I became acquainted with the Macleay’s Swallowtail Butterfly, whilst living there. It is a beautiful green and brown Swallowtail.  I would often see it high in the Eucalypt and rainforest canopy, flitting and fluttering its way quickly through the air, at a height and speed that made it hard to see very clearly.

Since I have been living in the foothills of the Burringbar Range, near Burringbar, I have seen many of these butterflies. Sometimes up to twenty a day. The swallowtails fly closer to the ground here, possibly due to the lack of any forest canopy, and the supply of lower growing  flowering plants in the area.

Often, armed with my little digital camera (a very cheap, small one), I run outside, trying to photograph them as they land on the pink lantana that grows at the back of my yard. They land on the lantana flowers, visiting very quickly, then they are off!  They seem to visit the lantana flowers then fly into the camphor laurel that abounds in this area of the Burringbar Range foothills.

I often observe the Macleay’s Swallowtails and the Blue Triangle Butterflies flying about each other very closely.

Macleay's Swallowtail, feeding from a Lantana camara flower, is caught and killed by a White flower spider

Macleay’s Swallowtail –  Graphium macleayanus (Leach, 1814) – at the Australian Faunal Directory – with references for IBRA, distribution maps (Australian Bioregions) , and ecological descriptors. The Macleay’s Swallowtail is not a threatened species.

The list of known host plants for the Macleay’s Swallowtail Butterfly is also at the Australian Faunal Directory .

websites with Photos of Macleay’s Swallowtail:-

Macleay’s Swallowtail – at Reiner Richter’s beautiful photography website – there are also photos of orchids, reptiles, fungi, dragonflies, mammals, more butterflies, damselflies and birds. Sorry, cannot find this beautiful photography anymore – perhaps you can search the web for it?

Macleay’s Swallowtail – at flickr.com – photos by Tobias N. Hyashi – there is a great collection of photos here – Australian wildlife, insects, many butterfly photos and more  including a field guide to Australian Butterflies – worth checking out!

Larva and adult butterfly photos of Macleay’s Swallowtail at Don Herbison-Evan’s & Stella Crossley’s site – Swallowtails and Birdwings Australian Papilionidae . You might like to visit their site about caterpillar frequently asked questions also, to learn more.

Eggs photograph of the Macleay’s Swallowtail can be found HERE at Lochman transparencies (wildlife, flora and scenic imagery)

Coff’s Harbour Butterfly House has resources to purchase, as well as being a tourist destination, further South along the NSW Coastline. There is a beautiful butterfly poster to be found at this site.

Macleay's Swallowtail & white flower Spider - Upper Burringbar, NE NSW, Australia. (Mt Warning Caldera Region)

And about the flowers that I see this Swallowtail visit so briefly, and feed from?

Lantana camara : Fact sheet (NSW)

Weeds in NSW  - Weed Related Resources

Weed Definitions at the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Weeds of National Significance (Lantana is one of these)

Review of the declaration of Lantana species in NSW – this is a PDF file – lengthy, but worth reading if you wish to understand more about Lantana as a weed species. In Appendix 1, it carries a description of it’s weed status throughout the States of Australia.

NSW Government – implementing the Lantana Plan :  some research for the Plan :  the Plan to reduce the impact of Lantana on Biodiversity

Lantana at Richmond Landcare June 2008 Vol2 Issue 2

Lantana is a rather complex plant species weed, owing to it’s genetics, variability, historical spread. The pink variety is considered a lesser evil in some council areas, however, it is still considered a declared weed.

Lantana also has some environmental benefits.  Its habitat and soil protection benefits in some locations and situations are very clear. Lantana has been shown to not spread very easily into forest systems that are intact, however, as most forest systems suffer or have suffered disturbance at some time, the spread of Lantana camara is a serious environmental issue to many land managers across Australia.

The best way to understand a weed is to understand the nature of the plant, and why it has become a pest. Clearing and frequent disturbance of land increases weed growth, especially where the endemic native plant populations have been weakened by continuous historic disturbance and weed infestation. Birds and other animals are often the vectors  of  Lantana (eating and dipersing seed).

Spraying of herbicides is often the recommended and recognised way of dealing with lantana. Bluecray advocates Integrated Pest Management when dealing with Lantana, and above all, sound land and property management that gradually pressures Lantana from re-establishment, once contained.

This requires the covering of land with other vegetation, that competes with and shades out lantana. Vegetation management, particularly after clearing or spraying herbicide is critical. Fostering alternative seed sources to those birds who eat lantana is essential. And, as birds can fly some distance, a local and even regional approach to land mangement is best.

Bluecray also questions the suitability of spraying herbicides over large scale areas, over prolonged continuous periods,  near water ways, sensitive habitat areas or certain threatened species populations. However, that is another article, in itself.

Lantana management  is a complex issue, and hopefully, I shall write more articles about weeds, biodiversity and plant strategies for survival in the near future.

Lantana camara SE QLD at bluecray Regional Environmental News – Mt Warning Caldera , also the search results for Lantana camara and fauna at the same search engine.

Weeds of National Significance : search results at bluecray Environmental Search Engine

Lantana camara- Weeds of National Significance 2001 Australian Govt.

Invasive Terrestrial Plants : EPA Queensland - State of the Environment Reporting 2007 – Now at Department of Environment and Resource Management

July 2009 – 10th Qld Weed Symposium : look for it at the Weed Society of Queensland Inc.’s website .

CRC for Australian Weed Management  -  WEEDS – National – site no longer  updated after sept 2008

An Australian Weeds Committee National Initiative :  National Portal -at weeds.org.au – a “one stop shop” for much of the National and State Government Weed

IBRA – Australian Government

and something to think about:-

Hill topping and butterflies at Bluecray Advocacy Links search engine

1990′s Butterfly list compiled/unpublished checklist inc. Mt Warning Butterfly Study  in:   Calodema vol 6 2006

The Richmond Birdwing Butterfly is cited as one of the many outstanding evolutionary features of the World Heritage Listed Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves that occur in the Mt Warning Caldera Region.

This large green, black and yellow butterfly has inspired community action resulting  in many Pararistolochia praevenosa (see picture below) and P. layehana vines to be planted back into the region. There is still, however, much more work to be done. Although the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly is dependent on these vines for its continued lifecycle, it will be the planting of biodiverse forests, woodlands and other vegetation communities, that will help it’s long term survival.

Increasing biodiversity helps the survival of many plants and animals, in their complex lifecycles, just as increased diverse  community involvement in  projects for the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly has helped improve the Butterfly’s survival chances.

25th March 2009 – interview with Ray Seddon,  Co-ordinater of the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly Network, Qld.

Richmond Birdwing Butterfly : at the Queensland Museum PHOTO

Insects of Lamington National Park – Richmond Birdwing Butterfly PHOTO

Richmond Birdwing Butterfly  (Ornithoptera richmondia) : Queensland Threatened Species Listing – VULNERABLE.

• The 2009 link I had to the QLD EPA is now not working, as the Qld Government keeps changing their website links and departmental names and responsibilities : they have not kept a redirection to their new link for the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly. However, you can now access information on the vulnerable listing and this butterfly HERE ( the Qld Department of Environment and Resource Management ) . The information on the new Qld Government  DERM webpage will give you the conservation status, habitat and distribution, description, threatening processes and actions.

Richmond Birdwing Recovery Network : lots of information here on the butterfly, it’s host plants, it’s life cycle, mapping, photos & community networking. This is a volunteer network based in QLD, Australia

The cultivation of Pararistolochia layehana from richmondbirdwing.org and much more on other Pararistolochia species –  Vines, Nurseries growing vines.

Please note that vines are covered by Qld legislation, and as such, you should be careful where you buy your vines from, lest they have been stolen from wild habitat areas.

Qld Society for Growing Australian Plants – native nurseries, plant information, local branches and more

Maroochy Birdwing Butterfly Project at the Maroochy Catchment Centre, Qld, Australia.

The Richmond Birdwing Project – photos, results, information – Qld.

Richmond Birdwing Butterfly vines (Parastolochia praevenosa and **P. laheyana)  : listed as RARE  ( Nature Conservation (Wildlife) Regulation 2006) under the  Qld Nature Conservation Act 1992 .  This rare status may change over the coming months, due to a reorganising of the threatened species listing categories . Pararistolochis praevenosa is the main vine being used in SE QLD and NE NSW for the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly recovery

Richmond Birdwing Butterfly Ornithoptera richmondia : Biodiversity Assessment NSW North Coast – species at risk, and their recovery process . This document recommends research, habitat retention through reserves, and records that there is little data known (Australian Government’s  Australian Natural Resource Atlas)

Australian National Botanic Gardens

Park and Fire Management Plans – NSW Government

Lismore City Council encourages planting of the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly vine (Parastolochia praevenosa)

Case study 3: Adopting caterpillars – the Richmond Birdwing butterfly :This is  one of 13 case Studies of Community Involvement in Recovery and Threat Abatement at the NSW Department of Environment & Climate Change :  Community Involvement Guide for Threatened Species

“Australian Butterfly performs for World Media” -CSIRO media release Sept. 2000 – this article will give you a little history on the Richmnond Birdwing Butterfly and why is a THREATENED SPECIES

Ecos Article Jan. 2001 “Changing habitat: the revival of the Richmond birdwing butterfly offers hope that through research, education, dedication and teamwork, local communities can secure a future for threatened species.”

Land for Wildlife – Queensland

Land for Wildlife – New South Wales

Richmond Birdwing Butterfly Part2 : Their Host Vines by Deborah Metters (Regional Land for Wild Life SEQ Catchments) April 2007 Newsletter Land for Wildlife SEQ.

Land for Wildlife at Greening Australia .

Land for Wildlife at SEQ Catchments .

Wildlife Preservation Society of Qld .

** Pararistolochia laheyana PHOTO – is this species the fomer Aristolochia deltantha var. layehana?

• I have seen one Richmond Birdwing Butterfly at Lower Beechmont, SE Qld, from memory back in about 2000, then another flying through Upper Burringbar, NE NSW, in 2009, and as an update to this article, in late September, 2010, I observed three Richmond Birdwing Butterflies flying high in the air at Upper Burringbar within the space of three days.  They really do look like small birds, at first, until you realise that the wings are going very slowly compared to a small bird flying, and on closer looking, you see the green and black of the wings. Each time that I have seen them flying, they have been about  10-20 feet up in the air, and at elevations over 750 feet above sea level.

• Richmond Birdwing Butterfly Project – search results   :  at Bluecray Regional Environmental News – Mt Warning Caldera

Pararistolochia praevenosa - drawing of a plant near the Lamington Plateau, SE QLD

These photos are for you. I took these photos in my yard at Burringbar, New South Wales, Australia, where I live.

The baby crows in the photos are my friends. The three baby crows live in the trees beside my house, with their mother and father.   Baba O’Riley is the eldest child.  Benoit Mandelbrot is the middle child, and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is the youngest.

Baba is a very brave young crow. He has already chased a big sea eagle, high into the clouds above my home. Benoit is the brightest of the crow children. Lucy is just young and cute.  The crows like to eat grasshoppers, rats, snakes, mandarins, avocado, peanuts, orange, barley seed, corn, snake and bird eggs and earthworms.  They like to chase kookaburras, eagles, hawks, owls, cats and goannas.  The baby crows really love flying about with their mother and father.

I hope you like the photos! love al.

Below are the Chart Art links to the Burringbar Crows –  Baba, Benoit, Lucy and their Mother & father, plus stories of some of their adventures + more pics:-

Crow Magic

Crows Ash Tree

Children of the Crows

Baba’s First Big Flight

More Crows

Benoit Mandelbrot – A very Smart Crow

Benoit Mandelbrot at home in Burringbar

Benoit Mandelbrot the Crow, Figs, Swans and the Synchronicity of Symbols

Benoit is Back!

Corvus in the Midheaven, Mars Rising