Wild BNE

Snowflakes in Sandgate It seems like I am always starting off these monthly wildlife reports by saying that it's been a warmer-than-average month, and this holds true for June 2014 also. While this has led to some beautifully sunny and mild days for nature exploration, the effects on wildlife behaviour have not gone unnoticed.

Grey Fantail Speckled Warbler One of the first things you'll notice when you look at the woodland along Raysource Road is the barbed wire - there's lots of it! Situated in the rural Ipswich suburb of Haigslea, the area's bushland exists solely because private landowners allow it to. The farms here stock small numbers of Cattle, but several key blocks of land seem to hold nothing but wonderfully dense stands of old-growth woodland. Stay respectfully on the correct side of the barbed wire and you will experience a South-east Queensland 'secret' birding spot of excellent quality! To see what other

Seasons of change along the Great Dividing Range Left to right: Yellow-billed Spoonbill, Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) and a Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)  pair, Jeebropilly I was watching a Yellow-billed Spoonbill (Platalea flavipes) ou t past Ipswich when I saw it. My initial impression was that of a swift dark blur in the corner of my eye, but the waterbirds already knew of the danger they were in and burst into flight. There amongst the weaving ducks and egrets, my vision locked on to the cause of all this alarm - my very first Black Falcon (Falco subniger). A nd what a beauty it was!

I've never really taken much notice of plants until recently, regarding them usually as just the thing that a bird perches on while you're watching it. This week I decided it was time to change that attitude by trying my hand at plant identification in Denmark Hill Conservation Park, located in the centre of Ipswich. The park is just 11.5 hectares in size, but preserves a patch of bushland that acts as an 'island refuge' in a sea of suburbia. I did my best to focus on the trees and not be too distracted by birds or the resident Koala   (Phascolarctos cinereus)  population, and came up with nine interesting trees and plants seen on the Water Tower Circuit.

Wildlife and Waterspouts! Nature can be both cruel and kind within a short space of time. South-east Queensland residents have been blessed with perfect weather around the Easter and ANZAC Day long weekends, and I've certainly made the most of it, with daytrips out to a variety of areas. Buckley's Hole Conservation Park, Bribie Island. But these sunny days and clear skies of late almost seem like an apology from 'Mother Nature', after she unleashed a Sunday-afternoon thunderstorm upon us earlier this month that was breath-taking in its ferocity. Born in the hinterlands to the south-west of Brisbane, the storm cut power to some suburbs and then gained strength as it moved out over Deception Bay, forming waterspouts just off the southern coastline of Bribie Island.

It goes without saying that the freedom of being able to drive has expanded my wildlife-watching opportunities. I used to be bound by public transport access and timetables, so that only suburban reserves could be explored, usually around mid-morning or late afternoon. Interestingly though, since getting my license, I haven't really used my newfound liberty to head out to the well-known National Parks and wildlife hotspots yet. Instead, I prefer to survey unmarked but intriguing patches of bushland I see on satellite maps, and this is how I came to be walking down a country lane in the Sunshine Coast hinterland at dawn yesterday. Sunrise along Policeman Spur Road, Harper Creek

 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