The olive whistler is a bird of thicker, higher-rainfall forests, especially where shrubs and bracken grow. The Wombat Forest is the only local place where it occurs.

While it is probably incorrect to say that this bird has been “rediscovered”, reports in the last year or so have been very welcome. The bird was not seen for perhaps 10 years or more and concern was felt for its continued existence.

These recent sightings have been around Spargo Creek, but there have also been reports from Bullarto and south of Bullarto.  Why has it “re-appeared” after an apparent absence? Have we been looking (and listening) at the wrong times of the year? Most of the recent sightings have been in spring, and they have first been “hearings” before they were “sightings”.

Like most forest birds, it is more vocal in springtime, which would account for several birds being heard last weekend.

The olive whistler is about the size of the more common golden and rufous whistlers, but it is a duller, browner bird. It has a typical strong and rich whistler voice, but its calls are distinctive enough to be recognised as different.

There are no reports of olive whistlers west of the Daylesford – Ballan Road.

While it seems to live mainly in lower levels of vegetation, it sometimes calls from 20 metres up in trees.

Native flax

The native flax plant is slender and erect with attractive five-petalled sky-blue flowers. It is uncommon locally, so recent reports from Skipton and the Creswick forest are of interest.

The habitat in both these places was very different, and the plants looked rather different too, with the Creswick plants being a bluer green and having larger leaves.

Native flax is rather like the cultivated flax (linseed), even having similar seeds. It is a short-lived perennial plant. It grows from about 30 to 50 centimetres tall.