Who's This?

[Nuts]

Actually.... zoomed from the original more grey than yellow (this game maybe not that straight forward):

[Lady McGuyver]

I'll put my $1 bet in the thornbill camp. Scrubtits have the white specs on their wings. . This little tacker didn't appear to? Hard to judge without having seen it in motion. And I think the thornies were a tad smaller than the rest.. I'm no bird-o but. . .

He reminds me of the little birds that pick insects out of your vehicles' front grille. . . "hmm anything tasty in those Scarpa treads?!"

[Nuts]

Yer, needs more investigation, the tassy and brown thornbill are labelled as the same or different species depending on the reference.. I'm outa time though ; )

[Vee]

Hello Nuts
Hmmmm I can tell you exactly what sort of bird this is in your pictures. Years ago I asked the local bird expert about such a bird as this and he replied with confidence that it is definitely an LBB. Boy howdy I was so impressed. I said to him "how can you tell with such ease". He replied with a wink "well it's definitely a Little Brown Bird and they are very hard to identify".

[Nick S]

Good one Vee..
Hmm I don't tend to take many plant/bird photos. But here's one I don't know/haven't looked up.

what flower.jpg (238.44 KiB) Viewed 6621 times

And a cute bird pic to finish. not a LBB

what bird.jpg (145.77 KiB) Viewed 6621 times

[gayet]

The flower looks like the tasmania Native Flag Iris - Diplarrhena moraea

The bird - I have no idea

[corvus]

Bird looks like a Blue-winged Parrot Neophema chrysostoma.
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=Neoph ... d=0CCIQsAQ
corvus

[Kozzie]

Is this a brown thornbill?

Brown Thornbill.jpg

Thats jimmy the flith, dont let the lisp fool you hes a mean mother. They say he once split a guy in two! Devoured half of him and then fed the other half to his bleeding kids!! Your *&%$#! lucky my friend. Someone is looking down on you indeed just make sure its not the rest of his flock know what i mean i fear you have been marked from above , so i dont know ya never seen ya right?

[nakedape]

Certainly has all the appearance of the the Acanthiza ewingii so I guess it is
corvus

I had a fair idea, this little one has a strong reddish tinge:

bird2.jpg

It's certainly resembles a Thornbill - the question is which one? As you'd be aware, the Brown and Tassie Thornbills are remarkably similar in appearance. As a rule Browns are not found in the SW (but I'll leave to someone else to describe the boundary). The thornbill group is divided into 'dark' & 'light' eyed - both the tasise & brown are dark eyed. So your zoomed pic may cause some consternation, but its worth remembering that the darkness (richness and extent) are variable within species and juveniles often have lighter eyes than adults (in some but not all species).

When trying to tell the difference between the two remember the adage 'Tasmanian thornbills wear white underpants' - they're lighter underneath than browns. They also have a longer tail.

Having said all of that - what you have there is a Tasmanian Scrubwren! And a very remarkable picture/ encounter!



Confused? Good, welcome to twitching!


Some resources:

http://graemechapman.com.au/cgi-bin/library.php

http://birdsinbackyards.net/finder

[Nuts]

Thanks n/ape. I am generally a bit confused when it comes to birds
I'd say these are locals, if you get down to Montezuema Falls hang around, i'd suspect they get fed a lot from the platform there.
Scrubwren you say....

[Nuts]

If this is a game, Corv can't go cause he's in the naughty corner
No idea what the other guys on... about That leaves you Gayet, looks like a Flag Iris to me

[gayet]

I'll see what I can find. Does it have to be from Tas?

Anyway

The bee, I mean

I doubt bumble bee is really appropriate,

[Nuts]

Bombus terrestris, nice one.. and just learn't something about bees maybe someone could have a go at the plant for a point?
I guess oz wide, i suppose.. maybee name the state har ha!!

[gayet]

It was in Tas. Out along Waterfall Bay track. Thanks for the name, gave me something to search with.

From NSW Office of Environment & Heritage:

NSW Scientific Committee - final determination

The Scientific Committee, established by the Threatened Species Conservation Act, has made a Final Determination to list the Introduction of the Large Earth Bumblebee, Bombus terrestris (L.), as a KEY THREATENING PROCESS in Schedule 3 of the Act. Listing of key threatening processes is provided for by Part 2 of the Act.


1. The Large Earth Bumblebee, Bombus terrestris (L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), is a relatively large, primitively eusocial bee native to Europe. Bombus terrestris is generally more heavily built and hairier than the honeybee, Apis mellifera L.. Large Earth Bumblebee queens are 30-35mm long; workers are more variable in size, ranging from 8-22mm long; and males are similar in size and appearance to large workers. Large Earth Bumblebees are black with one yellow or ochre band across the front of the thorax and a second yellow or ochre band across the abdomen. The tip of the abdomen is either buff or white.

2. In cool climates Large Earth Bumblebees form annual colonies and new colonies are initiated each spring by mated solitary queens. Colonies quickly reach sizes of 300 to 500 individuals. In warmer areas colonies may reach large sizes, with colonies of more than 1000 individuals being recorded in Tasmania (Buttermore 1997).

3. Large Earth Bumblebees were first recorded in Tasmania in 1992 and have since spread over a large area of the state in both urban and native bush areas (Hingston et al. 2001). This species of bumblebee forages from a wide range of plant species. In Tasmania it has been recorded foraging from at least 170 plant species (156 exotic, 14 native; Semmens 1996) and in New Zealand it has been recorded visiting 400 species of exotic plants (Low 1999).

4. Colonies of Large Earth Bumblebees have become established throughout Tasmania in a wide range of habitats from sea level to 1250m altitude within all the major native vegetation types (Hingston and McQuillan 1998).


Most interesting - I have also found them in the backyard.

[Nuts]

Picture 12.jpg (39.32 KiB) Viewed 6485 times

I have a proxy vote (ha ha) for blue love creeper: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/207956/ close perhaps but it looks to have leaves more like rosemary in that image..?

[gayet]

The large obovate leaves in my image belong to the white flower, the others at the top are from something else unidentifiable. The blue has rosemary type leaves hidden in there if you look for them so Comesperma volubile is probably right!

[Nuts]

So he is half right? : )

[gayet]

Yes Nuts you are right - completely, on the blue flowered thing - at least I accept your identification. The large leaves at the top - not enough of the parent plant to identify, the white flowers, too common to worry about.

[Nuts]

Is the while flower on a vine (like clematis)?

[gayet]

I don't really recall but I think a bush - not quite tea tree. I wasn't concentrating on the herbage at that point just the bee. he/she had been flapping around for a while and was very noticeable, in size and sound at least.

[Nuts]

They look all cartoon like, probably should have squished it or something?
Maybe someone can find/i.d that white flower....and/ or (just) go... or just post something you want a name for prhaps/ ...

[Nuts]

Not that i think i'd bring myself to squish it..

[corvus]

Could be a young Telopea truncata ?
If I am correct I have no pics to post so it is open to anyone so please keep it going which could improve our knowledge of flora and birds.
corvus

[gayet]

Looks like it but would need flowers to be certain. Very similar leaf structure but growth habit is difficult to determine on a young plant. I'd accept it as a waratah....... Not that I know much though.

I have a question about the lichen - are the pinky brown bits the fruiting (?) components or simply a juvenile bit? Or even a different lichen growing on a host lichen?

Lichen

I know nothing ..............