Birds, beasts and bugs

An open-ended list of the wildlife in Corner Cottage’s garden I’ve stalked, photographed and identified.

Monarch butterfly

Danaus plexippus. Also known as the Wanderer butterfly. Introduced from the US sometime before 1870.

Brown Thornbill

Acanthiza pusilla. Active little things, average weight 7 grammes — that’s tiny.

Australian Magpie

Gymnorhina tibicen. Very territorial, persistent, intelligent bird. The demanding cries of their young are the song of early summer.

Blue-Tongued Skink

Tiliqua. Still looking to capture a shot of that eponymous tongue — watch this space.

Crimson Rosella

Platycercus elegans. Beautiful but dumb — and not too keen on our garden, perhaps because a neighbour offers a smorgasbord of birdie num-nums at his bird feeder.

Yellow Admiral

Vanessa itea. So far quite difficult to capture the inner wings as they seem to fold up when feeding.

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Acanthiza chrysorrhoa. A real little survivor: eats insects and seeds and hunts in packs, often co-operating with other small species.

Caper White

Belenois java. Also called the Common White (or ‘bogan’).

Honey Bees

Apparently most of the ones we see aren’t native, but were introduced by settlers. The Italian variety seems popular but they can only be identified by the tiny Gucci logos on their wings.

Superb Fairy Wren

Malurus cyaneus. Male in the blue; female less colourfully turned-out. You can tell they’re around thanks to their fizzy twittering call.

Common Australian Crow (possibly)

Euploea core. So far not a species to settle for long, so these are the only pics I have. ID may be wrong.

Silvereye

Zosterops lateralis. Also known as white-eye or waxeye. These are pretty hyper and it takes a lot of patience to capture them. Seem unable to move without simultaneously cheeping and chirping.

Australian Painted Lady

Vanessa kershawi. Lepidopterists disagree as to whether the Aussie version is a distinct sub-species of the global version. Like them, ours is migratory but also territorial during the mating season.

Sulpur-Crested Cockatoo

Cacatua galerita. Very loud, raucous bird, alleged to be intelligent.

Cabbage White

Pieris Rapae. Another foreigner, accidentally introduced into Australia in the 1920s. Their caterpillars are pests, particularly by the veggie gardener.

Transverse Ladybird

Coccinella transversalis. Nothing to do with the placement of its engine: it’s the placement of its markings that’s transverse.

Grapevine Moth

Phalainoides glycinae. Not particularly lovable: it is considered a pest as it feeds on nectar, especially in vineyards. And on the right, its colour-coordinated caterpillar . . .

Red Wattlebird

Anthochaera carunculata. The bird with the red wattles. Atrocious first pic — taken through a grimy kitchen window. The second is a juvenile, fossicking around on the ground.