27.7.14
Lindum, Fowler, Sandy Camp & Minnippi
Lindum, Fowler, Sandy Camp & Minnippi
Set off alone at 6.30 and started at Lindum mudflats
with the ‘scope. No ‘unusual’ waders, just the usual Stilts, 6 Red-kneed Dotterels and a few fly bys including 9 Magpie Geese in the distance.
Moved further along and stopped again
at Fowler oval.
It was almost completely dry, with only a channel of water left close to the
grass bank. However 25 Black-fronted
Dotterels and 4 more Red-kneed
seemed to find enough to eat while again, some hangers on and fly bys (Crested Pigeons, Straw-necked Ibis, Purple
Swamphens, Grey Butcherbird, Striped Honeyeater, Striated Pardalote, a Great
Egret, Royal Spoonbill and Grey
Shrike Thrush) kept me busy for 15 or 20 minutes.
Parking up at Sandy Camp at 7.30 I was pleasantly surprised to find no
other birders on site.
It’s strange –when the Yellow Wagtail (Sandy Camp) and Yellow Bittern (North Lakes) were found, large numbers of ‘birders’ appeared, most of
whom we had never seen or met before. Once those attractants had been seen,
photographed, ticked and logged, all these people disappeared again. I was to
spend two hours at Sandy Camp, another hour and a half at Minnippi and had
spent 2 hours at Oxley yesterday to really see no other birders (the Prof is an
exception). Where did they all come from? Where did they all go? Not that I’m
complaining – its great to have the place to yourself, no one to trip over, but
it is a bit weird….
Almost the first bird I saw was a Nankeen Night Heron sitting under the
cover of the flooded tea trees – I managed to get a couple of shots before it
took off and disappeared. I’ve seen this species here before but usually flying
out of roost, they’re pretty discreet as they are dusk and dawn feeders, rarely
venturing out of cover during daylight hours.
Anyway the main interest here today at
SC was a Cotton Pygmy Goose which
had been around now for about 10 days. It’s a cute bird and I got quite close
easily enough, without disturbing it, while it fed on the water plants. Not
rare, but they occur as scattered winter visitors across SE Qld – this was the
first, to the best of my knowledge, at SC and the only one, this winter, on the
south side of the river.
There were heaps of other birds around
too, of course. The water was very busy with Wandering Whistle Ducks, Intermediate
and Great Egrets; Comb-crested
Jacanas appeared to be all over the place – they must have had a very
successful breeding season - while Aust
Little Grebes, a Hardhead or
two, Purple Swamphens, Dusky Moorhens,
Common Coots, Black Ducks and Little
Black Cormorants fought through the tangled weeds. The surrounding bush was
active too – over wintering Aust Reed
Warblers, Grey Fantails, Brown &
Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, a male Rufous
Whistler and overhead Rainbow
Lorikeets while a Restless
Flycatcher flew across the lakes to land in the top of a eucalypt. Deeper
in the trees a family part of White-throated
Honeyeaters and a few Scarlets
showed in the canopy as well as a single Little
Friarbird and, further on, a male Leaden
Flycatcher. Along the side of the ‘deep’ lake a pair of White-browed Scrub wrens added
themselves to my day list and, as it turned out, my site list too. Around the
Black Bittern pond it was quiet with only a single Mangrove Gerygone noteworthy. Walking back to the lake along the
edge of the open fields a pair of Sparrowhawks
floated silently overhead to be seen off by a couple of raucous Drongos.
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| Cotton Pygmy Goose |
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| Cotton Pygmy Goose |
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| Great Egret |
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| Nankeen Night Heron |
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| Wandering Whistle Duck (+ Purple Swamphen & Pacific Black Duck) |
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| Wandering Whistle Duck |
Back to the car without further
incident and text to Mr P. Then it was off to the tip at Chandler to dispose of
my broken microwave. I won it in a competition in 1985 and can’t understand how
it only lasted 29 years……
Mr P responded - he would be at Minnippi
in about 40 minutes so I headed there, parked up and walked in. It was now after
10.00 and warming up, so bird activity was down. However in the woodland track
near the highway I found a bird wave of sorts – Lewin’s, Yellow-faced and Scarlet Honeyeaters, Golden and Rufous
Whistlers, Grey Fantails and a very obliging Fan-tailed Cuckoo who rested up long enough after eating a grub for
me to get a reasonable photo. A Shining
Bronze Cuckoo on the way out didn’t oblige in a similar fashion,
unfortunately, and I walked back to the lake to meet Mr P and Master J and we
spent some time checking the water before settling down at the raptor watch
spot for 20 minutes or so. Although conditions appeared perfect – clear skies,
a brisk breeze and warming atmosphere nothing appeared and I left the two
Pickerings to themselves and headed home.
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| Fan-tailed Cuckoo |
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| Fan-tailed Cuckoo |
26.7.14
Oxley
With nothing
much showing at any local spots we decided Oxley deserved our attention so Mr D
picked me up at 6.15 and we arrived on site to a foggy dawn at 6.30. Very
‘picture-skew’ (as we used to say) with a low mist lying across the fields on a
still cool morning.
A guy on a push bike approached us and
resolved himself into Prof Hugh P, the local birding identity who has taken on
Oxley as his own crusade. We chatted, exchanging information, and then we spent
the morning trailing him out along the track, catching up every now and again
as he dismounted to find a bird, then pedalled off down the track.
We had much of the usual stuff – quite
birdy actually - with several patches of
flowering trees providing sustenance to mixed groups of Honeyeaters. Mainly Brown and Yellow-faced with a few Scarlet
and Lewin’s and - around the
same spot as I had my first on site a few weeks ago – a pair of Eastern Spinebills.
At one point a Collared Sparrowhawk glided quietly through the trees, out across
the field and back into the tree line behind us. Golden and Rufous Whistlers,
Grey Fantails, a calling Eastern
Yellow Robin, Striated Pardalotes, Bar-shouldered Doves, Silvereyes and a
couple of Spangled Drongos kept us
occupied.
We reached the second wet culvert,
about 100 meters before the turn off to the lakes to meet the Professor walking
back down the track, having left his bike up ahead. He said he had seen an Owl
land in the middle of the paddock (aka field) and didn’t know whether it was a
Barn or Grass Owl. We immediately climbed the fence and struck out across the
field in the general direction he had indicated and, sure enough, 70 or 80
meters later, an Eastern Grass Owl
took off the ground a few meters in front of me heading straight towards me
giving me a brilliant full face view at about 5 meters! It swung left and rose
to about 15 meters flying away from us, then turned and came back a little
higher to fly right over us before heading off across the fields pursued by Toressian Crows that appeared from
nowhere. There must have been 40 or 50 of them mobbing the poor bastard before
the owl finally disappeared into the trees near the entrance to the track and
the Crows gradually lost interest. We felt quite guilty even though we knew it
was little to do with us in reality.
Grass Owls, while not rare, are only
known from a couple of locations in SE Qld – and this was a first for Oxley. We
confirmed the id with the professor; although why he hadn’t chased it up
himself we couldn’t figure.
On to the ponds and Red-kneed and Black-fronted Dotterels, Black Swans, Australian Pelicans, Grey Teal,
Black-winged Stilts, Darters, Pacific Black Ducks and a single Common Coot and we were heading back
down the track. Nothing much else exciting until we were about 100 meters short
of the gate and Mr D called Little
Lorikeets. We stopped and listened and even I could hear the calls – faint
but persistent. We eventually located a young bird in a tree being watched over
by two adults and I experimented with the flash on my camera in an attempt to
isolate an image from the silhouetted birds. Another site tick for both of us!
We headed for The Rare Pear or Deedot
(ex Hungry Monkey) for breakfast but, as they were both very busy, settled for
The Flaming Grill across the road for basic, but cheap bacon & eggs and
volcanic coffees….
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| Eastern Grass Owl - x Rob |
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| Little Lorikeet |
19.7.14
19.7.14
Survey – Rochedale – and Minnippi
That time again – time to give a
little back to the birding, not a particular onerous duty, mind you, conducting
a survey on a private property, but never the less, I don’t like being tied
down to things…..picked himself up at 6.40 and we arrived on site at 7.00 as
arranged with Meryl. Meryl is the owner of the property, a late 60s, early 70s
(guess work) farmer’s widow who runs a few cattle on a smallish property in
built up Rochedale. The property extends back from the main road some way and
the far end is best reached by 4WD. Once there one could be a long, long way
from Brisbane, it’s pretty amazing really.
We wandered around the eucalypt patch
trying to identify Yellow-faced
Honeyeaters, Striated Pardalotes and the like high in the canopy. To be honest
it wasn’t very exciting but we did have an Eastern
Spinebill – the first I have recorded on a survey – and a White-throated Treecreeper which is
always a bonus. Just before we finished the first 20mins or so, Rob spotted a Baza or Crested Hawk high up a tree and
a couple of King Parrots flew past –
both also good species.
It’s a bit weird but the way we
conduct the survey is to count all the birds and species for the first 20
minutes, the note all the birds for the rest of the hour, numbers don’t matter.
The survey can be done either Saturday or Sunday – your choice – and similar
counts are conducted throughout the Brisbane area on the same weekend – or I
assume they are. I don’t know how they work the stats, but there you have it.
We drove back to the house and spent
the rest of the time hanging out around the dam or pond on which Aust Grebe, Black and Wood Ducks, Dusky Moorhens reside and
counted the Little Corellas, Aust Green
Figbirds and a few other assorted common species that flew over or around the
open paddocks on the property. Our hour complete and Meryl invited us in for
coffee and muffins where we spent a half an hour chatting about oyster leases,
highway driving and the impact of national parks.
Getting away at 8.40 Rob and I headed
for Minnippi
getting a text from Stu on the way advising he had had a White-necked Heron & Sea Eagle on site.
We met at the bridge end of the lake
where Rob and I had already spotted the Heron along with sundry other regulars – Purple Swamphens, Dusky Moorhens, Aust
Grebes, Black Duck, Intermediate and Little Egret, Aust Pelicans. We walked into the M1
woodland and tried, once again unsuccessfully, for Gerygones – hearing a Fan-tailed Cuckoo, listing a few Yellow-faced and Scarlet Honeyeaters and gaining fleeting glimpses of a raptor
overhead which resulted in a split decision - Sparrowhawk or Goshawk?
Stu had just clarified, once again,
that Rob and I had not had Whistling Kite on this site when a larger raptor
flew east across our vision and it was, finally, a Whistling Kite! 149 visits and 12 years it’s taken me to add that
to my Minnippi list! 157 species now. A few seconds later another one, closer,
flew away. It never rains but it pours!
A Red-kneed Dotterel and 2 Black-fronted
hugged the edge of the exposed mud – the level has dropped again and is perfect
for visiting waders, if only it stays like this for another few weeks….
More of the same water birds from the wooden
deck, then we decided to forgo the forest walk as we all had other commitments
and just finished by walking down the far side of the lake back to the cars.
Along the way Stu picked up a Little Shrike
Thrush and then a male Leaden Flycatcher,
both nice additions to the list.
12.7.14
North Lakes
Yellow Bittern time ……..or was it? What a hullabaloo.
The bird had been seen first on the
small residential lake in March, 3 months ago. There had been two birds – a
clearly definite male Little or
Black-backed Bittern and this one, assumed to be a female Little Bittern.
Photos had been taken of both birds last weekend for a book and someone
identified the ‘female’ as a Yellow Bittern.
YBs are of course, extremely rare in
Australia. The only ‘live’ ones recorded have been on Christmas Island which to
all intents and purposes is part of Asia/Indonesia despite being an Australian
‘protectorate’. At least one dead specimen had turned up on the far north
western coast (WA), but this one in Brisbane was the first live mainland
sighting – and on the east coast! In suburbia! On an artificial pond!
Surrounded by planted reeds, retaining walls and flood control! Extraordinary!
The past week had seen flocks of
birders descend on North Lakes and reports revealed the bird as being very
confiding, almost oblivious to the fuss. The day before, Friday, there had been
a report of photographers flushing the bird off its usual lake and into a pond
on a golf course, about 200 meters away. The final report indicated the bird had
again been flushed by irresponsible photographers and had flown away -
destination unknown.
As a result of all this a direction
had been issued to ‘stay away from the site’ and additional information
regarding privacy and the golf club’s displeasure. A ridiculous over reaction
and completely unnecessary and unauthorised. No proof was provided regarding
the behaviour of the supposed photographers and, according to later eye witness
reports there was no flushing, no bad behaviour by anyone, the bird had either
been chased off by the Little Bittern or had chosen to move itself.
Rob had been on site yesterday – he
took a day off work for other reasons and went ahead to eventually see the bird
on the golf course, 3 hours after he arrived…..
I got there at 6.45, just as the sun
peeked over the horizon, long cold black shadows laid across brittle
frost-white grass and dust. It was 3 degrees, 6 degrees colder than when I had
left home an hour earlier. Two other birders were there – didn’t know them but
struck up conversation. We stood on the (public) road bridge overlooking the
golf course and waved and exchanged greetings with the golf course groundsmen
as they set up for the day’s golfing – they seemed friendly enough and aware of
the bird as they asked us had we seen it yet – there was no apparent hostility
or warning.
Not long afterwards the bird was
found back at the original pond and we scurried across to find it sitting
openly in the weak sun, obviously, like us, warming up slowly.
Over the next one and a half hours
about 30 birders and photographers showed up with bins, cameras, tripods and
scopes and the bird was visibly dissected, analysed, watched and described. It
was a big Queensland twitch! Camera lens worth more than my car appeared,
focused, did their work, were put away. The crowd quietly enjoyed the time
sharing their feelings and previous experiences and wondering what all the fuss
had been about yesterday. There was no way this bird could be flushed – it was
in and around the middle of a relatively deep lake, 60-70 meters away from the
nearest bank, and even flew to the edges straight in in front of the watching
groups without any sign of worry or concern. The male Little Bittern gave chase just once and they both disappeared into
a large clump of reeds, eventually reappearing again separately and ignoring
each other.
I took a few photos but it was a bit
outside the range of my camera for any nostril shots – but I was happy with the
outcomes. Andy had shown up for a while – first time I’ve seen him this year –
and we had chatted before he headed home back to his daughters and baby
sitting.
I left and headed south, stopping off
at Dowse
Lagoon in Sandgate to pick up the Cotton Pygmy Geese for my site list. Bumped into Ged Tranter and we
exchanged opinions on the Yellow Bittern Debacle.
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| Little or Black-backed Bittern |
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| Yellow Bittern |
5.7.14
Lindum,
Fowler & Sandy Camp Rd
Picked Rob up at 6.30, on site at
Lindum at 7.00. Two Whistling Kites
flew overhead as we stood in Burnby Rd.
Still a fair amount of water, large
number of Black-winged Stilts, 5 Red-kneed Dotterels and a couple of Black-fronted were in evidence, but
nothing else of interest.
On across the railway crossing to Fowler to find it nearly dry. Heaps (at least 30) of Black-fronted Dotterels running around,
4 Red-kneed Dotterels flew in, a few
more Stilts, one each Intermediate Egret and Royal Spoonbill, 3 Striped Honeyeaters singing nearby, 4 Wood Ducks flew past, 2 small flocks of Magpie Geese, totalling 9 birds, also flew past in the distance and
the usual Dusky Moorhens and Purple Swamphens picked through the
ooze.
Sandy Camp was pretty ‘birdy’ with a high number, 7, of Glossy Ibis showing well – got some
photos - always a difficult bird to get good photos of, probably due to its all
over dark colour and tendency to be in the sun, both factors making it
difficult to get clear shots. Good numbers of Royal Spoonbills and heaps of Comb-crested
Jacanas. Rob spotted a white looking bird fly in and land above us – a Restless Flycatcher, which was nice.
The level in the second and third ponds was very low – and the whole area
covered in water lilies. We moved on to Black Bittern pond, but saw very little
else extra apart from an Eastern
Spinebill – our first on site.
On our walk back an Osprey flew low overhead and perched up
on a pylon close to the nesting pole and we picked up 2 Leaden Flycatcher females and a small party of Double-barred Finches.
Beliesi’s was graced with our presence
once again – those pancakes rally have got Rob by the throat….
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| Glossy Ibis 1 |
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| Glossy Ibis 2 |
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| Comb-crested Jacana 1 |
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| Comb-crested Jacana 2 |
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| Comb-crested Jacana 3 |
