Australian Bush Life

Safe driving is not only important for human safety but also for wildlife safety. Wildlife injuries and deaths on our roads have a huge impact on maintaining our biodiversity. As most of us drive we all play an important role in trying to protect our wildlife whilst on the roads as unfortunately they don’t understand our human road rules and ettiquette!

Here are some tips we regularly use to reduce the chance of injuring wildlife whilst driving:

• Reduce speed so that you have time to stop.
• Drive carefully at night as many Australian wildlife species are nocturnal and very active at night.
• Drive particularly carefully at dawn, dusk and during rain.
• Or avoid driving at dawn and dusk as wildlife are most active then.
• Or avoid driving in the rain as it is more dangerous, but many of our frogs and water birds love the rain and are more likely to be out and moving about.
• Always keep an eye on the roadsides as wildlife often use these areas and can move out unexpectedly, particularly when there are habitat features such as indigenous vegetation or water pooling on roadsides.

We carry a pillow case and box in our car so that we can assist injured wildlife if we come across them. We are lucky to live near the Healesville Sanctuary which can quickly assist any wildlife with injuries, but many vets are also willing to help out.

We also have the RACV’s wildlife assist number, 13 11 11, plugged into our mobiles so even if we are travelling we can link to the nearest wildlife resuce centre using just this one phone number.

Helmeted Honeyeater at feed station.

The last month has been really busy for this Bush Chick as I have just started a new job looking after Victoria’s Avi-faunal emblem the Helmeted Honeyeater, Lichenostomus melanops cassidix. These birds are endangered under the Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999. My current role is to work with the birds in the field to meet outcomes of the Recovery Plan for this species.

Over the last month I have been busy working with the dedicated volunteers who maintain the supplementary feeding program. The birds are part of a captive breeding program where birds are bred in either the Healesville Sanctuary or Taronga Zoo and released into the wild. On the birds release into the wild they are given extra support to increase their chance of survival through a supplemented feeding program, where a part of their diet is supplemented with a nectar based solution known as Wombaroo.

Helmeted Honeyeater - captive leg banded bird being released.

Whilst out in the field I have been busy tracking which birds are observed during each visit by checking their leg bands. This is sometimes an easy task if they come down low and you can see their bands really easily, but if they stay up high in the trees this is more difficult. We are currently moving into the breeding season where I will be busy monitoring nesting behaviour and assisting the birds nesting success as best as possible. This will mostly involve trying to reduce the chance of predation of their nest.

Wombats are elusive animals, being nocturnal they come out at dusk and are gone by morning. We have never actually seen one on our bush block, but they leave evidence – almost daily. We recently caught some video footage of a local wombat one on a nearby property which was pretty cool.

Wombat poo surprise!

They really are the funniest creatures. We get a laugh everytime they leave behind a scat. They have some weird desire to poo in strategic locations. Usually this is up high, it seems that they are marking their territories. Once after we had finished some tree plantings we couldn’t understand why the tree guard (protective surrounds) kept getting knocked down. Eventually we realised through evidence that a wombat had placed a poo on top of the wooden stakes that were holding up one tree surround. We would love to see a wombat backing in and lining up to deliver his poo surprise at a strategically raised location.

Here is a recent example on a step edge in our garden. This scat is only one day old and already breaking down, being vegetarians their scats are decomposed very quickly by micro-organisms. We wonder what amazing locations we will come across next that will give us the next laugh.

For more information on local wildlife…

Lake Mountain Leadbeater's Possum nest box in snow. After 2009 bushfire.

The Leadbeater’s Possum is an endangered species found only in Victoria, Australia – no where else in the whole world. It lives in the forests near where we live and so we spend time volunteering with a local group of dedicated individuals who are all trying to ensure that this possum survives in the wild. The volunteer group are called Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum. Since the bushfires in February 2009 it is estimated that the Leadbeater’s Possum numbers declined from an estimated 3000 individuals to 1000 individuals so they really need our help.

Providing nectar feed to feeding station for Leadbeater's Possum.

Recently we went to nearby Lake Mountain an area that was hit really hard by the bushfire and assisted in a supplementary feeding program for the Leadbeater’s Possum. We had to walk a 10km circuit in snow shoes to deliver the food which was a great experience. There is a lack of available food on Lake Mountain as the alpine environment grows slowly and takes a long time to recover from bushfire. With only a few remaining Leadbeater’s Possums left in this area and with so many others lost in the bushfire the feeding program will ensure that any remaining possums have the best chance of survival during the harsh winter months.

The biggest threats to Leadbeater’s Possums ongoing survival in the wild are from logging practices and bushfire reduction methods. This includes “salvage” logging where trees are harvested from burnt forest trying to recover after a bushfire. Salvage logging is done under the guise of the word ”salvage”. Trying to make logging sound like a good and useful process avoiding waste, the dead and dying forest after bushfire. All of which is quite untrue as our natural bush recovers quite well from bushfire if it is left to regenerate without being bulldozed.

Also threatening the Leadbeater’s Possums survival in the wild is from bushfire prevention methods such as bulldozing new fire breaks which reduces the connection of trees within the forest which the possums rely on to move. A road may be an impassable barrier for such a small possum. Additionally excessive fuel reduction burning which may destroy critical habitat, such as mature or older trees particularly those with hollows which could provide homes from Leadbeater’s Possums.

Finally I was in the right place at the right time. Wombats leave evidence of their presence, new wombat poos are around every morning, but we rarely see them. On this evening at dusk I just happened to be out with my camera in the local area and spotted a wombat who walked right past me. They are the cutest and funniest of wildlife that we have visiting our bushblock.

Wombats are herbivores and on our bushblock mostly graze on grasses. They really like the indigenous Weeping Grass – Microlaeana Stipoides and the wallaby grass species on our block a favorite is Velvet Wallaby-grass – Austrodanthonia pilosa. By having these herbivores around they are our sustainable lawn mowers - which we love!

Crimson Rosella eating Cotton Fireweed.

The indigenous plants called “fireweeds” or scientifically known as ”senecio spp.” live up to their namesake as they do love fire! We have had huge numbers of fireweeds sprout up since the bushfire over a year ago as they love disturbance and are a typical plant to colonise newly opened areas of soil. Unfortunately for their namesake and appearance they do look and sound weedy. Many people have unfortunately removed this plant from their gardens but they are an indigenous plant and a very important food plant for our wildlife particularly rosella’s.

The most common species on our block is called Cotton Fireweed or Senecio quadridentatus. Cotton Fireweed’s on our bushblock have been continually flowering from spring until autumn. They have been a staple food supply for our local rosella’s who visit and eat the flowers and seeds from these plants daily.

Eastern Rosella eating Cotton Fireweed.

We are glad that we have had the chance to notice the importance of this plant as a food supply for wildlife. We will ensure that we have an abundance of fireweeds in the future to entice our native parrots to visit us on our bush block. We don’t need to provide them with bought seeds or other types of bought food, just observe the indigenous plants they love to eat and ensure we have these around our home where we can enjoy the birds as they visit.

Superb Fairy-wrens on insect control patrol - cucumber vine rack.

One of the best ways to reduce insect attack in your garden and vegie patch is to maintain your biodiversity. The more diversity you have the more balanced your ecosystem and the more difficult it is for one species to take over. We find the small birds are a key link in reducing insect attack in our vegie patch. We have had a new family of Superb Fairy-wrens – Malurus cyaneus move back in 10 months after the bushfire that burnt our bush block. They move across our block and through our vegie patch, such as our cucumber rack, for hours every day scanning for insects to eat.

To ensure you maintain habitat requirements for small birds, such as fairy-wrens you need to have a dense shrub layer amongst your indigenous vegetation. They are very vulnerable and need shrubs (bushes), from ground level to 1 – 2m high to hide in. The shrubs need to form continuous clumps, one isolated shrub surrounded by mowed lawn doesn’t provide them the hiding places they need. They do like open patches (like a vegie patch) and raised vantage points amongst the shrubs so that they can dash in and out of their hiding place.

Dead shrubs form vantage structure for small birds.

We realised how important this layer of vegetation was as the small birds only returned to our burnt bush block when we had a good, thick cover of shrubs which took about 10 months to fill out after the bushfire event. One of the saddest events since the bushfire was to watch most of our neighbours mow (and kill) their indigenous shrubs through the spring and summer just as they were re-generating after the bushfire. This critical habitat component is also apparently a bushfire threat and recommended for removal to protect human homes. Dilemma….. no good for protecting the homes of the small birds and who knows which other wildlife species!

We ensure that we maintain our indigenous shrub sized vegetation – the plants that fill out from the ground to 2 metres height or so. Especially having indigenous shrubs abundant near areas like our vegie patch to entice these small birds, our organic pest control, to dash in and out of our vegie patch. They are also a joy to watch and listen to as they have fun moving in and out of your garden plants.

More to come on our home which survived the bushfire even though we had not removed our shrub layer…

Bush Rat - Rattus fuscipes. Volunteering trap and release program.

We spent the last weekend doing some volunteer work around Lake Mountain near Marysville. The area was severely burnt during the February 2009 bushfires and we joined up with some local Parks Victoria staff to set and bait “Elliot” traps amongst new growth of ground cover plants. The aim was to trap and release to see if we could find some of the rarer small mammals that were previously recorded in these mountain areas and see what had survived the devastating bushfire. We were particularly looking for a threatened species the Broad-toothed Rat - Masacomys fuscus.

Unfortunately on the day we helped out we didn’t find any Broad-toothed Rats but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there! We did find lots of our native rat more commonly known as the Bush Rat – Rattus fuscipes. This Bush Rat is pretty cute, more softer looking than the introduced Brown and Black rats and have quite a different diet of native vegetation, fungi and insects - whereas the introduced ones eat pretty much anything and everything which can be devastating on the environment.

The native Bush Rat can be easily identified from a Brown or Black rat by the length of their tail, which is shorter than their body length. Brown and Black rats have tails longer than their body length.

We chose to volunteer our time to understand more about the local indigenous plants and wildlife in our local forest. Trapping animals gives us the chance to see animals that we may otherwise never see, as they are generally shy and nocturnal. The Bush Rat habitat relies on having good ground cover vegetation, habitat logs and leaf litter to provide food and shelter. Maybe this is why we also don’t see them on our bush block as many of our neighbours have cleared away their ground cover vegetation, habitat logs and leaf litter reducing the quality of their bush habitat.

Bush Rat in Elliot trap - ready for release.

As we live quite close to this mountain area and being a National Park (state government land) we believe that the land, forest and all it’s animals are the responsibility of all Victorians. It is really up to us to get involved, to find out what is out there and learn how we can continue to look after what we find.

We love the view from the windows of our home because they provide us with views of the bush we have chosen to live in and enjoy. We have also put a birdbath amongst indigenous shrubs immediately outside our kitchen and living room as it immerses us in the bush experience. Hence birds regularly come to visit close to our home to drink and bathe so that we can observe and enjoy them.

In the first couple of years we had a few birds strike the windows whilst coming to the birdbath. The larger birds like parrots just bounced off but unfortunately one small Striated Pardalote – Pardalotus striatus didn’t make it and died in my hands. This was a fairly traumatic experience for us as we had placed the birdbath close to our home to enjoy birds and yet this directly lead to the death of such a beautiful bird.

Echidna leadlight ornament hanging in middle of window can reduce bird collision.

Since this event we have made a few changes and so far have not had any bird strikes. The first tip is easy we don’t clean our windows anymore, and are loving it – I mean who likes cleaning windows! They are not particularly dirty, but the reduction in shine definately helps. We have objects in the larger window areas to break up the large open glass view. Such as some hippy type – yin and yang stickers and also a hanging leadlight echidna decoration that we purchased whilst travelling.

If you are thinking of designing your home from scratch or renovating it is worthwhile considering some of the ideas that are discussed in the report: Minimising the Swift Parrot – Lathamus discolor collision threat. These design techniques could be applied to any home and if implemented in the design can reduce overall avian death through window strike which is a huge problem.

Female Scarlet Robin - Petroica multicolor. A lookout position for insect hunting.

After not seeing Scarlet Robins – Petroica multicolor on our bush block for a whole year after the bushfire we now have a pair that have moved in and become quite comfortable with their newly changed surroundings of regenerating bush.

Male Scarlet Robin - Petroica multicolor.

Recently they have taken to sitting on our outdoor chairs, female on one chair and male on the other. The Scarlet Robins - Petroica multicolor use the chairs as a launching place to attack insects on our house windows which are really close by. It is interesting hearing the tap, tap, tap on the windows and then looking out to watch them consume their insect dinner on our chairs.

Link to tips on how to reduce birds striking windows which can cause injury or death…….