Author Archives: fobif

Fire operations: have your say!

Posted on 21 August, 2011 by fobif

DSE’s proposed Fire Operations plans and Fire management zones for our region are available for comment until August 29, and FOBIF members are urged to seek them out and have a say about them. The plans are available at http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/fire-and-other-emergencies/planned-burning-an-introduction/proposed-fire-operations-plans-august-2011 … Continue reading →

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Small Birds, part 2

Posted on 18 August, 2011 by fobif

Harder to identify than Robins are the Thornbills – small and very active, often higher up in foliage, but some species frequent the ground at times. The most common is the Brown Thornbill Acanthiza pusilla, which really on closer inspection … Continue reading →

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Time bombs

Posted on 14 August, 2011 by fobif

FOBIF members have noted a rash of rubbish dumping in our public lands recently. All of it is unsightly, and some disgusting: the prize in this latter category going to the person who has dumped large amounts of meat offcuts … Continue reading →

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What’s that on the ground?

Posted on 14 August, 2011 by fobif

After the success of the Castlemaine Field Naturalists folder guide to the indigenous plants of Castlemaine and surrounds, FOBIF has embarked on a project to produce two more guides in the same style, this time on fungi, mosses and lichens. … Continue reading →

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This bridal is creepy

Posted on 14 August, 2011 by fobif

FOBIF is following up its initial 2010 attack on bridal creeper around the giant yellow box alongside the Great Dividing Trail, with another shot at making an impact on this unpleasant weed. The site is a hundred metres from the … Continue reading →

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Where there’s water . . .

Posted on 14 August, 2011 by fobif

Two FOBIF members went to Walkers Swamp on the Moolort Plains recently. They wanted to observe the abundant wetland birdlife Geoff Park has been documenting on his blog, Natural Newstead, for the past year or so. It was a still and … Continue reading →

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Small birds – how to identify them

Posted on 8 August, 2011 by fobif

At this time of year, the Box-Ironbark forests are alive with birds – you can hear lots of different calls and see movements in the trees – but what are the common birds in the forests? Throughout the Box-Ironbark forests … Continue reading →

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Hurry–season ends soon!

Posted on 4 August, 2011 by fobif

From a few feet away they just look like vivid splashes of various shades of green. Close up, mosses are very different from each other. The Rosalubryum below has characteristic nodding capsules, for example. They’re barely visible to someone standing … Continue reading →

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If red means Beware, does green mean, No worries?

Posted on 3 August, 2011 by fobif

Is it ignorance or some intuition about appearance that makes us react in different ways to different creatures? The red and black spider below is a male Missulena occatoria, or Red headed Mouse Spider. In her book, Spiders of Bendigo, … Continue reading →

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Pollution monitors

Posted on 29 July, 2011 by fobif

Spring is around the corner, with spectacular flowering of Hardenbergia, and emergence of many other flowering plants like Hovea, Daviesia and Hakea. But by far the most prolific forms of life in the bush at the moment are the mosses … Continue reading →

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