Camping at Murphy's Creek, Crows Nest, Blackbutt

Red-rumped Parrot

We've returned from a 5-day camping trip through the Upper Lockyer and South Burnett regions of south-east Queensland. We had 2 nights at Murphy's Creek Escape, a pleasant place amid rocky terrain in open forest below Toowoomba; 1 night in Crow's Nest Falls National Park, where fine scenery is worth a visit; and 2 nights in the spacious and pleasant showgrounds in Blackbutt.

Murphy's Creek

Honeyeaters were the go at Murphy's Creek and along the back roads to nearby Helidon. Three species of Melithreptus were together here - White-throated, White-naped and Brown-headed.

White-naped Honeyeater

Fuscous Honeyeater and Yellow-tufted Honeyeater have patchy distributions in Queensland but both were common along the road into the camping ground.

Fuscous Honeyeater

Yellow-tufted Honeyeater

Also occurring in mixed flocks in several places were the three south-east Queensland species of fairywren - Superb, Variegated and Red-backed.

Red-backed Fairywren

Superb Fairywren

Variegated Fairywren

A feeding station in the grounds attracted Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, Common Bronzewing, Crested Pigeon and Pale-headed Rosella.

Common Bronzewing, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Rainbow Lorikeet

A distant Collared Sparrowhawk put in an appearance.

Collared Sparrowhawk

A Tawny Frogmouth roosting on the ground was unusual.

Tawny Frogmouth

Speckled Warbler, White-throated Gerygone and Buff-rumped Thornbill were among other nice birds in the ironbark forest.

Buff-rumped Thornbill

Speckled Warbler

White-throated Gerygone

A pair of Plum-headed Finches were encountered along a back road to Helidon. Double-barred Finches were common throughout.

Plum-headed Finch

Double-barred Finch

The camping ground at Crows Nest was a little crowded but in nice bushland, though birds were thin on the ground.

Crows Nest National Park

Crows Nest National Park

 I saw a total of 4 Brush-tailed Rock-Wallabies: 1 at the falls and 3 at the lookout. It's encouraging that the populations here and at the nearby Perseverance Dam are thriving, having survived the depredations of foxes that have wiped the species out of much of its original range.

Brush-tailed Rock-Wallaby

Brush-tailed Rock-Wallaby

Blackbutt has some good stands of dry rainforest and open forest around the town. Red-rumped Parrot and Jacky Winter were in the showgrounds.

Jacky Winter

Red-rumped Parrot

A party of Apostlebirds was in the town.

Apostlebird

I searched without success for Black-breasted Buttonquail in the nearby Yarraman State Forest - the hotspot for this species until the discovery of Inskip Point. I did however find several areas with plenty of recent platelets. We also had a look at Clancy's and Emu Creek camping areas in Benarkin State Forest, where a showy Crested Shrike-tit put in an appearance.

Crested Shrike-tit

A Brown Goshawk was seen on the way home near Kilcoy.  

Brown Goshawk