Australia – Small things

One of the most obvious creatures here in the Tropical North are the butterflies and moths. They are everywhere and often very brightly coloured. This morning we saw one variety travelling on mass in one direction high in the sky. This group were being picked off by swiftlets not much bigger than they were.My Dad and I have often thought they were birds and been diverted by them. It’s actually very difficult to get pictures of them as they are so flighty. In Cairns we saw a very striking 4 o’clock Moth. The only reason we got a picture was because it was dead. Apparently it comes out at 4pm beach day. I love it’s stripey body.

The butterflies have been greatly reduced due to a few dry years but, as they have had more rain recently there has been an explosion. They are everywhere.

We found this birdwing on the beach newly emerged I think and wings not quite at fully plumped. It got caught by the wind and landed on wet sand so I went to rescue it and put it somewhere less breezy.

We have seen so many including the electric blue Ulysses (too flighty to photo).
Below is the common or varied eggfly. A rather unflattering name for a beautiful Butterfly.

Obviously there are lots of biting insects and I find I’m more delicious than my Dad. I am currently sporting a cheeky little number in swollen blotches on right my arm. Unfortunately for me the only deterrent that works is deet and it irritates me as much as a bite does. I also have insecticide bands on my wrists and feet, they work ok-ish although its look like I have a tag!

The picture above is of a Katydid, we call our version bush crickets, dad’s hand is there just to give it scale. He initially thought it was a leaf, which is exactly what it is meant to look like.

There are also Cicadas, crickets and frogs that add to a cacophony of sound in the rain forest.

The two frogs below are the same kind of white lipped tree frog. The brown one is camouflaged to look like aluminium ( well the nearest it can get). They seem quite common.

There are also ants and termites, I have already mentioned the latter. The ants are varied and I find them fascinating. Look at the below green tree ants nest. There is a moth that relies on this ant for reproduction.

In one place on Mossman we saw this sign

Electric ants are going for world domination and have an extremely nasty bite. They are also known to blind small animals. Not entirely sure and can read but hey, what do I know?