Quite interesting #2

It was fine and windy for my two-day break so a good chance to get out in the garden and also explore what's been going on in the bush. I was checking my rat traps on Sunday and the trees were swaying in the wind; I leaned my head against one of the trunks to feel the bending effect and for some reason put my ear to the trunk. I was amazed to hear 'plumbing' sounds - gurgles and whooshes - with the occasional rap when branches collided. I put the camera on video and held it against the trunk - it's very amateurish and needed amplifying (Audacity is such a good program for this) and this is what I could hear (590Kb)...

I tried a number of trees - some didn't make a noise and others gurgled like the one I recorded. I went hunting online for a digital stethoscope and found one that would record but at $900 I think I'll stick to my ear! There are some cheap ordinary stethoscopes on TradeMe that might be worth trying. I'm not sure if the noises are caused by the wind in the leaves or whether it's the transport of water up the trunks - does anyone know?

 

 

Plants that take 5-7 years to flower are worth the wait when they are as beautiful as Beverley's Himalayan lilies, Cardiocrinum giganteum, also known as Lilium giganteum. The flower spikes tower over my head (2-2½m tall) and were very fragrant when I visited in the late afternoon. What a magnificent sight - read more about the Himalayan lily here. There are two varieties and I think these may be C. giganteum var. yunnanense.

 

Huge flowers with a lovely fragrance

The flowers don't last long before setting seed

If you want your house cleaned AND keep the children amused during the holidays, then hand them a digital camera and get them to clean the window sills! I got sidetracked from my dusting when I discovered a couple of fly bodies by the window and thought that they'd be patient posers for trying some close-ups.

 

Experiment with different lights - this was an LED torch

This one had lovely golden hairs and legs

 

Another plant with seed-setting on its mind is the flax flower by my bedroom window. I've been watching it but totally missed seeing these seed pods form...

 

 

While I was taking these photos a spider dropped on to my hand - I haven't seen anything quite like this but what a cutie.

 

 

 

 

 

Quite interesting #1

One of the best things about the festive season is that Prime TV occasionally shows QI - the comedy quiz game that always has something of interest for me. The show is hosted by Stephen Fry; Alan Davies is a permanent guest and they are joined by two others and, in the ensuing 30 minutes, anything can happen!

Last week I learned that you can tell the air temperature by counting the chirps of crickets as they chirp faster as the temperature increases. I went looking on the internet and found this formula to work out what the temperature in both °F and °C is:

It got me wondering whether crickets and cicadas were the same thing so went looking on a few websites. The guide to NZ invertebrates website states that crickets are part of the Orthoptera order and there are 5 New Zealand species plus several introduced species. Weta and grasshoppers are also Orthoptera, and they all have powerful chewing jaws.

Cicadas are part of the Homoptera order with about 40 species native to NZ. Homoptera have tube-shaped sucking mouth parts and live on plant sap and include aphids, mealybugs and scale insects. Te Ara Encyclopaedia has this to say about cicadas.

I've just received a BBC Earth DVD called 'Hidden Kingdoms - Small Worlds, Giant Stories' that is narrated by Stephen Fry. With two days off work I'm looking forward to watching at least a couple of episodes and will let you know what it's like.

I've been watching a few small worlds of my own too. Here's a couple of spider nurseries, the first on a tyre and the second one is on the outside of my kitchen window.

They are fascinating to watch - sometimes the little ones move around a lot, at other times they are so still that I think they've died! Mrs Spider was watching over the nest on the tyre and it would have been great to get her in the photo. By the time I'd got my camera she had scarpered - must be as camera shy as me!!

This insect was uncovered whilst I was filling my planter bags from the compost pile - I need to get it identified on NatureWatch unless I get lucky with finding it on the internet first.

Are they immature wings that haven't fully developed yet?

What big jaws I have!!

This is another critter with extra-large jaws (?pedipalps) - I'm still undecided about what it is so will call on NatureWatch for this one too. I found it on the spider orchids just down the road and he/she was very obliging and kept perfectly still whilst I took photos at all different angles.

8 legs, short body and extra-large jaws

More QI in the next blog...

New babies

I'm a surrogate mother a thousand times over! I've been saving the litter from the mealworm beetles and the eggs have hatched into tiny worms. They are well camouflaged in the bran flakes but if you watch closely, you'll see the flakes moving and then you realise that there's hundreds of wee wrigglers.

New baby mealworm - one of the biggest ones!

Lots of beetles laying heaps of eggs

A slightly different crop, but just as amazing, was being able to have newly-dug potatoes for Christmas. I was late planting the potatoes that had sprouted in the vege drawer so was surprised to get any and the latest plant I dug up had these 5 potatoes - plus two that were being eaten by wireworm, quite a nuisance here. These ones have quite yellow flesh when they are cooked but taste really yummy.

The birds couldn't care less about my potatoes though as they have their own 'nectar of the gods' with the flax flowering extra well this year. The window by my desk at work faces out on to stunning flower spikes and I'm entertained by the birds sliding their bills into the flowers and sipping the nectar. Hard to get a good camera shot though as they don't stay still for long.

A juvenile tui trying to get the hang of sipping

Dawn silhouette at the front of my boundary

A tui and a kaka having an early breakfast

Watching birds in the evening is more fun than watching TV although maybe I'd make an exception for Stephen Fry's QI that's on Prime at 7pm every week night. QI stands for 'quite interesting' although could just as easily stand for 'Quizzed Intellectuals'. Give your brain a stretch and catch an episode or two.