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Eastern Grass Owl near Yandina Creek Wetlands - Picture by Hendrik Ferreira |
A highly productive one-and-a-half days and an evening of birding around the Sunshine Coast with Hendrik Ferreira and Anton Booysen yielded
a veritable spray of goodies including Eastern Grass Owl, Sooty Owl,
Large-tailed Nightjar, Marbled Frogmouth, Australian Little Bittern,
Eastern Ground Parrot, King Quail, Beach Stone-Curlew, Wandering
Tattler, Cotton Pygmy-Goose, Black-necked Stork, Barred
Cuckoo-shrike, White-eared Monarch, Dusky Honeyeater, Crested Shrike-tit, Fairy Gerygone,
Paradise Riflebird, Noisy Pitta, Russet-tailed Thrush, Little Bronze
Cuckoo, Crested Shrike-tit, Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Little Grassbird and Spotless Crake.
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White-eared Monarch |
We kicked off at
dawn on Day One at Little Yabba Creek, Charlie Moreland Park, in the
Sunshine Coast hinterland. We soon had a pair of White-eared Monarchs
flitting about us side-by-side with Spectacled Monarchs and
Black-faced Monarchs.
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Paradise Riflebird |
A small party of Dusky Honeyeaters foraged on
the rainforest edge and a male Paradise Riflebird checked us out.
Russet-tailed Thrush, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, White-headed Pigeon, Topknot Pigeon and
Australian Logrunner were among other birds present. A Noisy Pitta performed well along a nearby rainforest circuit track. Crested Shrike-tit and Pale-yellow Robin were also here.
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Noisy Pitta |
We moved on to open
eucalypt forest and vine scrub at Moy Pocket, nestled in a loop in the picturesque Mary
River. A pair of Barred Cuckoo-shrikes were co-operative and
Fairy Gerygone – a species recorded from the hinterland only in
relatively recent times - was vocal and easy to track down.
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos entertained as they tore into the
flowers of a Silky Oak.
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Fairy Gerygone |
Another patch of vine scrub
near Imbil was our next destination. Here we found plenty of evidence
of Black-breasted Buttonquail including fresh platelets
but no birds were seen in the time we had available. While having
lunch at Imbil, we were startled when a large vehicle came rolling
down a hill, crossing the road
and knocking down two wooded rail barriers before smashing into a
tree a few metres from us, just before it would have otherwise
plunged into Yabba Creek. It had been left in neutral with no hand
brake on - an unusual diversion from birding.
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Runaway Vehicle at Imbil |
We headed east to
the coast to Alexandra Headland where we found a nice pair of
Wandering Tattlers on the sea edge along with a Pacific Reef-Egret.
We continued to the mouth of the Maroochy River, spotting a Beach
Stone-Curlew feeding on crabs on the seaward side of Goat Island.
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Wandering Tattler |
Large numbers of
Chesnut Teal were at the Maroochydore sewage treatment plant. At Bli Bli Wetlands, a Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove put on a fine show in the
afternoon light while we took time out to photograph more common species such as Leaden Flycatcher.
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Leaden Flycatcher |
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Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove |
Our final call for the day was a property adjoining the Yandina Creek
Wetlands. I reported last week (see here) about some nice
waterbirds at this site. This newly discovered
spot was again impressive. A Black-necked Stork waded in the shallows
as 15 or more Spotless Crakes and quite a few Little Grassbirds
called from flooded grasses.
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Black-necked Stork |
At dusk, a lone
Australian Little Bittern was calling vigorously from across a marsh.
Then a Large-tailed Nightjar started calling before we saw it briefly
flitting about. The nightjar had been roosting in thick vegetation
lining a canal which cuts through the wetlands. This species was
known to occur as far south as the Rainbow Beach area, 80km north of
here, but was found nearby at Bli Bli Wetlands on October 20 this
year by Russ Lamb and Pieter de Groot; these two records constitute a
southward extension of range. See ebird list here.
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Eastern Grass Owl - Picture by Hendrik Ferreira |
As the sky darkened
and a full moon began to rise, a pair of Eastern Grass Owls appeared
overhead in response to playback, putting on an excellent display. We
saw and heard the nightjar as we left the wetlands. These latest
records strengthen the case for the wetlands to be acquired and
managed as a reserve by the local council (see here for how you help this campaign).
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Marbled Frogmouth |
We headed west to
the Blackall Range and Mapleton National Park, where we soon had a
Sooty Owl calling in wet sclerophyll forest. We saw the bird in
flight twice before finally cornering a brief but good view of it perched. Not
much later we had a pair of Marbled Frogmouths calling on both sides
of the road, with the female eventually showing nicely. See ebird list here. So we had Sooty Owl, Eastern Grass Owl, Large-tailed Nightjar and Marbled Frogmouth (along with Southern Boobook and Tawny Frogmouth) within a couple of hours.
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Birding wallum heath near Noosa |
We had just the
morning on the second day for birding so it was off for an early
start in a patch of wallum heath near Noosa. We flushed a female King Quail, always a difficult species, before our main target – an
Eastern Ground Parrot – flew up obligingly from the heath. White-winged Triller was calling and a squadron of White-throated Needletails flew overhead.
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Tawny Grassbird |
The water level of
Lake Macdonald was very low and not much was about although Red-kneed
Dotterel and Whiskered Tern were nice. A Grey Goshawk was on a tree
nearby where a pair raised a single young last year. Latham's Snipe
and Tawny Grassbird were about at the Cooroy sewage treatment works, and Little Lorikeet here was unusual.
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Cotton Pygmy-Goose |
We found another
Black-necked Stork on a farm dam near Eumundi and a pair of Cotton
Pygmy-Geese on a second dam nearby. All up, an eventful couple of
days.
Very impressive list, Greg. Glad you got the Beach Stone-Curlew!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Roy. The stone-curlews are resident there but it was good to have you confirm they were viewable in the afternoon, thanks. The bird we saw was at the far southern end of the island, keeping to the vegetation but venturing out to feed occasionally. I have a single bird at this spot before.
DeleteYour rose-crowned fruit dove is so colourful. What a wonderful batch of bird sightings and photographs as well as a bit of drama with the careering vehicle. Glad you were only close, not in the way.
ReplyDeleteGreg, so the question is: Is there more than one Large-tailed Nightjar? The sites appear to be about 10km apart as the nightjar flies, so it's possible it's the same one. Better add it to your published Sunshine Coast list! Russ Lamb
ReplyDeleteHi Russ
ReplyDeleteI tried to email after your Bli Bli record but it bounced. Can you please email so I have the right address: friarbird.roberts@gmail.com or the westnet address. I went to the Bli Bli carpark a few nights after your sighting but nothing around at all. I think in a straight line it would not even be 10 km. So who knows? The Yandina Creek bird was totally unresponsive to callback which is unusual for this species. Greg