A koala at the top of the mountain

Another beautiful Sunday evening, so it was hard to resist another stroll up Mount Gravatt.  So far we have only spotted Koalas in two areas of the mountain, in the area between Gertrude Petty place to just below Federation Lookout, both of which are near the base of the mountain.  We have not heard of Koalas appearing near the top and haven't seen any up there ourselves, despite always keeping our eyes peeled.  The top of the mountain has a car park, picnic sites, a restaurant and the lookout, so we assumed the Koalas preferred the more tranquil lower parts of the mountain.

We often mistake termite nests for koalas, or hanging branches in the tall trees, and its not until we zoom in with binoculars or my camera that we can tell for sure.  Initially, this seemed like such an occasion, when Edd my partner asked 'is that a Koala?' as we neared the very top of the mountain.  However, although what Edd had been looking at was a dead branch, if he hadn't said that then I wouldn't have looked and spotted this Koala sitting very high up in a gum tree!  As we stood watching, a lady walked past with a dog off it's lead.  When I mentioned to her that the rule on the mountain was to keep dogs on a lead, as dogs are one of  the biggest threats to the survival of the endangered Koala (like the one in the tree, right there!), her response was that it is a well behaved dog and she is a local.  Nothing like the locals setting an example though, is there?!

Why didn't we go sooner?!

It is nearly a year since we moved to Brisbane, and with the beautiful days of endless sunshine we are having at the moment it seemed about time we visited Stradbroke Island, or 'Straddie' as its known here.  Our excuse for not visiting earlier was that we only just recently bought a car, now making the trip to the ferry much easier.  However, its surprising how it seems locals rarely, if ever, visit Straddie - my hairdresser confessed she has never been there, and she has lived in Brisbane for 30 years!

The early morning ferry ride across the calm bay from Cleveland was great, plenty of bird life around including of course some pelicans.

We hopped off the ferry and onto the local bus.  As soon as we were ready to go the driver asked 'so who would like to stop for a couple of minutes to see a koala?!' A resounding 'YES please'! The bus pulled up just down the road and we gathered round a tree to see this lovely little koala having a snooze.

At this time of year its perhaps a little cold to go in the water (unless you are from northern Europe like me, then I'd say its fine!), but the real attraction right now is the chance to see Humpback Whales migrating along the coast.  We headed for the cliffs at Point Lookout on the North-eastern tip of the island, where as soon as we stepped off the bus we caught sight of whales on the horizon.  After a leisurely coffee and whale watching for a while we headed off on the 'Gorge Walk' which took us to some absolutely spectacular viewpoints.  From here we could look down into the crystal clear waters of the coral sea, viewing not only whales but turtles, manta rays, eagles and an entire pod of dolphins.  To experience a coastline so alive was truly wonderful, and we felt very lucky to be there that day.  

Main beach - we can't wait to go camping here! 

Such clear water we could see this turtle swimming from the clifftop.   

My best shot of a whale!  Not spectacular... we only saw one breaching in the calm water and they were a long way off.  But it was great to see so many.  

 Showing again how clear the water is.  The dark shape just in the open water you might make out is a Manta Ray.

I'm seriously thinking of taking up canoeing after this - the whole dolphin pod surrounded the canoeist. 

After a wonderful day and a little lazy time on the beach we headed back to the ferry, with some lovely views back towards the island, yachts bobbing on the water and Pelicans swimming nearby.  Truly an idyllic place and so close to the city.  

A lone Koala on Mount Gravatt

Well, we are getting quite proud of our Koala spotting abilities, we have a 100% record for Koala spotting on Mt Gravatt since we first spotted the Koala family back in January! We went a little walk below the Federation lookout again where we have spotted them before, and came across this lone Koala in a tall tree near a bridge, pictured below.

The Koala was very high up in the large tree pictured above next to the path, so it was hard to get a clear picture.  I don't know which member of the Koala family it was, I'm pretty sure not the mother (as her ears were not very furry and she was more brown in colour, as well as her head seemed smaller - an indiation that this Koala is a male) so maybe it was the Dad, or it could be the Joey all grown up?! Anyhow, he looked very healthy and well fed.
When I tell people I've spotted a Koala they always ask 'what tree was it in'.  Unfortunately, 'Eucalyptus' is not a satisfactory answer - Koalas are rather fussy! Well, I have to confess, I've not been in Australia long enough yet to really appreciate the differences between Eucalypts, however I thought I'd take a picture of the tree trunk and some leaves (behind the Koala) below to make some attempt to identify the tree.  Any suggestions?!

With some internet research added to my limited knowledge, I've come up with:
- some kind of Stringybark Eucalyptus
- I looked at this very handy guide to the ID of Eucalypts in the Brisbane region (I will have to print it) and narrowed it down to being most likely one of the first three in the list as they are known to be Koala food:  Swamp Mahogany Eucalyptus robusta, Red mahogany/stringybark Eucalyptus resinifera or Tallowwood Eucalyptus microcorys.  
I'm pretty sure this is a different species to the Eucalypts we have seen the Koalas on previously as the tree bark was distinctly different.  I came across more detail on local Koala food trees on the DERM website.
In my internet search I was also interested to read on the Griffith University website (whose campus is on part of the mountain) that the Mt Gravatt reserve has some rather rare Eucalypt species: Eucalyptus Baileyana and Eucalyptus Planchoniana - now there is a challenge to try and find and identify one!  They are also Stringybark, so would look quite similar to this one.    

Brisbane's Koala controversy

Since my previous post on our local koalas I have now found Mount Gravatt is on the edge of a significant area of koala habitat, the 'Koala Coast': "the area South of Brisbane: Redland City, the eastern portion of Logan City and the south-eastern portion of Brisbane City... is regarded nationally as one of the most significant koala populations because of its size and genetic structure" (DERM 2010).

So, how many Koalas live in Brisbane?  Are numbers still declining, or stable?  These questions are at the heart of continuing controversy over the status of koala populations around Brisbane. Due to its iconic status in Australia, koala population declines get more airtime in the press than most of the other species facing serious population declines as Australia rapidly urbanises.  Such airtime inevitably increases close to the forthcoming state election!  However, without independent, up-to-date, scientifically collected data, the article states that conservationists claim they are fighting a loosing battle against figures that are 'fudged'.  The most recent state government report (2010) with a survey of the population in this regions was compiled by DERM (Department of Environment and Resource Management). As Koala numbers are now reported to be low but the margin of error in the government survey remains high, it is increasingly difficult to statistically prove a decline without better survey methods that reduce the uncertainty.  With such uncertainty in the 2010 report it is simply inconclusive about whether the decline continues or not and open to interpretation by politicians, such as state Environment Minister Vicki Darling, claiming that this means they have stabilised without any proof.  Better census methods seem to be urgently required.

Populations on the Koala Coast are now somewhere around 1/3 of the population of 20 years ago - but the sustainability of the population is not mentioned in the DERM report.  The 'Australian Koala Foundation' (AKF) and Australian Research Council are funding scientists at the University of Queensland and DERM to work on this question, and they have been examining the impacts of multiple threats (dog attacks, vehicle collisions and disease) on the koalas in this region and the impact this is likely to be having on the sustainability of the population.  Their conclusion is that the population will continue to decline unless there is intervention that can drastically reduce more than one of these threats.  With such rapid urbanization in Brisbane the threats look set to increase, not decline, a chilling thought.

Mount Gravatt Koalas

Such a long absence, I have skipped summer!  Well, it is about time I started nature blogging again, and even though I can't blog about the Australian National Botanic Garden any longer (as I am now located in Brisbane!) I have chosen my new location wisely...

I now live next to a beautiful 'urban' bushland reserve in Brisbane, called Mount Gravatt, which is also the name of the suburb.  The bushland reserve is really fantastic mountain habitat with high biodiversity as well as the best lookout over Brisbane at the summit.  We have made contact with the local Mount Gravatt Environment Group and helped out on Clean Up Australia Day a couple of weeks ago, this pic is from the Environment Group blogpost about it.

So, besides this, my partner Edd and I have had quite a few adventures on the mountain already.  However, it was only recently that we discovered the Koala family.  We had read that there were Koalas seen on the road there at Christmas, so we decided to dedicate a day in January (21st) to track them down... with great success!  My partner Edd blogged about that sighting here, and here are a couple of pictures I took:

Mum and Joey

Dad

Today we went back to try and see if we could find the Koala family again, looking in the same spot (below Federation Lookout).  Sure enough, we were very lucky and spotted Mum and Joey again - and it is Mothers' day too (in the UK)!  This time the light was much better and they were lower in the tree, so I got some much better pictures.  We feel so lucky to have Koalas living so close to us, Mt Gravatt is clearly a special place and I look forward to sharing more of my new adventures in Brisbane with you all.