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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Nankeen Night-Heron |
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| 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.
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| Gull-billed Tern |
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