Rangers discover wildlife returning to Byfield dunes

Parabolic predators

For white-bellied sea eagles, ospreys and brahminy kites, this is their hunting ground—searching for unsuspecting creatures scurrying about their day across the dunes.

‘I’ve seen white-bellied sea eagles nesting in the stags (dead trees) consuming the day’s successful hunts,’ Ranger Jade said.

The dune system also provides vital food sources for many other predators including snakes, lizards, mammals and other birds.

Nesters and nurturers

Sea turtles and birds utilise the dunes as critical nesting and nursery sites.

‘The foredunes are a vital component to the ongoing lifecycle of green and leatherback sea turtles, providing sites for their nesting.

‘Healthy coverage of vegetation, including coastal spinifex, ipomea and casuarina species, are essential for the stability of the dune systems. This stability supports the formation required for turtle nests to survive the incubation period and through to hatching,’ Ranger Jade said.

Families of beach emus utilise the parabolic dunes for nursery sites, foraging and protection.

‘Another Ranger and I were very excited when we discovered a father emu and a brood of over 20 young ranging from very young chicks to juveniles utilising a natural spring and taking refuge in nearby vegetation from the heat in the Queen Mary parabolic dune system.

‘Beach emus are quite distinct with darker feathers and no blue colouration around their throat. We often see them now along the beach drinking from freshwater runoff filtered from the dune systems,’ Ranger Jade said.

‘Through wildlife monitoring cameras we’ve also witnessed a successful mating pair of the rather elusive orange-footed scrubfowl.

‘These birds are isolated to small pockets of eastern and northern Australia, and we’ve been able to see them foraging and nesting in the Queen Mary parabolic dune system through our monitoring programs.

‘Additionally, we recently discovered nesting sites of nightjar owlets in Queen Mary along the walking track periphery amongst fallen habitat timber,’ Ranger Jade said.

Sandy shedders

Apart from the hunting grounds the dune community provides, eastern brown snakes and coastal taipans use the dunes for a little scale pampering too.

‘The sand within the dunes and beach along the coast of Byfield assist these snakes with shedding and also help them rid themselves of parasites,’ Ranger Jade said.

Marvellous mammals and birds abound at Byfield

Rangers have been lucky to see a number of birds and mammals utilising the dunes throughout Byfield over the last couple of years.

‘We’ve seen or found evidence of bettongs, brush-tailed phascogales, long-nosed bandicoots, pretty face wallabies, bats, possums and sugar gliders in the dune ecosystems.

‘Beach stone curlews, spangled drongos, sunbirds, rufous and satin flycatchers, rose-crowned fruit-doves, channel billed cuckoos and re- tailed black-cockatoos are just a small number of other birds that we’ve seen,’ Ranger Jade said.

Tip of the sand dune

These wonderful wildlife encounters make up only a minute portion of the populations that call the fore dunes and parabolic dune systems their home. The sand dunes play host to a vast variety of wildlife, including rare and threatened species, all reliant on these natural formations for their ongoing existence.

‘We’re really happy to see an increase in wildlife re-appearing in the dune systems, following ongoing education and compliance programs reducing four-wheel-drive damage to these sensitive dune ecosystems,’ Ranger Jade said.

‘We want visitors to continue to immerse themselves in the intended experience of an untouched abundant wilderness.’