Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park

Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park

Website of the Friends Group – Information about working bees and monitoring projects. As well as flora and fauna pictures and descriptions

Tag: Species

Feral Cat with a Sugar Glider

Remote Camera Results Updated to include 2015

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Overall total number of species sightings – all cameras

2012201320142015
Antechinus791068659
Bassian Thrush198198934719
Brown Gerygone0012
Brown Thornbill0305
Brush Bronzewing3215901356
Common Blackbird2716183145
Common Bronzewing0150
Common Brushtail Possum751305
Crimson Rosella782845
Cuckoo Fantailed0002
Dog0110
Eastern Whipbird3120143137
Eastern Yellow Robin341112
Echidna242463107
Fantail, Grey0300
Fantail, Rufous3370
Feral Cat24499599
Fox191323336140
Grey Currawong716237
Grey Shrike-Thrush3380
Human0010
Koala31411875
Kookaburra09417
Large Billed Scrubwren0002
Long Nosed Bandicoot287119270652
Lyrebird4869021809973
Magpie3000
Mountain Brushtail Possum181235243289
Olive Whistler715710
Pied Currawong36108
Pilotbird2150136217
Rabbit191583490
Rattus Species120213222189
Raven Species0140
Ring-tailed Possum7852967
Satin Bowerbird21835
Sugar Glider0410
Superb Fairy-wren35667
Swamp Wallaby74913821112677
Tawny Frogmouth0030
Wedge-tailed Eagle3000
White-browed Scrubwren8971264130
White Throated Tree-creeper0043
Wombat202234176130

Without any advanced statistical scrutiny strong trends include:Our remote camera monitoring has now reached four solid years of records. Although not a flawless scientifically planned project there are still be some interesting developments. The table above shows the total sightings of each species combined across all of the camera sites. There are many variables in these results, the main one being that cameras have been moved around different habitats at different times, so have not constantly been in the one place.

  • A massive rise in the number of Brush Bronzewings every year.
  • A rise in the number of other ground dwelling bird species including Bassian Thrushes, Pilotbirds, Eastern Whipbirds and Common Blackbirds.
  • An increase in the number of Long-nosed Bandicoots (although this may be explained by moving cameras to areas where habitat is more suitable).
  • Crimson Rosellas had a huge spike in numbers in 2014 (maybe because there was a lot of wattle seed on the ground?)
  • An upward trend in Echidna and Feral Cat numbers.
  • A drop in Fox numbers in 2015.
  • 2014 had double the amount of Lyrebird sightings than other years.

Several cameras have been left in the same spot for several years and it is possible to compare the results of these sites with the overall figures.

Site: Tarra Bulga – North East

Habitat: Mountain Ash forest with an open understorey consisting of scattered shrubs, ferns and grasses:

Species201320142015
Antechinus0233
Bassian Thrush36298209
Brown Gerygone010
Brush Bronzewing1121102
Common Blackbird510341
Common Bronzewing100
Eastern Whipbird47998
Eastern Yellow Robin012
Echidna5811
Fantail, Rufous100
Feral Cat3616
Fox406817
Grey Currawong100
Grey Shrike-Thrush110
Koala1102
Long Nosed Bandicoot38138
Lyrebird106145159
Mountain Brushtail Possum81016
Pied Currawong200
Pilotbird12311
Rabbit351114
Rattus Species104465
Ring-tailed Possum402
Satin Bowerbird210
Swamp Wallaby553017
White Throated Tree-creeper002
White-browed Scrubwren33924
Wombat275329

Site: West of Balook

Habitat – Forest with an open understorey, canopy consists of mature Silver Wattle.

Species201320142015
Bassian Thrush0726
Brown Thornbill001
Brush Bronzewing1045272
Common Blackbird651
Common Bronzewing040
Crimson Rosella01223
Eastern Whipbird106
Eastern Yellow Robin012
Echidna3102
Fantail, Rufous010
Feral Cat272217
Fox6411153
Grey Currawong351
Koala07930
Kookaburra1039
Long Nosed Bandicoot1703
Lyrebird237510116
Mountain Brushtail Possum46117
Olive Whistler001
Pied Currawong143
Pilotbird057
Rabbit602
Raven Species110
Rattus Species001
Satin Bowerbird002
Sugar Glider010
Superb Fairy-wren010
Swamp Wallaby955374179
Tawny Frogmouth020
White Throated Tree-creeper010
White-browed Scrubwren3183
Wombat541620

Comments: The open nature of this site means it is less suited to small mammals. Popular site for Swamp Wallabies to congregate. Openness also suits many ground feeding birds scratching around or eating fallen seeds. Foxes and cats often pass through. Has been a Koala habitually passing the camera every few days between its favourite trees.

Site: Balook Area

Habitat: Open forest with regenerating Mountain Ash, Ferny understorey with some thick scrubby patches near by.

Species201320142015
Antechinus059
Bassian Thrush9276222
Brush Bronzewing0101303
Common Blackbird03865
Cuckoo Fantailed001
Crimson Rosella0710
Dog010
Eastern Whipbird01913
Eastern Yellow Robin043
Echidna412
Feral Cat42917
Fox136385
Grey Currawong030
Grey Shrike-Thrush010
Koala032
Long Nosed Bandicoot6149168
Lyrebird12314545
Mountain Brushtail Possum957379
Olive Whistler044
Pied Currawong002
Pilotbird251117
Rabbit171445
Rattus Species117923
Ring-tailed Possum1901
Satin Bowerbird601
Superb Fairy-wren014
Swamp Wallaby136184151
White-browed Scrubwren01921
Wombat1082514

Comment: Good site for a diversity of species, some scrubby ground-cover in the area makes it a good spot for Bandicoots, with a high proportion of our Bandicoots sightings recorded here. Also good for introduced Common Blackbirds and Rabbits that like to hide in cover. Like other sites had a big spike in Crimson Rosella numbers in 2014. Interestingly large drop in Fox numbers.

2013 Remote Camera Stats

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Here’s a breakdown for you all showing the species that triggered our remote cameras last year. The lower number of detection in the later part of the year can be explained by a few issues that we had with dodgy SD cards causing the batteries to conk out prematurely. Can’t explain why the Wallaby numbers vary so much each month. Some of the other species e.g. Lyrebirds, seem much more evenly represented over the year.

Breakdown of Remote Camera
Triggers – Tarra Bulga National Park 2013

Species

Total

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Swamp Wallaby

978

50

44

105

139

164

186

157

28

14

28

15

48

Superb Lyrebird

679

48

46

59

86

70

73

50

72

54

61

38

22

Fox

256

16

22

20

49

39

30

28

20

8

10

10

4

Brushtail Possum

190

12

8

27

33

20

13

20

9

4

11

15

18

Wombat

175

3

12

14

22

33

13

24

10

4

7

26

7

Rat

170

16

2

4

12

7

15

17

27

54

12

4

Bassian Thrush

156

8

11

22

24

4

10

12

20

5

9

4

27

Unidentified Bird

115

6

8

20

12

20

6

3

4

5

15

10

6

Long Nosed Bandicoot

95

9

6

8

13

8

9

5

10

19

4

1

3

Antechinus

84

3

9

8

16

12

5

12

6

2

5

5

1

Small Mammal – Unidentified

76

5

2

2

5

14

6

13

14

5

4

4

2

Ring-tailed Possum

61

1

2

2

2

5

6

18

18

7

White-browed Scrubwren

53

3

1

2

10

6

7

6

2

2

3

8

3

Rabbit

46

1

5

3

2

6

4

4

3

18

Pilotbird

40

4

17

5

1

2

8

1

1

1

Feral Cat

39

3

1

10

7

3

3

4

5

1

1

1

Short-beaked Echidna

19

1

2

2

7

3

1

3

Large Mammal – Unidentified

19

1

4

7

1

2

4

Brush Bronzewing

17

1

2

1

1

3

1

4

1

3

Eastern Whipbird

15

1

1

3

1

3

1

1

1

2

1

Grey Currawong

13

1

8

1

1

1

1

Common Blackbird

12

2

1

9

Koala

11

1

5

2

1

1

1

Olive Whistler

11

1

2

8

Kookaburra

7

4

1

1

1

Crimson Rosella

5

1

4

Superb Fairy-wren

4

1

1

1

1

Satin Bowerbird

4

1

1

1

1

Pied Currawong

4

1

3

Grey Shrike-Thrush

3

2

1

Eastern Yellow Robin

3

1

1

1

Sugar Glider

3

2

1

Fantail, Grey

2

1

1

Fantail, Rufous

2

2

Common Bronzewing

1

1

Raven Species

1

1

Brown Thornbill

1

1

Mystery Species

1

1

Dog

1

1

 

 

Remote Camera Monitoring Autumn 2013

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I have produced some stats to go with the latest update from our remote camera sites, hopefully it adds to the information we are getting from the monitoring sites.

Camera 1 was but back in action after the Lyrebird attack a bit later than the others. It was placed around one of the original camera sites in a location I will call Balook Central. There was an alarming amount of Fox activity at this Camera, also no sign of Long-nosed Bandicoots which have been common at this site before (hopefully the 2 factors are not related). Note that in each graph when I am talking about Brushtail Possums it could be either the Common Brushtail or the Mountain (Bobuck) variety. I am not sure that it is possible to tell them apart from the remote camera photos.

Animal Visits - Graph
Animal Visits – Graph

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Camera 2 – Had a lot of bird activity, with lots of little brown birds that given their size, picture quality or the way they were facing, they were often hard to positively Identify. But there was certainly one or more active White-browed Scrub-wrens. The site was relatively quiet compared to past results. A tree branch falling in front of the Camera half-way through the monitoring period may have been a reason for this.  No sign of any Bandicoots but plenty of Antechinus and other Rodent species (probably Rattus fuscipes – Bush Rat ) but hard to identify just with the photos. Anthechinus have pointed snouts and their ears are thin with a notch in the middle. Rats have rounded ears. Sometimes it was impossible to tell whether it was an Antechinus or a Rat from the photos so in those instances, I have just called them unidentified small mammals.

Tarra Bulga South West - Animal Visits
Tarra Bulga South West – Animal Visits

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Camera 3 – Had a lot of Small Mammal activity but not so many larger ones. Possibly due to the camera positioning and location. Lots of good shots an Antechinus Species (Could either be the Dusky Antechinus or the Agile Antechinus but impossible really to tell them apart from the photos. The Rattus species are probably Bush Rats, one way to tell is by their tail length, which in native rats is usually shorter than their body length. 

Tarra Bulga South Central

Monitoring Results for Tarra Bulga South Central site.

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Camera 4 – I thought there must have been some sort of camera malfunction when I collected this camera from the field, there were over 9000 photos on the card. After looking through I found that the camera was working fine it was just an extremely busy site, especially for Swamp Wallabies, where as you can see by the graph they visited the site over 250 times over 2 months. Many times it was the same Joey with its family group which made for some cute photos with it bounding around. The site was in a fairly open clearing so it must have been a really favorite camping spot for them. In one situation a Swamp Wallaby was photographed while a Brushtailed Possum looked on from a tree trunk.  In addition to the Wallabies, we had Long Nosed Bandicoots and Lyrebirds. Look for the photo when a Lyrebird goes past and then a minute later a Fox is seen leaping through the air in the direction it went. Also look for the photos of the Fox with some prey in its mouth, I can’t tell what it is but it is about Bandicoot Size. Also a fair bit of Feral Cat activity at this site.

Remote Camera Species Count
Remote Camera Species Count

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Camera 5- This camera was obviously pointing at a favourite habitat for Bassian Thrushes, as they were the most common species here. They are often hard to spot in the photos as they are well camouflaged.

Balook Gully
Balook Gully – Remote Camera Species Count

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Camera 6- This site is on a ridge amongst large Tree-ferns, with a thick leaf litter. It has lots of Lyrebirds scratching around and plenty of Foxes prowling around.

Tarra Bulga North West
Tarra Bulga North West Remote Camera Species Count.

Fox
Fox

Camera 7 – This site, although mainly scrubby and lacking in canopy trees, had a lot of activity as can be seen from the graph. Our best site for Long-nose Bandicoots this time and plenty of Lyrebird activity.

Remote Camera Species Count Camera 7
Remote Camera Species Count Camera 7

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Camera 8 – This area seems to get a Ring-tailed possum every time we put a camera around there. Not as busy as some of the other sites but it had a good mix of species with not too many introduced predators visiting. Interestingly when I got to the camera out of the ground litter popped a real live Antechinus which did a couple of little circuits only a couple of metres from where I was standing before it disappeared again, just as I had my (regular) camera ready to shoot. Most likely it was a Dusky Antechinus which are said to be more likely to be active during the daytime (as opposed to the Agile Antechinus). Amazingly there was not one confirmed photo of an Antechinus on the Remote Camera that had been at that site for 2 months.

Remote Camera Species Count Camera 8
Remote Camera Species Count Camera 8

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Overall Counts

Overall Results
This table shows the combined number of species results for all cameras over 2 months.

Most Common Species - All Sites
Most Common Species – All Sites

Less Common Camera Sightings
Less Common Camera Sightings – All Sites


Local Cassinias

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This is the time of year when most of the daisy species in Tarra Bulga are in flower. A number of species look quite similar and a bit of knowledge is often needed to tell one from another.They are all medium shrubs with narrow linear leaves and similar looking cauliflower like flower-heads.

One group are the Cassinias’ there are three separate species and all of them occur in the more open and exposed sections of the park rather in the shaded and protected gullies

Cassinia aculeata – (Common Cassina or Dogwood) has the the shortest and narrowest leaves of the three. If you look underneath the leaves you can see that they are curled over at the edges. Another distinguishing feature is that the new flowers are sometimes pink rather that white.

Flower head, in this case showing the Pink Form
Showing the underside of the narrow leaves that are hair below with recurved margins.
Showing white flowerheads this time.

Cassinia longifolia – (Shiny Cassinia) has broader and longer leaves and the new leaves are noticeably shiny and sticky to touch. The underside of the leaves are covered in short dense hairs and the vein down the middle is very prominent.

Showing the Shiny upper-side of the leaf which can be sticky and has a prominent mid-vein.
Showing the underside of the leaf with dense hairs and the mid vein.
Flowerhead
Typical shiny leaves

Cassinia trinerva – (Three-veined Cassinia)Has leaves that are also broader and longer than Common Cassina, they are quite soft and not shiny or sticky. They have a big vein running down the middle of the leaf and two smaller veins that run a millimetre or two inside the leaf margins.

Underside of leaves showing the 3 veins that give the species its name.
Cassinia trinerva – Three-nerved Cassinia
Flowerhead which again looks very similar the the other 2 species in the park.
Cassinia trinerva – Three-veined Cassinia

Ozothamnus ferrugineus (Tree Everlasting) is a fourth species that can be confused with the Cassinia’s as it is a similar size and has similar leaves. It’s leaves are around the same size as Cassinia longifolia (Shiny Cassinia) but its leaf margins are usually a little wavy. With close examination the flowers are clearly different to Cassinias, they have little bracts around the individual florets.

Leaves look fairly similar to Shiny Cassinia but the edges tend to be a little undulating.
Underside of the leaves has a creamy white – felty texture.
Side view of flowers, which can be identified by the separate mini florets.
Another view of the flowers, Note the difference to Cassinias.
They also have a woody trunk, Which is probably the source of their common name.

Clematis Season

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There are two species of Clematis that occur in Tarra Bulga National Park and surrounding forest areas, Forest Clematis (Clematis glycinoides) and Mountain Clematis (Clematis aristata) and it can be very difficult to tell the difference between them. They are climbing plants that can climb high into trees and produce a mass of attractive white flowers in Spring. Both of them have leaves in groups of three of a similar size, Clematis aristata commonly has teeth or serrations on the leaf margins but both species show variation.

Clematis leaf comparison

There are two main ways to tell the difference between the two out in the field. The first is flowering time. Clematis glycinoides tends to flower in early spring, with most of its flowering finished by mid-October, then Clematis aristata seems to take over to be the dominant flowering species for a month or so, although locally it is less common. The other way is a key but subtle difference in the flowers. If you look carefully at a flower the tips of the anthers have little appendages, In Clematis glycinoides they are very short <1mm or even absent. In Clematis aristata they are clearly longer usually around 2 or 3mm long.

Clematis Flowers
Clematis glycinoides (Forest Clematis) and Clematis aristata (Mountain Clematis) flowers compared.

Remote Camera and the Fallen Tree

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When we checked one of the cameras after some of the recent windy weather, we arrived at the site to find it had had a close call with the base of a fallen tree landing only inches in front of our precious camera.

Figuring the the tree would be completely blocking the line of sight for the camera it was thought that there was no point leaving it in its current position. So the camera was relocated. 

Later while checking the results computer we found there had been some interesting activity at the site with passing Echidna’s and Bandicoots and a Male Lyrebird strutting around and calling.

Lyrebird
Nice shots of this male Lyrebird before the tree fell over and blocked the view.

After the tree fell we were not expecting much but the disturbance and obviously caused interest in feeding opportunities for some fauna. Antechinus and Eastern Whip Birds featured in a number of shots foraging in the rotten wood at the base of the fallen tree. As the tree was very close to the camera the shots are a little out of focus but they do give us a good look at the habits of species we would not have seen without the presence of the camera.

Antechinus Close Up
Antechinus Close Up foraging on newly fallen tree base.

Eastern Whip Bird - Psophodes olivaceus
This Eastern Whip Bird (Psophodes olivaceus) was very interested in the base of this newly fallen tree, it seemed to be having a feast.