Paterson’s Curse or Salvation Jane

Tags

Australia, echium plantagineum, ecology, invasive species, nature, paterson's curse, salvation jane, weeds

Echium plantagineum is an invasive, non-native species that is considered a noxious weed in Australia.  Because it grows so quickly and well in pasture, it competes with livestock forage.  To make it worse, it is toxic to livestock in high quantities.  For these reasons, the plant was named “Paterson’s Curse”.  CSIRO calls it Australia’s “worst broadleaf temperate pasture weed“.

Definitely got to see drought when I was in Australia!

However! Australia is known for its decade-long droughts, and E. plantagineum is hardy and drought tolerant. When all other forage is long dead, this plant at least provides something for the livestock to eat.  Hence, its other name “Salvation Jane”.

The interesting contrast in google image search between the two common names.

In addition to this rescue effect, the plant is highly valued among apiarists in Australia.  Honeybees love it and from it they make a premium grade honey that, at one time, comprised 10-15% of the the honey crop of the continent (Cullen & Delfosse 1984).

In the 80′s the opposing positive and negative effects of this weed caused a huge controversy.  On one side of the debate were the livestock farmers, who demanded the introduction of biocontrol agents that would hopefully lead to the eradication of the weed.  On the other side were the beekeepers, who lobbied to prevent the introduction of the biocontrol agents.

The debate got pretty heated. (I found this here)

Eventually, the livestock managers won out and the biocontrol agents were introduced.  E. plantagineum is still a weed today,  though.  As usual, the biocontrol agents weren’t 100% successful in eradicating it. However, land managers have hope that, as the six introduced biocontrol agents spread throughout the plant’s distribution, they will help to reduce population densities for easier control.

An introduced biocontrol weevil, photo courtesy of CSIRO

The fascinating thing about this story (to me), is the balance between the negative and positive effects of this one plant; it was able to divide a country.

I think we often run into this problem (which I fondly call the Taxonomist’s Fallacy)…we tend to lump species into categories: native, not native.  Good, bad.  Weed, crop.  But the point is that they have multifaceted ecological roles, they might compete with other plants,  but at the same time they provision bees with resources!  Is this plant a salvation or a curse?  Both!

How do you account for a plant that has both vices and virtues?

I can see why the bees like it! photo from ozcazz

Snake Day!

Tags

Animals, Australia, banded tree snake, black rat snake, Costa Rica, snake, venom

I realized that I have had a Frog Day and a Spider-day.  I dedicated an entire post to one newt…but I haven’t had a snake day!

Today, my friends, today is the day.  (I took some of these a *really* long time ago, so forgive the poor quality on some of them.  Also, snakes are fast!)

Banded Tree Snake (Siphlophis compressus), in Costa Rica

Rawr!

Nothing to be frightened of!

Black Rat Snake (Pantherophis obsoletus)….one of my favourite snakes but it stinks to high heaven when it is scared

Another black rat snake, ready to moult (the scales covering the eyes (brille) are cloudy)

Timber Rattler (Crotalus horridus), in Virginia

Green Tree Snake (Dendralaphus punctulata) in Australia

A very full Python (Morelia sp.) in north Queensland

Red bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus), in Queensland

Inland Taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus), the world’s most venomous snake…also the only one I took a photo of in a zoo…safely behind glass

The Great Ocean Road

Tags

Australia, history, nature, photography, The Great Ocean Road, travel, Victoria

This road was built by Australian veterans after World War I.  It serves as a memorial and a tourist attraction, but it was also one of the first roads that allowed access throughout Victoria, along the coast.

It is an amazing testament to what men can achieve, even with “Construction done by hand; using explosives, pick and shovel, wheel barrows, and some small machinery, and was at times perilous, with several workers killed on the job; the final sections along steep coastal mountains being the most difficult to work on.”  (Source: Wikipedia)

This is where the movie “Point Break” was filmed, according to our tour guide. (A quick internet search does not verify this point.)

Mel Gibson’s house!

The only house that survived a large bush fire in the area. Any guesses as to why?

Gorgeous beach vegetation, mostly sheoaks.

The memorial to the veterans.

You can see how the road was cut out of the perilous cliff faces in this photo.

Victorian countryside.

And these are the famous twelve apostles.

More beachy vegetation.

The twelve apostles are very famous and attract professional photographers from all over the world.

Even pests are pretty sometimes.

Unfortunately, this is where my camera died.

Well played, Brisbane: Part 3 Sunsets

Tags

Australia, beauty, Brisbane, Colour, nature, Queensland, sunset, travel

This is maybe the last part of my Well played, Brisbane series.

Full moon at sunset

Sunset on the bridge to the Uni

Queen Victoria Market: Melbourne

Tags

Australia, Melbourne, open air market, Queen Victoria market, shopping, street market, travel, Victoria street

Melbourne is a big city.  In fact, it is the second biggest city in Australia (over 4 million people in a country of only 22.8 million).

Not being a big fan of cities, I found less to like in Melbourne than I should have.  However, it did have its virtues.  For example, I loved the Queen Victoria Street Market, which is the second largest open air market in the southern hemisphere.  You can find anything you need here.

Chooks!

Caricatures

Cacti, and all of them flowering…how do they do that?

Pink lady apples, yum! I saw some that were as cheap as 1.00$ per kilo. What a steal!

Fresh cheese of all sorts…I’m a fan of Gorgonzola

Gluten free hand made pastas? Clearly this is a city of foodies

Street performers with didgeridoos, a clear sign that you are in Australia

My favourite street performer…so mellow

The Penguins of St. Kilda

Tags

Australia, Birds, cute, little penguin, Melbourne, nature, penguin colony, St. Kilda

The St. Kilda pier of Melbourne, Victoria, is known for its little penguin colony. If you are in Melbourne, it is well worth braving the wind and salt spray to watch them at dusk out on the breakwater. These are the smallest penguins in the world.

St. Kilda Pier, this is not a black and white photo, but it looks like one!

There are a million kite surfers…I am surprised their lines do not get tangled.

A water rat (Hydromys chrysogaster) swimming

As the sun set, it hit the top of this building, which lit up like a spotlight

Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor)! This is the smallest species of penguin. Super cute

Penguin swimming

Well Played Brisbane: Part 2 Street art

Tags

art, Australia, Brisbane, paintings, street art

I love the street art in Australia.  All of the electrical boxes in Brisbane are painted, for example.  And they are beautiful.  So here is a small selection for your enjoyment.

Okay, this isn’t really street art, but I had to post it because GRRRR

This is my all time favourite. I don’t know why, but I love, love this painting.

Take a Hike!: Wollumbin edition

Tags

Australia, hiking, mount warning, nature, rainforest, travel, wollumbin

Wollumbin (or Mt. Warning) is a mountain in New South Wales, Australia.  It is the first point in Australia to reach the morning sun, and so many people hike it in the dark with torches to be at the summit by sunrise.  I’ve hiked it twice, both times in the middle of the day, and in the pouring rain.  It’s not a difficult hike, but I think it would be tough in the dark!

Beautiful, beautiful rain forest

Camping at the base

Watch out for terrestrial leeches!

 

It’s not *that* steep.

Boris the brush turkey, always looking for food at the summit

Summit! At least we get a glimpse of the surrounding mountains through the clouds!

The glorious view at the summit

Spider-day

Tags

Australia, Brisbane, Emily Dickinson, golden orb weaver, orb-weavers, photography, spiders, The Spider as an Artist

I’ve seen the trends in photos on various photo sharing sites, like Google + “Caturday!” or “Wildlife Wednesday”.

From Google +

And I thought, “Hey!  ‘Spider’ and ‘Satur’ have the same number of syllables and they both start with ‘S’!”  And, conveniently, Brisbane is jam-packed with the lovely little (or not so little in many cases) arachnids.

So here is my Spiderday post.

NB: If you are arachnophobic, stop reading now.  Seriously, there will be no more Gangnam cat pictures.

The sky is full of spiders here. Lovely!  This is a Golden Orb Weaver (Nephila edulis) and her boy toy (the little male just above her)  Don’t worry, don’t worry!  There will be close ups.

I love their decorations.

These are all orb weavers…I think this is an immature Cyrtophora moluccensis

Golden Orb Weaver underside

So delicate!

Unlike the orb-weavers above, this is a male funnel web spider

RAWR!

Female Funnel Web, just chillaxin’

I really love spiders. <3

Emily Dickinson liked them too:

The Spider as an Artist
Has never been employed –
Though his surpassing Merit
Is freely certified

By every Broom and Bridget
Throughout a Christian Land –
Neglected Son of Genius
I take thee by the Hand –

- Emily Dickinson

Well played, Brisbane: Part I Suburban gardens

Tags

Australia, Brisbane, flowers, garden, gardening, nature, photography, subtropical

I’m not overly partial to cities, but as far as cities go, Brisbane is not a bad one.  It’s got plenty of green spaces, trees, and fauna throughout the city (there are even fruit bat colonies downtown), so one never gets that strangulated feeling of being surrounded by nothing but cars, people, and sickly urban trees.  In addition, there is a river winding throughout the city which makes it vulnerable to flooding, but also more scenic.

Don’t feel like taking a bus today?  Why not take the ferry downriver?  It’s a nice system.

So, having lived in this city on and off for months…overall, I say, “Well played, Brisbane!”

Here is a small subsample of the flowers of Brisbane suburbia (places within walking distance of the city centre, I should know) for people suffering in the northern hemisphere, it is a bit of colour.  (Don’t worry, I’ll be shivering in snow soon myself!  Then I will look back on this post with nostalgia):

Of course, roses are not native, but they sure are pretty.

Ah, smell that? The air is saturated with the aroma of Frangipani (over a background fragrance of eucalypt, of course)

Hibiscus is the stable flower of gardens worldwide. There is a native Australian species…but this is not it.

Bougainvillea, another staple of tropical and subtropical gardens…I like this orange variety better than its neon pink counterpart.  Maybe ten times better.

I love the slightly weird flowers of the gingers

The Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia) are in full bloom, but they are also not native…they are from Madagascar!

With help from the comments, this is a Yellow Oleander (Thevetia peruviana)

Pretty little white flower, but I don’t know its name

Yet another unfamiliar species and yet, the only flower on which I observed the elusive blue-banded bee!

Flower of the African Sausage Tree (Kigelia africana), which, you guessed it, is African in origin

Called the “Native Iris”, actually native to Africa!  (Dietes iridioides?)

I’ll finish up with the iconic Bird of Paradise flower…I have to take a photo of one every time. Every. Time.

Laura Street Festival: Brisbane, QLD

Tags

Australia, Bare Necessities, Brisbane, culture, Fat Picnic, fesitvals, Laura Street Festival, music

I’m not very good at taking photos of people.  I always feel shy about pointing a camera at someone, especially because I hate photos of myself so much.  But the Laura Street Festival was a very nice and relaxed atmosphere, and I wanted to share the few photos I took.

The Afro-Brazilian Drum Band, Afrobeat. http://www.afrobeatqld.com.au

Some interesting costumes! I especially liked this one.

 

Lead singer of my favourite band of the day, Fat Picnic!

Fat Picnic, these guys were so good!

Fat Picnic, singing The Bare Necessities, http://www.facebook.com/fatpicnic

So, yeah, Laura Street Festival!  http://laurastreetfestival2012.weebly.com/

If you’re in Brisbane next November, you should check it out!

Rainbow Lorikeets

Tags

Australia, beauty, Birds, Colour, nature, photography, Queensland, Rainbow Lorikeet

The Rainbow Lorikeet is a super common bird in Queensland.  It does well in suburbia, and even in relatively urban environments.

They are an obnoxiously loud, but a stunningly beautiful bird, despite being common, so I’ll dedicate this post to them.  I can think of at least one blogger friend who will appreciate them!

The Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus). This one is tame, obviously.

This one likes to ride on shoulders.

And give parrot-y kisses (or parodies of kisses?).

Or maybe she just likes the taste of sweat!

Backyard birds of Australia, ladies and gents!

The disappearing act of house sparrows

Tags

Australia, Birds, competition, ecology, House Sparrow, invasion, invasive, noisy miner

I’m on a hostel computer today because internet access is shaky on my computer.  That means no pictures!  But I thought I’d tell you the interesting story of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus).

Well, none of my own photos anyway. Male House Sparrow, courtesy of Wikipedia.org.

The House Sparrow has been strongly associated with human societies for many hundreds of years.  According to some authorities, they were even pests in the granaries of the ancient Egyptians (not sure if that is true or not, so you should check me on it).

Like the rat and the mouse, wherever humans have settled, there has followed the House Sparrow.  You are very likely familiar with this bird in parking lots and semi-urban areas, if not as a visitor at your own bird feeder.

It is considered a pest in much of the world, and in fact was one of the 5 major pests Mao Zedong targeted for eradication during the Cultural Revolution in China.  People persecuted the birds, following them around and banging pots and pans to scare the birds every time they landed.  Thus, they exhausted the birds to death.  Kind of a sad story, really.

The story, as usual, becomes interesting in Australia.  The birds have been prevented from invading Western Australia by very aggressive means (i.e. every bird that is seen is killed), but successfully invaded much of the rest of Australia.  Initially.

They are now essentially extinct from Brisbane.  I even had a birder tell me today that he was excited about the “possibility of House Sparrows at this location.”  Just a couple of decades ago, they were one of the most common birds in the city.  What happened?

Well, it probably had something to do with this guy:

Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) courtesy of Wikipedia.org.

The Noisy Miner is a native Australian bird, but it is one of those examples of a “native invasive”.  In other words, it has dramatically expanded its natural range in Australia with the spread of humans.  Locals hate this bird.  In regions where it dominates, it competitively excludes many other bird species.  It becomes abundant and aggressive.

No one knows for sure, but these Noisy Miners could have been a key factor in pushing out the House Sparrows.  So, if you had to choose, would you choose a non-native invasive sparrow, or a native invasive Miner?

Storm-racked, by Amy Lowell

Tags

Amy Lowell, Australia, Brisbane, lightning, storm-racked, storms, weather

A storm-racked Brisbane, lit by 25,000 lightning strikes

This weekend Brisbane, and much of the eastern coast of Australia, got hit by massively impressive electrical storms.  Yesterday afternoon, the city was hit by 25,000 lightning strikes and hail stones the size of softballs.

I feel like this dramatic weather is chasing me around the globe!  I was in Pennsylvania for Hurricane Sandy, in Beijing for the massive storm that dropped the first snow and thousands of trees and powerlines, and now in Brisbane for this huge electrical storm!  I think I’ve had enough dramatic weather for the season!

Storm-Racked

How should I sing when buffeting salt waves
And stung with bitter surges, in whose might
I toss, a cockleshell? The dreadful night
Marshals its undefeated dark and raves
In brutal madness, reeling over graves
Of vanquished men, long-sunken out of sight,
Sent wailing down to glut the ghoulish sprite
Who haunts foul seaweed forests and their caves.
No parting cloud reveals a watery star,
My cries are washed away upon the wind,
My cramped and blistering hands can find no spar,
My eyes with hope o’erstrained, are growing blind.
But painted on the sky great visions burn,
My voice, oblation from a shattered urn!

- Amy Lowell

Partial Solar Eclipse in Brisbane

Tags

Australia, light, nature, photography, pinhole camera, solar eclipse, sun

Well, I’m a few hundred kilometers too far south to see the total eclipse, sadly, but I did get some nice looks at the partial eclipse through my “low budget” pinhole camera technique.

At about 6am in Brisbane, the moon is starting to move in front of the sun.

My pinhole camera is just four holes that I poked in a paper bag.  The eclipse is projected through the holes into the shadow.  It is not safe to look directly at the sun, so this is the best (read: cheapest) way to check it out!

The is as far as the eclipse progressed in Brisbane, about 80% coverage. So the sun is just a thin sliver, like a crescent moon. Note that the hole between my fingers has also made a pinhole camera, so there is a crescent projection there too.

There are a number of natural pinhole cameras around town, so I toured around looking for them.  My favourites are the trees.

Holes in the construction platforms projecting the eclipse toward the end.

Holes in the roof projecting the eclipse on the floor.

My favourite pinhole cameras are the gaps in the tree leaves, so you see hundreds of eclipse projections on the path. This is close to the max eclipse.

Flashy birds

Tags

Australia, Bush Stone Curlew, Field work, humour, nature, stories, story telling, travel

My namesake, the Bush Stone Curlew, cannot be described as a flashy bird.  It is very plain and prefers to go unnoticed (that works in describing me too).  Just to look at one, you would never think it was anything special. (Also appropriate for me!)

But I’ll tell you a story that shows how things are not always as they seem and it involves me and a bush stone curlew.

At the time, I was working on an independent study project on a desert island off the coast of Australia.  The goal was to get 160 hours of field surveys done in three weeks, and then to write a 50 page paper and do a presentation three days after that.  I was sleeping in various backpacker’s at the time, and doing maybe 40-50 km of survey transects per day.

I wanted to collect as much data as was physically possible, so I continued to do surveys during the day and spent the nights working the the paper.  After a couple of sleepless nights spent typing and doing research in the island’s dingy old library, my stress levels were pretty high.

I decided, at 2 am, that I needed to go for a run.  Right.  Now. 

So I went.  I dropped everything and sprinted out the door.  The problem was that it was black as pitch outside.  There were no streetlights on the island, and without a moon, there was very little light to see by.  I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face.

But, still, I ran.  I ran down a steep hill and around the bend, my feet remembering the transects I had walked so many times, although I was effectively blind.  I remember thinking how easy it would have been just to take a wrong step and to fall into a ditch full of lawyer-cane and break a leg.  But I kept running…until…

These white bars started flashing across my vision!  I recoiled and threw my arms up to protect myself…my body’s reflex was as if something was flying at my face.

My first thought was that I was hallucinating from exhaustion.

My second thought was that I had fallen and hit my head.

But then, as the bars kept flashing, I heard a flutter of wings and then the distinctive and eerie wailing of the curlew.

You see, the curlews have these fairly nondescript white wing bars. But the curlews have a defensive display where they flap their big wings, showing off those bars. During the day, they are not noticeable.  BUT, at night, in the inky darkness…they make quite the impression.

Frog Day

Tags

Australia, Costa Rica, frogs, nature, photography, toads, travel, wildlife

Need I say more?

Smoky Jungle Frog (Leptodactylus pentadactylus), Alberto Manuel Biological Station, Costa Rica

Leaf Litter Frogs are adorable, but tiny and very hard for me to identify (at a guess, Incilius melanochlorus?), Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Leaf litter Frog (maybe Leptodactylus insularum?), Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Smilisca phaota, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Smilisca phaota (aka Alejandro), Campanario Biological Station, Costa Rica

Glass frog (Cochranella albomaculata), Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Yes?  Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Smoky Jungle Frog (Leptodactylus pentadactylus), Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Smilisca phaota, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Fowler’s Toad (Bufo fowleri), Rothrock State Forest, USA

Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer), Central PA, USA

American Toad (Bufo americanus), Black Moshannon State Park, USA

American Toad (Bufo americanus), Central PA, USA

Cane Toad (Bufo marinus), Brisbane, Australia

As a quick aside, frogs and toads are often confused with each other.  They represent separate families, although technically all toads are frogs, not all frogs are toads.  But the “true frogs” are representatives of the family Ranidae; they have bulging eyes, big jumping hind legs, and smooth skin.  In contrast, toads have warty skin, shorter hind legs, and big noticeable glands behind the eyes.

 

Casso-wary

Tags

Australia, Cassowary, Gondwana, Jurassic Park, nature, stories, story telling, Velociraptor

Do you know of Cassowaries?  They are lovely, enormous, dinosauric (made that one up) birds on north-eastern Australia.  There are two species (both of which are endangered), but there used to be three.  The third is extinct.  (I told the Aboriginal story about the Cassowary in the sky here, and there is a poem about them here.)

There are thought to be fewer than 500 Southern Cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius) left in Queensland, and their population is in a steep decline, due to the fragmentation of habitat, and high attrition rates due to fatal encounters with cars on the increasing number of roads that cut through rainforest.

Cassowaries are ratites, like ostriches and emus, and they are of Gondwanan origin (i.e. after Pangaea split up into Laurasia and Gondwana).  I said dinosauric before because they really look like living dinosaurs.  Rumour has it that they can strike out with a backward facing claw (described as “dagger-like”) on their feet, just like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park.  It is said that they can eviscerate a man this way.

Scene from Jurassic Park, courtesy of steelcloset.com

Cassowaries have long blue necks, red wattles, and massively thick legs.  Their feathers lack barbs and fall across their bodies like thick black hair.  They also have hollow bone casques on their heads, with which they can make a sound like a didgeridoo.

Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) in a zoo

I tell you all these things because (a) cassowaries are awesome and I love to tell you about awesome nature and (b) because I want you to understand just how rare and special but also intimidating it is to run into one of these guys in the wild.  Alone.

I was running through the rainforest at dawn, completely alone, as I did every morning of my stay in those ancient Gondwanan remnants.  They were lovely and the dawn chorus almost deafening.  I was captivated by those forests, the slippery, root-y trails which wound up and down through creeks and ridges.

On this particular morning, as I was toddling along, I heard a loud, distinct KEE-RUNCH, just off the trail to my right.  I stopped dead, slowly turning my head to see a cassowary standing not 2 meters away from me.  It looked at me, dipped its head to the ground and continued eating the fruit that had fallen there.

I stared, with my mouth hanging open.  This bird was taller than I was, probably about 1.8 m (~6 ft), and I was just completely awestruck.  It didn’t mind me at all, just kept eating.  After about 10 or 15 minutes (during which I did not move at all and may or may not have had an insect fly into my open mouth), it picked up its head, and simply faded into the undergrowth, vanishing silently and completely in just a few seconds.

At which point, I suddenly snapped to and remembered that there had been a camera hanging around my neck the whole time.  I fumbled with it as if it were a bar of slippery soap, and managed to snap one, single, pathetically blurry photo before the bird completely disappeared.  A Loch Ness photo, if you will, with a blurry blue neck in the undergrowth.

My only evidence that this happened at all.

So I was lucky enough to encounter one of the fewer than 500 individuals left of this species in the wild, just not lucky enough to have a brain at the time.

PS. The title of this post is a pun.  A pun on wary.  Just FYI.

How I got my Aboriginal name

Tags

aboriginal tribe, Aborigine, Australia, Bush Stone Curlew, Dreamtime, folklore, Guyibara, legends, myths, storytelling, travel, tribal names

And the story of the Bush Stone Curlew’s cry.

A while back, I spent a few weeks with an Aboriginal tribe a few hours west of Townsville.  The ecotype was desert scrub (what I like to call “soft outback”), and it was very dry except for a small creek trickling close by.  It was an amazing experience, and one I’d readily repeat.

The tribal elder who spent the most time with us, would tell us stories every night in his amazing, melodic voice.  I would lie on my back and watch the star-filled sky and let his stories take me away to the dreamtime.

Over the course of our stay, he gave each of us a tribal name as he became familiar with our personalities.  One by one he named my friends, and each name was perfect.  Our gruff and hairy academic director became Koala, one of the students who bobbed and swam like a fish was Padeoboy (Platypus), the tall and willowy Jenna was Guyur (Brolga), my quiet and peaceful friend was Gurugu (Peaceful Dove).

Our trip was coming to an end, and I was starting to become anxious.  I was the last to receive a name.  On the last night before we left, I sat staring into the fire as everyone ate dinner.  I hadn’t received a name at all!  I was devastated.

When everyone gathered for storytime, the elder called me over.  He wanted to know why I was upset.  I told him shyly that he hadn’t named me yet.

He grunted in surprise and sat back, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully and peered up at the stars.  “Guyibara,” he said after a moment.

“Guyibara,” I repeated, rolling the unfamiliar name off my tongue.  “What does it mean?”

“It is the name of the Bush Stone Curlew,” he answered.

I blushed and he said, “You don’t like your name?”

“No, I do!  It’s just…the call of the Bush Stone Curlew is so annoying.  Did you name me that because I am also annoying?” I wondered.

He laughed a big belly laugh.  Then, his eyes twinkling, he started his story:

“The cry of a Bush Stone Curlew is one you won’t soon forget,” he began, “It is a heart-wrenching wail.

“But there is a very good reason why the Curlew cries this way.  Back in the dreamtime, Owl and Curlew were very good friends.  They both lived happy lives and soon both had full nests.

“It wasn’t long before the dry season came, and soon it was hard to feed all of the new mouths.  Curlew was skilled at finding small beetles and grubs for her young, but Owl needed meat for hers.  As meat became scarce, Owl watched Curlew’s chicks grow fatter and fatter, while her own became skinny and weak, and her jealousy grew.

“Curlew went to visit Owl one day.  She called and called, but Owl would not speak to her.  Finally, in desperation, Curlew cried, “Owl, why won’t you speak to me!  We are good friends, what have I done?”

“Owl finally came out of her tree hollow, “Curlew, your babies grow fat while mine starve to death.  If we are true friends, tonight you will go to find meat for my babies.”

“Curlew bowed her head, for she could see the truth in Owl’s words, “Yes, Owl!  Tonight I will find food for your young!  Don’t give up hope.”  And she ran off.

“Curlew spent the whole night searching for food that owl babies could eat.  Meanwhile, Owl was brooding in her nest, “What good is that Curlew anyway?  What has she done for me?”  And then she thought about Curlew’s fat babies, and she knew that Curlew was away, hunting, and she had an idea.

“Curlew came back the next morning after hunting through the night.  She called to Owl, but there was no response, so she left her meagre catch at the base of Owl’s tree, and returned in exhaustion to her own nest, only to find it empty of all but a few feathers.  She realised at once what had happened, and threw her head back to let loose the most heart broken wail.

“Now, ever since that time, the Curlew has wailed her despair at her friend’s betrayal.  Now Curlew disguises herself so that she is hard to find.  Curlew is always on guard, and always watching.  She sees and analyzes everything.”

There was a brief silence, then he said, “I named you Guyibara because you stand to one side, alone, and watch everything that happens.  You see every insect and bird, and every lizard.”

That night, as I lay awake, listening to the calls of the Curlews, I realised that this name fit me as well as the names of my friends fit them.  So that is me, Guyibara, Bush Stone Curlew.

 

The Sophisticated Defenses of Stingless Bees

Tags

Australia, caste, Costa Rica, hymenoptera, meliponi, photography, stinger, stingless bees, Tetragonisca, trigona

An Aussie Trigona (carbonaria, I think) on a paperbark (Melaleuca sp)

The Trigona is a large genus of stingless bees found in Australia, the Indo Pacific and throughout the Neotropics.  For those curious about taxonomy, they are in the tribe Meliponi, which is in the family Apidae, which is the same family that contains both bumblebees and honeybees.  An illustrious heritage indeed!

Their common name “the stingless bees” is a little unfair…the familiar stinger of many Hymenopterans (including bees, ants, and wasps) is a modified ovipositor, so only females can sting.  This is true of all Hymenopterans, but it is not very helpful for some, like the honeybee, that form large social aggregations of mostly females, all with ready stingers.

There are other types of bees that do not sting, though.  For example, most of the Andrenidae (a family of solitary bees) can not sting.

Anyway, the Australian Trigona spp. are very tiny and adorable.

Trigona carbonaria on an invasive Cirsium thistle

But I was chuffed to also find some stingless bees (I think representatives of the genus Tetragonisca) in Costa Rica.  Accustomed to the gentle nature of the Aussie species, I knelt incautiously close to the nest to get a photo.

I only managed to get the one photo…sorry it’s not very good!  You can see that they are already on the move.

The stingless bees of Costa Rica form colonies with unique spouts (like this one) near the base of large trees. A certain proportion of the colony is soldiers, which sit around on the outside looking for photographers to harass.

Their response was instantaneous.  They swarmed all over me.  Jim, our lead professor, exclaimed in some alarm to see me covered in crawling bees.  He caught my arm and pulled me away from their tree and we went running into the woods.

He helped me swat some off and he said, “Are you okay?  I can’t tell if you’re laughing or crying.”

“I–I’ve never seen anything so pathetic!” I gasped between helpless laughter.  I was crying because I was laughing so hard.

It’s true that the Neotropical stingless bees are incredibly aggro, but that’s just it, they can’t sting!  They can bite, however, as I eventually found out.  They take their sweet time about it though.  I’ve never seen such an inefficient attempt at attack.  And they wasted an awful lot of time chewing on my hair.  (I am sure they are much more intimidating to their normal predators.)

They are, however, also the most persistent attackers I’ve ever had (except for that annoying tourist).  Forty minutes later, I was still pulling buzzing, angry bees out of my hair.

A few weeks after the trip was over, Jim sent me an article titled: “A morphologically specialized soldier caste improves colony defense in a neotropical eusocial bee“, by Grüter et al in PNAS last year.

Here is an actual quote from the paper: the soldier caste gives the bees a “sophisticated defense system”.

A figure from the paper showing how different the soldier (right) and worker (left) are. from Gruter et al, 2011

I also love the last line of their paper: “It also serves as a reminder that stingless does not mean defenseless.”