Bird Watching

The Goondiwindi region lies in the heart of the Brigalow Belt, a place where the tropical north meets the temperate south and the wetter conditions of the east blend with the arid west, providing an area diverse in habitat and home to a rich array of birds.  With over 250 species identified, you are sure to find something new to add to your list.

Goondiwindi Bird Trails  

A number of trails have been created in and around Goondiwindi and can be found in the “Bird Watching in the Goondiwindi Region” brochure, available from the Goondiwindi Visitor Information Centre – Phone: 07 4671 2653; Email: vic@goondiwindi.qld.au. 

There are five bird trails which cover a broad range of habitat types, from remnant woodlands to riverine areas, open grasslands and natural lagoons.  Most of the trails follow stock routes and the camp and water reserves along these routes provide excellent examples of the region’s natural vegetation.  Each trail can provide a full day of bird watching and while specific sites have been marked out, there are plenty of other great places to stop along the way.

Some of the birds you are likely to encounter on these trails include: Mallee Ringneck; Bluebonnet; Brown Treecreeper; Spotted Bowerbird; Grey-crowned Babbler; Inland Thornbill; White-throated Gerygone; Striped and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters; and various birds of prey. Keep an eye out for flowering mistletoe in the Brigalow patches as you travel along these trails, and you might chance upon a Painted Honeyeater.

Birdwatching in the spectacular east  

Travelling east to the country around Inglewood and Texas, birdwatchers will experience a change from flatter brigalow plains to sandstone slopes and hills forested with ironbark and cypress and eventually into the more rugged and picturesque "Traprock" country with its box-ironbark woodlands. Although specific trails have not been designed for the Inglewood and Texas areas, the stock routes and camp and water reserves in these areas are equally good for bird watching and also reflect a broad range of habitats and ecosystems.

The Traprock area is considered by many to be one of southern Queensland's birding hotspots. The box-ironbark woodlands here support an array of woodland birds that don't occur much further north and have become rather scarce in southern Australia. Rare and exciting species such as the Swift Parrot, Regent Honeyeater and Superb Parrot are all known to visit the Traprock region; the Regent Honeyeater being seen here every winter. Other rare or less common woodland specialists that can be found in the Traprock woodlands include: Turquoise Parrot; Squatter Pigeon; Chestnut-rumped Heathwren; Speckled Warbler; Hooded, Rose and Flame Robins; Brown Tree-creeper; and Grey-crowned Babbler.

Waterbirds

If you are into waterbirds, then a visit to Lake Coolmunda, about 20 km east of Inglewood is well worth the time. The Coolmunda Dam on McIntyre Brook and Bracker Creek has formed a broad, relatively shallow impoundment that provides a variety of aquatic and edge habitats for a diverse mix of water-dependent birds. Larger species like Australian Pelicans, Black Swans, Silver Gulls and various ducks can be readily observed from most vantage points around the main visitor areas near the dam wall. White-winged Fairywren can also be seen in the low chenopod shrubs on the foreshore here. For the more inquisitive birdwatcher, a stroll around some of the inlets on the northern shores of the lake can reveal a number of waders, grebes, terns, herons and egrets to name a few.

A country courtesy...

Please leave all gates as you find them.  Do not enter private property without the permission of the owner.  Be sure to fuel up before you leave town.