The Long Term "Owners " of the Camp

 Mt. Keira Scout Camp is located in a rainforest area, and has many beautiful features connected with the plants (flora) and birds and animals (fauna) of the rainforest. You may be privileged to observe:

FAUNA:-

You may share the camp with the reclusive lyre bird (from which the Camp Emblem is derived), which thrives in the area adjacent to the Camp. This wonderful song-bird is a joy: a master mimic - the male bird reproduces forest calls with astounding accuracy.

Lyre Bird Lyre Bird With plumage on display

Click the window below to watch a video of David Attenborough witnessing a lyrebird mimicking
a wide range of crazy things like camera shutters, chainsaws and car alarms:

Watch also for the satin bower bird and the elaborate structure he calls home. Built above the ground the mound is decorated with shining, coloured objects that the bird "borrows" from whatever catches his eye.

Satin Bower Bird courtship Satin Bower Bird's Bower

Other species to watch for are warblers, whipbirds and wrens. Occasionally large white breasted sea eagles nest near the Camp. Being a rainforest, the Camp is visited by a wide range of birds that are common to the coastal plain areas below.

Listen for the call of the cat bird and you will know immediately why it is so named. Click play to listen.

The Spotted Catbird Ring-tailed possum

The platypus lives in this area, but is so shy you're unlikely to see one in its natural state. You might however see spiny ant-eaters, bandicoots, ring-tailed and bush tailed opossums or rat kangaroos. Brush Turkeys and Wallabies have made a welcome come-back recently.

FLORA: -

Rainforests have several important features fundamental to their survival, which will become apparent as you explore the forest around Mt. Keira Scout Camp. Notice that:
· The plants are tall and straight stemmed, reaching upward to the light through heavy shade.
· There are several layers of foliage. Dominant trees over-shadow a second layer of smaller trees, whilst underneath are even smaller trees, such as tree ferns.

Tree Fern Tree Fern in The Glen

In the top layer are trees such as Red Cedar, Figs and Scrub Ash. The middle layer : Coachwood, Sassafras, Illawarra Flame Tree, Sand Paper Fig, Giant Stinging Tree and the Cabbage Tree Palm (see below). The bottom layer: Lilli Pilli, Pittosporum and Native Bleeding Heart.
· Some trees and vines strangle others by germinating in the fork or near the base of other trees and then growing so rapidly they constrict the supporting tree's growth, and may eventually kill it.

Strangler Fig The Cub Flat with Cabbage Tree Palms

The Cabbage Tree Palm was the first recorded botanical specimen in the Illawarra. It remains a prominent feature in the rainforest, but in fact is a remarkable survivor of a one time tropical forest, flourishing among quite different climatic conditions from that in which it first evolved.

The Sand Paper Fig is another interesting tree which can be found particularly just above the Camp Fire Circle. Feel the leaf and you will know why it is so named. The Aborigines used it to polish their implements and the early settlers made a jam from the ripe figs. These figs are also interesting because they grow right on the trunks as well as on the branches like other fruit

A Tree Recognition Activity is being developed within the camp to help young people (and even those not-so-young!) to learn about the Rain Forest Trees of Mt Keira. A Quiz Booklet will ask you questions about a selected tree and by the time you have completed the Quiz, you should always remember and be able to identify that species of tree