Lockyer National Park is a lovely little national park near Helidon in the Lockyer Valley. It didn’t give up its secrets easily, but it’s definitely a park we’ll be visiting more often.
Our group of four members headed up Seventeen Mile Road on a splendid morning, looking forward to the experience of immersion in a large block of forest in Lockyer National Park.
We conducted 2ha-20-minute surveys at four sites beside the road, in mixed dry sclerophyll forest dominated by stringybarks, tallowwood, bloodwood and blackbutt, including some grand old-growth specimens.
The birdlife was relatively quiet, with just four to 10 species per site and 15 overall; several additional species were recorded outside these sites. Buff-rumped Thornbill and Varied Sittella were each at a couple of sites. In a reconnaissance visit a week beforehand, Spotted Quail-thrush and Painted Button-quail were seen in the same area—these secretive birds are not so likely to encounter with a group. Our survey results are here in the Birdata database.
The Darling Downs group of BirdLife had not previously visited this park and, although the results today were not remarkable, a good foundation has been laid for follow up in different seasons. If we revisit in the future, a range of migrants (including White-throated Nightjar) could be added to our Birdata site lists.
Spotted pardalote Pardalotus punctatus – Photo: Scot McPhie
The vegetation was so impressive there, the rest of the page is just photos of it!
