Wild BNE meet-up: Oxley Creek Common

Double-barred finches (Taeniopygia bichenovii).

Oxley Creek Common is regarded as one of Brisbane’s premier birdwatching locations, with over 200 species recorded at the site. On Saturday 22nd September, I am offering to host a walk for a group of people who would like to spend the afternoon at this beautiful reserve, exploring the wetlands, farm margins and wooded areas for as many fascinating birds, animals and plants as we can find. The pace will be leisurely and along a flat gravel path, but the total distance walked may be as much as five kilometres.

On my recent visits to the Common, I’ve been fortunate to see a variety of raptors, including black kites (Milvus migrans), white-bellied sea-eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster) and black-shouldered kites (Elanus axillaris), and hopefully some of these will be present on the day. Flocks of brown quail (Coturnix ypsilophora) are also easily seen now that the grass is so dry and sparse, especially as the day turns to dusk. There will also be interesting trees and insects that I can point out to those who are interested. For more examples of what we might see on this walk, visit Wild BNE’s Facebook page and view the posts I’ve shared in the past month.

Plain tiger (Danaus chrysippus).

Situated just past the Brisbane Markets on Rocklea’s Sherwood Road, Oxley Creek Common is about a 20-25 minute drive south-west of the Brisbane CBD. The walk will be held in the late afternoon to allow for good photography light on the fields and lagoons, and numbers will be capped to about a dozen people at most.

Date: Saturday 22nd September 2018
Time: 3:30pm – 5:30pm
Distance: 5km on a flat, gravel surface

Whether you’ve visited the reserve a hundred times before or if it’s something new to you entirely, whether you’re passionate and knowledgeable about particular organisms or whether you’re coming along to learn something, shoot me an email at wildbne@gmail.com to register your interest.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Cheers,

Christian

Australian pelicans (Pelecanus conspicillatus) on the appropriately named Pelican Island.

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