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Mating behaviours of the White-browed Scrubwren

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The tiny White-browed Scrubwren is only 12cm long. Yet  the male bird exhibits some remarkable behaviour when it comes to reproduction.

The White-browed Scrubwren is a cooperative breeder, with the male birds sharing reproduction rights based upon their paternity. 

Jim Butler’s latest issue of Feather Fascination explains the concept of Reproductive Skew Theory. This dictates how the male birds assume their place in the group’s hierachy and it also determines their mating frequency. 

Click here to learn more! 

Image courtesy of Ed Frazer

Changes to Nursery Plant Orders

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If you’d like to collect plants from our Nursery between late August and early October, please contact Damien on 0400 737 122 (rather than our usual contact, Bryan Hacker). 

Additionally, plants can be collected as usual at the Nursery when it is open – ie: first and third Mondays of each month.


Our native Moreton Bay Fig – Ed Frazer

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Our native Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) makes a wonderful habitat and is one of the best food resources for a large number of birds, insects and flying foxes.

We have a number of them, but one, deep in an area of native bush, has not been touched since it was logged for Red Cedar about 100 years ago.

It is a beauty! It has a huge crop of fruit, usually in February, and another crop in winter.

This tree started life as a seed deposited by a bird on a tree the loggers probably didn’t want. The dead tree is still visible. It was a Eucalyptus about 80cm in diameter at its base. The fig seedling grew up and strangled the Eucalyptus and now the Moreton Bay Fig has a massive buttress and at chest height it is more than a metre through and more than 30 metres tall. It has a huge canopy and stands well clear of the other trees.

The Fig attracts masses of flying foxes that come in at dusk and feed noisily right through the night. During the day the birds take over and the range is impressive.

Most interesting to me and my birder friends is a pair of the rarely seen Barred Cuckoo-shrikes that come in to feed on the fruit. They quickly feed on a number of the orange fruit and then move to a horizontal branch on a nearby tree where they sit quietly while they digest their meal. That takes about 25 minutes and they return to the Fig for another feed.

Barred Cuckoo-shrike – courtesy of Ed Frazer
 

They are joined by lots of Figbirds, Orioles, Rose-crowned Fruit Doves, Currawongs and Lewin’s Honeyeaters. Sometimes a flock of Topknot Pigeons comes in and also the odd Bowerbird.

Underneath the fig, Emerald Doves, Wonga Pigeons and Brush Turkeys pick up the figs dropped by the birds above them. 

Even when the Fig is not fruiting it provides a safe habitat for a lot of small birds including Superb Fairy-wrens, Spectacled Monarchs and Willie Wagtails. Possums also play in its  branches.

The figs have an interesting pollination method involving Fig Wasps and there are a few moth caterpillars and a Longhorn Beetle found on the foliage.


Olive-backed Oriole eating Moreton Bay Fig

Return to Bush Bites

Meet the Mammals of Moggill

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We’ve just released a new field guide!    

Mammals found in the Moggill Creek Catchment

To our knowledge, this is the first list of mammals in the area. It has been methodically crafted by our own local wildlife photographer, Ed Frazer.

There are nearly 50 photos in the list, taken by Ed and other MCCG members and local residents. Each listing includes a photo, together with a localised description of the animal.

The result is a comprehensive listing of mammals living beside us right here in the catchment!  

You will see native fauna of all shapes and sizes, animals with fur and animals with scales, water-dwelling and ground-dwelling mammals like this Red-necked wallaby with her joey:

Some photos are of nocturnal mamals, taken with a camera trap at night. And we have shots of feral animals as well.

You can open the guide from the Catchment Field Guides menu item on the home page. Click on each thumbnail to open a larger photo.

CAN YOU HELP US BUILD OUR LIST? 

If you have any photos you’re willing to share, we’d love to include them! Please send an email to Ed at:  [email protected]


Photo courtesy of Ed Frazer

Tick tock

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Time is ticking away and Spring is nearly upon us! Unfortunately, the warmer Spring weather often brings with it an increase in ticks and tick bites! 

We have found a video about these little parasites which feed on human and animal blood: 

Interestingly the creators claim that it doesn’t matter if the mouth parts of the tick are left behind when it is removed, provided that it is pulled straight out as close as possible to the surface of the skin and is not squeezed or twisted in the process.

The best way to avoid tick bites, however, is to spray the skin with insect repellent, which we always provide at our MCCG working bees.

Click here to view the video.

We have some additional info on our Ticks page and some useful tips and observations from Ed Frazer and Gordon Grigg in a Bush Bites article about ticks.  

THECA Forum 2018 – this Saturday!

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Each 12-18 months,  THECA holds a community forum. 

The aim of these day-long events is to discuss significant environmental issues. The forums are renowned for the quality of their content, with a number sessions delivered by expert speakers. 

This year’s forum will be held this Saturday 11 August at QCAT, Pullenvale. 

The theme is Citizen Science: Challenges and Benefits for Biodiversity Conservation. 

For more information about the day and to enquire about registration, please visit the THECA website.

*THECA – The Hut Environmental and Community Association Inc.

Two pigeons

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Which bird is responsible for the dispersal of around 70% of seeds in Australian rainforests?

Quite remarkable!

The name of this news item (“Two Pigeons“) provides a little clue, but perhaps this picture will  provide the answer for you:

To learn the answer whilst enjoying an entertaining read, please click here to see Jim Butler’s August issue of Feather Fascination.

What you need to know about droughts

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2018 has been the fourth – driest April to June period  since the Bureau of Meteorology started tacking records in 1900. 

Lower-level soil moisture this July 2018 has also been below average. 

ABC News has this week published an article which may be of interest. It provides the definition of a drought and describes in layman’s terms different types of droughts and the reasons behind our increasingly arid climate. 

You can read the article by clicking here: What you need to know about droughts:  why they happen and how they are defined.

You may also wish to view the Bureau of Meteorology’s recent Youtube video: August-October 2018 Climate and Water Outlook.  It reports on the reasons behind our most recent weather conditions.

And finally, you can monitor national rainfall deficiencies and soil moisture each month by viewing the Bureau of Meteorology Monthly Drought Statement.  

Keep Our Waterways Beautiful competition

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Approximately 10 million tonnes of litter ends up in our oceans EACH YEAR!!!

The theme of Keep Australia Beautiful Week 2018, which runs from Monday 20 August to Sunday 26 August is Marine Litter.

Get involved by participating in the Keep Our Waterways Beautiful competition.

For all the details, and to see more facts about marine litter, visit the Keep Australia Beautiful website.


Moggill Creek, Tuckett Street Park – photo courtesy of Janine Nicklin

Restoration Celebration

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Come along and meet like-minded volunteers as Brisbane City Council celebrates achievements in protecting and restoring Brisbane’s biodiversity. 

Enjoy a fun and informative morning featuring live music from local band Leopold’s Treat, a guided tour of Tennis Avenue Park and Corbie Park, and enjoy a range of presentations on the various aspects of restoration work.

Date:  Sunday 19 August 2018
Time: 8am-12 noon
Where: Tennis Avenue Park, 35 Tennis Avenue, Ashgrove
RSVP:  Bookings are essential! Book your spot through Eventbrite by Friday 10 August 2018. The password for Eventbrite is ‘ Restoration2018 ‘

For more information contact Andrew Wills, Creek Catchment Officer on 3407 0215 or email [email protected]