In the many years I’ve lived in Pine Mountain, I have never encountered any terrestrial (ground) orchids. The previous owner of our property informed me that, many decades prior, a colony of Pterostylis nutans (Nodding Greenhood Orchid) grew on a sheltered southern slope of our property. Today, this area is smothered in a mess of Cat’s Claw Creeper, Climbing Asparagus and other weeds, and the orchids have long since died out. However, I thought it was strange that such a species grew at our place, in what was once (only 50 years ago) a completely cleared paddock, yet I had never encountered the species growing in the relatively undisturbed forests of Cameron’s Scrub, next door. I wondered if this is because their flowering period (autumn and early winter) coincides with a busy season of planting and weeding at home, a time of year I rarely have much opportunity to venture off into the bush for leisure. They are near impossible to find when not flowering. I decided to remedy this in 2024 by going on a ground orchid hunt through the Kholo Enviroplan Reserve during my approved permit day in early June. I focused on southern slopes where the ground was damp and mossy (favoured environments of many of our local ground orchids), but also explored ridge tops and northern slopes, where more light reached the ground. Despite many hours of searching, I came out empty handed. While it is tempting to blame the absence of ground orchids on the scourge of Coral Berry (Rivina humilis) that carpets most of the ground within the vine-scrubs at Pine Mountain, I actually suspect Black-breasted Buttonquail are a more likely reason for the dearth. There isn’t a single square metre of forest floor that isn’t ploughed multiple times every month by these busy little birds. A delicate, tiny orchid seedling wouldn’t stand a chance. Even other plants with a tiny juvenile stage (like ferns) are largely confined to rocky areas or steep banks, where they are protected from the destructive feet of buttonquail.
My expedition wasn’t a total failure, however, as I ended up finding a ridge top that supported an impressive diversity of epiphytic orchids growing on an old stand of Owenia venosa. This included a couple of species I hadn’t previously found locally. It is not yet flowering season for our local epiphytic orchids, so I’ll have to return in a couple of months to see if I can catch them in flower. I suppose growing on the trunks of trees is one way to escape the destructive feet of buttonquail!
These are just a handful of the many epiphytic orchids I encountered during my walk and were a welcome consolation prize for failing to find a single ground orchid. They weren’t the only interesting sighting, either. I found the largest Pine Mountain Coral Trees (Erythrina numerosa) I had ever seen.
Most interesting of all encounters on my walk, however, was not a plant, but a bird. Since the visit by a Fairy Gerygone at the Kholo Gardens a couple of years back (see this previous post), I’ve been anticipating more sightings either at home or in Cameron’s Scrub. Sure enough, while photographing the above orchids, I heard the distinctive song of one from the tree tops above. It remained frustratingly high for a decent photo, but I did manage a couple of “record shots”. It is a tropical species that has been expanding its range southwards with the warming climate and I think it is a matter of time before a local breeding population establishes. As far as I know, this was the first sighting in Cameron’s Scrub. Now I just have to wait for the first at home!
There has actually been quite a bit of bird movement over the past month. In addition to the usual winter visitors like Grey Fantails, Golden Whistlers and Rose Robins, we have had visits from many irregular winter visitors (e.g., Restless Flycatchers, Varied Sitellas, White-bellied Cuckooshrikes and Dusky Woodswallows). We only ever see these species in winter, but the visits are almost always brief. Oftentimes, they will appear for a few hours at home on a single day, only to move on and not be seen again for the year.
I actually added two new birds to our property list over the past month, but don’t have any photos to show for it. Bird number 174 was a Pied Stilt I heard calling while flying over one night. Bird number 175 was a Black Falcon that swooped over one of our ridges last weekend. I actually got a good, close look, albeit a brief one. I was far too slow with my camera, and by the time I had turned in on and taken off the lens cap, the falcon was close to the horizon! This is a bird that prefers the open, flat, grassy floodplains of the Lockyer Valley, so I suspect it will be many years before I see my next one over the forested hills of Pine Mountain.
Our resident bird species have also kept me entertained this month. I rear my seedlings in a shade-cloth-covered greenhouse beside our shed. At least once a year, a Speckled Warbler invariably finds its way through the narrow gap beside the door (around an inch wide) and forgets how to get out again. They inevitably wait until I do my afternoon watering to be liberated. Today I was doing some weeding near our shed and I heard a Speckled Warbler singing away from inside the greenhouse. I can’t say I was surprised, as it’d been around a year since the last trapping, so I thought we were about due one. Instead, the surprise came when I opened the door to let him out. As I watched him hop on out, I noticed a second bird scuttling along the back wall of the nursery: a Tawny Grassbird this time! How on earth it got in there I have no idea! A speckled Warbler is one thing, as they like to forage on the lawn and gravel in open areas looking for seed and insects, and are lured to the damp ground around the green house. However, Tawny Grassbirds are secretive birds that inhabit tall grass and other dense undergrowth. What it was doing inside a closed green house situated in the middle of a large, open lawn, I have no idea! How it found the tiny entrance gap is a mystery. And the probability of it being in there at the same time as a Speckled Warbler is extraordinary. I saw it eat a caterpillar and some other insect it found hidden amongst my seedlings, so it is welcome to come back and help out with pest management any time.
Plantwise, things have definitely quietened down at home with the cold nights and dry conditions. Now that the White Cedars (Melia azedarach) have finished fruiting, there is not much on offer for our local fruit-eaters. Most are sustained through the winter by weeds such as Climbing Asparagus and Brazilian Nightshade. I was excited to see a ripe fruit on one of my Pavetta australiensis recently, not because they rarely fruit, but because I almost never see the fruit before the Lewin’s Honeyeaters. I know they are the culprits as there is a steady supply of Pavetta seedlings that sprout beside our birdbaths, and Lewin’s Honeyeaters are the main patrons.
The other species fruiting right now shows the opposite pattern. Vitex lignum-vitae have juicy, bright pink fruits and often produce these over several months. Despite being produced at a time of year when little else is available, I rarely see any birds eat them. In fact, most fruits end up dropping to the forest floor below. Given its lack of appeal to local frugivores, it is probably no coincidence that V. lignum-vitae is a plant that one rarely spots in forest regrowth, despite being a dominant canopy species in the remnant scrubs in Sapling Pocket and World’s End Pocket. In fact, locally it is one of a few plant species (Cordyline spp. are another) that I use as clear indicators of forest that has not been fully cleared in the recent past. Even in the remnant forest, I almost never encounter seedlings on the forest floor. It is definitely a species with a recruitment problem, so it is one I try to include among my annual plantings, to give it a helping hand. I have sown quite a bit of seed this year, but I’m in for a long wait until I have plants ready to go in the ground. They typically take 1-2 years to germinate!
Life at World's End 