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Long Forest Nature Conservation Reserve
Long Forest Nature Conservation Reserve is a protected area in the Australian state of Victoria situated to the west of the state capital of Melbourne, between Melton and Bacchus Marsh. It is managed by Parks Victoria. Flora The nature conservation reserve has over 400 native plant species. It contains a Rocky Chenopod Scrub community that includes the bull mallee, the only occurrence of a mallee species south of the Great Dividing Range. Other tree species found in the nature conservation reserve include grey box, Werribee blue box, yellow gum and moonah. Shrub species include turkey bush and sixteen species of saltbush including fragrant saltbush. Fauna Mammal species in the nature conservation reserve include eastern grey kangaroo, black-tailed wallaby, koala, brush-tailed possum and short-beaked echidna. Over 160 bird species have been sighted in the nature conservation reserve including the barking owl, crested bellbird, diamond firetail, jacky winter, red-capp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protected Area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the enabling laws of each country or the regulations of the international organizations involved. Generally speaking though, protected areas are understood to be those in which human presence or at least the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood, non-timber forest products, water, ...) is limited. The term "protected area" also includes marine protected areas, the boundaries of which will include some area of ocean, and transboundary protected areas that overlap multiple countries which remove the borders inside the area for conservation and economic purposes. There are over 161,000 protected areas in the world (as of October 2010) with more added daily, representing between 10 and 15 percent of the world's land surface area. As of 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Highway (Victoria)
The Western Highway is the Victorian part of the principal route linking the Australian cities of Melbourne and Adelaide, with a length of approximately of single carriageway, then of dual carriageway known as the Western Freeway. It is a part of the National Highway network and designated routes A8 and M8. The western end continues into South Australia as the Dukes Highway, the next section of the Melbourne–Adelaide National Highway. The Western Freeway joins Melbourne's freeway network via the Western Ring Road, in the western suburbs of Melbourne. The Western Highway is the second busiest national highway in Australia, in terms of freight movements, with over five million tonnes annually. It provides the link between the eastern seaboard and South Australia and Western Australia. The towns along the way, including Ballarat, Ararat, Stawell and Horsham, are agricultural and manufacturing centres. Plans are underway for the freeway to be extended west to Ararat, and e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coimadai Creek
Coimadai () is a locality in central Victoria, Australia. The locality is in the Shire of Moorabool, west of the state capital, Melbourne. The town name comes from an Aboriginal word meaning "Resting Male Kangaroo". At the , Coimadai had a population of 409. References External links Towns in Victoria (state) {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speckled Warbler
The speckled warbler (''Pyrrholaemus sagittatus'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae. It is endemic to eastern Australia. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. Taxonomy The speckled warbler was first described by English physician and ornithologist John Latham in 1801. It was earlier grouped with the scrubwrens in ''Sericornis'' and then in the monotypic genus ''Chthonicola''. Morphological similarities and DNA studies now place it as a sister taxon with the redthroat in the genus ''Pyrrholaemus''.Gardner, J.L., Trueman, J.W.H., Ebert, D., Joseph, L. and Magrath, R.D. (2010). "Phylogeny and evolution of the Meliphagoidea, the largest radiation of Australasian songbirds." ''Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 55(3): 1087–1102. It is monotypic, having no subspecies.Gregory, P. (2020). "Speckled Warbler (Pyrrholaemus sagittatus), version 1.0." In ''Birds of the World'' (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornitho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-capped Robin
The red-capped robin (''Petroica goodenovii'') is a small passerine bird native to Australia. Found in drier regions across much of the continent, it inhabits scrub and open woodland. Like many brightly coloured robins of the family Petroicidae, it is sexually dimorphic. Measuring in length, the robin has a small, thin, black bill, and dark brown eyes and legs. The male has a distinctive red cap and red breast, black upperparts, and a black tail with white tips. The underparts and shoulders are white. The female is an undistinguished grey-brown. This species uses a variety of songs, and males generally sing to advertise territories and attract females. Birds are encountered in pairs or small groups, but the social behaviour has been little studied. The position of the red-capped robin is unclear; it and its relatives are unrelated to European or American robins, but they appear to be an early offshoot of the songbird infraorder Passerida. The red-capped robin is a predominant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacky Winter
The jacky winter (''Microeca fascinans'') is a small grey-brown robin found commonly throughout Australia and also in Papua New Guinea. The jacky winter acquired its name due to rapid and strong vocalisations, which sound like ''jacky-jacky winter-winter''.Simpson, Ken, Day, N. and Trusler, P. (6th edn., 1999). Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin Books Australia . Their call is also often referred to as sounding like ''peter-peter-peter''.Slater, Peter (1974) A Field Guide to Australian Birds: Passerines. Adelaide: Rigby. Its habitats include open woodlands and farmlands. Taxonomy and distribution The jacky winter belongs to the family of Australasian robins and flycatchers ''Petroicidae''. This family includes around 49 species in around 19 genera that are all endemic to Australasia. The family ''Petroicidae'' evolved in a similar way to the Australo-Papuan warblers (''Acanthizidae'')—the latter evolved in isolation from similar families to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diamond Firetail
The diamond firetail (''Stagonopleura guttata'') is a species of estrildid finch that is endemic to Australia. It has a patchy distribution and generally occupies drier forests and grassy woodlands west of the Great Dividing Range from South East Queensland to the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. While it is a small stocky bird it is one of the largest finches in Australia. The birds are very distinctive with a black breast-band on a white breast. The flanks are black with white spots and it has a scarlet rump (hence the name) and a black tail. Taxonomy The family Estrildidae (grass-finches) was named by Swainson in 1827 and "finch" can be traced back to the Old English ''finc'' but its origin is debated. Firetail is now used to describe the three species of ''Stagonopleura''. The red-browed finch (''Neochmia temporalis'') is no longer considered a firetail even though it has a red rump. The diamond firetail has also been known as the "spotted finch (Lewin 1808), spotted gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crested Bellbird
The crested bellbird (''Oreoica gutturalis'') is a medium-sized passerine bird in the family Oreoicidae. It is native to drier parts of Australia where its typical habitats are acacia scrublands, eucalypt woodlands, spinifex and saltbush plains, and dunes. The male is about long and has a grey head, a black crest and breast, and a grey or olive brown body. The female and juvenile are similar but the colours are more muted and the black breast is lacking. The distinctive call is a high pitched bell-like sound, audible at some distance. Sometimes a pair of birds duet. The crested bellbird feeds on seeds and small invertebrates, foraging on the ground or in low bushes. The deep, cup-shaped nest is usually within a couple of metres of the ground, built in the fork of a branch or in a crevice in a stump. It is made from small twigs and bark and lined with finer material. Up to four eggs are laid and these are incubated by both parents. Overall this bird is quite common, but in some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barking Owl
The barking owl (''Ninox connivens''), also known as the winking owl, is a nocturnal bird species native to mainland Australia and parts of New Guinea and the Moluccas. They are a medium-sized brown owl and have a characteristic voice with calls ranging from a barking dog noise to a shrill human-like howl of great intensity. Etymology The owl takes its name from its characteristic barking voice. For a short period before 2016, the Red List of Threatened Species referred to this species as the "barking boobook". However, this is not used as a common name in Australia or other English speaking areas in this species' range and has now been corrected to barking owl. The Yanyuwa name for the owl is ''mulurrku''. Taxonomy The barking owl was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 with the binomial name ''Falco connivens''. Latham commented that the species "Inhabits New Holland, but no history annexed, further than that it has a wonderful faculty of cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short-beaked Echidna
The short-beaked echidna (''Tachyglossus aculeatus''), also called the short-nosed echidna, is one of four living species of echidna and the only member of the genus ''Tachyglossus''. It is covered in fur and spines and has a distinctive snout and a specialized tongue, which it uses to catch its insect prey at a great speed. Like the other extant monotremes, the short-beaked echidna lays eggs; the monotremes are the only living group of mammals to do so. The short-beaked echidna has extremely strong front limbs and claws, which allow it to burrow quickly with great power. As it needs to be able to survive underground, it has a significant tolerance to high levels of carbon dioxide and low levels of oxygen. It has no weapons or fighting ability but repels predators by curling into a ball and deterring them with its spines. It lacks the ability to sweat and cannot deal with heat well, so it tends to avoid daytime activity in hot weather. It can swim if needed. The snout has m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brush-tailed Possum
The brushtail possums are the members of the genus ''Trichosurus'' in the Phalangeridae, a family of marsupials. They are native to Australia (including Tasmania) and some small nearby islands. Unique among marsupials, they have shifted the hypaxial muscles from the epipubic to the pelvis, much like in placental muscles, meaning that their breathing cycle is more similar to the latter than to that of other non- eutherian mammals.Reilly SM, McElroy EJ, White TD, Biknevicius AR, Bennett MB, Abdominal muscle and epipubic bone function during locomotion in Australian possums: insights to basal mammalian conditions and Eutherian-like tendencies in Trichosurus, J Morphol. 2010 Apr;271(4):438-50. . In general, they are more terrestrially oriented than other possums, and in some ways might parallel primates. The genus contains these species: *Northern brushtail possum, ''T. arnhemensis'' *Short-eared possum, ''T. caninus'' *Mountain brushtail possum, ''T. cunninghami'' *Coppery brus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
