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WhistlingKite24

WhistlingKite24

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10+ year member
A first for the centre. A Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby has been born at Ipswich Nature Centre. This new breeding pair arrived from Waterfall Springs Wildlife Sanctuary in June and are part of the ZAA breeding programme. Other new arrivals have included a pair of Cape Barren Geese that arrived in July.

Full article: Spring has sprung at the Ipswich Nature Centre - Ipswich First
 
I visited Ipswich Nature Centre today. It was very noisy with all the wild flying foxes but it's always great to return to this place which I have been visiting for just over a decade now. Some of my observations are below:
  • the front portion of the centre is closed currently due to the wild flying foxes arriving in the area. The monitor enclosure has had a recent refurbishment so it seems and there are newly mulched gardens throughout the first half of the area.
  • the new Cape Barren Geese are mixed with the rock wallabies. No luck seeing the rock wallaby joey but the adults were easily seen which wasn’t usually the case with the former individual they had.
  • a pair of Royal Spoonbills have joined the centre’s collection and are now on-show in the walkthrough aviary, complementing the existing ibis, heron and teals. I also saw a few Satin Bowerbirds and a female was tending to a nest a few trees away from the bower. She was collecting nesting material during my two laps of the aviary. There seems to have been several recent pigeon fledgings and the rails have increased in numbers/are more visible. I must say their walkthrough aviary is a firm favourite of mine and is probably my preferred one locally. It’s 14 metres tall, 43 metres long and 27 metres wide according to signage so it’s a decent size. An updated species list of the aviary below for anyone interested:
    Chestnut Teal
    Royal Spoonbill
    Glossy Ibis
    White-faced Heron
    Buff-banded Rail
    Bush Stone-Curlew
    White-headed Pigeon
    Wonga Pigeon
    Pacific Emerald Dove
    Bar-shouldered Dove
    Common Bronzewing
    Australian King Parrot
    Princess Parrot
    Satin Bowerbird
    Australasian Figbird
    Blue-faced Honeyeater

    Note: There is usually a Pale-headed Rosella and Cockatiels as well but they were not seen today.
  • a Shingleback is in with the Central Bearded Dragon and two Eastern Bluetongues. I saw the Eastern Long-necked Turtle for the first time after many years of it being signed. It was hanging around the perimeter of its exhibit.
Highlights from today:

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While it was released in March 2021, Ipswich Nature Centre created a really well-done virtual tour talking through virtually every exhibit at the facility and most of their on-show species. The centre cares for approximately 200 individual animals and the main aviary has a capacity to hold 80 birds. A good video to watch if you haven't visited before or haven't been in a while.

Source: Ipswich City Council
 
I visited Ipswich Nature Centre today and noted the following developments since my last visit. It should be interesting to see how much of their masterplan will be realised in the next couple of years which according to a 2020 article should soon include a new entrance followed by exhibits for platypus and rakali. Notes are below and I’ve uploaded some enclosure photos in the gallery as well [Ipswich Nature Centre - ZooChat]:
  • a Buff-banded Rail chick is currently being raised in the walkthrough aviary which confirmed my suspicions that they breed them as there are always so many rails in there. The chick stayed close to the adults but it did venture off towards the spoonbills which remained unfazed.
  • I spotted a Broad-shelled River Turtle basking near one of the waterways that runs through the centre. I assume it was an animal that’s part of the zoo’s collection but it could have been a wild one. Notably, there were several wild Bar-sided Skinks near the dingo enclosure.
  • the bilby joeys were very active bounding around their exhibit. The centre has separated the adults with the dividing wall they usually put up when there are joeys. Also, the Cape Barren Geese are now in the main emu/kangaroo yard after moving out of the rock wallaby enclosure.
Highlights from today:
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Zorro said:
I need to get out there and take a look. Any idea how many BT RW they have atm?.
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It should be five rock wallabies now with the adult pair and two joeys in one enclosure. The fifth rock wallaby - the pair's first joey - was living in a side enclosure separated from the adults on my last visit.
 
Not much to report from a quick visit to Ipswich Nature Centre today besides that the Red-legged Pademelon is now in a side enclosure rather than the large fig tree exhibit with a Swamp Wallaby. The second thing is that a Satin Bowerbird has successfully fledged the nest in the walkthrough aviary and the female bowerbird was fiercely protective of it, hissing at any visitor or bird that would approach the chick. The little one was tumbling around the aviary floor, creating absolute chaos among the rails and ground pigeons. A delight to watch. There are also fledglings currently among the groups of Pacific Emerald Doves and Wonga Pigeons.

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Satin Bowerbird chick
 
I had a quick visit to Ipswich Nature Centre recently. There isn’t much to report but there are a few new species - a flock of Topknot Pigeons have arrived and are on-show in the walkthrough aviary. Noisy Pitta is also now part of the collection but I don’t think it’s on-show currently. Recent chicks/juveniles among the Wonga Pigeons and Australian King-Parrots were observed as well.
 
I visited Ipswich Nature Centre for the first time in 5+ years today. As I'm unsure of the usual state of the park, I've only got two updates to give;

-The Eastern Quoll exhibit has been completely gutted, both the outdoor section and the small den, though signage for the species remains.

-Imperial Pigeons are now in the Aviary. I presume they're new, as they're not included in any other species lists on ZooChat.
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Visited the Centre the other day, no new species to note however some unfortunate news about the Noisy Pitta. I had seen the individual a handful of times since its addition to the free flight aviary, this time I noticed the sign had been removed. I asked one of the volunteers and was informed that recently, a visitor had strayed from the path and accidentally trampled on the bird, breaking its leg. It sadly did not survive the injuries. Such a shame considering their rarity in zoos. On a nicer note, I observed two pairs of Magpie Geese. One pair had three very new chicks! Any ideas of what’s to come of the quoll exhibits?
 
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