Cannon Hill Bushland Reserve, Oct 2020

Summary: Messy patch of bush near golf course construction with mediocre birding

Date of visit: Oct 25, 2020

Cannon Hill Bushland Reserve is a rough, rather tucked-away section of bushland adjoining Minnippi Parklands, about 10km east of Brisbane CBD.

Parking is a little sketchy; on my visit I parked in the Murarrie Recreation Reserve car park and walked back across Wynnum Rd, though you could conceivably park in the Caltex petrol station car park, I suppose, or access the area via some other entrance than by the petrol station.

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A grassy path that parallels the edge of the petrol station leads into a playground clearing, from which there’s a narrow trail into the bush.

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A Figbird called from a powerline and my birding friend and I spotted a Sacred Kingfisher and a Scaly-Breasted Lorikeet, before we found our path getting a tad dicey.

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We plunged on, not quite sure where we were, following a glimpses of a raptor which had landed in a tree. When it took off again we got good views of it, recognising a Brown Goshawk.

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We also saw Red-Backed Fairywren in this area. Still a bit lost, we recognised our half-trail crossing a tiny creek tributary and followed that, ending up basically on a dirt road that sort-of follows the creek. Possibly we shouldn’t have gone that way, I don’t know… there’s no signs anywhere (except for one for the local bushcare group), and no indication of the bushland boundary or anything, so it seemed fair game to explore a little.

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We followed this road in one direction and generally only saw sparser country birds like Magpie and Kookaburra, though we also had views of another Sacred Kingfisher and a Spangled Drongo. In the other direction we came across some felled bush, this is where they’re building the new golf course (yes, really).

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A couple of Dollarbirds here provided the most interest but honestly we were a little sickened at coming face-to-face with the evidence of “development” (many felled trees, for example). And this is supposedly where the largest population of Brisbane’s squirrel gliders live.

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We had no real choice but to cross back over the creek tributary, and trying to follow the barely-there trails back to Wynnum Road. A brushturkey and calls of Olive-Backed Oriole and Crows were evident, but the main excitement was actually a sighting of a Channel-Billed Cuckoo, looking huge and demonic as they do, in the upper canopy.

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This is a weird location. Being a bushland reserve it’s not conducive to birding unless you like getting disoriented or pushing your way through dense undergrowth and water-bogged track. We didn’t see anything particularly interesting bird-wise there, and the golf course development going on really does impoverish the experience.

eBird
Checklist for this visit (24 species)
Hotspot: Cannon Hill Bushland Reserve (129 species)
Nearby: Minnippi Parklands (191 species), Seven Hills Bushland Reserve (101 species)

Pluses and minuses:
+ Untamed dense native bush not far from centre of Brisbane
+ Some okay birds to be found
– Few proper trails or paths
– Bushland reserve, so no facilities at all
– Ongoing golf course construction