Kayaking & Red-tailed Black Cockatoo in Sunshine Coast Hinterland

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo is a scarce bird in south-east Queensland but they are attracted to fruiting white cedar Melia azedarach in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, especially in riverside valleys in the eastern and northern slopes of the Conondale and associated ranges. During a three-day camp this week at SEQ Water's Borumba Dam campsite, Red-tailed Blacks were flying about in small numbers, feeding on cedar fruits.

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo was common as usual, on this visit feeding on the ripe pine cones of introduced Pinus radiata trees, and unusually in the same general area that the Red-tailed Blacks were present.

Yabba Creek

I spent a morning kayaking 14km down the Yabba Creek from the sixth to the first crossing along the Imbil-Bolumba Creek Road. Long, calm stretches of deep water are interspersed with stretches of up to 200m of Grade 1-2 rapids. It's a bumpy ride in places, with the kayak having to be hauled out several times to get around tree blockages or tricky-looking bits of white water. A mix of remnant lowland rainforest (vine scrub), eucalypt forest and grazing country lines this scenic watercourse. Wildlife seen included White-eared and Spectacled Monarch, good numbers (20+) of Azure Kingfishers, a Freshwater Snake and a Platypus.

Whiptail Wallaby

Other wildlife about the camping ground included good numbers of Whiptail Wallaby. The population has been resident here for many years, although the species is rare elsewhere in the Conondale Range area, and seemingly is absent from the Blackall Range.
A number of butterflies associated with vine scrubs were close to the camping ground, including the species depicted here.

Yellow Albatross

Fuscous Swallowtail

White-banded Plane

Elsewhere, a Bush Stone-Curlew was seen near home at the foot of Mt Ninderry. The birds have been heard from time to time but not seen here previously; the species generally is quite rare in the Sunshine Coast region.

Bush  Stone-Curlew

In the garden, the transformation from summer to winter is in full swing with autumn-winter visitors like Golden Whistler and Rufous Fantail turning up in small numbers. Still plenty of butterflies about, including this Orange-streaked Ringlet.

Golden Whistler

Rufous Fantail

Orange-streaked Ringlet

Yandina Creek Wetlands: Important New Developments

Mangroves in Yandina Creek Wetland

There have been significant developments in the campaign to protect the 200-hectare Yandina Creek Wetlands on the Sunshine Coast from being drained since the publication of a report presenting the case for an application before the Sunshine Coast Council to acquire the wetlands for a reserve (see here). Although the report was updated last week, new information has come to hand.

Map of Yandina Creek Wetlands

It is useful to have a fresh look at a map of the wetlands. The bulk of the wetlands are on two properties (Lots 3 and 4 RP148079) owned separately by members of a Sunshine Coast family. As previously reported, the land was farmed for sugar cane until it was sold to the family about 10 years ago. Since then, floodgates on tidal waterways fringing the properties have fallen into disrepair, allowing the land to be inundated frequently. This has effectively restored an extensive area of the kind of wetlands that naturally were widespread on the Maroochy River floodplains before the development of the sugar cane industry many decades ago. The family has stated it is their intention to repair the floodgates to drain the wetlands so the area can be used for cattle grazing.

The wetlands are sustained by tidal water flowing through broken floodgates

The Commonwealth Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, has written to the landholders, advising them of their obligations to comply with federal law regarded the presence of an endangered species (Australian Painted-Snipe) and large numbers of migratory shorebirds on the properties. This appears to necessitate the compilation of an environmental impact study before the floodgates can be restored. At the same time, the Sunshine Coast Council has advised that early next financial year, it intends to make a decision on an application (Nomination Number 100) under its Environment Levy Land Acquisition Program to acquire the properties for a reserve.

The land was sold to the family by Scott Trevor, a doyen of the region's sugar cane industry, who resides on an adjoining property. Mr Trevor now tells supporters of efforts to protect the wetlands that he will be subleasing Lot 3 RP148079 from the family to restore sugar cane plantations. He believed that Lot 4 RP14809 would be utilised for cattle grazing, although some cattle would also be grazed on Lot 3. Significantly, Mr Trevor advised that the floodgates will be repaired later this year when drier conditions permit - probably in September - so that the wetlands can be drained. He said the substantial costs involved in repairing the floodgates would be shared between him and the landholders. Mr Trevor indicated that neither he nor the landholders were concerned about the potential implications of their plans under Commonwealth, State or council laws and regulations. However, Mr Trevor said no leasing agreement had yet been signed.

Uncertainty surrounds this development. The landholders may have legal advice indicating that continuing a technically existing use for the land (sugar cane growing) - instead of converting its primary use to grazing - may make it easier to avoid potential pitfalls in Commonwealth, state and council laws and regulations. Leasing the biggest property (Lot 3) to another title holder may make it more difficult for authorities to act. However, importantly, restoring the floodgates would appear to comprise an "action" in any event under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, triggering its provisions.

Yandina Creek Wetlands

A recent inspection from property boundaries has revealed the existence of several hectares of mangroves in the eastern sector of Lot 3. According to the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, all marine plants growing on or adjacent to tidal lands are protected under Queensland law through provisions of the Fisheries Act 1994. The destruction, damage or disturbance of marine plants without prior approval from Fisheries Queensland is prohibited. Heavy penalties apply to any unauthorised disturbances that impact on marine plants on all private and public lands. The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries has been alerted to the presence of mangroves on the property and of plans to drain the area. The department has agreed to investigate the matter.

It has also been pointed out that coastal wetlands on the east coast of Australia are underlain by estuarine sediments potentially containing acid sulfate soils. Drainage of the wetlands could lead to drainage of the groundwater and oxidation of acid sulfate soils, leading to acid discharge into Yandina Creek and the Maroochy River, potentially affecting water quality and fish habitat. Draining can also result in the development of acid scalds on the soil surface. Sunshine Coast Council maps show that much of the land in question is subject to an Acid Sulphate Soils overlay. The council has been asked to ensure that, in the event that the land is not acquired for conservation purposes, all of its planning regulations are complied with. 

Several supporters have suggested that notwithstanding Mr Hunt's intervention, legal action should be initiated in the Federal Court to ensure that the drainage plan does not proceed. It has been pointed out that the wetlands are a nationally significant site under Commonwealth law, and are potentially an internationally significant site. Any such legal action is outside the resources of supporters of the conservation plan. However, the Queensland Environmental Defenders Office has been asked to consider the matter.

The landholders have opted to end communication with supporters of the conservation plan after refusing permission for a scientific survey to proceed. The landholders appear to believe that environmentalists are responsible for vandalising fences on a nearby property that they own, and of chaining open floodgates. No evidence has been provided to support those assertions and the landholders have been assured that those interested in protecting the wetlands would deplore any such acts. The family has left open the possibility of accepting an offer to acquire the properties,  however.

  

Richmond Birdwing on Comeback Trail

Richmond Birdwing

The Richmond Birdwing Butterfly is one of the iconic wildlife species of the rainforests of south-east Queensland and north-east NSW. Once common and widespread, the destruction of lowland rainforest reduced its numbers so substantially that the species was once thought to be in seriously in danger of extinction. Its caterpillars feed on only two species of Pararistolochia vine.

Richmond Birdwing

The butterfly's favoured vines have been planted over much of its range - including the Sunshine Coast hinterland - by community groups and it appears that the species is on the comeback trail. I watched a couple of male Richmond Birdwings today in riverine remnant lowland rainforest at North Arm in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. It is the same spot where I saw the species in September 2013. The butterflies were behaving in the same manner: flying about in large circles over a concentrated area of vegetation, though there did not appear to be anything exceptional about the plants there. They were seen feeding several times on the flowers of introduced lantana.

I've long harboured concerns about the war against lantana being waged by often those same community groups that plant the butterfly's preferred vine. The weed needs to kept in check, but I think there is little doubt it replaces some of what was lost through the decimation of lowland rainforest, which survives today only in remnant patches. Butterflies love lantana flowers. The endangered Black-breasted Buttonquail - another rarity endemic to the rainforests of north-east NSW and south-east Queensland - is often found in lantana thickets. Other cryptic birds like Lewin's Rail and Pale-vented Bush-hen nest and forage in lantana. I have seen some of these birds disappear from places where lantana has been removed. Time for a rethink perhaps.

Tailed Emporer

It has been an excellent season for butterflies generally this year, with a selection of those about the North Arm-Ninderry area seen today shown here.

Brown Ringlet

Yellow Albatross

Long-tailed Pea-Blue

Blue Tiger

Fairy Gerygone

A pair of Fairy Gerygones are in residence at the North Arm butterfly spot. Numbers of this mostly tropical species appear to be on the rise in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, though their stronghold in the region is in coastal vine scrub.

Striated Heron

Elsewhere, I flushed a Black Bittern from a small tributary of Lake Doonella, Tewantin. The bird was seen twice more but (again) refused to be photographed. More co-operative was this dark phase Striated Heron in the Yandina Creek Wetlands.