Winding up 2019: Horsfield's Bushlark, Plum-headed Finch, Oriental Cuckoo on Sunshine Coast; Gull-billed (nilotica) Tern in Brisbane

Oriental Cuckoo hepatic phase

A bit of birding fun to wind up 2019. An early morning run to Finland Road, Pacific Paradise, proved to be productive, as is so often the case with this site. I located some of the 20+ Plum-headed Finches which have been present here in recent weeks among big flocks of Chestnut-breasted Mannikin. This is a scarce species in coastal South-east Queensland. Stubble, King and Brown Quail were all flushed but no images sadly. King Quail has been regular here for many years but Stubble Quail has turned up just recently, although last year they were present nearby along Burtons Road.

Plum-headed Finch

Paul Jensen and I found a Horsfield's Bushlark lying low in a depression. When it flew I realised that two odd-looking passerines I'd flushed earlier were also Horsfield's Bushlarks. This is the first time the species has been recorded for the Sunshine Coast's coastal plain, although I had them last year in the region near Gunalda. We learned later that a bushlark was photographed here yesterday but not reported at the time.

Horsfield's Bushlark

To top things off, a grey phase Oriental Cuckoo flew over. I then moved on to Burtons Road and found a hepatic phase Oriental Cuckoo along the Maroochy River. It's been a good year for the species this season in south-east Queensland. As many as four or five individuals of both colour phases have been seen regularly around Lake Macdonald's Jabiru bird hide, and they've been recorded from multiple other sites around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.

Oriental Cuckoo (grey phase)

A large roost of Nankeen Night-Herons was in mangroves along the river and a Pallid Cuckoo made an appearance in more open habitat nearby. Brown Songlark, another rarity in coastal South-East Queensland, has been present along both Burtons and Finland roads. 

Nankeen Night-Heron

Pallid Cuckoo

Last week in Brisbane, Andy Jensen found a Gull-billed Tern at the Gregory Road claypan in Mango Hill. I located the bird a few days later. This is the newly split Gull-billed Tern nilotica, now separated from what has been dubbed the Australian (Gull-billed) Tern macrotarsa. It is a rare visitor from Asia to South-East Queensland, though seen more frequently in north-west Australia. The differences in the field between the two species were obvious, including the much smaller size of nilotica and its darker upperparts.

Gull-billed Tern

Gull-billed & Australian Tern

Gull-billed & Caspian Tern

Gull-billed Tern

Yandina Creek Wetland Survey December 2019

Great Egret & Yellow-billed Spoonbill

The latest BirdLife Australia survey of Yandina Creek Wetland for Unitywater was undertaken on Saturday December 21 by myself, Steve Grainger and Russell McGregor. We had an excellent morning with plenty of good birds about. The morning started off well with two Baillon's Crakes feeding in the newly flooded southern half of the site. This species was once regular at the wetland but this is just the second sighting since the site's northern half was restored. Two Spotless Crakes were recorded later in the same spot.

Baillon's Crake

A Lewin's Rail scurried across the track and a couple of Buff-banded Rails were seen. Large numbers of Grey Teal were again present and a small group of Pink-eared Ducks - a very rare species on the Sunshine Coast - was among them.

Grey Teal & Pink-eared Duck

Migratory shorebirds were in reasonable numbers with Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit and Latham's Snipe recorded.

Marsh Sandpiper, Grey Teal & Pied Stilt

Large numbers of Australian Pelican were present, feeding on what presumably were commensurate numbers of fish.

Australian Pelican

The normally scarce Glossy Ibis was in good numbers and a couple of Yellow-billed Spoonbills joined the sizeable rafts of Royal Spoonbill. Great Egret was plentiful.

Glossy Ibis 

Royal Spoonbill

Other nice birds included Little Grassbird, Nankeen Night-Heron and White-throated Needletail. Olive-backed Oriole was among the bushbirds seen.

Nankeen Night-Heron

Olive-backed Oriole 

Black-necked Storks were again on show, this time two pairs feeding in the shallows in widely flung parts of the site. It was pleasing to see a Water Rat splashing about with another couple almost certainly feeding in the shallows.

Black-necked Stork

Recent surveys have departed from the old format of short transects done by multiple groups. There are several reasons for this. Some of the old transects are now impassable due to the sustained inundation of the wetland, which wasn't a problem in the early days but is now. Much of the taller grass along the main perimeter track has drowned, allowing easier observation over the wetland, so double-counting from the old transects would increasingly be likely to distort data. It's necessary to wade into the wetland in gum boots off the tracks, which is not everyone's cup of tea. A comprehensive survey can be done comfortably now by a small group in a few hours. As reported after the September survey, the reopening of some more floodgates on Yandina Creek has allowed part of the southern half of the site to be flooded for the first time in several years. More water has accumulated in that area since then. Ebird list.

Lockyer Valley December 2019: Little Curlew, Australian Pratincole, Freckled Duck & Drought

Little Curlew

This week I headed out to Atkinsons Dam in the hope that a flock of six Little Curlew that turned up there in October was still about. It was a depressing sight. The main dam was empty, littered with turtle carcasses being feasted on by Whistling Kites and Torresian Crows. A single live Long-necked Turtle wandered across the sun-backed mud. It was the same throughout the Lockyer and Brisbane valleys: Lockyer Creek is dry; the Brisbane River is a series of pools below Somerset Dam; almost all the wetlands are empty; the landscape is parched and tinder-dry.

Long-necked Turtle

I'd been unable to look for the curlews earlier because of our road trip to Tasmania. I walked around the edge of the dry main storage, checking out the area where they had been hanging about, without success. Then as I left I ran into Tyde Bands, the last person to see them, on December 6. Tyde relocated three birds exactly where he'd seen them several times. They were further back from the lake edge than I'd expected. There's nothing special about this spot; the birds keep returning to it even after flying off. (See ebird for Tyde's GPS coordinates). Little Curlew is a very rare visitor to South-East Queensland. In the 1970s we would see them regularly at Archerfield Aerodrome near Brisbane but they've rarely been reported there in recent years.

Little Curlew

Little Curlew

I then checked out Banool Road nearby where several Australian Pratincoles have been present for several weeks. This is another very rare visitor to South-East Queensland. Five birds were quickly located, a couple not far from the road.

Australian Pratincole

Banded Lapwings were in the distance here, a regular hotspot for this species. Then a flock of 23 lapwings flew from the dry paddocks to a roadside dam to drink, before returning to the paddocks.

Banded Lapwing

For the rest of that day and the next morning I visited favoured birding localities but birdlife was subdued in the dry conditons. A Wedge-tailed Eagle pair in the early morning light at (the empty) Peacheys Lagoon and a pair of Cockatiel nearby were nice. Lake Apex at Gatton was also dry and the locals are putting out seed and dishes of water for the swamphens and other waterbirds that continue to hang about. A single (introduced in South-East Queensland) Long-billed Corella was feeding among hundreds of Little Corella here.

Cockatiel

Long-billed Corella & Little Corella

Wedge-tailed Eagle

I found that Lake Dyer was at least half-empty and there appeared to be good numbers of birds on it, so I walked around the lake. Among the hundreds of Grey Teal and Hardhead were two Freckled Duck; they were distant and I managed just poor record images. Three Hoary-headed Grebes were also distant. At the lake's western end I flushed three Red-chested Buttonquail from long grass and weeds, habitat that was relatively sparse for this species. The ducks were being harassed by a trio (two adults and an immature) of White-bellied Sea-eagles. Large numbers of Red-necked Avocet were on the lake. Elist.

Freckled Duck (distant, centre)

Hardhead

Red-necked Avocet & Grey Teal

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

South-East Australia Road Trip Spring 2019: Part 7, Hobart and North Tasmania

Tasmanian Masked Owl

After leaving Bruny Island we headed to Hobart for a few days of mostly relaxing, sight-seeing and catching up with friends, setting up the caravan in the city showground. The odd visit to local bushland reserves proved worthwhile with Grey (Clinking) Currawongs quite common.

Grey (Clinking) Currawong

I'd heard a few Satin Flycatchers earlier in the trip elsewhere in Tasmania and finally managed to see a male close-up in Hobart's Waterworks Reserve.

Satin Flycatcher

Satin Flycatcher

Satin Flycatcher

I checked out Goulds Lagoon and was surprised to see about a dozen Freckled Duck there.

Freckled Duck

From Hobart we headed north for a couple of days near Launceston, where we camped by the pleasant South Esk River.

South Esk River near Launceston

Then it was on to Latrobe, south of Devonport, for a three-day stay. The Warrawee Conservation Area and the Mersey River offered some of the finest forest scenery of the trip. 

Warrawee Forest Reserve near Devonport

It was here that one of the star birds was encountered – the Tasmanian race of the Masked Owl. 

I had noted a 2018 ebird record from the Warrawee forest and so it was there I headed. I found a large and vocal female Masked Owl about 500m from that site, or about 1.3km from the reserve's locked gate. It was interesting to note that the owl's “twittering” calls were given far more often and were a good deal louder than those given by mainland Masked Owls. The Warrawee bird was also a good deal darker and more reddish-brown than any birds I've seen on the mainland.

Tasmanian Masked Owl

Tasmanian Maksed Owl

Tasmanian Masked Owl

Olive Whistler was quite common at Warrawee. From Devonport we again boarded the Spirit of Tasmania ferry for a comfortable journey back to Port Melbourne.

Olive Whistler

South-East Australia Road Trip Spring 2019: Part 6 – Bruny Island

Forty-spotted Pardalote

During our last evening at Port Arthur I saw Eastern Barred Bandicoot but managed just poor images in the by now predictably dreary, damp and unexpectedly (for November) cold weather conditions. (My external flash had also died.) 

Eastern Barred Bandicoot

We then headed south to Bruny Island, the best-known hotspot in Tasmania for finding the state's endemic birds. It didn't disappoint. A short distance from the ferry landing, I checked out Missionary Road and quickly found several Forty-spotted Pardalotes within a few hundred metres of the main road. I'd heard that North Bruny was unusually dry and that the pardalotes had become more difficult to find. Dusky Robin was also here.

Dusky Robin

Forty-spotted Pardalote

We spent the first night behind the pub at Alonnah on South Bruny, the next morning checking out the Cape Bruny Lighthouse and Jetty Beach. A flock of Strong-billed Honeyeaters was foraging in eucalypts about 1km before the lighthouse. Several Flame Robins were around the lighthouse. 

Cape Bruny

Flame Robin

Strong-billed Honeyeater

Strong-billed Honeyeater

We moved to the caravan park at Adventure Bay on the eastern side of South Bruny for the next three nights. Plenty of Tasmanian Native-hens were seen earlier during the trip but I hadn't got around to photographing them until here.

Tasmanian Native-hen

Adventure Bay

Several Tasmanian Scrubwrens were in the caravan park grounds. Nest boxes for Swift Parrot in the grounds were used last year by the parrots but this year only European Starlings were occupying them.

Tasmanian Scrubwren

During several days on Bruny I heard just a couple of Swift Parrots at Adventure Bay, regarded as a stronghold for the critically endangered species: Bruny Island's significance for the bird is noted in a sign prominently positioned at the ferry landing. (As noted earlier, plenty of parrots were present at Port Arthur.)

A visit to the Mavista Nature Walk behind Adventure Bay turned up a few Scrubtits – the last of Tasmania's 12 endemic species that I wanted to photograph. While several endemics were seen earlier in the trip, all 12 were spotted easily on Bruny Island. 

Scrubtit

Scrubtit

We went looking for Eastern Quoll one night, beginning at the jetty landing an hour after sunset and slowly driving the roads east and south, detouring via Missionary Road. We saw a total of 8 quoll including two dark phase individuals but all were seen fleetingly crossing the road or leaving its verges, or distantly in paddocks. None offered a photographic opportunity. Quoll feeding on roadkill on Bruny had in the past been easily photographed but these days, road kill is removed by the island's commercial wildlife company, Inala. According to the company, this is to prevent raptors and quoll feeding on dead animals from being hit by cars. The only other vehicle we saw during our quoll foray was an Inala tour car; the company presumably knows where road kills are relocated. Inala charges $285 per person for a three-hour evening tour.

Morepork

A Morepork showed well roadside during our return to Adventure Bay. At a well-known breeding colony of Little Penguins at The Neck, which divides North Bruny from South Bruny, I saw a couple of penguins close to the carpark.

Little Penguin