Join us for an evening exploring Brisbane’s remarkable flying-foxes. Brisbane is the only Australian capital city home to three species of flying-fox, including the Grey-headed and Black flying-foxes that use Orleigh Park as one of their roosting sites. As delegates watch the spectacular evening flyout across the river, our hosts Rebeca Appleton and Alison Hoeger from BSRQ will share insights into flying-fox behaviour, ecology and their vital roles as pollinators and seed dispersers. The session will also explore the threats facing these highly mobile animals, including habitat loss, entanglement and other urban hazards, as well as conservation and management challenges. Participants will have the opportunity to detect smaller insectivorous bats foraging over the water.
Join us for a hands-on field trip to McCoys Creek, Coomera, where participants will work alongside Gold Coast City Council staff to survey koalas in a unique coastal environment, including animal counts, health assessments, hollow and bird surveys. Please come prepared for a full day outdoors, practical fieldwork, and a great opportunity to contribute to threatened species monitoring while exploring the Gold Coast!
Experience coexistence by design up close. Join us as we visit an artificially created, internationally significant shorebird roost teeming with thousands of migratory birds. You may even tick a few species off your bucket list, with the critically endangered Far Eastern Curlew regularly recorded at the site. The field trip also includes an eye opening look at how feeding wildlife shapes behaviour in urban parks, before concluding with insights into managing raptors nesting on utility infrastructure. This field trip is a must for anyone working at the intersection of conservation, community, and infrastructure.