brought about by locals. Especially in a holiday season such as this, there are good reasons for extra care and less speed on all roads.
Our safety, and the safety of wildlife, is really up to us.
By ANNE WILKINSON.
Wildwatch is provided by the Tully branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland: enquiries to 4066 5466 or 4066 5650.
To contact the emergency 24-hour Wildcare hotline, phone 0439 687 272
Phone DERM on 1300 130 372 to report concerns about cassowaries and mahogany gliders.
PIC: Christmas beetle approached edge of a leaf:
ESCAPE ROUTE: A Christmas beetle prepares to launch itself from a palm leaf, its antennae flaring. It will burrow into the ground and disappear. Yvonne Cunningham caught this moment on film