Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo

Photo by David Cook

These are my favourite bird! They fly over frequently, always paired up and much less raucous than the other common parrot the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo.

So when I saw that a pair had made a nest behind my shed, and that it had a large chick in it, I gasped with delight! As I observed it later in the day I witnessed a number of interesting things:

• when a crow flew into a tree near my chickens, the chickens sent out alarm cackles which set off the cockatoo chick who also squawked. I had no idea crows are considreed such threats.
• I could see a ring tail possum tail sticking out of this same nest. Was it dead? Are they sharing? Is there such a shortage that a possum and cockatoo will share the same tree hollow? Later in the day the tail retreated into the hollow.

This dead branch has a nest for a pair of Yellow tailed black cockatoos

Those with some understanding of Australian fauna, know that many birds and mammals need tree hollows to make nests to reproduce and with tree clearing  accelerating around here, homelessness is not just a human problem.

Nest in the dead branch

Trees need about 100 years before hollows start to be formed, so if we keep cutting down the big ones its obvious what will happen.

On my 6 acre bush block which is nearly all forest, there are only around 30 trees old enough to have hollows. Like much of the Daylesford area, the area was cleared of forest for mining in the late 1800's.

This candlebark below has many hollows, Rosella's and possums are the current residents, with European wasps also calling it home.

Candlebark with many hollows

Many years ago I wanted to make nest boxes for Feather tailed gliders and possums, which I knew were here, and I put a a couple of these home made nest boxes up. The photo shows clearly why this is not the right way to attach a nest box.

How not to attach a nest box

The metal strapping that I nailed into the tree is hindering the growth of the tree and is creating a wound. Now I know that the nest box needs to be hung rather than attached.

Plague soldier bettles

As any observer of the natural world knows every year brings different conditions and different booms and busts. I've been seeing creatures that I don't normally see. In spring it began with Plague soldier beetles, these ominously named insects weren't the trouble that you might think. The main problem they cause is the possible snapping of branches under their weight.

Plague soldier beetles massing

Beetles on the raspberries

I then found they were of considerable benfit for my ailling cherry tree that was under serious attack from black aphid. I had hoped that this year would be different as I gave the tree a good dose of Munash - rock dust, a local product that I think has created resilience and abundance in other plants similarly dosed.

Black aphids on Cherry tree

I suspect the cherry tree gets too much shade from an enormous messmate eucalyptus nearby. So  for a few years now the aphids sense its weakness and attack.

However the beetles eat aphids, so one plaguing creature consumed another. Nature is good that way. No waste in nature. No photos unfortunately.

The lady bird beetles come to the rescue eventually, but it can take time for the numbers to build. ABC's Gardening Australia says there are 100 species in Australia!

Adult and larvae Lady beetle in one shot

 There is a 28 spotted lady bird beetle that's not so useful for gardeners as it eats cabbage, bean and potato plants

The Mighty Murray

I love going up to the Murray. In this dry land with few water courses, the Murray stands out as a whopper.

The Murray River near Barmah

The murky brown colour and the swift current are all a delight to me. Its familiar, reassuring and such a striking smorgasbord of life in what seems like a surrounding dry landscape that is being damaged and deforested at a rapid rate. The bird life was incredible, water birds of all sorts, endless amounts of parrots, Galahs and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Pelicans and Swallows .

We unknowingly camped under the nest of a bird of prey, the parents came and went with various morsels for the chick. They didn't seem at all concerned about our presence. We found the remains of a fresh Galah head on the ground under this nest one morning, all edibles carefully extracted from the skull.

Raptor nest

The environment shows the wear and tear of human activity. The banks are all terribly eroded. Trees have their roots undermined and topple in. The speed boats going up and down in this section cause large waves that further erode the banks.

Eroded banks

On the other hand floods in recent years means that the floodplain has been having a fairly 'normal' and healthy cycle. For the first time in a long time the native grasses are out numbering the weeds.

Native Poa thriving after floods

On the subject of introduced species, I paid my $6 for a 3 day fishing license and caught 1 carp. Which is exactly what I wanted to catch. I've been itching to cook up a carp for ages to find out what the bad eating reputation is based on. It was a fishy flavour (but it is a fish) with a rather soft and mushy texture, not unpleasant at all. I baked it in foil with slices of lime and salt (I forgot to bring garlic) but think frying fillets might be better... hope i catch another carp soon.

November is 'Movember', with the aim of promoting men's health and the entrance banners to the towns of BendiMO, ElMOre and Mochester (Rochester) were a hoot.

Taranaki Farm Tour

On Sunday T and I went to the lovely Taranaki Farm, which is a stones throw from Woodend.

I joined just a few other people...

Farm tour snakes towards the diary

Approximately 400 people (but  I find it hard to count crowds so it might have been more) came to see this farm on Sunday, they were mostly in their 30's to middle aged, with lots of children in tow.
One of the draw cards was Joel Salatin, a man famous for his enthusiasm for regenerative, sustainable agriculture that I think does a reasonable job of not making the lives of the animals that we eat an absolute misery.

Joel Salatin in fine form

Ben Falloon and his partner and staff, love their land obviously and they have invested a lot of money to create infrastructure and design elements that maximise the sustainability of their farm.

They bring the dairy 'parlour' to the cows. They have a small herd of 7 and have beautiful lush pasture with not an inkling of being over grazed. The practice of overgrazing on 'conventional' farms is a problem that drives me crazy. It does nothing good for the grazing animals, plants, soil or farmer profits.

Mobile dairy

Moving livestock from small field/enclosure to new ground regularly is an important element for not trashing the landscape that provides food for their chickens, pigs and cows. Joel stated that these pigs below, would get 20% of their calories from the animals and plants in the soil in this area, but I find that hard to believe unless I am totally underestimating the insect life present.

Berkshire pigs amongst the Eucalyptus trees

Joel Salatin made the mobile hen house famous and their are now many versions of this structure.The house is out in an open field. They keep the chooks safe with a mereema, and Joel advised that the healthy ecosystem down at the ephemeral creek provided animals that the foxes took first!

People loved the 'egg mobile'

It was a great day, an inspiring farm and a beautiful environment on a glorious sunny day. The $10 entrance for the walk, talk and sensational lunch was a bargain!!

The true value of oil

Kirstin Kimball runs an amazing farm  in the US, where they use draught horses to do the work of ploughing, harvesting etc. Have a look at her blog to see how this farm feeds her community. 

Kirsten and her partner are considering reducing their 'horse power' for more conventional fossil fuel power.

They are struggling with the costs of employing staff to manage the amazingly beautiful animal work force amongst other pressures.

They quote Bill McKibben's statistic that one barrel of oil contains the same amount of energy as TEN years of manual labour.One barell costs approx $100 and 10 years labour $250K - $1 million. 

As peak oil approaches the restructuring means lots of shocks and adjustments are to be expected.

Machine at work

Cup Moth Caterpillars

These glorious creatures are every where at the moment, an indication of the abundance of leaf matter for these creatures to eat.

Look out for more information about these flambouyant looking creatures in an upcoming edition of Tanya Loos nature notes in the local Advocate newspaper.

Cup moth caterpillar approx 2cm long