Superb Fruit-Dove, Black-breasted Buttonquail, Barred Cuckoo-Shrike

A productive day looking at some of the last remaining pockets of lowland rainforest in the Sunshine Coast hinerland. A male Superb Fruit-Dove (above) was seen well along Cedar Creek Road, Belli Park, but as is so often the case with this species, the bird kept to the tops of the rainforest trees.

Plenty of other pigeons were about in this rainforest patch including good numbers of Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, White-headed Pigeon and Brown Cuckoo-Dove (above). Other nice birds here included Russet-tailed Thrush and Paradise Riflebird.

Moving on to another vine scrub patch near Imbil, I saw no fewer than 8 Black-breasted Buttonquail in a favoured site for the species. There were three pairs, a single female and a single male. As always, difficult to photograph as they move quickly through vine tangles.

 I was surprised when this Brindled Bandicoot came crashing through the scrub in broad daylight, stopping at my feet.

In a third rainforest patch, this one near Moy Pocket, I found a pair of Barred Cuckoo-Shrikes in a distant eucalypt. Superb Fruit-Dove, Black-breasted Buttonquail and Barred Cuckoo-shrike are predominantly lowland rainforest birds in southeast Queensland and none are easy to find.

Also about the Mary River Valley today were small numbers of Little Corellas, a species absent from the region until a decade or so ago. In southeast Queensland and elsewhere, this species has presumably moved to the coast from the inland.

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