Green Space Our Place OUR VOLUNTEERS VOICE
Green Space Our Place
ISSUE 34 MARCH 2022
FRONT PAGE: Marian and Penny preparing The Green Space garden beds for the growing season.
BACK PAGE: Job’s done, time to relax! Helen and Suzie taking a break in the squatters chairs at The Green Space.
C O N T E N T S
• From the Editor Page 2 • Our weekly programs return - Pages 3, 4 & 5 • Bush Relatives Pages 6-7 • Tales from Mt Whitfield - Part 1 - Pages 8-9 • Those little black beetles - Page 10 • Cairns Botanic Gardens fungi report 2022 update - Page 11 • Volunteer Comments Page 12 • The Vegie Patch Page 12 • New year, new life Page 13 • Kingfishers Part 2 Pages 14-15 • Feathered Friends Page 15 • World Wetland Day celebrations at Cattana Wetlands Page 16 • Did You Know - Page 16 • Cairns Botanic Gardens update Page 17 • The world beneath our feet - Part 7 Springtails - Pages 18-19
Editor - Volunteers Supervisor, Louisa Grandy Proof readers - Michelle Walkden Volunteers Jennifer H. Muir, Sandy Long Contributors - volunteers: Tom Collis, Janice Pichon, Dr David Rentz AM, Graeme Masterman, Jennifer H. Muir, John Peter, Mikey (Hidetoshi Kudo) and Charles Clarke.
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From the Editor Welcome back!
We’ve had another unusual start to the year with the suspension of our weekly programs in February but March saw us all return and happy to be back together again, even if it was in very hot conditions! The following pages provide an insight to what our vollies have been up to. Thank you to our volunteer writers who have once again submitted some very interesting articles.
Have you ever wondered what instigated Mt Whitfield’s Arrow tracks? Janice Pichon’s article ‘Tales of Mt Whitfield’, provides an intriguing look at “The beacon of green that overlooks the northern suburbs of Cairns city...”. Dr David Rentz answers all your questions about the influx of those little black beetles during February and March.
Graeme Masterman is always camera ready to capture his nature observations. This time he has written a lovely story to go with his ‘snaps’ about a Willie Wagtail family.
Curator Charles Clarke gives an update on the Botanic Gardens, and BirdLife area coordinator Mikey Kudo writes about Wetlands Day celebrated at the Cattana Wetlands. Tom Collis, and Jenn and Barry Muir continue to provide their invaluable information (keep an eye out for the ‘Email News’ for their nature ‘titbits’ too). With the popularity of The Green Space, volunteer’s support officer Sarah Gosling has started ‘The Vegie Patch’ column to help you have success at home.
Lastly, if you have any ideas for our quarterly magazine, give me a call.
Louisa
WEEKLY PROGRAMS RETURN Late start to the year in hot conditions
Jabirus Cattana Wetlands
Frank and Ja b us weedin g the Sedge Sirw amp site. in
Our volunteers were happy to reconnect after a longer than usual time apart, even if the conditions were much hotter than usual. The Cattana Wetland Jabirus spent their morning weeding in the Sedge Swamp, while the Cairns Botanic Gardens’ Down ‘n’ Dirty volunteers cleaned up the Bamboo Collection. And of course, it’s not all about the work, a chance to connect and have a chat over a cuppa or cold drink is a part of the volunteering experience.
Dawn adding to Jabirus’ wildlife corridor plantings.
Down ‘n’ Dirty Botanic Gardens
Maureen, Christopher, Anne and Sandy enjoyi ng a cuppa and chat.
d Bernie Catherine anmorning tea. catching up at
We’re back! Down ‘n’ Dirties getting ready to tidy the bamboo collection.
Continued pages 4-5
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WEEKLY PROGRAMS RETURN Egrets eg site v e r t S ll e s s Ru
Egret’s Russell St revegetation site in Edge Hill is growing well. This dedicated small group added a further 80 native plants to the site at their first catch up of the year.
Hiromi
Darryl
Sandpipers City gardens
Sandpipers spent their return morning at a new location, providing weeding support in the shady Munro Martin Parklands. Jill
Chris
The Green Space Jess Mitchell Park
Marian planting corn.
Marilyn potting up basil seedlings. 4
Lee weeding and cleaning up around the shed.
The Green Space is once again open to volunteers on Wednesdays 9.30am-3.30pm and Friday afternoons 1.30-3.30pm. The gardens were well maintained during suspension ready for volunteers to plant and weed.
WEEKLY PROGRAMS RETURN Salt s Aeroglen rie eve
g site
Myo
Sue planting Lomandra.
Salties volunteers planted over 70 native trees on their first morning at the Aeroglen bike path - a great effort for four volunteers in such extreme conditions. Chris, Rob, B
rett and Sue
Jalarra Park Stratford
Les with the new Jalarra Park plan
tings.
Stratford Nursery Tanya and Emma at the potting bench.
Stratford Nursery volunteers continue to pot up and prune native plants for revegetation purposes. This group potted up over 450 trees and pruned 1360 during their first session in March.
Jalarra Park volunteers are making great progress at the monthly working bees, continuing along the creek replacing weeds with native plants.
Diana watering the freshly potted
seedlings.
Elaine and Leslie pruning seedlings. 5
Bush Relatives
TOM COLLIS
North Queensland plants closely related to everyday foods Many of the fruits, vegetables, spices, herbs and beverages that we regularly consume in Cairns, originated from wild plants in South-East Asia, South America and Africa. In our region many wild plants that were collected and bred to produce larger and tastier food came from Indonesia.
Nutmeg is made from the grated seeds, and mace from the red covering of the seed (called an aril). There are two species of nutmeg in North Queensland: Native Nutmeg, Myristica globosa, and Queensland Nutmeg, Myristica insipida. The seeds look identical to the commercial nutmeg and have a slight nutmeg smell.
Within the flora of the tropical regions of Australia are many species shared with our northern neighbours of New Guinea and Indonesia and it is not surprising to find close relatives in the rainforests of North Queensland such as native bananas, nutmeg, pepper, turmeric and figs.
One of the world’s most popular spices is Black Pepper, Piper nigrum, a vine originating in India. A close relative from the rainforests of FNQ is the Native Pepper vine, Piper caninum.
Bananas are probably the most popular and oldest known fruit in the world. The much-loved Cavendish banana is a cultivar of Musa acuminata, a species that may have originated in South-East Asia. There are two species of native banana in North Queensland and both belong to the genus Musa. Native Banana, Musa banksia, grows in rainforest and, although the fruit is small, it is apparently quite edible. The Johnstone River Banana, Musa jackeyi, has small red-coloured fruit and is found only around the Innisfail region where it is quite rare. Some of the world’s spices have close relatives in the rainforests of North Queensland. Nutmeg and mace come from the Nutmeg, Myristica fragans, a rainforest tree of the Moluccas or Spice Islands of Indonesia. 6
Turmeric is a spice made from the roots of Curcuma longa, a member of the ginger family. The Australian representative of this family is the Cape York Lily or Native Turmeric, Curcuma australasica. This plant has a very distinctive floral display and the roots were roasted and eaten by Indigenous people. Capers are the green, unopened flower buds of the Caper Bush, Capparis spinosa, a native plant of the Mediterranean. They are usually preserved in vinegar or brine and added to various dishes for flavouring. The fruit of the Caper Bush is called a caperberry and these are also preserved and eaten. The ‘bush relative’ of the Caper Bush is the Coastal Caper, Capparis lucida, a plant common near the mangroves around Cairns. The buds and fruits are reportedly edible but some of the other 10 species of Capparis in North Queensland have poisonous fruits.
Queensland Nutmeg, Myristica insipida
Native Pepper vine, Piper caninum
Variegated Fig, Ficus variegata
Coastal Caper, Capparis lucida
There are many other native plants in the same families as figs, olives, citrus, olives and sweet potato. Dried figs in the supermarket, for example, are the Common Fig, Ficus carica. In North Queensland there are over 30 different figs (Ficus) species and most of these are edible although not necessarily sweet. Although the Northern Olive, Chionanthus ramiflorus, produces olive-like fruit and is in the same family Oleaceae as the European Olive, Olea europaea, the fruit is inedible. There are over a hundred species of coffee plants in the world with the two most popular, Coffea arabica and Coffea robusta, making up most of the market for coffee beans. In 2010 a native coffee plant was discovered growing on Cape York Peninsula. It is the only native coffee known from Australia and was given the botanical name Coffea brassii. Little is known about the plant and whether Indigenous people used it as a beverage. It could prove to be an interesting commercial variety after investigations by botanists.
Native Turmeric, Curcuma australasica
Finally, there are many Australian ‘bush foods’ endemic to Australia such as the Macadamia Nut. Many have European names because of their similarity in appearance to cultivated fruits. For example, Davidson’s Plum, Davidsonia pruriens, has a tart fleshy fruit that looks like the stone fruit ‘Blood Plum’. Despite this similarity it is a distinctively Australian species. WARNING: Never eat any plant that hasn’t been properly identified as edible.
Northern Olive, Chionanthus ramiflorus 7
Tales from Mount Whitfield - Part 1 That beacon of green that overlooks the northern suburbs of Cairns is known as Mount Whitfield. Explorer George Dalrymple named the peak in 1873 after his friend Edwin Whitfield. It is the highest point of the Whitfield Range at 364m. This area is part of the traditional homelands of the Yirrganydji and sites of spiritual significance are documented. In 1989, much of the Mount Whitfield range complex was designated as a nature reserve covering 329 hectares. It was predated by a scenic reserve noted in the early days for its valuable timbers. Today, the four linked Arrow walking trails which meander through its forested slopes are a mecca for walkers seeking nature or fitness. Mount Whitfield did not always appear as the alluring leafy backdrop of the present. Since the establishment of Cairns in 1876, the area has undergone substantial disturbance and landscape alteration. The massif has borne witness to this development and urbanisation of Cairns through changes in its appearance, habitats and biota. Pioneering axemen In the 1870s, timber-getters were among the first Europeans to exploit the rainforests in the Cairns area. Timber exports boosted the local economy and merchantable species like red cedar were likely logged on Mt Whitfield. The prized trees were quickly depleted on the coast and the loggers moved inland, minimising their impact on the coastal forests. Food bowl The network of seasonal watercourses running down from Mount Whitfield has over time deposited arable soil onto the lower slopes and lowlands. In the late 1800s, Chinese settlers cleared land at the base of Mount Whitfield near the Tanks to establish market gardens to feed the developing township of Cairns. The fish pole bamboo on the Red Arrow track originates from these market garden days when this Chinese native species was introduced for food and garden stakes. Further clearing for fruit farming continued in the early decades of the 1900s. There was a certain economic imperative for new landholders to cultivate the acquired land in support of the Far North’s development. Parcels of crops such as bananas, pineapples and citrus dotted the footslopes. Despite the receding tree line, contributors to the Cairns Post of the epoch remarked on the attractiveness of the lower hillslopes with their patchwork of fruit orchards. 8
Janice Pichon
When fruit production declined, the abandoned land became grassland, sugarcane fields and dairy farms. Onwards from the 1950s, the demand for residential land saw cane replaced by houses, with residences creeping up the hillsides. Urban development Once known as Edgecliff, Edge Hill was one of the earliest suburbs established outside the Cairns CBD. The original residents built on the lower edges at the southern end of Mount Whitfield, away from the lowlying swampy ground. Prestigious homes with stunning views were built by notable local families such as the Collins and the MacDonnells. With the arrival of power, water and a school at Edge Hill, residential development expanded and colonised the lower slopes. The suburb of Whitfield grew up next to Edge Hill with further hillside housing, although its northern reaches remain undeveloped as part of the Mount Whitfield Conservation Park. Presently, further hillslope developments are subject to strict town planning. Ironically, the attention of many Cairns visitors is first drawn to Mount Whitfield by the red blaze of summer flowers on Poincianas trees which were exotic ornamental plantings in the earliest residential gardens on the hills. Taking hills for quarrying As Cairns has grown, large tracts of swampy land needed to be filled in. Mount Whitfield was seen as a conveniently located source of suitable quality materials. Hillslopes at the southern end of the range were quarried both on the Aeroglen and Edge Hill sides. Initially, the hills near Collins Avenue were cut away to provide rock for in-filling and road formation in the nascent city. In the late 1930s, major reclamation work commenced in North Cairns and land above the Tanks was resumed for quarrying purposes. Later, the lower slopes behind the Gardens supplied spoil for upgrading the aerodrome for military operations. Such was the traffic of trucks carting rock along Collins Avenue during the war that the road was widened! While quarrying is no longer practised, these extractive activities changed the shape and scarred the hillsides of Mount Whitfield. Once leafy vistas were transformed into rather bleak backdrops, much at odds with Edge Hill’s early reputation as the leafy suburb. See further “Tales from Mount Whitfield” in the June issue of Green Space Our Place - Our Volunteers Voice.
Right: Chinese gardens on lower slopes of Mount Whitfield in the early 20th century. Courtesy of Cairns Historical Society Below: Looking down from Mount Whitfield in 1934, fruit orchards on hillslopes give way to sugarcane. Photo: www. queenslandplaces. com.au © Centre for the Government of Queensland 2018
Looking up to Mount Whitfield in the 1930s, dairy farm followed by ‘Citrus Hill’ with forest in the background. Photo: Beryl Stanton
Mount Whitfield viewed from Edge Hill in 1968. Photo: www.queenslandplaces.com.au © Centre for the Government of Queensland 2018
Scars from intensive quarrying above the Botanic Gardens in 1952. Photo: www.qimagery.com.au © The State of Queensland 2010
Mount Whitfield viewed from Edge Hill today. 9
Those little black beetles DR DAVID RENTZ AM
About every 11 to 12 years a small ground beetle with an unpronounceable name, Gnathaphanus philippensis (right), occurs in huge numbers in our area. The beetles are normally found in leaf litter or under bark where they and their larvae feed on other small insects. They also have a preference for grain and that’s how they get around. They are attracted to lights on grain ships and hitchhike to other lands. For some reason they undergo a population explosion, oddly about every 11 to 12 years. At this time, they are a nuisance because they are attracted to lights in storefronts, around homes and under street lights. When disturbed the beetles emit a ‘puff ’ of a repellent substance that helps prevent birds and lizards from attacking them. After a few weeks the beetles disappear and are not seen in such numbers for another decade or so. Oddly, shortly after the last outbreak Cyclone Yasi appeared! Ground beetles are not the only insects in our area that have population explosions. Everyone knows about Australian grasshopper plagues that occur from time to time as a response to certain ecological conditions. But other insects also undergo population outbreaks. A small Meadow katydid, Conocephalus upoluensis, is a good example. This katydid occurs Australia-wide. It lives in grasses and can be found in modest numbers most of the time. But occasionally its populations build up causing concern to residents who have “never seen it before”. The katydids accumulate around lights and on shopfront windows. Several years ago, a Pygmy Grasshopper, family Tetrigidae, turned up in huge numbers in our region. The airport was concerned that their small size and large numbers could clog jet engines and they wanted to know how to control them. The grasshoppers seemed most active at night and were attracted to the airport lights. A simple solution would have been to convert the lights lining the walkways to yellow bulbs. This colour does not attract most nocturnal insects. But the simplest solution was to just wait a few weeks and they would just go away. That is exactly what happened. They haven’t been seen since in such numbers. The numbers of these little grasshoppers (which do not eat grass but are semi-aquatic and feed on algae and diatoms) was incredible. Not only were they abundant at the airport but they occurred in large numbers as far away as Atherton where they could be seen by day on walls and windows. A small earwig, Elaunon bipartitus, builds its populations from time to time and accumulate around and in buildings. Everyone in Cairns knows this insect. The earwigs can be superabundant and are easily transported as they hide in packing materials and in boxes. They are not harmful but their numbers make them a pest. They seem to be omnivorous. After a short time, they just disappear to return a few years later.
Meadow katydid, Conocephalus upoluensis 10
Pygmy Grasshopper
Earwig, Elaunon bipartitus
Cairns Botanic Gardens fungi report 2022 update BARRY MUIR
The role of botanic gardens as repositories for fungal conservation is now well recognised. Botanic gardens in Kew (England), New York and Denver (USA), Melbourne (Australia), Komarov (near St Petersburg, Russia), Paris (France), Kunming (China), Xalapa (Mexico), and Cuba now house both preserved collections of fungi and living communities of fungi. Of course, many parks and gardens support fungal populations by default, even if not a recognised part of their management plan. The Cairns Botanic Garden Precinct (the Precinct), for example, is known to support at least 224 species of large fungi and probably thousands of species of microscopic fungi, although fungal protection and preservation is not formally part of its mandate. Thus, the role of the Precinct in fungal conservation is of inestimable value. Over the last four years an inventory has been made of macrofungi in the Precinct. Of the 224 species recorded so far, only 22 (9.8%) are known disease-causing species. Considering that thousands of visitors from all over the world have passed through the Precinct and that visitors carry fungal spores on their skin, clothes and shoes, it is a testament of how well the Precinct is managed, as healthy plants are much less prone to disease. It is known that at least 90% or more of all green plants on the planet depend on symbiotic fungi (called mycorrhizae) for their existence. Which species of fungi are involved is still being researched and so some recyclers, and perhaps even some disease-causing species, may eventually be found to have a mycorrhizal role for all or part of their lifecycle. At least 50 (over 22%) of all large fungi recorded in the Precinct are primarily mycorrhizal, and therefore play a vital role in maintenance of plant health. A single species of plant may have several mycorrhizal associates and a single mycorrhizal fungus may cooperate with several plant species. The remaining fungi in the Precinct are predominantly recyclers. Fungi, together with bacteria, are the primary recyclers of all dead animal, fungus, plant and other organic material on the planet. Those species that break down fallen palm fronds, twigs, branches, logs and old tree stumps are most common in the rainforest and other “natural” areas.
The Flecker Garden has an area of about 29ha and has produced many fungi, some shared with other areas and some unique to Flecker Garden. Flecker Garden has experienced a long history of introduction of plants from all over the world, either directly or via Australian suppliers, many of whom obtained the plants from overseas. Some of these plants were introduced to the Garden as potted specimens as early as the 1890s, and, because the plants were healthy, carried a suite of their essential mycorrhizal fungi with them. Some of these mycorrhizae are now established in Flecker Garden. Searches for the suspect species outside Flecker Garden have failed to find any, suggesting that they may require their specific host plant and have not, and will not, spread further. All the parasitic species found so far occur more widely in Australia, and it is probably safe to say that there is no evidence that Flecker Garden is the epicentre of any kind of spread of exotic diseases, or even of exotic decomposer-recyclers. It can be expected that the Precinct rainforest and adjacent areas, totalling about 358ha, will contain a plethora of fungal species, many of which are probably undescribed. The rainforest remnant near the boardwalk is a vital conservation area, firstly because about 126ha of it has no formal access and so has been protected from human disturbance for some time, and because it is the only remaining plot of intact coastal rainforest left anywhere in the vicinity of Cairns. What remains elsewhere is either narrow/linear along drainage lines or road verges, on private land under threat of clearing, or has been heavily invaded by exotic plants and feral pigs. The interior of the preserved rainforest in the Precinct has not been surveyed for fungi. However, the 46 macrofungi that have been recorded only from rainforest are from near the ‘boardwalk rainforest’, or adjacent to the Tanks Art Centre. In the Precinct, there are about 26 species of fungi which appear to be new to science, although they could be species from overseas, or Far North Queensland variants of southern species. This suggests that the Precinct has a significant role in conservation of some fungal species whether they be Australian native species or introduced.
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VOLUNTEER COMMENTS
The vegie patch
Preparing your garden for winter vegies Sarah GoslinG
Now is a good time to prepare the vegetable garden for your winter crops. If you have any garden beds which are not growing summer veg, there are several ways to enrich your soil ready to grow amazing crops in the winter. Here are two options to try: Green manure
Nicholas Peel Some of my most enjoyable memories during my stay in Cairns are thanks to The Green Space. With help from Sarah and others I learned to improve my gardening skills as well as gained a better understanding of the flora and fauna of FNQ. Perhaps my favourite day at the The Green Space was building the gabian wall with the help of Christian and about half a dozen volunteers. Overall, The Green Space was a very rewarding experience and I never went home empty handed! I look forward to visiting again in the future and seeing the progress.
The Green Space Our Place team thank you Nick for your support at The Green Space and wish you all the best in your next adventure.
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It’s not too late to plant a green manure crop if you get it in soon. To add nitrogen, you can plant Mung bean, Buckwheat, Lablab, Cowpea or soybean (controls nematodes). And to add bulk organic material, plant French or Japanese Millet. You can buy seed packets from shops that sell organic seeds, or order online. Or, purchase a pack of Mung beans from the supermarket and they will probably grow too. In early April, dig the green manure plants into the soil, add one cup of dolomite per square metre and some manure and mulch heavily with hay. We should get regular rain throughout April, but if it’s not raining, make sure you water the bed to help break it down. It should be ready for you to plant seedlings in early to mid May. Check under the mulch that everything has broken down before you plant. Grass clippings and manure Alternatively, you can pile your grass clippings on the garden bed (make sure the grass is not seeding, or you’ll be weeding forever!) Add one cup of dolomite per square metre and any manure or blood and bone. If you can get hold of horse manure, put it on up to 20cm thick. Then mulch heavily with hay. Water well if it’s not raining as this will assist with the breaking down process. This should be ready by April. Simply lift the mulch and check it has all broken down before you plant your winter seedlings.
Nature observations with Graeme Masterman
New year, new life A pair of Willie Wagtails had a nest on my clothes hoist during December 2021. Fortunately for them, I rarely use the hoist. They had two chicks. This story is of the second chick. The first chick did not survive. I first saw the second chick on 15 December and it was virtually only skin.
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Photo 1: The chick was really starting to test its wings on 21 December. Photo 2: Two seconds later, the parents arrived and had what looked like a family conference. From this point on, one parent was always at the nest. It seemed as though they decided to ensure that their chick did not fall out of the nest like the first chick. Photo 3: Each parent returned to the nest within a second of the other one leaving. The split-second co-ordination between the parents was fascinating and wonderous to see. Photo 4: December had very hot days, especially for an exposed nest. I noticed that the parent with the chick was shading the chick as much as possible. They moved around the nest keeping their back to the sun and the chick in their shade. Once the nest was in the shade of the house, they moved off the nest and remained close. One morning, the parents were in full noise in the neighbour’s trees. I couldn’t see them but was soon aware of the cause for the commotion when I heard a feeble squawk of a kookaburra as it slunk off. The kookaburra announced its return next morning when landing on another neighbour’s tv antenna in direct view of the nest. I ran out to see if I could help chase it off. I should have grabbed my camera instead. Those parents had the situation well under control. Watching them heckle the hapless kookaburra reminded me of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The kookaburra again slunk off when it could with another feeble squawk.
2.
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Photos 5 and 6: These are the last two photos of this chick. It had left the nest early the next morning, 23 December, before I looked out. Once the chick left the nest, both parents disappeared, not to be sighted or heard again. The chick was on its own to fend for itself. I realised two days later that I was seeing and hearing the chick staying close by. It had become a beautiful looking young bird. Another two days later, it had flown away to make its own way in the world.
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I see the birth of the chick through to its leaving the nest as ‘new year, new life’. Sometime between mid to late January, both parents returned. One of the parents regularly lands on the undercover clothes line. One of the lines is slack. I love watching how it balances on that loose and moving line. This bird now roosts regularly on these lines at night.
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Kingfishers - Part 2
JenniFer H Muir
African Pygmy Kingfisher Source Internet: Bird Wallpapers
In Green Space Our Place’s Quarterly Magazine (Issue 33, December 2021), I discussed Australia’s two water / river kingfishers (Little and Azure), and the migratory Buffbreasted Paradise-Kingfisher of the forest / tree kingfisher group. In this Part 2 article, I will continue with this diverse and colourful group.
and variations of red. In some species the underparts are shades of rufous or orange, eg African Pygmy Kingfisher. Cape York Peninsula’s Yellow-billed Kingfisher, though mainly orange and green, has a blue rump and tail. Some kingfishers are marked with bars or spots, and differences between sexes in most kingfishers are minimal.
Most kingfishers are easily recognisable by their obvious physical characteristics. The oversized bill; short neck; top-heavy appearance; usually thickset body, short tail and legs; and at least some blue feathers, distinguish a kingfisher. Some people comment that a kookaburra looks just like a big kingfisher, not necessarily realising they have recognised the characteristics that make the kingfisher group unique.
Only the widespread (Africa, Asia and Middle East) Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) is entirely black and white. Adult males have two black bands across their white breast: the upper band broad, the lower one narrow. Females have only one black, incomplete breast-band limited to a patch on each side of the breast.
Water (aka river) kingfishers usually have very long bills like tweezers - better for hunting fish, whereas most tree (aka forest) kingfishers have broader bills and usually take prey on the ground. The latter group is a larger, more diversified family that doesn’t necessarily need to be near water. Kingfishers have a big advantage: superb colour-sensitive and binocular vision that enables them to see small prey from surprisingly long distances. This also enables water kingfishers to accurately judge water depth. Typically, they perch immobile on a branch or rock (some hover), looking down to locate their prey. Some bob their heads to judge aim, distance and, if hunting in water, water refraction, and wave their wings to startle the prey into moving and becoming more visible. Once focused on their prey, kingfishers dive head-first onto it, either in water or on the ground, catching it with their bills (not their feet as do raptors). Water kingfishers sometimes ‘fly’ in the water to pursue fish, and have nictitating membranes to protect their eyes. After catching their prey and returning to their perch, kingfishers tenderise and ‘juggle’ it into the right position to swallow it whole. Many kingfishers are brightly coloured in blues (particularly on the wings) and greens, some with patches of white 14
Pied Kingfishers feed on fish in open wetlands. They often hover above the water, then dive to seize their lunch. They nest in excavated burrows in banks: sometimes in pairs, sometimes in small colonies. Kingfishers also vary considerably in size: from the world’s smallest, 10-12cm African Pygmy Kingfisher, to the largest, Australia’s 40-48cm Laughing Kookaburra. The tiny, unobtrusive African Pygmy Kingfisher (Ceyx pictus), pictured above, has rich blues, oranges and a mauve face patch. Sexes are alike in this colourful, attractive species. They perch on low branches and dart into grass for insects, and typically of many kingfisher species, nest in burrows dug in earth banks. African Pygmy Kingfishers are widespread in sub-Saharan Africa (including Kenya and Tanzania). They prefer forests and woodlands, sometimes visiting cultivated areas, but are not usually found near water. On the opposite side of the size scale (pictured right), the world’s largest kingfisher is Australia’s iconic Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae): world famous for its wild laughing call which starts with low repeated chuckles that build to a crescendo of loud ‘laughter’. This is so regular in the bush, especially at dawn and dusk, that it was and may still be known ‘out bush’ as the ‘bushman’s clock’.
The word ‘kookaburra’ comes from the Australian Indigenous Wiradjuri word “guuguubarra”. When pronounced correctly, this onomatopoeic word is said to resemble the Laughing Kookaburra’s raucous call.
Feathered Friends JOHN PETER BirdLife Australia
Laughing Kookaburras live in family groups of up to 12. Most bird species drive their offspring from their territories as soon as they are independent, but young kookaburras continue to live with their family for about four years. During this time, they help their parents with incubation and brooding duties for the following two or three generations, and supply the nestlings with much of their food. This undoubtedly also benefits the young kookaburras as practice for when they become parents themselves. Families also kidnap fledglings from other family groups and rear them with their current brood, thereby enlarging the family to help with the following two or three years’ broods. It’s thought the breeding capacity of these young birds is suppressed by their subordinate position in the family hierarchy. Naturally occurring Laughing Kookaburras are widespread in eastern Australia, from the top of Queensland’s Cape York to the bottom of Tasmania, and eastern South Australia. They are not native to Western Australia or Northern Territory. In south-west Western Australia, the introduced population continues to expand and negatively impact on the indigenous local fauna (see Did You Know for more information).
JenniFer H. Muir
Torresian Imperial-Pigeon Keeping an eye out for the birds is a great way to mark the passage of the seasons, and in Cairns, one of the most obvious is the Torresian Imperial-Pigeon. One of the first signs that the Dry Season is drawing to a close is the arrival of these large, black-and-white pigeons, as their return signifies that the annual build-up is imminent. Familiar throughout the Wet Tropics, they’re often seen conspicuously festooning the branches of trees in parks and gardens, or in mangroves. However, when foraging on fruit among the dense foliage of rainforests, they’re sometimes surprisingly difficult to spot.
Above: Pied Kingfisher hovering over the Okavango Delta wetland, Botswana, Africa Photo: Robert Bartos Right: Laughing Kingfisher. Photo: Jennifer H. Muir
Traditionally, when Torresian Imperial-Pigeons arrived back in northern Australia, having spent the Dry Season in New Guinea, they’d head to offshore islands to nest in large colonies, commuting between their island and the mainland each day to feed. However, since Cyclone Yasi wrought significant damage to island vegetation in 2011, increasing numbers have chosen to nest in trees on the mainland instead, and the number of nests around suburban Cairns has increased greatly in the past decade or so. Nevertheless, many of the birds still breed on islands. Each nest, a loose platform of sticks, contains a single white egg, and nests may be as close as a metre apart, but are usually more widely dispersed. Now with the Dry approaching once more, the Torresian Imperial Pigeons are beginning to migrate back to New Guinea — keep an eye out for them as they fly past on passage. 15
World Wetlands Day celebration at Cattana Wetlands BirdLife Northern Queensland was excited to see more than 40 people turn up to Cattana Wetlands for their World Wetlands Day celebration in February. We were fortunate that Jabiru volunteers, Geoff McClure and Denis Moeser took a group leader role and explained the work they had done in recent years in the Cattana Wetlands as a part of Green Space Our From left: Denis Moeser with the pole camera, Geoff McClure explaining Place volunteer program. weed control processes and Dave Anderson. It is amazing the impact that volunteers can have to create a huge difference to our environment and This makes me think about what we can do as a bird community. watching group. I would suggest we visit the park more Thank you Geoff and, also to Dave Anderson from our and report interesting sightings and expand the list group, for summarising the birds in Cattana Wetlands of fauna so that we can prove that the biodiversity of at the viewing platform at Jabiru Lake. Dave has done Cattana is improving. several bird surveys in the past and has been updating The highlights of our celebration were two Sugar Gliders the list of birds in Cattana Wetlands. in the nest boxes installed by Denis Moeser. He used Geoff and Denis set up two display tables to show nest a pole camera (donated by the Friends of the Cairns boxes and the weed species that they have been trying Botanic Gardens for monitoring purposes) and showed to manage. The management of Cattana seems to have us the sleepy gliders as a live show. One Spotted two aspects: controlling weeds (Navua Sedge and Para Whistling Duck was seen in the middle of Jacana Pond. Grass etc.) and enhancing the biodiversity (installed nest On the way back, we checked the nest of the Black boxes, new shallow wetland, sticks and logs in ponds). It Bittern but unfortunately the nest was empty. seems to be working very well and the volunteers have Overall, it was a great day out to celebrate World Wetlands Day in fresh air with like-minded friends who done an amazing job. care about our wetlands.
Mikey (Hidetoshi) Kudo Cairns Area Coordinator BirdLife Northern Queensland
DID YOU KNOW...? In the 1890s Laughing Kookaburra, a native eastern Australian species, was introduced into south-west WA from Victoria by the Acclimatisation Society. Many European settlers to new regions, such as Australia, were unhappy with the existing environment and wanted to ‘improve’ it, so Acclimatisation Societies were formed in Europe, to ‘enrich’ the flora and fauna of a region. For example, in 1830, an Australian settler complained that “trees retained their leaves and shed their bark instead, the swans were black, the eagles white, the bees were stingless, some mammals had pockets, others laid eggs, it was warmest on the hills...” 16
JENNIFER H. MUIR An Acclimatisation Society was soon formed in Victoria, and birds including Sparrows and Blackbirds were introduced into eastern Australia; as well as game species such as rabbits and foxes. Subsequently, eastern Australian settlers moved to Western Australia and wanted to ‘improve’ WA too. Thus, in the 1890s, the WA Acclimatisation Society was formed and quickly introduced 29 “Laughing Jackasses” (kookaburras) into the environment. Being large, powerful, effective ambush predators, the introduced kookaburras did well in their new habitats and bred rapidly: increasing their numbers and reducing reptile, frog and bird numbers. Today they are a large, invasive population that negatively impacts on many animal species.
Cairns Botanic Gardens update Curator Charles Clarke
The year is now well and truly underway at the Cairns Botanic Gardens, and although the wet season still has a few weeks to run, we are looking forward to the cooler, drier months with cautious optimism. The previous two years have been very challenging, but thanks to the tireless efforts of our staff, we have been able to keep the gardens looking reasonably good. If we can avoid significant weather events over the next two months we will be in a good position to initiate several minor works projects and make-overs for garden beds throughout the precinct. The most urgent and important of these is the repair and renewal of irrigation in Flecker Garden. You can’t have a botanic garden without irrigation, and some small scale works that we completed last year in the northwestern corner of Flecker Garden have paid immediate dividends, with lush new growth replacing the stressed, tired plantings of the past (see photos below). The new systems have proved to be particularly valuable over the last three months, as rainfall has been well below average (so far!) and topping up rainfall deficits with sprinklers that imitate natural rain has proved to be a highly successful strategy. Further repairs and renewal of the irrigation across Flecker Garden will take place in the coming months, and while this will result in shortterm disturbances to a number of garden beds, the longterm benefits are expected to be significant. Once they are operational, the restored irrigation systems will finally allow us to move forward on a number of planting/landscaping projects around Flecker Garden. There will be a re-organisation of the garden beds in the northern parts, with the aim of grouping plants that have shared cultivation requirements. We also need to move some types of plants, particularly gingers and
heliconias, to new areas to reinvigorate them. There is an excellent collection of cycads in the northern parts of the garden, but at present this is interspersed with large foliage plants that obscure some of the best specimens. We need to make the most of our cycad collection, as it is a highlight of the gardens for many visitors. This year will also see a number of improvements behind the scenes. In the near future, we expect to acquire a new software package for cataloguing the living collection. This will trigger a full review of our collection database, and a census of all living plants in the gardens. This longterm project will commence in mid-2022 and is expected to take several years. However, collection cataloguing and management are cornerstones of a good botanic garden, and I am particularly pleased that we are finally starting to make progress in this area. Another initiative is the introduction of software that allows us to offer virtual tours of the gardens via an app, which visitors will be able to access by scanning a QR code on their phone. Later this year, we hope to go live with our first tours, which will be a simple guide to the highlights of Flecker Garden, and a guide to the heliconia collection. If successful, we will expand the number and range of tours in future years. Coupled with these developments, we will be installing new signage on the gates of Flecker Garden, and a major new information sign inside the main gate on Collins Avenue. The goal is to give visitors a simple, clearly written, contemporary introduction to the gardens, and a focal point for their explorations of the precinct. Collectively, these projects provide us with much to look forward to this year, and we hope that in the near future you’ll be able to start experiencing the benefits for yourselves.
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Sminthurus viridis, the Lucerne Flea. Source: gnu-www.aquaportall.com
THE WORLD BENEATH OUR FEET: Part 7 - Springtails You have probably never noticed them, but there is a group of critters of which there may be up to 100,000 in a square metre of soil and thousands more of dozens of species on the foliage and trunks of plants in a wellkept garden. They are the Collembola, or Springtails, distantly related to insects. Like insects, collembolans are hexapods, meaning that they have six walking legs, but they never have wings. They can have from two to 16 eyes, but species living in soil are often blind. Springtails are mostly tiny, feed on almost anything and contribute to the recycling of plant, animal and fungal matter mainly by breaking it up into smaller pieces. Their name derives from the fact that they have a tiny ‘peg’ under tension under their abdomen, which they can flick suddenly, throwing them into the air for up to 30cm. Springtails are famous jumpers - if they were as large as humans, they could easily jump over a 10-storey building! They use this ability to escape predators and to move around quickly. They show huge variation depending on where they live: •
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Those that live on plants are generally 8-10mm in length, pigmented, have long limbs and a full set of primitive ‘eyes’. Those that inhabit upper litter layers and fallen logs are slightly smaller, paler and have less developed limbs and eyes. Species that inhabit lower layers of decomposing organic litter are 1-2mm in length, have patchy
BARRY MUIR
pigmentation, short limbs and fewer eyes. •
Those that inhabit the upper mineral layers and humus of soil are even smaller, well under a millimetre, and have soft, elongated bodies and no pigment or eyes.
They may be tiny, but they have an important role to play just by sheer weight of numbers. They fragment and consume plant debris and pollen, animal remains and bacteria present in soil and leaf litter, aiding recycling and increasing the availability of nutrients for beneficial bacteria and fungi. Carnivorous species control populations of nematode worms and other minute soil pests, while by sheer weight of numbers they provide food for many carnivorous soil creatures like spiders, beetles and ants. Springtails are extremely common on the floor of forest; there can be thousands of them in a handful of fallen leaves. They are commonly associated with fungi, like the pink ones pictured on the next page, but are found in Antarctica on snow and rocks, in tree canopies of tropical forests, and on the highest mountains and down in the deepest caves. I once found an undescribed species over a kilometre into a cave under the Nullarbor Plain. Springtails have also been around for a while, thriving on the planet long before dinosaurs, with a fossil springtail dated at about 410 million years old. Some modern springtails look very similar to this ancient fossil, so they have survived four major global extinctions without changing very much in appearance.
They tend to occur in groups or clusters, driven by the attractive power of pheromones (‘hormone fragrances’) excreted by the adults. This gives more chance to every juvenile or adult individual to find suitable, better protected places, where drying out can be avoided and reproduction and survival rates are best.
Even more so than earthworms, Springtails are very sensitive to herbicides and thus are threatened in notillage agriculture, which makes a more intense use of herbicides than conventional agriculture. In fact, their extreme sensitivity to pollution makes them useful indicators of soil quality.
In Australia there is one species, Sminthurus viridis, the Lucerne Flea, which has been shown to cause severe damage to agricultural crops and is considered a pest. Like nearly all our pests, it was probably introduced from Europe.
Springtails also play an important role in distributing the spores of soil bacteria, especially Streptomyces, a bacterium involved in maintaining soil health and from which many antibiotics are derived. The bacteria produce a chemical called geosmin which attracts the springtails and encourages them to eat the spores and move them around. Geosmin, incidentally, is the chemical that causes that wonderful smell of wet earth when it starts to rain.
The more common, local, species carry spores of mycorrhizal fungi and mycorrhiza ‘helper bacteria’ on their bodies.
If you want to catch some Soil springtails play a positive collembolans (and other tiny These little pink guys are very common role in the establishment living amongst rotting mushrooms in beasties) to have a look at them, I of plant-fungal cooperation Flecker Garden. have found the following technique and thus are beneficial effective: put a small lump of blue to agriculture. They also cheese (any type) in a clean jam jar with a wet tissue in contribute to controlling plant fungal diseases through the bottom (to keep it moist) and bury it in the ground up their active consumption of mycelia and spores of to the top of the neck; then place a handful of leaf litter damping-off and pathogenic fungi. For this reason they over the opening to darken the jar. In a day or so, flip the are especially welcome in plant propagation areas and leaves off and slam the lid on the jar ... got ‘em! on potted plants.
Green Space Our Place
JOIN THE FRIENDS Friends of the Botanic Gardens, Cairns Membership details email - phone 4032 3900 or email info@botanicfriendscairns.org.au After joining you can support the Friends in many ways; as a committee member, in the Friends Shop, as a tour guide or assisting with events.
Friends of Sugarworld Botanic Gardens Contact Fran Lindsay frantastic10@bigpond.com
Newsletter Contributions: Please submit articles (must be volunteer or nature based) by first week of May for the next quarterly publication in June. Email: l.grandy@cairns.qld.gov.au Please note articles are subject to editing.
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Mondays - Russell St Environmental Park Egrets 9am-noon Tuesdays - Cattana Wetlands Jabirus 9am-noon Tuesdays - City Sandpipers, Tuesdays 9am-noon Wednesdays - Botanic Gardens Down ’n’ Dirty volunteers 9am-noon Wednesdays - Tracks ‘n’ Trails 9am-noon Thursdays - Stratford Nursery 9am-noon Thursday (once a month) - Sugarworld Gardeners & Friends Fridays - Saltwater Creek ‘Salties’ 9am-noon Fortnightly Thursdays - Children’s Nature Activities Program - Little Taccas Visitor Enhancement Volunteers - rostered hours to suit individual Heritage Tour Guides - Thursday 10am
Interested in becoming involved with your local park, reserve or tracks in your community? Contact us to register as a Council volunteer and be involved in beautifying your park (enhance planting, weed management, litter clean-up), reporting on issues (graffiti and vandalism, anti-social behaviour, maintenance issues) and building community participation (networking activities) with Council support. If you are interested in supporting any of our weekly groups or volunteering in your local area contact Volunteers Supervisor Louisa Grandy 4032 6648 or email greenspaceourplace@cairns.qld.gov.au
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Green Space Our Place
