Backyard Bit

Not exactly in the backyard, but just outside the front gate, I recently witnessed what I at first thought was a mating “dance” by two rainbow lorikeets. With heads bobbing, and with wings continually raised then lowered, they circled on the footpath for several minutes. When they at last flew away, I realised that they were “performing” around a dead lorikeet. The dead bird showed no sign of injury. It had possibly been hit by a car while flying low across the street, and, although fatally wounded, had been able to make its way to the footpath.

I have only once before seen a “ritual performance” by birds around a dead one of their species. This was by Indian mynas. I wonder if any other club member has witnessed similar bird behaviour.
                                                                                                      

 Article and photo by Michael Rooke

Outing report for Sunday 08 September: Highfield Falls Bushland Park

A good group of Field Nats turned up at the Barber Road entrance to Highfields Falls Bushland Park. We were joined by three young girls aged seven, four and almost three who were delightfully well behaved.

Oh, the wind! We were hopeful of seeing quite a few birds in the vicinity of permanent water, but Jan Veacock had some historic FN bird lists which suggested with such a wind blowing the sightings would probably not be great. The first part of the walk was through open eucalypt forest with an understory of grasses and Wombat berry vines Eustrephus latifolius. The latter had orange fruits attractive to birds; the tubers are reportedly edible and certainly eaten by wombats and other native root-eating mammals.

Turning a corner in the path we descended into the creek gully, the vegetation immediately became thicker and more varied and we were protected from the wind. It was otherwise a gloriously warm and sunny day. Although there was not a great volume flowing over the falls it was a pleasure to see and hear running water and the girls were fascinated with some long-legged ants with gasters raised over mesosomas or better as described to us “the black abdomen sat very close to the head and looked almost like a black backpack”. Further along the path there were steps leading down into the gully below the falls which we also explored. The steps terminated at a steep bank, so it was not possible to go further.

Pandorea pandorana

Our group then headed for Williams Park in Highfields for a comfort stop and the obligatory refreshments! Jan read out a delightfully apt poem which I believe will be reprinted in this newsletter. Klein Creek appeared totally dry, but the circuit walk was shady and the tree ferns still thriving. There were a few interesting plants as well, some of which illustrate this article. The Wonga Wonga Vine Pandorea pandorana is a common attractive climber. The flexible wood was used for making spears for woomeras in the Central and Western deserts. One of the trees, perhaps four metres tall was totally smothered in Headache – Vine Clematis glycinoides. If the leaves are crushed the resulting aroma can be inhaled to relieve headaches and stuffy noses but the sap can be an irritant and so must be washed off straight away. The Native Cherry Exocarpos cupressiformis is a semi-parasitic shrub with reportedly edible but astringent fruit and a food for various birds and caterpillars.

It is interesting to note that the Highfields Falls creek flows eastward toward the sea and the waters from Klein Creek – when it has any – drain inland.

Clematis glycinoides

Tree ferns

Wombat berry

Report and photos by Diana Ball

SPEAKERS REPORT: Friday 06 September : Christmas Island Bird ‘n’ Nature Week, 2018

Deb and Mike Ford gave a detailed presentation about their week on Christmas Island from 28 August to 04 September 2018. Commencing with general information about the island’s people, climate, geology, and history, the illustrated talk covered the various activities in which they had participated. Members were introduced to the expert guides who took small groups around the island, giving them insights and access to locations and information not available to the self-guided tourist. Each evening the guides spoke about their own particular research interest, association with Christmas Island, and ongoing conservation programs. 

Seabirds were a big drawcard, in particular the endangered, endemic, golden morph of the White-tailed Tropic-bird and the rare, endemic, Christmas Island Frigate bird and Abbott’s Booby. Great and Lesser Frigate birds, Red-tailed Tropicbirds, Red-footed Boobies, Brown Boobies, and the Common Noddy were all available in their hundreds.

There are only a few land bird species on the Island, but participation in the endemic Christmas Island Goshawk Research Program was an enormous privilege. Some birds, such as the endangered Emerald Dove are local sub-species of larger groups, others like the Christmas Island Hawk Owl are endemic, and a few, for example the White-faced Heron, are self-introduced to the Island. 

Although not on the Island at the time of the famous Red Crab migration, they were readily seen in the forests, as were Robber Crabs and freshwater Blue Crabs. The interesting breeding requirements of all three crabs were described, and their importance to the Island’s ecology. 

As with many small islands, there are threats from introduced species: Yellow Crazy Ants, Giant Centipedes, Giant African Land Snails, cats, rats, and snakes. The CI Blue-tailed Skink and Lister’s Gecko are extinct in the wild and they are the subject of active breeding programs, but the last CI Pipistrelle Bat, whose extinction was predicted, was recorded in 2009. The single most serious threat to the Island is from Yellow Crazy Ants.  They have reduced the Red Crab population from 100 million to 50 – 60 million and are slowly killing rain-forest trees through their farming of scale insects. Forming super-colonies with multiple queens they are probably impossible to eradicate, and the best that can be hoped for is to restrict their spread.

A fascinating destination: Chinese, Malay and mainland Australian cultures live happily side-by-side on this remote island now hoping to be able to rely on tourism with the winding back of phosphate mining and the closure of the detention centre. Try and get there!

(Report by Deb Ford)

Report on Outing to Muntapa Tunnel and Palms National Park - August 2019

On a mild, sunny winter’s day, 17 Field Nats members drove out towards Cooyar and met at the Muntapa Tunnel, just outside Cooyar. The tunnel is 287 metres long and is the longest straight railway tunnel in Queensland. The railway was developed for dairy farming, pig farming and the transport of coal and was completed in 1912 and officially opened in 1913. On this outing, we were ably led by Diane Pagel and Dougal Johnston.

South-western entrance

Dougal, who is a geologist, began by telling us that the location of the car park is, more or less, the highest part of the Great Dividing Range in this area, with one end sloping away to the east and the other towards the west. The actual area of the tunnel was chosen because the material was soft and therefore easier to tunnel through. He also pointed out the soil nearby, which was whitish, and had very little nutrient in it. The terrain is rocky and sparsely vegetated, comprising mostly of eucalyptus woodland. Having heard the story of the tunnel from Jan Veacock and having read two excellent information boards, we went along a track towards the south-western entrance of the tunnel. As we walked along a track at the bottom, which would once have been railway tracks, Dougal pointed out the variety of geological formations to be seen: volcanic agglomerate, and Marburg sandstone with volcanic rock on top. As Dougal mentioned, the rock in the tunnel cutting is mostly agglomerate of the Nutgrove Volcanic member. It is full of frag-ments like conglomerate, with many boulders of older meta-morphic rock caught up in it. As we approached the concreted tunnel through the semi-elliptical entrance (and the tunnel itself was of this shape), our voices disturbed the Bent-wing bats that were roosting inside, and we could see them flying around silhouetted by the light from the south-eastern entrance.

At morning tea break, Jan Veacock gave a brief history of the railway in the area - that it was 63 kilometres long from Oakey to Cooyar, that the Muntapa Tunnel was the only tunnel to pass underneath the Great Dividing Range. The height of the Range at Peranga is 459 metres, at the summit it is 646 metres and at Cooyar, 436 metres. The gradient was 1:55.

Rocks in the tunnel cutting (photo: Dougal Johnstone)

After morning tea, the Field Nats walked to the south-eastern entrance, down a specially constructed staircase. On the way, we stopped at the “once-was-Bake House”, and the School; only the perimeter logs seemed to have survived. Once again, on the way to the entrance, Dougal was able to give us a little talk on the geology of the area leading to the entrance. There was evidence of tuff in the cutting, as well as rocks which looked pitted but were the result of the softer material weathering over time. Either we had approached the entrance more quietly or the Bent-wing bats had got used to us, we did not see them flying around from the end of the tunnel. But at this entrance there was a stronger smell of bat droppings.

By the time we climbed back to the carpark, we were ready for some lunch that the Cooyar Pub was going to provide for us. At the Pub we were joined by Neil and Helen McKilligan, and the level of noise in our section of the dining room was ample evidence that members had a lot to talk about.

Piccabeen palms (photo: D. Johnstone)

After lunch we drove out of Cooyar to the Palms National Park, which is a tiny patch of remnant rainforest, full of tall piccabeen palms. Before the walk, Glenda Walter showed us photographs of the many fungi she had seen in the Park during a wet period. She warned us not to expect the same during this very dry period.

Small groups of members did the 650-metre circuit walk which led us past a waterlogged depression where the palms ruled. Along the track there was a magnificent 300-year old Grey Gum and some Bunya pines towering above all others. A noticeable feature that afternoon was the lack of bird sounds or any other form of wildlife. It seemed that ‘the dry’ might have affected the birds (or perhaps we were there at the wrong hour). On our return, Jan Veacock informed us that in November 1955, the Field Nats had reported sighting 52 birds, but on another trip in June 2004, only nine were sighted. Our trip was in early August and we saw very few birds also – six (see the list below): perhaps that should remain as our explanation!

After the walk people began to disperse, some making their way home immediately, others sat around at the Park for another cup of tea before departing for home. A very full and varied day it was, all thanks to Diane Pagel, Dougal Johnston, Jan Veacock and Glenda Walter.

(Report by Francis Mangubhai, with assistance from Dougal Johnston) 

Bird Lists compiled by Francis Mangubhai

Muntapa Tunnel: Fantail Cuckoo (heard), Noisy Miner, Rufous Whistler (heard), Striated Pardalote (heard), Magpie

The Palms National Park: Bar-shouldered Dove (heard), Lewin’s Honeyeater, Kookaburra, Yellow Robin, Pied Butcherbird, Thornbill.