Weekends That Were - September 2014

28.9.14

Lindum, Fuller & Sandy Camp

Headed out alone to check on the wetlands – good numbers of birds and I added a few commoner ones to my site list at Lindum, but nothing to ‘write home’ about. A party of 18 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers deserved, and got, intimate and extended ‘scope attention in the hopes of something more exotic, but they remained Sharpies despite my best attempts to convert them….

A few Red-necked Avocets (11), Red-kneed Dotterels (also 11) and a single Marsh Sandpiper were still on location.

On to Fuller – and the water level had dropped slightly but it is still quite full. 6 Black-fronted Dotterels scurried around on the mud, but little else of note.

Sandy Camp was quiet. A total of 3 Glossy Ibis was nice with the other usual water birds in small numbers (9 Wandering Whistle-ducks). There were no other birders there so I had the place more or less to myself. Again, nothing of huge interest, although conditions were perfect for a wagtail or a vagrant fresh water wader just looking for somewhere to hole up…

Spent a little time trying to get photos of a pair of Leaden Flycatchers who responded well to playback – they move so fast and were so constantly in motion it wasn’t very successful.

The warm weather started to kick in around 9.00 and I headed home.

Male Leaden Flycatcher 

27.9.14

Murphy's Creek & Lockyer Valley

Rob picked me up at 4.40 and we had breakfast in MacD’s at Gatton while we waited for Roger (and his wife, Megan) to arrive. We then convoyed out to Murphy’s Creek and took a side road up into the hills. A washed out, rocky, vertical section of road stopped Rob’s Suzuki, so we travelled on further in Roger’s twin cab utility.

We walked tracks through the woods along the ridge line looking for Button quails, but without success. We did see heaps of Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters, Leaden Flycatchers, a party of Buff-rumped Thornbills and heard a Spotted Quailthrush. We also had a Koala and a Green Tree Snake.

We headed back down into the Lockyer, seeing a number of Black Kites and a single Peregrine Falcon over the road, and stopped off at Janke’s lagoon. The heat haze made scoping difficult, but there were a couple of Yellow-billed Spoonbills, Pink-eared Duck, Whiskered and Gull-billed Tern and 3 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. We drove slowly along roads past 7 Mile (completely dry) and towards Atkinson looking for Ground Cuckoo-shrikes, again unsuccessfully. We did find one Banded Lapwing, hunkered down alone, in the usual field. Rob dropped me home around 14.30.

23.9.14

Linkman

20.9.14

Trotter

We were pleased to see the water level of the dam was still very low as we headed for the entrance track. We have had a little rain in the last couple of weeks and are unsure how, if any, water gets into the dam – apart from natural run off. Its really important for the level to get as low as possible – from our point of view anyway, bugger the people of Redlands shire…..

Parked up and walked the track to the water’s edge. As usual there was little activity in the woodland itself. A pair of Leaden Flys attracted attention via Mr D’s ears and a couple of Peaceful Doves called persistently.

Coming out on the open mud we set up scopes and scanned the water and banks – White-faced Herons and Masked Lapwings were immediately obvious, Great and Little Black and, later, a couple of Little Pied and Pied, Cormorants.  A single Little Egret, Eurasian Coot and a couple of Australian Grebes, small flocks of Hardheads, a few Australian Darters and groups of Australian Pelicans – the latter totalling 92 which is a very high number for ‘suburban’ Brisbane. Whistling Kites cruised overhead and above the forested edges – we counted approx 10 birds within eyesight, possibly more, and 1 adult White-bellied Sea Eagle perched up in a dead tree. A Caspian Tern flew past followed by a Gull-billed a few minutes later and, after that, five Whiskered Terns – always nice to see their relatively dainty flight on inland waters. One of them raised our interest as it had no black on the belly and a much whiter head. It also appeared to have a different jizz in terms of wing movement and flight. However, reviewing photos of immature Whiskered it appears that was what it was.

We walked the edges of the lake stopping now and again to scope. Turning the corner we headed up a side ‘channel’ and disturbed a White-necked Heron and 2 Royal Spoonbills – the Heron was a new bird for site for me – and then Mr D called a Tawny Grassbird ‘chucking’ from a stranded reed bed – another new site bird while distantly and unseen our first Channel-billed Cuckoo of the season called. Also distantly floating and soaring – a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles.

Heading back into the woods we re-found the track and walked slowly back towards the car. A calling Speckled Warbler gave itself up very quickly to playback and we added Scarlet Honeyeater, Striated Pardalote, Eastern Yellow Robin, Spangled Drongo, Golden Whistler and Yellow-faced Honeyeater to our day list making a total of 52 species….one of the biggest day lists I have had for Trotter.

I drove us back to Belesis once again where the waitress almost rolled her eyes and said ‘not you again’ – Mr D once again plumped for the pancakes while I satisfied my breakfast need with soft poached eggs and crispy bacon.

18.9.14

Holland Park (home)

Today when I got home 2 Kookaburras chose my TV aerial to tell the world....

13.9.14

Minnippi & Lindum

Parked up at Stu’s and we went in his car to Minnippi for 6.45. Walked the usual tracks and round the lake – nothing out of the ordinary apart from exceptionally close views of a Koala hanging, for some reason, in a stumpy tree beside the river. Not the normal view one expects, as they are usually asleep high in the fork of a gum showing little interest in their surrounds.

Koala

Most exciting bird? 13 Wandering Whistle Ducks was a good number for the site and a nice pair of Leaden Flys down the airfield track attracted Stu’s attention with their raspy calls – I, of course, couldn’t hear trhem….. We noted the almost complete lack of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and Grey Fantails – one of each – as Spring has sprung and they have mostly returned to their summer breeding grounds. A soaring Brown Goshawk and a direct flying Collared Sparrowhawk completed the raptor list for the site.

On to Lindum and hopes were high for a decent wader – it was not to be. The same 4 Marsh Sands, 6 Red-necked Avocets and the usual 70+ White-headed Stilts wandered the mud. There were no ‘brown’ waders – it being low tide at the time of our visit possibly they were feeding out on the bay? The water level was exactly the same as last weekend so it would appear not to be tidal – even though Mangroves are a main feature of the water’s edge. Possibly at very high tides it gets an overflow from the incoming tide?

I had looked over the general area during the week on Google maps and had identified another apparent wet area on the opposite side of the road. I suggested to Stu we should explore there and so we did.

Easy access, it being council land – unfortunately the open muddy pool brimming with rare waders that I had imagined didn’t eventuate…..a patch of dense bush surrounding an overgrown, reed filled hollow was what we found and, while it may have some potential, it would be unlikely to hide a first Australian….

We did find a colony of Grey-headed Flying Foxes with approx. 100 animals fluttering and calling nervously through the canopy as we approached. Their behaviour made me wonder if they are experiencing regular disturbance by local residents as the park is surrounded by residential development and the knowledge that flying foxes carry the Hendra Virus that may be transmitted to horses has resulted in some over reaction by some elements of the Queensland community. They seemed unusually active and concerned for such an early hour – there was, however, no evidence to suggest anything illegal had taken place.

We also had a nice Olive-backed Oriole and another pair of Leaden Flys before heading off, once again, to Belesis’s for pancakes for me and eggs and bacon for Stu and the usual 2 ‘volcanic’ coffees which, this week, they managed to achieve successfully.

6.9.14

Lindum, Fuller & Sandy Camp

Rob’s turn to drive and he picked me up at 6.00. Arriving at Lindum we first turned down Burnby Rd and scanned the back part of the shallow water mud hole from the road (I had my scope, Rob had forgotten his). Just a few Stilts and 1 Sharp-tailed Sand in view, however, a few small birds flitting around the trees outside the bio-research gateway led us down the road and, eventually, down a grassy ride to another patch of mud and water. Here, to our surprise, Rob identified a large brown bird as a Brown Songlark. This is an unusual bird for the Brisbane area – the closest record to the coast we have seen. There was no chance of photos as it bounced into the long tussocky grass and disappeared. A pair of Forest Kingfishers newly arrived back from up north after their winter holiday perched up on overhead wires, Mangrove Gerygone, Tawny Grassbird, Golden-headed Cisticola and Rufous Whistler also made up our day list.

Back to the car and round to the main road where we clambered over the fence and walked out onto the grass peninsula to scan the mud/water from this new angle. 6 Red-necked Avocets were mostly standing sleeping on single legs with bills turned into their backs. 5 Marsh Sandpipers huddled together behind a small grassy clump while the usual White-headed (as they are now known) Stilts, Grey Teal and a handful of Red-kneed Dotterels wandered around in their respective feeding/sleeping attitudes.

Marsh Sandpipers

Red-neckd Avocets

A couple of apparent Sharp-tailed Sandpipers wandered out of a clump of mangroves to our right and waded knee deep across open water until they reached the opposite bank and picked their way through the mangrove roots looking for titbits. In the ‘scope one of them looked a little different but it took a few minutes before it re-appeared in the open and we confirmed it as a Wood Sandpiper. This is a really good bird for Brisbane. (There was one reported from the northside in March this year and the only other ones I know of were 2 in December 2007 in nearby wetlands at Fuller Oval.) It picked its way out into the water and slowly headed off to our right and out of sight among the mangroves. We took a heap of pictures but the light and distance were against us……

Headed on to Fuller – to find the water level surprisingly high and very few birds present. Didn’t spend a lot of time there – on to Sandy Camp.

Usual birds on the first pond – including at least 28 Wandering Whistle Ducks, another single Forest King, 3 Leaden Flycatchers, a heap of Comb-crested Jacanas, 1 Glossy Ibis and Striped Honeyeaters seemed to be singing everywhere. Rob spotted a Black Kite over the main track – a new site bird for us both and always a good bird in the Brisbane area. We checked out all the ponds but saw nothing unusual in any of them until we came around to the deep pond that usually has nothing on it and found a Spectacled Monarch and a Rufous Fantail in the same tree! Two more new ‘site’ birds. Excellent!

Australian Figbird (male)

Black Kite

Belesis again and celebratory pancakes for Rob and the usual bacon and eggs for me, along with two cups of volcanic coffee each before heading home and on to other things for the rest of the weekend.

(Footnote: to date (Tuesday) the Wood Sandpiper had not been seen again despite several other birders seeking it out)