Outing Report - Karawatha Forest, 13 April 2019

It was a brilliant, warm sunny morning when the Fassifern Field Nats met at the Discovery Centre at Karawatha. There was a mixture of newer and long-term members; some meeting for the first time. We spent a wonderful half-hour at the Centre which is an amazing resource. Our walk started out on the Ironbark Circuit which is predominantly Ironbark and Spotted Gum that changed to predominantly Ironbark and Stringybark as we grew closer to the sandstone ridges. 

Fungi - Amanita ochrophylloides

             

Nats in Karawatha Forest

Shepherd's Crook Orchid (Geodorum densiflorum)

Orange Ringlet (Hypocysta adiante)
Photo: L. Euston

Carpet Python in our hosts' garden

Common Crow (Euploea core)
on Monkey Rope Vine (Parsonsia straminea), also in the garden 

Boletellus sp.

Birds: (also MS) = also seen at Mildura Street: Galah, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Rainbow Lorikeet, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Laughing Kookaburra (also MS), Rainbow Bee-eater, White-throated Treecreeper, Spotted Pardalote, Striated Pardalote, Noisy Miner (also MS), Scarlet Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Golden Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush, Grey Butcherbird, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Spangled Drongo, Grey Fantail, Willie Wagtail, Torresian Crow, Magpie-lark, Eastern Yellow Robin, Welcome Swallow, Mistletoebird.

Butterflies: Small Grass-yellow (Eurema smilax), Black Jezebel (Delias nigrina), Wanderer (Danaus plexippus), Common Crow (Euploea core), Orange Ringlet (Hypocysta adiante).

Mammals: Wallaby sp.; too quick for identification.

Reptiles: Elegant Snake-eyed Skink or Wall Skink (Cryptoblepharus pulcher).

Spiders: Garden Orb Weaver (Eriophora transmarina), Golden Orb-Weaver (Nephila plumipes), Daddy Longlegs (Pholcus phalangioides).

Some of the plants that caught our interest: Our walk started out in predominantly Ironbark and Spotted Gum woodland and changed to predominantly Ironbark and Stringybark as we grew closer to the sandstone ridges.

Heterodea muelleri, (a common ground lichen in open eucalypt forests of South East Queensland).

Flat-stem Wattle (Acacia complanata), Black She-oak (Allocasuarina littoralis), Soap Tree or Red Ash (Alphitonia excelsa), Smooth-barked Apple (Angophora leiocarpa), Rough-barked Apple (Angophora woodsiana), Spotted Gum (Corymbia maculata), Bailey's Stringybark (Eucalyptus baileyana), Tallowwood (Eucalyptus microcorys), Needlebark Stringybark or Bastard Tallowwood (Eucalyptus planchoniana), Grey Gum (Eucalyptus punctata), Yellow Jacket (Eucalyptus similis), Shepherd's Crook Orchid (Geodorum densiflorum), Brush Box (Lophostomen confertus), Swamp Box or Swamp Mahogany (Lophostemon suaveolens), Monkey Rope Vine or Common Silkpod (Parsonsia straminea) - flowering, Quinine Tree (Petalostigma pubescens) - fruiting.

Also at Mildura Street, Stretton

Butterflies: Greenish Grass Dart (Ocybadistes walker), Common Crow (Euploea core), Large Purple Line-blue (Nacaduba berenice), Speckled Line Blue (Catopyrops florinda).

Reptiles: Carpet Python (Morelia spilota)

Other Invertebrates: Stick Insect (possibly Anchiale austrotessulata)

Spiders: Brisbane or Brown Huntsman (Heteropoda jugulans)