Wildlife Queensland Bayside Branch Next Meeting. Friday 25th October 2019 at 7:00 PM Powerful by name, and powerful by nature - the Powerful Owl is Australia’s largest owl with an impressive wingspan of up to 140cm. It occurs in patches of forest from eastern and south-eastern Australia (east of the Great Dividing Range), from south-eastern Queensland to South Australia. Despite being classified as threatened throughout its range, it can and does, survive within cities. The urban landscape is a hard place to live though! Powerful Owls need big, old trees for nesting and these are in short supply so protecting this habitat is crucial. These are also In this edition top order predators, so protecting their food sources – possums, birds, flying foxes and From the executive even Christmas beetles is important. 2 President’s Report STEVE Large patches of quality forest with nesting hollows are increasingly being impacted by human activities. With over 1000 people moving to southern Queensland each month we continue to clear areas which could be important habitat for these owls. Flying foxes 3 starving We need to understand where Powerful Owl are breeding in our region and what we can do to conserve them. The Powerful Owl Recycling project is working toward building predictive mapping that can be used to identify important owl habitat which we will 4 WPSQ Annual encourage to be used in state and council planning. dinner Rob Clemens will present an overview of what we know about Report Card these owls and the growing BirdLife Powerful Owl project. Rob 5 Glossies earned a PhD at UQ studying shorebird ecology, but worked for ten years in north America studying raptors before coming to 6 Blue Carbon Australia. Cattle prods and Come learn why Rob is so excited to be studying these owls in 7 protest Brisbane. History of protect This Project is in partnership with Birds Queensland, is proudly 8 supported by the QLD Government—QLD Citizen Science Grants, Logan City Council, the Sunshine Coast Council’s Environment Backyard Wildlife Levy, The Wettenhall Environment Trust, and the Australian 9 Environment Foundation. Redland City Council is proud to provide funding as part of the Community Grants Program. Resources 10 Committee and Friday 25th October 2019 at 7.00 pm at Redlands Multi Sports Club Contacts Cnr. Bailey & Randall Rd, Birkdale QLD 4159 Membership Form All Welcome Gold coin donation Enjoy the club facilities beforehand For more information phone Steve 0423036676 email [email protected] From the Executive Team... Presidents Report October President report Somewhere in my garden Green Frogs started calling last Thursday I have not heard or seen them for months, so I knew there was a likelihood of rain, no surprise then to have decent falls here over the weekend, now to see if there will be activity in my ponds. Our container recycling project is powering along and making a major contribution to branch funds thanks everyone getting behind this worthwhile project. Since 1st November, an amazing 29000 containers have been recycled through our account. Governments still need to do more to help emerging manufacturing industries to create markets for recycled products, already it is rumoured there is a stockpile of glass due to industry’s inability to absorb and re-use its own product. With local and state elections next year, we do already seem to be in caretaker mode. We are still awaiting the Koala Conservation Strategy for South East Queensland which was promised for May 2019, still not out for public consultation and comment. Meanwhile planning continues for huge new conurbations around South east Qld, Caboolture West for instance will have 40000 dwellings, Ripley Valley 50000, there are plans for a second M1 from Coomera to Logan, wildlife is being pushed into ever decreasing refuges. Trees are definitely a threatened species with clearing, not only for development, but for fire mitigation and safety, that is more subjective than by regulation, locally we have heard reports of excessive vegetation clearing on Macleay Island affecting the Black Cockatoo food source and Koala trees in school grounds in Birkdale being cleared. Land degradation is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, therefore global warming, but also to loss of biodiversity. Our meeting this month is on the Powerful Owl Project, a subject that was recently on Channel 7 news and was in a communique from the QLD government, come along to this meeting and be one of the first to hear about this great initiative by Birds Australia. It is also a celebration of National Bird Week. Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life. John Updike Blue tongue eating Welcome back shorebirds event Display at Shorebirds event my strawberries Flying Foxes Starving Report Littering Things are pretty grim out there for our wildlife, in particular our flying foxes. With the ongoing drought and recent fires, there is a critical lack of flowering and native fruits for bats to feed on. Water is an issue On your mobile or on the web with many of our natural water bodies drying up. https://report-littering- dumping.ehp.qld.gov.au/ Increasing numbers of flying foxes are currently coming into care, with most of them seriously underweight and in poor condition. It is heartbreaking, especially with many of them being heavily pregnant females. Rescue groups are reporting high numbers of flying foxes being hit by cars and attacked by dogs, as they venture down low, looking for food. There are also many that simply do not have the energy to fly, leaving them stranded in backyard trees, street trees or at their roosts. Other local government officers are reporting a high number of deaths at local roosts and parks. Flying fox researchers have declared - this starvation event extends from Coffs Harbour to Gladstone. If you have food trees in your yard you can expect a visit from flying foxes and other hungry wildlife who will be grateful if you’re willing to share your bountiful harvests with them. If you do decide to net your trees please avoid ‘bird netting’ as it can trap visiting flying foxes and cause them a slow and painful death. The trick to picking the right netting is all in the size of the holes - if you can poke your finger through, it's the wrong netting. Some residents are placing water and food in their trees to help flying foxes and other wildlife suffering through these extreme conditions. You can also help by keeping your dogs in at night. If you come across a sick, injured or dead flying fox please, do not try and handle it, but call Bat Conservation and Rescue Qld on 0488 228 134. Prof Mike Archer AM joins Wildlife Queensland as guest speaker at our Annual Dinner on 7 December 2019. Mike is Professor of PalaeoBiology at the University of New South Wales and is perhaps best known for leading research into the extraordinary Riversleigh fossil deposits in Queensland, which led to the site being listed on the World Heritage Register as an outstanding example of “major stages of the earth’s evolutionary history and significant ongoing ecological and biological evolution”. (http://www.create.unsw.edu.au/team/marcher/) Join us for dinner and hear about Mike's current research on discovering how the fossil record has vital information about how to save critically endangered species ‒ using strategies that would never have occurred to ecologists. His team is starting a project of this kind now to save the critically endangered Mountain Pygmy possum, and he is positive it will work! A must hear presentation! Ticket prices: - Standard (from 1 Sept): $85 - Student: $75 - Table of 10: $750 Ticket includes 2-course meal and drink. Ticket bookings at https://www.trybooking.com/BDSQH Date for 2019 Report Card announced! Glossy black-cockatoo food trees have been cleared on Macleay Island How healthy is your local waterway? You can find out at 2pm on Tuesday 22 October when we unveil SCIENTIST and conservationist Glen Ingram says the results for the 2019 Report Card. the council has cleared hundreds of glossy black- cockatoo food trees on Macleay Island, destroying The Report Card provides an annual assessment of the vulnerable birds' habitat. the ecosystem health of South East Queensland’s waterways via A-F health grades. Ironically, the clearing comes as the council The release of the Report Card results is the appeals to residents to take part in planting culmination of twelve months of scientific sheoaks as part of a plan to save the species. monitoring at 311 freshwater, estuarine and marine sites throughout the region. The Report Card also The clearing has been aimed at reducing fire outlines the social and economic benefits that hazards but the casuarinas are the glossy black- waterways provide to local communities though a cockatoo's sole source of food on the island. 1-5-star rating. "They are not just reducing the fuel load," she Register for the online launch of the Report Card said. "They are knocking everything down. People results on Eventbrite and receive a Report Card are taking advantage and getting away with it." summary PDF document, notifications of videos, a website link to the 2019 results, and the option of Dr Ingram said the "concerted destruction of adding it to your calendar. vegetation" was taking place during most animals' breeding season. "It is like living on islands of Register for the online launch of the Report Card results death," he said. https://www.redlandcitybulletin.com.au/story/6427582/co ncerted-destruction-of-vegetation-on-bay-islands-says- conservationist/?cs=213 Drone safety If you own a drone, it’s important that you understand the rules that keep you and others safe.