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 wildlife using a fauna camera 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.

Humphrey et al. (2024) Birds in the Burbs_HighRes.pdf

Birds in the Burbs

We like to support what we suggest to gardeners with the relevent research and Jacinta Humphrey has shared this resource on how to imporve habitat for our native birds in residential areas.

Jacinta recently completed a PhD at La Trobe University, where she studied the influence of urban development on birds.

As part of my research, she produced an eight-page brochure summarising the findings on how to improve habitat for native birds in residential areas.

*The original brochure was compiled by Jacinta Humphrey, Angie Haslem and Andrew Bennett. The final version was designed by Judy Bennett.

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