Petyan – spring – season of wildflowers

Late July to August

The spring season is depicted by bird eggs, wildflowers and great meetings.

The lifestyle for the Gariwerd communities during petyan:

There were great meetings of Aboriginal bands of up to 1000 people for settling legal conflicts, singing and dancing corroborees, wrestling and boomerang throwing competitions, football games, trade, seeking partners for marriage. Clans were summoned by smoke signals or message sticks.

For the woodland areas of Gariwerd, petyan brings the following:

Plants

Many orchids and lily are in flower, including:
 leopard orchids, hare orchids, pink fingers and sun orchids
 leaves of common bird orchid appear
 leek orchids appear
 nodding blue lilies
 flying duck orchids

Trees are in flower including silver banksia, yellow box and late black and silver wattles.
Many shrubs/grasses are in flower including parrot peas, mint bush, bauera, tetratheca, rice flowers and christmas mint bush.

Many herbs and grasses in flower, including:
 yam daisy
 lomandra mat rush has fresh spiky flowering heads

Fringe lilies, tall sundews, grass trigger plants, grass trees and kangaroo grass flowering.
Cherry ballart is fruiting.

Mammals

Many mammals are breeding during petyan.
Ring-tailed possums carry young.
Koala young leave pouch at approximately 7 months old.
Koalas mate again.
Lots of mammal activity with holes appearing everywhere as bandicoots dig for grubs and echidnas dig for ants.

Birds

Bush rings with sounds of courting birds, frogs and insects.
Many birds are moulting.
Olive-backed orioles are calling.
Cuckoo shrikes are feeding on caterpillars.

Many birds are breeding and nesting, including:
 grey butcher birds
 superb fairy wrens
 currawongs
 wood swallows nesting after migrating south

Many birds returning south:
 fly catchers arrive from the north
 trillers move south
 rufous fantails and rainbow bee-eaters arrive from the north

Migratory birds return.

Reptiles

Snakes and skinks are active:
 skinks and snakes basking in the sun
 lizards becoming active among the rocks.

Insects

More butterflies emerge:
 wanderer and common brown butterflies are plentiful
 caper white and wood white butterflies emerge

Insects active, including:
 bees swarming
 hover flies visit guinea flowers
 cicadas emerge, leaving pupa case on tree trunks
 first termites take wing
 red ichneumon wasps common
 large number of insects visit the bush pea and lily flowers
 moths and beetles collect around lights

Caterpillars create leaf damage on eucalypts and sawfly grubs are now large.

For the wetlands areas of Gariwerd, petyan means the following:

Plants

Swamp paperbarks are in flower.

Mammals

Platypus lays eggs.

Birds

Snipe return to long grass around swamps.
Swamp hens have running young.
Reed warblers return.

Reptiles/ Amphibians

Frogs active:
 loud frog chorus
 pobblebonk and growling grass frogs on the move

Fish

Eels migrate downstream.