Sunshine Coast Birds

Birding and other wildlife experiences from the Sunshine Coast and elsewhere in Australia - and from overseas - with scribblings about travel, environmental issues, kayaking, hiking and camping.

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Camping at Rainbow Beach


Nicely-plumaged Common Terns, Shining Flycatchers and multiple Black-breasted Button-quail were the highlights of a four-day camping trip to Rainbow Beach. We elected to stay in the private camping-ground at Pt Carlos, on Tin Can Bay, instead of the more rustic bush-camping at Inskip Point.
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Common Tern is scarce in winter in south-east Queensland and it was interesting to find three birds with bright red legs at the end of Inskip Point. These birds belong to the subspecies longipennis and are about 12 months old, having completed their primary moult.


Caspian Tern was among the other terns present.


I spent a morning in the kayak around high tide off Bullock's Point, a few kilometres short of Inskip Point. In the mangroves here were a pair of Shining Flycatchers, the male above,



and the female.


This Collared Kingfisher showed nicely in the mangroves. I reported in the following blog post my sightings and pictures of Black-breasted Button-quail.


From the Pt Carlos camping-ground we had nice water views over Tin Can Bay, with spectacular sunsets enjoyed from our camping site.


We drove into the Bymien picnic area in Cooloola and walked to Lake Poona, which was as full as I've ever seen it after a couple of years of above-average rainfall.


There were some nice tracts of wallum in the vicinity of Pt Carlos. Here Glenn embarks on a morning stroll to celebrate his birthday.


The Carlos sand-blow near Rainbow Beach township, looking towards Double Island Point.


A Red-browed Finch feeds in the wallum sedge.


A Little Egret struts its stuff.


A pair of Whistling Kites was attending a nest with young at the Pt Carlos camping-ground.

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