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.

Sunday, 2 March 2025

Transformation of Yandina Creek Wetland (+ Australian Little Bittern influx)

 

Australian Little Bittern

This morning at Yandina Creek Wetland on the Sunshine Coast, I recorded three Australian Little Bitterns at widely separated sites. Two birds were heard only, while an adult male showed briefly as it flushed from flooded reeds. This cryptic species is a rarity; I’d heard just twice before at the wetland. To have three birds here on one day suggests the site is increasingly attractive to them.


Australasian Darter at the wetland today

That points to a bigger picture of a wetland that is radically being transformed. Early last century, trenches were dug through what was then sugarcane farm to connect to Yandina Creek and other tidal streams. Gates were built where the trenches met the creeks. They could be opened at low tide to release floodwaters from the cane farms. When farming ceased in the 2000s, the gates fell into disrepair, allowing unchecked inflows of tidal water that created what we now call Yandina Creek Wetland. The area had been natural wetland before the cane farms, so it was being returned to its original state in essence.


Wetland today looking towards Mt Ninderry

The gates were repaired by landowners during controversy over the future of the wetland in 2015, allowing them to drain it. The site was acquired by Unitywater the following year. Unitywater has allowed the floodgates to again fall into disrepair, allowing the site to be inundated again. A bird hide on the public trail off River Road built by Unitywater has been removed as a section of track nearby that once covered floodgates is now a torrent of waterflow.


Buff-banded Rail today

There is today arguably more water in the wetland than there has ever been. This is a mixed blessing. One of the major ornithological attractions of the site was the large numbers of migratory and resident shorebirds it attracted. Extensive mudflats provided ideal habitat. Rare species recorded included Australian Painted Snipe, Pectoral Sandpiper and Broad-billed Sandpiper.


Main shorebird area in 2022

Those mudflats are substantially reduced now. Much of the area is more-or-less permanently under water, while mangroves have spread rapidly in some places. These images show the main shorebird area as it was in 2022, and as it is today. Still, 55 Pied Stilts were happily in residence there today.


Image today taken from the same spot as in the picture above

On the flip side, there are advantages. Extensive areas of relatively deep brackish water have kept mangroves at bay, while large areas of flooded reed beds are now a major feature of the site. This is good news for the Australian Little Bittern, and explains today’s records. Reports of the scarce Lewin’s Rail are now commonplace at the wetland. Rails, crakes, bitterns, grassbirds and other water and grassland birds will benefit from these changes.


Yandina Creek in full flow today

Access, however, is ever more difficult. The main access trails are heavily overgrown and increasingly inundated. So there are limited opportunities for the birding community to enjoy the site, though usually species of interest can be unearthed without too much difficulty in the area. Recently a pair of Brolgas were spotted along River Road near the wetland, for instance.



Blue Heart, the Unitywater-Sunshine Coast Council-Queensland Government initiative to protect wetlands on the Maroochy River floodplains, is meanwhile powering along. Development activity on several properties acquired by Blue Heart that adjoin Yandina Creek Wetland is being scaled back. Residents previously hostile to the wetlands campaign have moved on, their properties acquired under the Blue Heart program. So the outcome overall remains positive. Ebird list from today: https://ebird.org/checklist/S216154193


Pheasant Coucal today


White-faced Heron today 



Monday, 17 February 2025

COCOS & KEELING ISLANDS 2025

 

White Tern

6 February-11 February, 2025. Following our visit to Christmas Island we flew to West Island in the Cocos-Keeling group for a 5-day stay. This was reduced from the planned 7 days due to our flight from Christmas Island being delayed as a consequence of cyclonic weather. We enjoyed our stay at The Breakers and driving around the island, but like Christmas, the dearth of vagrants from south-east Asia was disappointing.

West Island beach

West Island main road

Several including Javan Pond-Heron, Watercock, Common Redshank, Pallas’s Grasshopper-Warbler and Black-backed Swamphen - which had been reliable for some time at regular hotspots - were nowhere in sight. Again, it’s not known whether this was because our visit was too late in the season, or if the relentlessly wild weather in the Indian Ocean over two weeks had pushed birds north. The weather also ruled out motorised canoe searches for Saunders’ Tern and Tibetan Sand-Plover.


Becher Besar

The highlights were the two vagrant ducks at the Becher Besar wetland. Two Eurasian Wigeons had been there for several weeks and were seen twice from the hide distantly. The Northern Pintail female which has been around for many months was seen once, while the offspring from its interbreeding with a Pacific Black Duck were occasionally present.


Northern Pintail-Pacific Black Duck crosses



Northern Pintail

I saw at least three Western Reef-Egrets among the more numerous Eastern Reef-Egrets. One was a distant pied morph. The other two were dark birds readily distinguished by their long bills and tibia, and more extensive white throat patch, though this was often not obvious when the bird was feeding. One bird was regular on the mud off the northern end of the airport runway.


Western Reef-Egret

On the runway itself were between one and four Medium Egrets at any given time. This is now a split from our Plumed Egret, so another for the Australian list. Nankeen Night-Heron was common with juveniles accounting for numerous pond-heron false alarms.


Medium Egret
Nankeen Night-Heron

Also on the runway were a nice pair of Oriental Pratincoles.


Oriental Pratincole

White Terns are always a delight and their constant presence helped atone a little for the paucity of rarities. They nested in trees around the town area on West Island.


White Tern

We visited Home Island for a day, thoroughly checking out Oceania House and the surrounding vegetation, but this rarity hotspot failed to reveal a single land bird. Furious winds throughout the day did not help and we were fortunate that the ferry back was not cancelled.


Home Island locals

West Island south end

The introduced Green Junglefowl occurs in Australia only at Cocos and they are abundant on West Island.


Green Junglefowl

Almost as abundant is White-breasted Waterhen. I don’t understand why this bird is so cryptic and shy on Christmas Island, while on West Island, they are all over the place.


White-breasted Waterhen

A Green Turtle turned up on the beach one day.


BIRDS

Green Junglefowl, White-breasted Waterhen,

White Tern, Brown Noddy, Lesser Frigatebird,

Red-footed Booby, Masked Booby, White-tailed Tropicbird,

Medium Egret, Western Reef-Egret, Eastern Reef-Egret,

Little Egret, Striated Heron, Nankeen Night-Heron,

Pacific Black Duck, Eurasian Wigeon, Northern Pintail.. 17spp, 4 Oz ticks, 4 pic ticks









Sunday, 16 February 2025

CHRISTMAS ISLAND 2025

Christmas Island Boobook

28 January-6 February, 2025. I was last on Christmas Island as a working journalist in 2007 in May – the wrong time of year for summer vagrants from south-east Asia, as well as the endemic Christmas Island Boobook. So with a bit of unfinished business, Glenn and I opted to have a week on Christmas Island followed by a week in the Cocos-Keeling islands. We stayed at the Sunset Hotel on Christmas, aptly named for great sunsets. But only for the first two nights, as rough and often violent weather was the norm for the rest of the stay, courtesy of two cyclones and assorted lows circling the Indian Ocean to the south.


Sunset at Sunset Hotel

Our first foray took us to the delightful Tai Jin House near Flying Fish Cove. Here the endemics Christmas Island Imperial-Pigeon, Christmas Island White-eye and Christmas Island Thrush were all easy to see in numbers.


Christmas Island Thrush

Christmas Island White-eye

Christmas Island Imperial-Pigeon

We ventured to South Point and the railway ruins on our first full day out, spotting a couple of Barn Swallows. Vagrants proved to be frustratingly scarce. Whether this was due to the appalling weather for most of our time on the island, or if we were too late in the season – difficult to know. What we did see however was a Malayan Night-Heron along a creek in The Dales.


Island Coastline - The Blowholes

Travelling back east we had plenty of views of the magnificent Abbott’s Booby. Later with Steve Reynolds, who kindly showed me about the island, we had a beautiful juvenile booby near ground level on North-West Road. More were seen nicely in flight on another occasion off Margaret Knoll Lookout, where superb views of the golden race fulvus of White-tailed Tropicbird (known locally as the golden bosun) were also enjoyed. Images below of Abbott's Booby.



Steve and I were fortunate to flush at adult male Shrenck’s Bittern in wet grassland at the southern end of North South Baseline Road. This may have been the same bird which was seen a couple of times recently about the Settlement area. We flushed half a dozen Pin-tailed Snipe, with the usual distant images but trailing legs and distinctive call noted.



Pin-tailed Snipe

Good spots around the settlement included the Recreation Area (we got a hostile reception from the manager at the nearby rubbish tip - hitherto a major island hotspot), the Golf Course road, North-East Point and Territory Day Park. Great views of Christmas Island Flying-fox (below) were enjoyed during the late afternoon at the day park.


Seabirds were everywhere. Christmas Island Frigatebird was abundant, with fewer numbers of Great and even fewer Lesser. Thegolden bosun” tropicbird was plentiful, and quite a few Red-tailed Tropicbirds were about. Red-footed Booby and Brown Booby were common.


  1. White-tailed Tropicbird (Golden Bosun)

    Red-footed Booby

    Christmas Island Frigatebird

White-breasted Waterhen was common by voice but shy and seldom seen. The recently split Asian Emerald Dove was reasonably common roadside.

Asian Emerald Dove

Christmas Island Swiftlet was abundant but difficult to photograph.

Christmas Island Swiftlet

Eurasian Tree Sparrow was abundant and a handful of Java Sparrows – a species in decline on the island - were spotted near the hotel.

Java Sparrow

A couple of Christmas island Goshawks were seen.


Christmas Island Goshawk

We ended up having 9 instead of 7 days on the island as our flight out to Cocos was postponed due to the weather. 


The silver lining to this cloud is that the night our flight was cancelled, the weather improved somewhat, allowing for a decent search for Christmas Island Boobook. D
uring a visit to Christmas Island in May 2007 I failed to see the species - wrong time of year. Owls are my favourite birds and that hurt. On our just completed trip to the island, I thought it would be a pushover. The area around my hotel was a known hotspot for the bird, and my first and only fine weather evening was spent searching there unsuccessfully. I'd heard the birds had left the area but was fooled by what turned out to be a false recent ebird report. Then the crap weather settled in: high winds, heavy rain, and so on. Two cyclones south of the island. I tried nonetheless at other spots. Then our flight out was cancelled due to weather, but a silver linining: it finally stopped raining that evening for a few hours. It took a while but I finally nailed this bird on Phosphate Hill Road.



Of course the crabs are a big attraction on Christmas Island. The famous red crab summer spawning migration was underway but well beyond its peak.  There were far fewer on the roads than during my last visit in May. Still, some roads were closed and careful driving was in order. Robber crabs were, as usual, ever present.


Robber Crab

Red Crab


BIRD LIST

Red Junglefowl (abundant),

Christmas Island Frigatebird, Great Frigatebird, Lesser Frigatebird, Red-footed Booby, Brown Booby,

Abbott’s Booby, Red-tailed Tropicbird, White-tailed Tropicbird,

Schrenck’s Bittern, Malayan Night-Heron, Striated Heron (1 race javanicus), Eastern Reef-Egret,

Glossy Ibis (1 Recreation Area),

Pin-tailed Snipe, Common Sandpiper, White-breasted Waterhen, Brown Noddy,

Christmas Island Swiftlet, Asian Emerald Dove, Christmas Island Imperial-Pigeon, Christmas Island Thrush,

Nankeen Kestrel, Christmas Island Goshawk,

Christmas Island Boobook,

Christmas Island Silverye,

Java Sparrow, Eurasian Tree-Sparrow, Barn Swallow 28spp, 4 Oz ticks, 2 lifers, 9 pic ticks

 

Coastline - The Blowholes



White-breasted Waterhen