Wild BNE

I’ve had such a good year exploring for wildlife! I really pushed myself into new territory, both figuratively as far as my nocturnal and underwater adventures went, and literally as I travelled to the USA. For this list of my favourite encounters, I have only included species that I’ve come across here in South-east Queensland, though rest assured that my time spent amongst black bears, alligators and hummingbirds made a huge impression on me!

Ring-billed gull, Corolla, North Carolina. Gulls have always interested me, perhaps because despite there being over fifty different species of them around the world, only one is familiar to me as a Queensland resident.

A female flatback turtle, covering her nest chamber with sand on Mon Repos Beach. I kicked off the start of this summer with a short break up at Bargara, where I had a fantastic time! I’ll get to all the interesting animals and plants I saw in a minute, but first, let me just say how much I liked the actual region. Bundaberg struck me as a city with the perfect mix of old and new; lovely heritage buildings and structures and a laid-back attitude are complemented by the modern conveniences of good roads, internet access and seven-days-a-week shopping. And while I can see new suburbs popping up here and there, the region isn’t suffering the same intense overcrowding that Brisbane is at present. I loved it!  And now back to the wildlife! Here are some of the creatures and places that will be living in my heart for much longer than my holiday lasted.  Sea turtles If there’s one animal that Bundaberg's Coral Coast is particularly famous for, it’s the loggerhead turtle (C...

Grey mangroves at the edge of Cassim Island. I love mangroves. I find them to be fascinating examples of adaptation, and admire the way they shape and influence entire coastlines and ecosystems.  Salt crystals on a yellow mangrove leaf. Here in South-east Queensland, we have seven species of them (eight, if you count a species of fern), so I also appreciate how beginner-friendly they are when it comes to plant identification, as there are not too many to sort through. Unfortunately, despite their immense environmental and economic value , mangroves are sadly not championed by the general public in the same way that rainforests, coral reefs and other ecosystems are. Governments and developers use this to their advantage, feeling comfortable in destroying coastal wetlands for the sake of marinas, canal estates and the like. A situation just like this is currently playing out in Cleveland, where a proposed development threatens Toondah Harbour and surrounds . Swamp ti...

A peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) flies over the rooftops on the Sunshine Coast. 2017 was a great year for adventures in the bush and encounters with incredible wildlife! Here’s some of the creatures, places and events that made an impact on me, and in some cases, the entire region:

One of the many adorable locals on the Bunya Mountains. It was my 34th birthday last month, and I celebrated it with a group of close friends out in the Bunya Mountains. I have only ever been to this place once before, as part of a weekend away with a birdwatching club when I was a teen. My memories of that experience are a little blurry with time, but I recall being enraptured by wallaby-packed hillsides, and an amazing sunrise. The wallabies— red-necked wallabies , to be precise—made a big impression on me this time as well! They’re everywhere on the mountaintop, whether it be in the National Park, in public areas or on private lawns! They’re also common here on the outskirts of Brisbane and in the surrounding shires, but locally they tend to be shy animals that are usually seen alone or in small groups. I suspect that their abundance and approachability at the Bunyas is a result of many generations of wallabies living there peacefully, with little to no hunting pressure or ha...

Encompassing a landscape quite unlike any other in South-east Queensland, Plunkett Regional Park is somewhere local nature enthusiasts should know. The landscape of Plunkett features a variety of sandstone outcrops, boulder formations, cliffs and caves.

Another year, another set of memories created with some of the most interesting wildlife on the planet, right here on Brisbane's doorstep. Among my twelve favourite wildlife sightings of the year, you'll notice more invertebrates this time around compared to previous lists; thank the array of amazing entomological field guides that are finally being published and are piquing my interest in this area. Without further ado, here are twelve fascinating animals I met this year:

As a subtropical city, Brisbane has a rich and visible frog fauna, with forty-one native species (and one cursed toad) calling it home. Familiar to most people would be that friendly windowsill giant, the green treefrog (Litoria caerulea) , and anyone with a garden pond would also perhaps be acquainted with the striped marsh frog (Limnodynastes peronii) . Sharing our suburbs and green spaces, however, are a whole host of other fascinating amphibians that many South-east Queensland residents may never notice or know much about. It’s a fair assumption to make, for example, that Kippa-Ring locals wouldn’t ever suspect that on balmy spring nights, patches of nearby sandy soil suddenly erupt with ornate burrowing frogs (Platyplectrum ornatum) . Nor would dog-walkers along Bulimba Creek deduce that among the streambank rubble on which their puppy plays lives a little fellow called the stony-creek frog (Litoria wilcoxii) , who turns a bright lemon-yellow colour when he’s ready for some ...

Book review Reed New Holland Publishing, 2002. It’s noon on a warm autumn day and I am driving south along Beaudesert Road towards the peripheral suburbs of Brisbane’s southside that remain largely a mystery to me. I have decided that not knowing the amphibian fauna inhabiting the suburb of Algester is a personal error that I simply must rectify. My favourite way to search for frogs is to go spotlighting on humid spring and summer nights, but I have left it a little late this year and doubt my chances at finding them now that the evenings have mercifully turned cooler. Instead, I am going to survey the local amphibian population in a way that is quite new to me, aided by a secret weapon sitting in the passenger seat next to me: Marion Anstis’s book, Tadpoles of South-eastern Australia: A Guide With Keys .

I spent 2015 exploring every intriguing corner of South-east Queensland, from the NSW border, right up to the Noosa hinterland and west of the coastal ranges too. So imagine my surprise and hometown pride when some of the top-ranking natural places turned out to be just a short drive away through Brisbane's suburbs! I can't wait to get to know these wildlife hotspots better in 2016— maybe you'd like to join me? 1. Tamborine National Park (MacDonald Section), Eagle Heights. Piccabeen palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana)  groves are particularly stunning to walk through at Mount Tamborine. Tamborine Mountain has long been the getaway of choice for many South-east Queenslanders, and yet for some reason, I've always overlooked it as a wildlife destination. My mistake, because an early morning stroll along the 1.4km rainforest circuit track in the MacDonald section is like wandering through a wildlife metropolis, full of local specialties like the land mullet (Egerni...

2015 was a beautiful year to be in the bush (or the sea in some cases!), and I had many wonderful encounters with unusual, rarely seen animal species, all within a short drive of Brisbane. Here are my ten favourites! 1. Budgerigar, Haigslea. It might seem funny to have such a seemingly common and ordinary bird in the top spot, but until you've seen a wild budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) , you haven't seen the real thing! Budgerigar have only been recorded in South-east Queensland on a handful of occasions, but persistent drought and El Nino conditions led to a spate of observations this year from the Lockyer Valley, Somerset and Scenic Rim areas, beginning when I sighted the species near Raysource Road in May. Two things about the wild version of this bird surprised me: firstly, that it was such a secretive seed-eater, keeping closer to cover more so than the doves and finches around it; and secondly, that its shimmering green plumage is more beautiful than I'd eve...

This month marks the one year anniversary of when I headed out into the bush for the first time to study not animals, but plants . It was a decision that changed my life, and I've since come to enjoy going on tree ID quests as much as I enjoy a bout of birdwatching, snorkeling or spotlighting.  Last Saturday, I decided to celebrate this momentous occasion with a dawn stroll around King Island Conservation Park, off the coast of Wellington Point.

A Closer Look at a Gold Coast Predator. To live on Queensland's Gold Coast is to live in a place obsessed with fitness. On any given day of the year, at any time of day, the beaches, parks and public spaces are packed with people undertaking their chosen fitness pursuits: running, swimming, surfing, weight-lifting, kayaking, power-walking and more. At 84 years of age, even Gold Coast resident Bob Purcell made sure to live a healthy lifestyle. Previously a champion lawn-bowler in the Commonwealth Games, Bob had always led an active life and had for many years enjoyed a regular morning swim in Burleigh Lake. Connected to the sea by a network of canals, this estuarine lake is sheltered from the pounding surf of the nearby beach, and perhaps this is why it was his Bob's favoured swimming location. Or perhaps it was the convenience: the highly regarded retiree lived in one of the houses surrounding the lake, in the affluent suburb of Burleigh Waters. Regardless of the reason, whe...

The Naked Treefrog is often a light cream colour that camouflages it against dried grass and dead wood. With South-east Queensland enduring such a warm and wet summer this year, people have been quick to notice the inevitable insect population boom that has arisen from these conditions. It seems that every week, there are news reports and press releases on mosquito issues and butterfly swarms, and social media is buzzing with complaints about ants and cockroaches inside houses. What has gone unremarked, however, is that this surge in insect numbers and wet weather has been great for another kind of animal around Brisbane: frogs!

Juvenile Tandan, Kedron Brook. As a naturalist, I aim to be well-rounded in my wildlife observations, but there's one group of animals I've always struggled to spend time with: fish. While I have no issue with recreational fishing if done responsibly, I personally don't wish to cause unnecessary stress to any creature I encounter, so that rules out the obvious choice of 'hook, line and sinker' for fish interaction. Yesterday morning, while sitting by the banks of the Cabbage Tree Creek in the north Brisbane suburb of McDowall, I thought about some of the other ways I have been able to observe fish.

Northern Brown Bandicoot; Photo by the Queensland Museum Bandicoots had their fifteen minutes of worldwide fame in 1996, when Sony released a popular videogame on their Playstation platform called  'Crash Bandicoot'.  To me, the protagonist looked more like a tail-less fox than our native marsupial, but I like to think it raised the profile of bandicoots to koala-like levels for a generation of youths around the world. Last week, I caught up with the real thing when I carried out a quick mammal survey

Having a car and a Driver's license this year greatly increased my scope for potential wildlife locations around South-east Queensland. How ironic then that my number one spot ended up being a tiny reserve near the main road of a busy suburb! Nature always finds a way to surprise me, no matter how well I think I've become acquainted with it. Thank you to each and every one of you who read this blog and/or follow the 'Wild BNE' Facebook page - I've loved sharing my adventures with you this year and look forward to a 'Wild' 2015! 1. Chelsea Street Environmental Reserve, Kippa-Ring. Resident Tawny Frogmouths (Podargus strigoides)  become active in the reserve shortly after sunset. How beautiful that among the swiftly expanding suburbs of the Redcliffe Peninsula, Chelsea Street Environmental Reserve  remains to preserve so much iconic Australian wildlife. Moreton Bay shire residents would do well to ensure that the

Of the top ten wildlife encounters I had this year, seven of them were with species I had never seen before. The amazing thing is, I didn't exactly have to travel to far-flung places to see these creatures either. Some of them were even seen in places like the outskirts of Caloundra, or among the busy new housing estates of North Lakes. This is why I love Brisbane, a place where the wilderness can creep into our suburbs and enrich our lives if we take the opportunity to notice it. Here is what I noticed this year! 1. Black Falcon , Jeebropilly. Black Falcon; Photo by David Jenkins courtesy of  'Birds as Poetry'. At a wetland out near Amberley Air Force Base in May, I saw nature's own version of a jet-fighter plane, and it was very impressive. Swooping in low over the water and scattering flocks of wildfowl into flight, I watched a Black Falcon - my first ever!

Bar-shouldered Dove Yesterday morning, I caught the 6am ferry over to Karragarra Island to check out the bird life there. While many of the three-hundred-and-sixty islands in Moreton Bay are nothing more than mangrove mounds, Karragarra and its neighbouring isles are well-established landforms. During the last ice age, these islands would have been small hills behind a coastline marked out by where Stradbroke and Moreton Island lie today, but rising sea-levels have since isolated these places from each other and the mainland.