Fauna
Landcare Sightings: Eastern Bearded Dragon
Spotted by Victoria, one of our Project Officers, whilst putting in the leg work for Camera Trapping at Congewai. This handsome Eastern Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata) was found up a tree, basking in the last of the afternoon sun. You can find these bearded dragons... read more
Turtle Monitoring Citizen Science
During November, the researchers at 1millionturtles.com would like everyone to be out and about near their local waterways, keeping an eye out for turtles crossing roads and helping them get to the other side safely, looking for sightings of turtles emerging to nest... read more
Shorebird Feature: Beach-nesting Birds
Nesting season has begun for our local beach-nesting birds! These shorebirds and seabirds are extremely vulnerable to disturbance from people during this time and, unfortunately, these warmer months are also when humans flock to the beaches. Disturbance during nesting... read more
Woodland Bird Feature: The Noisy Miner (a native nuisance?)
The noisy miner is one native species that has benefited greatly from human alterations to woodland and forest habitat, enabling it to increase in abundance and distribution. In short, the Noisy Miner has become an overabundant species. Why is this a problem? Large... read more
September Shorebird Feature
Some say Spring has sprung a little early this year and some flowers and birds may agree with you! Observations of Beach-stone Curlews and Far Eastern Curlews have already been reported on our shorelines from mid-August. With the ‘official’ beginning of Spring, comes... read more
Woodland Bird Feature: Spring is in the air – literally!
Have you noticed the warmer days already? Don’t take any notice of that thing on the wall that thinks spring starts on the 1st of September; spring is well and truly underway by then! There are (I think) at least two springs; the first being “early spring”, which... read more
Plant of the Month: Not Rocky, the Bulbine Lily (Bulbine bulbosa)
Spring is just around the corner, you may not believe me but it is, and that means the wildflowers will be out soon. One of the more spectacular ones in this area (the Upper Hunter) is the Bulbine Lily (Bulbine bulbosa) a spectacular yellow lily to around 70 cm in... read more
Shorebird Article Series:
This month we defer to a wonderfully informative series of Shorebird Articles written by Neil Fraser of Tomaree Birdwatchers, published by the EcoNetwork Port Stephens. Featuring survey results, maps and handy links; this series is a must-read! Pictured: Bar-tailed... read more
Wing Threads – The Adventures of Microlight Milly
Images source: wingthreads.com Amelia Formby (AKA ‘Microlight Milly’) is now 3 weeks into her 20 000km flight around Australia, to raise awareness, educate and “to inspire action to protect the habitats of our amazing migratory shorebirds.” The project, titled ‘Wing... read more
Return of Native Flora & Fauna at Hunter River Reserve
They were heard long before they were seen – the ya-hoos and babbles of a gregarious family of Grey-Crowned Babblers (Pomatostomus temporalis subsp temporalis). The vulnerable Eastern subspecies of babbler moved through the Woodland at Hunter River Reserve,... read more
Shorebird Feature: Double-banded Plover
breeding pulmage – image source ebird.org non-breeding plumage – image source ebird.org Charadrius bicinctus You may think that Winter isn’t a good time to spot migratory shorebirds. It’s true, the majority of migrants have voyaged to the Northern... read more
Woodland Birds Feature: Woodland Wander
With support from Hunter Local Land Services under the National Landcare Program, HRLN hosted a “Woodland Wander” excursion at Poppet Head Park during the April school holidays. The event was a great success, attended by almost 30 enthusiastic kids from Nulkaba OOSH’... read more
Death Adder Snakes
Adder, Yes, Mathematician, No. For all the time I’ve spent wandering through the bush (in thongs or even barefoot when young) I rarely see snakes, most of my encounters with them have been around areas of human activity (including a baby Brown Snake I had to catch and... read more
Bell Frog Planting & Survey Results
In collaboration with Local Land Services (LLS) & National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS) and under the guidance of University of Newcastle (UoN), we conducted after-dark frog surveys in Kooragang Wetlands National Park. These ran in conjunction with our... read more
Shorebird Workshop Results
With support from Hunter Local Land Services through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program, HRLN hosted another successful shorebird training workshop on Saturday, March 19th, and here are the outcomes; The Port Stephens workshop was... read more
Fauna Feature: Spotted Quoll ( Dasyurus maculatus)
If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise….. Spotted Quoll Dasyurus maculatus, image from environment.nsw.gov.au) It’s not often we have to put a graphic content warning but here it is, the following is a bit gruesome but I thought it... read more
Woodland Birds Feature: Saving The Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeater
The Regent honeyeater project in the Hunter on THE PROJECT. The Regent Honeyeater is so rare that its love song is at risk of being lost forever. But there’s new hope the critically endangered bird can be brought back from the edge of extinction through science, tech,... read more
Camera Trapping for Pest Management
Victoria Dixon, HRLN Project officer As part of HRLN’s project Supporting Landcare with post-fire and habitat recovery (HR03963), there has been a program of camera trapping in the Congewai, Wollombi/Laguna and Broke/Bulga Landcare regions. The aim of this program has... read more
Koalas Listed as Endangered
On 12 February 2022, the federal Environment Minister listed the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) as ‘endangered’ under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act) in Queensland, NSW and the Australian Capital... read more
Wedge-tailed eagle
The wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax) also known as the eagle-hawk (Birabahn) is significant in the Hunter region for the Awabakal people, traditional custodians of the coastal Hunter area. The Awabakal celestial entity Kon is represented by an Aboriginal man whom,... read more