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