The Birdwing Butterfly Project
The Richmond Birdwing Butterfly is one of the largest butterflies found in South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales.

BIEPA has become a participant in progressing the coastal habitat corridor for the re-establishment and conservation of the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly into our environment. The Project anticipates the corridor will extend from the Glasshouse Mountains area to Pumicestone Passage and Bribie Island. Recorded sightings now occur at Beerburrum which already extends the butterflyʼs range about 18 klms from the closest viable breeding colony at Beerwah – 24 klms to Bribie. The MBRC donation of extra funds allowed BIEPA to purchase 50 vines on which the RBW Butterfly depends as habitat. The Banksia Beach Primary School has commenced a “Butterfly Garden” and Ray Seddon ( Richmond Birdwing Conservation Network) together with three of our members oversaw the children plant vines. This hopefully will encourage community engagement within this particular school and begin a program to attract the butterfly to Bribie Island. This will also strengthen the coastal corridor to Redcliffe, Brighton and the Northern suburbs of Brisbane, where there are already thriving vines.


If anyone is interested in finding out more or assisting in this project, please contact Jenny on email at jfdono@gmail.com

For further details on the Birdwing butterfly go to the BIEPA links page and lookup the Birdwing butterfly site.

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birdwing butterfly 1
two Birdwing butterflies
 butterfly 
Cairns Birdwing butterfly
 male butterfly
male Birdwing butterfly
This beautiful butterfly, the male of which has brilliant green and black wings and bright red splash on its thorax, was once found in great numbers from the Mary River Heads in Queensland to the Clarence River in New south Wales and west to the Great Dividing Range.

Since the early 1900s, the range of the butterfly has become severely restricted. By the beginning of the 21st century, its distribution was reduced to two distinct populations, one on the Sunshine Coast and one stretching from the Gold Coast and its hinterland to the more northern parts of Northen New South Wales. Brisbane and its environs no longer has a stable and viable Richmond Birdwing Population, although sightings are more frequent in wet weather years encouraged by a frenzy of planting activities in the Brisbane suburbs over the last two decades.