Bio-calendar February

Late Summer

(late January to late March)

February is the hottest and driest month of the year in Victoria. The grasslands are dry and seed is set for dispersal. Waterbirds congregate on large open wetlands that still retain water. Reptiles are active and bask in the sun whilst gliders and possums feed on the summer flowering eucalypts by night. Late summer can have periods of high humidity and electrical storms which sometimes create fires that burn out habitat for some species whilst creating new habitat for other species.

The following list provides an insight to various life stages for some of the native plants and animals in Victoria in February. Please contact SWIFFT to add to the list.

Threatened Fauna

• Brolga Grus rubicunda; early stages of flocking season which lasts through to May.
• Hooded Plover Thinornis rubricollis; completion of breeding season.
• Leatherback Turtle Dermochelys coriacea; migrated from equatorial waters to temperate waters feeding areas in Southern Ocean and Bass Strait, January - May.
• Malleefowl Leipoa ocellata; final month of egg laying season.
• Swift Parrot Lathamus discolour; beginning of migration from Tasmanian breeding areas to Victorian feeding areas where they over-winter until September.

Threatened Flora

• Gorae Leek-orchid Prasophyllum diversiflorum; last month of flowering.
• Swamp Greenhood Pterostylis tenuissima; although flowers throughout the year more prolific early summer to late summer.

Other native flora & fauna

Fauna

• Platypus; young emerge from nesting burrow.
• Black Swan; breeding time begins, though they have been recorded with chicks outside of this period along Melbourne’s Botanic Gardens ClimateWatch trail.

Flora

• Messmate, Manna Gum, Red Stringybark and Brown Stringybark eucalypts are in flower.
• Grey Box Eucalyptus microcarpa and Ironbark Eucalyptus tricarpa may start flowering.

• Yellow Gum and Red Gum shed their bark in long strips revealing their creamy "underbelly", in Central Victoria,

• Silver Banksia; flowers start appearing.

• Contact SWIFFT and add to the list.