Wild BNE

At Victoria Point on Sunday, the tide was out and I watched an interesting interaction between two bird species. One of them was a white-faced heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) that had been foraging on the mudflats for quite some time already. It was eventually joined by a little egret (Egretta garzetta). As you can tell from the genus of both species, they are closely related - essentially, you could call the heron a grey egret, and the egret a white heron if you wanted to. The egret began to forage by trailing the heron quite closely. Graham Pizzey in his excellent field guide notes that this behaviour by the egret allows it to capture prey items escaping unnoticed by the other bird. There was a certain invisible ring of comfort/discomfort around the heron, however, and whenever the egret crossed that barrier, the heron would become visibly bothered and rebuke the space invader (see the photo at the top of this page also). Af...

Having spent the three days prior in pandemic lockdown, I was keen to kick off my Easter weekend with a few hours spent in a forest. I also wanted to be able to sleep in a little on Good Friday, so I picked a place less than half an hour’s drive away to visit: Redlands Track Park in Alexandra Hills. Also known by the much better name of Scribbly Gums Conservation Area, this place is large and its trails are many! Though there were also many mountain-bikers, dog-walkers and other users of the park there during my visit, there were hour-long stretches where I didn’t see another soul, which is just how I like my forest time! It was that kind of day where the forest washes over me, lulling me into a mood so tranquil that I don’t so much as walk among the trees, but rather glide through them. I see so much when I feel this way. There is treasure everywhere. On this walk, it came in the form of a gorgeous pair of shaggy caps (Boletellus emodensis), emerging from the base of a dead goliath ne...

On Sunday afternoon, I paid a visit to the Brisbane River at Murarrie for an hour. There, I poked about the rocks and stalked the shoreline to see if I could find some periwinkles to identify, and caught up with a species that has puzzled me ever since I found it at Lamb Island (below) a few weeks ago. It is small, with a pointed apex and distinctive, bold patterning on its shell, and at both localities was found on hard substrates near mangroves.  It reminded me of Littoraria luteola in general shape and colour scheme, but was the wrong size and patterning and utilised a different microhabitat, with luteola being arboreal on mangrove trunks and branches. Below is a luteola  that I found at Jacobs Well last year. Studying my books at home, I realised the answer had been staring me in the face the whole time as Littoraria articulata , the checkerboard periwinkle. The book to solve this for me was Graham Edgar's 'Tropical Marine Life of Australia' (2019) , which has quickly ...

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...

It was a long weekend of unusual weather given the time of year—with temperatures reaching a high of 27C, and the humidity giving rise to brief thunderstorms on Monday evening, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was still summer—but with my schedule clear, I was champing at the bit for three days of stellar South-east Queensland birding, and I was not disappointed! Beach stone-curlew, Wellington Point.

Lesser sand plover, Wellington Point; Photo by Matteo Grilli. Wild BNE's first meet-up last Sunday was a success, with a total of eight people heading out onto King Island off the coast of Wellington Point to view the marine life.

Southern brown paper wasps, Mount Cotton. Walking through Sandy Creek Conservation Area last weekend, I was pleased to find that quite a number of paper wasp colonies had formed along the barbed-wire perimeter fence.

King Island Conservation Park, Wellington Point. Eastern curlew (Numenius madagascariensis)  and grey-tailed tattler (Tringa brevipes) , Wellington Point. Last year, one of my favourite places to visit was King Island Conservation Park, off the coast of Wellington Point. It is linked to the mainland at low tide by a sandbar which provides good views of migratory birds, crabs and marine life. The island itself is home to interesting coastal plants , insects and a mysterious skink that I haven't been able to identify yet, and has a fascinating Indigenous and European settler history also.  This month, I'll be leading a meet-up where us members of the Wild BNE community can explore this area

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...

Warm Weekends for Wildlife-watching. Black Wattle (Acacia concurrens) , Riverhills. For a few weeks now, we have been blessed with sunny skies and mild autumn temperatures—but that is certainly not how the month began! On May 2nd, a huge low-pressure storm system lurched in from the Pacific and dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on South-east Queensland in one scary evening.

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.

Island Life, Local Birds and Eucalypt Study. Magpie Geese, Bribie Island. I consider myself a 'summer person', but I have to say that for the first time ever, I am eagerly awaiting cooler weather. This year, we seem to be leaving summer behind only on the calendar, as the daytime temperatures this month have consistently

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

To increase my knowledge of the local area as well as my identification skills, I try and head out once a month to a new location to undertake a wildlife survey. Collected and published here are my surveys for 2014, just in case they are of interest to any researchers, surveyors or wildlife enthusiasts.

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. 

This month, I am presenting three photographs taken by other residents here in South-east Queensland. Supercell Thunderstorm, Kai Linkerhof. Approaching storm, Brisbane City.

Signs of Spring Slender Hovea (Hovea lorata) , Bellbowrie Though it may be introducing itself to us gently this year, spring has definitely arrived in Brisbane! Temperatures have been slightly cooler than average, but decent rains from some robust storms have allowed the landscape to enter the new season with vigour. 

Rains bring mercy for some, but not others. Warning: Graphic image may cause distress Native Sarsaparilla, Ormiston August is often a fairly dry month for Brisbane, but the clouds have paid no attention to the calendar in recent weeks. Heavy, soaking rains have settled in over successive weekends, reviving lowland catchment areas and showing mercy upon previously parched plant life.  Before the rains hit, I undertook a plant survey along Hilliards Creek, in the Redlands. Longtime 'Wild BNE' fans may remember a post I made last year about the  fish of this waterway , and once again, it was a beautiful place to spend time in. On this occasion, I was pleased to become acquainted with Weeping Figs (Ficus benjamina)

 Last Days of Summer Cloudy evening skies over Moreton Bay, Sandgate. Despite humid conditions and cloudy days, Brisbane received only 15.8mm of rainfall this month, making it the driest February since 1859. Some species adjust to these circumstances better than others. Unlike most other

North Lakes Town Park 'Lifers', Migrants and Climate Change. It's been a great start to the year for wildlife watching in South-East Queensland, especially for bird life. As this is therefore a 'bird heavy' post, I've shared this with 'Wild Bird Wednesday' , Stewart Monckton's excellent weekly collection of bird blogs that you should check out if you haven't already. This month I saw two new 'lifers' (ie. species I've never seen before) in the one location - the Moreton Bay Shire suburb of North Lakes. Sighted there earlier in January was a White-browed Crake (Porzana cinerea), a tropical species usually only found in the far north of the continent. Birdwatchers raced to the area after the bird was reported, in order to get