Botany Nerds Ahoy

Sprout wrote:

Gah, sorry AW, done in by their inaccuracy, you're too smart for my quiz! Always appreciate your added facts too, so interesting, you should write a book.

Job well done if you made Alfred think.

This was a cool find.

A 2m long Oarfish found washed up on the beach near Strahan.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-03/tas-rare-oarfish-found-on-strahan...

Harbinger of doom, run for the hills!

Tearymasseuse. Hi mate.

Thanks for posting that video.

Funny you post that, we must have had the same thoughts lately.

So, which country in the world has the tallest trees ? The US does.

The Californian Redwood ( Sequoia sempervirens ) from the Cupressaceae family is the tallest tree in the world at present.

The largest tree in the world ( by volume and enormity) is the Giant Redwood
( Sequoiadendron giganteum ) also from the Cupressaceae family.

I’ve been fortunate enough to visit both species and stand in awe at something that originally arose from a very small seed.

Both these trees are Gymnosperms ( naked seed), they evolved well before current day flowering plants ( Angiosperms).

To understand the simple tree of life for plant evolution, it goes like this;

Starting with simple cells akin to bacteria ( Cyanobacteria) , early photosynthetic plants that evolved in the ocean, the first to liberate oxygen into our current atmosphere.
Next in the evolutionary line is ferns and allies, liverworts, bryophytes, club mosses etc, still no flowers along the evolutionary pathway, following them is the Gymnosperms, the conifers (cone bearing), Cycads, Macrozamias etc., still no flowers until we come into a period around 135 million years ago where Angiosperms (flowering plants) enter our world and proliferate still to this day.

The tallest flowering ( Angiosperm) plant on earth today’s is our own ,
Eucalyptus regnans Mountain Ash.

Historical evidence in Australia shows us that at some stage back almost a century ago , Mountain Ash was the tallest tree in the world, exceeding the height of modern day Californian Redwoods.

Major problem is that most of the giant Mountain Ash were chopped down in forests east of Melbourne, Otway Ranges and East Gippsland, a smear on society if there was ever one.

I bought a book a few years ago about trains that operated in the Otway Ranges , Victoria. An area my parents use to live and ride some of those early trains.
I’m not a train spotter or enthusiast by any means, I do like history.

The sole reason I purchased this book was my eye caught something in a photo that really grabbed me.
Here was evidence of the once enormous Mountain Ash trees.
I stare at it and wonder all kinds of thoughts , regrets etc,

If you look at the photo of the tree take the time to look at the basal trunk area, it’s gigantic, a trunk with that girth tells us this tree was incredibly tall, just one of many of the tallest trees that no longer furnish our landscape.

Such a shame. AW.

@AW. Hi Alfred. I hope you are well and getting some sunshine and surf. An ornithological rather than botanical topic, but I direct this question to you as I feel you might have some local and intellectual knowledge about this 'phenomenon'. Heading south on Anglesea road past Freshwater creek near the Olive grove at the roundabout intersecting Coombes road and Hendy main road, I've often witnessed a large 'conspiracy' of ravens circling. There are literally hundreds of them. I wonder, do you have a theory on why this spooky looking flock gather in this particular place? Thanks in advance. ICD.

icandig wrote:

@AW. Hi Alfred. I hope you are well and getting some sunshine and surf. An ornithological rather than botanical topic, but I direct this question to you as I feel you might have some local and intellectual knowledge about this 'phenomenon'. Heading south on Anglesea road past Freshwater creek near the Olive grove at the roundabout intersecting Coombes road and Hendy main road, I've often witnessed a large 'conspiracy' of ravens circling. There are literally hundreds of them. I wonder, do you have a theory on why this spooky looking flock gather in this particular place? Thanks in advance. ICD.

Icandig. Hi mate. Great observation, thanks.
I know exactly the spot, I drive past there often, in fact, I drove past today but the birds were absent.

The birds are Little Ravens, the most common raven in the Geelong and Melbourne areas.
We do have Australian Ravens sometimes amongst the former but only a few if any. They are a different bird with a slightly discernible call.
Also, the further you go down the coast in the Great Ocean Road hinterland, there are Forest Ravens, different birds again.

Corvids are the most intelligent group of birds on earth. They are incredibly smart and have excellent memories.
They consign themselves social/play time as part of an overall hierarchy, but it’s really about education and often forming mega flocks and doing what you so correctly described, you should observe birds more often, more we observe, more we learn as human.

They will often form a huge flock, and face north and rocket high up into the sky, all turn around and plummet at speed before pulling up before hitting the ground.
I’ve been near this exercise a few times and you feel the huge mega draft as they flash on by.
Animals including birds really do stuff related to food mainly and water.
For a flock that size to be present, conditions are obviously favourable, otherwise they would not be there.
They would take olives and any other food source, particularly as most farmers have just sown grain in scarified lines, so there’s a free feed in most paddocks in most places.
They can memorise where they’ve stored food and also food stored by other birds in their flock, they are so intelligent that they often fake the burying of food to trick others and then sneak on over and steal their mates food.

They are not spooky at all, you can train them easily and they’ll definitely befriend you.
It’s like all things black in life, we seem to fear that colour for some reason.

Would you have called them spooky if they were white or light brown, I think not.

We have them everywhere here at present, eating lines and lines of barley seed sown by farmers to make beer. Good stuff. AW

In related news, well at least regarding a large flock of black birds, I disturbed a flock of black cockies driving home the other day. The whole flock took to the air from the pines they were hanging in. Unfortunately they also dropped everything they were busy destroying. It rained twigs, small branches and lots and lots of bits of pine cone. Felt like I was under attack, things banging off the roof and bonnet, coming from everywhere.

went under a low-flying yellow-tail mob yesterday, and one was carrying a cone twice the size of its head!

basesix wrote:

went under a low-flying yellow-tail mob yesterday, and one was carrying a cone twice the size of its head!

No doubt looking for someone or something to drop it on! Amazing birds.

I prefer the yellows to the reds, (despite the reds' endangeredness),
..yellows sound like they are going 'wheee... wheeeee...'
red-tails sound like they are projectile-vomiting and have boofheads.
shallow and judgey of me, I know : )

Not judgey at all, although a little shallow; we all have our favourites. I like the languid way the yellows fly, no rush or wasted movement.

pine cones on the barbie..

Thanks for the prompt reply @AW. Very informative. - Not at all spooked by them; just really intrigued -a throwaway line. I have previously been aware of the raven intelligence and have an avid (but amateur) interest in birds and behaviours. I have at least two copies of "What bird is that?" : )

Yellow Tailed Blacks fly over my place occasionally and one time one dropped a macadamia nut that it had taken from a tree up the hill. The nut hit the car port roof, bounced onto the driveway and rolled past my feet. Like one of the kids Rube Goldberg Machine experiments.

icandig wrote:

Thanks for the prompt reply @AW. Very informative. - Not at all spooked by them; just really intrigued -a throwaway line. I have previously been aware of the raven intelligence and have an avid (but amateur) interest in birds and behaviours. I have at least two copies of "What bird is that?" : )

Icandig. Great reply I was also joking.
If you want to further your knowledge of birds and for an easy to learn way, I suggest purchasing this book.
It’s the most definitive and comprehensive, up to date book on birds in the country.
$50 at most books shops or on line.
Once you are into it you’ll enjoy it.

A bit of advice with bird observing. GISS is an acronym for General Impression of Size & Shape.
When you first see a bird , note key features quickly, bill shape and length etc.