Thursday | March 23, 2006

Eagleby 190306

Got to Eagleby on Sunday morning at 6.30. Cloudy, calm, quiet. Very little small bird activity along the road which, we noted, had recently been bitumened. Why? No idea. The area it services is prone to flooding and appears to be an active farm. However it did encourage a larger than usual number of cars and pedestrians during our visit.... even though it goes nowhere! Usual water birds on the well flooded paddock.. Aust Grebes, Black Duck, Grey Teal, Hardhead, Wandering Whistle Duck, a few Magpie Geese but no waders due to the high water level and a Whistling Kite only showed briefly just as we were about to move on. One Plum-headed Finch did present itself well and I managed to get some photos.

We went down Schimdt's Rd for a long distance view of a shallow pond on private property - 2 juvenile Black-necked Storks, Pelicans, Pied Stilts, Marsh and Sharp-tailed Sands and a juvenile White-bellied Sea Eagle, firstly on the ground and then flying lazily away stirring everything up.

On to another spot at the end of River Hills Rd for another overview of marsh and pond mainly on private property - Plumed Whistling Ducks, more Geese and 2 Latham's Snipe.

Posted by C at 10:35:55 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday | March 02, 2006

Wind and rain and Inskip Pt

I gave myself two days of doing nothing, to recover, then headed north to Inskip Pt.. Arriving just on dark I hurried to set up camp, then relaxed with a cold beer. It seemed like a warm calm night ahead, however, just after midnight I awoke to a wild wind flapping the large tarp I use for shade. Hurrying out into the dark I secured the pegs and returned to bed hoping for the best. Alas, at about 2.30am the rain joined in and I spent the next two hours monitoring the deluge and taking steps to avoid the terminal failure of the light tarp.
When I got up I went for a walk to the tip of the peninsula via the ‘Black-breasted Button-quail trail’. I didn’t see any and, in fact, noted a lack of bird activity in general in the area - plenty of Bar-shouldered Doves, a couple of Yellow Robins, White-breasted Wood-swallows, Welcome Swallows and a couple of Bee Eaters.  In October I had noticed a large number (30 - 40?) Mangrove Honeyeaters spread from the campsite all the way to the tip, today I saw 4. At the point there were 3 Beach Stone-curlew and I got some very close views and photos. The tide was extremely high and there wasn’t a lot of beach available. There was a flock of, mainly, juvenile Crested Terns all calling madly to attract their parents, a few Little Terns and a handful each of Red-capped Plover, Red-necked Stints and 2 Lesser Sand Plover. Overhead and over the sea there were flocks of terns heading out to feed for the day, while a few Pelicans and numbers of unidentifiable waders huddled on the sandbank a long way off shore.  

I hung around camp through the middle of the day (a couple of Mangrove Gerygones and a Leaden Flycatcher turned up during a brief lull) then did a bit of fishing in the evening. Catching fish was not my priority – it’s never been a priority for me, I haven’t had a lot of choice actually! I did manage to hook an unlucky plaice (flatfish/flounder) and set him free quite happily. (A couple of Whistling Kites did cause temporary havoc among the roosting terns and gulls)

Tuesday night was a copy of Monday’s. Wind and rain and now the tarp is losing ground. Not designed for hard weather conditions the eyelets started to tear out and as quickly as I moved it to another set they tore out until I had few options left.
The morning dawned and I headed off for Poona and Boonooroo and the wader roosts. On the way I stopped off at Cooloola to try for Ground Parrot and Southern Emu-wren. I’ve had both of them here before, but not this time. The track thru the area was very wet and this may have been the reason no parrots flushed. The wind was pretty fierce and there was no sign of the Emu-wrens at the usual spot. I did meet Pete, a birder from Yorkshire, on his fifth visit to Australia, unfortunately he was out of luck. A few White-cheeked Honeyeaters and Noisy Friarbirds and a low hanging Fruit bat were all to be seen.
As I drove towards Boonooro (about 150 kms round trip) it started to rain in earnest and had really set in by the time I reached the water front. The tide was so high it was slopping over the edge of the parade onto the grass. A few flocks of waders (mainly Bar-tailed Godwits) flew around in the rain looking lost. A few appeared to land on already submerged mangrove islands offshore – they may have been landing in the trees. Despite searching the shore line I was unable to locate any roosts or, in fact, any place where waders could land in reasonable security. I headed back to camp and into the worst rain storm I have ever driven in. Between the flooded road and the logging trucks going the opposite way it was sometimes difficult to know whether I was still on the road or already in the sea! Unbelievable rain, however, the tarp and tent had survived, much to my surprise.
I settled down for a long afternoon of maintenance, reading and endless cups of coffee. Just before dark I glanced up to see two small birds walking towards the tarp across the open sand. My first thought was ‘Starlings!’ However, excitement quickly replaced surprise as I realized they were a pair of Black-breasted Button-quail! Just before the edge of the tarp they turned and casually trotted into a patch of grass nearby. I quickly grabbed the camera out of the car and stalked them on hands and knees and, eventually, flat on the ground. They were in clear view 3 meters away and I used the flash to capture as many shots as possible. Of course they never stopped moving and the flash didn’t always freeze them clearly. There were also pieces of grass and twigs in all the wrong places – but one doesn’t notice them till afterwards….However, it was a magical 5 minutes and made the whole trip worthwhile. I had heard of this happening to others, but was absolutely thrilled it had happened to me – these birds are so cute! And to have such an intimate encounter with such a rare species!
Wednesday night turned even more disastrous as the rain and, particularly, the wind continued. I ran out of eyelets at 6.00 on Thursday morning and decided enough was enough – I’d head home a day early.
In Ireland Dermot (Belfast), Richard (Wicklow), Tim (Inverness) and I had agreed to each smoke a cigar at 9.00pm on March 1st. Australian time = 7.00am March 2nd….. so, at the appropriate moment I lit my cigar and relaxed amid the destruction of my campsite and had a Hamlet moment! It was nice to think the others were doing the same thing at the same time in distant parts of the planet.
The rain started again so I packed everything into the car, wet and sandy, and went home.
 
Posted by C at 15:35:09 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |