Good Friday
Mt Glorious. 6.30. Rainforest walk. The Reid and Dougherty birdwatching machine creaked into action again...Satin Bowerbirds, Spinebills and Scarlet Honeyeaters in the trees over and around the carpark. We headed into the rainforest along the well used track. A Wonga Pigeon called high in the canopy and Yellow-throated Scrub wrens flitted ahead, while Whipbirds called to each other and Lewin’s Honeyeaters announced our invasion. The circuit track takes about an hour, at birding speed, and during that time we added Brown Cuckoo-dove, Brown Gerygone, King Parrot, Crimson Rosella, Golden Whistler, Topknot Pigeon, Yellow Robin and Green Catbird to our day list. Brief glimpses of 2 Logrunners and Ground Thrush sp, (probably Russet-tailed), were the highlights and an Anthecinus sp also put in an appearance.
After a cup of coffee we set off again – this time for the West side track. This is a much longer walk along the steeper side of the ridge through varied bush, rainforest and eucalypt. It was disappointing in that there were very few birds to see along the main part of the walk, a few Yellow Robins and at one point a very brief glimpse of a single Pale Yellow Robin. The track ends where a fire trail cuts down from the road on the top of the ridge and we sat down a little way down this to finish the coffee. While there we played a CD of bird calls with surprising (?) results. I am not a great advocate of using CDs or tapes in the field, but was interested to see what the results might bring. Mainly as a result of using the CD we saw Grey and Rufous Fantails, White-throated (2) and Red-browed Treecreeper (4), Rose-crowned Fruit Dove (1), Wompoo Fruit-dove (1), Brown Thornbill and Grey Shrike Thrush. We also saw more Topknot Pigeons and Wonga Pigeons called almost constantly, King Parrots, Crimson Rosellas, Golden Whistler, Catbirds and Red-browed Finches. Not too bad a start to the holiday weekend. I took about 50 shots of the Red-browed Treecreeper, but only one was worth keeping….
Easter Saturday
Minnippi. 6.15 Due to the longer than usual walk yesterday, general feeling of exhaustion and advancing age the R & D BM agreed to an easier morning so ...on the usual walk in from the car park - Yellow Robin calling from the river bank, Cockatoos screaming from the dead eucalypt, White-bellied Wood Swallows on the overhead high voltage wires, Striated Pardalotes calling again after a summer of silence, A lot of activity on the lake today – we counted close to 60 Dusky Moorhens, at least 8 Jacanas, approx 20 Coot, 70 Black Duck, 10 Hardhead, 20 Aust Grebes and 2 Black Swans. We also had 1 Reed Warbler and a group of 6 Bee Eaters, presumably on their way north for the winter. 4 or 5 Spangled Drongos were scattered around the edges of the bike path and a huge flock (~100) of Chestnut-breasted Mannikins fed in the grass and weeds. We spotted a Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoo briefly, a new bird for the area for me. The usual Cisticolas and Tawny Grassbirds, Lewin’s Honeyeaters, Silvereyes, Kookaburras, Willy Wagtails and Brown Honeyeaters showed in the surrounding bush although we noted an apparent lack of Purple Swamphens, spotting only about half a dozen mainly feeding well away from the water. A few Red-backed and Superb Fairy-wrens and both Pied and Grey Butcherbirds capped off the list for the day.
Saturday night
Slaughter Falls, Mt Cootha. 17.00. The R & D Machine and one partner in search of a reported Spotted Nightjar. The 3 of us headed up to the pond and the open space reputed to be the easiest spot anywhere to see White-throated Nightjar. None of us had actually been there to see Nightjars before, but knew we had to be on site prior to dusk. I thought it was going to be pretty hard to identify a Spotted Nightjar apart from the commoner White-throated, but thought it was worth a shot anyway. I needn’t have worried. After sitting for an hour or so, a single Nightjar appeared and flew overhead with strong sharp pointed wing beats – a 10 second view and I was confident it was a White-throated (tick for R) - we waited another 30 minutes without any further sightings of anything so we trundled back down the hill scanning the trees for owls while Robert scared everything off with his Boobook imitations.........
Sunday
Manly Wader Roost. 9.45 for the high tide at 10.45. Alone today I was eager to see if any of the waders had ‘coloured up’ prior to their long flight north due at any time. A warm morning with a light breeze it was very pleasant walking in to the roost past a couple of hopeful fishermen. Checking the ‘upper’ roost the first birds I saw were 20 Golden Plover, some in breeding, most in non-breeding plumage, a large number (50) of Black-winged Stilts, 26 Eastern Curlew, ~60 Red-necked Stints, 29 Curlew Sandpipers (one only in breeding plumage) 20 Grey and 8 Chestnut Teal, 10 Greenshanks, 20 Caspian, 25 Gull-billed and 3 Crested Terns, a few Turnstones, 2 (!) Bar-tailed Godwit (both non-breeding) and a new bird for the spot for me – (4) Red-necked Avocets. Moving on to the lower, or main, roost the counting became much more approximate – More terns of two of the three species (21 Caspian, 23 Crested), Stints (~300), Curlew Sands (~50),Turnstones (~25), Curlews (~30) and lots more Godwits (~85). 160 Pied Oystercatchers, ~30 Great Knot and 2 well coloured Red Knot were visible in the massed ranks of ~500 Grey-tailed Tattlers. About 50 Lesser Sand Plovers, most beautifully marked in bright breeding plumage completed the wader picture. 8 Pelicans, 14 Little Pied Cormorants, 1 Richard’s Pipit, 3 Willy Wagtails and 20 hawking Welcome Swallows were seen as well.
Easter Monday
Oxley Common. 6.15. A lovely mild morning, mist across the fields burning off as the sun rose and the Machine made their way along the track above Oxley Creek. We saw the usual birds as we walked to Pelican lake, best of all a couple of Striped Honeyeaters. In the large tree that hangs over the smaller pond on the left side of the track Robert spotted a movement and after waiting a few minutes we identified a White-winged Triller – either female or eclipse plumage, a first for the area for us and, generally, an uncommon bird. Almost immediately afterwards I spotted a Yellow-billed Spoonbill dropping in to an unviewable location across the fields, this too was a new bird for the area for us both. Pelican lake is currently covered in the noxious weed Salvinia so there was very little bird life.- a few lost looking Purple Swamphens and 1 Black-fronted Dotterel.
Heading back we noticed some movement up the track past the junction and, investigating, found a pair of Yellow-rumped Thornbills (ditto above!) along with them were feeding Mangrove Gerygones, Double-barred Finches, Drongos, Rufous Whistlers, Straited Pardalotes and Brown Honeyeaters. As we watched another bird appeared and we quickly realized it was a Shining Bronze Cuckoo, Robert’s first and again ditto above..! We decided we’d push on to the end of the track (we don’t usually bother) and just before the next fence line we caught a brief glimpse of what we tentatively idd as a Varied Triller. In the wet grassed area at the end of the track a White-necked Heron fed (again ditto above) and I managed to get one keeper before it took off and headed back towards the lakes. It was a good day for raptors too with Black-shouldered Kite, Aust Kestrel, Hobby and Collared Sparrowhawk.
A good day’s birding to finish the weekend off – 5 new birds for the area and 1 new tick for Robert (2 for the weekend).
