Web author, programmer and developer; photographer; designer; artist and bird breeder.
Interested in all of the above plus underground homes, alternative energy systems, native plants and animals, alpacas, carnivorous plants, dyers plants and organic gardening.
A quite large butterfly with a superficial resemblance to the Dingy Swallowtail, and sharing similar preferences for young citrus shoots to lay their much larger eggs. The Citrus Swallowtail is nowhere near as common as the Dingy Swallowtail. I have only seen 4, all females, in the past 2 years.
The Citrus Swallowtail is quite striking both for it’s markings and size. This individual had lost all of one hindwing, while the remaining hindwing was damaged. She was still quite a capable flier, just not as nimble as her undamaged “sisters”, who proved too restless and challenging so far to photograph.
This past summer the Citrus Swallowtails have been frequent if elusive visitors to our citrus, especially the two Tahitian Limes. Numerous of their caterpillars have been observed through late summer and into autumn. One tree in particular is host to at least eight Citrus Swallowtail caterpillars. I have been checking them daily and taking photographs and have noticed two subtly different colourations. This may be simply individual variation. Unfortunately shortly before pupating all bar one individual managed to completely vanish – hopefully into the leafy inner branches to pupate safely away from predators.
One pupating caterpillar however chose a spot not too difficult to get to with a camera, and the final few days to chrysalis stage were captured.
This record includes some of eight individual Citrus Swallowtail Caterpillars from one Tahitian Lime bush, and two from a second. These images were captured during the autumn and winter of 2011.
30th March 20115th April, 20115th April, 201117th April, 201125th April, 201125th April, 201125th April, 201129th April, 20113rd May, 20113rd May, 20113rd May, 201126th May, 201130th May, 201131st May, 201131st May, 20111st June, 20112nd June, 20113rd June, 20114th June, 20115th June, 20118th June, 201111th June, 2011
L’rie is an Australian Varied Lorikeet. S/he is the sole surviving hatchling from the most recent nest of my pair of clowns, Stanley and Dee. L’rie is currently being hand raised after spending a cold night alone when on the 23rd of April, at barely two weeks old, its parents abandoned the nest box. Whether they left the box after a night-fright, instinct or just got bored is unknown.
The following morning Stanley and Dee were clowning around on the floor of the aviary, crawling over a hollow log. Given their previous dedication to their nest this was out of character. Upon checking the box I found L’rie cold, blue, hungry and lying on it’s side, unable to stand and beg for food and barely able to move. It was immediately removed from the nest and taken inside to the incubator/brooder box. With a little perseverance I managed to get a small feed into it. Two hours later it was a totally different bird! It’s skin had changed to a healthy warm pink, it was standing albeit a little shaky, and it was hungry.
Now, over a month later, L’rie is growing well. Initially it’s diet was Lorikeet Wet food with a little apple or pear sauce. After some feeding difficulties and further research we started to incorporate some Vetafarm Hand Rearing mix (Neocare) and dropped the fruit sauce. L’rie started responding to food and feeding much better, and the growth rate improved. We started the new regime with a 50:50 parrot hand rearing mix to lorikeet wet mix, and now are currently reducing the ratio of parrot hand rearing mix, increasing the lorikeet wet, while offering a small amount of lorikeet dry in the brooder box throughout the day.
L’rie is developing it’s own bold and inquisitive personality, and is starting to pick a bit at Lorikeet Dry Food that is always available in it’s brooder enclosure. It hates being washed after feeds and would much rather snuggle up and sleep. L’rie is also developing “toilet” habits – preferring not to poop in it’s “nest box”, instead backing up to the door opening and pooping out in it’s “run”.
Update 5th June, 2011
L’rie is doing really well, and has adopted 4 Blue Faced Parrot Finch babies I’ve had to bring inside. S/he still likes to huddle up into my jumper after a feed for a little cuddle. A real sweetie! The feed mix is now about 70:30 lorikeet to parrot hand rearing mix. L’rie is however rather fond of the parrot hand rearing mix and will try to butt in when I’m feeding the Parrot Finches (which are on 100% Vetafarm Neocare Hand Raising Mix).
Update, 13th June, 2011
L’rie is developing a real personality. S/he likes to have a cuddle and “nibble” my hands and fingers after a feed. Loves to go for a “walk” around the house and is developing a very cute personality. The Blue Faced Parrot Finches were moved out to a heated hospital cage in the aviary complex on Saturday, where they have more room to move and a “teacher” older bird – an independent Gouldian Finch youngster – to learn how to eat seed from.
Update, 19th June, 2011
Yesterday L’rie was moved out of the brooder box and into a cage with branches to climb and room to practice wing-flapping. S/he spent his/her first night safely and seems to be having fun exploring. S/he has the insulated “nest-box” from the brooder to retreat to but so far seems less than interested in it. L’rie was given another piece of pear to nibble on yesterday, and a fresh piece this morning. S/he is still taking hand feeding, and has access to both wet and dry lorrie food in the cage.
L’rie’s parents are currently incubating 4 eggs 🙁 It’s still too cold for that silly birds! The nest box cannot just be removed as lorikeets use it to retreat from the cold overnight themselves. We’re currently working on adding some insulating sliding twin-wall polycarbonate panels to separate the covered flight from the uncovered area, so that should at least cut out the worst of the cold, windy weather. These panels work quite well on the Gouldian and Red Faced Parrot Finch aviaries.
Update 27th June, 2011
L’rie loves the cage and has settled in well. L’rie loves coming out even more, walking up arms, crawling around shoulders and necks, even snuggling up after a feed and having a nap at the back of my neck. S/he’s taken a few short practice straight line flights without coming to much harm – only flew into a glass window once and not at speed. S/he is still taking hand feeding, and will also feed from the lorrie wet and dry on the cage floor.
Stanley and Dee have started hatching eggs – first one hatched today. Hope this one fares better, will have to check it daily.
I will keep updating L’rie’s photos here on a weekly basis to keep a record of his/her development.
L’rie, 17th April 2011
L’rie, 23May 2011
L’rie, 28May 2011
L’rie, 4th June, 2011
L’rie, 11th June, 2011
L’rie, 18th June, 2011
PostScript:
L’rie, 25th June, 2011
Shortly after the last photo was taken, L’rie developed an infection that did not respond to treatment, and sadly passes away.
At about the same time, Stanley and Dee had hatched another chick. Given their poor parenting history and the failure of commercial anti-biotics in L’rie’s treatment, I adopted a more holistic approach and researched naturopathic alternatives on the basis that as long as it did no harm it may do some good.
The nest box was inspected daily, much to the chagrin of the occupants. Stanley and Dee became sufficiently obsessive of the box that I had to resort to wearing protective gloves to avoid a nasty nip! The raucous screeching that accompanied their aggressive defense was enough to make ears ring. So much for worrying about them abandoning the nest.
Their daily wet food was modified with the addition of a pinch of powdered garlic (a natural antibiotic and anti-fungal) and kelp (a good source of natural iodine), and a dash of apple cider vinegar (another natural antibiotic great for crop health).
Stan-Dee Jnr, 9th November, 2011.
On the 3rd of November 2011, Stan-Dee Jnr (center) left the nest. Both proud parents keep a close eye on him/her, and they make a truly lovely family group.
Congratulations, at last, Stanley and Dee!
A little history
Varied Lorikeets (Psitteuteles versicolor), are endearing, raucous, bold, inquisitive and stunningly beautiful small parrots. L’rie’s parents, Stanley and Dee, are my adorable clowns, but are also so far not the best of parents. Their first nest of eggs back in 2003 were used as toys – tossed out of the nest and rolled around the floor until the eggs broke. As they had not been specifically purchased as a breeding pair, they were housed in cages without nesting boxes after that.
Stanley and Dee, 10th Apr 2003. Initially kept inside in a fairly large cage.Stanley and Dee, 5th Nov 2003. Allowed to play out of the cage in the birdroom.Stanley and Dee, 14th Jun 2007. Plenty of room in a large planted aviary.
When we moved to our 22 acre rural property, Stanley and Dee were housed in one of the new budgie aviaries for a while. They showed no interest in nesting there. When the native shrubs in the finch aviaries started flowering, we moved Stanley and Dee into what is now the Blue Faced Parrot Finch aviary. They loved the seasonal blooms and spent ages crawling over the flowers extracting the nectar.
Stanley keeping his own company while Dee does nest sitting duties, 5th Apr, 2011.
Within a year they started digging holes in the earth floor, under the rocks around a pond. Next thing we knew they were nesting in damp and dirty holes in the ground! They tried to raise 2 nests we know of, but only one egg hatched, a number died-in-the-shell, and the one hatchling was found dead when we dug up the nest after they appeared to abandon it.
At this point I felt if Stanley and Dee were that determined to nest, at least they might be persuaded to use a nest box, high and dry. Then we dug the pond out and relocated the rocks to be sure. Their timing is still lousy thou, and this autumn has been quite cold. Had they nested in summer L’rie may well have survived the night quite comfortably.
So given Stanley and Dee’s past history, I decided it was just not worth the risk to return L’rie to the nest. Not in autumn/winter, and not to this inexperienced pair. Better luck next time guys. Please wait till spring?
L’rie, first to hatch, only a few days old. 17th April 2011.
Stanley and Dee, back in the nest box! 22nd May, 2011.
Stanley and Dee, being raucous. 29th May 2011.
Stanley,
The clown. 5th Nov 2003.
Inquisitive. 5th Nov 2003.
Cheeky. 5th Nov 2003.
Tasty paint? 5th Nov 2003.
Stanley is the biggest clown, but Dee rules the roost. He defers to her when she is about, and when she’s not nesting that’s all the time. They are quite inseparable.
Our first ever encounter with these tiny scorpions was back in March, 2007. We were moving boxes into our new home on our 22 acre rural property (unpacking boxes – a task that never seems to end) and underneath one of those boxes was a tiny but instantly recognizable scorpion.
Research into our first specimen identified it as a Marbeled Scorpion, Lychas marmoreus, apparently very common across southern Australia. We read that scorpions fluoresce brightly in ultraviolet light. So before we released him outside the next night, we pulled out our UV (blacklight) tube and were delighted and surprised to find the whole animal indeed does fluoresce, not just markings or some parts – but the entire animal.
Since 2007 we have found these little scorpions regularly – in fire wood, under stones, pavers, even digging around the garden has unearthed them. We’ve relocated numerous scorpions from firewood piles, excavation sites and during clean-ups, to safer, less likely to be disturbed locations on the property.
Marbeled Scorpion fluorescing under UV - colour corrected to match human eye perception.
Last week (May 2011) my husband found one lurking in a log that was about to get tossed into the wood fired hydronics heater. We had been talking for some time about trying to photograph the fluorescence, and this was our opportunity. So before it was released back outside we pulled out the UV tube and the cameras.
My D70 interestingly seemed to absorb the green light and although to the naked eye the scorpion appeared to fluoresce green, through the camera viewfinder and in the resulting images it appeared light blue. By adjusting the colour temperature during the RAW image import we were able to reproduce the colour as perceived by our eyes.
NOTE: Ultraviolet light (UV) is potentially damaging to your eyesight. Never look directly at a UV light source.
We have never found Marbeled Scorpions to be aggressive. At most when handled they will raise their tails as if to strike. Even when trying to extricate the most stubborn scorpion from imminent danger they have not attempted to sting. They are however quite venomous and if they must be handled should be handled with great care. Stings are apparently very painful, instant and in some people can trigger allergic reactions. Advice is to seek medical attention for any Marbeled Scorpion sting.
The Marbeled Scorpion released back into a safer pile of bark.
Marbeled Scorpion as imaged on a Nikon D70 under UV light, unadjusted.
The scorpion was carefully placed in an old baking dish, with the UV tube resting on the rim. Photograph by Ross Wheeler.
Note: Do not look directly at UV light sources, they can damage your eyesight. Do not work for prolonged periods with UV light sources. Use extreme care when working with UV light, even when using eye protection. UV light sources however, when used with due care, can light up a world of otherwise invisible wonder.
