Why is Australia’s crisis in nature invisible to many people?

Australia’s isolation for millions of years has produced a bewildering array of endemic species. More than 80% of our plants, our mammals, our reptiles and our frogs are found nowhere else in the world. Nearly 50% of our birds are only found in Australia.

Last year, 42 new species were added to the national Australian threatened species lists. In 2024, 54 species were added, and in 2023, a staggering 144 species were added to our threatened list. It is estimated that, in Australia, between 1 and 3 species of invertebrates become extinct every WEEK! Habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change are all contributors to this country having the highest mammal extinction rate in the world.

Southern Brown Bandicoot - Endangered (F&FG Act & EPBC Act)

Even the smallest amount of investigation of the subject will soon convince the researcher that Australia has a nature crisis. The decline is ongoing and accelerating. Disappointingly, we seem not to care.

The parade of recent federal Minister’s for the Environment, despite their heartening election pitches, seem able to achieve little to amend the situation. Environmentalist and conservation groups such as the Invasive Species Council, the Australian Land Conservation Alliance, the Australian Conservation Foundation, and the State and Territory Conservation Councils of Australia, were all highly critical of the recent Labor Government’s budget announcements.

Glen Nayook cool temperate rainforest community - Threatened (F&FG Act)

Even Labor’s much vaunted Nature Positive Plan introduced in 2022 by the then Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, has recently been watered down: environmental standards have been diluted; mining and business interests have successfully blocked the strengthening of the EPA powers; the use of biodiversity credits for offsetting environmental damage have been altered and remain highly controversial; and more.

Gang-gang Cockatoo - Endangered (F&FG Act & EPBC Act)

Perhaps though, we shouldn’t be blaming our politicians – entirely. Recent public surveys for example found that 20% of respondents believed that foxes were native to Australia and a straw poll at a barbecue, conducted by a journalist at The Age, found that no one knew what a Quoll was!

Cobra Greenhood - Endangered (F&FG Act)

And yet, in March last year, a survey of over 3,000 respondents by the Biodiversity Council, found that there is, “… a growing concern among Australians about the state and future of nature”. There seems to be a dichotomy here.

It appears that successive generations of Australians are losing touch with our native environment in a form of cultural amnesia. While we acclaim our gum trees, our kangaroos and emus, we seem to be very unaware of the harmful processes that are re-shaping our environment.

It’s already too late for some of our special species. Will we wake up in time to save the remainder?

 

 

 

Pin Oak

Some of Drouin’s Pin Oaks are looking their best at the moment

The Pin Oak, Quercus palustris, is native to North America but is grown widely around the world as a street and parkland tree.

In its natural state, the Pin Oak is a wetland tree. It grows best on poorly-drained soils and it doesn’t tolerate shading from other trees particularly well. Quercus means oak, and palustris means marshland or swamp giving rise to an alternative common name of Swamp Oak.

The classical pyramidal shape of the Pin Oak is a result of the branches growing in a distinctive pattern: upper branches tend to point upwards, middle branches are roughly horizontal, and the lower branches often droop.

Unlike many other trees in the oak genus, Pin Oaks tend not to be long-lived – little more than 100 years usually. The Jarupa Oak in California, Quercus palmeri, is a clonal plant thought to be 13,000 years old!

Of interest: Pin Oak Court in Vermont South, named for the trees that once defined it, has another famous name, Ramsay Street – ring any bells?

 

 

Thornbills - those little brown jobs

A decent bird field guide will inform you that Australia has ten or more species of those little brown birds called thornbills. They are perhaps the most frustrating bird to properly identify for a beginner bird watcher, hence the term LBJ: Little Brown Job.

Originally, variously called Tit, Tit-bird, Tit-warbler, and Tit-mouse, it wasn’t until the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union in 1926 officially listed them as Thornbills that they got their current moniker. Some references describe the origins of ‘thornbill’ for their tiny thorn-like bill, others say it is because they like to occupy thorn-bushes (which is not always true). Since they belong to the Acanthiza genus and acantha is Greek for thorn or prickle or prickly plant, the obscurity remains – for me at least. The taxonomy of bird names can be a never-ending pursuit. Here’s a link to the Wikipedia page for Acanthiza.

Whatever, our thornbills are endearing little brown (mostly) birds. They are not stunningly colourful, or melodic, particularly, but for many of us sad bird people, they are little charmers.

In West Gippsland, we have three thornbill species that can be commonly encountered; in order of most frequently seen – Brown Thornbill, A. pusilla (pusilla = small) Striated Thornbill, A. lineata (lineata = lined) and the Yellow Thornbill, A. nana (nana = dwarf).

Brown Thornbill The most common identifiers include: rufous crown with scalloping, red eye, dark striations on throat and belly.

Brown Thornbills have a surprisingly loud call for a little bird – a deep, rolling ‘pee-orr’, a high-pitched ‘seee’, and a harsh ‘tzzt’. Brown Thornbills are usually seen in small groups in the understory. Some lucky people have them in their native gardens.

Striated Thornbill  Obvious streaking around the eye, over the crown and down the throat and belly. Body colour can vary – lemony-yellowy-buff-brownish-greyish …

You need good hearing to hear their high-pitched, insect-like ‘tzz-tzz’ in the tree tops. Striateds are usually found in small groups high in the eucalypt canopy, where they can be remarkably faithful to their territory. Being so small and so high up, Striated Thornbills are probably more abundant in this district than we realise.

Yellow Thornbill  Yellow Thornbills are almost entirely yellow with some pale streaking around the eye.

They have a deep but soft ‘chidid-tz-tz’ call. Yellow Thornbills seldom inhabit eucalypts and are nearly always seen in the vicinity of wattles, casaurinas, and other trees with ‘feathery’ foliage. Like the striated, Yellow Thornbills can often be seen regularly in the same location containing their preferred habitat.

All three of these thornbills are small and active – good luck!

 

 

Autumn, the season of change

“Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away; Lengthen night and shorten day; Every leaf speaks bliss to me Fluttering from the autumn tree.” – Emily Bronte

The ‘season of change’ is one of the best times to explore some of our parks and gardens. Alex Goudie Park at present is a picture. The Honey Locust is turning gold, the Pin Oaks have carpets of leaves beneath them, and the Fly Agarics are popping up under the Norway Spruce.

Hot, dry summers can be very stressful times for many plants, and many Australian trees and shrubs have adapted to flower in autumn and winter when the soil is still warm, the temperature more benign, and the rain more predictable. Many Hakeas, Grevilleas, and Correas are at their best at this time of year.

There are of course, other autumnal connotations for some!