Sensational Spotlighting

On warm summer nights, much of our desert wildlife is at its most active and with the weather heating up, now is the perfect time to have a go at spotlighting. All you’ll need is a good torch or head lamp, a sturdy pair of walking shoes and a good patch of wildlife habitat, whether that’s your property or backyard, or whether you take a trip out bush.

Land for Wildlife coordinators were recently in Yulara and with footprint covered dunes and abundant spinifex seed surrounding the village, the temptation for a late night wander was too much to resist. The nights were quite cool, but clear, still and perfect for tracking down the creatures who’d left their prints all over the sand the previous night. Our hope was to spot some rarely seen night time geckos, such as the Knob Tails, that are not uncommon in the sand dune habitat. While the night was probably too cool for geckos, we did manage to view some other elusive Yulara residents.

Spinifex Hopping Mouse (Notomys alexis)

A juvenile Spinifex Hopping Mouse

Hopping mice are mouse to rat sized rodents that are distributed throughout Australia. There are 10 species, although several are now extinct and two, the Darling Downs Hopping Mouse and Broad Cheeked Hopping Mouse are only known from skeletal remains.

The Spinifex Hopping Mouse however remains common, although populations fluctuate widely according to climatic and resulting food conditions. Their preferred habitat is sandy deserts on dunes and swales with spinifex, but they also occur in mulga country.

It seems that these mice are in a boom cycle around Yulara at the moment. Several were seen while spotlighting and although they couldn’t be examined closely to determine age and sex, they ranged considerably in size, suggesting that many juveniles were present in the population.

Their tracks criss-crossed the dunes around the resort, creating well-worn pathways between spinifex clumps, even in disturbed areas close to houses. And it seems they were making good use of introduced Buffel Grass as well as the spinifex.

Dunnart (Sminthopsis sp)    

An unidentified Dunnart shelters under a spinifex clump

Although superficially similar to a mouse, especially when seen from a distance crawling through grasses and ground vegetation, Dunnarts are quite different. Carnivorous marsupials, they hunt on warm nights for arthropods and small vertebrates. Their small, pointed jaws are packed with tiny, sharp teeth ideal for dispatching prey.

There are seven species that occur in central Australia, including the endangered Long Tailed and Sandhill Dunnarts. The remaining five species remain at least locally common in appropriate habitats. Dunnarts are difficult to identify without close inspection of an animal. The most reliable method is to examine the footpads on the soles of the hind feet – every species has its own unique arrangement of pads.

 

Global Media - Local Action

Orange Roughy Hoplostethus atlanticus. A fascinating deep sea species that may live for over 150 years but has had its stocks severely depleted by over-fishing. This is a museum specimen. Picture by Peter Halasz, wikicommons.

Who would have thought that a deep sea fish living around sea mounts in the frigid Southern Ocean off Tasmania might owe a small part of its continued survival to a few knowledgeable, concerned, and connected folks in our desert town? A great example of local community consciousness-raising using global media has just come to a very satisfying conclusion.

Local marine biologist Matt Le Feuvre and Red Centre wildlife polymath Mark Carter, simultaneously posted their dismay on Facebook, at Alice Springs bar/lounge Monte's having the endangered Orange Roughy on their menu. To learn more about Orange Roughy have a look at the Australian Marine Conservation Society page here. The short version of the story is; if you see Orange Roughy for sale anywhere please don't buy it.

After less than 24 hours of  (polite) messages of disapproval in support of the original posts, the proprietors of Monte's Lounge promptly committed to removing the fish from the menu. Matt has offered his expertise to help them find a more sustainable replacement for the Orange Roughy so that fish and chips can still be a popular order at the bar for many years to come.

Congratulations to all concerned for bringing this to such a positive and happy conclusion. Well done!

Nominate Significant Trees Online

Online nomination is now available for the NT Register of Significant Trees. You will find the online form at the link on the right of the page. None of the fields on the form are compulsory but please provide as much and as detailed information as you can; this will help to make the register a more complete and interesting historical document.

Wasp vs Spider - a backyard drama in miniature



The adversaries square off...

 Local biologist Holger Woyt photographed a great spectacle in his yard this week. Spider Wasps, family Pompilidae, are common enough around town but it is unusual to witness the full sequence of their hunting behaviour. In the picture above the wasp (on the right) is facing off against a wolf spider Lycosa sp. In these interactions the wasp is attempting to make a meal of the spider. If successful, the wasp's sting will paralyze the spider. Following paralysis, the wasp will either consume the prey or drag it off to a burrow. Here, the wasp will lay an egg in the abdomen of the paralyzed but still living spider. When the larva hatches the spider will then become sustenance for the infant wasp.

The wasp pounces and administers the paralyzing sting...

The immobilised spider is dragged off... 

The now thoroughly paralyzed spider is momentarily left to await its fate. The wasp returned shortly after this picture was taken to drag the spider to some cover beneath the leaf litter.

Online Sign Up - Available Now!

A bit of tinkering with the blog this week has resulted in a big advance with our application process. You can now apply for registration with Land for Wildlife or Garden for Wildlife - online.

The forms are accessed by clicking on the appropriate link at the top of the links column on the right of the page. You can very quickly fill in all the information that we will need to process your application and get in touch to arrange an assessment; no printing, no emailing - just fill in the form and click the "submit" button.

What could be easier?!

Spinifex Pigeons, Wolf Spiders, Rodents, Dasyurids, Macropods; a smorgasbord for wildlife lovers during annual biodiversity surveys

Poorly named? Caper Whites Belenois java, emerging from their chrysalis

Jesse and Chris have been conducting the annual biodiversity surveys lately on properties along Roe Creek. There is some stunning habitat through this area, and we have had a few interesting encounters.

Stripe-faced Dunnart Sminthopsis macroura. Cute and placid, but to the untrained eye, difficult to separate from some other small mammals. One of the most reliable techniques is to inspect the arrangement of pads on the soles of the feet...see below.

Stripe-faced Dunnarts Sminthopsis macroura, have been the most common mammals trapped but we have also had Long-haired Rats Rattus villosissimus, and the odd feral House Mouse Mus musculus. Apart from the small mammals, all of the properties also have healthy populations of Euro Macropus robustus, and at least two of the four properties surveyed also have colonies of the Black-footed Rock Wallaby Petrogale lateralis lateralis.

The sole of the hind foot of the Stripe-faced Dunnart. Markings and body measurements may change from individual to individual but the arrangement of the pads on the soles of the feet is consistent across the species.

Invertebrate life was booming across all the surveys sites, no doubt helped along by the onset of the warmer weather and a few light showers. We were lucky enough to witness a mass hatching of Caper Whites Belenois java. This is one of the more common butterflies in central Australia but it was exciting to see them all lining the stems and emerging to dry their wings at the same time. We found a few different species of wolf spider (family Lycosidae) in our pit traps but these are yet to be identified to species level. Several live specimens and a few empty shells of local land snail species were found. These are most likely all from the genus Sinumelon but may belong to two different species. Either way, it is always exciting to find land snails as so many of the species in central Australia are poorly known or undescribed.

A Centralian Land Snail - Sinumelon sp. Possibly bednalli or expositum.

The most unusual catch of the week was a lone Spinifex Pigeon Geophaps plumifera, that wandered in to make itself at home in one of our Elliott traps. This my not be a first for this largely terrestrial species but it was certainly a surprise for Jesse and Chris as they inspected the traps on the last morning.

A beautiful wolf spider of the family Lycosidae.

The skies were teeming with birdlife. Highlights included Wedge-tailed Eagles, Major Mitchell's Cockatoos, Sacred Kingfishers, Spinifex Pigeons, Dusky Grasswrens, and a Collared Sparrowhawk.

Spinifex Pigeon Geophaps plumifera. A surprising find in an Elliott trap.

These pictures are just a taster, but Jesse and Chris will complete the full report for these surveys over the next few weeks as they pick through all the results.

LFW Alice Springs Wins NT Landcare Award



Sandhill Desert Fuschia Eremophila willsii.

Central Australia had outstanding representation at the NT Landcare awards held at Parliament House in Darwin last Friday evening.

Local Landcare hero Tim Collins was recognised for the tireless work he has put in over the years with the NT Landcarer of the Year award. This is a richly deserved gong for all of the time and effort Tim has committed to Alice Springs Landcare, but he was quick to redirect the limelight from himself to the organisation he has spent so many years building up and serving. We don't care what you say Tim, the award is all yours and well-earned - congratulations.

 The Centralian Land Management Association was also recognised with a highly commended award which was accepted by Glenis McBurnie for soil conservation activities and the many other ongoing projects that CLMA conducts throughout The Centre.

..and of course Land for Wildlife brought home our own piece of recognition; we won the Toshiba Community Group category. Jesse, Chris & Bill were all on hand to receive the award, but we think the award is rightly seen as recognition of the conservation efforts of all the members of the Land for Wildlife and Garden for Wildlife programs across central Australia.  The scheme has expanded its membership again this year, and our members' properties now cover 16,404 hectares of central Australia from Tennant Creek in the north to the Alice Springs Correctional Centre in the south. We are currently in talks with a few large commercial properties that will add to the program considerably, and we have just received funding to extend Land for Wildlife into areas remote from Alice Springs.

So congratulations to all our members! Land for Wildlife is much more than just the sum of its parts, but every individual member is a crucial part of the success of the scheme as a whole.