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Thursday, 13 June 2013

Black-tailed Native-hen at Yandina Creek, Sunshine Coast

Black-tailed Native-hen

This afternoon I found three Black-tailed Native-hens in flooded grassland on River Road, Yandina Creek, on the Sunshine Coast.

Black-tailed Native-hen

The birds were wary at first but gradually they appeared to loose their fear of me. They were at a spot where I recently found other good birds including Australian Painted Snipe and a large flock of Red-kneed Dotterel - see here. The dotterels had been at this site for several weeks but today, just 2 could be found.

Black-tailed Native-hen

Late last year I found a single Black-tailed Native-hen in the Sunshine Coast hinterland at Ewen Maddock Dam (see here). The species is normally very rare in south-east Queensland but a few have turned up recently at other sites, mainly in the Lockyer Valley. They are part of a move by several inland bird species to coastal areas in eastern Australia in recent months.

Black-tailed Native-hen

The native-hens are in an area of excellent grassland-wetland habitat close to the Maroochy River. I have attempted to alert the authorities of the need to purchase some of this privately owned land to protect it as a reserve (see here) but unfortunately without success.

Purple Swamphen

The native-hens were associating loosely with some of the large numbers of Purple Swamphen about.

Buff-banded Rail

A single Buff-banded Rail put in an appearance.

Australian Hobby

An Australian Hobby perched on a roadside telegraph wire.

Dusky Honeyeater

Also today a Dusky Honeyeater showed nicely in my Ninderry garden.

Dusky Honeyeater

Wednesday, 13 September 2017

South-East Oz Pt 1: Stanthorpe to Round Hill Reserve

Shy Heathwren

We left home on September 6 for a lengthy road trip through NSW and Victoria. First stop was Glen Alpin near Stanthorpe, staying by the Severn River at the Country Style Caravan Park. There were plenty of Dusky Woodswallows here. It's always nice to be in the Granite Belt but we could do without the weather – down to -2 on our first morning.

Dusky Woodswallow

We moved on to Armidale the next day, calling in on the excellent birding area along Old Wallangarra Road, where a Yellow-footed Antechinus was of interest in the short time available. A couple of Little Eagles were seen on the way south for a 2-night stay in the Armidale Tourist Park. I spent a full morning in the ironbark woodlands of the Yarrowyck area west of Armidale, along Gwydir Park Road and Gwydir River Road.

This is a known site for Regent Honeyeater, but none were to be encountered. Few ironbarks were flowering though plenty were full of bud.

Square-tailed Kite

Fuscous Honeyeater was abundant. Other good birds included a Square-tailed Kite quartering the woodland and a Rufous Songlark. The cold weather persisted with the temperature dropping to -4 in Armidale.

Rufous Songlark

We moved on to Dubbo, overnighting in a free camp 10km north of town in the Terramungamine Reserve. It's a pleasant spot by the Macquarie River, but not much was around in the way of birds.

Macquarie River, Dubbo

We went upmarket the next night in the Dubbo City Holiday Park. We drove south-west through Parkes, seeing a Pink Cockatoo east of Condobolin. Our base for the next 4 nights was the Lake View Caravan Park by the lovely Lake Cargelligo, where we met up with our friend Kathy Haydon. A pool by the road just outside the town of Lake Cargelligo on the Condobolin road had Red-necked Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, a flock of 30 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers (some in partial breeding plumage) and Australasian Shoveler.

Sharp-tailed Sandpipers

Another pool had Black-tailed Native-hen and Red-kneed Dotterel, with loads of Australian Pelicans about.

Australian Pelican

Black-tailed Native-hen

The Lake Cargelligo Wastewater Treatment Plant is an excellent spot. Musk Duck and Hoary-headed Grebe were among the birds here.

Hoary-headed Grebe

In the reeds were large numbers of Australian Reed-Warbler and Little Grassbird, with White-winged Fairy-wren and White-fronted Chat in the saltbush.

Black Falcon

A Black Falcon was among the raptors present.

Little Grassbird

Best of all were the three species of crake together at the treatment works. Over a couple of days I saw and heard 20+ Baillon's Crakes, 8 Australian Spotted Crakes and 5 Spotless Crakes.

Australian Spotted Crake adult

Australian Spotted Crake immature

Baillon's Crake

Spotless Crake

We had a full day in the mallee of the Round Hill Reserve and adjoining Nombinnie Nature Park, concentrating on the area around the so-called old wheat paddock.

Malle at Round Hill

Many mallee trees were in flower and honeyeaters were abundant: Black, White-fronted, Yellow-plumed, Grey-fronted, Brown-headed and White-eared Honeyeaters were everywhere.

Black Honeyeater

White-fronted Honeyeater

Grey-fronted Honeyeater

We saw a total of 5 Gilbert's Whistlers and heard 2 or 3 others in various spots; there was no sign of Red-lored Whistler.

Gilbert's Whistler

Shy Heathwren was encountered several times, offering nice close-up views.

Shy Heathwren

Southern Scrub-Robin was another mallee speciality that performed nicely.

Southern Scrub-Robin

Other birds included Mulga Parrot, Southern Whiteface, Red-capped Robin, Splendid Fairy-wren and Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo.

Splendid Fairy-wren

Southern Whiteface

Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo

Mulga Parrot

On the way back we stopped near the railway line on the southern boundary of the nature reserve and had a most co-operative pair of Chesnut Quail-thrush close to the car.

Chesnut Quail-thrush

Further on we stopped at the so-called Chat Alley, where plenty of White-fronted Chats duly appeared in the saltbushes.

White-fronted Chat

A Shingleback was encountered on the road.

Shingleback

Saturday, 16 June 2018

From Bauple to Bribie – The Game & The Big Year

Barking Owl - Sheepstation Creek

BirdLife Australia Sunshine Coast, our local birding group, has for some time been running a game on its Facebook page organised by its leader, Ken Cross. One objective is to encourage people to photograph as many species as possible in a calendar year in the Sunshine Coast region. The area extends north to Inskip Point and Bauple; south to Bribie Island; and west to Kilcoy, the Conondale Range, the Amamoor area and Muna Creek-Miva. An outlier to the south, Sheepstation Creek Conservation Reserve near Burpengary, is also included.

I thought it would be fun to join in for the 2018 game, and it's proved quite a challenge. A bit like a big jigsaw puzzle, with all the bits slowly falling into place. A few weeks ago, what I dubbed The Game morphed into a Big Year for me, so I'm keen to see how many species in the region I can photograph this year. As of 24/6/2018, I'm up to 279, and while it might be nice to hit 300, another 21 is a tall order, especially since I'm away for much of the second half of the year. I've seen but not managed to photograph another 6 species (Black-tailed Native-hen, King Quail, Stubble Quail, Eastern Ground Parrot, Swift Parrot, White-throated Nightjar). I've seen a total of 344 species in the Sunshine Coast region since time immemorial.

Among recent forays was a visit to Imbil State Forest at Stirling Crossing, not far west of Imbil. Little Lorikeet was added to the list here and it was nice to see Dusky Woodswallow close up.

Dusky Woodswallow

Little Lorikeet

I moved on to another part of the state forest near Brooloo, where I had a fantastic close encounter with a female Black-breasted Buttonquail. Also of interest here were more Little Lorikeets and a Black-chinned Honeyeater. The honeyeater is a rare winter visitor to the region and I'd seen it just the week before along Amamoor Creek Road.

Black-breasted Buttonquail

On another trip I decided to head to the northern sector of the area, where I found a group of White-winged Choughs outside Bauple.

White-winged Chough

I then had a look at the Muna Creek-Miva area a bit further west, concentrating on the excellent open woodlands along Munna Miva Road. I found Speckled Warbler along here. Nearby along Sexton Road I found two groups of Grey-crowned Babblers.

Grey-crowned Babbler

Speckled Warbler

In more open country I saw a Rufous Songlark, unexpected at this time of year.

Rufous Songlark

We camped for two nights at Charlie Moreland Park, an old favourite. Yellow Thornbill had been seen along the road in by Ian Stargazer and while I didn't expect them to be still around, a party of 6 were in the same area.

Yellow Thornbill

In the forest above the park along Sunday Creek Road I tracked down a Sooty Owl. A Russet-tailed Thrush was finally connected with at nearby Booloumba Creek camping ground. This was the first bird I photographed for The Game back in January, but I discarded those lousy images and it was another 6 months before I scored again.

Russet-tailed Thrush

Sooty Owl

I visited Sheepstation Creek to chase up a Barking Owl which Matt Wright kindly pointed me towards. This was my first sighting of the species in the region. I also found a Square-tailed Kite in the reserve.

Barking Owl

Square-tailed Kite

A Wedge-tailed Eagle (the third for The Game) was seen at Toorbul.

Wedge-tailed Eagle

I thought another trip north was in order. I saw a flock of 20 Red-tailed Black Cockatoos at Scotchy Pocket – not new for The Game because I had them at Amamoor, but nice.

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

I overnighted in the pub at Tiaro, just north of the area for The Game, and was delighted to find a Barking Owl along the Mary River - my second encounter with the species in a few days.

Barking Owl - Tiaro

I again visited the Munna Miva Road, this time connecting with a group of Weebills; this species is inexplicably scarce in the region. I also found Black-chinned Honeyeater again -the third time for The Game.