Friends of Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens
Friends of Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens
For many years, visitors to the Gardens have been watching and admiring the bird life but members of Wildlife Qld (formerly Wildlife Preservation Society of Qld) have logged their observations made each month when Sunshine Coast Faunawatch members visit the Gardens. The Friends would like to thank Jill Chamberlain and Wildlife Qld for sharing their valuable data with us.
Using data from surveys up to December, 2019, and beautiful photos from local photographer Mary Hynes (and a few from other sources), the following collections of birds that live within, pass through or fly over the Gardens have been compiled to help you identify the birds you might see here.
Many species of birds have been sighted and recorded since the Gardens were opened to the public in 2001. The gardens site was progressively and substantially cleared of native vegetation during the first half of the 20th century when the land was logged and farmed, but most farming ceased in the 1960s and regrowth of native flora species (and many weeds) has occurred since. The site was purchased to establish a regional botanic gardens in the 1990s. So the site is mainly regrowth forest with few mature or ancient trees, but many young trees less than 50 years old.
We suspect that many flora and fauna species present 150 years ago were wiped out during the logging, farming and grazing period, and have not reappeared in regrowth bushland areas of the site. However the many flora species now present in the bushland and display garden areas do support many bird species.
(aka bird enthusiasts)
The linked bird pages following have some detail about 80+ bird species logged in the gardens. Another 50+ bird species were observed by Wildlife Qld's Faunawatch members on 10% or less of their surveys. Details of when all species were recorded can be found on the .xlsx spreadsheet, downloadable here.
A very handy check sheet listing the species logged includes a list of the species infrequently sighted in the gardens. View and/or download a copy here
Wildlife Qld hold regular
FaunaWatch
walks in the Gardens at 8am
on the second Wednesday of each month (except January).
They invite everyone to join them in these very interesting walks to
different areas of the Gardens
each month.
