Museian

Brisbane Storm 20/05/2009

2009-05-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

Brisbane had its heaviest rain in 24 hours for decades on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Having spent several years in Darwin I love heavy rain and generally regard the 'severe' weather in Brisbane as pretty mediocre. I'm sure people who have had their houses damaged wouldn't agree. Anyway, the creeks were close to bursting their banks in several parts of Brisbane and actually did so in the suburb of Windsor. In our neck of the woods (a tributary of Bulimba Creek called Phillips Creek) I was kicking myself for not having my camera on me during the storm when we were out driving. The water was boiling under the bridge just upstream from us and actually over the bridge downstream from us.

The bike-path bridge a short distance downstream from us a few hours after its peak. It crosses a storm water channel leading to Phillips Creek about 10m away.

Downstream from the bike-path bridge

Upstream from the bike bridge on Phillips Creek

Downstream from the Gallipoli Rd bridge. The red line shows the high water mark.

Upstream from the Gallipoli Rd bridge

Tracking growth

2009-05-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be a good idea to track the growth of several plants around the garden. Generally it is very difficult to tell what a plant is until it has grown past its initial leaves so I'm starting early. There are also a couple of Hibiscus shots related to the previous Hibiscus inhabitants entries.

Gooseberry seedlings

Silverbeet seedling

Brussel sprout seedling

Hibiscus stem closeup. It's a spikey one!

I planted it a bit too close to the neighbours fence but after recent persistent rain (over a few weeks) it started leaning out from the fence. It is growing in clay soil. However the top is now pointing skywards again and it seems none the worse for it.

Hibiscus inhabitants 2

2009-04-20T01:44:00.000-07:00

I'm interested to see what comes out of this egg case?

Transient wasp. Possibly a Hatchet wasp? Hatchet wasps attack lawn grubs.

Shy spider. It is probably a Green Jumping Spider, Mopsus mormon (ID source - Brisbane Insects and Spiders)

Transient sap sucking bug

This little spider appears to be camouflaging itself with nearby caterpillar frass... or perhaps the frass just landed there.

Hibiscus inhabitants

2009-04-19T18:37:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd focus on beasties that inhabit particular plants from now on (not too rigidly of course). These ones inhabit or visit Hibiscus splendens (need to double check the ID and get a photo as well).

I believe this is a Katydid rather than a Grasshopper due to the very long antennae.

I haven't confidently IDed this caterpillar yet but think it might be in the genus Amonis, which is a moth.

I'm assuming this is a later instar (molt). There were about 6 caterpillars when I looked a few days ago but there appear to be only 2 left.

Environmental Science

2009-04-16T02:46:00.000-07:00

I'm seriously considering moving away from computing as my main job focus and instead using my IT skills to complement working in environmental science. Right now I'm going through job sites, university sites and government web sites identifying the kinds of work available. The area is as rife with acronyms as IT. Here are just a few.

EMP - Environmental Management Plan
EIA - Environmental Impact Assessment
EIS - Environmental Impact Statement
EA- Environmental Assessment
GIS - Geographic Information System (essential)
ABRS - Australian Biological Resources Study
TCM - Total Catchment Management
CWMPs - Catchment Water Management Plans
ESD - Ecologically Sustainable Development
SoE - State of the Environment (the IT acronym means 'standard operating environment')
NPI - National Pollutant Inventory

I've a lot to learn not only about government departments managing the environment but also about private firms carrying out assessments, surveying and doing site rehabilitation. At the federal level there is the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. The QLD government has the Department of Environment & Resource Management (comprised of the former Department of Natural Resources and Water, and the Environmental Protection Agency). How they can separate that from Infrastructure and Planning I don't know but hopefully they work closely together. You would think Primary Industry and Fisheries would belong under natural resources as well. The logic behind it is probably interesting.

Slimey and spikey

2009-04-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what this nymph develops in to, perhaps a ladybug?

What is this? It looks like a cross between a slug and a beetle...
This furry spider likes to hide during the day and spin its web at night. Probably a Garden Orb-Weaver (Eriophora transmarina - ID source - Wildlife of Greater Brisbane).

Moths

2009-03-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post. My daughter is now 3 1/2 months old. Enough said :-)

This little beastie was sitting on a cupboard handle in the kitchen. Its markings almost look like acrylic paint. It is a Green Blotched Moth (Cosmodes elegans - ID - Ozanimals.com). We don't have any Lobelia or Verbena mentioned on the Ozanimals site so it must have come from a neighbouring yard.

This very large moth (probably a Hawk Moth) had the misfortune to be discovered by our cats and is thus looking rather battered. I kindly relieved its suffering by feeding it to our chooks. At least they don't play with their food!

I know it's not really an expression but the moth does look pissed off.

Another small moth attracted to the light in the bathroom. Its colouring is of course brighter but I haven't learnt how to adjust for the necessary flash.

One more moth shot. There were of course many more visitors but I didn't always have a camera nearby and charged. There was a magnificient praying mantis on the front door frame last night but the camera battery was flat!

Flies and flighty

2009-02-03T15:33:00.000-08:00

Skinks are a bit flighty so this one must have been a bit cold. I'm sure the residual heat from the morning sun on the concrete must have felt divine.

It was hiding on the edge of the grass before I surprised it.

Most likely a Grass Skink, Lampropholis delicata (ID source, Wildlife of Greater Brisbane).

Most likely a Cuckoo Wasp (ID source - Wildlife of Greater Brisbane). I've seen this wasp several times checking out the holes in the bricks and concrete on the walls. It finally stayed still long enough to have its photo taken.

Still kickin

2009-01-30T01:44:00.000-08:00

I wondered if the Assasin Bug nymph that I spotted would survive, particularly after removing the sorghum it was sitting on and feeding it to the chooks. Well, it may not be the same one but at least one adult is still kickin.

Assassin Bug adult side-on

Assassin Bug adult from above

I never thought there was so much variety in grasshoppers, but here is yet another colour. The poor thing is looking at me perhaps knowing it's about to be fed to the chooks.

My wife tells me this Earwig at the bottom of a bowl of tomatoes I harvested was in the fridge for two days. It seems none the worse for wear.

Every morning and evening this pair of Kookaburras likes to sit on the neighbour's TV aerial and sing, 'This is my spot'. Hopefully their spot is more plentiful if I reduce the cane toad population so that more lizards can eat and grow.

Big bug hunters of the night

2009-01-22T03:39:00.001-08:00

Such a pity that two of the biggest bug hunters of the night are introduced species. It's not a pity that cane toads make great fertiliser!

Overexposed Asian House Gecko

The cane toads are out in force tonight after some rain. Several brave ones attempt crossing the roads into new territory but not all of them make it... I go out a couple of times a month to get a couple of small shopping bags full and stick them in the freezer (for a relatively humane death). They are quite easy to locate and catch. They generally prefer short grass and like to sit on the edge of hedges / flower beds where they can make a quick escape into greenery. Shining a bright torch light on them temporarily keeps them still. Then all you have to do is pincer grab them behind the brown, bony ridge in line with their eyes and front legs. This way you avoid the poison gland and they usually can't get their feet to touch your hand. Take care not to point their bottoms towards you though. Many empty their bladder in fright!

Bugs in a moment

2009-01-20T18:09:00.001-08:00

I haven't had much time lately to do either photography or update my blog. The weather has been very dry so watering the garden of an evening takes quite a long time. The rest of my time is almost entirely devoted to looking after my wife and very cute little daughter. Gwen is now almost 6 weeks old and seems to be growing a centimetre every week!

This case moth chose the odd position of next to our front door to do a little rapelling. It went up and down the wall 3 times over the course of 2 days before disappearing.

This small beetle decided to visit our house but fearing it was mistaken as to its lodgings I put it outside to continue its travels (can you tell I've been listening to the Lord of the Rings? There is a fantastic BBC adaption for radio on 13 CDs that Renee gave to me a few years ago. Some of the accompanying music is a bit off the planet when trying to create Elvish singing but that is but a small blemish on its high production values.). My mother tells me it is a Christmas beetle that has a tendency to strip trees bare in Darwin.

Another Harlequin bug visiting the Hibiscus against the study wall.

Sunflowers and tomatoes

2009-01-16T04:01:00.000-08:00

We've had a good harvest of sunflowers and cherry tomatoes thanks to the chook poo compost. Of course the insects want their fair share, probably about 1/5th to 1/4 of the tomatoes. Still, Renee is having trouble getting through all the tomatoes and is turning them into salsa and relish.

The harvest from one sunflower head

A more grown up hedge grasshopper than the last photo. They absolutely love munching on sunflower leaves.

Queensland Fruit fly female, Bactrocera tryoni (ID source Brisbane Insects and Spiders). She was quite unconcerned with having her photo taken. No doubt she was very focused on laying eggs.

Fruit fly

My attempt at an arty shot of a sunflower head. Can you spot the grasshopper to the right of the flower's centre and another insect hiding behind the petals in the top right?

Garden predators

2009-01-08T03:17:00.000-08:00

We are getting fabulous harvests from our vege patch, with special thanks to our patrollers. We have numerous spiders, wasps and now I spotted an assassin bug!

Unidentified spider on south facing wall

St Andrew's Cross spider with one grasshopper already wrapped and another just caught.

Part of our chooks laying mash is sorghum seeds and we've had a few plants spring up from chook compost. The maturing seeds provide great camoflage for an Assassin Bug, Pristhesancus plagipennis (ID source, OzAnimals). I will be interested to see if this nymph survives to adulthood.

Assassin bug nymph

More house guests

2008-12-31T00:18:00.001-08:00

The bathroom window was the favourite point of entry for most insects at night as it is the only window we left open that doesn't have a fly screen. Not so many guests visit through that window now though, as the thought of our newborn daughter being bit by a disease-carrying mosquito is incentive enough to remember to close it! We have a bath in the back yard with some water plants in it and mosquito eating fish (Australian Pacific Blue-eyes and Chinese White Clouds). Lots of mosquito wrigglers mean no extra food is necessary for the fish. However, I think we need to get a few more fish.

Now this is probably the scariest insect I've seen in the house after the very large brown huntsman. What a lethal looking back end! It was 2-3cm long with a head like a fly, wings like a wasp and... is that back end an ovipositor? It nonchalantly hopped onto the fly swatter from the bathroom ceiling and allowed itself to be flicked out the window.

My underpants on the clothes line seem to be a favourite resting place for moths. This lovely one about 1.5cm long made it into the house in the washing pile.

This beetle impressed us with its break-and-entry skill and stamina. First it managed to push its way past a loose bit of fly screen, then it did laps of the living room in the air. Most beetles just hit the first wall they find and fall to the ground for a rest. When I went to pick it up it hissed at me and was surprisingly strong when resisting being pinned to the ground for a photo (no real pins were used in the taking of this photo)! Is it a female rhinocerus beetle? I've heard these beetles are the strongest insects in the world by body weight. It was 5-6cm long. It seems to match the description in the Queensland Museum fact sheet.

I believe this is a gum tree shield bug, Theseus modestus (ID source - Wildlife of Greater Brisbane). It decided our bathroom basin was the place to quietly expire. Only having 4 of your 6 legs left is probably a good reason to give up.

House guests

2008-12-22T21:55:00.000-08:00

Some insects and spiders invite themselves into the house, others are drawn inexorably by the light... and don't the geckos love it!

Unidentified bug about 5-6mm long. This little beastie came in with some tomatoes and strawberries I'd just picked.

Unidentified small spider that enjoys hanging out in ceiling corners. Also about 5-6mm long. It might have freaked out if it realised it was sitting on a fly swatter ;-)

Unidentified moth. Poor moths, they run the gecko gauntlet to get to the light inside and then have nowhere to go. Some end up as play things for the kitties if they move about very much.

In the front right corner

2008-12-10T23:10:00.001-08:00

Our main vege garden is between the neighbour's fence and the right-hand side of the house. Just around the corner at the front of the house a hibiscus is growing. Forward of the vege garden towards the road there is a retaining wall that wraps around the front of the block and a small part of the RHS. It encloses a garden bed about 1m wide. I took all these pictures in about a 10m square area around the front, RHS of the house.

Unidentified spider poised between tomato leaves on a single strand of web.

This Scorpion-tailed spider (Arachnura higginsi - ID source - Spiders of the Greater Brisbane Region. A Queensland Museum Wild Guide) reveals its true nature by untucking its legs. Its web stretched between lower stems of the Hibiscus.

I don't know what these spiders feed on but it was looking very much like a grub or caterpillar trapped in a web the way it was waving its tail about. What an odd shaped tail! It looks a bit like a flower with the petals torn off.

Yellow-shouldered Ladybird on sunflower leaves (Apolinus lividigaster - ID source OzAnimals). I must be getting pretty close to having the minimum six species of Ladybird in my garden that indicates no pesticide use (as stated in the Garden Guardians) . This lovely little beastie feeds on aphids.

Unidentified caterpillar. This one was sitting on my Eremophila in the retaining wall garden bed. It's still a small plant so I'm not sure I'll let it stay there.

More insects in our garden

2008-12-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

The more you look for insects and spiders in the garden the more you find. It's a pity you don't always have the camera on hand. Some times the little buggers (pun foolishly intended) are just too quick or camera shy. I've missed a shot of a large butterfly that may have been an Evening Brown, a fast-moving bright red wasp that may have been a Spider Wasp, a small spider trying to take a ride on a sheet into the washing machine and a small swarm of wasps checking out our Caliandra shrub for prey. Ants can be really hard to focus on but one played an accidental cameo role in the shot of another insect today.

Ant on Frangipani. It might be a Banded Sugar Ant (Camponotus consobrinus - ID source OzAnimals) as it looks like it is herding aphids. I haven't been looking for the nest.

Unidentified bug on Frangipani. Check out the antennae!

Unidentified wasp on Caliandra. I could not work out if it was fighting a large ant that refused to be paralysed or if one of the sexes in wingless and it is mating. No idea.

I think this is the home of the wasps that were checking out the Caliandra with one left on guard duty. They are probably Polistes spp.. (ID source - Wildlife of Greater Brisbane) as their nest is the right shape and it is located under the eaves of our laundry area.

Unidentified silvery chrysalis on Caliandra stem. I've also seen a couple on the wires of the clothes line.

Coding the forest

2008-12-07T18:05:00.000-08:00

It can be a struggle to get a consistent, durable overview of any complex programming project. It's easy to get lost in the trees of

entity, data access, visual interface and control classes,
class interrelationships and dependencies,
collections of objects instantiated from classes,
private and public methods,
the abstract interface classes, virtual methods, method overrides,
algorithms, code patterns, configuration, custom types, structures,
managed vs. unmanaged code,
single vs. multiple inheritance,
UML, ERD, flow charts,
model-driven programming, functional programming and object-oriented programming,

and the list goes on and on.

You could say that the programmer is spoilt for choice. However, making and sticking to choices about how to solve a problem or set of problems is complicated by there being multiple ways of doing the same thing. Granted, some ways are more efficient or 'elegant'. There is also the right tool for job. An uncompiled scripting language can be the best choice for proto-typing. However, it can be a pain to debug if there is much data transfer going on between different parts of the program. Of course, keeping each part of the program simple and making sure you test thoroughly before moving on helps a great deal. Conversely, the simpler each part is, the more parts you have to manage.

Add the client to the above and their level of understanding about what you are doing. They may believe that production code should be as quick to write as a simple prototype. They may have heard that a UML diagram can be automatically converted into code but not realise that your software can't actually do that. Their 'nephew' doing work experience at IBM may have created this fantastic web site in a couple of days so why can't you? Doesn't everybody use the same tools?

Back on topic... I'm the kind of guy that likes to keep the overview constantly in view but how do you do that when your mind is already staggering under the weight and number of parts? It doesn't matter how clever you are or think you are. At some point parts will drop off your concious radar.

Keeping in mind that your mind can only juggle 5-7 concepts conciously at one time how can you break down any project into just 5 parts? 1. Data input. 2. Data transport. 3. Data manipulation. 4. Data storage. 5. Data display.

First-hand experiences

2008-12-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

Now here is a cause worth supporting. The Kitchen Garden Foundation in Victoria is teaching kids to grow food themselves as part of their primary school curriculum. Incorporate a bit of science and heh presto you have people with informed opinions about some of the natural world. I believe it's really important to expose kids, especially kids growing up in the city to as much of the natural world as possible, as early as possible. We humans are clever in many ways but often we need to experience things first-hand to really appreciate them. Reading a book or watching a video supplements our understanding but can never replace the strong foundation of touching, seeing, smelling and breathing the air of a new experience.

Thriving

2008-12-06T02:42:00.000-08:00

Our vege patch is thriving with all the recent rain. This is mirrored in the insect population. Fortunately we have many active predators to keep the vege destroyers in check. A great web site for identifying your bugs in Brisbane is Brisbane Insects and Spiders.

Brown Paper wasps (Ropalidia revolutionalis - ID source FAMILY VESPIDAE, Polistinae - Paper Wasps) are hard at work in the luffa vine. I swear one was keeping an eye on me while the others worked on the larvae chambers.

Chateau paper wasp

I saw another beautiful wasp with irredesent blue wings having a drink from our outside bathtub but wasn't quick enough to retrieve the camera. It was probably 3 times the size of the paper wasps.

The face of evil. One of the few ladybirds that eat plants rather than defending them. They especially like potato and tomato leaves. Beware the 28 spots of Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata! Identification source 28-spotted Potato Ladybird.

This ladybird eats fungus (Illeis galbula - Identification source The Garden Guardians by Jane Davenport) and is helping to protect one of my pumpkin vines. I notice that the family name for Illeis is Coccinellidae. It could be related to the beetle that is crushed up for the famous blue dye.

Don't know what this bug sitting on a rockmelon leaf is yet.

House inhabitants

2008-12-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

We had a visitor in early October. At first we thought it was a gigantic mozzie but it is a Crane Fly. It's harmless, doesn't feed in this adult stage and spends its juvenile life in water.

Our first human child (we have two kitty kids) is due today! She too will emerge from an aquatic, amniotic existence to enter air-breathing life, luckily with a much warmer welcome awaiting her. She doesn't know about the welcoming party however and may not arrive for a few days yet. Only 5% of human babies arrive on their due date. I think the anticipation is keeping me on a constant, mild adrenaline rush. Fingers crossed but NOT legs crossed she arrives soon.

Spider, fly, you know the drill

2008-12-02T02:18:00.000-08:00

I'm used to spiders hanging around (no pun intended) for a photo but didn't realise that flies are posers as well. They were quite happy with the minimum 10cm for a macro shot.

Fly posing on strawberry flower while cleaning its back 'legs'.

Fly catching the afternoon sun on a leaf's edge... OK, OK I'm lying. I used the flash.

One of our many vegetable patch guardian spiders. It is most likely a Silver Orb Spider (Leucauge granulata - Identification source OzAnimals and Spiders of the Greater Brisbane Region, a Queensland Museum Wild Guide).

I've only ever seen one other live huntsman larger than this one. It is most likely a Brown Huntsman (Heteropoda jugulans - Identification source OzAnimals). Normally I'm OK with spiders but when this species gets to this size (11-12cm across) they hop instead of run. Fortunately it responded well to an invitation to step outside with some non-lethal guidance from a broom. It's hard to believe that a wasp less than half the size of this one's body (without the legs) can take it on and win but I've seen that too. The wasp then nipped off all its legs before flying away with it.

This little cutey attempted to hitch-hike on my shin.

Doing well

2008-11-30T02:27:00.000-08:00

All the wet weather is good for the trees and bugs
I'm seeing lots and lots of vegetable grasshoppers (Attractomorpha similis - Identification source - Wildlife of Greater Brisbane)

Vegetable grasshopper munching on my sunflowers

The Poincinia trees are doing really well. Every one in the street is flowering heavily.

Poinciana flower

Garden pics 3

2008-11-29T14:32:00.000-08:00

Didn't do much gardening yesterday as it was a stinking hot day. Renee and I both enjoyed the storm that finally arrived around 3pm.

This St Andrew's Cross spider (Argiope keyserlingi - identified using Wildlife of Greater Brisbane produced by the Queensland Museum) likes to 'hang' near our under-cover clothes line.

No idea what this sunflower resident bug is.

We've been having quite a bit of rain over the last few weeks so several species of fungi have been popping up.

Another ex-resident of our growing sunflowers. I've thought sometimes in the past that TV docos showing caterpillars munching away were sped up. Not so!

Beneficial insects

2008-11-27T22:24:00.000-08:00

I highly recommend a beginner's book for looking after your garden kingdom called The Garden Guardians by Jane Davenport. Jane takes impressive macro pictures. Forget about using pesticides and start managing your real-life insect kingdom on the hop, crawl, fly and scuttle. I love my PlayStation and PC games but this could be just as attention grabbing!

Jane's favourite, a ladybird. This one is sitting on a sunflower leaf. Beneficial. It is most likely a Striped Ladybird (Micraspis frenata - Identification source Striped Ladybird)

Another sunflower leaf inhabitant. NOT beneficial except as food for a bird or predatory insect. It is most likely a Hedge Grasshopper (Valanga irregularis) nymph (baby). Identification source is OzAnimals.

This little beastie was sitting on a rockmelon leaf. Not sure what it is although from the way it was behaving (it looked like it was sucking on something) and its position on the leaf vein I'd say it is a sap sucker.

Walking to and from the shops

2008-11-26T02:06:00.000-08:00

So many ground hugging plants pass unnoticed as the showier, larger plants grab your attention with larger flowers and stronger perfumes, but these small, tough colonists of disturbed soil can be just as beautiful.

I probably would not have noticed this little camouflaged insect if I hadn't seen it land. No idea what kind of insect it is.

This little skink (lizard) obligingly stayed put for a photo from only a metre away. The pickings must be good for it after all the recent rain. I think it is an Eastern Water Skink, not sure.

Our local council has done a great job in revegetating the creek banks with native grasses and trees instead of the tangle of vines and dense thickets of weeds.

Garden pics 2

2008-11-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

Spare a thought for the poor chook that laid the egg on the left. What was she not thinking?! Renee (my lovely wife) pointed out to me that if you turn a jewel bug upside down it looks very much like a scary mask.

Double-trouble yoker

Jewel bug scary monster mask

Hibiscus flower

Different Hibiscus flower

Take a closer look

2008-11-24T02:51:00.000-08:00

Greetings
I intend this blog to be reasonably free-form musings and events from daily life. This first entry is inspired by our garden and the things that you can see if you take a few moments to look closely. If I hadn't been trying to get a photo of a hibiscus flower I would never have spotted the jewel bugs. The hairs on the stems around the watermelon flower are trapping moisture. The garlic flower turned out to have a resident protective spider. The luffa? flower has resident ants. I'm constantly drawn back into the garden by the things that I may stumble across and a simple pleasure in watching things grow.

Jewel bugs (Hibiscus Harlequin Bugs)(Tectocoris diopthalmus)

Watermelon flower

Garlic guard spider

I think it is a 'Common Lynx Spider' - Oxyopes sp. after looking at the Brisbane Insects and Spiders web site.

Garlic flower

Luffa? flower. Cucumber and luffa flowers look very similar but seeing the fruit grow I'm leaning towards Luffa. Check out Luffa.info. The female and male immature flowers look the same as those on the luffa.info site as well. A good picture of a cucumber flower can be found here.