WA Orchids
@wa-orchids.bsky.social
1.6K followers 260 following 600 posts
Exploring Western Australia’s native #orchids, flora, fungi, & biodiversity 🌿🪷🪻🍄. Was on X as @wa_orchids Also posting #insects & #moths at Aussie Moths (@wa-moths.bsky.social) 🐛🪰🐞🕷️🪲🦟🦗 📍Boorloo (Perth, WA)
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wa-orchids.bsky.social
When art and nature merge 🪵🪚🍃🥀

A few of the numerous sculptures on display at the Chainsaw Sculpture Drive in Albany on the south coast of Western Australia.

It’s amazing to think these sculptures were all created from wood using a chainsaw!
#sculpture #wood #birds #octopus #WesternAustralia
Sculpture of a kookaburra and tawny frogmouth Sculpture of 6 small owls Sculpture of pelicans Sculpture of an octopus
wa-orchids.bsky.social
Enamel orchids (Elythranthera sp.) are endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. These orchids really do have the shiniest petals and sepals you will ever see 💜🩷

#orchids #ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #bloomscrolling
A pinky/purple Enamel orchid with highly shiny petals A pinky/purple Enamel orchid with highly shiny petals
wa-orchids.bsky.social
After examining 10,494 herbarium specimens of the orchid genus Caladenia, new Australian research suggests there’s been a >60% decline in orchid pollination since 1977 with sexually deceptive orchid species more impacted

#orchids #ozflora #wildoz #pollination

www.abc.net.au/news/science...
One hundred years of Australian flower data reveals pollination drop
Researchers behind a new study examining thousands of flower specimens collected over the past century say temperature increases could be behind a pollination decline in native orchids.
www.abc.net.au
Reposted by WA Orchids
jackdashby.bsky.social
Some excellent #orchids with excellent names in #Tasmania & #RoyalNationalPark:
Three-horned bird orchid (Chiloglottis triceratops, which Wikipedia reckons is named as it resembles the dinosaur, rather then because it has three "horns" on its tongue).
Red bearded #orchid.
Sun orchid.
Mayfly orchid.🌸
Three-horned bird orchid (Chiloglottis triceratop Red bearded orchid Sun orchid Thelymitra Mayfly orchid Acianthus caudatus,
wa-orchids.bsky.social
Banksia coccinea - Scarlet Banksia

Known by the local Noongar peoples as Waddib, this stunning banksia is endemic to the southwest coast around Denmark/Albany to the Stirling Ranges.

It is a stunning flower to see growing in the wild!

#ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #banksia #Proteaceae
Picture of a very distinctive flower spike that is generally scarlet/red in colour. The inflorescence is actually made up of many hundreds of smaller individual flowers all of which have scarlet style
wa-orchids.bsky.social
Looking forward to seeing all the posts!
wa-orchids.bsky.social
Chorilaena quercifolia - Karri Oak

Endemic to the Karri forests of south west Western Australia, the leaves of this understorey shrub resemble that of an oak tree… hence the name (Quercus = oak)
#ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #inaturalist #Rutaceae
Picture of oak-like leaves and several pendulous pale white & green flowers Close up of two pendulous white & green flowers
wa-orchids.bsky.social
“Baudin’s or bauxite – we can’t have both”

It’s a stark warning … but Alcoa’s proposed expansions to its bauxite mining in WA’s jarrah forests will be catastrophic for the endangered Baudin’s black cockatoo.
#wildoz #ausbirds #ozplants #bauxite #conservation

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Baudin’s or bauxite?’: stark warning black cockatoo won’t survive mining expansion
BirdLife WA calls consequences of Alcoa’s proposals to clear 11,000ha of jarrah forest ‘irreversible and catastrophic’ for endangered bird
www.theguardian.com
wa-orchids.bsky.social
Do you have the latest version of the Bluesky app? I recall one of the last updates made a change to the icon for loading videos. Hope you can fix the problem.
wa-orchids.bsky.social
Have you tried the Lucid Key for WA native orchids? It’s really useful for IDing our orchids, you can download the app to use offline, and it has fact sheets on all our orchids: keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v4/wa-o...
Native Orchids of Western Australia
keys.lucidcentral.org
wa-orchids.bsky.social
Endemic to southern parts of Australia, the carnivorous Pimpernel Sundew (Drosera glanduligera) with its lovely orange flower. This one was growing on a lush bed of moss and was covered in early morning dew drops

#ozflora #wildoz #fierceflora #nativeplants #inaturalist #nature
A picture of a small sundew with carnivorous leaves at the base and an orange flower at the top of a short stem. This plant is growing on a lush bed of moss and is covered in early morning dew drops
wa-orchids.bsky.social
Beautiful! Identifying them after a good walk is half the fun 😄
Reposted by WA Orchids
binchicken24.bsky.social
Some unusual orchids from around my area. Very little research done in the South East of WA, so new hybrids and species are often found.
Smooth lipped spider orchid. Dragon orchid A hybrid orchid, Clown orchid x white spider orchid. Clown orchids
Reposted by WA Orchids
binchicken24.bsky.social
#WildOz I get to see a lot of beautiful wildflowers on my orchid hunts, and just bush walking around my area. They are everywhere this time of year.
Purple enamel orchid White feather flower, (verticordia) Lemon orchid One of the forms of Lechanaultia found in my area, this is the pink form, we also have a bright red, and a stunning blue form. These are like jewels spread on the ground.
Reposted by WA Orchids
silverdory.bsky.social
Leopard orchids flowering in heathland near the Genoa River, VIC. These coastal E. Gippsland plants are still widley regarded as Diuris pardina but recent revisions of the genus have suggested a return to D. maculata (spotted donkey orchid) which also grows just across the border in NSW #orchids
Leopard orchids flowering in heathland near the Genoa River, VIC.
wa-orchids.bsky.social
Caladenia polychroma - Joseph’s Spider Orchid

This orchid can be quite variable in its colour, hence the name (poly - many, chroma - colour)
#orchids #ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #inaturalist #nature
A clump of tall, wispy spider orchids with the late afternoon light behind them. There are three open flowers, some buds and a couple of finished flowers apparent in the picture. There are several fluffy grass heads mixed in
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trigonotarbida.bsky.social
Spider orchids! This one is the Eastern Mantis Orchid (Caladenia tentaculata) I think #orchid
Photograph of a cluster of Caladenia tentaculata orchids in open woodland
Reposted by WA Orchids
wa-moths.bsky.social
It’s time to vote for the Australian Insect of the Year 2025 🪲🐞🪳🪰🦋

Cast your vote during October.

My vote definitely goes to the amazing Exastra albopilosa, a stunning longhorn beetle that was only described in 2024!
#ausinverts #wildoz #bugsky #inverts

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
Vote for your favourite Australian Insect of the Year
Whether you love beetles or the giant mantis it's time to cast your vote for Australia's top insect.
www.abc.net.au
wa-orchids.bsky.social
I love exploring granite outcrops, they can be a haven for a variety of native plants. Albany has many, including Kardarup/Mt Melville near the city

🌿 Drummond’s Sundew
🍄 Golden-eye Lichen
🌱 Lemon-scented Sun Orchid
🌸 Plumed Featherflower

#ozplants #lichen #wildoz #orchids #nativeplants #nature
Drosera drummondii - a scrambling carnivorous sundew with deep pinky/purple flowers Teloschistes chrysophthalmus - an orange lichen growing on a dry twig Thelymitra antennifera - close up of two bright yellow orchid flowers in the sunshine. Verticordia plumosa - a shrub with small leaves and rounded groups of pink flowers with a feathered appearance to them.
wa-orchids.bsky.social
A morning spent investigating rock pools is always a morning well spent 🐚🦀🪸

🐚 Whalers Cove and Little Beach, Albany

#wildoz #WesternAustralia #rockpool #ocean #nature #inaturalist
Rockpools dotted along an exposed rocky area with the sea visible in the background A Common Buscuit Star (Tosia australis), a green six-armed sea star sitting on a bed of seaweed known as Neptune’s Necklace (Hormosira banksii) An red coloured anemone (Isanemonia australis) in a rock pool Drift wood on the sand of Little Beach with the waves of the ocean crashing in the background
wa-orchids.bsky.social
Banksia formosa - Showy Dryandra

A beautiful #banksia species endemic to the far south west of Western Australia, one that’s quite common around Albany & the Stirling Ranges
#ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #bloomscrolling #nature
Close up of a domed golden orange flower which is still to fully open and which is surrounded by deep green leaves with serrated edges
Reposted by WA Orchids
drbrucewebber.bsky.social
"The greatest danger to our future is apathy. ... What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." - Vale Jane Goodall (1934-2025).
Jane Goodall in a tall rainforest looking up into the canopy with binoculars in her hands.
wa-orchids.bsky.social
Diuris longifolia - the Purple Pansy Orchid

One of the species endemic to the south west of Western Australia that is currently flowering
#orchids #Orctober #ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #nature
Picture of an orchid flower which had two erect yellow petals with purple colour to their ends. The centre of the flower is purple/mauve in colour
Reposted by WA Orchids
greenwingstours.bsky.social
Good morning & good month! #Leptember now gives way to #Orctober...

"A month long festival of orchids from around the globe! Wild or cultivated, let's celebrate these diverse & beautiful plants!"

We open with this Sawfly Orchid (Ophrys tenthredinifera) taken on our Gargano tour by Gillian E.