Turquoise Parrot and 2023 South-East Queensland critter highlights

The year 2023 ended on a high note with a male Turquoise Parrot seen this morning at Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast, in the Emu Swamp (southern) section of Noosa National Park. The bird was discovered on December 23 by local birder Janet Parsons about half-way along the extension of Woodland Drive westwards that forms a walking track across the wallum heath.

The parrot has been seen on multiple occasions since, feeding on grass seeds on both sides of the track as well as on seeding plants in the heath. It tolerates a reasonably close approach but is quick to move off-track into woodland if sufficiently disturbed. The parrot has been recorded anywhere along the track from shortly after its beginning near the bitumen end of Woodland Drive – where vehicles are parked – to a seat on the track about 700m to the west. Over the past couple of mornings it has been near the start of the track. Sometimes it perches for short periods on overhead wires.

There has been some discussion about whether the bird might be an aviary escapee. This appears in my view to be unlikely. The bird’s behaviour is similar to that of many wild Turquoise Parrots I have seen elsewhere (and of parrots of the Neophema genus generally). It is not overly tame and is not banded; not all aviary birds are banded but a male Turquoise Parrot in fine form could expect to be. The habitat is similar to wallum heath at Cooloola where Turquoise Parrot has been seen in the past. The species is also recorded in the Sunshine Coast region from Jimna and Monsidale, and in several other sites outside its core range in the Granite Belt. This is the first record of the species from the Sunshine Coast and Noosa council areas. Neophema parrots not infrequently stray well outside their core range: witness for instance Blue-winged Parrots in south-west Queensland, or Scarlet-chested Parrots in Victoria and eastern South Australia. 

Also in the wallum today were loads of Red-browed Finches and White-cheeked Honeyeaters.

Now for a quick round-up of other birding highlights in south-east Queensland over the past 12 months. The year kicked off nicely with male and female Shining Flycatcher in mangroves along the Maroochy River near Finland Road. At the same spot was a nest of the rare Water Mouse.

Shining Flycatcher female

Shining Flycatcher male

Water Mouse nest

A Brush Cuckoo at Noosaville put on a show.

 A Marbled Frogmouth disturbed at its day roost in Mapleton National Park did not appear to be thrilled to see me. 

 Also in Mapleton National Park, a lovely male Superb Fruit-Dove was about for a while in February.

 King Quail was finally photographed, along Burtons Road, Bli Bli: the last land bird in south-east Queensland that I needed a snap of. 

 On the same day, some nice flight shots of Latham’s Snipe at Finland Road. 

 A visit to Hervey Bay in March turned up a showy Black Bittern at Akarra Lagoon. 

 At Maaroom high tide roost soon after, an affinis Gull-billed Tern was spotted among the numerous Australian Terns. 

 Radjah Shelduck continued to appear regularly throughout the year at the Maroochydore sewerage treatment works, with one pair hatching five ducklings. 

 Black-chinned Honeyeater was among the species found in the Miva-Gunalda area north of Gympie. 

A fine pair of Eastern Grass Owls were unexpectedly flushed from grassland at Yandina Creek Wetland.

 As the year drew towards its end the birding picked up, with a female Australian Painted-Snipe (found by Chris Attewell) in residence for several weeks at Lake MacDonald.

 Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove and Barred Cuckoo-shrike showed nicely at Noosa Botanic Gardens at Cooroy. 

Barred Cuckoo-shrike

Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove

 Also at Cooroy, Spotless Crake and Baillon’s Crake were side-by-side in good numbers at the sewerage treatment works. 

Baillon's Crake

Spotless Crake

 While at Wappa Dam, Lewin’s Rail and Pale-vented Bush-hen were similarly happy to share the same spot.

Lewin's Rail

Pale-vented Bush-hen

 A Sooty Owl was tracked down in the Conondale Range above Booloumba Creek. 

 Also at Booloumba Creek were a Bush-Rat and an Eastern Horse-shoe Bat. 

Bush Rat

Eastern Horseshoe Bat

 On the home front, the frequent appearance of a friendly Wonga Pigeon in our Nambour garden continues to be a treat.

Semi-palmated Plover in Bundaberg

 

Semi-palmated Plover

Birder Scott Fox did well to spot a small plover on the far side of a rapidly shrinking freshwater pool midway between Bundaberg and Bargara in south-east Queensland on November 24, 2023. Observations by Scott and other observers left little doubt at the time that this was a Common Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula) and not the similar Semipalmated Plover (C. semipalmatus). Both species are known from a handful of records in Australia scattered across various states.

Ringed Plover

I turned up at the pool late in the afternoon of November 30. A tightly bunched flock of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, evidently spooked by a raptor, were flying around the pool, and with them was a small plover with an obvious white wing bar (a feature which rules out Little Ringed Plover C. dubius). Others noted that although the bird had been seen late in the late afternoon, it was much more regular early in the morning, especially the first hour of daylight, after which it evidently flew away to unknown sites, returning later to the pool.

Early on the morning of December 1, I met up with Chris Barnes, Andy Jensen and Jane Hall at the site. Andy picked up the plover on the far shore. This is not an easy bird to log. Lighting conditions were dreadful. It stuck to the opposite bank - too far for decent images. Usually it fed in the interface between dying hyacinth and living hyacinth and was difficult to spot; if resting or its back was turned, it was not visible. However, observers agreed that features favoured its identification as Common Ringed Plover: a more pointed, longer bill; a conspicuously broad breast band that is broken; an equally conspicuous supercilium; no white extending above the gape; no indication of an eye ring; no evidence of webbing between the toes noted in the field or in sharper shots that Chris managed in better light conditions (though this feature requires confirmation). I’ve included a couple of Chris’s images in this post. At the time of writing (December 3) the bird has been seen daily since November 24, although it was not seen this morning, possibly due to heavy rain overnight, it was seen in the afternoon. The bird was generally feeding alone, although associating loosely with Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Black-fronted Dotterels.

Ringed Plover (Chris Barnes)

Ringed Plover with Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Chris Barnes)

This was a previous record of Ringed Plover for Queensland: at Boonooroo in 1983; that bird frequented a tidal shorebird roost. There are two records also of Semipalmated Plover from Queensland: 1 bird has been present the last two summers at Geoff Skinner Reserve near Brisbane; the other was spotted by Chris Barnes near Bundaberg in 2012.

Semipalmated Plover at Geoff Skinner Reserve

POSTSCRIPT 8/1/2024

The plover appeaed to have have vacated the Rubyanna Road swamp and was being seen regularly in recent days on sandflats at nearby Burnett Heads. Here it was much more approachable and observers were getting clearer views and images. Angus Daly noted that he detected a faint yellow eye ring and raised questions about the supposed lack of webbing between the toes. Fresh images by Chris Barnes did indeed show more extensive webbing, clinching the identification of this bird as a Semi-palmated Plover.

Back at the Bundaberg pond in January, an adult female Black-necked Stork accompanied by an immature bird were seen.

Black-necked Stork

I was pleased to catch up with an Oriental Cuckoo in woodland along a walking track behind Bargara Caravan Park, where we were staying.

Oriental Cuckoo

Strong south-easterly winds offshore brought large flocks of terns inshore: they were mostly noddies, both Black Noddy and Brown Noddy in what looked to be about equal numbers (though birds were distant) in mixed flocks. Among them were 20+ Bridled Terns, which were even further out to sea.

Black Noddy & Brown Noddy offshore (distant)

In the camping ground, a fine Frill-necked Lizard entertained us for a couple of days, feeding on the short grass until well after sunset, when it appeared to be catching numerous ground insects at dusk.

Frill-necked Lizard

A pair of Radjah Shelduck were spotted flying over the camping ground and located later in a nearby tidal creek. This species is becoming increasingly regular in south-east Queensland in recent years.

Radjah Shelduck

Red-backed Fairywren

Eastern Koel and Red-backed Fairywren were among the more common fare on offer.

Eastern Koel