| Type | Date | Description | Person/Presenter | Information | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting | 19/6/2017 | Mites: Miniature Beasts and where to find them | Dr Owen Seeman | Mites are the smallest animals with legs, allowing them to crawl into and exploit some of the most extraordinary habitats on animals, as well as more mundane places in the soil, on plants and in water. They can be beautiful or grotesque; they do things that seem extraordinary or revolting. After working on mites for about 25 years, Dr Seeman will expose the Acari (mites and ticks) to us and reveal some of his favourite mites, with special focus on his work on those mites which live intimately with beetles | ||
| Camp | 24/6/2017 | Noonbah SW Longreach and Edgbaston Reserve | Peter & Lynette Haselgrove | The trip will be to two properties in Central West Queensland. For the first week, we will stay at Noonbah, a grazing property owned by Angus and Karen Emmott. Noonbah is SW of Longreach and west of Lochern National Park. In the second week, we will be camping at a Bush Heritage property, Edgbaston Reserve, NE of Aramac. We expect to spend about six days at each place. See:http://blog.bushheritage.org.au/blog/location/edgbaston | ||
| Meeting | 17/7/2017 | The evolution of giant flightless birds | Matt Philips | Ratites include flightless birds, such as emu, kiwi, rhea and ostrich, as well as the recently extinct moa and elephant birds. This group has long been thought of as remnants from the “age of dinosaurs” that originated in Gondwana and diversified as these southern land masses drifted apart. I will discuss how this story has been overturned by recent findings in molecular biology, particularly with the use of ancient DNA from extinct ratites. The first clues were some surprising relationships - kiwi and elephant birds are close relatives, while the closest relatives of moa are the flying tinamous of South America. It now turns out that the ancestors of ratites flew to each continent (and to New Zealand and Madagascar), and then independently evolved large size and flightlessness. These parallel evolutionary events took place during a brief window of opportunity that immediately followed the extinction of dinosaurs, but before the evolution of large mammals. | ||
| Excursion | 23/7/2017 | Mt Beerburrum | Mike Anderson |
sBeerburrum Mountain is one of the Glasshouse Mountains climbed by Matthew Flinders. It is just west of Beerburrum Township just off the Caboolture – Beerburrum Road. There is a parking area and tables at the base of the Mountain. There is a concrete walking track of steep grade up to the top where there is a Forestry Fire Tower. The track goes through dry eucalypt forest and a little bit of rainforest species. There is an excellent 360 degree view of the surrounds from the first level of the fire tower. If time permits, there is the opportunity after the walk to travel to the Glasshouse Mountains Lookout for another short walk and/or smoko/lunch. Alternatively, people may wish to go onto Beerwah Pub for lunch. |
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| Excursion | 17/8/2016 | Enoggera Reservoir on Ekka Wednesday | Judy Haines |
Register by email to excursion@qnc.org.au with Subject “Enoggera Reservoir” Meet at 8.30 am in the lower car park. It is a flat, fairly easy walk around the lake (if we want to go that far) with usually a good variety of birds and some moist forest plants in places. Bring insect repellant as well as sunscreen and morning tea. We will return to the cars by lunchtime so options are to bring your own lunch or buy something at the Walkabout Cafe. |
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| Camp | 26/8/2017 |
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Peter & Leith Woodall and Chinchilla Nats | Chinchilla is an area well known for its display of spring flowers. Twenty years ago, the QNC held a long excursion here and found a great deal of interest. We will return this year with local expertise and guiding provided by members of the Chinchilla Field Naturalists Club... Barakula all day on Saturday Gurulmundi a half day on Sunday |
Learn about natural history at our meetings with talks presented by specialists from the club or from various scientific institutions, and from members exhibits. Visitors are welcome
When: 7:30 p.m. on the third Monday of each month, February to November inclusive
Note that each meeting will commence with the presentation by the guest speaker
Where: The Lecture Hall of the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland, 237 Milton Road, Milton
This is near the corner with Baroona Road and close to the Castlemaine Perkins (XXXX) Brewery. The main entrance is on Milton Road, at the end of the ramp adjacent to the Theological College. Convenient parking is available in adjacent streets. Parking is available in the college grounds a contribution of $3 is expected.
Milton railway station is directly opposite the building. There is a pedestrian underpass from the station.
The Club arranges at about ten field excursions each year to locations of natural history interest and tours of specialist institutions such as the Queensland Herbarium or museums. They range in duration from short, half-day, local trips through week-end camps to longer excursions lasting from one to two weeks in more remote locations. Visitors are welcome on short excursions.
Excursion leaders click here for attendance form