10.7.25
Oxley
On site at 7.30, a dull cloudy morning to start with that quickly brightened to a warmer, sunny morning. The track was very busy with Lewin’sand Blue-faced Honeyeaters in number in a minimum few trees with the remains of flowers. Nothing exceptional, but not a bad morning with 48 species recorded.
Met a pair of genuine birders who knew what they were talking about, but also passed a couple of groups of retirees who had spent their retirement funds on flash cameras and huge lenses, but not one of them had invested in a pair of bins.
I didn’t climb the fence and walk to the flooded field as there were several cattle just inside the gate and I didn’t want to disturb them, but from the platform near the carpark I did see a few White-headed Stilts and a Black-fronted Dotterel that was flushed as I scanned.
Messed around with the (new) camera in a variety of situations, checking its performance and trying to understand what was happening..... I was reasonably happy I had finally got it to do what I wanted it to do. Only 1 photograph was, in my opinion, worth keeping..
 |
| Red-browed Finch |
On site at 7.30 to a bright, sunny, cool to cold morning – cool in the shade, warmer in the sun. The M1 track was a bit birdier than previous visits but with virtually no trees in flower it was still pretty quiet.
The lake, too, was pretty dead. I noted only 2 goslings with the adult Black Swans, appeared they have lost one in the last few weeks. 6 Magpie Geese sat on the grass in front of the platform – the park was generally quiet so far as citizens were concerned too, so I assumed the Geese had roosted on the grass and not being disturbed.
I sat for a few minutes in the Raptor Lookout then dragged my sorry ass over the hill to walk the Airfield Track. I hadn’t been down this track for a long time, possibly years, and found it as Mr P had recently described it – overgrown and a few small trees down across it. In fact it was so overgrown it was more my residual memory of where the track went that got me through in places.
Halfway along I stopped to try for White-eared Monarch, the only one, I think, recorded on this site by myself 12 years previous.
As I stood and watched I noticed a medium sized bird in a nearby gum. I binned it and found it to be a female Regent Bowerbird! Eventually there were 3 birds in the same tree feeding on, I assumed, caterpillars or some, invisible to me, grubs. There may have been more than 3, but I could only confirm at least three in the tree at the one time. There was some coming and going from the tree so doubt remained regarding the total number.
 |
| Regent Bowerbird (female) |
While I watched the Bowerbirds a Collared Sparrowhawk glided by overhead – looked like a smaller male – and a White-throated Gerygone came close by to investigate.
 |
| White-throated Gerygone |
All in all it wasn’t a bad morning with an end list of 51 species.
17.7.25
Anstead & Moggill Pocket Swamp
I picked up Joan (Birding Pal) in Belbowrie at 7.15, on site 10 minutes later. A bright, sunny, clear, still morning – pretty close to perfect birding weather – but the birds didn’t come to the party.
Overall a disappointing morning despite a lengthy use of encouragement on the bitumen track – the only ‘result’ being a single Shining Bronze Cuckoo despite trying for 8 different species. There really wasn’t anything to write home about at all, possibly 2 Red-necked Wallabys seen very well but other than that I did manage to get a couple of Eastern Whipbirds up so that Joan got a lifer (plenty heard, none seen previously) and 2 Brown Quail flew in very close, but vanished immediately into the long grass.
We drove out to Moggill Pocket Swamp for a brief overview but nothing remarkable there either so we returned to West Vets for breakfast before I dropped Joan home.
20.7.25
Minnippi and a short visit to Mt Gravatt Lookout
Birding Pal Joan and her 10 year old granddaughter, Tess, met me at my place at 6.45 and we picked up Mr P at 7, on site a few minutes later. A calm, bright, sunny morning, cool, but not cold.
We walked the usual tracks – pond, M1 track, The Avenue and eventually down the Airfield Track. Mr P was keen to try for the Regent Bowerbirds I had seen the previous Tuesday but they failed to show. Presumably they had cleaned the tree of the ‘lerps’ they had been feeding on and had moved on, regardless, it was a very good morning at Minnippi.
We had 59 species altogether, the highlights…
A White-throated Gerygone at the start of the Airfield Track.
A Little Shrikethrush along that track and several male Australian Golden Whistlers.
A White-headed Pigeon perched up halfway back along the cement path.
 |
| White-headed Pigeon |
A Black-shouldered Kite from the Raptor Lookout.
A pair of closely perched up Pacific Bazas near the car park.
 |
| Pacific Baza |
We spent 3 hours on site in total and dropped Mr P home before the three of us headed off for breakfast at Mt Gravatt Lookout, stopping on the way to see a perched up Square-tailed Kite at the nest site and a nearby Koala pointed out to us by a photographer chasing the Kites.
 |
| Square-tailed Kite |
Tess also saw a Pale-headed Rosella and a King Parrot that we missed, but I had no doubt on her identification skills.
(The camera settings threw a very heavy blue cast on the photos and it took some manipulation to remove it. I think I have it fixed now by raising the 'temperature' on the settings but it didn't help the results)
22.7.25
Oxley
On site just after 7 – a dull, cloudy morning spitting rain on and off for the first 20 minutes but brightening into a sunny morning after 8.
Usual stuff, nothing to write home about, apart, maybe, from a single Sacred Kingfisher at the second culvert which was my first in several weeks, possibly a returning bird?
The track was very quiet with almost no non-combatants, but quite birdy and active and, due to the lack of walkey talkeys, both Red-backedand Superb Fairy Wrens performed well in the open near the lake while a larger than normal number (15) of Purple Swamphens stalked around in front of me.
I did climb the gate and checked the ‘flooded field’ area – Australian Grebes, Black-fronted Dotterels, Pied Stilts and Grey Teal were present – it appeared to be a much more attractive area than the other ponds, which were almost deserted.
A 46 species morning with several key species not observed so could easily have been 50+ with better weather.
24.7.25
Minnippi
A cool, increasingly windy, bright morning at 7.15. The westerly wind increased during my time on site and was quite cold.
Usual stuff. I walked the Airfield Track again but found no sign of the Bowerbirds of last week. A 43 species morning – significantly down on the 59 species of 4 days previous. But still quite birdy in spots.
28.7.25
Oxley
A bright sunny clear morning, only a gusty breeze challenging easy birding along the track.
It was a good morning with almost no non-combatants along the track – only one skinny female jogger whose unleashed dogs rushed past me and chased a Bush Turkey up into a tree. I yelled at the dogs and then gave her a piece of what remains of my mind while she, belatedly, put the dogs back on a leash.
Total list was 64 species with several key birds not recorded at all – Eastern Whipbird, Grey Shrike Thrush and both Whistler sp being the most obvious on the missing persons list.
Started off with a Striated Heron perched up above the creek, from the pontoon.
 |
| Striated Heron |
The track was quite birdy with lots of things calling, maybe the slightly warmer weather was having an effect.
The surprise of the day was a flock of approx 30 Chestnut-breasted Mannikins feeding on the track coming back from the ponds. This was the biggest flock of Mannikins I had seen in years. They used to be much more common at Oxley – and Minnippi – but in recent times had almost vanished.
I climbed the gate and checked the ‘flooded field’ adding Pied Stilt, Black-fronted Dotterel and Grey Teal to the morning’s list. The main ponds were almost completely deserted.
The Sacred Kingfisher was back at the second culvert and a one meter Keelback Tropidonophis mairii swam away while I stood there.
All in all a good morning’s birding.
 |
| Keelback Tropidonophis mairii |
29.7.25
When I arrived at 7.30 it was warm and sunny, but it clouded over after a short while and remained cool.
It was surprisingly quiet, human-wise, with only a couple of non-combatants exercising their dogs and one photographer dude - unusual for this site, usually overflowing with camera-carriers and twitch seekers.
Overall a disappointing morning, although it started out well at the immediate entrance, but basically went to shit as my two hour visit continued. I ended up with only 41 species with a lot of key birds missing. The only item of interest was a juvenile Osprey trying to fish on the large lake out back, I wasn’t 100% sure what it was initially but it became clear once it perched up.
The Bittern Pond was still covered with Salvina although the previously sprayed part had cleared somewhat there didn't appear to be any effort to take the treatment further.
No comments:
Post a Comment