Bribie Island to Inskip Point

Double-banded Plover

A nice collection of birds seen in recent days over various sites extending from Bribie Island to Inskip Point includes Double-banded Plover in good numbers at three sites, Beach Stone-Curlew, Lewin's Rail, King Quail, Marbled Frogmouth, White-eared Monarch, Crested Shrike-tit, Black-breasted Buttonquail, Freckled Duck, Pink-eared Duck, an early Latham's Snipe and Glossy Black Cockatoo.

Double-banded Plover

A pleasant week was spent on Bribie Island, staying in a holiday unit at Woorim. About 20 Double-banded Plovers were present at the Kakadu wader roost, many looking smart in breeding plumage. Groups of Double-banded Plover were subsequently seen at the mouth of the Noosa River and at Inskip Point.

Beach Stone-Curlew

A pair of Beach Stone-Curlew was present at the Kakadu roost.

Brahminy Kite

This Brahminy Kite showed nicely at Woorim.

Common Tern

Crested Tern

Little Tern

Sunrise - Woorim, Bribie Island

Some nice terns were on the beach at Woorim, where the sunrise was also pleasant.

Wonga Pigeon

After returning from Bribie I hooked up with British birder Jonathan Newman for a couple of days birding about the Sunshine Coast. We started off well with a Platypus very close in the early morning in the Mary River at Moy Pocket. We heard Lewin's Rail in lantanna thickets nearby before moving on to a forest site on private property at Moy Pocket. Nice birds here included White-eared Monarch, Crested Shrike-tit, Wonga Pigeon, White-naped Honeyeater and Glossy Black Cockatoo (4 flying over). We visited another forest patch near Imbil where there were plenty of fresh Black-breasted Buttonquail platelets but no birds were seen.

Freckled Ducks & Little Black Cormorant

Comb-crested Jacana

We headed east from Imbil to Cooroy, visiting the sewerage ponds and flushing an early Latham's Snipe. Then on to Lake Macdonald in the Noosa Botanic Gardens, where the Freckled Duck that has been present for several weeks was in its usual position, this time accompanied by a mate. Comb-crested Jacana also showed well here. We then battled the tourist traffic to get to the mouth of the Noosa River, seeing Double-banded Plovers at roost in the distance.

Red-kneed Dotterel

We visited the Maroochydore sewerage ponds where a couple of Red-kneed Dotterels were about along with the usual large numbers of Chesnut Teal. We then checked out some wet sclerophyll forest behind Wappa Dam. The final site for the day was North Arm, where 15 Pink-eared Ducks were on the dam - the largest number since the species first turned up here more than a year ago. At a stream nearby, Jonathan was fortunate to glimpse a Lewin's Rail which had been calling.
That evening, we headed up to Mapleton National Park and after some effort, secured excellent views of a bill-clapping male Marbled Frogmouth.

Black-breasted Buttonquail

The next morning saw us leaving early for Inskip Point for the buttonquail as we had missed it at Imbil. We had good but brief views of a female Black-breasted Buttoquail soon after arriving but could not relocate the bird.

Checking out the Noosa Plain

Teewah Creek

We moved on to the Noosa Plain at Cooloola in the Great Sandy National Park, flushing a King Quail from the road on the way in. We spent a couple of hours traversing the wallum heath but dipped on Ground Parrot. The delightful Teewah Creek nearby was a pleasant diversion. We ended the day by heading south to Bli Bli to clean up a couple of birds that Jonathan was still chasing.