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.
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| Scarlet Honeyeater (male) |
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.
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| Regent Bowerbird (female - photo not cropped) |
10.5.25
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 7threcord 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.
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