I did a bit of an audit on the acacias on my sister’s bush block. I counted five different species, four of which I am pretty confident on the ID. The fifth remains unidentified.
There are almost 1000 species of acacia in Australia!
acacias
Tag: nature
tidbinbilla
The Sanctuary at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve is a large wetlands ecosystem surrounded by bushland that has been protected by a predator-proof fence for around 40 years, creating a refuge for a range of native animals.
We enjoyed seeing the similar-but-different small marsupials, Long-Nosed Potoroos and Southern Brown Bandicoots, free-ranging in the bush. Both have rat-like faces but move in unique ways.
megalostomis pyropyga
This beetle’s name literally means big mouth fire buttocks. Quite an impressive moniker for a critter that’s only 1cm long. Small but mighty, indeed.
platanus racemosa
I took myself down to a nearby (dry) creek and sat in the shade of a California sycamore for a while. This is my favourite local native tree, with its mottled leopard bark and floppy clown-glove leaves. I’d plant one at our place if we had the water, but alas our block is too dry for a sycamore to thrive here.
arhopalus asperatus
New-to-me beetle in the kitchen last night.
numenius phaeopus
I had my first ocean swim of the year today, preceded by litter pickup and followed by bird-sketching. All in all, a lovely morning.
incy wincy
It’s funny, I think of orb weavers as being honking big spiders, but of course they come in all sizes. This one was only 1/8″ / 3mm long. Those are not googly eyes at the front; they are the pedipalps.
After reading that these orb weavers are called ‘trashline’ because of the debris they collect in a straight line in their webs, I went looking in the yard for them, and found a couple more. Noticing leads to learning leads to awe leads to more noticing, a delightful virtuous circle.
lewis macadams
Lewis MacAdams (1944-2020) was an American poet, environmental activist, journalist, and filmmaker whose passion was to re-wild the LA River (which was encased in concrete and fenced in 1938) and make it accessible again to people and wildlife. He co-founded Friends of the Los Angeles River in 1985, an organization which educates, empowers, and mobilizes Angelenos to repair habitat and fight for the policies that will reclaim a healthy river.
Today Urban Sketchers Los Angeles met at Lewis MacAdams Riverfront Park at Glendale Narrows, a nine-mile section of the river that has a natural soft bottom, instead of a concrete floor, allowing native river plants and animals to thrive. It was great to see egrets, herons and ducks enjoying the water. I wasn’t that happy with any of my river sketches, but here’s one of the park itself.
dacelo novaeguineae
So looking forward to hearing the merry merry king of the bush again soon.
naso lituratus
Lipstick tang, also known as barcheek unicornfish, naso tang, orange-spine unicornfish, clown tang, striped unicornfish, black-finned unicornfish, clown surgeonfish, smooth-headed unicornfish, and probably many more monikers. Thank goodness for Latin names, so we can agree on just which life-form we’re talking about. But then, genetic testing has been leading to reclassification of many species in recent times … so even Latin names can change.
hashiworks 