Norfolk Island: The Seabirds

Seabirds were an ever present feature during our week-long stay on Norfolk Island. The star attractions during this trip were small numbers of Black-winged Petrels (above and images below) seen from the island’s north-western cliffs (first image below). They were about during the day, especially when the wind was up, flying along exposed cliff faces and grassy hillsides; the birds nest in small numbers here.

One bird was seen to land (below) before scurrying under a rock overhang, where presumably it was tending a chick.

I saw a well-advanced chick during the day (below). It was evidently being fed by parents returning at night. Why some birds appear to attend to young during the day and others at night is unknown.

I found the headless carcasses of three Black-winged Petrels together (below) at the Captain Cook Lookout in Norfolk Island National Park. The species once bred commonly on the island but was decimated by introduced rats and cats. It is making a minor comeback of sorts, but cats especially continue to be a problem. Nankeen Kestrels, self-introduced to the island, have also been recorded decapitating Black-winged Petrels.

I noticed a big difference in seabird numbers from my last visit to the island in 2007. Masked Booby (adults and juvenile below) for instance, was breeding commonly both on the main island and on offshore islands and rock stacks. It was nesting but in much smaller numbers in 2007.

Similarly, Red-tailed Tropicbird was numerous all about the island, and nesting in several places (adults and juvenile below); I recall seeing far fewer birds in 2007.

Frigatebirds were once scarce on the island but with growing populations of other seabirds, their numbers are on the rise. I saw about 80 together at Captain Cook Lookout and scattered birds elsewhere. Most appeared to be Great Frigatebird (below) but several Lesser Frigatebirds were seen.

Other seabirds were in similar numbers on this trip and in 2007. The delightful White Tern (below) was everywhere, nesting in the magnificent Norfolk Island Pines. Although at the tail end of the breeding season, plenty of well-advanced chicks were being fed on their nests.

Many chicks are blown from the frail nests and fall to the ground, like the youngster below. Unfortunately, large numbers die as a consequence.

Black Noddy (below) is also abundant but relatively few nests in the pines with well-fledged chicks were being attended.

Brown Noddy (below) was much less common and mostly on offshore stacks. About 80 distant Grey Ternlets were also on rock stacks off the north shore. A few Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were seen offshore but their nesting season appears to be over. I had hoped to get to Phillip Island to look for White-necked Petrel and a few other seabirds but rough weather prevented a trip.

Norfolk Island: The Land Birds

We had a pleasant week-long stay on Norfolk Island, our first “overseas” escape since the Covid 19 upheaval began in March 2020. We stayed at the pleasant Saints Apartments and had a hire car to get ourselves around this beautiful island, which I had visited previously, in 2007. Some scenic images below.

A highlight was finding a Norfok Island Boobook, or Morepork (first image). This endemic subspecies of the New Zealand Morepork had been reduced to a single female when two male New Zealand birds were introduced in 1987, in the hope of salvaging the taxa. Today an estimated 30-40 owls reside on the island. I first looked for them on the road to Mt Pitt and heard 4-5, some quite close to the road. However, the road’s steep banks made conditions difficult. I eventually tracked one down in forest near the Palm Glen picnic ground (below).

As usual, the endemic specialties were easy to find. Norfolk Island Parakeet (below) was seen near the summit of Mt Pitt and around Captain Cook Lookout in Norfolk Island National Park, as well as in the Botanic Gardens. Numbers appear to be stable these days after a precipitous decline it times past.

The Slender-billed White-eye (below) was in good numbers throughout forested parts of the island, although being outnumbered generally by Australia’s self-introduced Silvereye.

The recently split Norfolk Robin (below, pair and male alone) was similarly co-operative, being particularly easy to see on and around the summit of Mt Pitt.

Another endemic, the Norfolk Gerygone (below) was abundant in forest and gardens all over the island.

A good candidate for a split is the endemic anthoprocta subspecies of the Golden Whistler (below) which sounds nothing like the species in Australia and is unusual in not having brightly plumaged males.

Similarly, the endemic pelzelni race of the Grey Fantail (above) and norfolkensis subspecies of the Sacred Kingfisher (below) were ubiquitous.

Introduced birds are a feature of the island and there are no shortages of Red Junglefowl, Feral Goose, Song Thrush, House Sparrow, European Starling and others, although the quaint California Quail (below) is suitably agreeable.

Emus in the Cooloola Region

In the 1960s and 1970s, Emus were seen regularly on what was then called the Noosa Plain, now known as the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy World Heritage Area. However, it has declined drastically in numbers here and elsewhere in the Sunshine Coast-Wide Bay region. For instance, it was formerly common on Bribie Island, but the last emu there was killed by a dog in 2015. The species generally in south-east Queensland and north-east NSW is now very rare. Fortunately, some birds seem to be hanging on in the Cooloola region. I heard a bird drumming on the Noosa Plain in September last year but unfortunately it would not show itself. Prior to that encounter, the last record I can find for the site was during a Birds Queensland outing in 1997.

On March 6 (last Saturday) Christine Burton photographed two Emus – an adult and a well-advanced juvenile – on the edge of a pine plantation in Toolara State Forest (first image above by Christine's Wildscapes Photography). This site is about 15km west of the Noosa Plain. Christine reports that she saw another two birds in a pine plantation, also in Toolara State Forest, in October 2019 (image above). She has also seen in recent years a family with young birds in the nearby Tuan State Forest.Thanks to Tim Howell for drawing attention to these reports. Ebird includes records without further detail for Tin Can Bay in 1989 and Toolara State Forest in 1996, with three birds reported further south at Como in 2014. It seems that a small population of Emu is resident in the Cooloola region.

The causes of the decline of the species in south-east Queensland and north-east NSW are uncertain. Emus have been killed by dogs in the region (including "Eric", the last surviving Emu on Bribie Island, above) but they are well able to survive predation by dingoes and wild dogs further west. Habitat fragmentation could be in play but extensive areas of native habitat remain in the Great Sandy World Heritage Area and on Bribie Island; the birds also seem to be quite at home in pine plantations. There is no evidence that hunting and/or roadkill are important factors in the decline. So this population crash is a mystery yet to be unravelled. Image below of Cooloola's Noosa Plain.

Buttonquail feast at Dunmore, Southern Queensland

Good numbers of Red-chested Buttonquail (above), Little Buttonquail, Painted Buttonquail and Stubble Quail were the order of the day (and night) during a visit to Dunmore Road in Western Creek State Forest, south of Cecil Plains on Queensland’s Darling Downs. A fair sprinkling of normally difficult or uncommon inland species for south-east Queensland were also present.

Toowoomba birder Tyde Bands uncovered this hotspot, which features extensive grassland bordering well-grassed woodland. It’s the best part of a 5-hour drive from the Sunshine Coast but all those buttonquail were hard to resist. I began exploring the grassland at 4pm, being joined soon after by Matt Hansen. During 2.5 hours, I or both of us saw a total of 5 Red-chested Buttonquail (above), 6 Little Buttonquail and 4 Stubble Quail in the grassland, and 1 Painted Buttonquail on the road (below).

Driving the road slowly at night failed to turn up any hoped-for buttonquail, as observers have sometimes encountered elsewhere. It may be that birds are attracted to roads only in special, well-defined circumstances. However we heard a couple of Red-chested Buttonquail and several Little Buttonquail both in the grassland and the woodland. We encountered an impressive Eastern Snapping (Wide-mouthed) Frog (below) along with a couple of Common Dunnarts. Another 10-15 Eastern Snapping Frogs were calling from inside burrows. Good numbers of frogs seen recently on the road at night here were not present.

During another 2.5-hour stint the next morning in the grassland, this time extending to other areas, a further 6 Red-chested Buttonquail were seen (totall 11 for the trip) along with 5 Little Buttonquail (total 11) and 6 Stubble Quail (total 10). Many more Stubble Quail were heard during both sessions. The quail and buttonquail were easily identifiable on the wing and their behaviour differed. Red-chested showed as quite or conspiciously rufous and the upperwing panels were evident; this species flew the furtherest when flushed, usually going a considerable distance before ditching. Little Buttonquail flew just a short distance and typically gave a distinctive short call as ithey did so; birds were much paler with their white underparts and “saddles”. Stubble Quail were considerably larger and bulkier; they looked uniform greyish above with clear streaking. I managed poor shots (below) of this species and none of Little Buttonquail. Several more Painted Buttonquail were seen and heard in the woodland.

Horsfield’s Bushlark was abundant in the grassland.

A classy act to follow the grassland forays was as many as 10 White-backed Swallows hanging about with Tree Martins in the woodland. This species was once regular in south-east Queensland but appears to be in decline.

In the same area were quite a few White-browed Woodswallows, including adults feeding youngsters. A single Masked Woodswallow was among them.

Diamond Dove, another species usually found well inland, seemed to be quite plentiful. Several Common Bronzewings were seen.

A few Plum-headed Finches(below) were about along with bigger numbers of Zebra Finches.

Hooded Robin was encountered a couple of times, and Jacky Winter was common.

A few Speckled Warblers were in the woodland.