sunshinecoastbirds: Rainbow Beach & Cooloola February 2018

Beach Stone-Curlew

We camped for three nights this week at Pt Carlos, outside Rainbow Beach. There was no sign of the Large-tailed Nightjars that were so evident here in September 2016. A family of Bush Stone-Curlews in the camping ground were the first birds we saw.

Bush Stone-Curlew

Shorebirds on the sandflats at low tide included good numbers of Red-necked Stint, Grey-tailed Tattler, Pacific Golden Plover, Lesser Sand-Plover and Bar-tailed Godwits in breeding plumage (elist).

Bar-tailed Godwit

Grey-tailed Tattler

Lesser Sand-Plover

Pacific Golden-Plover

A Squirrel Glider was spotted above our camp and a Common Ringtail emerged from its hiding place in a bunch of mistletoe after being harassed by miners.

Common Ringtail

Squirrel Glider

I visited the spit at Inskip Point several times in the hope of more interesting shorebird fare but exceptionally high tides didn't help. There were very large numbers of Little Tern, with Common Tern in smaller numbers. Three Double-banded Plovers in non-breeding plumage - suggesting they had oversummered - were of interest, as was a trio of Beach Stone-Curlews, including a fledged youngster.

Double-banded Plover

Little Tern

A Frilled Lizard along the road was nice; the Great Sandy World Heritage Area is one of the most southerly known sites for this iconic species. There was no sign at all of Black-breasted Buttonquail at Inskip Point - not even old platelets; clearly they are gone from this site. Nobody is sure why as they had been there for many years and disappeared relatively quickly. It could be that a feral cat learned the art of catching them, in which case the entire population would be doomed.

Frilled Lizard

At Bullocks Head a female Shining Flycatcher showed nicely in the mangroves, as did a pair of Torresian Kingfishers (elist).

Shining Flycatcher

Torresian Kingfisher

I visited the Noosa Plain of Cooloola in the early morning. I heard three Eastern Ground Parrots calling just before dawn and flushed a male King Quail from the track. Then I saw a Brush Bronzewing on the track, about half-way between the pump station and the area of damp heath. As usual it was extremely skittish and this distant image was all I managed. A recently fledged Channel-billed Cuckoo flew overhead (elist).