mccgadmin

What you need to know about droughts

by

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

by

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

by

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]

 

NEWSFLASH: McKay Brook Bushcare

by

The McKay Brook bushcare group usually holds its working bees on the first Saturday and third Sunday of each month.  

Unfortunately, due to commitments this month, our next Sunday working bee is scheduled for SUNDAY 29 JULY. 

This will be a morning working bee, commencing at 8.30am and we’ll be tending our Mirbelia Street site.

Please click here for all the details. For more info, please call Bryan Hacker on 3374 1468.

Huntington Bushcare date change

by

A MESSAGE FROM JIM:


Our July working bee would normally be held on Sunday 29th July, but it has been BROUGHT FORWARD to NEXT SUNDAY 22nd JULY.

We’ll do some more weed clearing and will meet at the extreme western end of Creekside St. park, opposite the bottom end of Stoneybrook St. 

I hope to see you all there!

Hilltopping!

by

Would you like to see some extraordinary shots of local Kookaburras doing unexpected things?

Then take a look at our latest Bush Bites article by Ed Frazer.

Ed takes us through some of his early morning encounters in Brookfield, which are very entertaining and quite extraordinary.

Open the article by clicking here. It’s a great read – scroll down to see the Kookaburras!

This is an enviable way to start the day!!!

If you have a wildlife encounter to share, or would like to tell us about your favourite part of our Catchment, please send an email to: [email protected]

Hilltopping – Ed Frazer

by

The steep hill behind our home runs north-south between the valleys of Gold Creek and Savages Roads. There is a continuous run of vegetation from our place past the Gold Creek Reservoir through to the Enoggera Forest Reserve.

I go up the hill just after day break for two hours nearly every day as it has been a where I found several birds that have been rarely seen or even new additions to the Moggill Creek Catchment bird list.

It is where I found the Hooded Robin, Paradise Riflebird, Oriental Cuckoo including the rare hepatic morph, Barred Cuckoo-shrike, Wompoo Fruit-dove and several other interesting species. In fact, it was up on the hill that I laid claim to the first sightings in our catchment of the Superb Fruit Dove and Red-capped Robin. (Click on the links to read about these sightings back in 2017.)

I believe the ridge with its tall Ironbarks and Spotted Gums is a stopping off point for birds doing their North-South Migrations as many of my sightings of rare birds have been in the Autumn and Spring months.

Chance encounters with these birds as they are flying through don’t happen every day so it involves a lot of patient observing, but is far from boring. There are plenty of resident birds and I have been lucky to observe some interesting behavior while watching for the rarities.

One day I had four fully coloured Red-backed Fairy-wrens showing off to a group of females. Two of them were trying to out smart their rivals by holding in their beaks the petals of the wild Red Salvia that was flowering in the area. I assume that the females go with the male that has the most bright red.

I have had my most exciting encounters with raptors at the top of the hill as they fly much closer, often even between the trees. The resident Wedgetail Eagles are huge and spectacular that close and I’ve also had memorable close encounters with a White-shouldered Kite, a close-up of a Pacific Baza eating a Giant Stick Insect, a Square-tailed Kite, a Peregrine Falcon, a nesting pair of Grey Goshawks and a pair of Sparrowhawks.

One old tree is the regular nesting hole for a pair of Wood Ducks. The eggs are laid in a hole 15m high and they come back every day at the same time when the female lays another egg while the male sits in a nearby  tree making soft noises that I never hear them making any other time. I fantasize one day I’ll be lucky enough to photograph the newly hatched ducklings jumping down 15m just like they do in Attenborough films.

One of the most interesting encounters was with a Kookaburra. They are always present, but this day this one seemed to behaving rather differently. I trained my camera on it because nothing better was around. What he was watching was a bat it had disturbed that was flying around erratically between the trees. I had never realized a Kookaburra could move so fast because next thing he had it in his beak.

I looked up the Kookaburras in the ultimate bird reference book, Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB) and it was interesting to read of the wide range of insects, snails, birds, snakes, small mammals and frogs Kookaburras eat. But HANZAB only reported “unconfirmed report of eating bats”. Well now it is confirmed!

First  known confirmation of a Kookaburra eating a bat!

A Kookaburra with a tree snake.
HANZAB says snakes over 1.2m haven’t been confirmed as prey.
This one would be close to exceeding that. It flew off so I never saw if it managed to eat it!

Another activity I have at the crest of the hill is watching the male butterflies of a number of species Hilltopping. This is the term the Butterfly enthusiast refer to when the males, after they have had a feed on the flowers lower down, move to the top of the hill and search for females that come up to mate. They seem to never stop flying which is a problem for photography, but interesting to watch!

Luckily we have both the Eastern and Western sides of the ridge and I have found that the butterflies and the birds tend to move sides depending on which is the sheltered one.

I am almost always accompanied by the Red-necked Wallabies and I occasionally hear the thump of a Pademelon. Echidnas and bandicoots are present too, but I only see their burrowings during the day.

The ridge always has a story to tell and it is a very peaceful (apart from the wonderful dawn chorus) and relaxing way to start the day.

Drama in the backyard

by

MCCG Chairman Jim Pope has shared some photos of an event which unfolded in his backyard recently.

We’ve added it to our Bush Bites series of articles.

What was it all about?

Perhaps this photo taken by Ed Frazer will give you a hint of the animal involved! 

Carpet pythons mating – Ed Frazer 

Click here to open the list of Bush Bites articles. (Jim’s article is currently at the top of the list.)

Drama in the backyard – Jim Pope

by

MCCG Chairman Jim Pope has shared these photos taken in his garden on 4 July 2018. 

They show a carpet python (Morelia spilota) devouring an  unsuspecting Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala). 

The python had caught and was constricting the bird on the pathway next to Jim’s house. Over a period of about 2 hours it gradually swallowed the bird head first. 

Jim thinks that the python may have been slightly injured in the battle, but it soon disappeared into the bushes after it had consumed the bird.

 


For more info about pythons, visit the Queensland Museum website. 

To read up on Noisy Miners, which are sometimes referred to as Mickey Birds, check our Digital Field Guide. 

Return to Bush Bites

Savvy survival

by

Around 50% of the nests of the tiny Brown Thornbill are raided.

This enterprising little bird has developed some amazing strategies to avoid its many natural predators. 

The latest issue of Jim Butler’s Feather Fascination provides a really interesting insight into the life of the Brown Thornbill.

Click here to learn more!