Last few days in Brisbane

On Sunday June 23rd we mostly stayed home but Marion took us to Roger's place in the afternoon. I added three lifers in a short trip there - Rose Robin, White-eared Monarch and Noisy Pitta. I had considered the latter to be my jinx bird and it was the top bird on my wishlist.  

On Monday June 24th we visited the Mt. Coot-tha Botanical Gardens and walked into the city along the river from Toowong. We did not see much of note ant the botanical gardens but had Australasian Darter, Sacred Kingfisher and Caspian Tern along the river.

On Tuesday we did Sherwood Arboretum in the morning and then took the City-Cat into the city. Late in the day Marion took us to a coupe of spots hoping fro Glossy Black Cockatoo and Australian Owlet-Nightjar. We dipped on both. But we had our mammal highlight of the trip when a squirrel-like animal flew across the road! A Squirrel Glider.

Blue-faced Honeyeater

Striated Pardalote

I ended the trip - part one of the summer - with a total of 142 species in and around Brisbane. Noisy Pitta and Squirrel Glider, seen in the slow days at the end of the trip were my favorites. 

Lockyer Valley

On Saturday June 22nd, Jill and Ian took me out for a birding tour of the Lockyer Valley. This begin with a short stop at Wivenhoe Dam where we had at least one Great-crested Grebe on the water and a small group of Grey-crowned Babblers near the entrance to the parking area.

We then made a number of stops at lagoons between Wivenhoe Dam and Gatton including a stop at Lake Clarendon. We ran into a Nankeen Kestrel perched on wires. Then had had White-necked Heron, Red-kneed Dotterel, Glossy Ibis, Yellow-billed Spoonbills and Pale-headed Rosellas at our first stop, picked up Red-necked Avocet and Little Friarbird at another, then Banded Lapwing, then Plumed Whistling-Duck, then Freckled Duck and Australian Shoveler and then Double-barred Finch. Ian and Jill's route was very well planned and we found almost all our target birds.

Nankeen Kestrel

Banded Lapwing

After lunch in Gatton we immediately saw a number of Black Kites and then heading onto the University of Queensland - Gatton Campus had Red-rumped Parrots feeding on a lawn before heading to Lake Galletely where a single male Blue-billed Duck was among a large number of Pink-eared Ducks. Some basking Brisbane Short-necked Turtles were the fifth reptile of the trip.

Red-rumped Parrots

Blue-billed Duck

Pink-eared Ducks

Mt. Glorious

On Thursday June 20th, Julie took me to Mt. Glorious for 4 hours of birding.Things started pretty slowly but after a while we saw good numbers of Eastern Yellow Robin, Brown Thornbill and White-browed Scrub Wren. A Yellow-throated Scrubwren, a Whipbird and a small group of Brown Gerygones  added to the birds on the forest floor.

As we reached the overlook window we ran into a large group of Satin Bowerbirds and managed to find a male Regent Bowerbird feeding with them. Soon after we saw a perched Green Catbird to complete the set of three!

Green Catbird

We then drove on to Wivenhoe Overlook, where Jill had told me that White-browed Tree-creepers could be found. As luck would have it we ran into a bird expert and sometime tour guide Nick who found the bird for us! We also found a couple of White-naped Honeyeaters. Both these birds were lifers for me.

Australia Zoo

We spent over 4 hours at Australia Zoo on Tuesday June 18th. The start attractions of Steve Irwin's zoo are the crocodiles and we got to see a croc show while there. But the zoo is conservation minded and is situated in natural habitat and we got to see a number of wild birds in the grounds. These included two birds that I was pleased to finally catch up on - Red-browed Finches and Bar-shouldered Doves. Peaceful Doves were in good numbers in a walk-through kangaroo section of the zoo. I was most surprised to see a number of honeyeaters feeding in the trees. These included White-throated Honeyeaters which we saw feeding low down just a few feet away, and my third life bird of the year - White-cheeked Honeyeater. A Southern Angle-headed Dragon was the fourth reptile of our trip.

Bar-shouldered Dove

Peaceful Dove

Rufous Fantail

Mooloolaba and Caloundra

On Monday June 17th we drove to Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast with the main goal of visiting Underwater World. We did not spend too much time outside and saw nothing very exceptional.

Magpie Lark

Pied Butcherbird

We ended the day with a drive down the coast to Caloundra where we enjoyed seeing a number of flying foxes feeding at some flowering trees near our hotel.

On Tuesday morning, June 18th we spent an hour or so walking to and along the beach. We saw a number of Silver Gulls at a jetty and several pelicans and cormorants on the sand bars. Where Pumicestone Passage met the Pacific Ocean we saw Australian Pelicans feeding along with some terns and at least one shearwater, but the distance made precise identification impossible. We saw half a dozen Whistling Kites and an Osprey on our walk and found a Little Wattlebird with the Noisy Miners and Blue-faced Honeyeaters.

Straw-necked Ibis

Masked Lapwing

Tinchi Tamba Wetlands

On Sunday June 16th I joined a Birds Queensland Outing to the Tinchi Tamba Wetlands. There were over 20 people on the trip and the group was very strung out at times. I saw about 40 species; in all the bird call claimed 70!

Highlights included Striated Heron, Collared and Sacred Kingfishers, Rainbow Bee-eaters, White-bellied Sea-eagle, Gull-billed Tern, Pied Cormorant and a bunch of bush birds that I would have struggled to see without being in a group. This included three Striated Pardalotes, a Fan-tailed Cuckoo and two Gray Shrike-thrushes. I also saw my third mammal of the trip - a total of five Eastern Gray Kangaroos.

Heading back we stopped off at a nearby park to see some Magpie Geese and then at Dowse Lagoon where an Australian Shoveler had been seen this week. The latter was a new bird for Queensland for me.

 

Black Swan

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

Laughing Kookaburra

Oxley Creek Common

On Friday June 14th we went to Oxley Creek Common. This had the reputation of being Brisbane's best birding spot when I was here in 2009 but had been totally underwater in the big flood of 2011. I was surprised to see the place looking just as it did before. One difference was that development has continued along Sherwood Road leaving much less green space than before.

The track along the creek was quiet when we headed out; Cattle Egrets were common in the fields with the cattle. An Australian Kestrel was mobbed by a crow in the distance. At the wetland area, Black-winged Stilts, Black-banded Dotterel and Masked Lapwing were at the water's edge with two Black Swan among the ducks on the water. Welcome Swallows and Fairy Martins swooped over the water and Willie-Wagtails and Australian Pipits were on the grass.

At the lagoon we saw 2 Royal Spoonbill, Little and Great Egret, White-faced Heron, several Australian Pelicans and a number of cormorants. 

Cattle Egret

Royal Spoonbill

Australian Pelican

On the way back we had a Mistletoebird and saw a Black-tailed Kite hovering over the fields quite close to us.On a fence halfway along the route we found our third reptile of the trip - a Wall Skink.

Wall Skink

Brisbane Forest Park

On Thursday June 13th we headed to the Brisbane Forest Park where we hiked the 5km Araucaria Track around Enoggera Reservoir before vising Walkabout Creek. The reservoir had many Eurasian Coots and Hardhead but also Purple Swamphen, Australasian Grebe and a Great Cormorant. A Comb-crested Jacana walking on the lily pads was interesting to watch. Grey Fantails were very common and we nearly overlooked a lovely Rufous Fantail.

Australasian Grebe

Comb-crested Jacana

Grey Fantail

Other forest birds included Superb Wren, Brown Thornbill, Eastern Yellow-Robin and Lewin's and Yellow-faced Honeyeater. Bell Miners were very vocal and a Golden Whistler an unexpected treat. Australian Brush-Turkeys were common around the Walkabout Creek visitor centre.

Lewin's Honeyeater

Australian Brush-Turkey

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Roma Street Parklands

On Tuesday June 9th we spent an hour or so at the Roma Street Parklands. We saw many Eastern water Dragons and the usual water birds - Pacific Black and Maned Ducks; Australian Ibis and had a probable Buff-banded Rail. Willy-Wagtails, Welcome Swallows, Figbirds and Noist Miners were the only passerines we saw until the last few minutes when we added two Brown Honeyeaters and a two Silver-eyes to the list.

Figbird

Lone Pine

On Sunday June 9th, we headed to Lone Pine to revisit this specialist zoo that we had been to so many times when we lived in Fig Tree Pocket. It has changed some in the intervening years but it was as good as I remembered.

Australian Darter

Little Black Cormorant

We enjoyed a free flying raptor show, a Platypus feeding and information session and the feeding of the Tasmanian devils. But we also saw a lot of wild birds around the grounds including a dozen or more Australian Brush Turkeys and a Bush Thick-knee, one of the birds that I had dipped on at the Botanical gardens.

Bush Thick-knee 

Galahs

Willie Wagtail

We also found our second reptile of the trip, not unexpectedly, with a few Eastern water Dragons around the grounds. On the way home, after dark at 5:30 pm we saw our second mammal - some Flying Foxes.

Eastern Water Dragon

Botanical Gardens and the South Bank

On Friday June 7th we headed into the city to walk through the Botanical Gardens, cross the pedestrian bridge and then walk back along the river through the South Bank area. The birds did not cooperate and I did not find three of my targets in the Botanical Gardens. We did find our first reptile of the trip - an Asian House Gecko on the bridge!

Australian Wood Duck

Pied Currawong

Noisy Miner

Silver Gull

Mount Glorious

We spent a couple of hours at Maiala Track near Mt Glorious on Thursday June 6th. We saw both Eastern Yellow and Pale Yellow Robins, Brown Gerygone, Long-billed Scrub Wren and heard several Catbirds but generally things were pretty quiet.

We rested for a while before heading into Brisbane ahead of the evening's Birds Queensland Meeting. We saw a number of common birds on our trip in, many of which we had seen in Marion's yard. The day's highlight however was a Ring-tailed Possum feeding from atop a chain-link fence when the meeting ended at 9:30.

Australasian Magpie

Rainbow Lorikeet

Spotted Dove

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Day One in Brisbane

Marion met us at the airport and took us to the Kedron Brook Wetlands where we saw many water birds - Grey and Chestnut Teal among the more common species of duck, the usual ibis, Australian Pelicans, Black-winged Stilts, Yellow-billed Spoonbill - and also three species of kite - Black-shouldered, Whistling and Brahminy.

Australian Ibis

Little Pied Cormorant

Pacific Black Duck

Having failed to get our target bird we then stopped bu Dowse Lagoon in Sandgate where we found the two Freckled Ducks that had been reported there. This was my second lifer of 2013. A Comb-crested Jacana and a group of Pink-eared Ducks were the other highlights of this stop.

Dusky Moorhen

Hardhead

Purple Swamphen