A global community of nature enthusiasts
photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Araucaria bidwillii
This isn't the largest Bunya cone I've ever seen, but it could still make a mighty mess of things. I would estimate it weighs approximately 4-5 kgs, but some specimens have been recorded weighing in at 10 kgs, and about the same size as a soccer ball. This cone has just fallen from the tree into the drop zone, an area where it's advised not to linger nor park your car; they are incredibly solid and very sharp. It fell from a height in excess of 20 m onto grass, but even had it fallen onto solid concrete, it would not break open or barely scratch the surface. To give this cone a sense of scale, I have used one of my cats and a large lemon for comparison. Information on the tree itself can be found at one of my previous spottings - http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/237...
It's summer now and the cones are starting to fall. Little Corellas (Cacatua sanguinea) have also been flocking to the tree over the past couple of weeks. They find the cone's nuts irresistible. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/143...
Spotted on Dec 12, 2013
Submitted on Dec 12, 2013
9 Comments
I used a house brick to get into this one. Gentle persuasion ;)
Great eating but hard to get into these nuts.
Hi Maxwell. I'm so happy you've found this site. Have fun :-)
Hay Neil its Maxwell Judith's grandson
I have tried them. Nothing to write home about taste-wise, being a bit on the bland side. They can be roasted or as I found out today, boiled. I think once the kernels start to dry out, the nut is rotten? Will suss it out and try a cook-up on Australia Day. A bit of authentic Aussie bush tucker. The cones I've been finding are mostly green and as hard as a rock. I'm going to make this spotting a bunya cone christmas tree. I have the tinsel. Gotta be better than the dead pot plant xmas tree I had a few years back. We had a ball making it though. I told you all I was a bit off-centre. This is how it manifests itself lol.
Good idea. I've heard tribes used to come from a hundred k's around for the nut festivals before euros came. They must be highly nutritious because apparently indigenous populations were way biggest in those parts of Aust. Bunya country equals paradise I suspect. Let us know how they are if you get an invite.
Well our local Gubbi Gubbi people obviously know how to do it... they have a Bunya festival every three years with an abundance of Bunya nuts cooked in about a thousand different ways! Hoping to score an invite to the next one!! ; )
I still haven't found good nuts either. I've been checking fallen cones for decades and they always seem rotten on the ground. Maybe they need to be brought down manually to get decent ones. But who's going to climb one of those trees !!? You would need a chain mail suit. Maybe aboriginal peoples used a really big stick.?
Have you tried the nuts? Nath and I found a cone a while ago, but the nuts were rotten.