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Platypus watch August 2020 – Ed Frazer

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In November 2019, Ed Frazer introduced us to a young Platypus family who also call his property home. As breeding season commences in August 2020, Ed updates us on his playful residents:

It has been 12 months since I started monitoring the platypus in the two big pools in Gold Creek, which borders my property in Adavale St.

I have regularly observed and photographed the two youngsters that were bred in the 2019 season. They emerged from the den in November 2019. One was attacked and wounded and it has now repaired its wounds.

One of the platypus hatchlings from late 2019

 

I haven’t seen or its sibling since July 3, and my overall sightings have greatly reduced since the end of June. Before then I regularly saw platypus every day.

Lately their behaviour has been different, with the platypus travelling large distances between each dive. Their usual feeding pattern is a series of short dives about 45 seconds apart or feeding half out of the water where the leaves build up along the edge of the creek without any rapid change of position.

I assume the change of behaviour is due to the start of the breeding season.

Some of the large platypus I have observed have possibly been males travelling the creek to find mates.

I am pretty sure the youngsters from last year have been driven off, probably by their mother who is preparing for the next family. She would not be inclined to tolerate the youngsters as from now to November as she will need all the food she can get to produce the huge quantities of milk she will need for the next batch of growing babies.

I think last year’s youngsters will have moved to find un-populated territories of their own.  I did see what could have been one a few days ago in the pools near the junction of Gold and Moggill Creeks. I would not be surprised if they work their way to repopulate the upper reaches of Moggill Creek.

Our last MCCG Platypus Survey showed that there were no platypus in this part of Moggill Creek because the water level had been depleted by drought and excessive pumping. Hopefully this year will see a return of the platypus to the area.

The female that raised the two last season has used the same birthing den for many years. It is directly below one of my hides so I can keep a good track of her. Even if I don’t actually see her, I can often detect her movements from the bubble trail she often leaves on the surface.

I did not detect her between July 5 and July 20. I think she will have laid her eggs and is now curled up in the den hatching them. Even after they hatch she will only leave the den for a short time to feed and that will probably be in the middle of the night so I doubt I will see her over the next month.

The platypus mother, November 2019

By September the young will have grown enough that she will have to go out feeding regularly and I’m sure when we have the 2020 Platypus Survey in early September she will be observed as she has been nearly every year. Last October she was out late in the mornings and once I saw her at 2pm on an overcast day.

Hopefully I will see the young again as they emerge from the den in November. It’s quite likely they will add to the population of platypus we are monitoring with our Annual Survey of the Moggill Creek Catchment.

Ed’s previous Platypus observations:

Platypus pictorial December 2019

Will our platypus families survive?

Family life Platypus style! November 2019

To find out how to register for the 2020 survey, follow this link: PLATYPUS SURVERY Sunday 13 Sept – Register NOW!

All photos are the copyright of Ed Frazer

Know Your Wildlife!

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

You’ll find Know Your Wildlife towards the back of every month’s The Local Bulletin.

We will provide the answers to each quiz right here in the first or second week of every month!

So, do you have your answers ready for the August quiz?  The correct answers is:

Number 3, Channel-billed Cuckoo.

ps: If you need some help, we’d recommend searching our digital field guides! Open them from the side menu:

These alphabetical lists provide a wealth of local information about wildlife. They feature thumb-nail images which expand to a larger view when you click upon them.

Keep an eye out for next month’s quiz!

The tale of two non-native grasses. Talk by Prof. Jennifer Firn

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On the evening of Thursday 30th July, MCCG held its first Public Meeting of 2020 in Brookfield Hall. Prof. Jennifer Firn from QUT gave us a very interesting talk on the subject ‘The tale of two non-native grasses’. Prof. Firn, who is an environmental ecologist, proved to be a very enthusiastic and engaging speaker. She told us that there are approximately 2200 non-native (exotic) grasses that have been introduced to Australia since white settlement, far outnumbering the native species. Some of them have agricultural benefits, but many have spread into conservation areas where they have a negative impact on biodiversity and traditional aboriginal methods of land management. The talk was greeted enthusiastically by the audience, which was limited by the need to comply with covid-19 restrictions.

            

Photo Caption: Jim Pope presenting a gift to Prof. Firn in appreciation of her talk.

Councillor Greg Adermann supports MCCG

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Councillor Greg Adermann, the new Councilor for Pullenvale Ward, attended a meeting of the MCCG Management Committee held on Thursday 23rd July at our headquarters, ‘The Cottage’ at Gold Creek Dam. We presented him with a copy of the book that was produced in 2017 for the 20th Anniversary of MCCG and to tell him about some of our current plans. Cr Adermann expressed very strong support for all of our work and we hope to work with him on some future projects to enhance the local environment and engage more of the local community in our activities.

Photo Caption: Cr. Adermann at the MCCG committee meeting. Left to right: Malcolm Frost (Vice-Chairman); Alan Walmsley (Treasurer); Dale Borgelt (Cottage Manager); Kathleen Walmsley (Secretary); Jim Pope (Chairman); Cr Adermann; Mike Humphreys; Gordon Grigg.

 

Reducing our use of rodenticides

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Australian birds of prey such as owls and raptors can be killed by internal bleeding when they eat rodents who have ingested rat bait.

In 2018 a Western Australian study found that 73% of southern boobook owls which were found dead had anticoagulant rodenticides in their systems.

Small mammals such as possums, antechinus and bandicoots can also fall victim to bait that has been laid out to attract and kill rats and mice, and even larger mammals like wallabies and kangaroos have been known to suffer from rodenticide poisoning.

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) is currently asking Australians for their views about the regulation of rodent poisons.

On their website, Birdlife Australia offers advice about minimising our use of rodenticides. They also invite you to take a pledge to leave Second Generation rodent poisons on the shelf.

For more information, please visit their website.

Yellow-footed antechinus in our catchment © Beck Bain

The MCCG Native Plant Nursery at Gold Creek Dam recently installed a Bard Owl nesting box in the hope of attracting a pair of barn owls to take up residence and help control rodents in an environmentally friendly way. Rats and mice continually cause damage to seedlings in the nursery. The nesting box was funded by part of a grant from Brisbane City Council that supports the operations of the nursery. Thanks to Andrew Wilson and Damien Egan for installing the box. We will keep you posted if any barn owls (or other native wildlife) take up residence!

Brisbane City Council Free Native Plants Program

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MCCG members have an advantage when it comes to planting out their properties. We provide free plants for our members, mostly grown at our Nursery from seed collected by volunteers, all year round.

Brisbane City Council also offers a variety of native plants to eligible residents, who can claim two free native plants each financial year (July to June).

Residents who have purchased a newly built home or moved into their owner-built home within the past 12 months in targeted suburbs in the West can claim four free plants.

For more information, head to the Brisbane City Council website.

If you’re a MCCG member, don’t forget our Nursery is stocked with a wide range of trees, shrubs and understorey plants all looking for a good home, and free to members.

A list of available plants is available here: Grasses and other Herbaceous Plants

For more info please email Bryan Hacker at:  [email protected]

AND HAPPY PLANTING!!!

Plastic free July – get involved!

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For instance: switch from shower gel to bars of soap.

Use leaf tea instead of tea bags ….

It’s that simple!

We can each make a positive and lasting impact on the environment.

The time to start is NOW!

To find out how, head to the Plastic Free July website.

Marine litter (taken by Bo Elde in Norway, 2020)
Image provided by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Do birds of a feather really flock together?

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In fact, birds of different species engage in mutual “mobbing” behaviour, usually to ward off predators.

In his latest issue of Feather Fascination,  Jim Butler describes calls exchanged in collaboration between Noisy Miners and Magpies. Remarkably, there is clearly a common code of communication between them.

And it appears that this innate understanding is global.

To find out more, head to Jim Butler’s Feather Fascination July 2020.

Research shows that the humble Noisy Miner communicates with other bird species – © Ed Frazer 

Know your wildlife?

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Test your skills each month with  Jim Butler's Wildlife Identification Quiz!

You'll find Know Your Wildlife towards the back of every month's The Local Bulletin.

We will provide the answers to each quiz right here in the first or second week of every month!

So, do you have your answers ready for the July quiz?  The correct answers are:

  1. Rose-crowned fruit dove
  2. Emerald dove
  3. Latham's Snipe.

ps: If you need some help, we'd recommend searching our digital field guides! Open them from the side menu:

These alphabetical lists provide a wealth of local information about wildlife. They feature thumb-nail images which expand to a larger view when you click upon them.

Keep an eye out for next month's quiz! 

WOW factor!

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That’s the best way to describe our latest newsletter for Winter 2020!

This issue has something to please everyone! It’s loaded with photos and great articles.

We meet our new PR Officer Sam Bayford-Brown who certainly hasn’t let the Corona Virus lockdown get in her way!

And another new member Dr Manda Page, who works for the Queensland Government, will educate us about threatened species here in the catchment.

Are you struggling with the scourge of Balloon Vine? Bryan Hacker can help you!  And he also profiles the native Binung Fern which is available for members from the Nursery.

As if that’s not enough, Bryan shares a lovely photo of a very special spider’s web.

Ed Frazer never fails to astonish with his dazzling photos. In this issue Ed’s shutter is focused on Scarlet Jezebel butterflies, their pupae and the adult butterfly – a great read and a feast for the eyes! Ed has also written a wonderful profile about longstanding MCCG member and horticulturalist Andrew Wilson.

Phil Bird brings us up-to-date on the number of frog species recently surveyed in the catchment. Have you heard of a Bleating tree frog? Go check out Phil’s article!

And our Chairman Jim Pope delivers a call to arms to double the area of protected land in Queensland from 8% to 17%.

GRAB A CUPPA AND HEAD TO OUR WINTER NEWSLETTER!!  Just click the link at the top right of your screen! You’ll be glad you did!

Our sincere thanks to Newsletter Editor Cathi Lawrence for delivering such a vibrant issue, and to our loyal and hard working contributors for their diverse and quality content. We acknowledge the skills and effort of so many MCCG members – we are indeed fortunate.

The stunning Scarlet Jezebel – © Ed Frazer