This morning, I photographed a moth at the garage in Central Avenue, which Peter Hendry promptly identified as an Australian species. For almost a year, moths at this once prolific site, have been few and far between after the owner changed the light bulbs yet again. It was one of three or four moths I saw, attracted by the heat and humidity. I had other moths of the genus in my album, but not this one. Which made the occasion all the more of a red-letter day.
Today I paid for my return flight from Brisbane to San Francisco and a deposit on the 14 day small group tour visiting, inter alia, Zion Canyon, Monument Valley, The Grand Canyon, Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks. The tour will involve a fair amount of walking. Travel between destinations will be in a mini-bus. Yosemite had been a goal of mine for decades; Monument Valley for nearly as long.
Chris Burwell, emailed me today about the ant. It is a wingless female of a species of wasp in the family Mutillidae, which is carried by the male in order to procreate. It is reckoned that just under 200 Australian species in the family have been described, but the total fauna is probably at least twice this size.
This morning I photographed an ant, new to me, on the metal railing in Driscoll Lane. It proved to be a tricky subject because it was moving so quickly without pausing. It was on the top rail until it descended to the lower rail via a stray wire and became disoriented. Try as it might, it couldn’t find a way to return to the top rail, failing to climb all the way on the wire or on one of the posts. While it was attempting to work out its next move, I was able to grab a single good close up. I googled sites devoted to ants in Queensland and Australia, trawling through hundreds of images without finding a match.
This morning, at the Eagle Height’s bakery, I was told by the owner of the house behind the tree with the first ‘green man’ apparition, that neither he or his wife created it. See FILM DIARY of 14.11.22 below. My conjecture about who made it and the recent apparition on a tree further down the street, has no supporting evidence. Their origin remains a mystery.
Years ago, a unit owner, long dead, planted three trees, two next to the road out front and one next to the retaining wall in the backyard. They all flourished, growing to an impressive size. The two in the front are a buckinghamia, whose flowers have a fragrant aroma, and a golden rain tree which sheds its leaves and flowers on the cars parked beneath it. The tree in the backyard has for years dropped its seed pods and squishy, tubular white flowers onto the lid of the inground tank and the washing on the clothes hoist which is fixed to the lid, not to mention the bird poo which also soils the washing. The material falls for several months of the year. But the biggest nuisance are the roots which have moved part of the base of the retaining wall and grown between one of the protective buttresses we installed, and the wall. Nearly as bad is the fact that the tree casts a shadow over the clothes hoist, when the sun is at its highest. I wonder what the late owner was thinking, when he planted the tree. I have always been outvoted on removing it, but… Read Complete Text
I attended the launch of Julie Lake’s book on Hilda Geissmann who was born in Brisbane in 1890 but lived most of her life on the mountain. She married a Curtis. The Geissmanns and Curtises were two of the mountain’s most prominent pioneering families. In her twenties and thirties, she closely observed and photographed the mountain’s flora and fauna with considerable artistry and in so doing became a social pioneer in a predominantly man’s world. The launch was well-attended. Julie was the star and the afternoon tea was a close second. I bought three signed copies of the book. Am greatly looking forward to reading it.
This is an unusual post because it is as much about human creativity as that of the natural world. On this morning’s walk, I noticed and photographed a face on a flooded gum tree which had all the hall marks of the most inventive entry in the recently concluded 2022 scarecrow festival, though it had nothing to do with the festival. The face occupied the slightly raised area left by a large branch which had broken off from the trunk, a few metres from the ground. Flooded gums are ubiquitous up here, some of the mightiest specimens attaining great heights in our national parks. The face resembled the folkloric image of the green man, though incorporating strips of brown bark instead of green leaves. PS A friend told me about a face on another flooded gum in the same street, which is marginally not on the route of my walk, and had been there for many years. Its creator didn’t need a ladder to fashion the face. The second face was probably inspired by the first, but did require quite a long ladder.
Knowing my desire to visit Yosemite National Park and Monument Valley next year, Simon emailed me a media release about United Airlines inaugural direct flight from San Francisco to Brisbane. This makes my trip all the more feasible.
Every indication, when I left home on October 7, was that the weather wouldn’t pause the trip, though in the two or three preceding weeks, this seemed a real possibility. Because of the departure time of the Saturday flight to Longreach, I overnighted at the airport. The road trip was scheduled to start on the 10th, giving me a weekend at home with Simon & Nicole, except that Nicole was absent on business and due to return on the 9th. Because they did the driving, I insisted on paying for the fuel. Very generously, they let me sit in the front, ignoring my readiness to sit in the back. The great attraction about this trip was the series of firsts that it guaranteed. That there was a bonus first was more than one could ask for. It happened before we got to Winton in the form of a large mob of cattle grazing by the side of the road. It looked as if the drovers had set up camp here, more likely they were having a break. None of us had seen the like.
We were heading for Boulia. Ever since reading about the Middleton hotel on the… Read Complete Text