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Bush Bites – Freshwater Turtles

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There are four species of Freshwater Turtles found in the Moggill Creek Catchment. They are common in Moggill and Gold Creeks and Gold Creek Reservoir and these species are well established and under no threat.

Earlier information about these reptiles called them Tortoises, but recently that name has been reserved to land dwelling Tortoises, which are not native to Australia.

Broad-shelled River Turtle. This species often travels overland during mating season.  Photo: Ed Frazer

Freshwater Turtles can be quite long living though few reliable records have been kept. A span of 50 years or more seems reasonable.

The eggs are laid on the banks of streams in soil which can vary from sand to clay. The incubation period can be from several months to two years and is influenced by temperature and rainfall.

Many eggs are lost to drought and predation by water dragons, goannas, water rats, birds and foxes. The hatchlings are also preyed on by catfish, eels and even Platypus, but a few survive and it is not uncommon to see a full range of sizes swimming together in the creeks.

The males are generally smaller than the females and they are often seen following the females for a considerable time in an attempt to mate.

Turtle eating a dead fish in Gold Creek.  Photo: Ed Frazer

They feed on a wide variety of items, but prefer shrimp, insect larvae like dragonflies, and clams which they crush by attacking the edges of the shells with their powerful jaws until they open. They also clean up any dead fish and aquatic plants and any fruit that drops into the creeks such as Mulberries.

A Saw-shelled Turtle climbing on driftwood to enjoy the sun in winter.  Photo: Ed Frazer

A Brisbane Short-necked Turtle climbing on a sunken log in Gold Creek.  Photo: Ed Frazer

Most of their feeding is in the two hours after sunrise and before sunset, but they will
respond to a feed of bread, fish or meat or better still floating fish foods or insects.
In the cooler months they can often be seen sunbathing on rocks or logs poking out from
the creek where they can drop back into the water if disturbed.

A Fresh Water Turtle Catchment Field Guide will be on the MCCG website shortly.

Evening Talk – Thursday Sept 23rd with guest speaker Dr Manda Page

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Avoiding extinction – the challenges of working with threatened species in Queensland

Thursday 23rd September 2021, Brookfield Hall, 6.30pm for 7.00pm

Speaker: Dr Manda Page

Queenlsand has 1020 threatened species listed under the Nature Conservation Act 1992. All of these species are considered to be at risk of extinction and there are many, many more that we simply don’t have enough information about to assess their risk. Working to avoid these species going extinct is a challenging task, but there are teams of dedicated people in government, the private sector and the community that are taking up the challenge.  We will explore some of these challenges and the inspirational work being undertaken to fight against extinction in Queensland.

Dr Manda Page is the Director of Threatened Species Operations with the Queensland Department of Environment and Science. She has worked on threatened species recovery in various forms over the past 30 years.  Dr Page completed her PhD in ecology at the University of Queensland then continued as an academic, teaching students about conservation. She moved to Western Australia to take up a role with a private conservation organisation (Australian Wildlife Conservancy) then the Western Australian Government as their Principal Zoologist. She returned to Queensland in 2019 to take up this specialised threatened species role. Dr Page will share some of the highlights and challenges of her career and current role.

Photo: Dr Manda Page

REGISTRATION FOR 2021 PLATYPUS SURVEY: SUNDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER

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Dear platypus volunteers,

It is that time again, and despite Covid, we would like to conduct the annual survey. We have not missed a year of collecting snapshot platypus data since 2005! Please see the information flyer attached and note the deadline for registering.

As with last year, we will go directly to our observation sites, with no pre-survey gathering, and sadly, again there will not be a post-survey breakfast! It will be a simplified Covid-safe activity, but no less important or enjoyable!

If you have received this email but did not participate last year and would like to be involved this year, please let me know when you are registering and we can arrange a survey site for you.

If you are registering and participated last year, you will need to go to the same survey site again this year. Please reconfirm your site details when registering.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Cheers,

Chris

NOTE: If we happen to be in another lockdown on 12th September, we will cancel the event for this year.

Wildlife Matters!

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Threatened Species Profile – Koalas

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is probably Queensland’s most iconic threatened species, and we are lucky enough to have them living in our local area. You can’t mistake their unique features like a large round head, big furry ears and a big black nose. But sadly, koalas are threatened with extinction. In southeast Queensland, the reasons for this precarious situation are mostly attributed to loss of habitat but they face other threats locally such as being hit by cars, attacked by dogs and disease.

A new Koala Conservation Strategy was released in 2020 by the Queensland government to direct and better coordinate recovery actions. One of the actions in the Strategy is to have improved koala habitat mapping so that important habitat can be protected. There is core koala habitat throughout our local area with some of it classed as Koala Priority Areas, which are afforded the highest protection because they are considered important to safeguard koala populations. If you want to know whether your property is mapped as core koala habitat you can request a property report or use the interactive mapping available on Queensland Globe: (https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/land/management/vegetation/maps/map-request)

In addition to providing important koala habitat locally, we also host the Moggill Koala Rehabilitation Hospital, which specialises in treating and rehabilitating koalas for return to the wild. They are also trialling a new Chlamydia vaccination to beat the devastating disease plaguing the koalas.

You can help support our local koala population by retaining large established trees, planting koala food trees, watching out for them on the roads at night, keeping dogs confined at night, and reporting sick or injured koalas. If you want to go koala spotting, we have recently recorded them in Anstead Bushland (see photo), Moggill Conservation Park, John Sprent Reserve and areas of Mount Coo-tha. Look out for them on Mt Crosby Road and Lake Manchester Road. If you’re looking for some koala-inspired day trips, check out the picnic areas and reserves around Wivenhoe Dam.

If you see a sick or injured koala, please call the hotline on 1300 ANIMAL (1300 264 625).

Manda Page

Anstead koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus)                       Photo: Manda Page

 

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Know Your Wildlife!

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How well do you know the local wildlife? You are invited to meet the Wildlife Identification Challenge!

Can you identify these three insects using the MCCG Digital Field Guides for Ladybirds?


These are all larval phases of ladybird species that help to control aphids, mealybugs and powdery mildew respectively on garden plants. The mealybug ladybirds are especially interesting because they camouflage themselves to look like their prey, so be careful when spraying or picking mealybugs off your favourite plants – you could do more harm than good!

ANSWERS:

(Top photo)  28-spotted Ladybird (Epilachna virgintioctopunctata) – photo Ed Frazer

(Middle photo)  Mealybug Ladybird (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri) – photo Ed Frazer

(Bottom photo)  Fungus-eating Ladybird (Illeis galbula)- photo Ed Frazer

 

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Platypus Update

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There has been a lot of activity with the Platypus in the past week.

The female near my hide has been emerging from her den most mornings and again late in the afternoon. She comes out for two or three dives and then retreats. She doesn’t travel far and before she comes out there is a lot of stirring of the water as she is probably rearranging the plug of earth she has at the entrance of her den. I think she is mainly just getting wet to keep the moisture in the nest as the eggs and young Puggles need to be kept moist. She probably feeds a little on her outings, but at this stage she is probably relying on the reserves in her tail to supply the rich milk she exudes from her belly for the Puggles to grow.

Platypus having a scratch. Platypus vary in colour but most have lighter colour underneath. Photo: Ed Frazer

The real activity has been from two males. I noticed the female going towards the den and there was quite a commotion not far away. Two Platypus were fighting near the edge of the creek and water was splashing everywhere. It went on for only a few minutes and then one swam along the surface at high speed up the creek. A few seconds later the other followed. It was very unusual to see three Platypus at the same time as they are usually very solitary animals. While I am pretty sure the female now has hatched her eggs, it appears the males are still searching out mates. Unlike the females the males swim very quickly in large hops of about 30 metres, mostly on the surface with a long bow wave. The females make several dives about 45 seconds apart with a stream of bubbles showing where they are feeding. The dives travel only a few metres and they are easy to trace with their bubble stream.

All up I think we have 5 Platypus in the two large pools along our property and it will be interesting to see how many are sighted in the MCCG Platypus Survey in September. The males cover a kilometre or two of the creek and use several dens in different places so there is no guarantee they will be around our area in the survey.

Azure Kingfishers digging out a nesting tunnel. Photo: Ed Frazer

Two Azure Kingfishers have been taking turns at digging out a nesting hole directly opposite my main hide. They do check out several possibilities, but this pair look serious about this hole behind a group of roots sticking out of the bank.

For more information on previous annual Platypus Surveys click here

Text and photos by Ed Frazer.

Wildlife Matters!

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What an interesting little bird the Latham’s Snipe is.  A migratory bird that breeds in Hokkaido Japan and travels south to Australia for feasting and sun.  They are quite secretive so you will be lucky to see one.  Read all about them in August’s Wildlife Matters written by Ed Frazer and published in The Bulletin.

Latham’s Snipe (Gallinago hardwickii) Photo: Ed Frazer

 

 

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Know Your Wildlife!

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Test your skills each month with MCCG’s Wildlife Identification Quiz!

You’ll find Know Your Wildlife towards the back of every month’s The Local Bulletin.  Answers can be found by searching in the MCCG Catchment Field Guides.

Here is the August quiz:

Can you identify these three native birds? Which of them are
wetland birds and which prefers drier areas?

1.

photo: Ed Frazer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.

photo: Ed Frazer

 

 

3.

photo: Ed Frazer

 

 

 

Answer:

  1. Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis)
  2. Lewin’s Rail (Lewinia pectoralis)
  3. Painted Button-quail (Turnix varius)

The Rails are wetland birds, whereas the Painted Button-quail prefers open, dry woodland.

 

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The Ladybird Catchment Field Guide is up!

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Over 30 ladybirds (and some larvae and pupa) are featured in the latest MCCG catchment field guide – who knew we had so many different species!

Much thanks to Ed Frazer for his keen eyesight, photography and identification skills producing this fabulous new field guide.  Click on the link to check it out.

Common Spotted Ladybird Photo: Ed Frazer

Platypus on the move

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It looks like a bumper year in Platypus activity in Gold and Moggill Creeks this year.

After several years of poor rainfall and little flushing out of the creeks, more consistent water flow has restored the aquatic habitat and the animals appear to be responding.

Platypus Photo: Ed Frazer

Ed Frazer has been monitoring part of Gold Creek that includes two large stretches about 400 metres long and 8 metres wide that were the local swimming holes in past years.

There have consistently been three breeding females in these ponds that have regularly been monitored in the annual Platypus Survey carried out each September. He suspects that they didn’t breed last year because of the poor condition of the creek.

“There has been a lot of activity up to mid-July with mating season starting” Ed said. “I regularly see the females feeding as late as 8am as they build up their condition for the egg laying and raising their two young. The good water conditions have resulted in a plenty of food, especially the Dragonfly larvae which I think is a major part of their food in our area.”

The females tend to move around the snags in the creek where there has been a considerable build-up of rotting down leaf matter where the insects feed. Luckily we haven’t had a strong flood in the creek that cleaned out this habitat as often has happened after a period of drought in the past. The females sighted had thick tails a sign of good condition for raising their young.

“The male Platypus behaviour is quite different at this time of year. I see them travelling through at impressive speed, sometimes on the surface, but often in shallow dives coming up for air every 45 seconds at a distance of about 30 metres. They are looking for mates at this time of year”.

By July 17 sightings suddenly ceased and Ed thinks that early egg laying had started and the females were in their dens incubating the eggs that take about 10 days to hatch.

In August the activity will slow down while the young are small and the females are using their reserves built up in the tails to supply food for the small puggles. 

By September the young will be more demanding and the females will be out more in the early morning and before dusk to keep up their food. This is when the MCCG Platypus survey is held while the activity is at its height.

There is plenty of other activity in the creek to watch while waiting for the Platypus to put in an appearance. There are a number of Striated Pardalotes building their tunnels in the banks of the creek this year as the soil is nicely moist from the recent rains. They are lining their nesting chambers with feathers and trying to out-compete their neighbours with their distinctive three note call.

Azure Kingfisher Photo: Ed Frazer

The beautiful Azure Kingfishers are flying rapidly along the length of the pools stopping to perch on overhanging branches ready to strike on any fish near the surface. Their activity seems to be co-ordinated with the Platypus as they appear to be taking advantage of the fish disturbed by the strenuous stirring up of the fish on the bottom of the creek. They too will start building their nesting chambers in the banks of the creek and they should have a good chance of raising 4 young with the ideal conditions this year. There is also a beautiful Grey Goshawk that patrols along about 2km of the creek looking for prey just under the overhanging trees.

Grey Goshawk Photo: Ed Frazer

There are a lot of good photo opportunities around the local creeks and MCCG holds its annual Photography Competition in October each year, so a good turnout should be expected after two lean years of near drought.

 

Words and all photos by Ed Frazer