Friday 30 September 2016

difficult identification

A couple of nights ago I photographed a moth that was on the window and quite certain it was one of the GEOMETRIDAE family but finding the right ID was another story. There are so many species and many looking very similar but I finally settled on one that had most of the features.


The photo I was using for my identification was of a collected specimen in the Queensland museum, maxates selenosema, and I couldn't find any other references. However I did find another photo posted which was supposed to be of this species but looked nothing like the museum specimen, so I am thinking it was incorrect.
The blue body colour and leading edge on the forewings plus the two white wavy lines were the significant characteristics. It is listed as found in Queensland but no other information was found. If anyone can add information regaring this moth I would be very pleased.
 

Monday 19 September 2016

Scaled down

The spotted gums, Eucalyptus maculata, opposite our deck are heavy with blossom and the mistletoe is also in flower so the honeyeaters and the lorikeets were very active feeding this morning. The rainbow lorikeets, the largest of the family are very prevalent in the area and we regularly see them feeding on the flowers in the garden. The three other species of lorikeets in the area are generally seen flying rapidly from tree top to tree top to feed on the highest blossoms but today a few Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus, were tempted by the mistletoe flowers lower down and stayed long enough for a couple of photos.


 Apart fron the yellow "scales" on the breast the bright green colouring only gives way to another colour when the under wing bright orange is seen in flight.

 

Saturday 10 September 2016

Lichen the camouflage

Found this small moth amongst a pile of Casurarina glauca branches and branchlets that I was clearing out of my trailer. Only spotted it as it moved otherwise I am sure I would have missed it.


Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so had to make do with the Iphone and  it is not as sharp as I would have liked.
The identification took a bit of time even though I was fairly sure it was in the GEOMETRIAE family and I tracked it down to the sub-family ENNOMINAE where it was identified as Paradromulia ambigua an appropriate name as there are wide colour variations and patterns and many without the white markings.
The moth is found in Queensland and NSW but I didn't find any other information although it would appear to be ideally suited to association with lichen.

Tuesday 6 September 2016

Amongst the foliage

I am a bit late with this post, having been away, but last week I heard a bird chattering away in repeated bursts which I didn't recognise so grabbed the camera and went to investigate. After a bit of searching I finally pinpointed the calls to high in a Eucalyptus but with a limited view.
I was quite sure it was a Grey Goshawk Accipiter novaehollandiae, and managed to get a couple of photos for identification before it flew off. 


You can see the quality is not great, as I had to crop quite a bit because it was a long range shot, however it confirms the Identification and shows the extensive chest barring indicating a young bird. 
The Grey Goshawk has two morphs, grey which is found in forested areas especially coastal closed forests throughout NSW Queensland and Victoria. The white, with all plumage pure white predominates in NW Western Australia, Northern Territory and coastal Victoria where as it is the only one found in Tasmania.