Ants?

One day I decided to look at a tree. Yes, just a tree, or is it? Currently I don't know the name of this tree, but here it is:

Grabbing the camera, I looked through the leaves for what lives on it. The first and most obvious inhabitant is the caterpillar of the Orchard Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio aegeus.) The adult is a striking, large butterfly. Males are black with hints of gold on the forewings (the front wings) and blue/red/white spots on the hindwings. Females are mostly silver, with the same blue and red spots on the hindwings. As for the caterpillar, it starts life looking like a fresh, wet glistening bird dropping! This makes them look unattractive to anything that might eat them. As they grow, they go green and brown. Looking pretty inoffensive, they quietly nibble away on the leaves.

When disturbed, they rear up and show off an osmeterium, a fleshy object that looks remarkably like a snake's tongue. It sits in a pocket inside the head and inflates just like a balloon. This is sure to startle most predators- especially birds like Cuckoos, which feed almost totally on caterpillars in many areas.

Next up was a small, iridescent fly.

And some sort of bush-fly. They might look ugly to most, but are incredibly complex and fascinating animals up close.

A tiny Dainty Green Tree Frog (Litoria gracilenta) was hiding on a leaf.

Closely related and only 1m away was a baby Little Red Frog (Litoria rubella.) Only red when breeding.

Well, I ran out of time to find more, but it goes to show the variety of life in a few low branches of a fairly non-descript little tree. Try it sometime. You'll be surprised.