Bugs & Critters
Bugs, Critters and other wildlife are welcomed in the property, I enjoy seeing them and try and take pictures when I can. Frogs are always a welcomed site and sound in the garden.
Generally the wildlife can eat most of a plant and I will not do anything, but if they are insects and they start consuming entire plants, then will spray some herbicide.
A common Shrew found in the garden, apparently they eat insects. These animals are rather shy and only seen occasionally. This one fell into a large plastic bin full of leaves, which made it easier to get a picture of it before I let it go.
I was really pleased to see this animal and took it as a sign that if I removed the cane toads, then other insect eating animals would begin to repopulate the property.
This beautiful butterfly [Delias hyparete] was caught just hatching from its chrysalis. I have tried growing plants that will attract the butterfly and not entirely sure what the caterpillars prefer to eat. I blamed this butterfly for a long time as the source of the caterpillars that were eating my lillys, but was wrong, it was the Spodoptera Picta moth lava that were doing the damage
Spodoptera Picta Moth. The caterpillars this species will appear in their hundreds and can devour a medium sized crinum plant in day.
I sort of noticed that I was missing a couple plants, it was not until I saw a half eaten plant that I knew what was going on. I was shocked that they were eating the entire plant and stem down to the ground in one day and moving onto the next plant. On the bigger plants they hide in the crown of the plant and eat out the growing tip. which results in the plant rotting away.
The Atlas Moth is a real stunner. One evening I thought I saw a bat flying in a peculiar fashion, it wasn't until it landed on one of the windows that it was recognized as a huge moth. Its size was impressive, with its wing span is being more than 20 cm wide. Apparently these moths have no mouth parts and only live a few days with one objective to find a mate and lay eggs.
I have been told that this is Lorquin's Atlas Moth Caterpillar, they were slowly eating the leaves on one of the citrus trees, but have also found them on my mango as well as on my Barringtonia Edulis trees. The egg cases are quite large but unmistakable once you know what to look for. The caterpillars on the citrus tree were whiter that those found on the Barringtonia. The cocoon was spun over most of the day and a moth should appear in about 3 weeks, but have some in their cocoons for a couple of months.
This Blue Tailed Bee Eater stunned itself when it hit one of the house windows, so took a picture quickly before releasing it. I had a large native bee hive hanging from one of the trees nearby for quite a while, which must of attracted it.
Unfortunately the native bees have moved on leaving me to try and find someone who can supply a couple of hives which I want to place on the property for the plants and to entice these birds back again.
One of my favourite birds is the Sun Bird, the males are quite territorial and rarely stand still. I have yet to get a good picture or find a plant that entices them to ground level.
Their favourite flower seems to be some vascular mistletoe epiphyte / plant parasite that coexists on the mango trees and flowers only high up, making picture taking difficult.
The closest I have got to identifying the parasite is "Amyema urdanetensis"
Banded Bullfrog [Kaloula Pulchra] are often seen hiding in dense piles of vegetation or under an old log. They seem not to be very active and just sit there waiting to be recovered with some leaf litter or moved to another suitable damp hiding spot.
These frogs are understood to eat ants as well as other insects, which is good as I have plenty of ants for them. They should not be confused with cane toads.
A few frogs that are commonly known as "Banana Tree Frogs". They typically blend in well to their surroundings and are often seen when pruning or removing surplus plant leaves as they jump to another spot, otherwise hard to find.
Pied Fantail, they constantly flitting out of and among branches, they are quite territorial and do not like their own kind in their area. They can be often seen challenging their own reflections in the windows.
Brown Shrike hunt insects around the house. They can be seen sitting in the same spot every morning waiting for insects to fly by then swooping down and then returning to their perch. I had one that would wait for me to feed the dogs and take a bit of their food that I left for it on a bench top,
Blind snakes are not poisonous, I had to tell people tending the garden not to kill them as they thought that they would grow into large poisonous snakes. But in reality these tiny snakes spend life underground and like to eat small ant lava apparently. Deaths from snakes in the area is not uncommon, so I understand that people kill all snakes they see, but in my property the blind snake is safe.
The one in the pictures is about 15 cm long.
Found these red "Stink Bugs" or "Shield Bugs" Pentatomidae] on the underside of the leaves of one of my costus plants. Not sure if they are friend or foe for the plant.
There seems to be multiple variations of shield bugs in my garden.
The group of sheild bug hatchlings stayed in one spot for several days, which suprised me as they were quite exposed, but seemed in no hurry to move off to wherever they were going.
Unknown furry caterpillar probably, Asota Heliconia . I have been told that furry caterpillars are to be avoided with the hairs irritating the skin for a long time if touched.
Hard to get a good picture of a dragon fly as they are so active and quick to move away if approached. There are afternoons where hundreds of orange dragon fly's can be seen flying in static formation in the garden.
Unknown Slug Caterpillar, possibly called Eloasa symphonistis. This caterpillar was a slow eater and would not move far each day. The legs or head could not be seen, in the one of the pictures you can see pale lines running along the length of its body .
Tiger Moth [F. Arctiidae or Amata Wasp Moth] probably. Very small Moth that has adopted the pattern of a bee or wasp, probably to avoid predators as this moth is also active during the day. Its wings have transparent patches, I saw it early one morning when I was pruning some plants before the sun got too hot.
The chickens, they roam around always looking for another bite to eat and kicking the rice husk everywhere. They prefer the shaded back garden and only venture to the front garden in the early mornings.
Young Quail that the feral cats didn't manage to catch.
Rhinoceros beetle "Oryctes rhinoceros". I had lots of these larvae at the bottom of my compost pile, it took a while to identify and pleased that I did as certainly do not want to have lots of these around because when they turn into beetles they eat the kill palm trees by burrowing destructive holes in the growing spike in the palm to get the sap. I found three pupa in the crown of one palm that was cut down. I have lost about 10+ palm trees over two years to these grubs.
The larva were were up to as long as my index finger and as thick as my thumb. I plan to compost in one area and put a net over the compost pile to make it difficult for the mature beetle to lay its eggs in and more importantly to stop the emerging adults getting out.
After the annual May carabao parade, many of the carabao walk past the house and it is usually extremely hot . So let a couple come inside the property, where the owners cooled them down with the the garden hose before they go on their way. They have surprisingly soft skin and didn't mind at all being handled.
Chestnut Munia. supposedly quite a common bird, but I have only seen it a couple of times
Giant African Snail, I am not sure what these are eating in the garden, but as an introduced pest, I remove them whenever I see them. I have not seen any other land-based snails in the property which is not a good sign. I think that between the giant snails and the Caine Toads that natives cannot compete.
There are lots of bats in the evenings and I am happy to have them around, but I do not want them roosting in our nipa hut as they are messy, this one didn't mind the lights being left on at night so had to scare it a couple of times in the mornings to give it the hint not to stay.
Local wasp that builds small nests and are quick to sting, which I have found out a few times when I has disturbed them. The pain of the sting is not too bad and doesn't last too long.
Tussock Moth. An attractive small moth, possibly / probably part of the Artaxa genus of tussock moths in the family Erebidae. It was about 1.5 cm long with an estimated wingspan of 3 cm.
Lime Swallowtail (Papilio demoleus Linnaeus), likes to lay it's eggs citrus plants, I was growing some lemon plants from seed and one caterpillar ate all the leaves over a day or so. However I liked the different distinctive underside and topside patterns.
The unknowns, just a growing collection of insects or animals that allowed me to get my camera and were slow enough for a picture to be taken.
Pests
Some mention should be given to pests. I do not consider ants as pests, they are ever present and I ensure that I do not provide them any excuse to enter the house.
Termites are not entirely welcome and knock down the two mounds that I have in the property to maintain their size. There is small mound at the front of the section is easy to knock down, but they are hardy and rebuild fairly quickly. At the back of the property there is a large colony growing with the Saba bananas that is bigger than I would like it to be, so at some point will get the exterminator in. On the positive side termites quickly reduce a dead tree or palm to almost nothing within six months, so you can pile up items knowing that they will be gone in a years time leaving behind great growing medium.
Cane Toads are ruthlessly removed whenever seen. The consequence of that has probably been an increase in frogs seen, which means more snakes, monitor lizards visits as well.
Feral Cats regularly kill the chickens and killed all my quails. Tried trapping them, but have not been successful, however my dogs fixed the problem with cats.