Outing Report - 4 September 2022, Western Escarpment Parks Toowoomba

Members met at the Cranley Escarpment Park. This is a large remnant bushland reserve on the north-west outskirts of Toowoomba with a two kilometres circuit walk along a wide path. Sadly, we could call it a weed reserve for it contains ‘good’ stands of lantana, tree pear and privet. It has been suggested that Governor Phillip was responsible for the introduction of the cactus to start a cochineal industry: red dye was needed by the British army for their uniforms and the cochineal beetle, which feeds on certain species of cacti, was the source of a vivid red dye. (A good ‘read’ is A Perfect Red by Amy Butler Greenfield).

It was good to see some flowering native groundsel Senecio species, and the Soap Tree Alphitonia excelsa was in fruit. A wattle tree had many galls with grubs chomping their way through the galls. 

Probably Trichilogaster sp.
(a small genus of Chalcid wasps that 
are gall-formers on Australian acacia.)

What the park lacked in native vegetation it made up for in bird life. Twenty-nine species were seen and most obvious were the large number of Grey Fantails moving in front of us as we walked.

Our second stop was John Trousdell Park at Cotswold Hills Estate. John George Trousdell came to Australia from Ireland in 1865 and farmed in the Meringandan area. He was one of the earliest settlers in that region. Lunch is a time for eating, chatting, and looking: an arboreal termite mound took our interest as did the kookaburras; Noisy Miners were nesting in the small bunya pine. The park has a short (1.2 kilometre) loop with challenging slopes down and up. Again, interesting vegetation was in short supply, but birdlife was varied. A small muddy dam was occupied by a group of Wood Ducks and the highlight on the path was the Variegated Fairy-wrens and one Superb Fairy-wren.

Bird Lists

Cranley Escarpment Park

Crested Pigeon, Australian White Ibis, Straw-necked Ibis, Black Kite, Galah, Rainbow Lorikeet, Pale-headed Rosella, Pheasant Coucal, Laughing Kookaburra, Speckled Warbler, White-throated Gerygone, White-browed Scrubwren, Brown Honeyeater, Noisy Friarbird, Noisy Miner, Striated Pardalote, Australasian Figbird, Golden Whistler, Eastern Whipbird, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Pied Currawong, Australian Magpie, Pied Butcherbird, Grey Butcherbird, Grey Fantail, Crow (? Australian Raven/Torresian Crow), Eastern Yellow Robin, Silvereye, Red-browed Finch, Double-barred Finch.

John Trousdell Park

Australian Wood Duck, Straw-necked Ibis, Little Pied Cormorant, Masked Lapwing, Galah, Pale-headed Rosella, Laughing Kookaburra, White-throated Treecreeper, Superb Fairy-wren, Noisy Miner, Australian Magpie, Australian Magpie, Willie Wagtail, Australian Pipit.

Redwood Park Open Day

The display before the rain came

Friends of the Escarpment Parks held an open day at Redwood Park on Sat 3 March. TFNC was there with a display. The day started cloudy which gradually turned into heavy showers, but we all had a good time.

Lesley & John set the stand up and were joined by Ben, Jean and Glenda with Angie helping to pack up. Other members who dropped by were Neil & Helen, Joan, Al & Helen, Genevieve & Mary Ann,  & Michael.

Toowoomba Bird Observer, Mick, leading the bird walk

The first walk of the day was for the birds and they had a fairly dry time with enough activity to keep them happy. Birds were definitely very active with Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos flying over the picnic area, Black-faced Monarchs calling from across the creek, and Silvereyes and Thornbills twittering in the bushes close to the display. 

Meanwhile Trish Leehong had turned up with her animals, and she and Jean got into feeding the young puggles while our favourite P4 is now old enough to feed herself.

Puggles feeding time

P4 eating termites

Heavy showers didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm and the other activities were as popular as the puggles. Dr Don Sands had everybody enthralled on the butterfly walk even though we didn't see one butterfly! 

Rain didn't dampen the enthusiasm

And the rain stopped so that we could all enjoy the bbq.
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Long Live the Field Nats! Our 60th Anniversary Weekend

At the tree planting

The fun started on Friday evening with a re-enactment of the first meeting held in November 1951. Ernie & Ben played the roles of President and Secretary respectively with other members playing minor parts. Diane P's script made sure there were a few laughs. Then Neil gave a good impression of a 1950s learned gentleman by the means of using a jacket and tie to change from a 21st century learned gentleman. He gave Keith Walker's talk of  "How to Study Birds" also given on that august night sixty years ago. Neil commented on the changes in our way of studying birds since then. All this was followed up with the film shown at our Club's first general meeting, "Wildlife in Bushland", kindly given to the club by Stephen Fleay, David Fleay's son. There was quite a crowd with visitors, and past members and it was a very convivial night.

Sunday was also a day of nostalgia. We met at Olcott Hall in Russell Street where Ernie gave us some history of the place, and TFNC's connection. Pastor Nick was there to allow us to look at the upstairs room where our Club had its beginnings.

From there we went on to the Bicentennial Waterbird Habitat for a lovely morning tea in the sunshine.

Neil recounting the history of the Bicentennial Waterbird Habitat

At 10.30 am precisely we planted our Grass Tree, Xanthorrhoea australis. Not only our logo but a symbol of longevity, just like Toowoomba Field Naturalist Club Inc. By then more Natters had joined us and we were quite a crowd.

Planting the Xanthorrhoea

In 1951 the Field Nats went to a property in Middle Ridge on the outskirts of Toowoomba. It probably belonged to Mr Robert Angus Moncrieff our first president who lived very close to Nielsen Park which was where we adjourned for a stroll and lunch on Sunday.

The original 3.25 hectares (8 acres) block was donated by 97 year old Mable (I believe this is the correct spelling) Nielsen in 1990 to the State Government with Toowoomba City Council acting as trustee as long as the land is utilised as a park. In 2005 two more blocks to the north were acquired making the park a reasonable bushland reserve. The park contains some of the oldest trees in Toowoomba and also part of the old bullock trail up the range. 

Lunch at Nielsen Park

Nielsen Park is close to the escarpment so there were plenty of birds, and we even glimpsed some of the local wallabies. Although as with all our bushland the exotic weeds are prevalent, there was plenty of natural bush to keep the botanists happy. It was a very pleasant pre-lunch walk. Lunch was a very social time with even more members arriving, and Ben spoke about his link to Angus Moncrieff.

We all agreed it had been a delightful day. Our thanks go to the 60th Anniversary Committee who made the celebrations such a success. Hip, hip, hooray!   


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Photos by Cheryl & Phil, and Di T.

Mt Peel Reserve & Federation Park - July

This reserve on the south-western side of Toowoomba is a remnant patch of eucalyptus and acacia woodland. Many of the Yellow Box Eucalyptus melliodora were in flower and one tall tree in particular was heavily blossomed with Rainbow & Little Lorikeets and Noisy Friarbirds making a cacophony of sound as they fed in the high canopy. Nearer the northern peak Scarlet Honeyeaters were in abundance whereas the southern peak attracted a flock of 50+ Silvereye. Tricia and I thought we heard Speckled Warblers but they were elusive and we gave up the search.

Federation Park was a perfect place to lunch on a windless day, with a short walk afterwards and a good sighting of a Fan-tailed Cuckoo.

Setting out 

Yellow Box flower

Golden Orb-weaver

Reserve – Crested Pigeon, Cockatiel, Rainbow Lorikeet, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Musk Lorikeet, Little Lorikeet, Pale-headed Rosella, Laughing Kookaburra, Variegated Fairy-wren, White-browed Scrubwren, Spotted Pardalote, Striated Pardalote, Noisy Miner, Scarlet Honeyeater, Noisy Friarbird, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Rufous Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush, Grey Butcherbird, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Grey Fantail, Torresian Crow, Silvereye, Mistletoebird, Double-barred Finch.
Federation Park – Spotted Dove, Galah, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Striated Pardalote, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Grey Butcherbird, Grey Fantail, Magpie-lark, Common Myna, Double-barred Finch.  

April - Snail Trail

Boyce Gardens, Toowoomba
Here are the Toowoomba Nats fascinated with the snail hunt led by Snail Whisperer, John Stanisic. 

We learnt much more about snails than we ever thought possible, such as the semi-slug without a full shell. Also that Australian native snails and slugs don't attack our garden. 
It was lots of fun and we came away more careful about treading on the leaf-litter.

Natters, checking out the snails

Semi-slug above with snail below

Glen Lomond and Duggan Parks, 06 February 2011

 

           Waterfall at Hell Hole Gorge

 Following an early thunderstorm, the weather cleared up beautifully and a good  number of naturalists snaked through the wet grass out onto the ridge that forms the southern boundary of Glen Lomond Park. This gave us an excellent view into Hell Hole Gorge and the rare sight of a sparkling stream cascading over the rock face at the top of the Gorge. This vertical cliff is attractively dotted with ferns whilst the steep slopes flanking it are covered with the ubiquitous lantana. The shady areas on the floor of the Gorge have nice patches of rainforest but also a fair amount of privet. Butterflies were more abundant than birds (at least until our President arrived!). Sharp eyes also discovered a variety of attractive spiders.

On to Duggan Park for morning tea and a very informative walk, and talk on the work done by Friends of Escarpment Parks. More birds and butterflies, a preying mantis (probably the Garden Mantis Orthodera ministralis), a large stick insect and again numerous spiders.  Neil.

          Skipper on a dandelion, Glen Lomond Park

Members' Combined Lists

Bird List for Glen Lomond:

Grey Goshawk, Pheasant Coucal, White-throated Treecreeper, Fairy-wren sp.(heard but not seen), Brown Thornbill, Striated Pardalote, Lewin's Honeyeater, Eastern Whipbird, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Cicada-bird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Spangled Drongo, Grey Shrike-thrush, Willie Wagtail, Leaden Flycatcher, Silvereye.

Bird List for Duggan Park:

Brush Cuckoo, Galah, Rainbow Lorikeet, Pale-headed Rosella, Laughing Kookaburra, White-throated Treecreeper, Variegated Fairy-wren, White-browed Scrubwren, Lewin's Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Eastern Whipbird, Pied Currawong, Grey Fantail, Eastern Yellow Robin, Silvereye, Red-browed Finch.

Butterfly List for both parks:

Orchard Swallowtail Papilio aegeus, Lemon Migrant Catopsilia pomona, Black or Common Jezabel Delias nigrina, Caper White Belenois java, Common Brown Heteronympha merope, Glasswing Acraea andromacha, Meadow Argus Junonia villida, Common Crow Euploea core, Lesser or Native Wanderer Danaus chrysippus, Wanderer or Monarch Danaus plexippus, Blue Tiger Tirumala hamata, Small Green-banded Blue Psychonotis caelius.

Spider List for both parks:

Dewdrop Spider Argyrodes antipodianus, Jewel or Spiny Spider Austracantha minax, Golden Orb-weaver Nephila edulis.

Natting in the Rain - Picnic Point Outing

TFNC and ANN visitors.

The TFNC crowd came out in force to welcome our visitors from the Australian Naturalists Network, and it was great to see members who can’t always get to our outings. Luckily the weather brightened slightly and so we went ahead with the Picnic Point walk. The Fantail walk has great views out to Tabletop and further east. The flowering vines were particularly noticeable.

Smilax

australis, Barbed Wire Vine

Lunch was also at Picnic Point, and Ed gave a short talk about the history of the Australian Naturalists Network and a vote of thanks to TFNC. The rain got heavier at this point so we abandoned the afternoon program and voted to go to the Cobb and Co Museum where the "Butterfly Man from Kuranda" exhibition was on. We all had a great time.

There were plenty of birds on the outing, but only a few species. The overcast to rainy weather meant they were very active and noisy. Walking down the escarpment makes great viewing as you are above or looking out to the high canopy. Some of the birds are locals, so our interstate and overseas visitors were either getting rare sightings or first sightings. These included Pale-headed Rosellas that came down to the small dam at the end of Tobruk Drive, and the male Red-backed Fairy-wren in all his finery. However the bird of the day and the one that excited our Japanese visitors the most was the Striated Pardalote going in and out of his nesting burrow in the cutting at South Street.

Members’ Bird List - 22 species: Australian Brush-turkey, Pacific Black Duck, Rainbow Lorikeet, Pale-headed Rosella, Laughing Kookaburra, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Grey Fantail, Torresian Crow, Red-backed Fairy-wren, Variegated Fairy-wren, White-browed Scrubwren, Spotted Pardalote, Striated Pardalote, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, White-throated Honeyeater, Noisy Friarbird, Eastern Whipbird, Silvereye, Red-browed Finch.

Clematis aristata, Old Man's Beard