I have just returned from a trip to Lake Broadwater and the Jandowae
District. Lake Broadwater is about 30 km SSW of Dalby while Jandowae is 50
km NNW of Dalby. Dalby is about 250 km west of Brisbane. I was gone for
about 44 hours.
In case some of you are unaware, this year is the driest on record for SE
Queensland. I did not realise how dry it was until I went on this trip. I
have been through droughts while living in Jandowae but I have never seen
anything like it is at the moment. At Lake Broadwater, bush camping (not
recommended until after rain - the situation is now dangerous) on Tuesday
night produced only half a dozen insects and not even any ants (at least the
mosquitoes were absent). There were virtualy no flowering trees and the
combination of no insects and no blossom was predictable. Two hours of
spotlighting produced one feral cat and nothing else - not even a gecko.
The total species count for the 46 hours only reached 106. This may seem a
lot when I am complaining about the dry but a large number were lucky single
sightings where the species concerned would normally be plentiful. (A full
list will be available shortly if anyone wants to contact me directly.)
All the likely spots for Painted Honeyeaters were checked carefully. Some
were checked more than once. There was absolutely no sign (visual or aural)
of the species. This is a regrettable situation in light of my previous
postings on this subject.
Terry Pacey
TOOWOOMBA QLD 4350
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