So many birds, so little time.....: Weekends That Were

27.7.14
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.

Cotton Pygmy Goose

Great Egret

Nankeen Night Heron

Wandering Whistle Duck (+ Purple Swamphen & Pacific Black Duck)

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.

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….

Eastern Grass Owl - x Rob

Little Lorikeet

Linkman's First birthday party

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.

Little or Black-backed Bittern

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….