28.2.15
Sandy Camp & Lindum
Oxley
21.2.15
North Stradbroke Island
18.2.15
Surprise, surprise there's a hole in there!
http://youtu.be/SYEEiVV1y2k
15.2.15
Samsonvale Cemetery
14.2.15
Pt Lookout, North Stradbroke Island
11.2.15
Rufous Bristlebird, 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Rd, Victoria.
http://youtu.be/Kq0yMpsi8H8
1.2.15
Sandy Camp & Lindum
Headed over to the area for 6.00. I
had decided to go to Sandy Camp first, even though that meant bypassing Lindum,
as I figured the waders would stay on site later in the day, while the ponds
and surrounds would quieten down as the heat rose.
The ponds were quiet even at this
early stage, the water level very high. (The Painted Snipe site completely
flooded) Several pairs of Little Pied
and Little Black Cormorants and Australian White Ibis were attending
nests over the water in the tee trees. Duck were almost completely absent – as
we have noted over the past few weeks – possibly they have all headed west to
take advantage of the extra water and food out there?
A few Australian Reed Warblers still singing, 2 Oriental Dollarbirds on the wires were probable migrants heading
north, the usual invisible but vocal Striped
Honeyeater, 1 Comb-crested Jacana
and a single probable Brown Quail
that landed quietly on the path behind me, caught the corner of my eye and
walked into the long grass/reed bed.
I made my way through to the first
back pond – (the Yellow Wagtail pond completely overgrown, water underneath the
lush plant growth) - again more Cormorants nesting and several Australian Darters siting on nests in
the dead trees.
A pair of Leaden Flycatchers, Spangled Drongo, Tawny Grassbirds an Eastern Yellow Robin and, just at the end of the track, a pair of Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes flew
overhead throwing me for a second until I isolated them and saw that one was an
immature lacking the full black mask.
On around the Black Bittern pond and
a pair of juvenile Darters made for
an interesting juxtaposition for the camera. The usual Spotless Crake grumbled away in the back of the papyrus bed, but he
wasn’t interested in coming out to play. 5 Pale-headed
Rosellas chased each other through the trees and I found the remains of a
largish fish on the track that appears to be a ……………………………….
 |
| Australian Darter - female |
 |
| Australian Darter - juveniles |
 |
| Australian Darter - male |
Back on the main track 4 Rainbow Bee Eaters on the wires were
also most likely migrants at this time of year. The heat building a little and
the birds generally quieting down I jumped in the car and headed for Fuller.
The lake was full and there were a
few birds knocking around – 5 Australian
Grebes, more Darters, Intermediate and Eastern Cattle Egrets, 6 Wandering
Whistle Ducks hiding out in the lilies, a couple of Chestnut Teal, a few Pacific
Black Duck, 2 Hardheads, 1 Eurasian Coot and, on the passerine
front, a single White-breasted Wood Swallow
and another singing Striped Honeyeater.
On to Lindum and the waders still
active as I’d hoped – 70 White-headed
Stilt, 9 Black-fronted Dotterel and
9 Marsh Sandpipers were the only
‘interesting’ waders on site. There were no ‘brown’ ones to turn into vagrants!
In the distance (from the Kianawah rd side) a Black-necked Stork stood with his back to me, apparently with his
head and bill hidden. I left him and moved on ‘scope’ wise and when I went back
to look again, he’d disappeared. I assumed I would see him from Burnby Rd, but
there was no sign of him from there either – for such a large bird they can
disappear so quietly and easily I started to doubt my own mind……..but I’m sure
he was there……….honest! Nothing else showed so I headed home.
22.2.15Oxley
All three of us rocked up at Oxley in
Stu’s car at 6.15. Following the cyclone of the last few days we expected the
situation to be very wet. In fact, it wasn’t too bad, the lakes were high and
the track a bit muddy, but all areas were accessible.
A nice Striped Honeyeater perched up and sang his ‘merry song’ near the
start of the track – this is becoming a habit……A female Mistletoebird was the first for a while and a single Double-barred Finch put in a brief
appearance but there was nothing out of the ordinary along the track.
Despite
the high water levels there were few species around the lakes. I spotted a Buff-banded Rail running for cover and
a single Black-fronted Dotterel flew
ahead along the track. There were only a couple of Pacific Black Duck on the water and 6 Little Black Cormorants perched up on the wire alongside an Australian Darter on top of one of the
power poles. An Australian Pied
Cormorant was only the fifth example of the species at Oxley, the last two
being, surprisingly, on 10th February and 10th March 2013
with all my records in summer.
We walked back as the humidity
started to build – inevitable after the storms and rain of recent days – and
decided to try Sherwood for breakfast. We found Café Europe just across the
main road with basic breakfasts at very reasonable rates – a definite future
breakfast venue.
North Stradbroke Island
Tropical cyclone Marcia touched down
on land just north of Yeppoon, 700 kms north midmorning Friday 20th.
Listed as a category 5 cyclone it
hammered the coast and slowly moved south causing damage to Yeppoon and later
that day, Rockhampton to finally peter out over the SE Qld coast as a rain
depression.
With that kind of weather Straddie
seemed the obvious choice. Even though the main weather system was 700 kms
away, the effects appeared to be showing off shore, so I headed over on the
usual 7.00 water taxi.
The bay was fairly calm and I was the
only passenger on the boat. I told the female ‘deckie’ to “take the rest of the
morning off and come back to pick me up later” and headed for the bus stop.
I was the lone bus traveller as well
as we trundled up the partially flooded road to Pt Lookout to the blaring
strains of Abba and ‘Give me, give me,
give me a man after midnight’
Never mind the man, I thought – just
give me some petrels after 8.00am……
On the way out to the point I spotted
the usual pair of Bush Stone Curlews
huddled under a bush outside the Bowling Club and when I reached the point I
huddled in the cave looking east north east as thin rain came and went and
started counting Wedge-tailed
Shearwaters. About 600 an hour based on a 15 minute count, however, they
may over exaggerate the actual number as before and after the 15 mins it seemed
to be quieter. As last weekend a single Hutton’s
Shearwater headed south followed by a single light phase Artic Skua.
 |
| View from the cave - before the rain. |
All went well, if a little slow,
until about 9.45 when the wind slowly backed round to the north and suddenly
the ‘thin’ rain was heavier and coming into my shelter. I stuck it out for
about 30 minutes, but decided it wasn’t going to get any better – the rain
appeared set in, so I packed up and headed back for the bus/water taxi/car trip
home.
It hadn’t been a complete waste. If I
hadn’t gone I would have always imagined the streams of rare sea birds pouring
past, and, of course, landing on, the Point – at least now I knew that this
cyclone had had little effect on the situation at Stradbroke Island and I could
rest easy…….
Surprise, surprise there's a hole in there!
http://youtu.be/SYEEiVV1y2k
15.2.15
Samsonvale Cemetery
It had also been a long time since we
visited Samsonvale cemetery – over a year since I recorded any visits. We
parked up at 6.00 and wandered down towards the lake. Access to the lake shore
itself has been blocked by the planting of trees and allowing the grass to grow
wild – easy enough to push through, but very wet at this time of the morning
and we declined. Rob picked up a Pale-vented
Bush Hen calling in the grass near the lake’s edge and we tried to call it
into view, but it remained hidden. Heaps of Eastern Whipbirds, Bar-shouldered Doves, Lewin’s Honeyeaters
calling and a Striped Honeyeater landed overhead and sang its merry song (!).
We walked up the track towards the Hoop Pine plantation and scanned the fig
tree on its borders. A male Cicadabird
was the first Cuckoo-shrike to appear followed shortly by a pair of Barred Cuckoo-shrikes sitting quietly
preening – both good birds – just down the track further a pair of White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes put in an
appearance and shortly afterwards a Black-faced
Cuckoo-shrike completed the set!
 |
| Barred Cuckoo-shrike |
A flock of mainly juvenile Chestnut-breasted Mannikins swarmed the
long grass, a pair of Sacred
Kingfishers, Red-browed Finches, Spangled Drongo, Grey Shrikethrush, Grey
Fantails and Leaden Flycatchers
joined the list while Great-crested
Grebes (approx. 20), Hardheads,
White-headed Stilt, Little Black, Little
Pied and a single Pied Cormorants
were scoped on the lake; a trio of Black-fronted
Dotterels and a well hidden Latham’s
Snipe on a narrow exposed bit of mud, a couple of Caspian Terns overhead. A Whistling
Kite flew off its perch and a Black-shouldered
Kite was scoped on the opposite side of the lake along with Little Egret and White-breasted Woodswallows. Further up the lake a single Plumed Whistling Duck sat alone, nearby
an Australian Pelican and a Great Egret.
We walked on up the Hoop Pines and
found a Large-billed Scrubwren, a
first for the site for both of us. Going in among the trees we checked for the
Owlet Nightjar – not home – then Rob spotted a couple of handsome caterpillars
and we spent some time taking photos. Identified later: one as Papilio fuscus
capaneus, one of the Orchard Swallowtails, and the other that of the Fruit-piercing Moth.
 |
| Orchard Swallowtail |
 |
| Fruit-piercing Moth |
Not much else recorded on the return
to the car, but stopping at a nursery outside Samsonvale Rob identified a Little Wattlebird by call – another
good bird for the area. Breakfast in Samsonvale and pancakes & Di Bella
coffees for both at Happy Berry café – very good!
Pt Lookout, North Stradbroke Island
Following a week of medium to strong
south easterlies it seemed a good move to try Pt Lookout again. Been a long
time between visits for both Stu and I, but we got the 7.00am water taxi with
hope and optimism.
The glare at the point was horrendous
– the low sun reflecting off the sea right across the viewing area - possibly
the worst I have seen. The occasional cloud provided shadow on the water
surface bringing to life the dark shearwater shapes moving across the waves.
We persevered – Stu pulled a Brown Booby up heading north, while I
counted the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters
heading south (103 in quarter of an hour between 8 and 9.00 = 412 per hour) In
the second hour I spotted a dark phase Arctic
Skua heading south-east and managed to get Stu onto it before it vanished
out to sea. The only other birds of interest were a single Fluttering/Hutton’s Shearwater type and a handful of Common Noddys. The usual school of Inshore Bottle-nosed Dolphins, a few Green Turtles and the regular
complement of questioning civilians completed the animal life at the point…..
We decided to get the 10.50 bus/11.30
water taxi back as the Wedgie numbers had dropped off to about 40/15 mins =
160/hr and the glare wasn’t going away. Nothing else of interest showed and
although the results weren’t great it was good to get back into the seawatching
‘thing’ and have a general chat about birding.
Rufous Bristlebird, 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Rd, Victoria.
http://youtu.be/Kq0yMpsi8H8
1.2.15
Lindum & Sandy Camp
Rob picked me up and we arrived at
Burnby Rd at 6.00. With recent rain and another storm last night we were
hopeful for plenty of water and maybe a bird or two stranded by the weather……
Looking in from the road didn’t
inspire us - we noted a few White-headed
Stilt chicks who appeared to be sequestered in a small pond together away
from the main pond – and then Rob spotted a Black-necked Stork on the far side of the clay pan. We would catch
up with that, hopefully, when we moved around to the Kianawah Rd entrance.
We walked down to the end of the road
and checked the bush – we counted about 8 Mangrove
Gerygones and a single Grey Fantail
feeding voraciously in the small scrubby trees in the paddock. There were
plenty of tiny midges around so we assumed that was what they were interested
in.
Driving around to Kianawah rd we climbed the fence and set up in the grassy
area scanning the clay and water for anything unusual. A flock of about 30 White-throated Needletails flew low
overhead. Little and Intermediate
Egrets, Royal Spoonbills, White-headed Stilts, Little Black and Little Pied Cormorants, and even a
handful of Australian Pelicans were
feeding actively in the shallow water. We saw several small fish scooped up by
individual birds. It would appear that some fish – possibly mullet – had got
trapped by the very high tides of recent time and the birds had descended to
make the most of it. It was mayhem for a while as everyone tried to get
something before everyone else. The Black-necked
Stork seen earlier appeared again and stalked around for a while before
quarrelling with a Pelican over
something and then going for a walk in the open providing a good opportunity
for video….
A few groups of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and a team of Marsh Sandpipers were examined in detail but remained just what
they were, while a single Curlew
Sandpiper and a single Red-necked
Stint filled the ‘waders-with-potential’ category.
 |
| Little Egret |
The birds started to depart as the
fish bounty appeared to have reduced or disappeared and so we moved on too, to
the Fuller
oval. Here, too, of course, the water level had risen dramatically,
but was very quiet compared to the claypan at Lindum. A few Australian Grebes were nice, a singing Striped Honeyeater and Olive-backed Oriole, a pair of Black-fronted Dotterels and the remnant
flock of Needletails were really all
that was of interest.
On to Sandy Camp and another surprise – it was dead! Dead as a
doornail. The main pond virtually empty, apart from a few nesting Cormorants and Pelicans, no ducks, definitely no waders, few Moorhens and no Swamphens. I
have never seen it so dead. We walked fairly quickly around the usual route
cutting short the visit to the Black Bittern pond as it was so quiet and
becoming so hot….
Discretion was the better part of
valour and we left to have breakfast in Camp Hill at The Fig Tree – not too
bad, good price, good coffee but a bit noisy as an uncontrolled 18 month old
screamed in our ears cutting short our après-breakfast chat and we headed
home…..
