Lake Broadwater Trip

In October last year (2014), the True Blue Reptile team took a short camping trip 3 hours West of Brisbane to Lake Broadwater Conservation Park. The lake is the only naturally occurring body of fresh water in the Darling Downs district, and so is of particular significance for wildlife, namely birds.

     We made camp in the 'Wilga Bush' area which was quiet, despite the fact, the lake camp was brimming with long-weekenders. A 2 km bush track from camp brought us to the northern edge of the Lake as seen in the photo below. Small gums inundated by the lake serve as great perches for thirsty afternoon birds. Or so we thought, as it happens Lake Broadwater is also a popular spot for water sports. We sat patiently waiting for the skis to call it a day, but the obnoxious boat towing didn't let up until dark (you can see the ripples made by boats). Needless to say, we saw very few birds this first evening.

The river red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) in places around the lake are extremely old, and littered with hollows. During our morning bird walk we observed plenty of parrots and cockatoos flirting in and out of the hollows and making plenty of noise. There were more corellas then you can poke a stick at; too many actually. I surmised that due to the number of habitat trees and the extensive agricultural land surrounding the lake the number of cockatoos is in fact quite excessive, I'm sure the farmers would agree. They definitely made bird watching difficult too, they are deafening in large flocks so it's impossible to listen for other bird calls. Furthermore they are nervous creatures here, screaming their alarms as we try to sneak through the bush, alerting other animals in the area of our presence. So far the bird watching had been rather ordinary.
     On the way back to camp I set some sand traps (below) just for fun.

That next evening we took the bird watching south, to the protected side of the lake, and made a more respectful attempt at bird watching. While bird watching we threw our lines in to catch the nameless beasties that had been brushing up against us as we swam in the lake.  Along with some smaller fresh water fish, we caught giant European carp. 

The mammals that we saw during the day included; dingos, pretty wallabies, eastern-grey kangaroos and hares. The tracks (above) we caught in one of our sand trap. The footprint with the claws in the top right hand side may have been made by an echidna.

Our nocturnal escapades were quite exciting and we saw lots of different animals, but the snake seen here (one of two individuals we encountered) was definitely the highlight of the trip. This rare little snake was only as thick as one of my fingers and about 40 cm long. The photo below shows the beautiful markings on their face which is their namesake; this is the pale-headed snake Hoplocephalus bitorquatus. 

Here are some photos of the frogs we found. Above is an ornate burrowing frog Limnodynastes ornatus. These frogs spend most of their lives underground, they emerge after rainfall to find mates. Although these frogs are relatively common on the Gold Coast also, I find them particularly delightful. The frog below is a broad palmed rocketfrog Litoria latopalmata. These belong to the tree frog family, however latopalmata does not climb trees. Unlike the fat sturdy frog (descriptions written with much affection) above, this rocket frog goes well...like a rocket and wouldn't sit still for a photograph, and so we decided to catch it. You may have also noticed that I am wearing gloves while handling this frog. This is because frogs (unlike reptiles) have permeable skin, and are particularly sensitive to chemicals on our hands. The yellow colour of the thigh is a distinguishing characteristic of this species. Desert tree frogs are another species we saw and heard each night. 

In addition to the snakes and frogs, we were hopeful to find the rare golden tailed gecko. After hours of searching amongst the cypress forest we were unsuccessful, however we did see brush-tailed possums, volplaning (gliding) sugar gliders and a couple of other common geckos like the one below. This naughty gecko found in the ladies toilet block is a Gehyra dubia. This lizard is considered fairly ordinary and doesn't even have a local name!  

There are many lace monitors Varanus varius that call Lake Broadwater home. This one pictured left, is a different colour variation known as a 'Bell's phase'. Unlike the typical lace monitor, this bell's form has large black and yellow bands across the body. This is the first time I have encountered a bell's phase lace monitor in the wild.
     Our bird species list for the weekend at Lake Broadwater ended up totalling 58 species. One bird; the White-throated treecreeper, while considered relatively common is in fact a species that I had never seen before and so even though our list is a little thin this trip, seeing a new bird was quite worthwhile.

Did you know that Sarah Jane has over 4 years experience as a tour guide, and has a passion for bird watching? Think you might like to hire an interpretative guide? Give True Blue Reptiles a call, we love getting back to nature!