Stanmore's Regent Honeyeater

Stanmore Regent Honeyeater - Picture by Ken Cross

After failing on Saturday to find the Regent Honeyeater that turned up late last week at Stanmore, near Woodford in south-east Queensland (see next post), I returned to the site yesterday (Tuesday October 29). The Regent Honeyeater was the first bird I saw when I arrived at 660 Cove Road at 5.40am. The bird was in a flowering shrub to the left of the driveway, where it has been seen several times in recent days.

Little Friarbird

I had the honeyeater in view for just a few seconds before it disappeared, so no photographic opportunities. Ken Cross snapped the bird in the first image in the same flowering shrub on Sunday. I waited by the shrub until 9.15am and saw it once more, very briefly in flight. In that time, the flowers were visited by Little Friarbird, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Brown Honeyeater, Noisy Miner and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet. The Regent is by all accounts highly nervous and flighty. When Roger Jaensch found the bird last week, he reported that it associated closely with a Little Friarbird. That was also the case when I saw it yesterday.
This is only the third time I have seen this endangered species: the other sightings were on the Cumberland Plain west of Sydney and near Storm King Dam, Queensland.

Curlew-Sandpiper

I moved on to Nathan Road Wetlands at Kippa-Ring but could not find the Pectoral and Wood Sandpipers that were found here last week by Gavin Goodyear. (They could have easily been there - conditions were  dreadful, very hot with strong, gusty winds.) A few Curlew-Sandpipers and Red-necked Stints were scattered among the many Sharp-tailed Sandpipers.

Latham's Snipe

Several Latham's Snipe were about. Also seen was a single Black-tailed Native-hen that has been there for a few days. Interestingly, the first native-hen to be recorded in south-east Queensland was at this site (seen by Keith Taylor in the early-1970s).

Marsh Sandpiper

 About 20 Marsh Sandpipers were on the wetland - a large number for this species in south-east Queensland  - along with good numbers of Red-necked Avocet.

Red-necked Avocet

Comb-crested Jacana

 I called in to Buckley's Hole on Bribie Island but there was no sign of the Australasian and Australian Little Bitterns seen there recently during the 2 hours I was in the hide. A single Spotless Crake, 4 Glossy Ibis and confiding Comb-crested Jacanas were among the birds present..

Boebuck

Closer to home, the resident Boebuck in our Ninderry garden on the Sunshine Coast has a baby.

Common Brushtail

A Common Brushtail and its young have been sleeping in the shed, so we have two possum species presently with young in toe, both continually raiding the seed in the bird feeders.

Wallum heath near Noosa

Over the weekend I visited an area of wallum heath near Noosa with Jon and Alison Elliott. We saw Eastern Ground Parrot, King Quail and Painted Buttonquail. I've not previously seen the buttonquail in this habitat; it was presumably feeding on grass seeds in recently burned heath.