Natural Newstead

Where there’s life …

Posted on January 19, 2026 by Geoff Park | 2 comments

… there’s hope.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived at the site. My previous visit was on the 2nd of January and since then the Eastern Barn Owl family has had to contend with some challenging weather, including the run of 40C plus days last week.

Global warming and extreme heat events are increasingly being shown to have adverse effects on hollow-dependent fauna, for example the Greater Glider, where elevated temperatures are driving habitat change and physiological stress on this beautiful and threatened arboreal mammal.

Barn Owls are a ‘taxonomically fluid’ group with a cosmopolitan distribution. Recent research is south-west Canada suggests that extreme events (heat, cold and rainfall) can impact on the breeding success of the Western Barn Owl Tyto alba.

I digress, but now some promising news.

At 9.15pm, about 30 minutes after sunset, one adult flew from near the nest tree followed by a second some minutes later. I couldn’t tell if they were roosting there or at another spot nearby. Around 9.45pm one of the pair arrived with a House Mouse, perched above the hollow for about a minute, then delivered the meal.

It is now 42 days since I first observed the adults visiting the nest with prey and I surmise that the eggs hatched around that time. The young owlets typically emerge from the hollow around 45-50 days after hatching, remaining in or near the site for a similar time period before independence.

Stay tuned.

Eastern Barn Owl with House Mouse, Newstead district, 18th January 2026

Emerging from the hollow after delivering the meal

Off again to hunt

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Posted in Bird breeding, Bird observations, Newstead district, Raptors

Catching cicadas for a hobby …

Posted on January 17, 2026 by Geoff Park | 2 comments

… is a simple task!

Last evening by the Loddon this Australian Hobby was using its formidable aerial skills to snare flying cicadas in mid air. The cicadas were rising above the canopy of the River Red Gums along the river with a pair of hobbys relishing the opportunity presented.

A small falcon, the Australian Hobby is a swift and agile predator of large insects, small birds and even bats. It is not unusual to see this species hunting on dusk. As you can see the insects, captured in the talons, are torn apart and consumed in flight.

* Right click on the image and open in new tab to view at full size.

Australian Hobby, Loddon River @ Newstead, 16th January 2026

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Posted in Bird observations, Cicadas, Loddon River, Raptors

A kingfisher egg

Posted on January 16, 2026 by Geoff Park | Leave a comment

I’m somewhat mystified by this find.

I heard the Sacred Kingfishers well before I spotted them, the harsh kek-kek-kek penetrating easily through the patch of Yellow Gum and Grey Box woodland. Both birds were perched, with one of the pair making repeated short visits to a small hollow further back along the branch. Each time it jabbed at the hollow entrance, but without much vigour.

Directly below the hollow lay a broken egg. It was pure white and round, resembling a small table-tennis ball and matching the size (25mm x 22mm) of eggs of this species. I’m at a loss to explain how it got there but it’s reasonable to surmise that it had fallen from the hollow.

Sacred Kingfisher, Green Gully, 12th January 2026

Sacred Kingfisher egg #1

Sacred Kingfisher egg #2

I was distracted from the kingfishers by a Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike dive-bombing two White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes foraging in the nearby canopy.

These two species are superficially similar – the latter is smaller and adults lack the black mask of the former, although beware of dark-morph versions of the White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike where the face and upper breast are black with black mottling continuing onto the lower breast. One useful distinguishing mark to look for is the ring of pale feathers encircling the eye, reasonably obvious in the images below.

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike

White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes

The pale feathers behind the eye are a useful mark to identify this species

And, then there was one?

Posted on January 15, 2026 by Geoff Park | 1 comment

I last reported on this local Barking Owl family back in early November. At that time three owlets had successfully fledged and were roosting in the vicinity of the nest site, often individually, then gathering after dusk to be fed by the parents.

I spent some time earlier today with the family but only three individuals were evident, the adult pair and one juvenile, now in ‘quasi-adult’ plumage.

It may be that at least one other juvenile is perched nearby but perhaps more likely that only a single youngster is approaching independence. More often than not, this is the case.

The adults are almost indistinguishable but males tend to be slightly larger and possess a more flattened crown. The juvenile though is clearly smaller and more slender with remnants of white down. around the head and breast.

Barking Owl (adult male), Newstead district, 15th January 2026

The adult male – stretching display

Juvenile Barking Owl with adult female (at rear)

Female (at left) with juvenile

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Posted in Bird breeding, Bird observations, Raptors

Galahs at Green Gully

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Geoff Park | Leave a comment

This pair of Galahs was enjoying the ‘cool’ respite under the canopy of a large Yellow Gum, yesterday at Green Gully. Mind you, it was 5pm and still 30C!

That’s the female, with the pink-red iris, on the left.

Galah pair, Green Gully, 12th January 2026

Frogmouth story

Posted on January 12, 2026 by Geoff Park | 2 comments

I’d found the adult earlier in the day, perched high on a small, dead branch of the River Red Gum. Traces of brown wash on its neck and forewing suggested a female.

Almost certain there was a pair, I searched for the other adult and signs of offspring, without success. Last season they raised two youngsters.

Tawny Frogmouths are cryptic birds, masters of camouflage. Many times I’ve found myself staring fruitlessly into the canopy in search of a frogmouth, for the bird to then suddenly ‘appear’, as if by magic.

I returned at dusk, the adult now alert and starting to stretch as it prepared to hunt. Several times it focused with purpose towards the ground below … perhaps it had spotted a morsel? After a time it floated towards the earth and then perched on a fence post under the tree. Then there was a familiar call, a soft drumming note, distinctive but lower volume than an adult Tawny Frogmouth. Moments later a small shape fluttered upwards from near the trunk of the massive gum and alighted above its parent.

It sat, calling occasionally, then shifted along the branch before arching its back and assuming a begging posture. Moments later the female arrived with food for the hungry juvenile. The young bird is well-developed, more so than the duo from 2025, perhaps two-thirds the size of the adult.

* Right click on image and open in new tab to view at full size

Tawny Frogmouth (adult female, Newstead, 11th January 2026

The adult female perched

Juvenile Tawny Frogmouth in begging pose

Successful request!

Juvenile at left … adult female at right

Thanks to Steve and Rose for reminding me to look up!

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Posted in Bird breeding, Bird observations

Not to be deterred

Posted on January 11, 2026 by Geoff Park | 2 comments

After the oppressive heat and violent winds of the past few days it was something of a surprise yesterday afternoon to see this.

A female White-browed Woodswallow was spotted as it descended onto its nest, to apparently incubate. The male was perched nearby.

The nest, a flimsy structure as is the habit of woodswallows, has been constructed in a narrow gap between the dual trunks of a small eucalypt, about 4 metres above the ground. From one side it appeared to be lodged without additional support between the trunks, but when viewed from the opposite angle (last image) it can be seen positioned in a another fork. While the structure looked exposed and fragile, it has been clearly strong enough to withstand what nature has recently thrown at it.

White-browed Woodswallow (female) incubating, Muckleford State Forest, 10th January 2026

Returning to the nest after a short bout of foraging

Insubstantial, but doing the job

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Posted in Bird breeding, Bird observations, Migrants, Spring Hill and the Mia Mia

Our summer-flowering Hyacinth-orchids

Posted on January 8, 2026 by andrewskeoch | 3 comments

Hyacinth-orchids, of the genus Dipodium, are spectacular flowers of our woodlands, but not commonly encountered.

I came across this one on our block this morning. It is the first I’ve seen here in over twenty years. I recall that earlier sighting in almost the same spot, beside the path I walk most mornings. Could it be the same plant? Orchids don’t seem to flower every year, requiring specific weather conditions to put on a show. So either this orchid is flowering again for the first time in decades, or if it has flowered at times since, it may have been chomped by native browsers before I got to see it.

Whichever, it’s a rare and beautiful sight, a thing of wonder on my morning walk.

But which species? The Rosy Hyacinth-orchid, D. roseum, is a widely distributed and somewhat common Dipodium species throughout SE Australia, with several new species being differentiated from it in recent times. I believe this orchid is one of them, D. pardalinum, the Spotted Hyacinth-orchid, only described in 1996. It is more dramatically spotted than D. roseum, particularly on the labellum, as you can see here.

In comparison, the Rosy Hyacinth-orchid has stripes on the labellum; see Geoff’s D. roseum images from 2011

On the iNaturalist website, D. pardalinum is reported occurring in central Victoria, in our region mainly in a line from Geelong to Ballarat, through to Daylesford and east to Woodend, with the observation that it is usually associated with bracken fern understory. In which case, the plant at our place, occurring on an exposed slope among poa grasses in box woodlands, is a bit of an outlier. Not alone though, others have been recorded around Muckleford and Castlemaine.

The heat of summer is the time to see these magnificent orchids. If you find one, look closely at the labellum to confirm which species it may be. After coming across this unique specimen, I walked in increasing circles and found a second plant flowering about 50m away. I’d be interested to know if others have observations of Spotted Hyacinth-orchids, they may be more common in our Newstead bushlands than is reported.

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Posted in Flora, Orchids

Tagged flowers, nature, Orchids, photography, travel

Tough times

Posted on January 7, 2026 by Geoff Park | 2 comments

It’s tough times for bush birds at present, compunded by extreme heat conditions hitting the south-east of the continent in coming days. In such times garden water sources are a great help to some species.

This afternoon in the garden we had a visit from a Willie Wagtail, the first I can recall for some months. I set a sprinkler going for a few minutes and it proved an instant magnet for a variety of birds, those pictured below as well as some Brown-headed Honeyeaters. In recent days in the garden I’ve also noted Brown Thornbill, Yellow Thornbill, White-naped Honeyeater and Shining Bronze-cuckoo.

New Holland Honeyeater in the home garden, 7th January 2026

Silvereye

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

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Posted in Bird observations, Honeyeaters, The Home Garden

Kingfishers succeed again

Posted on January 5, 2026 by Geoff Park | 1 comment

For at least two decades, and almost certainly much longer, Sacred Kingfishers have nested along the Loddon River near the pile fields, downstream of the highway bridge.

This is just one territory of several along this section of the river, with at least three other pairs upstream to the Punt Road ford and others, uncounted, downstream to Cairn Curran. Each pair seems to need about 300-400 metres of riparian real estate to raise their brood.

This season two youngsters have been successfully fledged by the ‘pile field pair’. It’s been interesting (and instructive) to note how they have had to shift their nest site each time a major flood has removed another portion of the western bank. This has occurred at least four times since 2011.

Interestingly the two juveniles were noticeably different, with the bird pictured below lacking distinctive scaling of the second bird which I failed to photograph. It looked similar to this youngster from 2021.