SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND FEBRUARY 2021 VOL. 15 NO. 1 INSIDE THIS ISSUE 2 Land for Wildlife Team 3 Editorial 3 Climate & Weather Outlook 3 Weeds to Watch 4 How many Powerful Owls are in SEQ? 5 Pest Rodent Control without Harming Owls 6 Freshwater Fishes 8 Bellthorpe Stays 9 Young Bowerbirds and their Practice Bowers 10 Tips and Tricks from our Restoration along London Creek 12 Scrappy Sida, Butterfly Beauty 13 Book Reviews 14 Herbicide-free Weed Control 16 Program Statistics Powerful Owls, p.4 Freshwater Fishes, p.6 Brisbane City Council 3403 8888 TEN YEAR Amanda Maggs Northern suburbs, Kholo, Mt Crosby Fflur Collier Southern suburbs Catherine Madden Upper Brookfield STRATEGIC PLAN Cody Hochen Brookfield, Kenmore Hills Peter Hayes Team Leader 2020-2030 Susan Nolan Southern suburbs Tony Mlynarik Anstead, Pullenvale, Moggill Over the last few years, the City of Gold Coast 13 Local Governments have Adrian Carr 5582 8896 created a range of measures to 5582 8344 Lexie Webster help guide, govern and build Melanie Mott 5582 8915 Saul Hondow 5582 8022 resilience for the LfWSEQ Scott Sumner 5582 8896 program. One of these measures Todd Burrows 5582 9128 is our Ten Year Plan 2020-2030. Fraser Coast Regional Council This plan outlines local and regional opportunities for collaboration between Skott Statt 1300 794 929 councils. As LfWSEQ grows, this plan helps ensure that we continue to Gympie Regional Council deliver the services that our members know and trust. So in turn, our Paul Sprecher 0447 051 329 members can continue to look after our wildlife and their habitats. Ipswich City Council Our plan is available via www.lfwseq.com.au/reports Dani Andlemac 3810 7173 Stephani Macarthur 3810 6026 Lockyer Valley Regional Council Martin Bennett 5462 0310 Land for Logan City Council South East Janine Jungfels 3412 5145 Wildlife Peter Copping 3412 5321 Queensland Nick Swanson 3412 5355 * Liam Gill 3412 4975 As at SNAPSHOT Moreton Bay Regional Council Jan 2021 De-Anne Attard 0438 910 715 East South Nicole Byrne 0419 700 213 3,975 Queensland Wendy Heath 3883 5636 properties Michael Mills 5433 2799 Working SNAPSHOT for Land Noosa Council 1,015 towards Wildlife Dave Burrows 5329 6256 registration hectares7,779 under Redland City Council restoration Maree Manby 3820 1102 / 0438 776 535 66,878 RETAINED Scenic Rim Regional Council ha HABITAT Position vacant 5540 5111 Somerset Regional Council * Please note that these figures have increased Darren McPherson 5424 4000 substantially since the last edition. This is due to the incorporation of data from Fraser Coast and Gympie regions and the above Sunshine Coast Council statistics now reflect LfWSEQ membership across all 13 Local Governments. Alan Wynn 5439 6477 Land for Wildlife is a voluntary conservation program that Nick Clancy 5439 6433 Michael Reif 0437 112 071 encourages and assists landholders to provide habitat for wildlife Kylie Gordon 0418 398 904 on their properties. Stephanie Reif 5475 7395 Land for Wildlife South East Queensland is a quarterly publication Danielle Outram 5475 7339 published by 13 Local Governments in south-east Queensland and Marc Russell 5475 7345 distributed free of charge to their Land for Wildlife members. Opinions expressed by contributors to Land for Wildlife South East Queensland are not necessarily those of the Land for Wildlife program nor any of the supporting agencies. Printed on EcoStar Silk 100% post-consumer recycled paper, FSC certified, chlorine-free process and made carbon neutral. Printed by Greenridge Press, Toowoomba using vegetable based inks. ISSN 1835-3851 Print run - 4455 copies Front Cover: An adult male Satin Bowerbird at his bower in the Scenic Rim. Photo by Todd Burrows. Front Cover Inset Photos (L-R): A Powerful Owl at a daytime roost in Brisbane, photo by Deborah Metters; and a mature Mary River Cod, photo by Jack McCann. Land for Wildlife South East Queensland Team, December 2020 www.lfwseq.com.au facebook.com/lfwseq 2 LAND FOR WILDLIFE SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND FEBRUARY 2021 EDITORIAL From all of us here at LfWSEQ, we wish all get some support with all this weeding?”. for LfWSEQ, which is available on our our members and supporters a year of Finally in September, the ABC's Gardening website. This plan aims to build resilience hope and renewal. Some say that last year Australia aired an episode where one of so we can manage the ups and downs and created a split of winners and losers. Some the presenters joined LfW Tasmania and still be around in another 22 years’ time. businesses boomed, many went to the proudly planted native trees and installed More info about this plan and program wall. Some countries fared comparatively a LfW sign on his property gate. statistics can be found on the facing page OK against covid-19, while others are still and backpage. Whatever the reasons for people joining, in despair. Our forest wildlife were on we welcome you all and hope that the losing side of bushfires, whereas late This edition has a diversity of stories LfWSEQ can offer the support, advice and spring rains brought life back to parts of from owls to fish to butterflies, plus the encouragement you need to meet your inland Queensland with full wetlands and cornerstone of this program – learnings conservation goals for your property. birds flocking in their thousands. from our LfW members. Personally, I always draw inspiration from landholder We also acknowledge that you are joining Surprisingly, the LfWSEQ program seems stories, and I know other landholders do a collective of landholders who are to have fallen on the bright side of 2020. too. So, thank you for sharing and I always managing thousands of LfW properties in Last year, we recorded our largest growth welcome contributions, however small. SEQ. Within the next few months, we will in new members since the program began celebrate the 5000th LfWSEQ property – a in 1998. Our average annual recruitment Stay safe. Be in touch and thanks for remarkable milestone built over 22 years is 232 properties per year. Last year, caring for our natural world. of dedication by landholders and the local we welcomed 374 properties into the governments of SEQ. program. We speculate that this peak Deborah Metters in applications was due to a couple of As the bittersweet adage “There is no Land for Wildlife Regional Coordinator factors. Firstly, people were simply home Planet B” implies, things cannot grow more and refocused their attention to forever. There is always ebb and flow. We welcome all Land for their property. Covid-related lockdowns Despite the boom in new registrations in South East contributions. Wildlife and restrictions afforded people time to 2020, the last few years has presented Queensland apply for LfW, possibly something they difficulties for the LfWSEQ program, and Please send them to: had been ‘meaning to do’. Secondly, we have met them boldly working with The Editor SNAPSHOT people worldwide sought refuge in nature the silver lining that disruption can bring. [email protected] away from doomsday news and chaos, One of these outcomes has been the 0437 910 687 with some people asking, “where can I development of a ten-year strategic plan Jan-Mar 2021 REGIONAL OUTLOOK Weedy grasses are loving all this recent Jan-Mar 2021 summer rain. Shown Daytime & Night Temperatures. Very likely that daytime here (top down) is and nighttime temperatures will be warmer than average Green Panic, Signal for south-east Queensland and coastal Queensland. Grass and Red Natal Grass. Rainfall. Wetter than average conditions are likely across Introduced grasses eastern Australia. are often long-lived perennials and grow Streamflow. Median to low streamflows are most likely in faster than native south-east Queensland. grasses. This means they create more Influences biomass and pose a • El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) - A La Niña is active but is higher fire risk than likely to be nearing its peak with a return to neutral conditions native grasses. forecast by the end of May. Controlling weedy • Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is positive and typically enhances grasses can be difficult the La Niña rainfall. as they quickly develop • Sea surface temperatures are warmer over summer and are seed heads with likely to influence the wetter and warmer outlook. thousands of seeds. • Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is neutral and typically does not Successful control influence Australian climate over summer. involves spraying or removing grasses • Australia's climate has warmed by ~1.4°C since 1910. prior to seed set, and repeating this process Sources year after year until the www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/ seed store in the soil is www.bom.gov.au/climate/climate-guides/ (south east Queensland) depleted. LAND FOR WILDLIFE SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND FEBRUARY 2021 3 n the forests of eastern Australia, apex predators hunt in the night on silent wings. Their large yellow eyes and sharp talons snatch up mostly arboreal prey of possums, gliders, flying foxes and sometimes birds. In urban situations there are Irecords of them taking animals from the ground such as rabbits, rats and even a cat. Over the last three years, the Powerful Owl citizen science project, coordinated by Dr Robert Clemens at BirdLife Australia, has greatly expanded our understanding of this cryptic species in SEQ. Like all owls, Powerful Owls hunt at night. Research on a male owl fitted with a radio-tracking device showed that they can fly up to 10km per night to hunt. During the day, they roost in dense vegetation, often along creeklines, where it is well protected and cooler. They often hold the remains of the previous night's hunt in their huge yellow talons. Powerful Owls are Australia’s largest owl with males being up This Powerful Owl is to 65cm tall.