Local Wildlife
Moorabool Shire is fortunate to have great diversity of wildlife, many of which are regularly seen in our townships and urban areas.
Following are a few examples of species known from gardens in Moorabool, which you can make spaces for in your garden.
Birds Australia have information on how to create places for birds. Providing bird habitat also provides habitat for other species https://www.birdsinbackyards.net/places
What animals visit your garden at night? You may like to put up a camera trap and see. Here is a link to how to monitor wildlfie using a fauna camara link
Birds
Eastern spinebill
Favourite features: Small, nectar-rich flowers plants including grevilleas and correas.
New Holland honeyeater
Favourite plants: grevilleas, correas and banksias nearby dense vegetation so that they can hide from larger more aggressive birds
Red wattle bird
Favourite features: Areas of abundant nectar including large flowering eucalypts and banksias.
Crimson rosella
Favourite features: Attracted by nectar, berries and seeds. Readily utilise nesting boxes when in suitable areas.
Spotted pardalote
Favourite features: taller vegetation with a leafy canopy. Feeds by picking insects from leaves in the tree tops.
Brown thornbill
Favourite features: cool, dense vegetation with plenty of insects and grubs.
Superb fairy-wren (blue wren)
Favourite features: prickly, and dense low-growing shrubs that keep them safe from cats. Feeds on open ground and mulched areas.
Tawny frog mouth
Favourite features: larger trees to shelter in during the day.
Red-rump parrot
Favourite features: loves to eat grass seeds. Try letting your ornamental native grasses go to seed to attract this species.
Frogs
Pobblebonk
Favourite places: often found on the edges of deeper waterbodies, however they can also sometimes be found when digging in damp soil
Common froglet
Favourite places: shallow waterbodies, wetlands and marshes. More likely to be closer to water than some other species
Ewings tree frog
Favourite places: shady, cool and damp areas of gardens. Can sometimes be seen hunting insects around outside lights in the garden.
Spotted marsh frog
Favourite places: As the name suggests, this frog likes boggy, grassy areas. Particularly with tussock grasses, such as Poa.
Insects
Hover fly
Garden benefits: The larvae of hover flies eat aphids and the adults pollinate flowers
Blue banded bee
Attracted by: flowering plants in sunny positions. Especially blue and purple flowers.
Does not live in a hive, instead they make individual burrows in clay.
Butterflies
Attracted by: low-growing flowering plants that offer nectar.
Dragonflies
Attracted by: standing water-bodies with aquatic vegetation. Larvae live in the water and adults hunt mosquitoes.
Mammals
Ring-tailed possum
Favourite features: dense, tall shrubs where they can build a nest out of sticks and leaves.
Krefft's Glider/Sugar glider
Favourite features: Tall trees with hollows (or boxes) for nesting in.
Brush-tailed possum
Favourite features: Large hollows, nest boxes, or roof spaces for sleeping in during the day. Feeds on a wide variety of leaves, flowers and grubs.
Lizards
All lizards need the shelter of low-growing shrubs and grasses to feel secure. As they are cold-blooded, they need sunny areas on the ground (such as some exposed rocks) to lay on a warm up. Here are some species you may see in this area:
Blue-tongue lizard
Marbled gecko
Southern grass-skink
Three lined skink
Eastern skink