Yandina Creek Wetland: September 2019 survey

Australian Pelican over the wetland

Steve Popple and I conducted an afternoon and early evening survey of Yandina Creek Wetland for BirdLife Australia on September 28. This was the first BLA nocturnal survey and we were rewarded with brief views of a busily calling Large-tailed Nightjar after sunset. This is a rare species in south-east Queensland and Yandina Creek is the most southerly site at which the nightjar occurs. Unfortunately it didn't avail itself of a photograph. There was no sign of the Eastern Grass Owls which I had found in the area in past years.

Also of special interest was a pair of King Quail on the track. They showed themselves briefly but again avoided the cameras. A pair of Black-necked Storks were a little more co-operative; as in times past, this is proving to be the most reliable site in the Sunshine Coast region for this iconic species. The male bird in this image is fishing.

Black-necked Stork

We were particularly pleased to see good numbers of migratory shorebirds about. We had an estimated 150 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers.Most were in a single large flock seen just before sunset in an area we had surveyed earlier and not found; they clearly had gone undetected in another part of the wetland.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

About 20 Marsh Sandpipers were also of note, as was a single critically endangered Curlew-Sandpiper.

Curlew-Sandpiper (R, pic by Steve Popple)

Marsh Sandpiper

Five recently arrived Pacific Golden Plovers, most still sporting breeding plumage, were seen, along with 8 Latham's Snipe.

Pacific Golden Plover

Latham's Snipe

Among other shorebirds, the presence of about 80 Red-kneed Dotterels was noteworthy; it's highly unusual to see so many of this primarily inland species in coastal Queensland.

Red-kneed Dotterel

Large flocks of Grey Teal were wheeling over the wetland as we found ourselves drenched by the first decent downpour of rain on the coast in weeks. Whiskered Tern was a new species for the wetland: Species Number 168. 

Grey Teal

Other nice birds included Glossy Ibis, Nankeen Night-Heron and Little Grassbird. A fair number of Australian Pelicans and cormorants indicated quite a few fish must be present.

Glossy Ibis

Little Grassbird

Raptors included two White-bellied Sea-Eagles that were actively patrolling the wetland.

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

We found a dead Grassland Melomys, Melomys bertoni, a new species of mammal for the wetland. In the past I've found Water Rat Hydromys chrysogaster and Swamp Rat Rattus lutreolus here.

Grassland Melomys

We noticed that Unitywater has reopened several more floodgates at the eastern end of the wetland which had been shut for several years. As a result, the southern half of the wetland now has some water in it. This is a welcome development. As other floodgates reopen with time, the site will be fully restored. Ebird list of the 68 species recorded.

More floodgates opened

Is Queensland's rainforest burning?

Binna Burra Lodge's Steve Noakes

The transcript of my story in The Weekend Australian, 28-29 September, 2019. Link to published version.

False alarm: the great rainforest fire that wasn't.

A frightening image. Pristine rainforest that has not burned for millions of years is ablaze as bushfires of unprecedented intensity roar through the hinterland of south-east Queensland. It's difficult to imagine a more graphic illustration of the consequences of climate change. That is what was widely portrayed during the region's fire emergency earlier this month. The only problem is, it didn't happen.

The destruction of ancient World Heritage-listed Gondwana subtropical and temperate rainforests by fire was reported unequivocally as fact. Guardian Australia proclaimed in a headline: “Like nothing we've seen: Queensland bushfires tear through rainforest.” The landscape of Lamington National Park surrounding the historic Binna Burra Lodge, which was destroyed in the fires, was “blackened remnants of what used to be lush rainforest”, reported the Australian Associated Press in a story carried by multiple news outlets.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is working on its sixth assessment report. Australian climate scientist Joëlle Gergis, a lead author of the report, declared: “What I find particularly disturbing is that World Heritage rainforest is burning. It has been hard to watch news coverage of these exceptionally rare rainforests burning…. the potential loss of these areas is something I never thought I would witness in my lifetime.”

Satellite imagery showing dry rainforest areas burning on the edge of Lamington National Park

Social media lit up with expressions of despair about the rainforest losses. Typical of the angst was a tweet on Twitter insisting that any journalist interviewing the Prime Minister who failed to question the climate implications of Queensland rainforests burning “isn't doing their f...ing job”.

But the Gondwana rainforests, those priceless relics of times long gone, did not burn. No news coverage showed rainforest burning. The 20,600ha Lamington National Park in Queensland and the adjoining 31,700ha Border Ranges National Park in NSW encompass the largest expanse of subtropical rainforest in the world. As on countless occasions over the centuries, fire raging in surrounding eucalypt woodland did not destroy the rainforest.

To be sure, bushfires of such intensity in the region are unusual, especially in early spring; 16 homes were lost in southern Queensland. Unlike south-east Australia with its hot and dry summers, the subtropics are usually afforded a degree of protection by high humidity, an absence of prolonged periods of scorching temperatures, and generous rainfall which - as in much of the country - has been in short supply lately.

Binna Burra Lodge is not encircled by rainforest, as was claimed repeatedly. The lodge is surrounded on three sides by eucalypt woodland; it came close to being lost when a control burn 20 years ago got away. On this occasion, explains Binna Burra chairman Steven Noakes: “The fire went tearing up a steep slope through eucalypt woodland and we're perched on a ridge at the top. With those winds there was nothing we could do.” A camping ground and tea-house that adjoin rainforest survived the inferno; flames did not extend beyond the lodge into rainforest.

A few kilometres across Lamington National Park from Binna Burra, O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat was evacuated during the fire emergency. Unlike Binna Burra, O'Reilly's is surrounded entirely by rainforest. O'Reilly's manager, Shane O'Reilly, says there was no need for evacuation; the nearest fires were 15km away: “The rainforest here doesn't burn. It was pretty much eucalypt country that burned... There's a lot of emotion surrounding this. A story is being propagated that it's more of an issue about rainforest than it is.” O'Reilly adds that an international scientific symposium at the lodge in 2011 heard the rainforest had not burned for at least three million years.

Patrick Norman, a Griffith University PhD student and former Lamington park ranger, has analysed satellite data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite over burnt forest. The images indicate about 400ha of rainforest burned, but this was primarily dry rainforest at lower altitudes known as vine scrub. Burned areas also included wet scleropyll, a forest type comprised of tall eucalypts with some rainforest plants.

Says Norman: “Drawing a line between rainforest and wet sclerophyll is a tricky task. By and large, the rainforest that burned was on the drier end of the spectrum. I am quite confident no warm or cool temperate rainforest was burned.” The affected dry rainforest mostly burned lightly, with the ground layer impacted. Norman cautions that if the forests burn again in the foreseeable future there could be more serious impacts.

Burnt dry rainforest, Lamington National Park- Pic Patrick Norman

Kaye Healing, the Queensland Rural Fire Service acting South-East regional manager, played a central role in fighting the fires, which continue to smoulder. Healing says while fires “burn crazily” through eucalypt woodland, they tend to “walk through” vine scrub and wet sclerophyll forest. Says Healing: “When it gets to true rainforest, the fire self-extinguishes. You've got a closed canopy in true rainforest and it holds moisture. The rainforest is not on fire. The fire is in dry eucalypt forest and woodland.”

Healing says similar conditions were experienced before, for instance in the early-1990s: “I'm not going to get into a climate change conversation but climate varies between floods and drought in this country and historical records show that.”

Claims about Australian rainforest burning for the first time also circulated late last year when 121,000ha of land around Eungella National Park near Mackay were scorched. At the time, the ABC published a photograph of a fire-stricken area; the caption said it had been a “rich green subtropical rainforest”. Although it was pointed out that the area had in fact been grassland and shrubs, the captioned photograph remains on ABC websites. 

The wrongly captioned photograph at Eungella

The ABC reported that Eungella rainforests were reduced to cinders and would take hundreds of years to recover. Rural Fire Service manager for the Mackay region, Andrew Houley, a former forester, says rainforest that burned around Eungella was largely regrowth on cleared land. Recent images show tree ferns and some other rainforest plants regrowing. 

However, the heat was so intense that about 10-15m of the edge of pristine rainforest in places was destroyed before the fires stopped. Houley adds: “Headlines say the fires are once in a lifetime but these weather patterns affect us every 25 years or so.”

Tree ferns regenerating at Eungella - Pic Rosanne Houley

A crisis facing rainforest is underway not in Australia but in south-east Asia, the Amazon Basin and central Africa. Huge tracts of forest are being intensively logged or bulldozed for livestock or crops. Extensively damaged rainforest remnants and felled trees are then burned. In some countries, such as Indonesia, sound environmental laws are in place but are largely unenforced or ignored. In others, like Brazil, governments are unapologetically pursuing polices to develop rainforest. Australia is fortunate that its World Heritage rainforests are standing tall. 

Rainforest under attack in Africa's Congo Basin

Barking Owl in Conondale Range

Barking Owl (m)

It was a delight to catch up with a pair of Barking Owls in the Conondale Range in Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland. The owls were discovered several weeks ago by a resourceful young Sunshine Coast naturalist, Ollie Scully, in Conondale National Park. Over many years in the field in the Conondales, I hadn't encountered this species previously.

Barking Owl (f)

The birds are surprisingly in wet sclerophyll forest, a habitat not normally associated with the species. The forest had a sprinkling of Cabbage Tree Palm, a tree often present at Barking Owl sites in coastal Queensland. I found the male bird late in the afternoon of my visit this week roosting high in a Blackbutt; the female was nowhere to be seen and may have been on a nest. The pair called together for about 10 minutes at sunset, and the male called briefly later that night. Just before dawn, both birds were calling from the same spot as the previous evening, again for about 10 minutes.

I thought they must be attending a nest when, an hour or so after sunrise, they called about 300m away in a Hoop Pine plantation. The pair were found roosting together high in the pines for about an hour until I left them.

Barking Owl pair (female top, male bottom)

I've been arguing the case to restore a large area of endangered subtropical lowland rainforest in Imbil State Forest, which adjoins Conondale National Park, by converting the state forest to a conservation area. The plan involves stopping the logging of Hoop Pine plantations so they can regenerate as rainforest. When Conondale National Park was substantially extended by the former state Labor government, it included several small areas of Hoop Pine plantation which are no longer logged.

A couple of such plantations are in or close to the Barking Owl territory. There's no doubt that old-growth plantation adjoining rainforest is attractive to birds. Critics claim that if left unlogged, the plantations would become “weed, pest and fire haven junk heaps”. There's no sign of that at this site, like many others where plantations have not been logged for several decades. On the contrary, there is a rich and diverse understory of rainforest plants, including good numbers of mature Piccabeen Palm and other trees.

Hoop Pine plantation, Conondale National Park

Hoop Pine plantation, Conondale National Park

The adjoining wet sclerophyll forest has an unusually large number of old-growth Blackbutt, Rose Gum and other trees.

Towering Blackbutt, Conondale National Park

During my evening there I had a Sooty Owl calling that was seen briefly. Southern Boobook and Marbled Frogmouth were present. Other birds included Paradise Riflebird, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Australian Logrunner, Crested Shrike-tit, Russet-tailed Thrush and Satin Bowerbird. Ebird list.

Marbled Frogmouth

Satin Bowerbird

Southern Boobook

Several Yellow-bellied Gliders were heard shrieking at sunset and a couple of Greater Gliders were later spotted. Amphibians included a Great Barred Frog, with quite a few Cascade Tree-Frogs and Tusked Frogs also about.

Great Barred Frog

Greater Glider

Hiking in Mapleton National Park

White-eared Monarch

I did a 20-kilometre hike yesterday through Mapleton National Park in the Sunshine Coast hinterland's Blackall Range. I started on Delicia Road at the trailhead for the track to Gheerulla Falls, heading west to Thilba Thalba camping ground and beyond to 480m, the highest elevation for the day. Then it was down the steep escarpment to Gheerulla Creek, following the creek up the valley eastwards to the falls and back to Delicia Road.

Open forest, Mapleton National Park

The hike goes through some nice patches of rainforest, wet sclerophyll forest and eucalypt woodland. The creeks aren't running due to the current dry spell and conditions are very dry. I didn't see a single (other) human being or a single Noisy Miner all day! Images of scenery and birds seen along the way here. The hike started at 7.30am and finished at 4pm. Elist.

Looking towards the Blackall Range ridgeline

Striated Thornbill

Paradise Riflebird

View from near Thilba Thalba

Rocky escarpment above Gheerulla Creek

Looking towards Kenilworth Bluff and Mary River valley

Gheerulla Creek 

Eastern Spinebill

Gheerulla Creek

Marbled Frogmouth at its day roost

Wonga Pigeon

   

Imbil State Forest: A response to critics in pictures

Rainforest stream in Imbil State Forest

Queensland's Liberal National Party opposition is in the forefront of criticism of a plan I proposed recently to protect and propagate subtropical lowland rainforest in the 21,000ha Imbil State Forest in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. The state Environment Minister, Leeanne Enoch, has given an undertaking to consider the proposal, which would involve the cancellation of logging and grazing leases to allow hoop pine plantations to regenerate as lowland rainforest. Subtropical lowland rainforest, a critically endangered habitat, occurs naturally in the state forest.

The LNP joined former Queensland Forestry chief executive Gary Bacon – backed by lop-sided reporting in the local Gympie Times newspaper - in attacking the proposal; it was variously described as a “thought bubble” and the work of “green nutters” and “left-wing zealots”. LNP shadow agriculture minister Tony Perrett claimed the proposal, which he had not seen, was based on “deliberate fabrications” and had “manipulated the truth”.

Tony Perrett

Perrett and Bacon did their utmost to undermine the basic premise of the proposal: that left alone, the plantations will revert to subtropical lowland rainforest, the habitat that occurred there originally before it was cleared to make way for plantations. I returned to Imbil State Forest last week to check out how older stands of hoop pine plantation were faring. I've reported separately that more than half the bird species I recorded during the visit were in plantations as well as in remnant rainforest patches.

Mature hoop pine plantation, Imbil State Forest

Images in this post show clearly that hoop pine plantation, when it has not been logged for a considerable time, has an extensive understory of rainforest plants. These plants are seeded from adjoining rainforest remnants. It's no surprise that the older plantations resemble closely adjoining remnant rainforest.

Hoop pine plantation with rainforest understory, Imbil State Forest

The old plantations I saw are well on their way to reverting to subtropical lowland rainforest in accordance with predictions from various experts, including respected landscape ecologist Peter Stanton and botanist Michael Olsen. They are soon to be logged, as they have been periodically over the past century since plantations were established at Imbil.

Hoop pine plantation with rainforest understory, Imbil State Forest

Gary Bacon claims that if left alone, the plantations would spiral into a “weed, pest and fire haven junk heap”. Bacon is a forestry scientist: he is not a zoologist, or a botanist, or an ecologist. Experts in these areas who support the proposal know a great deal more than Bacon about rainforest regeneration.

During my visit to Imbil State Forest, I saw decades-old plantations that were anything but the nightmarish scenario painted by Bacon. Yes, there was a good deal of lantana along the plantation fringes, but that introduced weed occurs throughout the state forest and has been there for a very long time. (Ironically, it provides good cover for the rare Black-breasted Buttonquail, which is restricted to subtropical lowland rainforest; I found numerous buttonquail platelets in the pine plantations.)

Hoop pine plantation and contiguous rainforest, Imbil State Forest

Buttonquail platelets in hoop pine plantation, Imbil State Forest

Older plantations shared a shady canopy with adjoining rainforest, reducing sunlight penetration and therefore the potential for invasive pest vines such as cat's claw to flourish. The proposal envisages nothing more that what is already the situation in many pockets of the state forest, but on a wider scale that would be sustained. It is ludicrous to suggest that mature plantations would become a pest-ridden “junk heap” if left unlogged, as Bacon asserts.

Subtropical lowland rainforest, Imbil State Forest

Indeed, some of the recently logged pine plantations in the state forest are not a pretty sight. Trees are logged deep into gully lines and rainforest streams in places are polluted by soil run-off. Piles of fallen trees that were not the targeted hoop pine were commonplace.

Logging to gully line, Imbil State Forest

 Native non-plantation trees in remnant forest patches, such as bunya pine and silky oak, were marked by loggers. The recreational value of popular places such as Charlie Moreland Park and Stirling's Crossing has been marred in recent months by a steady stream of logging trucks.

Marked Silky Oak and Bunya Pine in rainforest remnant, Imbil State Forest

Stirling's Crossing

In June I found a pair of Masked Owls in an Imbil hoop pine plantation. This is one of several rare and/or cryptic species that appear to be quite at home in plantations. The image below is how the owl site looked last week.

Masked Owl in June in hoop pine plantation, Imbil State Forest

Masked Owl site last week

It was Tony Perrett's LNP that unleashed grazing in state forests during the former Campbell Newman-led government. Numerous cattle were seen in Imbil State Forest last week, many feeding in and around the edges of remnant patches of lowland rainforest. Apart from their direct impact on native vegetation, the cattle would likely be a significant source of invasive weed dispersal.

Cattle, Imbil State Forest

Cattle, Imbil State Forest

Perrett claims that if implemented, the plan would destroy the economic viability of the region's timber industry. Perrett echoed Bacon's assertion that the plantations, if left alone to regenerate, would be “overrun by invasive pests and weeds”. Perrett described the proposal as “outrageous and highly destructive” and said it was based on “deliberate fabrications”; he didn't outline what those fabrications were.

After I pointed out to Perrett that his assertion about deliberate fabrications was defamatory, he publicly withdrew the remark. As for his claims about the timber industry, Perrett knows very well that in his Gympie electorate there is an abundance of hoop and other pine plantations outside Imbil State Forest that would be not affected by this proposal.

Logging in Imbil State Forest

About 40 per cent of the 21,000ha Imbil State Forest is pine plantation. That is about 2.4 per cent of the 330,00ha of pine plantation in Queensland held under lease by timber company HQ Plantations. For its part, the company has an open mind on the proposal. HQP said it is open to discussion and required further information - a far more measured response than Perrett's knee-jerk tirade.

Logging in Imbil State Forest

Perrett's rambling attack says a good deal about the LNP's environmental credentials. The Newman government scrapped Labor's tree-clearing laws and opened up extensive areas of protected state forest to logging and grazing. The LNP has yet to learn it will struggle to regain power while it caters primarily to the development-at-all-costs mentality of Perrett and his fellow rural Nationals.

Bunya pine in remnant rainforest, Imbil State Forest

Giant fig gree in remnant rainforest, Imbil State Forest

I'm aware that a few people are concerned that the Imbil State Forest proposal might detract from the so-called Yabba Links plan to expand Conondale National Park. However, several groups have opted to support both, arguing simply that there is no reason not to. Nobody is expecting or demanding that the timber industry in Imbil State Forest be completely shut down in the forseeable future.

Rather, it's important to get a discussion going about a plan to restore subtropical lowland rainforest on a large and sustainable scale. Private landholders are replanting small patches, and community-minded groups are removing vines and other weeds from remnant rainforest patches. These are worthy activities but they won't bring the rainforest back. Perhaps a good starting point would be a trial in Imbil State Forest; a reasonably sized area of older plantation of about 300-500ha adjoining remnant rainforest could be left unlogged and monitored.

Young hoop pine with native forest in background, Imbil State Forest

Recently logged plantation adjacent to remnant rainforest, Imbil State Forest

 On a lighter note, among the abundant birdlife last week were some nice frogs, like this Cascade Tree-Frog, along streams in mixed hoop pine and rainforest. The endangered Giant Barred-Frog was present in small numbers.

Cascade Tree-Frog, Imbil State Forest