Oriental Cuckoo + Sunshine Coast bits & pieces

Oriental Cuckoo

Oriental Cuckoo was the only bird in the Sunshine Coast region that I hadn't managed to photograph, so this last summer I was keen to bag it. I found an Oriental Cuckoo in open forest on the Kureelpa Falls track in January but it avoided the camera. The bird hung around the same spot for the next two weeks, coming and going. While others managed to photograph the cuckoo, I couldn't find it on subsequent visits.

Oriental Cuckoo

At the end of February, Maleny birder Hans Erken had an Oriental Cuckoo on his property. It was feeding in a shady glade among orchard trees. Hans reported that the bird returned repeatedly to the same spot, even after flying some distance away. So I was pleased it was still there the next day. Unusually for migrants, this species can often be found over a period of time in a favoured haunt.

Oriental Cuckoo

Oriental Cuckoo

Elsewhere about the region, I camped overnight in March in Bellthorpe National Park, not far from Peachester. I was pleased to find a pair of Red-browed Treecreepers in wet sclerophyll forest – just the third time I've seen the species in the Sunshine Coast hinterland in the decade I've been living here. (They were formerly much more common.) Also seen were a pair of Marbled Frogmouths, while 3 or 4 Southern Boobooks were calling close to the vehicle. These birds were somewhat distant, high the trees. A Masked Owl was heard calling close by in the early-morning.

Marbled Frogmouth

Southern Boobook

Glossy Black Cockatoos have been drinking regularly around Sunrise Beach, especially in the vicinity of Rainbow Park. Australasian Shoveler has turned up at Wappa Dam and near Bli Bli. 

Australasian Shoveler

Glossy Black Cockatoo

Swamp Harrier is showing early in the season near Bli Bli, and a Black Kite was seen there catching a large cane toad.

Black Kite with cane toad

Swamp Harrier

Richmond Birdwing is looking good at Cooloolabin.

Richmond Birdwing

Eastern Ringtail has been seen a few times during the day as well as night in the home garden at Ninderry, where a white phase Grey Goshawk was photographed roosting at night.

Eastern Ringtail

Grey Goshawk white phase

With a start to the cool weather, flocks of Topknot Pigeons are feeding in the open, this bird near Cooroy this morning.

Topknot Pigeon