Diario del proyecto Yellingbo and surrounds

Like last month, it's a time of year when there's not a lot flowering in the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area bush, but that didn't lessen our enthusiasm! It was an overcast but warm, still morning. Perfect for a walk. We hit one of the tracks that I haven't walked in years, and others have never been on, meandering past swampy areas on one side and open pasture on the other. There were plenty of birds around so we recorded those too - 36 species in all, with 3 Wedge-tailed Eagles overhead, a male Mistletoe Bird feeding in the Grey Mistletoe, a Jacky Winter and 4 Willie Wagtails hunting for insects together being highlights. A Southern Water Skink was out basking on the swamp edge, whilst the butterflies mostly flew off before we could get photos. How hard are they to photograph?! The Ringed Xenica's stood still long enough for a photo, but none of the other species did - there's always next time!
Lots of friendly chatter just added to the joy of being out in the bush. Thank you team :)

The frogs were quiet today, with just a lone Common Eastern Froglet sporadically calling, and one other species that we weren't sure about. Nine of us headed out into a part of Yellingbo NCA that we haven't included in our bird surveys to date. With the Conservation Area on one side, and open farmland on the other, it's often an interesting spot for seeing birds who live on the boundary of 2 worlds - bush thickets and open grassland. With smoke filled air from planned burns happening in the region, and the warm day, we felt a little lethargic as a group and perhaps the birds did too! We recorded 28 species, with highlights being a flock of Blue-winged Parrots, a Swamp Harrier soaring gracefully above Cockatoo swamp, lots of Superb Fairy-wren's and Karin's chocolate truffles :)

It's a time of year when there's not a lot flowering in the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area bush, but that didn't dull our enthusiasm! On a mild, still day our purpose today was to record the summer orchids before they go into their dormant phase at a site where Monash Uni reptile surveys will happen this year. We're mapping the summer flowering orchids, to ensure they're protected. Hyacinth Orchids, Large Tongue-orchids, Onion Orchids, Caladenia's and Elbow Orchids were recorded. There were beautiful butterflies on the wing and ants busy shifting mulch to lay around their kingdom's entry holes in the ground. With heads down scanning the ground and friendly chatter it was a joy to be out in the bush with a fabulous group of volunteers, taking it all in, whilst achieving something purposeful. Thank you team. Great job!!

The magic combination of a warm, still morning and an enthusiastic group of people meant we spotted and heard 40 species of birds today. A gazillion Grey Fantails - including juveniles, a consistent and loud begging call from a juvenile Wedge-tailed Eagle, at least 1 Spotless Crake finding great refuge amongst the reeds in the swamp, a Satin Bowerbird, 5 Eastern Yellow Robins perched in a line, a group of adult and juvenile Red-browed Finches, Striated and Spotted Pardalote's, a species of frog calling that we couldn't identify (but have uploaded it to FrogID) and lots of dragonflies and damselflies were just some of the many highlights. We added some of these bird's calls, Ron's great snap of a Wandering Ringtail and Chelsea's Striped Ladybird snap to our iNaturalist project 'Yellingbo and surrounds'. A great morning in the bush, with fabulous people :)

32 people, all keen to learn how to spot and ID reptiles, were out in Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area with the Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater, learning from the expertise of Monash University researchers Jules Farquhar and Professor David Chapple. We visited a few different habitat types within YNCA where Jules and Dave talked about how these often shy creatures, including the nationally threatened Swamp Skink and Glossy Grass Skink, might be making use of the different vegetation types. It is suspected that they are. On the day, we spotted grass skinks and a Black Rock Skink (and a Wedge-tailed Eagle!). Jules emphasised the value to researchers of community observations being uploaded to the citizen science platform iNaturalist. YNCA is known for being home to the critically endangered Helmeted Honeyeater and Leadbeater's Possum, but we are very mindful of the ecosystem as a whole and that no species survives in isolation. In 2022, Chapple lab at Monash Uni will be starting comprehensive surveys for lizards and snakes throughout YNCA, and through the comparison of reptile diversity and abundance in remnant, revegetated, and disturbed sites, determine whether conservation efforts for the Helmeted Honeyeater have had a positive benefit for reptiles in the YNCA.

This week we're thinking reptiles, whilst prioritising orchids. In a collaborative project with Monash University, Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater volunteers are preparing for a reptile survey site to be established later in the year in a patch of bushland within Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area. We're mapping the summer flowering orchids, to ensure they're protected. Discouraging to see so many of the Hyacinth Orchids browsed at budding stage. As well as these, we've recorded Large Tongue-orchids, Onion Orchids, Caladenia's (setting seed) and Elbow Orchids. In a couple of months time, just like those that flowered in other seasons, there'll be no evidence that the orchids are there as they go into their dormant phase. With some of these species being significant for our region, like the tiny Elbow Orchids, it's our knowledge of the local patch, together with the expertise of Monash researchers that will ensure the focus is on the ecosystem as a whole when the reptile surveys start! Thank you team :)

We escaped the heat of the day with an 8am start, and were richly rewarded. Under the dappled shade of magnificent Eucalypts, with 11 fabulous people, it was a joy to see a couple of Grey Fantails nesting, a Dusky Woodswallow collecting nesting material, Sword-grass Brown Butterflies and Ringed Xenica's on the wing and summer flowers. That just about sums up our first citizen science morning for 2023, surveying for birds in a patch of Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area that is not often walked. We recorded 34 species for the day, with highlights being the Eastern Shrike-tit, Satin Flycatcher and a couple of Red-browed Finches that didn't mind our presence and allowed us to get a close look.

Although it was overcast for much of the morning, it wasn't cold and the wind stayed away. Our flora survey was off to a good start! We ventured into the dry slope of the newest acquisition for Yellingbo Nature Conservation Area, for our first survey here. We focussed on the plants, but also recorded the birds. Why wouldn't we?
We surveyed a small section of a 40+ hectare block dominated by a canopy of Stringbarks and a scattering of Peppermints (Eucalypts). Eight people, including 2 new people to our flora surveys, recorded Onion Orchids dotted throughout this patch, more Blue Pincushions than I've seen elsewhere in the reserve, Bird Orchids, Sun Orchids that had finished their flowering (we'll be back next year to see what they are!), and much more! It was nice to see some insect life, after seeing very little over the recent wet months. Highlights, you ask? It would have to be the shared laughter, conversations and joy of spending a morning out in the bush, sharing our ID knowledge and queries with fabulous people :)

The expected wet weather didn't come on our bird survey (that was a bonus), but we came prepared with gumboots, and we definitely needed them. The ground is still sodden from a few months of wet weather, so any rain causes low points to fill with water, and flow. In cool, but not cold, mostly overcast conditions, our citizen science team of 11 people recorded 43 species of birds, 2 frog species, 2 Swamp Wallabies and a couple of beautiful butterflies that I'm sure were wondering what happened to summer. Or was that just us? A great morning, as always, with fabulous people. And the Christmas biscuits, and rum-n-raisin chocolate with plenty of rum were pretty good too :)
Some highlights? A pair of Gang-gang Cockatoos, Dusky Woodswallows, Sacred Kingfisher, Swamp Harrier... and everything else!

For a fauna survey, we spent a lot of time looking at and recording the flora! The day was mostly overcast, but the sun was fabulous when it came out, and the company of 9 people who love being in the bush wasn't bad either :)
The ground was sodden, even on much of the dry slope we walked, with flooding events continuing. Despite that, we recorded 33 species of birds including 6 Rufous Whistlers with 2 that looked like they were pairing, a Wedge-tailed Eagle, Brown Goshawk, Sacred Kingfisher and a solitary Silvereye. A few species of orchids caught our eye, as did the Dwarf Boronia - a significant species in our region, and hard to see when not in flower. We found a number of plants that we'll go back and protect.