Outing Report - Flagstone Creek, Coochin, September 2016

After the preliminaries and a short chat on the area, we walked up the track to an internal fence line where Keith spoke of the geology of the area and the work he has done with the local landholders through the Scenic Rim Regional Council.  Des spoke of the early days of a local family growing crops for sale on top of the hills near a cliff line, which is accessed up Black Rock Road. Des and John used to live immediately west of this area in their younger days and Des gave us an interesting chat on the people and pursuits of the area while we had our lunch. Around 43 birds were recorded on the day as well as other fauna and plenty of interesting flora. 

The floodplain of Flagstone Creek, Coochin

Tiny webs glistening in the morning dew

A web close up

Mt Asplenium to Spicer's Peak (left to right)

Dogwood (Jacksonia scoparia) and Leptospermum variabile

Round Ant Eater (Omoedus orbiculatus)

Keith with Rusty Pomaderris (Pomaderris ferruginea) and Leptospermum variabile

Clambering up the rock face

Species List: compiled by the Club Recorder from members’ sightings.

Beetle: Variable Ladybird (Coelophora inaequalis)

Birds: Peaceful Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Rainbow Lorikeet, Musk Lorikeet, Australian King-Parrot, Pheasant Coucal, Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, Laughing Kookaburra, Rainbow Bee-eater, Red-backed Fairy-wren, White-browed Scrubwren, White-throated Gerygone, Spotted Pardalote, Lewin's Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Scarlet Honeyeater, Brown Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Noisy Friarbird, Little Friarbird, Striped Honeyeater, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Rufous Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush, Australasian Figbird, Grey Butcherbird, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Grey Fantail, Torresian Crow, Leaden Flycatcher, Eastern Yellow Robin, Golden-headed Cisticola, Silvereye, Welcome Swallow, Mistletoebird, Double-barred Finch, Red-browed Finch.

Butterflies: Lesser Wanderer (Danaus chrysippus), Wanderer (Danaus plexippus).

Damselflies: Wandering Ringtail (Austrolestes leda); immature male – a pale tan colour, and adult male - blue.

Dragonflies: Scarlet Percher (Diplacodes haematodes); one male, Black-faced Percher (Diplacodes melanopsis); one male.

Moth: Triangular Moth (Epidesmia chilonaria).

Skink: Wall Skink (Cryptoblepharus virgatus).

Spiders: Wolf Spider sp., Round Ant Eater (Omoedus orbiculatus).

Evidence of species: Orts (food scraps) only - Glossy Black-Cockatoo, bandicoot diggings – possibly Northern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus), scats only Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), wallaby tracks - unknown species.

Flora (just some that were discussed on the walk): On the floodplain soil – Moreton Bay Ash (Corymbia tessellaris), Grey Gum (Eucalyptus punctata), Small-leaved Fig (Ficus obliqua), Black Tea-tree or River Tea-tree (Melaleuca bracteata) with mistletoe that attracted the Mistletoebird, Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, and a Shining-bronze Cuckoo. On the rocky slopes – Smooth-branched Ironbark (Eucalyptus dura), Queensland Peppermint (Eucalyptus exserta), Cheese Tree (Glochidion ferdinandi), Dogwood (Jacksonia scoparia), Leptospermum microcarpum - no common name, Brush Box (Lophostemon confertus), Rusty Pomaderris (Pomaderris ferruginea). 

September Outing - Flagstone Creek, Coochin Coochin

A gathering of Field Nats, at the last outing. See you at Flagstone Creek.

Meeting Place:  Park your cars 50 metres inside the gate at 1719 Boonah-Rathdowney Road which is on the left going south from Boonah. There will be a marker put in place before the flood-way sign just before Flagstone Creek. (If you go through Flagstone Creek causeway then you’ve gone too far.)

Time:  8.30 am for a 9.00 am start. Upon arrival, please register in the Attendance book and pay the $2 per person participation fee.

Level of Fitness: Another outing for everybody. This field trip is on level knee-high grassland and a creek bed of flattish rock with a gentle upward slope.  Two barbed wire fences need to be negotiated. We’ll see the local birds, flora, fauna, insects, butterflies and the Scenic Rim in the western distance.

Planned Activities: We’ll walk a vehicle track initially – go along a fence line to the creek then along the side of the creek on the northern side which should be good for seeing the birds – through a barbed wire fence then along the side of the creek again and on another track to the bed of the creek. –this could be the morning tea stop – then “up the creek” on flattish rock with some careful stepping on some slippery areas – through the fence across the creek and up a little further until we junction with another creek – from there on it gets a little too rough with no real benefit for us. When we come out of the creek on the way out, we’ll take a slightly different route after we’ve gone back through the barbed wire fence. The trip should be around 2.5 km.

Carry morning tea with you and we’ll return to the vehicles for lunch. There are no after lunch plans so we could take our time and have a late lunch.

We have permission from the three landholders.

What to bring: Morning tea, lunch, water, binocs, cameras, and your favourite repellents & sunscreens.  Also your tables and chairs for lunch.

Outing report - Secret Valley, June 2016

Saturday's walk: the red path being outbound while some members took the higher, green path back to the cars.

It was a beautiful day for the June outing: warm with no wind and a clear blue sky making it ideal for walking in the bush. The track to the valley is 2.5 kilometres of the Shoreline Trail on the northern side of the lake. We spent a little time at the Eastern Trailhead car-park where we saw plenty of birds along the dam wall and in the car park, and an unusual fungi in the garden bed.

Birdwatching in the eucalypt woodland

The winding track beside the lake is gently undulating and passes through mixed eucalypt woodland. The Spotted Gums (Corymbia maculata) were in flower and the groundcover, Winter Apple (Eremophila debilis), was fruiting. 

No frogs, lizards or mammals were seen on the day, however our fauna list totalled 50 species of birds and one butterfly. 

BIRD LIST FOR SECRET VALLEY 

Brown Quail, Australian Wood Duck, Pacific Black Duck, Hardhead, Australasian Grebe, Common Bronzewing, Bar-shouldered Dove, Australasian Darter, Great Cormorant, Little Black Cormorant, Australian Pelican, Eastern Great Egret, Intermediate Egret, White-faced Heron, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling Kite, Brahminy Kite, Dusky Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Masked Lapwing, Rainbow Lorikeet, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Little Lorikeet, Australian King-Parrot, Azure Kingfisher, Laughing Kookaburra, Superb Fairy-wren, Red-backed Fairy-wren, Variegated Fairy-wren, Striated Pardalote, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Scarlet Honeyeater, Brown Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater, Noisy Friarbird, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Golden Whistler, Rufous Whistler, Australian Magpie, Grey Fantail, Willie Wagtail, Torresian Crow, Restless Flycatcher, Magpie-lark, Jacky Winter, Tawny Grassbird, Silvereye, Welcome Swallow, Australasian Pipit. 

BUTTERFLY: Wanderer.