Australiasian Figbird at Lockyer Creek, Helidon 17/11/13

After another short summer storm this afternoon we went for a drive to have a look around an area that we hadn't gone birding before, that was fairly close to home. We decided on James Norman Hedges Park on the Lockyer Creek at Helidon, just off the Warrego Highway, South East Queensland. This area was extensively damaged in the January 2011 floods and the creek itself is still a fair bit of a mess. New picnic tables, a gass barbeque, drinking fountains, public toilets and bitumen car-parking have been installed however and the area is popular with travellers as it is a Free over-night stay area for Caravaner's.

According to the plaque at the site, James Norman Hedges Park is named after a Main Road's Department employee who planted many of the existing park trees from 1942-1975. Mr Hedges maintained the park and beautification works along the Warrego highway from Toowoomba to Goodna.

The park itself is rather small and most of the creek area isn't very accessible at the moment and there is a lot of road noise and plenty of rubbish throughout the creekbeds - (our son picked up around 30 aluminium cans for his recycling project) but there were plenty of small birds to be heard (and a few to be seen) in the foliage on the creek banks.

J