2.4.23
Birding Pal - Wader Roost, POB
I had organised, sort of, for Mr D and Mr P to meet Max and I at the boat ramp near the Port of Brisbane. We wanted waders and I hadn’t visited the roost before so Mr P was our guide.
Despite the Story Bridge being completely closed for a bike race in Brisbane, Max and I managed to meet the others more or less on time at 6.30.
We walked in to the viewing point overlooking the roost picking up Mangrove Honeyeater and Chestnut-breasted Mannikin for Max – along with a heap of Mangrove Gerygones.
At the roost we added Red-necked Stint, Red-capped Plover, Great Knot and Far Eastern Curlew to his lifer list along with numerous Bar-tailed Godwit, White-faced Heron etc etc.
We were missing Sharp-tailed Sandpiper – which should have been easy – so we headed back to Kianawah Rd near Sandy Camp where we hoped to find some, we didn’t though, there were no waders there at all.
Mr P had to go so Mr D joined Max and I and we headed off to the mangrove boardwalk again. There had been an Owlet Nightjar seen there regularly of late and although we didn’t know where exactly, figured we’d find someone who did. We did – but the bird wasn’t showing in its hole. We did get great views of Collared/Torresian/Mangrove Kingfisher though.
We walked on through to the north Wynnum wader roost area looking for Grey-tailed Tattler, but there were no waders there either. We did get great flyover views of White-bellied Sea Eagle – another lifer for Max.
Back to the boardwalk again and this time the sleepy Owlet Nightjar was showing beautifully.
Birding Pal - Mt Cootha
It was getting hot so we decided to call it a day and headed back to Stones Corner for a long breakfast and usual bird/trip/tall tales discussion.
I suggested that I pick Max up in the afternoon and we go to Slaughter Falls at Mt Cootha to try for night stuff so at 17.00 I once again collected him from the valley and we arrived on site a short while later. We hung around the usual spot waiting for dusk and the hoped for White-throated Nightjar to put in an appearance. While waiting we heard a relatively distant Powerful Owl calling. Max copied its call by cupping his hands and blowing across his thumbs and, after a few attempts, the Owl flew over, visible as a silhouette against the darkening sky.
The Nightjar didn’t show, which was disappointing – its normally very reliable – but we did hear distant Southern Boobooks and a single Owlet Nightjar calling.
I dropped him ‘home’ around 19.00.
3.4.23
Birding Pal - Mt Glorious
An early start with a pick up at 5.30. We were on site in the car park at 6.30. We had the track completely to ourselves for the next three hours, but the birding was hard. There were no doves/pigeons calling and few small birds along the track. I suspected it was post breeding and as a result most species were just feeding and ‘hanging out’, not responding to any stimulus and generally keeping a low profile.
We did manage, over the next 5 hours, to find Eastern Yellow (10) and Pale Yellow Robins (1), Australian Logrunner (2, with crippling views), Topknot Pigeons, Australian King Parrots, Yellow-throated and Large-billed Scrubwrens, Wompoo Fruit Dove (1), Wonga Pigeon (1) and, outside the forest under a tree in the carpark two Russet-tailed Thrushes feeding oblivious to screaming kids and close approach.
Despite rigorous attempts for a long time we failed to find Noisy Pitta.
We also had a Red-necked and several Red-legged Wallabys.
It was a tough morning’s birding, but the weather was lovely and cool, very pleasant and we handled the intensity well!
We headed off and dropped down to Gold Scrub Lane at Pine Mountain Dam. It was almost impossible to see anything on the water. It was also very muggy, humid and hot down on the lowlands – a direct contrast to the coolness on the mountain.
We walked in to the Hoop Pine plantation but failed to find anything of interest so sat down, had some lunch and a chat, then I dropped him home and said goodbye.
25.4.23
Oxley
Mr P picked me up at 6.15 and we were on site just before 6.30. A damp, cool morning following heavy overnight rain and a nice breeze keeping the temperature reasonable.
The track produced mostly the usual stuff. The highlight of the morning was the Pink-eared Duck at the lakes – my fourth record for the site and the first one since 2018 (2), the others been 2007 (1) and 2013 (1).
We heard a Lewin’s Rail at the second culvert - but it refused to show, however an Australian Reed Warbler showed well on the other side of the track at the same point. There were a notably large number of Black-fronted Dotterels (~20) at the flooded area of the field ‘beyond the gate’.
Being Anzac Day we just went to McDonalds for coffee afterwards as most places would be either closed or very busy.
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