An unusually warm winters day, after a cold start, and lovely clear skies after recent rain made for a perfect morning’s birding at Cranley Bushland Reserve.
Cranley Escarpment Park is almost 45 hecatres on Toowoomba’s north western side. The park is composed of mainly ironbark eucalypt forest with extensive infestation of lantana and prickly pear trees. Note in the case of lantana this is not necessarily a bad thing per se, as the lantana provides great coverage for small birds, which were abundant on the day we visited. (The trick when removing lantana is to replace it with a native alternative, so as to maintain the ecological role that it was providing.)
A group of 10 set out and completed one 500m radius survey, and two 2 Ha/20 minute surveys. The route for these two surveys were recorded and will be used again in future visits. The park has a series of wide grassed walking tracks, more akin to a firebreak, and has a gentle gradient with a slight rise at one end.
In total 44 species were sighted. The individual surveys can be seen on birdata – and the total list is as follows:
| Australasian Figbird | Sphecotheres vieilloti |
| Australian King-Parrot | Alisterus scapularis |
| Australian Magpie | Gymnorhina tibicen |
| Australian Wood Duck | Chenonetta jubata |
| Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike | Coracina novaehollandiae |
| Brown Goshawk/Collared Sparrowhawk spp | |
| Brown Thornbill | Acanthiza pusilla |
| Cattle Egret | Bubulcus ibis |
| Crested Pigeon | Ocyphaps lophotes |
| Double-barred Finch | Taeniopygia bichenovii |
| Eastern Whipbird | Psophodes olivaceus |
| Eastern Yellow Robin | Eopsaltria australis |
| Galah | Eolophus roseicapilla |
| Golden Whistler | Pachycephala pectoralis |
| Grey Butcherbird | Cracticus torquatus |
| Grey Fantail | Rhipidura fuliginosa |
| Grey Shrike-thrush | Colluricincla harmonica |
| Little Pied Cormorant | Microcarbo melanoleucos |
| Masked Lapwing | Vanellus miles |
| Musk Lorikeet | Glossopsitta concinna |
| Noisy Friarbird | Philemon corniculatus |
| Noisy Miner | Manorina melanocephala |
| Olive-backed Oriole | Oriolus sagittatus |
| Pacific Baza | Aviceda subcristata |
| Pale-headed Rosella | Platycercus adscitus |
| Pied Butcherbird | Cracticus nigrogularis |
| Pied Currawong | Strepera graculina |
| Rainbow Lorikeet | Trichoglossus moluccanus |
| Red-backed Fairy-wren | Malurus melanocephalus |
| Red-browed Finch | Neochmia temporalis |
| Red-rumped Parrot | Psephotus haematonotus |
| Rufous Whistler | Pachycephala rufiventris |
| Satin Bowerbird | Ptilonorhynchus violaceus |
| Scaly-breasted Lorikeet | Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus |
| Silvereye | Zosterops lateralis |
| Speckled Warbler | Pyrrholaemus sagittatus |
| Spotted Pardalote | Pardalotus punctatus |
| Straw-necked Ibis | Threskiornis spinicollis |
| Striated Pardalote | Pardalotus striatus |
| Sulphur-crested Cockatoo | Cacatua galerita |
| Superb Fairy-wren | Malurus cyaneus |
| Torresian Crow | Corvus orru |
| Variegated Fairy-wren | Malurus lamberti |
| White-browed Scrubwren | Sericornis frontalis |
The highlight of the day was a pair of Pacific baza being mobbed by Noisy miners (despite being no threat to them), and a large groups of Silvereyes – many of which would be winter visitors to the area.
With the TMR recently announcing plans to develop a new connection road between Geham and the western side of Toowoomba, this whole area could be under threat and is one thing we will be watching very carefully.
