This baby turtle was found emerging from a nest in the woodchips surrounding the childrens play area in Tuckett St. Park.
It seems that the mother had laid her eggs in the soft layer of woodchips/sawdust right next to the play equipment.
Some kids in the play area found the turtle. They carried the youngster to the creek and safely released it.
It seems remarkable that it survived given the number of children (and adults) trampling all over the area!
We assume it is a baby Brisbane Short-necked turtle, but perhaps someone can confirm that!
If you know the species, please send us an email at: [email protected]
In our Summer Newsletter, Chris Read kindly shared his story about the soft release of a Feathertail Glider family from his property.
The story has a happy ending but there are some surprising encounters along the way!
We have now published Chris’s heartwarming story in Bush Bites and we have added some photos to accompany it.
Please click here to open it. It may leave you speculating!
If you have a catchment story you are willing to share for Bush Bites, please send an email to: [email protected]
FEATHERTAIL GLIDERS ARE THE MOST ATTRACTIVE ANIMALS – warm, energetic, bouncy, enormous eyes, a feather for a tail and able to curl up in the palm of hand.
They glide 20+m between trees. They are hard to find but are actually common in the Moggill Creek catchment.
Our neighbours about a kilometre away had been given a family of Feathertail Gliders that had been rehabilitated for by local Moggill wildlife carers for soft release back into the bush.
Soft releasing involves allowing the gliders to settle into the local environment in an aviary for a number of weeks. They typically feed on local flowering plants, mealworms, etc to build strength in readiness to be released back into the wild.
The aviary is then opened over a succession of nights, allowing them to explore the area but to return if desired for food and shelter during the day. This allows them to transition to fully wild animals quickly, but at their own pace.
But this time we struck an unlikely problem!
After a week or two, the local Boobook Owls (also very common) started visiting nightly. They would sit in front of our neighbour’s aviary and call loudly, surely attracted by the potential food.
It made for great photos of the Owls, but also made it impossible to release the gliders!
I was asked if we could move the gliders to my aviary (remember over a kilometre away) and release them away from the Boobooks.
Wonderful!! … I love gliders and although I had heard Bookbooks regularly calling in the distance, I had never heard them close to my house. After settling the gliders into my aviary, I kept them for two days and then planned to release them.
Soon after dusk on the planned release night, my daughter Nadia came to me and said that she could hear a scary blood curdling screaming sound in our back yard.
When we went to investigate we discovered an incredible family of five amazing Boobook Owls surrounding the aviary almost taunting the gliders to come out and play.
Not the night to release we decided, but I continue to ask myself some questions:
We released the gliders a few nights later and regularly hear the Boobooks in the distance. Now that the gliders have departed, the Boobooks are never as close or loud as the night of the planned release…..
In November 2017 I had another encounter with a cane toad, this time with a Cattle Egret.
I watched the Egret re-positioning the cane toad and swallowing it. It had quite a battle getting it down! You can see the bulge in its throat as it struggles to swallow such a large toad.
I went down to the site and checked to see if it had regurgitated it but there was nothing. It just went on poking in the grass for insects afterwards with no obvious problems as you can see in the last photo.
I had to take the photos into the sun but you can still see the action!
Would you like to see what’s been happening recently at McKay Brook?
Thanks to recent intermittent rainfall, our plantings from 11th November have established well and have only needed a single follow-up watering.
This Saturday 6 January we’ll be working further upstream where a tree has fallen across the grassed area. We’ll be controlling weeds along the margins, where we also plan to plant some Lomandras.
This area has established well and includes some peanut trees which are propagating on their own and deserve to be looked after!
Care to join us? Just park in Pamela Place around 2pm, look to your left (upstream) and you should soon find us!
Wear protective clothing (long-sleeved shirts, jeans, sensible shoes/boots), gloves and bring drinking water, a hat and some sunscreen. We’ll bring the refreshments!
For more info, contact Bryan Hacker on 3374 1468 or via email at: [email protected]
Please come if you can – we need lots of help!
… to find the answers to both these riddles, click here: Feather Fascination January 2018
If you’re intrigued by owls and birds of the night, then you must check our latest Bush Bites article!
Vicki and Paul Campbell share details of their encounters over many years with Boobooks and Barking Owls on their property.
Vicki’s stories are embellished by some wonderful photos taken by Paul .. just like this one!
Click here to read, learn and see more!
… but this is not the traditional way we think of Pheasants at Christmas!
On Christmas morning, Ed Frazer stepped outside his Brookfield property and came across a startling sequence of events.
As always, Ed’s camera was nearby and he has kindly shared the experience with us.
Please click here to see some amazing photos which demonstrate how Ed’s Christmas Day for 2017 started.
