Weekends That Were - June 2025

 3.6.25

Minnippi

On site at 7.30 to a bright, warmer–than-expected sunny morning. Still very wet underfoot – probably a lack of drainage more than continuous rainfall.

The M1 track was, again, fairly quiet, with just the Eastern Yellow Robin banging away in the undergrowth with the same rather monotonous call. There were also 2 Fan-tailed Cuckoos calling and one flew across and landed briefly near the track.

Up The Avenue and back across towards the lake and a Black-shouldered Kite landed on the nearest pylon. This was my first observation since January 2020 of this bird on this site.

Back at the lake and two adult Black Swans protected 3 young goslings on the bank, obviously a successful nesting effort by all involved. 

In the tree on the island there were 7 Magpie Geese, 5 Little Black Cormorants and 2 Great Cormorants while in the usual Cormorant tree on the opposite side of the lake there were no birds perched. Then I saw why – a decent sized Carpet Python lay along one of the branches in that tree sunning itself. 

The Raptor Lookout produced nothing of interest and I headed back along the cement. A busy bush had me checking through a flock of Silvereyes when a female Rufous Whistler pooped up, followed by a Varied Triller and, while trying to get photos of that, a Shining Bronze Cuckoo put in an appearance.

Shining Bronze Cuckoo

That was about it for the morning, a low count with only 40 species, but not bad value overall.

6.6.25

Oxley

I met Joan in the car park at 7.30. A beautiful, sunny, calm Queensland winter morning. Unfortunately the birds weren’t exactly cooperating. All in all a quiet morning with a final list of 35 species, despite the conditions and the fact the birds were quite active. 

I managed to get a couple of Striped Honeyeaters in view, but failed similarly with any cuckoos.

No raptors or finches and a minimum of fairy wrens.

We had breakfast afterwards at Arte & Gusto.

8.6.25

Oxley again

Mr D picked me up at 6.30, on site 15 minutes later – a chilly, bright, calm, misty morning that warmed up somewhat as time passed.

Having been on site just two days previously I was interested in seeing how the morning’s list would vary. In the end we had 45 species, 10 more than the previous visit. We did have such birds as Black-shouldered Kite, a brief male Collared Sparrowhawk and a perched up Australian Hobby which I would not have missed previously, but Mr D’s ears picked up White-throated Gerygone and White-browed Scrub-wren which I probably would have overlooked. It was a more active morning, but mostly the same species other than those mentioned. 

We had breakfast at Arte & Gusto as usual.

10.6.25

Minnippi

On site at 7.15 to a cold, calm, bright morning – and at 9C supposedly the coldest morning of the year so far. 

It was, overall, pretty quiet. Two invisible Eastern Yellow Robins banging away on the M1 track was about it for there, The Avenue was dead apart from a small mixed flock of Silvereyes and Gray Fantails. The adult Black Swans still had the 3 cygnets in tow – I avoided the family group on the bank as a childhood experience in Devon, UK when I was attacked by a Black Swan still hangs in my subconscious as a frightening experience. 

There were about 40 Welcome Swallows feeding low across parts of the lake and foreshore and I picked out a handful of Fairy Martins among them. There may well have been Tree Martins too, but I didn’t specifically ID any at distance.

Nothing on The Airfield – did not walk the track – and back along the Back Track a couple of trees in flower only had, again, mixed flocks of Brown Honeyeaters, Gray Fantails and Silvereyes making up the bulk.

A 38 species morning with nothing of exception for my 71^st Winter visit to Minnippi, my 323^rd recorded visit since 2001 and my site list stands at 173.

18.6.25

Oxley

On site at 7.30 to a cold, grey, dull morning. The sun did appear around 9am, but the intervening time was very ‘wintry’. 

And the resulting morning’s list reflected that weather. Apart from Brown and Lewin’s Honeyeaters, which were very active, it was very quiet on the walk out. The only Silvereye I saw was a freshly dead one I found near the second culvert – no apparent damage, it was like it had just dropped dead. The ponds were very quiet too (fed up using that word, but can’t think of a better description). I walked in to the flooded field after climbing the gate and added a few water species to the list – Australian Grebes and White-headed Stilts of note – and on the return walk came across a small bird wave in which I found the only Gray Fantail of the morning and a Varied Triller. I also saw at least 8 White-breasted Wood Swallows in a pepper bush. It appeared they were eating the berries, but at some distance it was difficult to be sure. They may have been picking insects off the leaves, but it was a behaviour I had never seen this species indulge in before.

I had brought my new camera with me - a slightly upgraded version of my old Panasonic Lumix FZ80. It had been a necessary purchase as I had had to use a pair of pliers on the weekend to get the SD card out of the old camera, somehow the card ‘slot’ had ceased to function. It was a bit sad as that camera had travelled with me to all my adventures over the last 10 or so years; from the Arctic to the Antarctic, all over Europe, North America and Australia, Japan in -25C and Costa Rica in 150% humidity among the more challenging conditions. However it was a no-choice situation and a $619 cost after I bargained JB HiFi down from $678 based on the price quoted by Amazon.

I was standing on the track fiddling with the settings, struggling at times to understand what it was I had changed and HTF I could change it back, when 6 Brown Quail broke cover and fluttered, as they do, one by one, across the track a few meters away - the first I had seen here for months.

20.6.25

Sandy Camp & Mangrove Boardwalk

Joan (from South Africa) met me at my place before 7 and arrived at Sandy Camp at 7.15. A grey, dull, cool morning that never really lightened. The light was very poor making birding against the sky difficult.

It wasn’t a bad morning, mostly the expected birds with a number of ‘new’ species for Joan. Some clown in the BCC had arranged for all the grass/reeds along the track between the ponds to be mown to ground level which removed the cover for walkers/birders along that track and reduced the habitat for small passerines along same – pathetic. Who makes decisions like this?

We spent a couple of hours walking the usual tracks around the ponds and met up with a group of contractors who denied knowledge of the reed cutting, but were present to spray the invasive Salvinia on the ‘Bittern’ pond which had completely covered the water’s surface. It would be great to see it removed, but I had some doubts about putting more toxins into the environment, although they assured me they were harmless to anything else.

We moved on to the Mangrove Boardwalk and had great success with a pair of Torresian Kingfishers and several Mangrove Gerygones which responded very well. At the end of the walk it was low tide and, while we checked the White-faced Herons (~20) and a couple more Kingfishers on the mud among other bits and pieces, a call behind me had me playing for Mangrove Honeyeater and approximately 8 birds responded heartily. I think this may be my first record of this species on the boardwalk although I have seen them at the nearby Port mangroves.

Walking back we bumped into Tom T with a group of Chinese/Taiwan birders and we chatted for a few minutes. He told me of a roosting Nankeen Night Heron I had missed near the beginning of the Boardwalk and we picked it up on our way out along with a pair of Chestnut Teal right below our feet, the first I had seen in several months.

We had breakfast at Mt Gravatt Lookout and then went to check on the Australian Boobook that had been roosting in Toohey Forest. It appeared it had moved on and we were unsuccessful.

I dropped Joan back to her car parked outside my place and she headed home.

26.6.25

Birding Pal stuff, Day 1 with Shereen

I picked up Shereen from Toronto via Kazakhstan from Lylo in the Valley at 7 and we headed directly out to Sandy Camp. It was quite a birdy morning with some, minor, surprises – Leaden Flycatcher, a Forest Kingfisher and both Teal sp were all a little ‘unexpected’.

There were a larger-than-normal number of birders hanging around, apparently a Superb Fruit Dove had (again) been seen and we were shown photos one guy took, although he didn’t seem to know what he was looking at. The claim was that ‘it’ was hanging around with a couple of Rose-crowned and, given the photo I saw was an immature bird, I wondered if 'it' could also be an immature Rose-crowned? I didn’t get ‘Superb’ from the photos but then again, I have no personal experience with immature Fruit Doves, hopefully someone who does has identified the bird. Anyway we didn’t see it so….

We actually spent 3 hours on site which was a much longer time than normal, but it was an active morning with plenty to check out.

On then to the Mangrove Boardwalk where, once again, I managed to pull Torresian Kingfisher and Mangrove Gerygone out of thin air. We also had at least 3 Mangrove Honeyeaters along the Boardwalk among other commoner species.

Deciding on lunch we drove back to Mt Gravatt Lookout and had lunch in Lovewell, then walked the top track for about 200 meters looking, unsuccessfully, for Koala.

By this time it was after 14.00 so I decided to pass on Minnippi and go instead straight to Oxley. We walked the track from 15.00 to 16.45 and didn’t see a hell of a lot but did get a family of Red-backed Fairy Wrens to complete the set for Shereen for the day – the male showed reasonably well.

Then it was just a slog of a drive back to the Valley to drop her off at 17.30.

27.6.25

Birding Pal stuff, Day 2 with Shereen

I picked Ms Khan up from the Valley again at 7 and we were on site at Anstead by 7.30. The site was pretty quiet overall but we managed to get some good birds – Varied Sitella headed the list for me, we also had White-bellied Cuckooshrike, Chestnut-breasted Mannikins and Shining Bronze Cuckoos. We were there for 3 hours, then went for a quick visit to Moggill Pocket Swamp to try for Buff-banded Rail, but none were evident. 

Back to West Vets for breakfast/lunch then a long haul to Mt Nebo to try for Spotted Quail -Thrush, without success. On up through Mt Nebo village where we stopped briefly in the hope of Bell Miner and where Shereen went in search of a toilet at the shop/café only to be aggressively abused by the owner as he had just closed up. Almost a violent confrontation given he threw one of his light aluminum chairs in my general direction and threatened to punch me. We moved on and arrived on site at the Rainforest loop around 13.30.

We spent an hour walking that loop seeing only a few Yellow-throated Scrubwrens and an Eastern Yellow Robin or two. Shereen did manage to find a Green Catbird on the forest floor and we had a couple of Red-necked Pademelons too.

We decided to walk the Green’s Falls walk and did – as far as the second boardwalk by which time it was getting very dark and cold so we headed back up to Brown’s Rd. However, along that track we had several Large-billed Scrubwrens, Brown Gerygones, a Rufous or Little Shrike Thrush and Shereen had an Eastern Shriketit that I couldn’t get onto. Back at the car park a half a dozen Satin Bowerbirds flew into a nearby dead tree obviously on their way to roost.

And that was it for the day, I dropped her back to Lylo and headed home.

28.6.25

Fruit Dove Twitch @ Sandy Camp

Mr D picked me up at 6.45 and Mr P drove us from his place, on site at 7.15. We were chasing Fruit Doves previously reported and twitched as I mentioned a few days earlier. There were a load of birders and (mostly) photographers wandering around looking a bit lost, all waiting for someone to find the birds for them, most carrying only cameras, no bins.

We hung out for a while around the area the birds had been reported from and Mr D was the first to break the anticipation with two birds flying in to a nearby tree. One was, apparently, visible, but I failed to get onto it before it moved again. It was called as an immature Rose-crowned.

A short waiting period later and someone else found an adult female Superb Fruit Dove in a difficult-to-see position, against the sky half obscured by intervening vegetation. We all clustered around the viewing spot and eventually everyone got a look.

 

Superb Fruit Dove (female)

A little while later and someone else found an immature bird which, after viewing my poor photos I would call as an immature Rose-crowned, but when we eventually left the jury was still out on identification.

 

(Probable) Rose-crowned Fruit Dove (Imm)

We ‘bumped into’ Paul & Brian from the Southport pelagic circus and Nickolas turned up with a deceased Keelback which he kindly gave to me.

During all this ‘excitement’ I wandered to one side to take a phone call and, while on the phone, saw a Lewin’s Rail fly from one spot to another across thick bushy growth. The three of us also went for a wander between fruit dove sightings and had a Swamp Harrier fly past and circle nearby – not a common bird, only being my second record at this site (as was the Lewin’s Rail incidentally).

When we left we had an Australian Hobby perched up on the wires on the way out so it turned into an interesting morning all told.

We had breakfast, as usual, in Stones Corner.

Weekends That Were - May 2025

 2.5.25

Minnippi

On site at 7.15 – a bright, calm morning a little on the cool side, at last. The morning warmed up as the sun rose.Once again a very quiet morning or maybe its just me. The Tawny Frogmouths had moved, I couldn’t locate them and generally speaking small passerines were in short supply. 

The M1 track was very quiet with only the Eastern Yellow Robin continuing to call its single note, annoyingly-difficult-to-locate call. The track had, thankfully, mostly dried out and the flesh-devouring mosquitoes had moved on.

Worth noting – a single Topknot Pigeon flew relatively low overhead, but didn’t appear to land anywhere local. The lake was quiet with a single Hardhead being an additional species since my last visit. The single Black Swan with the red leg band walked up the bank in a semi-threatening manner towards me, but stopped and looked confused when I told it to behave. (I’ve always been a little wary of Black Swans since been attacked in a park in the UK when I was 4 or 5 years old). 

The only other bird of interest was a single male Scarlet Honeyeater on a tree in flower half way along the cement path on the return journey. There were several flocks of Silvereyes on the blossoms too, but I only recorded 2 Brown Honeyeaters and 3 Grey Fantails in the whole area.

One Small Green-banded Blue Psychonotis caelius was the only butterfly I saw and appeared a very fresh emergent.

Scarlet Honeyeater (male)

5.5.25

Minnippi - again

On site at 7.30 on a dull, grey, cool morning. In fact it rained while I was on the M1 track and I got a bit damp at both ends but it wasn’t a major issue.

I was on the hunt for a Regent Bowerbird reliably reported the previous Friday (today being Monday) but was not overly optimistic given my dismal record chasing other people’s birds. Mr P and Mr D had looked on Saturday morning, but due to my election employment I had been unable to accompany them. Their search had been unsuccessful and the bird had not been reported again.

I, too, was unsuccessful, as I expected, and my final 41 species morning list contained nothing of note.

7.5.25

Minnippi yet again

I had chatted to Mr P over the intervening days (it now being Wednesday) regarding the unusual appearance of a Regent Bowerbird at Minnippi the previous Friday. He (and Mr D) had tried for it on the Saturday without success, I had tried for it on the Monday with ditto results and he had had another go on Monday afternoon and we were still Regent Bowerbird-at-Minnippi-challenged.

His ‘feelings’ were that the bird was still there so I decided (not very enthusiastically, I must admit) to drag my sorry ass over to the site again. I considered early AM, but chose instead to go to the movies (saw The Accountant 2 – pretty good) in the morning and then headed over to Minnippi after 14.00. The first time it had been found was, apparently, at 14.15 so…..

I had realised that my Monday visit had been approx 100 meters from the original sighting location – I just got it wrong, no surprises there. But this time went to exactly where Mr P had described. It was very quiet, there was f-all around, and with it being a warm, sunny afternoon I wouldn’t have expected there to be much. However, I chose a patch of shade to stand in on the cement path, approx 10 meters from the tree belt and, for want of anything to do, played a little bit of ‘encouragement’.

Almost immediately there was movement of appropriate size in a bushy tree covered in small red and green berries. I moved slightly right to get a view and – there was my target, a female Regent Bowerbird! 

To say I was surprised would be an understatement, but more was to come.

Another movement of similar size and a second female Regent Bowerbird appeared within view.

They both fed at about head height out on the front of the bush – but I didn’t manage to get photos of two together so I guess people will just have to take my word for it.

To my mind this was an extraordinary occurrence, but, Regent Bowerbird females have been reported at two other locations (Sandy Camp & the Archerfield area) in recent weeks so it would suggest some sort of altitudinal movement. However, I don’t think this species has been reported anywhere in the lowlands in and around Brisbane before. They are at Mt Glorious and, of course, at Lamington, but in Brisbane? And its not really a bird one would miss.

I messaged Mr P while the birds were in view and Mr D immediately afterwards – I knew Mr P would have been hanging out for news!

Jobus Doneus, I headed home.

Regent Bowerbird (female - photo not cropped)

10.5.25

Oxley

Mr P picked me up at 6.30 – a grey, overcast, cool morning. The track was fairly quiet, muddy and pools of left over rainwater. Bird-wise it was relatively quiet too, although we noted an increase in Whistler numbers and Brown Honeyeaters were more active and visible. Nothing of note though we tried at every Pepper Bush we came across for possible wandering Regent Bowerbirds – without success.

(I had visited Minnippi with Mr P and Mr D again on Thursday morning at dawn to find both Regents still on location).

We had coffee at Maccas afterwards.

13.5.25

Minnippi

On site at 7.15, initially a cloudy, dull morning but brightening to a warm, calm, sunny day. It was still very wet underfoot as a result of the continuing wet weather we had had. 

I checked the Regent Bowerbird location before walking the M1 track – but no sign of the birds of last week.

The M1 track was quite birdy, highlights being 2 Fan-tailed Cuckoos perched up within sight of each other and a couple of, presumably newly arrived, female Australian Golden Whistlers. I  also casually noted a single Brown Ringlet land nearby only to discover it was in fact a new butterfly for my Minnippi list. I was sure I had seen this species at this site before, but it wasn’t on my list.

Up The Avenue and back to the lake as usual – nothing exciting, nor was the rest of the walk back to the bridge. I thought I had better check for the Bowerbirds again – just in case – but again came up with nothing. I did add a very smart, super bright, just moulted, male Variegated Fairy-wren, accompanied by a couple of females, to my morning’s list.

15.5.25

Oxley

On site at 7 to a bright, calm, sunny start. However within 30 minutes heavy, dense cloud moved in and although it didn’t rain it was a damp atmosphere. The track was very quiet both bird and non-combatant wise – it was a very muted atmosphere and birding was hard.

Despite the conditions I did end up with a 46 species list, more surprising for what I didn’t see, than any excitement about what I did observe. For example – I didn’t record Magpie Lark, Striated Pardalote or even Noisy Miner. Nothing, apart from a few Lewin’s Honeyeaters, was calling and there was little activity along most of the track – it was a weird kind of morning. If I hadn’t been able to hear the distant traffic and other background noise, I would have almost thought I was completely deaf.

I did have both a male Rufous and Australian Golden Whistler almost together – females are much more common, but only 1 female Golden showed. I found a (non-calling) White-throated Gerygone and a single Double-barred and a Red-browed Finch. At the ponds no Swamphens, but a White-necked Heron was perched up on a bush in the background. I also had 3 raptors – a distant Black-shouldered Kite, a brief Brown Goshawk in flight and an overhead White-breasted Sea Eagle. On the walk back I stopped and used some encouragement for a few potential birds – I did bring in 2 Fan-tailed Cuckoos, (which I hadn’t seen or heard prior) but failed with the others.

A strange morning’s tough birding.

20.5.25

Minnippi

On site at 7.30, a cool, bright, sunny morning. Underfoot a bit drier due to a reduction in the rain of late. Overall a quiet morning with, once again, a lack of small birds generally. Walked the usual track – the M1 was particularly quiet again – but nothing much out of the norm.

The only two points of interest – 7 Magpie Geese perched up in the Cormorant tree on the island and 4 Eastern Cattle Egrets feeding in the airstrip field, usually just see a single fly-over at this site. Interestingly a family group of 8 very young Pacific Black Duck ducklings on the main lake without any apparent supervision indicates a somewhat unusual breeding pattern?

A 40 species morning - and no sign of the Bowerbirds of last week.

23.5.25

Anstead & Moggill Pocket Swamp

(Birding Pal stuff)

I picked up Joan from South Africa from her daughter’s place in Moggill at 7 and we were on site by 7.15. It was a lovely morning, weather-wise, but very quiet bird-wise.

We did have a ‘bird-wave’ of sorts (finally) with Brown, Scarlet, Lewin’s & Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, a male Rufous Whistler, a femaleAustralian Golden Whistler, Grey Fantails, Silvereyes and Striated Pardalotes all in the same place at the same time and, with some encouragement, got reasonable to good views of all. Otherwise the tracks were pretty quiet. At the private dam approx 10 Plumed Whistling Ducks flew in but perched out of sight below the near bank. We had 1 Koala along the upper track but generally struggled for other species.

After we finished there we drove to Moggill Pocket Swamp at the far end of Hawkesbury Road for a few swampy type birds including Australian Grebes, Royal Spoonbills and Comb-crested Jacanas. There had obviously been water at this location for some time – the marsh plants were well established.

We returned to West Vets for breakfast.

24.5.25

Spotlighting - Mt Glorious

Mr P arrived at my place at 16.30 and we were on site at 17.30 – sunset was at 17.05 and it was full dark when we set out from Brown’s Rd. Very quiet, still, warm, night, no moon.

We walked down the track towards Greene’s Falls but stopped short at the third wooden boardwalk, probably about 100 meters before the end of the track.

We tried some encouragement, targeting Marbled Frogmouth, but received no response, so started back up the track stopping and repeating the exercise at the ‘second’ boardwalk. Again, no response, so on back up to the ‘first’ boardwalk. 

We did get response at this location, it appeared to be two separate birds calling fairly distantly; one up the ‘western’ slope and one back down the track somewhere close to where we had been. They didn’t seem to be interested in coming any closer so we moved on, back up the car on Browns’ Rd.

We targeted Greater Sooty Owl from there and did get a fairly quick response – initially the falling bomb call - but from some distance again. Eventually Mr P caught a glimpse of a single bird high in a tree over the track/road, but it flew before we could pin it down. It seemed to continue to respond nearby with the chirruping insect-like call, but we failed to find it and left it to a night’s peace after 10 or 15 minutes.

We agreed that both species had shown ‘interest’ but more from a curious approach rather than an aggressive, territory protecting attitude. So we assumed the birds were not in a breeding cycle at this time.

27.5.25

Oxley

On site just after 7. The area completed enveloped in a thick mist – so thick, in fact that I could hardly see the first fence line. Over the next hour or so it lifted to a bright, clear, warm morning, but it did make ID difficult for the first part of the track.

Which was, in fact, quite birdy compared to recent visits. Mostly the usual stuff, but a couple of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters was not a bird I see here regularly.

Not much else different along the track – I did hear a Brown Quail calling – until I reached the ponds arriving just behind a couple of older (!) female birders, one of whom asked me if I had ‘come for the Jabiru?’ I told her I hadn’t come for anything specific and we both checked out the Black-necked Stork perched up (so to speak) on the extended swampy area to the right of the ponds. It was a bit distant and it was my 7^threcord on this site.

On the return walk I climbed the gate and walked in to view the flooded field from a distance adding several species to my morning’s list, including both the usual finches and a White-necked Heron.

I heard a Fan-tailed Cuckoo on the return walk, but the trees that were in flower were now deserted, which seemed strange given the sun would have opened the flowers and, presumably, increased the yield. A 49 species morning – a bit of an improvement on recent visits.

28.5.25

Mt Glorious in daylight

When birding the previous day I had discovered that I had misplaced my Bluetooth speaker. I realised I had left it on a stump on Brown’s Rd up on Mt Glorious the previous Saturday night…. So, hoping it was still there, I left home at 6.30, managed through the city traffic and arrived on site at Brown’s Rd again at 7.30. 

My hopes were dashed; someone was now in possession of my rather battered speaker. How they will use it without a charge cord will remain a mystery, but anyway it was gone. I was a bit sad, not so much for the financial loss as the fact that that speaker had travelled with me all over the world, from Arctic to Antarctic, and had been used in so many different locations for so many different species. It had been damaged on a couple of occasions but had always proved reliable and sturdy. However, I guess nothing lasts for ever and I couldn’t blame anyone else for its passing.

It was cold and windy, the rainforest mostly shadowed from the slowly rising sun and a stiff breeze tossing the upper canopy around.

I had decided to bird the Rainforest Track (Miala) anyway, as I was up there, but the walk was almost not worth it. I saw a single Eastern Yellow Robin, a single Yellow-throated Scrubwren, heard a couple of Lewin’s Honeyeaters and a distant Wonga Pigeon and an adult and juvenile Red-legged Pademelon hopped casually off the track in front of me – and that was it, total - the fat lady stopped singing.

I was still feeling a little chilled, although the sun had now penetrated parts of the canopy and it was warming up, and I decided to get a coffee from the only café available in the ‘village’. It proved a good move, chatting to the new manager and enjoying a surprisingly excellent coffee before heading home, stopping off at JB HiFi to pick up a new $80 Clip speaker to replace my loss.

Weekends That Were - April 2025

1.4.25

Minnippi

Nope its not an April Fool’s Day joke – I did go out birding alone again.

Another damp soggy, muggy, overcast morning. We have had extensive rain over the last few weeks and were expecting more within 24 hours. The ground was saturated and quite boggy underfoot with patches of ‘flood water’ to walk through, but my Gortex lined Zamberlains handled it perfectly and kept my feet dry. (Looking for some sponsorship here…). Even the M1 track was wet – a rare occurrence.

It was pretty quiet and, in fact, I only totaled 36 species, well below my average list for Autumn of 45 species. Virtually no Honeyeaters, only a few Lewin’s clicking away, but towards the far end of the M1 track, while fending off the hordes of flesh-eating mosquitoes, an Eastern Yellow Robin was calling away somewhere in the undergrowth – that call that drives everyone mad cause they sit dead still when they do it.

The lake was quiet with no egrets or cormorants on the water and only a few Pacific Black Ducks, Australian Wood Ducks and 1 Australian Grebe. I did have a Buff-banded Rail near the carpark and a pair of White-breasted Woodswallows on the wires. 

An interesting record, however, was a single Oriental Dollarbird on the overhead wires. This was the first one I had ever seen in April – out of 90 Autumnal recorded visits since 2002. All of my previous records were prior to mid-March and I wondered if this guy got held up by the very wet weather further north?

The only other things of any sort of interest were a flock of 9 Rainbow Bee Eaters passing overhead and a glide-past of a, presumed female due to size, Brown Goshawk.

7.4.25

Oxley

The track was fucking dead. That may have been due to my late start – I was on site at 7.15. 

It was a bright, clear, sunny morning but still little activity. I did end up seeing all three Fairy-wren species but all female or heavily moulting males, apart from one Red-backed male.

The ponds were dead as – 3 Dusky Moorhens, an Australian Darter and 1 Australian Pelican. There were about 20 Eastern Cattle Egrets hanging around the cattle and I did have a Plumed/Intermediate Egret and a White-faced Heron near the Red Shed, but all in all 34 species was a very low morning’s count.

11.4.25

Minnippi

Another day, same same. A bright, calm morning. Generally very quiet. The same Eastern Yellow Robin calling in the same area on the M1 Mosquito infested track. A large number – approx 55 – Australian Wood Ducks on and around the water, 2 Great Cormorants and a single Eurasian Coot were somewhat notable beyond the usual stuff. The Black Swans were missing in action – shock horror!  A trio of Chestnut-breasted Mannikins and a Golden-headed Cisticola in the reeds were also nice to see. Other than that it was a pretty freaking quiet, 36 species, morning.

14.4.25

Birding Pal stuff

I picked up Wade & Carol from Jacksonville, Florida at the International Cruise Ship Terminal in Pinkenba - on the north side of the Brisbane River near the mouth, a long way out from the city through pretty shitty looking degraded habitat, small industry, trucks, buses and roads in terrible condition – welcome to Brisbane….. The cruise terminal itself was very modern, shmick and organised, but the road from there to the city? Embarrassingly depressing, ugly and third worldish.

I was there at 8.20 and there weren’t many cars waiting at the drop-off/pick-up spot. They didn’t appear till just after 9 – the security were pretty good, considering you’re only supposed to be there for two minutes, but most of the pickups seemed to be taxi cabs and buses set off to one side out of the way.

We headed off straight away to cross the toll bridge again back to the south side and Sandy Camp wetlands. 

It was dead as. I have never seen it so quiet. It was a humid morning, dull, overcast with bright spells but there was almost nothing on the ponds and very few passerines. I managed to scratch together a couple of Spangled Drongos, same number of Brown Honeyeaters, one Rufous Fantail that performed well, a Grey Shrikethrush, about 5 Bar-shouldered Doves and a few Willy Wagtails. With 3 Rainbow Bee Eaters, a Grey Fantail, 5 Pacific Black Ducks, a couple of Dusky Moorhens and Australian Swamphens that was, literally, about it. Carol needed a sit down at one point for about 10 minutes before we got back to the car and headed down to the mangrove boardwalk.

She sat it out in a park shelter while Wade and I walked the boardwalk and I managed to get him Toressian Kingfisher, Mangrove Gerygone and Australian Bush Turkey.

They agreed it was a good time for lunch so we drove to Mt Gravatt Lookout and had lunch while it poured rain on the way and rained most of the time we were there.

Finally at around 14.00 we drove the short distance to Isabella St and walked in for the Australian Boobook, which thankfully, was perched up and showed well. The 20 minute round walk took us about 30 minutes and we started to head towards the Port of Brisbane as I thought that might be an easy location with minimal walking where we might see some other stuff. However, as we drove, the rain set in more and the traffic was horrendous, despite the school holidays, so I decided that we didn’t really have enough time to do anything else and we should head for the ship. I dropped them off at 15.15. They had had to be back by 16.00 anyway.

They said they were happy enough with what we’d done – although I felt disappointed because we had really seen very little compared to what might have been.

18.4.25

More Birding Pal stuff

Hugo and his wife from Cordoba in Argentina arrived at my place at 6.00, both in their 60’s but fit enough. His wife (whose name I didn’t get) did not have bins but was happy enough to follow us around. We left their car there and I drove them in mine – it was easier. I didn’t speak much Spanish – in reality, nil – and Hugo’s English was ‘basic’. It made for a relatively quiet day, but we managed to communicate ok.

On site at Sandy Camp at 6.20. It was very quiet, but we managed to pull a few goodies out of the proverbial bag. A Nankeen Night Heron perched up on the far side of the main pond was nice. But better still a Black Bittern seen quite well but briefly perched up from a flush off the side of the track was only my tenth for the site. Even better still a poorly seen (not even sure if Hugo got onto it) Rose Robin was my first for site. We had most of the usual stuff - Grey and Rufous Fantails, Rufous Whistler, Little Friarbird, Rainbow Bee Eaters, White-breasted Woodswallows and one Hardhead but no Egrets and very few other small birds. I did hear two Spotless Crakes but wasn't really in a position to play for them.

After about two hours we moved on to the Mangrove Boardwalk where I managed to get Mangrove Gerygone and Toressian Kingfisher for him and he got Pale-headed Rosella for himself. I could not get any Leaden Flycatchers to respond.

We sat and had coffee from a coffee truck in the carpark for about 30 minutes afterwards.

I figured we might as well concentrate in the same area and so took them down to the visitor’s centre at the Port where we had the usual suspects plus several Mangrove Honeyeaters that responded well to encouragement and an overflying immature White-breasted Sea Eagle was the only raptor of the day.

It was sort of lunch time then and being Good Friday and everywhere closed we had lunch in MacDonald’s before driving to Toohey Forest and walking in for the Australian Boobook still perched up in the same tree. As we walked out we met a mother and son, who was about 11 or 12, and he asked us if there were any birds around? He knew what he was talking about – I was very impressed – and during the chat his mother suggested we look for Koala from the Mt Gravatt Outlook. I had planned on White’s Hill but decided to apply her advice and we found a single Koala about 100 meters from the car park.

Finally we went to Minnippi and I found a pair of Tawny Frogmouths in a Paperbark tree where Mr P had suggested they might be based on a photo he had seen recently. We again got the usual species including a single Magpie Goose, although the Black Swans appear to have disappeared.

We headed home and I left them at their car at 16.00.

19.4.25

And again.....

Once again Hugo and she-who-shall-remain-nameless were at my place at 6am. We headed west to Anstead arriving on site at 6.25 thanks to almost 100% green lights and little traffic.

We walked the track as usual finding the main area completely dominated by Noisy Friarbirds and really little else – there must have been several hundred birds hunting nectar through the canopy. We did have 3 Red-necked Wallabys and a Koala, the latter perched up above the track showing well, if a little sleepy.

Along the bitumen in desperation I hung the speaker on a tree and played for a number of species, most of whom responded very well. Scarlet Honeyeaters in number although only a single coloured male, Striated Pardalotes, two Shining Bronze Cuckoos, Grey Fantails, a female Golden Whistler, Rainbow Bee Eaters and a male Mistletoebird that showed voluntarily.

We finished there and I suggested coffee, but West Vets was inexplicably closed so we headed back towards Brisbane. As we were in the area I thought Moggill might be worth a try.

It was dead. As dead as dead can be. I had been hoping for Large-billed Scrubwren, White-throated Gerygone, Brown Thornbill and maybe a Monarch or two. Nothing showed – or responded - so we left and headed back east.

Back in the Oxley area we went to Arte & Gusto for coffee and muffins – apparently the Argentinians preferred something sweet to savoury for a late breakfast and I joined them. At Oxley we walked in but again it was very, very quiet. I managed to get Golden-headed Cisticola for Hugo, but could not raise a Tawny Grassbird for love or threats.

All in all it was a medium success day with a lot of effort for minimal reward, however, they appeared happy and thanked me for the effort when I dropped them at their car at 13.00.

26.4.25

Minnippi

I picked Mr P up at 6.15, on site 10 minutes later. Very wet underfoot – in fact Mr P wore wellies – thanks to the previous two days heavy rain. This year so far would seem to be the wettest year we have had in many years. 

We flushed a Buff-banded Rail from just below the pylons, but the water itself was very quiet. Walked the usual tracks – M1, Avenue, back to the lake, but not the Airfield Track.

Nothing unusual, but a 46 species morning which was significantly better than my recent visits. Definitely more activity, especially with recent autumnal arrivals in the number of Grey Fantails.

The Tawny Frogmouths were still in the same tree near the bridge and a single Black Swan had re-appeared (wayhay….) 9 Magpie Geese was a little unusual in the Model Airfield field and the 2 Great Cormorants were still in the usual Cormorant Tree.

Breakfast in Stones Corner followed by a visit to Mr D’s Australian Boobook in Toohey.

29.4.25

Oxley

On site at 7 on a pleasant, cool, bright morning. It turned out to be an OK morning, an average species list, but numbers were low. The track was relatively quiet, human-wise as well.

Two ‘surprises’ – a Whistling Kite dropped out of the big tree on the left beside the first pond, glided low over my head and disappeared over the ponds. I had stopped to check the Rainbow Lorikeets that had been calling in that tree, but had not seen the Kite before it flew.

While walking back from the end of track point a few minutes later, a Comb-crested Jacana flew across the track heading away from the ponds towards the market area. Considering this was only my 4th record of the species at this site since 2002, it was a bit unusual and I wondered where it was heading.

I also had the first Scarlet Honeyeaters of this season – a nice male and a few females on one of the few flowering trees along the track.

All in all, a 44 species morning, a big improvement on my last visit, but still low – and the general bird numbers were very low too, with a total (estimated) number of 154 birds, compared to an annual average of 275.

Weekends That Were - March 2025

 Happy Cyclonic Birthday

How many people do you know get a cyclone for their 70th birthday?

I did. Never mind the socks, hankies, boxes of chocolates or bottles of wine, a cyclone is super special!

We had watched it develop off the north Queensland coast for a week moving slowly south until, on Wednesday (5th) it arrived more or less directly off Brisbane. It was expected to cross the coast early on Friday morning (7th) so, on Thursday evening, my daughter Kara packed up her two boys, Lincoln (11) and Patrick (6) and I brought them all up to my place along with Shadow, the all black Labrador and the doggy love of my life. We settled in for the wait.

Friday dawned and Cyclone Alfred hung off the coast moving only very slowly westwards towards us. It had been a Category 3, but it's intensity diminished to Cat 2 as we waited. It rained most of Friday and the wind picked up as the day progressed. 

With all the notice we had had most people had taken action - removing any loose articles out of the garden and off their verandahs and balconies. The government had finally decided to close all the schools in the predicted cyclone area on Thursday and Friday so Kara would not be at work either. Supermarkets started to close around midday on Thursday and public transport stopped on Wednesday night. 

Alfred was now predicted 'sometime' on Saturday morning - my birthday. It was moving very, very slowly towards the coast. We ventured out for a walk down to the park at the end of the road to give the boys and dog some exercise, we tried to plan it for a break in the rain, but still got a bit wet.

Midnight on Friday and the wind was pretty wild, howling around the building, the torrential rain horizontal and the trees thrashing and bending. It was pretty scary and I just prayed to whomever that the roof stayed attached!

Kara and the boys slept in my bed and the spare room, while I slept on the couch and Shadow on her mat with Linc in the spare room. I sat up till after midnight but finally fell asleep in my clothes. At 5am on Saturday morning I was awakened by Shadow moving around and realised she was keen to go outside. I had visions of a pitch black dog being picked up and flying away in the wind and wondered how I would ever find her again if that happened. Alfred was predicted to cross the coast around that time but needs must, so down we want to the garden and Shadow did what she had to do before we hurried safely back inside and settled down again. The cyclone had arrived just about then, reaching, but not quite crossing, the coast north of Brisbane (about 50kms away from us) around 6am. It then degenerated into a tropical low and moved north parallel to the coast before crossing later in the morning around Bribie Island.

However it wasn't over yet. It poured rain all day Saturday. I mean poured. An extremely heavy, continuous, torrential downpour. The wind picked up as well - I think the wind that night was pretty close to as bad as it had been the previous night - and the number of customers without electricity rose dramatically. We were lucky. We continued to have electricity and (more importantly where the two boys were concerned) internet. Over 400,000 other people didn't. 

The next problem was flooding. There was no danger of that where we were located - 3 floors up and nowhere near any major river systems - but travel in SEQ was going to be a problem. Luckily we didn't need to go anywhere anyway. Ant, my son-in-law, was at work in his role as a sergeant in the Qld police force and reported to us regularly regarding conditions at their home in the Yatala area. There had been no power from Friday night at their place so it was best they were with me. My second daughter, Jade, and her son, Nash (7), lost power around 21.00 on Saturday night. We all hung in.

Sunday it rained heavily all day again, and, although the wind gradually eased off through the day, we still couldn't really go anywhere without getting soaked. Thank goodness we still had electricity and internet....

In the evening I drove down to Jade & Nash taking a gas camping stove and cylinder, a rechargeable camping light and 2 charge packs as, at that stage, it was unlikely we would need any of that emergency gear where we were. The drive down was hairy in that the rain was horrendous, the roads were flooded and impassable in places, but I got down and back without major incident.

Monday and the wind had eased and there were bright spots between the rain showers. Ant was at home and had the generator going. Once again the schools were closed, but roads were flooded, a few houses damaged and hundreds of powerlines down tangled in trees. Kara decided to head home so we packed up and I drove them back via a circuitous route to avoid some local flooding and a stop at Mackers for coffee and milkshakes.

A short time after we arrived and unpacked the car, the power came back on at their place - but much to the boys frustration, not the internet! A tree in their back yard had come down and crushed a section of fence, but other than that they had not sustained any damage.

I left them to it and found my way around some local flooding to Jade's place where I picked up Nash and brought him home with me. He was happy as he now had internet again! I guess it was similar to us when we didn't have TV for a day or two, tech these days is so important to the kids. Mind you, none of my grandsons are overweight or even looking like they're inactive so I see little harm in them spending time on their iPads - especially when they can't go outside and play anyway.

So - a cyclone for my 70th! A pretty rare present!

Bird-wise - I didn't;t get out anywhere, but some amazing birds were seen, especially along the coast. The headliner has to be a Leach's Stormpetrel - that must be one of the first ever seen in Australia. Grey Ternlets, Noddies and a couple of species of Petrels were also reported. I did see a Frigatebird sp from my balcony on Monday morning. It was drifting east back towards the coast. I assume it had been blown inland over the weekend. Unsure of species - potentially a Great, but most likely a Lesser, but a pretty good balcony tick!

15.3.25

Oxley (& Toohey)

Mr D picked me up at 6, on site ten minutes later. We were keen to see how the site had survived Alfred. It did appear that the river had flooded, but there was minimal impact on the environment, no trees down, the track basically the same as always, just obvious signs of high water flow along the way under the trees. The metal fence at the second culvert had been flattened, but other than that nothing remarkable.

The bird life was another matter. It was very quiet. Whether some species had moved out prior to or post the cyclone we couldn’t be sure, but there were few small birds present and numbers in general were pretty minimal.

We did have a Striated Heron perched up on one of the islands in the main pond, a probably Whistling Kite perched up at distance on a fence post and an Australian Hobby slid past at height to perch up distantly on a power pylon. 

Breakfast, as usual when birding this site, at Arte and Gusto.

After breakfast Mr D took me to Toohey and showed off a Southern Boobook perched up in, presumably, a nesting hollow. He had found it several weeks previously and it, or they, had hung around the same tree for that time.

16.3.25

Birding Pal Stuff

I picked up Krishna from Singapore at 6am in South Bank. We headed straight out to Sandy Camp. Just inside the entrance a decent sized, many trunked Paperbark had come down across the path in the cyclone and we had to climb over it to gain access; otherwise there was no apparent damage.

 We spent almost three hours there. The waterbirds were OK, but the passerines a bit thin on the ground. According to Krishna’s count we achieved 46 species that was, in my opinion, a bit on the low side. Best sightings were a run-across-the-track Spotless Crake and an immature Black-faced Monarch. Fairy-wren-wise we only had three Superb Fairy-wrens, 2 female and one moulting male. We had no finches or flycatchers and few small honeyeaters. 

Krishna was a good birder, keen eyes and keen on taking photos and we headed down to the Mangrove Boardwalk around 9.00.

I noted a bit of storm damage to the mangrove edge – a couple of trees over – but the boardwalk itself was untouched. We found Toressian Kingfisher fairly easily with playback, but it took a while to get Mangrove Gerygone and then Leaden Flycatcher and Rufous Fantail to add to the day list of lifers for Krishna.

It was warming up and on the humid side so we stopped off at Mackers for coffee and a chat before heading on to Minnippi and a meeting with Mr P. He had been checking the trees and riverbank and had turned up nothing of interest so we walked, basically, around the lake picking up a few more lifers for Krishna – including Variegated Fairy-wren and Red-browed Finch - but nothing of great consequence. From my perspective a ~1.5 meter Red-bellied Black slithering quickly away into the longer grass was the highlight.

As we crossed the bridge back towards the car Krishna spotted an Australian Hobby on the powerlines some distance away. We said Goodbye to Mr P and Krishna and I walked down the bike path to get better views and photos of the Hobby. 

Australian Hobby (heavily photoshopped)

Finished that and we headed back to the car and drove out. Just outside the reserve area Krishna called a possible raptor and we stopped.

The bird had perched up in a tree 50 meters from the road over an open carparking area. As we exited the car it swooped low overhead and perched up briefly on a nearby TV aerial before turning and swooping low over us again it swept up and landed facing us on an exposed branch where a couple of Toressian Crows moved in and warily harassed it. It was a Peregrine Falcon and sat for 15 minutes or so, alternately spitting at the Crows and watching us below as we moved in to get outstanding views, photos and videos. Due to the streaking on its chest as opposed to barring we surmised it was a juvenile bird – but strange behavior acting almost Sparrowhawk-like. Brilliant!

Peregrine Falcon (juv)

Video

https://youtu.be/V5GQsnKpTBQ

 

We headed on and went for lunch around 13.30 at Mt Gravatt Lookout. 

After lunch we drove to Oxley and set off along the track. Just outside the gate we had a family party of Red-backed Fairy-wrens with a couple of still coloured up males which was a big relief!

The rest of the walk was pretty quiet and we didn’t add many species to his list. Once again, no finches and only a small family of Superb Fairy-wrens with one OK looking male.

By the time we got back to the carpark it was after 17.00 so we drove up to Slaughter Falls, walked the track and settled down to wait for dusk and a hoped for White-throated Nightjar performance. 

Unfortunately this didn’t happen, no bird showed and no response to a rather desperate try of encouragement. No response either to Powerful Owl or Owlet Nightjar playback, only a couple of Southern Boobooks calling deep in the forest.

I dropped Krishna ‘home’ at 19.00. It had been a big day and I had to refuse his offer of a drink or dinner, as I was just too exhausted to do anymore! I'm getting too old for this shit.

16.3.25

Oxley 

I decided it’d be a good idea to start birding locally again. I really haven’t been doing much for the past year or so. Whatever – I was on site at 6.15. A very damp, muggy, dull morning. It had rained the previous day and overnight and the track was quiet – bird-wise and human-wise.

Not a lot to see – a single Red-browed Finch, two Brown Honeyeaters, that sort of thing. I did have a fleeting glimpse of what I believed was a juvenile Brush Cuckoo. It was in a bush in a field near the ponds and was apparently being harassed by a Brown Honeyeater and a Willy Wagtail. It flew the second I saw it and disappeared into the distance with that typical, rolling cuckoo flight. I scanned the flooded field from near the car park and had a short view of a Whistling Kite circling low over the water before it too vanished behind the trees. That was about it but it was kinda nice to be out and about again.