A densely branched shrub with a tea-tree aroma when crushed.
Usually grows between 0.5 - 1 m in height. May reach 2 m tall in lower altitudes.
Will usually grow along the ground or against rocks.
Leaves
Usually crowded, oblong, and do not spread very widely. Size approximately 2–4 mm long and 1 mm wide, thick, concavo-convex (concave on both sides) and pointed at ends.
Flowers
Solitary, white and have circular petals, 8 mm across. Usually appear between December and April.
Low, spreading shrub growing to 15 - 50 cm high and 1 - 1.5 m in diameter.
Stems and branches are densely arranged and covered in small hairs. The hairs are white-grey or brown/tan towards the tip of the branchlets.
Leaves
The leaves are narrow-oblong in shape and between 1 - 3.2 cm long and 3 - 7 mm wide. The bases are round and the edges of the leaf are bent downwards. The upper leaf surfaces are green, nearly glossy, hairless and smooth with obvious veins. The lower leaf surfaces are covered with cream, pale tan or orange-tan hairs that become white or grey with age. The leaf stalks are between 2.5 - 3.7 mm long.
Flowers
Flowering occurs between October and December. Pea-like flowers have petals that are deep mauve in colour. The flowering parts of the alpine rusty-pods are stalkless and usually 2-flowered. The flower stalks are between 2 - 5 mm long.
Black and white, with the pattern varying across its range. The back of its neck, upper tail and shoulders (on its wings) are white in males and grey in females, and (across most of Australia) the rest of its body is black. In south-eastern, central and south-western Australia, including Tasmania, its back and rump are entirely white. Its eye is red-brown. Young birds are usually grey rather than black and have dark eyes.
Distinctive feature
One toe faces backwards and three face forwards. It has a square-tipped tail.
Dense, multi-branched shrub forming extensive colonies, grows to approximately 50 - 100 cm tall.
Leaves
Leaves are erect and spread outwardly, shape varies from leaf to leaf but they generally are lance-shaped and have sharp points. All leaves are of a similar bright green colour.
Flowers
Flowers December to February. The flowers of candle heath branch out above the shrub on a red stalk measuring between 10 - 30 cm. Fragrant, greenish-white flowers bloom on the terminal end of the stalk. The flowers are trumpet-shaped and are 4 - 8 mm long and 4 - 5 mm in diameter.
The top of the adult male's head is grey-black, extending in a line down either side of its white breast. Its throat is also white, with a rufous patch in the centre. Its wings and lower back are dark metallic grey and its upper back and underneath are buff. In flight, its white outer tail feathers are visible. The female has similar but duller colouring. A young bird has less distinct markings with dark olive on top of its head, a white chin and throat and a cinnamon chest and belly.
Distinctive feature
It has a very long, fine beak that curves downward.
Dark slate-grey on its head, back and wings, and pale orange-brown below; its undertail is boldly barred black and white. Its legs and feet are dull yellow and its bill is black. Young birds are duller and browner, with mottled markings, especially on their breast and underparts.
Distinctive feature
A yellow eye-ring which is tinged green in young birds.
An adult male has a bright orange breast and throat, with white on its lower belly and under its tail. The upperparts are dark slate grey and there is a clear white stripe on its folded wing. It has a black beak and dark brown legs. A female is mostly grey-brown with a pale buff strip on its wing. Its outermost tail feather is mostly white. A young bird looks like an adult female, but its back has buff streaks and its belly is pale with brown streaks.
Size
12 - 14 cm
Erect, spreading shrub growing to approximately 1.5 - 3 m high and 1.5 - 4.5 m wide. Branchlets are densely covered in small, white hairs.
Leaves
Leaves are elliptic (rounded) to lanceolate (lance-shaped), and about 6 - 12 cm long and 10 - 45 mm wide. The upper surface of the leaf is olive green in colour, smooth and semi-glossy with the underside being a pale-green/white colour, covered in white hairs. Leaf margins are flat or slightly recurved.
Flowers
Produces red or reddish brown flowers that bloom at the end of branches. Flowers are trumpet-like measuring 3 - 17 mm long and 1.2 - 1.6 mm wide, a single stem shoots from the flower and measures 17 - 90 mm long.
A fleshy reddish wattle (skin flap) is on the side of the neck. Plumage is grey-brown on body, with prominent white streaks and yellow on belly. Face is pale and tail is long with a white-tip. Young Red Wattlebirds are duller than the adult and have a brown, rather than reddish, eye. The wattle is also very small and pale.
Its nest is an untidy saucer of sticks, leaves, and grass lined with bark-strips, fur, and hair; 2 - 16 m high in the fork of a tree or on a branch against trunk.
Size
33 - 37 cm long
The southern brown tree frog is native to southern Australia. Other common names of this tree frog are brown tree frog, whistling tree frog, or Ewing's tree frog.
Ranges from pale fawn, cream, or orange to light brown, although some individuals in western Victoria and South Australia are partly or completely green. It has a wide brown band that starts from between its eyes and runs down its back. Darker flecks are also scattered across its back. It has a narrow black or brown stripe that runs from its snout to its shoulder, and a pale stripe that runs from below its eye to the base of its arm. Its belly is white to yellow and breeding males have a light brown vocal sac (beneath their mouth).
Distinctive features
Its back is smooth with small lumps, its fingers have no webbing and its toes are half webbed.
Males have a rich blue and black plumage above and on the throat. The belly is grey-white and the beak is black. In non-breeding plumage, called eclipse, he is very similar to the female.
Females and young birds are mostly brown above with a dull red-orange area around the eye and brown beak. Females have a pale green gloss, absent in young birds, on the otherwise brown tail. Both sexes possess brown legs.
The nest is dome-shaped consisting of grass, moss, rootlets, twigs, spiders webs and other bramble. Found low in tussock, shrub or bracken.
A native pheasant up to 1 m, including tail. Plain rich brown above, coppery on wings, deep grey below; legs and feet dark grey, powerful.
Tail of male long and train-like, of two clubbed ‘lyrates’ about 60 cm long usually horizontal; glossy black and rufous above, silvery below, with notched ‘windows’; two slender, curved, ribbon-like guard-plumes’ and 12 lacy filamentaries, black above, silvery below. Moults annually. Full tail acquired at 6-8 years.
Tail of female (and immature male) is simpler, drooping and pointed, lyrates smaller, often hidden; typically looks twisted.
The nest is a bulky mound of sticks, bark, fern fronds and moss; on ground, bank, rock shelf, in stump or head of tree fern or to 25 m in a tree fork.
Upright rounded shrub or small tree that grows 8 - 11 m high although it can be much smaller if it is found in exposed areas. Trunk and branches are grey to dark brown.
Leaves
Lanceolate (lance-shaped) to elliptic (rounded) in shape, measuring 6 – 12 cm in length and 1 - 3.5cm in width. Leaves are leathery to the touch with upper surface of the leaf being a dull green while the underside is pale yellow-green. The margins of the leaf are deeply or shallowly toothed, occasionally entire or sometimes deeply lobed.
Flowers
Flowers may be held in clusters up to 12 cm long. Blooms are white to cream, fragrant and usually abundant when flowering. Flowers are very hairy and spidery in appearance.
Metallic blue-black on top and light to dark grey on its breast and belly. Its forehead, throat and upper breast are rust in colour. It has grey legs and feet, and its eyes and bill are black. A young Welcome Swallow has shorter tail feathers than an adult and its forehead and throat are a creamy beige (instead of rust).
Distinctive feature
A deeply forked tail with a white band or row of spots on the long tail feathers.
The White-browed Scrubwren is a small, drab bird which inhabits the dense undergrowth in many different habitats. The male has a blackish mask; cream eye; white eyebrow and bold curving silver-white whisker-mark; rufous rump; and a variable dark tail band. The female is duller and her whisker-mark is browner.
Distinctive feature
White-brow and curving silvery whisker-mark.
It has dark brown to black fur with a bright white-stripe at the junction of the body and wings. Some individuals also have an area of white-fur on the chest.
One of the largest insectivorous (microbats) in Australia, it is in the ‘free tail’ family (Molossidae) which have a strong, stiff tail projecting beyond the tail membrane.
The species was formerly classified as Tadarida australis.
Size
85 - 100 mm head and body length; free tail extends 40 to 55 mm from the body. Adult average weight 37 g.
Erect or spreading shrub that grows up to 1 m high. Young stems of the plant are covered in small hairs.
Leaves
Branches are crowded with leaves and are arranged in more or less opposite, linear pair. Leaves are small and cylindrical in shape 3 - 8 mm long and 0.5 mm wide. Leaves are green in colour and are covered in small white hairs.
Flowers
Arranged in groups of mostly 2 or 3 near the ends of the branches. The floral cup is hairy and 3 – 4 mm long. Petals are pale yellow, more or less round and about 1.5 mm long. There are 24 - 35 stamens (pollen-bearing organs) that protrude from the flower 3.5 – 4.5 mm long.
