South Island Pied Oystercatcher on North Stradbroke Island

The South Island Pied Oystercatcher (SIPO), endemic to New Zealand, is a rare but increasingly reported visitor to Australian shores. Yesterday I finally caught up with a bird on the foreshore at Dunwich on North Stradbroke island which was first reported by Andy Jensen on May 29. It later emerged that the bird was first photographed there on March 8 this year.

A flock of pied oystercatchers appears to gather on the beach at high tide 200m north of the One Mile Jetty, where the Stradbroke Flyer passenger ferry operates to and from Cleveland on the mainland. I arrived at the spot yesterday morning two hours before a 1.8m high tide. Several observers had reported that an incoming tide was the best time to see the SIPO. There were about 40 Australian Pied Oystercatchers there when I arrived but no sign of the SIPO.

The SIPO has a foot missing but so have a couple of Australian Pied Oystercatchers. A SIPO with a similarly missing foot that was seen in Woy Woy, NSW, last October may be the same bird. In that case, this NZ visitor has been roaming over at least 850km of the east Australian coast for eight months or more. At Dunwich, small groups of oystercatchers were flying in and after about half an hour, the SIPO finally appeared. It stands out among the Australian Pied Oystercatchers with its much shorter legs, appearing markedly dumpier and smaller. In the first image above, the SIPO is on the left. The SIPO's long, narrow bill is another good feature when the two species are seen together. In flight, the larger white wing bar and extended white rump on the SIPO (compared to Australian Pied Oystercatcher) was evident.

The birds are quite approachable. When I left after an hour, the tide was in and 95 oystercatchers were gathered on the beach. Interestingly, I saw the SIPO being chased by Australian Pied Oystercatchers on several occasions. This was the 650th species of bird that I have photographed in Australia. A dropby at the nearby cemetery revealed a pair of Bush Stone-Curlews at a grave.

South-West Queensland Road Trip, Winter 2021

We opted for a three-week camping trip to south-west Queensland to take advantage of the lush conditions in the wake of good rains in recent months over much of the region. Among the highlights were multiple encounters with Bourke’s Parrot, Crimson Chat, Little Buttonquail (above) and Black Honeyeater. Seed-eaters including Budgerigar, Zebra Finch and Cockatiel (below) were abundant. Other good birds included Black-breasted Buzzard, Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush, Chirruping Wedgebill, Orange Chat, Barking Owl, Painted Honeyeater and Ground Cuckoo-shrike. Watercourses and lakes everywhere were full - a pleasant change from the drought which has ravaged the region for so long.

We started off with a two-night stop at Lake Broadwater near Dalby, camped by the lake instead of the bush camp where we’ve stayed previously. Hoary-headed Grebe and Red-winged Parrot were common.

We moved on to Bollon for a night at the free camp by Wallum Creek. Here was our first sampling of decent numbers of seed-eaters, with many finches and doves present included good numbers of Plum-headed Finch (below).

We moved on to Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary near Cunnamulla. About the first birds we saw after entering the property were a fine pair of Black-breasted Buzzards above the road (first image below), followed soon after by a dark phase Little Eagle (second image).

Quite a bit had changed since our last visit in 2012, notably the introduction of a long list of rules such the annoying absurdity of having to sign in and out whenever you leave camp. Also disturbing was an abundance of barbed wire that remains on fences inside the reserve; a Barn Owl was killed by striking a fence during our visit. Still, Bowra remains one of Australia’s top inland birding destinations and is well worth a visit. Although camping is no longer allowed around the waterhole, our site had an excellent outlook.

Seed-eaters were very much in evidence here. Everywhere were clouds of Budgerigars, Zebra Finches and Cockatiels. Many were feeding newly fledged young or attending nests.

I was surprised to see an Australian Raven kill and eat a cockatiel.

I had three encounters with Bourke’s Parrot during the 4-day stay, compared to zero during our last visit of similar duration. I was to have 11 encounters with this normally scarce species during the trip overall.

Also at Bowra were the first of many Crimson Chat encounters for the trip.

Black Honeyeater (female and male below) was in small numbers but no Pied or White-fronted were noted as little vegetation was in flower.

Some birds that I expected to be calling exuberantly in these conditions, like Rufous Songlark (below) and White-winged Triller, were instead skulking quietly, presumably due to time of year.

Little Buttonquail was encountered on eight occasions at Bowra and I tracked down a fine trio roosting at night with my thermal monocular. Southern Boobook, Eastern Barn Owl and Spotted Nightjar were vocal at night.

I found a pair of Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush at the well-known stony ridge site.

Hall’s Babblers were spotted in a couple of places.

Chestnut-crowned Babblers were more common.

Other nice birds included Purple-backed Fairywren (first image below), Southern Whiteface, Black-tailed Nativehen (second image) and Hooded Robin (third image).

Mulga Parrot, Pink Cockatoo, Australian Ringneck and Greater Bluebonnet (pictured below in that order) were among the many parrots.

A few Spotted Bowerbirds were about and a bower found was adorned with all manner of debris, notably broken glass.

Emu (first image below), Euro (second image) and Red Kangaroo were among the bigger critters on offer.

The only reptile of note was an Eastern Tree Gecko (Gehyra versicolor) under a piece of tin.

Our next stop was Lake Bindegolly, where we spent two nights at the free camping site south of the Eulo-Thargomindah road. This place has happy memories because it was here where I saw many western birds for the first time during a 1971 visit. The camping site atop a sand dune overlooking the lake was far more pleasant than expected.

We did the 9km circuit walk to Lake Bindegolly and saw a few Orange Chats and large numbers of Pink-eared Ducks among the many waterbirds, most of which were too far to identify without a scope.

White-winged Fairywrens were abundant.

We had a night by the Bulloo River at Thargomindah.

Large numbers of White-browed (first image below) and Masked Woodswallows (second image) were feeding in flowering eucalypts here. I was surprised not to see these species earlier but they were to remain numerous for the rest of the trip.

At night we were entertained by a pair of Barking Owls. I looked without success for Grey Grasswren in an area of lignum near the town where they were seen several years ago but found Painted Honeyeater there.

Next stop was two nights further west by the Wilson River near the historic Noocundra pub. Another delightful spot to camp, with hot showers by the friendly pub a nice bonus.

Black Falcon was seen here and just up the road to the north were good birds including more Black Honeyeaters, Bourke’s Parrots and Crimson Chats, the first Chirruping Wedgebills of the trip and Ground Cuckoo-shrike.

As we left to head west towards Eromanga we found yet more Bourke’s Parrots, Crimson Chats and Black Honeyeaters at roadside stops; these species were seemingly all over the place. We encountered small flocks of Little Crow as we approached the town.

We planned to stop at Eromanga but were put off by the noisy oil drill that now dominates this small town. So we continued on to Lake Houdraman near Quilpie, where we enjoyed a three-night stay in delightful settings, with much of the mulga in flower.

The mulga woodlands around the lake again had plentiful Bourke’s Parrot, Black Honeyeater and Crimson Chat while another Painted Honeyeater (below) was encountered just up the road.

Spinifex Pigeon was an unexpected find here.

At Baldy Rock Lookout west of Quilpie I found White-browed Treecreeper (first image below), the pileta race of Varied Sittella (second image), and yet more Bourke’s Parrots and Black Honeyeaters.

We moved on to Charleville for a two-night stay at the Bush Caravan Park outside town; no birds of note but another pleasant outlook. In fact, nowhere on this trip did we not have a bush, lake or river outlook from our camping spot. After that it was two nights in Roma, staying at the Gun Club camping ground on the edge of town. Apart from catching up with relatives and revisiting old haunts, I walked the grassy fields by the camping ground flushing good numbers of Stubble Quail (first image below), Little Buttonquail and Horsfield’s Bushlark (second image).

Our final night was at the Bowenville free camping ground just east of Dalby. This is another favourite spot, with Eastern Barn Owl performing well at dusk. Zebra Finch here was somewhat easterly for the species while Rose Robin (below) was somewhat westerly. All up, a very pleasant trip.