Birdlife
Thirty years of regenerating our land at Kiambram Country Cottages has transformed it into a wonderful wildlife haven. The abundant birdlife around our garden is our ecological barometer of success. Members of Toowoomba Bird Observers (TBO) visited recently and found 43 species.
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They predict, based on the 150-odd species they’ve recorded in this district, that over 100 species could be seen here in any given year, including local rarities like the male Red-capped Robin gracing our garden this Autumn (2023).
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Below are some information documents of interest for download.
Land for Wildlife
Partnering with Gowrie State School and Greening Australia we raised and planted our first windbreak seedlings, now mature trees some with their own little native scrub patch understory seeded by roosting birds. Our bush regeneration continued over the years and embarking on the tourism journey in 2018 we decided to have a flora and fauna health check. Becoming Land For Wildlife accredited gave us a way to monitor and communicate progress of our work and advocate a program that guests can use or support. The program enables landholders to integrate nature conservation into other land uses such as grazing, farming and tourism.
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Land for Wildlife members receive one-on-one property visits, property maps and a management plan that identifies your property's priority habitat values and threats. Members also receive advice on native plants, wildlife, weed identification and control, revegetation and integration of nature conservation into grazing and other land management activities, fire management, newsletters, iconic signage for your property, invitations to field days and workshops providing opportunities to meet other Land for Wildlife members and experts. We were fortunate to be noticed as a suitable property for a group of botanists to survey, wanting samples and photos for a book on Plants of the Condamine Catchment anticipated to be a companion volume to the field guide Mangroves to Mountains. See the list of native plants they found on our Flora Button (available for download).
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Aptly our Bush Tucker consultant says, “Plant them and they’ll come!” The more diverse our range of plants became the more diverse our wildlife with a noticeable difference around the house once our geriatric working dogs and cats had passed. Each generation of wallaby seems to have become more trusting since, with the red necks naturally being less flighty than the swamp wallabies. We provide nothing but water and habitat for the native animals and ask guests not to feed them so they can live naturally. Click our Fauna Button to see information on some of the animals you can expect to find at Kiambram (available for download).
