Twenty-two
Toowoomba Field Nats and nine U3A Birdwatchers from Pittsworth came together
for our outing on a glorious winter’s day. The excursion was led by Alistair
Silcock, local historian, birdwatcher and natural-ist, who tailored the outing
to cater for the varied interests of our group. We met at 8.45am at the
Irongate Nature Conservation Reserve where we enjoyed a leisurely walk. This is
a remnant of the vegetation which was once predominant in this area of the
Downs. There are three distinct vegetation groups in the reserve based on the
Mountain Coolabah (E.Orgadophila), Brigalow
(Acacia harpophylla) and Belah (Casuarina cristata).
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| Yarramalong Weir |
After morning
tea, we travelled in convoy to Yarramalong Weir, with a stop at Brookstead en route.
The journey took us off the beaten track, affording us an opportunity to gain
an insight into the scale of agriculture on broad-acre cotton and grain farms.
We noticed a variety of raptors, confirming the presence of plentiful mice in
the paddocks and road verges. After arriving at Yarramalong Weir we had a walk
beside the Condamine River which, after recent rain was flowing well. Sightings
of water birds, finches and honeyeaters confirmed this as a favourite spot for
birds; however a mid-week excursion with less human activity would no doubt
yield more sightings.e
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| Koala in Grey-topped box E. moluccana at Kincora |
After a relaxing lunch, we continued to the private
property of Tania and David Garratt at Kincora. Tania has been actively
creating a bird and insect haven in her home garden. About 14 years ago she and
David discover-ed that they had a population of koalas on their property and
they began planting trees suitable for koala food and habitat. We were
fascinated to find one koala in a very small Grey-topped Box (E. moluccana) near the house and another
well camouflaged koala in a more advanced tree further from the house. Tania
has noticed koalas in other planted eucalypts including Yellow Box (E. melliodora), Poplar Box (E. populnea), Forest Redgum (E. tereticornis), Black Ironbox (E. raveritiana) and remarkably, the
local eucalypt, Mugga Ironbark (E.
sideroxylyn) which is seldom recognised as a preferred food tree for
koalas. Tanya and David’s ambition is to create a corridor of koala-friendly trees all the way to the rivcr which is about five kilometres away. This will require a co-operative community effort.
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| Pied Butcherbird, Gunbower Road cemetery |
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| Xanthoria sp. Sunburst lichen at Irongate |
After leaving
Tania and David’s property, Alistair led some of us to a nearby cemetery in
Gunbower Road. This little cemetery is of historical interest. The Kincora
School was also established on this site in 1878 and closed in the WW2 era. The
cemetery continued as the Stirling family private cemetery. They were the early
Scottish settlers, whose homestead was called “Gunbower”. It was interesting to
see such a tiny cemetery surrounded by cropland, with its grand Nineteenth
Century headstones, as well as the more recent columbarium honouring the
descendants of the district’s first settler farming family.
Most
memorable and of naturalist interest was the rising of perhaps 200 cockatiels
(quarrions) from the trees adjacent to the cemetery. We had been aware of
perhaps 20 of them in a dead tree in afternoon sunlight – but with the movement
of a raptor in the skies about 300 meters away, all the cockatiels rose in one
movement and settled in trees across the road.
Thank you Alistair for planning and providing us with such
an informative and enjoyable Naturalist outing.
http://stuff4petz.com/types-of-conures/ Details on the conure parrots we saw at
Yarramalong Weir.
Bird list for Irongate
compiled by Nicci Thompson
Striped Honeyeater,
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Weebill, Yellow
Thornbill, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Grey Fantail,
Torresian Crow, Eastern Yellow Robin, Pale-headed Rosella (Jean Gundry and Len
Mengel).
Bird list for Yarramalong Weir compiled by Nicci Thompson
Maned Duck, Australian White Ibis, Royal Spoonbill, White-necked Heron,
Australian Pelican, Australian Darter, Black Kite, Whistling Kite, Nankeen
Kestrel, Galah, Pale-headed Rosella, Superb Fairywren, Noisy Miner,
White-plumed Honeyeater, Striated Pardalote, Pied Butcherbird, Australian
Magpie, Australian Golden Whistler, Rufous Whistler, Aust-ralian Raven, Common
Myna, Double-barred Finch, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin, Pacific Black Duck (Jean
Gundry ).