The Birds, Animals and Plants of Springbrook Mountain
Written by: Cameron Ward
Published: February 22, 2018
Reading time: 4 mins
Discover the incredible wildlife hidden within Springbrook’s Mountaintops!
The Gold Coast is made up of sprawling natural scenery that’s home to an abundance of native flora and fauna. Take Springbrook Mountain, for example, which boasts a huge selection of creatures and plants just waiting to be discovered.
Springbrook Mountain can be found in Springbrook National Park, which makes up a large part of the Gold Coast hinterland. Set just outside of Brisbane, it is part of the Shield Volcano Group of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Gondwana Rainforests of Australia.
Visitors flock to the region to soak up its incredible natural beauty and to discover some of the rare and wonderful wildlife that calls the mountain home.
The Birds of Springbrook Mountain
As well as plenty of exotic plant species to enjoy, Springbrook is also home to a diverse range of bird species, many of which are native to Australia and the regions surrounding the national park.
Here, thanks to years of land clearing in the hinterland, Springbrook National Park has become the home for numerous species of birds – in fact, today there are more than 100 different bird species that live in the area. Keep your eyes peeled for the yellow-tailed black cockatoo, brightly-feathered parrots, birds of prey, waterbirds, honeyeaters, monarchs, crows, cuckoos, rufous fantail, satin bowerbird, whipbird, and the Albert’s lyrebird. These are just a few of the many, many species that take to the trees and the skies on and around Springbrook Mountain.
Listen out for the distinctive sounds of these creatures and don’t forget to look up to watch them rest in the canopies of the forests.
The Animal Life in Springbrook
The collection of different landscapes means Springbrook is the ideal habitat for many different types of creature, including native animals and a vibrant array of reptile species.
Keep your eyes peeled for red-necked pademelons, small marsupials similar to the wallaby that graze in the open grassy areas of the region. There are also koalas, too, that tuck into the leaves of the eucalyptus trees, while fascinating reptile species like land mullets – fat, black shiny lizards – and lace monitors scuttle amongst the trees.
The frog life in Springbrook is second to none. There are hundreds of species of tropical frog, from the pretty emerald spotted tree frog to the weird and wonderful tusked frog.
The Plants of Springbrook Mountain
Thanks to the region’s high rainfall count and eclectic mix of volcanic soils, there is a diverse selection of plants for visitors to enjoy.
In the subtropical parts of the rainforest, you’ll see plenty of black and white booyong, which is commonly found on basaltic soils. In the warmer, more temperate rainforest areas, coachwood dominates. Keep a look out for giant brush boxes, which can be found to the east of the plateau, and spot the numerous flooded gums that thrive in areas made up of basalt soils.
There are two different kinds of eucalypt forests, one of the plateau and one down in the Numinbah Valley. Here, there are armies of flooded gums, palms, and tree ferns. Elsewhere, Blue Mountain ash trees, tall oaks, and prickly-leaved heath plants dot the landscape.
At the Best of All Lookout, which is predominantly made up of Antarctic beech, there are trees that span back almost three thousand years. Elsewhere, there are Springbrook leatherwood trees, which grow to around 25 metres in height and were only discovered in the region in 1994.
In more fire-prone areas of the mountain, New England blackbutt and Blue Mountains ash dominate, while grasstrees can often be found in the open spaces and grassland.
Springbrook is the perfect place to explore the diversity of the Gold Coast. As well as a mesmerising array of animal life ranging from reptiles to marsupials, there are plenty of pretty plant species to admire too.
