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Vol 5 Number 2 June 2016

BirdLife Capricornia The winter months are the busiest time of the year for community events and this year has been no exception. We have continued to present our very popular puppet shows to schools and at FLOW, an NRM Expo at Yeppoon State School, a talk to U3A, a display at Ecofest and a shorebird presentation at Yeppoon library. Put in our monthly field trips and wader surveys and things have been very active. As a result of being out there in the community we have recruited a number of new members who we look forward to seeing on future field trips. The Network Meeting in Melbourne was very interesting and offered the opportunity to connect with members in other branches and find out about new initaitives such as the conservation portal. As usual everyone is very positive but BirdLife faces some serious challenges such as securing adequate funding for conservation efforts to protect threatened species. Government funding has been slashed in recent years which has had repercussions at both a national and a local level.

Contents

St Lawrence Wetlands Weekend 2 Trip report: Birding around Byfield 7-10th April 3

Trip Report: Tasmania 6 Bluff point outing 9 Puppet shows 9

Trip report: Lady Musgrave Island 10

Red gulls and blue Magpies! 12 Shorebird presentation 13 Field trip: Lake Victoria 14 BirdLife Network meeting, workshop and AGM 16 Ecofest 17

North Keppel Island field trip 18 Conservation news 20 Birds in Capricornia project 21 Turkey vs Goshawk 22 Around the ridges 23

Outstanding Photographs 24 Artistic interpretation 27

Calendar of Events for 2016 30 Membership info 31

Feeding frenzy at Murray Lagoon

Photo by Allan Briggs

BirdLife Capricornia

2 June 2016

St Lawrence Wetlands

Weekend

John McCabe and Gary Knight represented BirdLife Capricornia at the St Lawrence Wetlands Weekend held in early April. An article reporting on the event was published in the Mackay Daily Mercury and is reproduced below. THE St Lawrence Wetlands are a hidden gem for people, especially bird watchers. The emerging eco-festival, St Lawrence Wetlands Weekend, was held at the weekend to showcase this.

Isaac Regional Council Mayor Anne Baker said the bird watching and eco-tours during the day were a hit.

"It was great to see so many people exploring the wetlands," she said.

"The bird watching and eco-tours were the perfect opportunity for festival-goers to learn more about the wetlands and why they are so important.

"This eco-festival is all about enjoying and preserving what is one of the most significant wetlands on the Queensland coast.

BirdLife Capricornia representative John McCabe took part in the event.

"They (birds) are quite diverse just in that area of the wetlands," he said.

"For the general public, it's the sort of place you can see all sort of things."

Mr McCabe said there was an abundance of tropical birds which could be seen at the wetlands.

"The fact that the council has put a bit of work into a walking track and a lookout is good," he said.

"It helps attract people to the area."

Mr McCabe said the group regarded the wetlands as the home of the Radjah shelduck.

"A lot of people like to drop in and look at a very unusual bird that uses both the wetlands and the adjoining beaches," he said.

"It's definitely an unusual section of the coast that more people should drop in and have a look at."

The St Lawrence Wetlands form part of the greater Broadsound Wetlands. These are listed in the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia.

The weekend's festival was held at the St Lawrence recreational grounds, the wetlands are behind there and can be visited by walking along a track.

John McCabe and Gary Knight at the observation platform beside St Lawrence

Wetlands (Mackay Daily Mercury)

Note: Efforts to have the western end of the wetlands fenced to stop cattle grazing down sedges and churning up the water have unfortunately come to naught. The funding that was allocated by Fitzroy Basin Association has lapsed and the opportunity has passed by. Various factors were at play including wet weather but it was only when the Mayor became aware of the project in April that it received council sanction. By then it was too wet for the contractor to do the work. Thanks to Anne Alison at Capricorn Catchments for the effort she put in to try and get the project completed. We will keep trying.


June 2016 3

Trip report: Birding

around Byfield 7-10th

April

Andrew, Min, Henry and Oliver Lau tell of their four days in and around Byfield. With the Easter school holidays coming to an end, we managed to get away for a 4 day 3 night camping trip in the Byfield Conservation Park and surrounding areas. After visiting ARB in Rockhampton to purchase some recovery gear (get-out-of-bog tracks, rated D-shackles, air compressor - all for our first ever personal driving beach trip) our trip started with the drive into Five Rocks camping area. After having blown a tyre on the gravel of Stockyard Point Road on the way in, we arrived at the campground just before dark, rushing to set up the tent (site #7) and have dinner. Surprise surprise for some of you….the Pajero had managed to get us in no worries at all over "Big Sandy", though it took lowering of tyre pressures to 18psi after the first attempt at 22psi failed. That's the same Pajero that got us into Bob Black's this year, the sister car of the one that failed us last year. The next morning the first bird spotted was a Torresian Crow that liked hanging around the shower area. Birding just around the campsite area itself, a White-bellied Sea-Eagle soared overhead and while we could hear the many undergrowth birds calling happily, scrub-wren and fairy-wren, were unable to make sight of any through binoculars or camera lenses over the four days at all. A Varied Triller male was busying calling atop of the leafless trees in the bush, and Spangled Drongo made their presence known calling and flitting about the trees next to our camp and the open area in front of the toilet block. A pair of Bar-shouldered Dove landed in a dead tree just north of our camp with the male displaying nicely in an attempt to impress the

female, and a Satin Flycatcher showed itself nicely in the open. Not a bad showing of birds before we headed off for a walk down to Little Five Rocks Beach. On the walk from the camp a number of Dusky Honeyeater were seen busily flying amongst the trees. A number of different butterfly species were out on show, black-and-blue, red-yellow-white-black, yellow-and-black, and others. A great sight and the lack of ID's demonstrating that we need to add a insect or butterfly book to our wildlife book library. Despite only us on the beach, we didn't see a single bird on the sand, nor on the walk once we'd left the trees. The sea was rough with waves crashing into the beach near the top of the tide. After spotting a few nice black shrimp in the freshwater of Findlays Creek amongst the pandanus palms, we departing the beach we headed back up the track and took the split to the Findlays Creek swamp where the boardwalk takes you across the swamp. The area is an excellent peat swamp, with pandanus palms at the front of the swamp and paperbarks throughout as the main trees of the swamp itself, with casuarinas and banksias lining the northern bank of the creek. We walked up the Findlays Creek track from the carpark to the Death Valley Track intersection before heading back to camp. Large bird footprints had crossed the track, as well as dog tracks. Back at the camp a Little Shrike-thrush was busy extracting insects from the trees around the area.


4 June 2016

Little Shrike-thrush (Andrew Lau)

Come Saturday morning, a number of Rainbow Bee-eaters were out and about catching every insect that dared venture into the open air in front of the toilet block.

Rainbow Bee-eaters (Andrew Lau)

Four Rainbow Lorikeets screeched as they flew over the camp, and an Australasian Figbird female landed in a dead tree along with a couple of Dusky Honeyeaters. Spangled Drongos, the Satin Flycatcher and the Little Shrike-thrush were out and about once again. A sole Lewin's Honeyeater was heard before it perched nicely in a a dead tree above our tent. The NPWS Rangers paid a visit and amongst our long and varied chat, suggested the footprints we'd seen in

the sand the day before were likely Dingo and Emu tracks.

Emu and Dingo tracks in the sand (Andrew Lau) A pre-lunch walk to Stockyard Point village was in order and just into the walk through the camping area we came face to face with a large Emu. It's unclear which was more panicked - the Emu, as it realised it was unintentionally penned in between us and another group of walkers, with fallen timber blocking many of the escapes; or young Oliver, who was terrified by the large bird racing back and forth in front and near us looking for an escape.

The panicked Emu in search of an escape path (Andrew Lau)

Just before the village itself, a beautiful pair of Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove were spotted in the trees, the first time any of us had seen one.


June 2016 5

Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove (Andrew Lau)

The Lau's at Stockyard Point (selfie) Throughout the afternoon, the birds were very quiet with only the Little Shrike-thrush still around the camp site and a White-bellied Sea-Eagle seen during a walk back to the swamp. Despite a lack of birds, the number and variety of butterflies, moths, grasshoppers and dragflies seen made up for it. An emergency landing of the RACQ Capricorn Rescure helicopter saw Henry and Andrew head off to the point again to see what all the action was about, and while at the point large groups of shore birds were seen along Nine Mile Beach to the south. Unfortunately the fact that we already had the spare tyre in use saw us not prepared to venture further in the car so we didn't get along the beach to ID any of the birds that were there. Many sea birds were also seen around the five trawlers that were dragging nets up and down the coast off the point, and the first of our Osprey seen during the trip was gliding past the point.

An Australian Brush-turkey was seen on the walk back to camp, as well as a large Pheasant Coucal. A group of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo were seen flying over camp as the afternoon was drawing to a close. Sunday morning saw us back on Little Five Rocks Beach for an hour or so of fishing (no luck) on the incoming tide, but perhaps it was the Osprey that was gliding above the scared all the fish off. We packed up camp and by 11am were safety back through the sand tracks and parked at the Waterpark Creek camp carpark. Varied Triller and Little Shrike-thrush were busy calling in the surrounding trees. On the Bowenia Rainforest Circuit were were greeted by a Laughing Kookaburra in the open area at the start, before the strange call of a Wompoo Fruit-Dove alerted us to its presence high in a tree at the start of the track. A Yellow Thornbill was spotted amongst foliage, before both Spectacled Monarch and Rufour Fantail were seen in the rich wet vegatation along a small creek amongst the walk. A second Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Fairy Gerygone, Grey Fantail and Australian Brush-turkey were also spotted on the walk, as well as a range of interesting spiders. The Wompoo at the start of the walk was still there at the end of the circuit and made for a great way to finish the walk.

Wompoo Fruit-Dove (Andrew Lau)


6 June 2016

Trip Report: Tasmania

Allan Briggs and Paula Ryan report on their ‘get away from the heat’ trip to Tasmania. The long hot summer left us longing for a cool change so we packed our bags and headed off to north eastern Tasmania for a ten day break at Binalong Bay. Islands are fascinating places for birds with many mainland species being absent but also where many endemic species have evolved. We had visited Tasmania many times before but this was our first trip to the north east and the Bay of Fires area. We had seen all of the endemics except the Black-headed Honeyeater and naturally it was top of our hit list. The weather was perfect and in late afternoon on the first day the sun was lighting up the orange lichen on the rocks along the shore making for spectacular scenery. Just behind the shoreline tall stringybark eucalypts towered over the small harbor and the movement of birds caught our attention. On looking through the binoculars we saw a flock of Black-headed Honeyeaters feeding on the flowers of the gum tree. What a stroke of luck, the top target species on the first day. In the days to come we saw many of these very small birds in the area and yet we had not seen them anywhere else in Tasmania. It is one of seven species in the genus Melithreptus of which the White-throated Honeyeater is one. A distinguishing feature is the different coloured eye crescent and for the Black-headed Honeyeater it is white. There are only six honeyeater species to be seen in Tasmania, discounting wattlebirds, and three are endemic. Our cottage backed on to Humbug Point Nature Reserve and we were able to walk right in and explore the many kilometres of walking tracks. The spectacular coastline featured many rocky headlands with huge granite boulders, secluded bays and white sandy beaches. Sitting having breakfast in the outside gazebo we were able to enjoy the sight of many endemic Green Rosella flying into the tops of some dead trees. The Green Rosella is

not as flashy as the Pale-headed or Crimson Rosella’s with its dark green body, blue throat patches and red forehead, but it is nevertheless and lovely bird. The only other rosella is the Eastern Rosella and with only four parrots Tasmania does not have the variety of the mainland.

Black-headed Honeyeater (Allan Briggs)

Mt William National Park is on the north eastern tip of Tasmania with extensive coastal heath and eucalypt forest. A walk through the heath was where we saw the Tasmanian Thornbill, a large group of the xanthanotus race of the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, the Crescent Honeyeater, a large flock of Beautiful Firetail and several Yellow Wattlebirds. On our return via the beach we came across a family of four Hooded Plover and a group of twelve Ruddy Turnstones. The Ruddy Turnstones were flushed up ready for their long migration and the Hooded Plover chicks were well advanced. As we approached the camp site at the end of or walk we met a group of eight walkers setting out on the three day Bay of Fires walk with a guide from Tasmanian Adventure Walking.

On our drive back to Binalong Bay we came across a Flame Robin sitting on a fence looking like a red stop sign, so bright was his plumage. He was kind enough to sit there while I took a photograph.


June 2016 7

Flame Robin (Allan Briggs)

One of the highlights of our visit was the Blue Tier, a conservation area that had once been devastated by tin mining but was now recovering with good re-growth. The site of the old mining town of Poimena sits at 750 metres and has extensive rainforest as well as granite outcrops with low shrubby cover. In the understory there are carpets of lichen and mosses of many different colours as well as an amazing blue mushroom. On a walk to see the Giant Tree (a Eucalyptus regnans) we passed through an amazing forest of huge tree ferns many of which stood four metres tall. The sunlight filtered through the fronds and created and dark world where we half expected a hobbit to jump out. The Giant Tree itself is 60 metres tall and is truly awe inspiring. We could stand inside the hollowed out, fire burnt base and felt so insignificant in the presence of such a massive relic. Flying above the Blue Tier we saw the Tasmanian sub-species of the Wedge-tailed Eagle which is endangered.

Electrocutions on power lines, wind farms, illegal shooting and poisoning are taking their toll on this majestic bird. One local told me that there a lot more of them around these days than when he was a kid when farmers could legally shoot them. He said that farmers now understand that they do not take sheep only the odd lamb and they had stopped shooting them. However, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife report that illegal shooting still occurs by ‘thoughtless persons’.

Along the coast there is a variety of seabirds to be seen including Pacific, Kelp and Silver Gulls, Crested Tern, Fairy Tern, Caspian Tern and Gannets. A local told us that they frequently get a Shy Albatross flying offshore but we did not see one. One afternoon while watching the antics of some juvenile Pacific Gulls I saw an adult with what looked like an oyster. It held it in its bill and dropped it a few times trying to break it open, then to my surprise it flew up in the air and dropped it from about ten metres. After doing this several times the oyster broke open and the gull had its meal. I had heard of this behavior with Black-breasted Buzzards and Crows but never with a seabird.

Pacific Gull dropping an oyster (Allan Briggs)

There were many brackish lagoons along the coast with sandbars stopping the flow out to sea. It was quite surprising to see very few water birds on any of these lagoons. Black Swan, Chestnut Teal, Masked Lapwing, seabirds and cormorants were seen in small numbers but certainly not the hundreds we are used to seeing at home. Again there are some species not present in Tasmania such as the Wood Duck, Radjah Shelduck, Pink-eared Duck, Freckled Duck, Darter and Pied Cormorant. The only large group of water birds we saw was around 100 Hoary-headed Grebe.

It was such a pleasure to be able to go out all day long and not break out into a sweat. Temperatures were around the ten to twenty range and we could explore and bird until we


8 June 2016

were tired out. In checking the temps back home we could see that they were still up in the low thirties and we were tempted to extend our holiday and hideaway in Binalong Bay. However, we had thoroughly enjoyed our stay and clocked 73 species with 9 of them being endemic and we had now seen all of the endemics and many of the Tasmanian sub-species so we were well satisfied.

Green Rosella (Allan Briggs)

Hooded Plover (Allan Briggs)

Tasmanian Thornbill (Allan Briggs)

Yellow Wattlebird (Allan Briggs)

Scarlet Robin (Allan briggs)


June 2016 9

Bluff point outing

On a sparkling autumn morning 22 members had a pleasant walk around the Bluff Point walking track and recorded 40 species (see list below). Some new members, some local non-members and a visitor from Dublin joined the group for the morning. We split into two groups and with so many pairs of eyes there was not much that missed our attention. Rose-crowned Fruit-doves, Olive-backed Sunbirds, a Rufous Fantail and the Grey Fantail, Buff-rumped Thornbill and Top-knot Pigeons were some of the sightings and probably the most interesting was a White-eared Monarch. From the lookout we could see about 50 Pied Cormorants roosting on Bluff Point Rock and just below was a pod of three dolphins and a few turtles. All in all a top morning.

Group on top of Bluff Point (Allan Briggs)

.

Puppet shows

As part of our Capricorn Yellow Chat education program we have delivered three puppet shows to Rainbow Valley Early Learning Centre in Gladstone and Mt Larcom State School. Mt Larcom school is located near to Yellow Chat habitat and the staff and students were very welcoming. Allan Briggs and Rod Elder delivered the shows with a total of 75 students attending. The difficulty was in pitching the puppet show to the different age groups since we had ages

3 to 5 at Rainbow Valley and ages 5 to 10 at Mt Larcom. However, it all went well and all of the kids loved ‘bird brain’, aka Rod Elder who donned his silly hat and explained the weight of a yellow chat with a 20 cent coin and their size using a life sized carving .

Puppet show at Mt Larcom State School (Allan Briggs)

Another thing the kids loved was singing the yellow chat song to the tune of ‘click go the shears’ (Clack go the trains). They all said that they wanted to save the yellow chat and would take the brochure home and tell their parents all about it. One of the consistent comments from the teachers at the various schools we have visited is that they had never heard of the bird and were amazed that it could be found nowhere else in the world. If nothing else we have managed to raise awareness in the community about the bird and gain support for measures to protect both it and its habitat..

Puppet show at Rainbow Valley Early Learning Centre (Margaret Worthington)


10 June 2016

The kids at Rainbow Valley Early Learning Centre are very fortunate to have a pair of Barking Owls that roost in the trees that shade the playground. Margaret Worthington has been working with the kids doing some painting and the one below is how a four your old girl sees the Barking Owls. A very powerful image and the big yellow eyes are unmistakable.

Painting of a Barking Owl by Celeste (Margaret Worthington)

We also did a puppet show at the FLOW centre in Rockhampton accompanied by a presentation about attracting birds to your garden. 31 kids and 21 adults attended.

Presentation at FLOW (Rod Elder)

Trip report: Lady Musgrave Island

Bob Black reports on a trip to the southern Great Barrier Reef islands. In Early February I joined a National Parks group at Gladstone for a one week trip to survey the seabirds on the southern reef islands. The 19 metre boat had three parks staff, a young French volunteer and me. We had the luxury of a small cabin each. The first afternoon was a 4½ hour trip out to Lady Musgrave Island, where we anchored in the large sheltered lagoon. Next morning was a short trip to East Fairfax which is a fairly high coral rubble island. It is one of the main nesting sites for Brown Boobies and is closed to public access. Hundreds of Boobies were nesting, with all stages from eggs to fledging chicks.

Brown Booby with chick (Bob Black)

Large numbers of other seabirds were feeding out in the shallow sea and returning to the islands. Overhead a group of 36 Lesser Frigatebirds patrolled, looking for an unwary parent seabird returning with a large fish that could be stolen. While the rangers counted the nesting seabirds I spent most of the day counting migrant shorebirds around the rock platform margins of the island, recording 191 waders of nine


June 2016 11

species. I was interested to count 85 Ruddy Turnstones, and following counts on other islands show that the Bunker Group had more than 350 Turnstones, making the only flyway significant site for RuddyTurnstones between the Hunter River in NSW and Arnhem Land in the NT.

Lesser Frigatebird (Bob Black)

During the night an anticipated southerly change came through, with 35 knot winds and rough seas, but the stabilisers the crew had put out slowed the boat’s motion to a comfortable slow roll. Next day we took the rubber ducky in to Lady Musgrave Island, and walked around the shore surveying the seabirds and waders. Most of the island is covered by a lush Pisonia forest, with a shady canopy about 15 metres high. Hundreds of Black Noddies were roosting and nesting in the Pisonias in small piles of Pisonia leaves. With typical island bird fearlessness they would sit calmly as we walked by within two metres.

Black Noddy (Bob Black)

Bridled Terns were also nesting, in the grass on the island’s edges. These edges were also cratered by turtle diggings, and we saw laying and hatching Green Turtles. The hatchlings were almost all taken by the abundant Silver Gulls, which have built up around the resort islands and are now predating turtles and bird nests on most islands. The rangers have begun a program to lower gull numbers to more normal levels. Wedge-tailed Shearwater burrows riddled parts of the Pisonia forest and the grasslands, so we had to walk very carefully in these areas.

Bridled Tern (Bob Black)

Around the shore we saw eight migrant shorebird species, with Ruddy Turnstones, Pacific Golden Plovers and Wandering Tattlers most common.


12 June 2016

Wandering Tattler (Bob Black)

Eastern Reef Egrets were also common, mostly in the white form. This photo shows one with Pisonia flower stems sticking to its tail. The seeds move between islands this way, but can cover the nesting Black Noddies so that they can’t fly, and so starve and fertilise the Pisonias. The stormy conditions persisted, so we spent two more days in the lagoon and were not able to survey the other islands before returning to Gladstone. It was a wonderful trip, and I look forward to seeing more of these beautiful coral islands.

Eastern Reef Egret (Bob Black)

Red gulls and blue Magpies!

On one of the wader surveys Barry Ellis spotted a peculiar bird that looked like a Silver Gull with a red wash through its feathers. Barry consulted Steve Kerr and Allan Briggs but both were a bit non-plussed by such unusual colouring. The photo was posted on Birding Aus asking if anyone had seen anything like it and if so what was it? No answer was forthcoming and we suspect that the bird had somehow come into contact with a pollutant that had caused the red colouring.

Mysterious red coloured gull (Barry Ellis)

Then we received an email with a photo attachment of a magpie that was blue where it should have been white. The person reporting it was asking if blue magpies were natural! Having obtained the address in North Rockhampton Allan Briggs set out to check it out. Fortunately it was raining that morning and when he found the bird the blue colouring was starting to wash out. Some clever dick had caught the bird and coloured all of the white parts blue. Why would anyone want to do that? In talking to one or two residents they thought that it could be a cross between a butcherbird and a magpie. Weird things happen in the suburbs!!


June 2016 13

The blue magpie (Owen Keillor)

Rain starting to wash the blue colouring out (Allan Briggs)

Meanwhile in Sydney some resdients have been reporting blue cockatoo’s! It is not clear how they ended up blue but the suspicion is that some bright spark had used paint or dye on the birds. What is the world coming to?

Blue cockatoo (Kim Novick, Sydney)

Shorebird presentation

To celebrate World Migratory Bird Day and to participate in the ‘Shorebirds Know no Boundaries’ campaign by BirdLife Australia we did a shorebird presentation at Yeppoon Library. It was well attended and Allan Briggs put on a PowerPoint presentation and had some participant interaction to highlight the physical challenges of flying 15,000km from the northern hemisphere. Many of the participants were amazed at how far the birds flew to Australia and there were a lot of questions. We also managed to sign a number of people up for the Birds in Capricornia project.

Duscussing shorebirds with one of the particpants

(Paula Ryan)


14 June 2016

Field trip: Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria near Dululu was a new destination for our group and we had a good turn up with twelve members attending. Camping is in a variety of locations along the shore of the lake with a failry thick woodland behind so it is a place with good waterbirds, bush birds and raptors.

Lake Victoria early morning (Allan Briggs)

Arriving by midday we had the afternoon to do some birding and catch up with people we had not seen for a while. Edna Barker came down from Clermont, Barry and Kay Ellis were on their way back home from Carnavon Gorge, the Corbet family was trying out their new pop-top camper and new members John & Julien MacTaggart came out on their first field trip with us. As the light faded we had sundowners byt the warmth of a fire with young Thomas Corbet enjoying himself so much that he wanted to stay for five nights. Next morning we walked along the lake and up a tributary creek where the birds were in good numbers. Overall for an afternoon and a morning we recorded 79 species and 328 birds which very good for such a short period. Probably the best species was a Rose Robin seen by Gary Knight. Other stand-outs were Spotted Pardalote, Inland Thornbill, Yellow-rumped Thornbill and Weebill..

Sundowners (Allan Briggs)

Rose robin (Gary Knight)

Edna Barker and Katelyn Corbet our oldest and youngest members showing that age is no barrier

when it comes to birding (Allan Briggs)


June 2016 15

NRM activity at Yeppoon State School

Allan Briggs and Mick Barker did a double act at the NRM day at Yeppoon Primary School.

An NRM (Natural Resource Management) day at Yeppoon State School was organised by Capricorn Catchments with participation by the following organisations;


GBRMPA

Frog Society

Capricorn Conservation Council

Fitzroy Basin Association

Capricorn Coast Landcare

Parks and Wildlife

Wildlife Rockhampton

Society for Growing Native Plants

Livingstone Shire Council

Six of the organisations provided presentations in marquees whilst the remainder had stalls which the students could visit for information. 120 students from three schools were put into six groups which then rotated around the presentations and stalls to spend around 25 minutes at each. There were six rotations around the presentations with two extra sessions for the stalls.

Mick Barker and Allan Briggs did a presentation that was centred around a ‘who am I’ game. There were five photos of birds on stands and a description of one of the birds was given and the students had to guess which one it was. Allan wore the silly hat and Mick introduced him as ‘Bird Brain’ which really amused the kids.

‘Bird Brain’ (Mick Barker)

School students at the BirdLife Capricornia presentation (Mick Barker)


16 June 2016

BirdLife Network meeting, workshop

and AGM

On May 26th – 28th Allan Briggs attended the BirdLife Network meeting, workshop and the AGM in Melbourne. The workshop was run by Andrew Silcocks and Glenn Ehmke and provided information on the new Birdata and the Bird Conservation Portal. The new portal will be developed for both Internet access via a computer and as an app for mobile devices and it is hoped that they will be available later this year. A quick start guide is available for you to check out some of the features. 27 of the 41 branches, reserves and special interest groups attended and provided a good opportunity to network and find out what everyone was up to. Topics for the Network forum included;

BirdLife Australia Update – What are our priorities and how are we tracking. Paul Sullivan CEO. o Membership now at 12, 300 members o Supporters now around 75,000 o $I.07 million deficit offset by $2.2 million in

bequests o Financial situation improving but the loss of

federal project funding has affected many programs

• Conservation impact, Local, National, Global. Sam Vine, Head of Conservation o Achieving our conservation goals to prevent

extinctions while building a movement of strong stewardship for IBAs

o Advocacy - case studies from the Network

• The IBA Approach. Rochelle Stevens o Increase collaboration between IBA

stakeholders and avitourism

• Volunteer engagement. Diana Gibson, Head of Member Development and Communications

o Building volunteer teams o 90 day projects o Rewarding volunteers o Making it fun

• Key priorities for BirdLife Australia’s OH&S. David Coutts, OH&S Coordinator o Guide to leading groups on outings now on web site o Incident reports should be logged

• National Twitchathon 2016 – it’s happening! Tim Dolby o 29th and 30th Oct o 8 hour and 24 hour events o Judged on a sliding scale based on the number of species in each state

• The impact of Social Media for conservation advocacy. Margaret Quixley o Different platforms for different messages

At the AGM one new board member was elected, Mandy Bamford from WA, while three existing board members were re-elected; Stuart Cooney, Gerard Early (President) and Martine Maron. Allan Briggs was presented with a distinguished service award by Gerard Early and made a short thank you speech in which he said that the award was earned by the members of BirdLife Capricornia who had put so much effort in over the past ten years.

Allan Briggs receiving his award from Gerard Early

(Paula Ryan)


June 2016 17

Ecofest

After months of planning and preparation work Ecofest finally arrived and all of the hard work came to fruition. Margaret Worthington came up with the concept of having a bird and urban friendly trees and shrubs focus and negotiated an alliance with Tondoon Botanical Gardens for a joint display. Brent Braddick, curator at the gardens was very enthusiastic about the idea and assisted with the development of a guide to native trees, shrubs, grasses and lilies that were suitable for a suburban garden and were bird attracting. Allan Briggs put the guide together with advice from Margaret Worthington. The concept developed into one where painted cut-out plywood shapes were painted with birds from seven different bird families and then hung in the trees and shrubs to show the various bird species that would visit trees and shrubs. This would involve a display of developing trees and shrubs with bird shapes hanging in them. Then why not provide blank plywood cut outs that kids and adults could paint themselves and take home to hang in their house. Finally the concept grew to include the sale of tube stock, for a nominal sum, of the trees and shrubs that were on display.

The finished display ready for visitors (Allan Briggs)

Clive Rouse cut out 250 bird shapes, Margaret Worthington painted samples on some of the shapes, Allan Briggs produced a set of 7 A3

posters of the target bird species which were Barking Owl, Red-wing Parrot, Bar-shouldered Dove, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin, Rose-crowned Fruit-dove, Lewin’s Honeyeater and Fortest Kingfisher.

Painted cut-outs by Margaret Worthington

The concept would provide education about trees and shrubs that were bird attracting and could be used in a suburban garden, Provide supplies of those trees and shrubs so people could take them home and plant them. Entertain kids and adults with a painting activity that gave them something to take home and finally provide the opportunity to promote birds, conservation, Tondoon Botanical Gardens and BirdLife Capricornia. It all worked beautifully with 227 cut-outs being painted, 900 trees and shrubs sold, 6 new members for BirdLife Capricornia and 12 who signed up for the Birds in Capricornia project.

Two young ladies with their painted cut-out shapes

of the Rose-crowned Fruit Dove (Paula Ryan)


18 June 2016

On the day a team of volunteers supervised the painting activity, provided information about BirdLife, information about the trees and shrubs and tempted people in to the display by asking kids passing by if they wanted to paint their own bird mobile. Those who helped out were, Sue Daw, Judy Spencer, Marion Hayes, Kim Scott, Natasha, Alicia Newport and Brent Braddick from Gladstone. Mick Barker, Chris Barry and Paula Ryan from Rockhampton. Andrew and Min Lau from Blackwater. A great team effort that produced amazing results. Costa Georgiadis from Gardening Australia was there giving a talk about birds as indicator species among other things. He came over to our display and was enthusiastic about the marvellous work that ‘twitchers’ from BirdLife do. He posed for a photo with some of the team and attracted even more attention to our display.

Costa with some of the team (Min Lau)

North Keppel Island field trip

Twenty three members set out on board the Gundoo Spirit for North Keppel Island on a stunning June morning. The sea was calm, the sky was blue and Gannets were diving for fish on the way over.

Rosslyn Bay receding in the wake of the Gundoo Spirit (Allan Briggs)

At the island we spread out in the six cabins, had morning tea and a briefing before some free time until lunch. In the afternoon we split into three teams to survey the three circuits on the island. One to Considine Beach, one to the East side of the island via the lookout and Bald Hill and the other to Maizie Bay. On Saturday evening we had dinner followed by a tough quiz set by Edna Barker which was won by Lorelle Campbell. Sunday morning and we were up and away by 8am for another round of surveys. The survey schedule meant that each circuit was surveyed twice at a different time of day. Total bird species seen was 51 with four new species added to the bird list for the island. The total bird species recorded for the island from all sources now stands at 104.


June 2016 19

The most numerous species

Welcome Swallow Mangrove Honeyeater Rainbow Bee-eater

68 58 44

The most widespread species

Mangrove Honeyeater and Rainbow Bee-eater

10/11 sites

Site with the most species

Site 9 In and around the education centre

25

Site with the highest number of birds

Site 11 Maizie Bay 85

Site with the lowest number of species

Site 8 Bush through the centre of the island

6

Site with the lowest number of birds

Site 8 Bush through the centre of the island

10

Threatened species

Beach-stone Curlew Vulnerable

There were six Beach-stone Curlew seen at two different locations and we know that they breed on the island. This means that the island is an important refuge for this threatened species which is particularly affected by human disturbance. In complete contrast was the Bush-stone Curlew who came right up to the BBQ tables near the dining room hoping for the odd food scraps. Six Osprey nest sites were also identified with 11 Osprey sighted. Osprey have been seen on every survey so far including the ones in 1924, by RAOU, 1976 by BOCA and 1977/8 by the Cruden family so the island is important for this species.

Comparison with previous years

Year Month Number of species

Number of birds

2013 March 42 330

2014 March 54 370

2015 July 51 442

2016 June 51 480

The data for the four years of our surveys are showing a fairly consistent number of species. Next year we may do the survey in September to vary the time of year and see what migratory shorebirds arrive there.

Sunset on North Keppel Island (Allan Briggs)

Silvereye (Allan Briggs)

Group on the beach (Pam Parmenter)


20 June 2016

Funding The funding goal post has changed yet again and we now have to apply firectly to FBA for continuing funding to assist with our Capricorn Yellow Chat work. So far the funding has paid for Rubber Vine control which was carried out by Greening Australia in the Cheetham Salt area. In addition biological control of Harrisia Cactus has been carried out by Rod Elder and Wayne Houston. This involves collecting infected samples of the cactus and placing them in uninfected areas. The Rubber Vine control is successful in the short term but requires annual follow up to deal with new growth from seed. The biological control of Harrisia has proven very successful with large areas appearing to have been killed off. However, follow up monitoring is very important to identify new outbreaks and to ensure that infected areas do not regenerate. All of this highlights the importance of an annual effort to keep these two invasive weeds under control and we will be applying for further funding to continue this work.

Harrisia Cactus (Wikipedia commons)

Conservation news

Carol Devney, Marian Davies and Allan Briggs report on conservation happenings. BirdLife Capricornia made a submission to the Qld Government Agriculture and Environment Committee who were conducting an enquiry into the Nature Conservation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015. Basically this bill sought to wind back the tree clearing laws that were brought into effect by the Newman Government. We have seen clearing rates in Queensland rise rapidly. In 2013/14 alone, nearly 300,000 hectares of native woodlands were cleared, much of it vital habitat for many threatened bird species. This also released some 36 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. Tree clearing is bad for habitats and our native wildlife, the Great Barrier Reef and managing climate change. The new Bill will restore tree clearing laws to how they were in 2012, and strengthens protection for Great Barrier Reef catchments. The Bill is also designed to deter some level of panic clearing by applying from March 17 if it becomes law. The committee has now completed its hearings into this Bill, and the Committee's report was delivered on the 30th June 2016. The committee made the following comment in the introduction to the report. “The Bill attracted siginificant interest, with the committee receiving over 680 submissions and over 870 form submissions. Given the contentious nature of the subject and the level of interest, the committee consulted widely, including holding regional public hearings in Cairns, Townsville, Emerald, Bundaberg, Gympie, Charleville and Roma, concluding with a full day hearing in Brisbane. In total, the committee heard from over 140 witnesses. The Bill polarised views among submitters - with environmental and conservationist groups supporting the Bill, while landholders and their peak bodies strongly opposed the Bill. The committee also heard differing views from members of the public on the Bill.”


June 2016 21

The committees recommendations are as follows; Recommendation 1 The committee recommends that the Minister for State Development and Minister for Natural Resources and Mines explains to the House, during the second reading debate on the Bill, the consultation process that will be undertaken on the updated self-assessable codes, including details of who will be consulted. Recommendation 2 The committee recommends that the Minister for State Development and Minister for Natural Resources and Mines provides an update, during the second reading debate on the Bill, on the steps, including the associated timescales, that will be taken: - to improve the accuracy of vegetation

mapping, and - to proactively engage with landholders to

provide them with updated property maps of assessable vegetation which correct any inaccuracies.

Recommendation 3 The committee recommends that the element of clause 6 of the Bill, which inserts new section 67A into the Vegetation Management Act 1999 to reverse the onus of proof in relation to vegetation clearing offences, be omitted. Recommendation 4 The committee recommends that the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection engage with the property, resources and development sectors to assess and establish the full impact of the proposed amendments to the environmental offsets regime in Queensland. Recommendation 5 The committee recommends that the Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection and Minister for National Parks and the Great Barrier Reef informs the House, during the second reading debate on the Bill, of the

outcome of the assessment of the impacts, including potential costs, of the proposed amendments to the environmental offset regime and if any actions will be taken. The Bill will now be re-introduced to parliament for a second reading and hopefully passed. However, this may not happen as the Palaszczuk government only has a majority of 1 and requires the support of the cross benches to pass legslation. Given that two of the cross bench members are from Katters Australia Party it is hard to be optimistic. The key will be to persuade at least two of the three independent members to support the bill. .

Birds in Capricornia

project

The interest in our Capricornia wide monthly bird survey has been very encouraging with 106 particpants in seven regions or shires. Currenty these are; Livingstone Shire = 44 Gladstone RC = 32 Rockhampton RC = 19 Central Highlands RC = 4 Banana RC = 5 Barcoo RC = 1 Isaac RC = 1 Many are non-members who enjoy the activity of doing a bird survey but do not want to join our organisation. At least we are engaging a wider audience and collecting valuable data about the birds of our region. If you know of anyone who might be interested please email the Secretary at [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


22 June 2016

Turkey vs Goshawk

Lorelle Campbell lets her Brush Turkey rage channel into assisting a Briown Goshawk to

prey on the destroyer of her garden. I was just working quietly on my computer at 8am 11 April, when I heard a scrub turkey begin an agitated clucking right under my window. As I glanced out I saw a brown goshawk drop below the roof two metres away from me, pull up and disappear onto the roof above me. I could hear its talons scratching as it jumped about on the iron roof. The turkey was still clucking loudly and continuously from under the floor near the window. “Aha”, I thought, “that damn turkey has been digging up my garden daily and yesterday I was very annoyed with it destroying my beautiful petunia flowers. If I assist the goshawk I might see the end of the turkey.” I grabbed my little camera and snuck out the door and round the house and underneath. I planned to give the turkey a fright out from under the floor so the goshawk could have a go at it and maybe I could get a photo as well. How exciting! I could hear the turkey but couldn’t see it. I could still hear the goshawk patrolling on the roof. Then I heard loud claw steps clicking across the timber floor above my head. I figured that the turkey must have ducked in the front door after I ducked out. It was obvious to all three of us that the Brown Goshawk was hoping to make a meal of the much larger Brush Turkey. They hadn’t detected me yet. I was feeling very honoured and privileged to be experiencing another wildlife moment of drama in my own home. I went back inside the house and the turkey went berserk. It was flying back and forwards and knocking things down and just freaking out. Now it was worried about me as well as the goshawk. I managed to get into a position for it to fly away from me and out the door. As I followed out with camera in hand, the turkey headed into the trees. The goshawk left the

roof chasing it, saw me, gave up, all in an instant, turned and flew off into the distance. Wow!! I cleaned up the damage and the turkey poo and put my unused camera away. Well, back on the keyboard, I know now that Brush Turkeys are prey species for Brown Goshawks - and you do too. As always the Brush Turkey gets the last laugh.

The destroyer of domestic gardens (Steve Kerr)


June 2016 23

Around the ridges

Wader surveys at Kinka Beach and Kinka Wetlands

We are now doing surveys at three locations, north Kinka Beach, South Kinka Beach and Kinka Wetlands. Members assisting with the surveys have been Steve Kerr, Victoria Kerr, Barry Ellis, Vicky Morris, Martin Woodcock, David Mitchell, Jenny Barry, Graham Durant, Rod Parry, Mick Barker, Brian Macguire, Bruce Zimmer, Don Wright, Kelvin Wykes, Fran McFadzen, Kris Hewitt, Teresa Lynch, Debra Corbet, Nick Corbet, Thomas Corbet, Andrew Lau, Paula Ryan and Allan Briggs. Many thanks to those who have contributed to the shorebird counts throughout the year. During March/April the migratory waders departed our shore and went off to breed in the northern hemisphere so numbers were down at Kinka Beach from six species in February to nil in May. At Kinka Wetlands the picture was a little different with good rain keeping water levels quite high and four migratory species were seen there in May. It is quite likely that they were some of the last to migrate since they were not seen in June. Wader surveys at Shelgrit Creek Gerry Woodruff has been conducting the surveys at Shelgrit Creek, Mackay. He has been assisted by Marj Andrews, Del Williams, Ian Hope, Greg Strohal, Dan and Kate Bundred and Tom Curtis.

QAL Ashpond (Allan Briggs)

Wader surveys at Gladstone Margaret Worthington has taken over the shorebird counts at QAL. Margaret would welcome any Gladstone member who has an interest in shorebirds and would like to assist with the counts. While Margaret is away on holiday Cheryl Hannant will step in to do the surveys. Where does the count data go?

With regular monthly surveys in Mackay, Capricorn Coast and Gladstone we now have a good spread of wader surveys along our coastline. All of this data is submitted to QWSG and eventually finds its way into the BirdLife Australia Atlas.

Would you like to help?

The monthly surveys are a vitally important component of our coastal shorebird monitoring that are part of a nationwide effort to collect data about shorebird species. If anyone would like to help out with these surveys please contact Allan Briggs at [email protected]



24 June 2016

Outstanding Photographs

Our photography section keeps getting better as more members are refining their skills. It is not just about the ‘big one’ but more about how you use it!

Blue Tit (Steve Kerr)

This Blue Tit is checking out a nesting hollow in an old tree in Oslo, Norway..

Olive-backed Sunbird (Malcolm Wells)

Getting Sunbirds to nest in your garden is as easy as hanging a piece of thin rope under a verandah. Here the happy couple have selected their nest site and went on to build a nest (see next photo).

Olive-backed Sunbird (Malcolm Wells) The nest duly constructed and the hungry nestlings are being fed by the parents. A nice reward for something as simple as hanging up a piece of string.

Australasian Grebe (Allan Briggs)

An Aussie Grebe exercising its wings at Murray Lagoon.


June 2016 25

Pale-headed Rosella (Gary Knight)

This Pale-headed Rosella seems to be collecting nest material at St Lawrence.

Great Crested Grebe (Allan Briggs)

This Great Crested Grebe was collecting nest material at Murray Lagoon.

Great Crested Grebe (Mike Hendy)

A successful breeding event with three stripy little chicks at Murray Lagoon.

White-throated Gerygone (Gary Knight)

Caught in the early morning light at Lake Victoria.


26 June 2016

Immature Golden Whistler (Kim Price)

The immature Golden Whistler can be a bit tricky to ID but the rufous flush on the wing feathers and the patch of yellow under the tail as well as the pale base to the bill are all diagnostic. Kim price caught it hopping around his garden near Calliope.

Grey Goshawk (Gary Knight)

This elusive and rare species was hanging around Farm Street in North Rockhampton and Gary Knight took the photo from the front patio of his house He was astounded but mightily pleased to add the species to his lifetime list. This is the grey morph which is foiund on the east coast with the white morph in northern Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

Yellow-tufted Honeyeater (Helen Dunne)

This is one of the prettiest honeyeater’s and Helen caught it having a bath at Blackdown Tablelands.

Silvereye (Helen Dunne)

During the winter months Blackdown Tablelands is ablaze with wattle blossom and Silvereyes are there to take advantage.


June 2016 27

Artistic interpretation

A new category to our photography section that will feature photographs “that take you to another place, makes you reflect on your own experiences, definitely has a back story or gives you an insight that you hadn’t thought of before.”

Scarlet Robin (Allan Briggs)

The male Scarlet Robin is quite spectacular and the blurred background concentrates the eye not only on his brilliant red colour but also on the contrasting black head and relaxed posture.

Taken at Binalong Bay, Tasmania.


28 June 2016

Dusky Moorhen (Gary Knight) A delightful parent and chick moment when the chick receives a morsel of food.

Taken at Mapleton duck ponds..


June 2016 29

Juvenile Pacific Gull (Allan Briggs)

Caught on the rocks at Binalong Bay, Tasmania, the orange lichen provides a glowing background for this young Pacific gull. The lichen makes for spectacular scenery and great photo opportunities as below.


30 June 2016

Calendar of Events for 2016

Set out below is a suggested calendar of field trips and other activities for 2016 that were agreed to at the end of year activity at Capricorn Caves. The field trips are planned to provide a variety of activities that suit members interests, locations that are interesting and have sufficient variety to suit local short distance day trips and more adventurous long distance weekend trips. Your participation in the selection of field trips will provide you with activities that will suit your interests.

Month Date Event Where

July 5 Guided tour through the aviary with

FLOW on the Go

Rockhampton Botanical Gardens

23 Monthly shorebird survey Cap Coast, Mackay and Gladstone

9 Queensland Ornithological Conference U of Q, Brisbane

11-14 National Campout Brisbane area

17 Field trip Fitzroy Vale

August 20-28 Field trip Welford NP, Bowra & Currawinya


September TBA Field trip Kroombit Tops National Park

7 National Threatened Species Day TBA


TBA Biannual shorebird survey Broadsound

30 Presentation for Yeppoon Probus Diggers Bowls Club

October TBA Field trip Gladstone area


17-23 Aussie Backyard Bird Count Backyards

November TBA Urban birding Rockhampton/Yeppoon


December TBA End of year activity Fern’s Hideaway

‘ 3 Monthly shorebird survey Cap Coast, Mackay and Gladstone


June 2016 31

WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS

We would like to welcome the following new members and look forward to meeting them on future field trips. Elmien Ballot – Blackwater Kim Semple – Byfield Dianne Paddick – Boyne Island Michael Kim – Emu Park Kev Rapley – Gracemere Gay Woolley – Yeppoon Paul Hanson – Gladstone Tony & Louise Longson – Boyne Island Ann Hewson - Yeppoon

Membership info

If you have any friends or relatives who are interested in birds then please encourage them to join or why not buy them a membership for their birthday! Subscriptions: $79 Single, $58 Single Concession, $125 Family, $100 Family Concession, $58 Library, $29 Student and $25 Stickybeaks. This includes membership of the national organisation plus membership of our local branch. BirdLife Capricornia members also receive four issues of the full-colour BirdLife Magazine and regular issues of Brolga, the BirdLife Capricornia newsletter. Membership forms are available from the Secretary or send subscriptions directly to: BirdLife, Suite 2-05, 60 Leicester Street Carlton VIC 3053. You can now join directly through the BA web site: www.birdlife.org.au.

Your Committee Convenor – Graham Durant 49397889 Email: [email protected]

Secretary – Allan Briggs 49354645 Email: [email protected] Treasurer – Mick Barker 49395579 Email: [email protected]

Deputy Convenor – Marian Davies 4927 2237 Email: [email protected]

Postal address

192, Palm Valley Road, Coowonga, Qld 4702.

Representatives on BA committees;

Groups committee:

Graham Durant

Important Bird Area Nominations and Review

Committee:

Allan Briggs

Occupational Health and Safety Committee:

Fran McFadzen

National Conservation Committee:

Marian Davies

Queensland Conservation Committee

Marian Davies

BirdLife English names committee

Allan Briggs

Conservation issues consultants

John McCabe and Bob Black

BirdLife Photography Special Interest Group

Alicia Newport (Secretary)

Representative on the Capricorn Coast Alliance Fran McFadzen Newsletter Editor Allan Briggs Indian Myna project Coordinator Rod Elder

http://www.birdlife.org.au/





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