Butcher Bird

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Here’s a few photos I took of a juvenile Grey Butcher Bird (Cracticus torquatus) sitting in a tree at our place this morning.

They have a beautiful song, and are quite agressive in the nesting season. Birds often attack cyclists in the nesting season. A Plover will scream madly at you until you go away (they nest on the ground, and have a lot to lose if thet don’t chase you). A Magpie will give you a warning cry before attacking, and will often snap their beaks close to you, to scare you off. But a Butcher Bird will slam into the side of your head without warning, and then warble happily about it afterwards, as though she was laughing at you: “Gotcha, you nasty cyclist. Stay away! Don’t come back!”.

For the rest of the year they’re fun to watch, and to listen to…

DID YOU KNOW that there was a vindictive court case in Brisbane in 1882 (Spry vs Minchinton) about the theft of a Butcher Bird?

Underwater History

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Lake Samsonvale is a large body of water west of Strathpine with a fascinating history. Today I explored the far side of the lake, near Kobble Creek with my friends Russel, Jason and Paul.



We started at the western end of Whiteside Road, and just kept heading east towards the shoreline. This road used to be the main route between Petrie and Dayboro before the North Pine Dam was built. But the resulting artificial lake permanently flooded the road, which split Whiteside Road in two., This meant that a new road (Dayboro Road) had to be built further north The eastern section at Whiteside is still an important road for local residents, but the western half has been transformed into a very quiet road which devolves into a disused gravel road before disappearing under the waters of the dam.





Whiteside Road crossed the North Pine River at a place called Quinns Crossing. Although the crossing is submerged we were able to ride within a couple of hundred metres of it. I’ve been told by local recreational sailers that in times of drought it’s possible to see the remains of the old bridge just under the water.



Some of the grass in the area is pretty long. I thought it was nice that the guys agreed to follow me through the grass even though they couldn’t see the ground in front of them.



This creek was too deep to ride across, or even push the bikes across, so we had to carry them, while taking care not to slipp on the muddy bottom and get soaked.



We eventually found a spot by the edge of the dam where we could enjoy a cool swim and take refuge from the 35 degree heat.



We swam quite close to the submerged spot where Isabella Joyner built Samsonvale House in the 1860′s.

Even though Samsonvale House is gone, we were able to sample some mangoes from an old tree that was planted not far from the house in the 19th century. Paul thought they were delicious!

All up we rode about 30km in about three and a quarter hours, including stops and breaks. For most of the ride we kept an easy pace in the heat, and just pushed the pace a bit on the way back the steep bitumen climb on Postman’s Track. Considering the high temperatures I’ll rate this one 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. In cooler weather it would probably rate 7 out of 10.

Cooling Off

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Most of Australia has been experiencing a heat-wave. This makes riding a bit more challenging. So to beat the heat on my ride today, I thought I’d take a break at the half-way point and go for a swim.

Many of the trails around the lake are kilometres from anywhere. Knowing that the nearest person might be several kilometres away often gives me a wonderful feeling of solitude.

The views are great too.

So I just found a quiet spot, parked the bike, and jumped in.

I loved the feeling of having such a large lake all to myself, and enjoyed cooling off. The water was delicious. I think I could make a habit of this!

Why Ride?

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For my first ride of 2013 I decided on a short tough ride through the familiar trails of Clear Mountain. It has a bit of everything – winding single track, thick forest, fast firetrail descents and tough climbs.

While I was riding on the single tracks, I spied this mushroom in the middle of the track, growing out of a pile of manure left by a horse. I thought I’d try taking a picture of it, but when I did, a fly perched on top of the mushroom. He didn’t budge no matter how I contorted myself to try and get the best picture.

I’ve probably said this to you before, but:

I don’t ride to get fit. That’s just a side-effect.

I don’t ride to break records or win races – even though I sometimes try to grab a KOM or two on Strava.

The thing that keeps me coming back is discovering new things, exploring new places, and sharing those discoveries with my friends. That’s why I really enjoy riding with people, and writing about what we find.

I’ve ridden this track hundreds of times, but I got a buzz out of the fact that on yet another familiar ride I was able to discover something new.

I mean – it’s not every day you get to write about a bug on a mushroom in a pile of manure

Happy New Year!