A Prince Henry Drive addition for 2011

Should be a great year for waterbirds so let's go for broke - 250 spp for 2011.

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Rod Hobson
Posts: 509
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:03 am

A Prince Henry Drive addition for 2011

Post by Rod Hobson »

Folks,

Yesterday I took the mutt for a midmorning walk around Prince Henry Drive but bird life was generally quiet, as it was quite hot and humid by this time of day. Of the few birds I did manage to record one was a new species for "The Challenge - 2011". About half way around the Prince Henry circuit I recorded a single Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, a species that I very rarely see in the immediate area of Toowoomba City.

Although animals with backbones were a scarcity today representatives of the other 98% of the Kingdom Animalia were out in force. I managed to record nine species of butterflies, four of cicadas and two dragonflies on the walk without going to any trouble at all. These included the Four-bar Swordtail (Protographium leostenes), Yellow-spotted Jezebel (Delias nysa), Black Tree Ticker (Birrima varians), Bottle Cicada (Glaucopsaltria viridis) and the Fiery Skimmer (Orthetrum villosovittatum).

Prince Henry is always a rewarding walk.

Regards,
Rod Hobson
Rod Hobson
Posts: 509
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:03 am

More Butterflies for Prince Henry Drive

Post by Rod Hobson »

Folks,

I went for another hot mid-morning walk around Prince Henry Drive today. It's become a bit of a quandry for me lately; an early morning walk for the birds or a walk in the heat for invertebrates after the birds have retired until the cool of the noontime. Insects like the heat of the morning. Today I saw very few birds because of the time but again scored quite a good butterfly list. For anyone interested in these lovely creatures there are two points along the circuit that are popular hill-topping locations for these insects. These are at GDA94 56J E401026 x N6952231 and GDA94 56J E400638 x N6951425 respectively. Today I recorded nineteen species without resorting to a butterfly net. These were:

Four-barred Swordtail (Protographium l. leosthenes)
Macleay's Swallowtail (Graphium macleayanus)
Blue Triangle (Graphium sarpedon)
Pale Triangle (Graphium eurypylus)
Orchard Swallowtail (Papilio a. aegeus)
Dainty Swallowtail (Papilio anactus)
Fuscous Swallowtail (Papilio fuscus capaneus)
Lemon Migrant (Catopsilia pomona)
Caper Gull (Cepora perimale)
Yellow-spotted Jezebel (Delias nysa)
Caper White (Belenois java)
Tailed Emperor (Polyura sempronius)
Glasswing (Acraea andromacha)
Meadow Argus (Junonia villida)
Common Crow (Euploea core)
Lesser Wanderer (Danaus chrysippus)
Wanderer (Danaus p. plexippus)
Blue Tiger (Tirumala hamata)
Common Grass Blue (Zizina l. labradus)

Although there's nothing on this list that'd send the true-blue lepidopterist into a frenzy it still contains some nice local specialities such as the Four-barred Swordtail and Macleay's Swallowtail. There were also quite a few other species zipping about that I was unable to identify; Hesperiids and Lycaenids - the L.B.J.'s of this scaly-winged world.

Another intriguing insect find from my walk was an heavily-ornamented male of the Rhinoceros Beetle (Xylotrupes ulysses australicus), which is quite common around Toowoomba around Christmas time.

Best bird? - definitely a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles riding the thermals out towards Withcott.

Regards,
Rod Hobson
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