For those who are thinking of visiting the Cooloola area to look for Ground
Parrot at the T&T site, think again – there’s good news and bad. Around 4:00pm
on Tuesday, Meg and I turned our car into the Cooloola Way road entry (16 km
west of Rainbow Beach) – only to find 2 large signs saying “Road Closed”. There
was indications that cars had recently been along it. However, wanting to do
the right thing, we parked and walked a little way along – didn’t hear any
parrots, owls or quail. Yesterday, we rang the Gympie Council and found that
yes, the road was officially closed, but it actually was open for 3 kilometres
where a huge locked gate and dirt mounds were in place to stop all traffic. We
were allowed to go that far. So, we returned there again and at the 2.9km mark,
we turned left (east) onto the track and drove down along it for the required
1.7km distance. We had been there about 2 years ago. However, the big change
now is – within the last week, the entire southern side of the road, for as far
as you could see, has had a really ‘hot’ burn go through and now it is bare,
blackened soil with a couple of twigs sticking up. We did walk all around that
whole area but few birds were seen and none of the targets were heard. Very
disheartening. The northern flora is still intact. We stayed there for an hour
and a half, past dusk and early evening, but no luck at all.
Brian & Meg Johnson
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