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Around Oz Part 27 - Bunbury to Beautiful Margaret River: Red-eared Firetail, Red-winged Fairy-wren, Huge Waves

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White-breasted Robin
After our stay in Dryandra Woodland (see following post) we headed to the coastal city of Bunbury for an overnight stay at the Bunbury Glade Caravan Park. About 20km west of Collie there was a large flock of Baudin's Cockatoo by the road. The length of the bill was quite evident compared to the Carnaby's Cockatoos seen earlier - see here for pics.


Baudin's Cockatoo

Baudin's Cockatoo
Then it was onwards south, following the coastal road through the top end of Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. We visited the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse, Bunker Beach and Sugarloaf Rock; very nice coastal scenery. I had seen Red-tailed Tropicbird here many previously but apparently now the colony is abandoned.

Cape Naturaliste

Sugarloaf Rock
The first White-breasted Robins of the trip were seen at Cape Naturaliste.

White-breasted /Robin
And Western Rosellas were common. Other birds about included more Baudin's Cockatoos, Brush Bronzewing and Purple-crowned Lorikeet.

Western Rosella female

Western Rosella male
We moved on to the pretty town of Margaret River, giving the camper trailer a break for a three-night stay in the Margaret River Hotel to coincide with Glenn's birthday. We walked some of the wooded tracks around the town, through beautiful groves of marri and jarrah along the Margaret River. Western Spinebill was feeding on flowering kangaroo paw in the town centre.


Some very attractive scenery about Margaret River and the nearby beachside town of Prevelley, where the size of waves being surfed by a small army of surfers were impressively large.

Margaret River near its mouth

Waves at Prevelly
 In the thick shrubby vegetation behind the dunes at Prevelley, a family of Red-winged Fairy-wrens was nice to find.

Red-winged Fairy-wren
We visited an old friend of mine from Perth, Robyn, who I had not seen for 33 years, and her partner Manfred in their very nice refuge in the marri forests south of Margaret River.

Robyn & Manfred

In their garden was a Red-eared Firetail, a surprise indeed. This is a much-coveted  SW WA endemic.


Red-eared Firetail
We visited some more coastal sites in Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park nearby. Among the birds were several parties of the south-west race of Splendid Fairy-wren.

Splended Fairy-wren: south-west race, male in eclipse plumage


Around Oz Part 28 - Cape Leeuwin to Walpole-Nornalup and Giant Trees: Western Shrike-tit, Rock Parrot, Red-eared Firetail

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Rock Parrot
Following our visit to Margaret River (see following post) we continued southwards along the scenic Caves Road to Cape Leeuwin, the south-western most point of the Australian mainland, where the Great Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. It was here that, in 1801, Matthew Flinders began charting the continent of Australia.

Cape Leeuwin
Of more immediate interest was a party of 8 Rock Parrots on the lawns of the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse. A visit to the nearby historic waterwheel was also interesting.

Rock Parrot
We turned eastwards for the first time in our around-Oz journey, driving through extensive areas of jarrah-marri forest, with plenty of shrubs in flower.

Jarrah-Marri forest near Pemberton
Our destination was the Walpole Nornalup National Park; we camped in the nicely bushy setting of the Coalmine Beach Caravan Park. The views of Nornalup Inlet from the caravan park and a nearby circuit track-road were stunning.

Nornalup Inlet

Nornalup Inlet
In thick vegetation near the camping ground, plenty of Red-winged Fairy-wrens were about.  More Baudin’s Cockatoo and Western White-naped Honeyeater were seen. I had a brief roadside view of a Quokka; we had seen earlier a road-killed Quokka.

Red-winged Fairy-wren
We had a full day driving around the Walpole-Nornalup National Park area, visiting the Valley of the Giants - with its monstrous red tingle and karri trees. 

Karri and Tingle trees - Valley of the Giants
I was surprised to find good numbers of Red-eared Firetails feeding roadside in the early morning - I saw at least 20 - and at the carpark for the Tree Top Walk. This was an impressive canopy walk through the tree tops, 40m above the ground. Red-winged Fairy-wrens were also common at the carpark; they had learned to pick insects from vehicle bumper bars.

Red-eared Firetail

Red-eared Firetail
Tree Top Walk, Walpole Nornalup National Park
We also visited various parts of Walpole Nornalup National Park including Peaceful Bay, and Conspicuous Bay and Lookout (I saw an Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross off here) – spectacular coastal scenery. We then visited the aptly named Giant Tingle Tree, and the beautiful and unusual Circular Pool.

Circular Pool

Conspicuous Bay

Giant Tingle Tree
Southern Short-nosed Bandicoot and Tawny Frogmouth were about the camp at night.

Tawny Frogmouth

On our last morning, I walked the circuit road near the caravan park again. I was pleased to find a pair of Crested Shrike-tit - the distinctive western race and a future potential split. I had missed this bird when I lived in Perth and looked unsuccessfully for it during our recent trip to Dryandra. I noticed that its call was somewhat different from our eastern bird.

Crested (Western) Shrike-tit

Crested (Western) Shrike-tit





Around Oz Part 29 – Albany and Cheynes Beach: Noisy Scrubbird, Western Whipbird, Western Bristlebird, Southern Right Whale

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Western Bristlebird
After our visit to the Warpole-Nornalup area (see following post) we continued east to the WA south coast port city of Albany, where we had a couple of nights in the very nice Emu Park Tourist Park, right by the sea with lots of bush around. I was surprised to see that Red-capped Parrot was common and tame, after the bird was so elusive during our earlier visit to Dryandra Woodland.


Red-capped Parrot

Red-capped Parrot

Emu Point, Albany
We had a full day out in the Albany area. Just down the road at Lake Seppings, there were 200+ Blue-billed Ducks and quite a few Musk Ducks.

Musk Duck female
We were impressed by a tour we did of the old whaling station – whaling ended in Australia when this place in King George Sound shut down in 1978. We visited various parts of Torndirrup National Park including The Gap, The Bowholes, Newhill’s Harbour and Salmon Holes. More fabulous coastal scenery - as if we  haven’t had enough of it.

Glenn with (Pygmy) Blue Whale skeleton, old Albany whaling station

Newell Harbour, Torndirrup National Park near Albany
We headed east 60km to Cheynes Beach for a three-night stay in the caravan park. This site is well-known as being particularly good for three of Australia’s more difficult birds – Western Whipbird, Western Bristlebird and Noisy Scrubbird. I have seen all three previously, but not this race of the whipbird, and would like another look at all three.

Cheynes Beach
We were pleased to see plenty of wildflowers in the coastal heath, although we’re a little early for the full show. It’s a lovely setting with a pure white, sandy beach and turquoise sea sweeping eastwards.


Wildflower (Banksia) Cheynes Beach

Wildflower Cheynes Beach
Wildflower Cheynes Beach
 We saw Carnaby’s Cockatoos on the way in. There are plenty of Brush Bronzewings about the hamlet of Cheyne Beach. Around the caravan park are White-breasted Robin, Splendid Fairy-wren, Western Spinebill, Western White-naped Honeyeater and White-browed Scrubwren.

Brush Bronzewing
During our first stroll we had magnificent views of a Southern Right Whale and her calf not more than 100 metres or so offshore, just beyond the waves breaking; they were so close we initially thought they were stranded. A dead Barn Owl was found near the beach. In the evenings from our camper van, we can hear the whales sprouting in the sea nearby.

Southern Right Whale

Southern Right Whale
On the first afternoon I walked the 4-wheel drive track that heads south of the caravan park for about 1.5km. Towards the end of the track I heard Noisy Scrubbird and Western Bristlebird. I had superb views of a Western Bristlebird about half way along on the way back and saw a second briefly, with a third bird heard. I also Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Red-winged Fairy-wren and Southern Emu-wren.

Heathlands of Apenteur Nature Reserve, Cheynes Beach
My first morning was centred on the track area between the caravan park and beach – the site renowned for Noisy Scrubbird. Three scrubbirds were vocalising at different sites and I saw one bird briefly. I also had excellent if brief views of a Western Whipbird, which was calling; one Western Bristlebird was calling. Later we walked the circuit track via Back Beach. Loads more wildflowers; another Southern Right Whale; and our first Western Wattlebird of the trip. Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross and Flesh-footed Shearwater were seen offshore.

Western Wattlebird
 Seeing the wattlebird means I have seen all the south-west WA endemic species and subspecies on this trip – with the exception of Western Ground Parrot - along with those species that have the region as their main centre of distribution.

Western Bristlebird tracks
We also saw plenty of cat and fox tracks on the sandy tracks, along with bristlebird foot tracks.

On the second afternoon, I hiked to Channel Point, east of the caravan park. I heard a Western Whipbird and a Noisy Scrubbird towards the end of the track and saw a Red-eared Firetail. Coming back I heard a Noisy Scrubbird not far from the caravan park, and saw my second Western Bristlebird; another bristlebird was heard further up the track.

Western Bristlebird
On my second morning, I again walked the track south from the caravan park that I walked the first afternoon. I tracked down a Noisy Scrubbird not far from the park and had three brief but close views. I heard two more scrubbirds further on, where the track levels out along a ridge with plenty of rocks about. I heard Western Whipbird calling twice and saw two other birds briefly, one crossing the track and one in flight in the heath. I saw a total of 6 Western Bristlebirds, hearing about 12 others. A very productive morning; at one point I had bristlebird, scrubbird and whipbird calling at the same spot (among the rocks along the ridge). Southern Emu-wren was also seen again.

Site where  bristlebird, scrubbird, whipbird recorded
On our last afternoon we drove to the mouth of the Waychinicup River and Mt Many Peaks. The river is quite unique in that it is totally exposed to the Southern Ocean, so every wave movement causes a rush of water up the river (that is usually not possible due to a build-up of sandbars at river mouths). I heard Western Whipbird and Western Scrubbird here - 1 of each - this was early afternoon, so I suspect this might be a very good site for both species. There was a camping ground here I was not aware of. Swamp Harrier and Brown Quail were added to the list.

Mt Many Peaks

Waychinicup River mouth

In the late afternoon,on the tracks between the caravan park and the beach, I heard a single Noisy Scrubird and a pair of Western Whipbirds.
Regarding the three WA endemic skulkers, being careful to avoid double-counting, I saw 2 Noisy Scrubbirds, both calling, and heard 6 others (8 total recorded). I saw 3 Western Whipbirds, 1 of them calling, and heard 4 others (7 total). I saw 6 Western Bristlebirds, and heard 12 others (18 total).










Around Oz Part 30 - Pygmy Possum & a Show Western Whipbird: Late Gifts from Cheynes Beach

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I posted my report from Cheynes Beach on the south coast of WA (see here) last night, not expecting any unexpected surprises in the short time I had this morning before we had to leave. How wrong I was. We had the eerie experience late last night of hearing Southern Right Whales blowing quite loudly, although the sea is about 300 metres away.

Western Whipbird
I began by unsuccessfully searching flowering banksias at dawn for Honey Possums. Then I returned to the tracks between the caravan park and the beach (see first post). I heard a single Noisy Scrubbird, then a pair of Western Whipbirds. One of the whipbirds obliged by hopping onto a bush and singing for a few seconds - enough for a quick snap. This bird is extremely cryptic and my earlier views had been brief.

I had searched flowering eucalypt blossums at night for Western Pygmy Possum without success. The caravan park owner's wife had told me they sometimes nested in the camp site power boxes. I checked every one of them - and it is a big park  but no luck.

As we were leaving, I chatted to the caravan park owner, who asked me how the birding had gone. I told him I'd done very nicely with the birds but would have loved to have seen Honey Possum and Western Pygmy Possum, both of which I knew occurred in the area. He told me that one of the caravan owners and set up nest tubes for the possums outside his van because they had become a nuisance, building nests inside his abode; the van owner thought they'd leave his van alone if he built something for them to sleep in. The 15cm-wide PVC tubes had end caps and holes drilled in the sides for the possums to enter. The park owner told me where to go (he said he had no idea if they were occupied) and I was off.

Possum nest tubes
The first cap I removed revealed one of the cutest animals I had seen, curled up tightly in a nest of eucalypt leaves at the tube entrance - a Western Pygmy Possum!

Western Pygmy Possum
I'd not seen a pygmy possum of any species before and had long desired very much to do so. The disturbed possum moved to the far end of the tube as I carefully removed its nest. We eyeballed each other for a few minutes - me more godsmacked that it I suspect - before I replaced the nest and the the tube cap, leaving the gorgeous little animal in peace.

Western Pygmy Possum
All up, a most satisfactory morning.

Around Oz Part 31 - Esperance: Hooded Plover, Cape Barren Goose, Black-faced Cormorant & More Great Coastline

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Hooded Plover
Following our visit to Cheyne Beach (see following two posts) we had three nights in the picturesque coastal town of Esperance, staying at the oddly named Bathers Paradise Caravan Park.

Hooded Plover
I found about 30 Hooded Plovers on the eastern shore Lake Warden, on the northern outskirts of Esperance. Lake Warden and the adjacent Pink Lake are known refuges for this threatened species. Despite having searched numerous beaches in the south-west up of WA up to now, this was my first encounter with Hooded Plover. I am told that in south-west WA, the species is more closely associated with wetlands than in south-east Australia, where it is essentially a beach bird.

Pink Lake
Hooded Plover juvenile
Cape Barren Goose
On the green of the Esperance Golf Course, I found a pair of Cape Barren Geese. The geese visit the Esperance area from their breeding islands in the Recherche Archipelago, an impressive series of granite islands not far offshore from the town.
Cape Barren Goose
The golf club is proud of their geese, although it took me quite a while to find this pair and no others were seen.

Golf Club entrance
Recherche Archipelago
Black-faced Cormorant
On a jetty near the Esperance CBD, I found a Black-faced Cormorant in the company of a Pied Cormorant and several Little Pied Cormorants.
We have found Esperance to be a delightful destination. It has an abundance of lovely coastal beaches with the archipelago as a stunning backdrop. We have also been taken aback by how cheap the place is. For instance, we paid $11 each for a rump steak with salad; at Pine Creek in the NT we paid $35 for the same meal and it was considerably smaller.

Pied, Black-faced & Little Pied Cormorants
Twilight Beach, Esperance
 There is a very worthwhile 40km scenic drive which takes you around the shore of Pink Lake and along the coast, where you can check out numerous beaches and headlands. An abundance of wildflowers, probably the most prolific on our trip to date, added to our experience.

Wildflowers - Chapmans Point

Around Oz Part 32 – Cape Arid: Eye-balling Whales and Wildflowers Ablaze, but no Ground Parrot

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Western (Rufous) Fieldwren
Following our stay in the WA south coast town of Esperance (see last post) we headed east 120 km to Cape Arid National Park, a vast wilderness of heathlands, shrubby woodlands and rugged coastline. Cape Arid is the eastern-most distributional limit of many south-west WA animals and plants, notably the endangered Western Ground Parrot, which of course I intended to search for.

Cape Arid
Cape Arid Coastline
I had been advised by the Albany regional office of National Parks to camp near the mouth of Thomas River because our vehicle, towing a camper trailer, would not be able to reach the camping ground at Seal Creek. My Subaru is all-wheel, not 4-wheel, and I was told that road conditions to reach Seal Creek required 4-wheel. This was a shame because Seal Creek is much closer to Poison Creek Road - the main area for the Western Ground Parrot – and I would have been able to listen for the birds at dusk and dawn, therefore being able to possibly pinpoint their whereabouts. (Thomas River, much closer to Esperance, is a long drive of 55km along dirt roads to the area.)  As I learned later, this advice was rubbish. We could easily have been able to get to Seal Creek on roads that were quite good. I mention this for the benefit of anyone wanting to go there looking for the bird.

There is the option of two camping grounds at Thomas River - one run by National Parks and one by the local Shire. We opted for the National Parks one because of its abundance of flowering banksia, with the potential for seeing Honey Possum (none were seen). There were loads of honeyeaters about, mainly New Holland Honeyeater and Western Wattlebird - the latter far more common here than further west – and a few Western Spinebills.

New Holland Honeyeater & Banksia
We left early on our first morning to drive to Poison Creek Road, which runs south to Seal Creek through a large area of low heathland. I had been given details for two sites where birds were seen or heard recently and found the sites easily enough. Despite several hours of trudging through the heath, however, no parrots were flushed. Compared to Eastern Ground Parrot habitat in Queensland, the heath here was quite low and open – relatively easy to walk through.

Moi in Poison Creek Road heath 
It was the proverbial needle in the haystack – a total of 120 parrots living over such a large area; I had no real expectations, but it’s worth a shot. 

Lots of wildflowers but no parrots - Poison Creek Road heathland
The wildflowers put on a superb show. This is the first site on our trip, other than the mulga lands much further north, where the flowers were in full display with their dazzling array of colours and forms.

It was nice to see plenty of Rufous (Western) Fieldwrens in the heath; I had previously had only poor views earlier in the trip near Cervantes. This was the commonest bird species in the heath, followed closely by Tawny-crowned Honeyeater. A Wedge-tailed Eagle provided surprisingly tame while a Spotted Harrier flew over.

Tawny-crowned Honeyeater

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Western (Rufous) Fieldwren
On the way back, several Shinglebacks were crossing the road. Other herps seen in the area included Carpet Snake and a dragon, a monitor, a gecko and a frog - all to be identified when I get home.

Dragon - Cape Arid

Frog - Cape Arid

Gecko - Cape Arid

Shingleback
Other birds about the camping ground included Rock Parrot, White-browed (Spotted) Scrubwren, Shining Bronze-Cuckoo and Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoo.

Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo

Rock Parrot

White-browed (Spotted) Scrubwren
On our second morning, we checked out some of the local walking tracks, including to Belinup Hill and Dolphin Cove. The highlight was a female Southern Right Whale with her calf at Dolphin Cove, just off the rocks. These majestic, huge animals were less than 50 metres from us they swam about, the youngster clearly more interested in a frolic than its mother. On one occasion, the calf swam towards the beach shore near the rocks; the adult quickly herded it back into deeper water. We could see the calf suckling at one point.


Southern Right Whale - calf can be seen suckling in this image

Adult female Southern Right Whale
We returned to the cove in the afternoon and the two whales were in the same spot. They had been joined by a second adult.

Southern Right Whale - mother and calf
Southern Right Whale - mother and calf


Around Oz Part 33 - Across the Nullabor and the Quail-thrush at Last

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Following our visit to Cape Arid (see previous post) he drove back to Esperance then north to the ordinary gold-mining town of Norseman for an overnight stay at the even more ordinary Gateway Caravan Park, where our camper van site overlooked a shed wall and a pile of garbage for some outrageous price. We headed east the next morning for the long drive "Across the Nullabor", including the longest straight stretch of road in Australia (about 150km). I've done this drive previously and can confirm it is a tad tedious at times.

We bush camped at Moonera Tank, 47km west of Madura, but there was very little bird activity in the nice-looking mallee scrub. The following morning we had our first White-fronted Chats near Eucla, where the ruins of the Old Telegraph Station are worth a look.

Old Telegraph Station ruins, Eucla
We checked out a couple of lookouts to view the impressive limestone cliffs that fringe the Great Australian Bight before arriving for an overnight stay at the Nullabor Roadhouse, the site for the quail-thrush of the same name. I had searched previously and unsuccessfully for this bird at a different site on the Nullabor in 1981, so I was particularly keen to snare it this time.

Nullabor Plain & humble Subaru
I decided to focus on a site which has been productive in recent times. Drive or walk east from the roadhouse on a track that runs parallel and close to the highway. After 1.3km you reach a crossroads which marks the boundary of the Nullabor National Park. Turn left here and head north for 6.3km, where you can see a small turnaround area for vehicles on the left.  A black dingo was seen on the road here.

Dingo
On the other side of the fence at this point, there is a large and active colony of Hairy-nosed Wombats. I found plenty of fresh droppings around the cluster of burrows; a nocturnal expedition would probably have been productive, but I'd see the animal before and the nigh was very cold.

Hairy-nosed Wombat burrows
The first afternoon was very windy and I saw no quail-thrushes. White-winged Fairy-wren, Southern Whiteface and Rufous Field-wren were plentiful.

The next morning was better. I flushed my first pair of quail-thrush about 1km up the track that heads north from the crossroads. I flushed a second pair about 2km further on. Then I flushed a single bird from the wombat burrow cluster referred to above. Soon after I flushed another pair from another wombat burrow cluster - this one long abandoned - back down the track about 2km - all up, 7 Nullabor Quail-Thrush. As others have noted, the birds are flighty so did not get a photo opportunity. I also noted the birds were singularly uninterested in playback of the call of Cinnamon Quail-thrush - the Nullabor Quail-thrush was split recently from this species. l also saw several Brown Songlarks that morning.

Leaving the roadhouse, we visited the Head of the Bight - the most easterly point of the limestone cliffs that fringe the Nullabor.

Head of Bight, Nullabor
 About 30 Southern Right Whales were offshore, mostly mothers with calfs. However, they were relatively distant compared to our previous close encounters with the whales (see here) and the cliffs I did not think were as impressive as those further east. So we didn't think it was worth the money you have to fork out now to visit this spot

Southern Right Whale & claf - Head of Bight
As we left Western Australia and crossed the South Australian border, we had reached the three-quarters point in our journey around Oz, both in time and distance terms.


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Lady Elliot Island Article - Qantas Magazine

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Green Turtle, Lady Elliot Island
Here is my travel feature published in the current edition of Qantas The Australian Way. For more images see this post and associated posts.

THE SUN SETS OVER the Great Barrier Reef as people gather on the beach fringing the large tidal lagoon on Lady Elliot Island. They are carefully scanning the small waves lapping the coral rubble along the shore. As darkness looms, they spot what they are looking for. A female green turtle emerges cautiously from the water, hauling her great bulk up the beach with flippers that appear inadequate for the task. The visitors watch silently as the turtle, as if on cue, comes to rest a few metres from them. She excavates a deep nesting hollow in the sand with her hind flippers. She has swum as far as 2500km to reach her nesting place, probably the same beach where she
hatched some 30 years earlier.

The turtle settles in to deposit 100 or so eggs in this incubation chamber. Under the supervision of trained staff, people approach closely, but quietly, to watch. Her labours over, she fills the hollow
with sand and returns to the sea. The turtle will repeat this process up to seven times during breeding season, then may not return to nest for another five to seven years. Interestingly, when her eggs hatch, the sex of the nestlings will depend on the temperature of the sand. The relatively cool sands of
Lady Elliot Island apparently favour the production of male offspring.

Manta Ray
The 42-hectare Lady Elliot Island lies at the southern tip of the world’s biggest structure composed of living organisms – the 2000-kilometre-long Great Barrier Reef. The cooler southern reef waters surrounding the coral cay, and its distance from the coast - Bundaberg is 80 kilometres to the west – ensure that Lady Elliot is not blighted by coral bleaching, crown-of-thorn starfish invasions, or pollution from mainland erosion and chemical run-off.

The island’s coral reefs and waters are among the most pristine in the world. Lady Elliot has the highest protection classification in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, so wildlife is not hunted or fished. The island has all the ingredients to justify its rapidly growing reputation as one of Australia’s premier ecotourism destinations.

The abundance of life on and around this tiny atoll makes a strong impression on visitors. Tens of thousands of seabirds nest here and they have been unmolested for so long that they are oblivious to human interlopers in their midst. In season, every tree in the grounds of the Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort – the only accommodation on the island - is laden with the nests of smartly plumaged black noddies, a species of tern. As planes arrive with resort guests, dense clouds of brown noddies - which unlike their close relatives, nest on the ground - rise from the runway.

Garrulous bridled terns nest around the accommodation and along pathways although their nests are mere scrapes in the ground; guests learn quickly to watch where they walk. Sprightly buff-banded rails waste no time raiding unattended plates in the dining area. Stately frigatebirds soar in the skies above. Everywhere during the nesting season from October to March, seabirds are sitting protectively on eggs or busily feeding chicks at various stages of development with tiny fish and squid caught at sea.

The resort supplies earplugs to guests to help block out the eerie wailing at night of wedge-tailed shearwaters, or muttonbirds, which nest in burrows dug around their rooms. Asian workers mining guano on the island in the late-1800s believed they were hearing ghosts; the men were terrified and refused to leave their tents at night.

Leopard Shark
The destination is not everybody’s idea of bliss. One visitor described a visit to Lady Elliot Island in a review as a “holiday from hell” with “30 or more nests in every tree, birds in the bushes, under the stairs.... the stench caused by the birds was so bad it made your eyes water”. Overwhelmingly, however, visitors are enchanted by the antics and grace of the birds and their young. Complaints about the vaguely fishy odour that pervades the island as a result of the nesting are rare.

This is a destination where guests may sip a gin-and-tonic while enjoying the spectacle of a pair of rare and beautiful red-tailed tropicbirds feeding a boisterous chick from the veranda of their villa. Scuba divers and snorkelers are attracted to the crystal clear waters around the island with its wealth of colourful hard corals ranging from tree-like staghorns to slow-growing boulder and flat plate corals. Guests can stroll a few metres from their accommodation to snorkel in the shallow lagoon at high tide, or walk a few minutes to the other side of the island to deep water.

Black Noddy
 The reefs provide food and shelter to a bewildering myriad of marine life. The island is famed for its manta rays. Nothing quite prepares the snorkeler for the sight of this massive fish – one of the world’s biggest, measuring up to eight metres between wing tips – as it appears seemingly out of nowhere to glide gracefully through the water below them. The island is home to 40 manta rays
and many more visit its waters. Elegantly patterned leopard sharks patrol the seabed in search of prey. Gaudily decorated picasso triggerfish dart between coral outcrops as gawking
damselfish lurk beneath them. Beautifully coloured butterfly fish of various varieties strut their stuff. Immaculate scissor-tailed sergeants, small black-and-white fish, peer curiously into snorkel face masks.

Bridled Tern
The seabed is littered with marine animals including clams of many shapes and sizes, bright blue linkia starfish and the sea cucumbers, or bêche-de-mer, which sustained a small fishing industry on the island early last century. Turtles and other marine life at most diving destinations around the world are shy and difficult to approach, but around Lady Elliot they are not afraid of people. Curious rays and turtles sometimes approach them; a snorkeler may need to hold their nerve in the imposing – albeit harmless - face of an inquisitive manta ray up close.

Humpback whales provide further appeal to the island as an ecotourism destination. Hervey Bay, a short distance south of Lady Elliot, is a major wintering ground for whales and they are frequent visitors to island waters from June to October, when they can be seen at close quarters from shore.

Lady Elliot Island was officially discovered in 1816 by Captain Thomas Stuart aboard his ship, Lady Elliot, which came to grief later on a reef of the same name in north Queensland. Lady Elliot Island itself was once known as Shipwreck Island. About 20 ships have floundered on its reefs; the rusting
engines of vessels a century old can be seen on reef flats at low tide.


Lady Elliot Island

A white-towered lighthouse built in 1873 to guide the ships of guano miners stands today as the island’s signature heritage feature. It was the first lighthouse in Australia with a timber frame and weather-proof cast iron external cladding. In just a few years, the guano miners destroyed the island’s vegetation - and with it the vast seabird colonies – with the removal of a metre of surface soil. Revegetation began with the building of the first tourist accommodation in 1969 and continues today.

The resort makes a concerted effort to reduce its environmental footprint. A hybrid power station using a bank of 128 panels has reduced carbon emissions from diesel generators by 70 per cent. Most waste is removed by boat; laundry is sent to the mainland to save water; no bottled water is sold; and the airstrip is irrigated by treated waste water.  The birds returned when their nesting places were restored. The breeding population of black noddies increased from a low of 35 pairs post-mining
to 70,000 pairs today. With growing numbers of visitors seeking out quality ecotourism destinations in Australia, that kind of avian wealth counts for something.

Snorkelling - Lady Elliot Island

LADY ELLIOT ISLAND ECO RESORT

The island has the advantage of easy accessibility to the Great Barrier Reef, with short daily flights from Brisbane (via Hervey Bay or Bundaberg) or the Gold Coast. The resort offers accommodation ranging from basic tented huts to comfortable suites costing from $165 to $339 per person per night including most meals and activities such as glass bottom boat tour, fish-feeding and
guided walks. More: http://www.ladyelliot.com.au/

Around Oz Part 34 - Eyre Peninsula in South Australia: Streaky Bay, Port Lincoln, Whyalla

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Southern Scrub-Robin

After exiting South Australia (see previous post) we travelled through Ceduna down the western coast of Eyre Peninsula to Streaky Bay. We had a pleasant three days here recovering from four days in a row of very long drives. Our camp is right on the water and all is very pleasant. About the town are plenty of Black-faced Cormorants.

Streaky Bay

Black-faced Cormorant
We took a casual drive along the Westwall Way Loop south of town, visiting Yanerbic Beach, Point Westwall and other spots; loads more wonderful coastal scenery.

Point Westwall near Streaky Bay
Among other things, I saw a large flock of Red-necked Stints which clearly had just returned from migration; a single Hooded Plover on the beach; and quite large numbers of Crimson Chats and White-fronted Chats, often in mixed flocks. A big concern is that my near-new Sony Cyber-shot 300 camera is playing up, refusing to focus properly on zoomed in images - I'm still grappling with that one. This chat was the best I could manage today.

Crimson Chat
After leaving Streaky Bay, we continued south along the Flinders Highway to Lincoln National Park, at the far southern end of Eyre Peninsula. This is an extensive area of coastal mallee with granite outcrops, dunes, sandy beaches and limestone cliffs. We camped for two nights at the nicely laid out Surfleet Cove Camping Ground, with our camp overlooking the waters of Port Lincoln.

Mallee - Lincoln National Park

Surfleet Cove - Lincoln National Park
Around the camp there was a male Emu with a brood of 12 small striped youngsters in tow. Only the adult emerges in the image below; his back feathers are ruffled in aggressive mode because he is annoyed by my presence. Other birds around the camp include plenty of Brown-headed and New Holland Honeyeaters and White-browed Babbler. The zoom function in my camera is totally stuffed now, so decent bird pictures of birds will need to await the arrival of my old Cybershot 200 in the mail in the days ahead.

Emu
We did the 5-km Surfleet Cove hike seeing a couple of nice Southern Scrub-Robins - these images are from Glenn's little travel camera, and took quite a bit of work to close enough. We saw Dusky Woodswallow, Brush Bronzewing and Collared Sparrowhawk.

Southern Scrub-Robin
We visited several scenic spots in the park including Fishermans Point, Cape Donington (a flock of 4 Rock Parrots here) and Taylors Landing (more Southern Scrub-Robins). We saw a group of about 10 Australian Sea-Lions offshore on Donington Island. A nice pair of Blue-breasted Fairy-wrens were in thick heath near the camp but no pic opportunities.

Fishermans Point, Lincoln National Park
On our final morning in the park we hiked to Spalding Cove and called in on Pillee Lake. Pairs of Blue-breasted Fairy-wren were found at both sites. So were Southern Scrub-Robins; I saw or heard them at 10 spots in the park. I did not see or hear Western Whipbird though I did not try hard: I had seen the local race on Kangaroo Island and saw the race nigrogularis recently at Cheyne Beach (see here).
We then drove into town for a couple of nights in the Port Lincoln Tourist Park. The winds here were ferocious, gusting up to 40 knots.

Port Lincoln
Still, Port Lincoln is a delightful town with its deepwater harbour and the backdrop of Lincoln National Park across the water; a mosaic of natural bushland parks; seaside walkways through wildflower-laden heath; and historic sandstone buildings.

After Port Lincoln we headed north to the steel town of Whyalla for two nights in the Whyalla Discovery Tourist Park. A bit expensive but we are right on the water's edge for the fourth camp in a row - very nice. We had a fierce wind storm that threatened at one point to seriously damage the canvas of our camper trailer.

Our beachside camp at Whyalla
Down the road is the Whyalla Wetlands, where the local council for some strange reason has flattened a swathe of native scrub that had separated the pools from the road. Birds here included 50+ Black-tailed Native-hens - the first for the trip - and a few Hoary-headed Grebes. Another pool a few blocks away had Musk Duck on it. I am sorely missing my camera, making do with scenery shots for a few more days.

Whyalla Beach from Hummock Hill
We visited some of the local attractions. The Mt Laura Homestead Museum was quite an impressive historic display, and I'm not much of a museum fan so that's saying something. Hummock Hill Lookout was also worth a look.

Image from historic Mt Laura Homestead, Whyalla
In a shrubby area of bluebush and samphire at the end of the caravan park, I flushed the first Stubble Quail of the trip. On the final morning I visited Whyalla Conservation Park, just north of the town, a nice reserve of myall woodland with extensive areas of bluebush and saltbush.

Whyalla Conservation Park

I searched unsuccessfully for Western Grasswren around Wild Dog Rock (in the image above) but on the way back saw one run across the track 2km from the park entrance.I enjoyed excellent close views of a pair of grasswrens. Although I was thrilled to see this species again after so long (many moons ago at Shark Bay) I sorely regretted not having my Sony camera as the pictures would have been brilliant.

Western Grasswren site, Whyalla Conservation Park
Other birds noted included Variegated Fairy-wren, Crested Bellbird, White-browed Babbler, Chesnut-rumped Thornbill, Inland Thornbill and quite a few Slender-billed Thornbills in open areas of blushbush..






Around Oz Part 35 - Southern Flinders Ranges, Adelaide

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Mt Remarkable National Park, Southern Flinders Ranges
Following our visit to Whyalla (see previous post) we moved on through Port Augusta to Mt Remarkable National Park in the southern Flinders Ranges for a one-night stay in the Mambray Creek camping ground. Again, a very nice camp setting with huge stately eucalypts amid shrub-covered gorges.

River Red Gums - Mambray Creek camping ground, Mt Remarkable National Park
Plenty of Emus about the park; a male with 4 young bluff charged me. We saw our first Crimson (Adelaide) Rosellas, Eastern Spinebills and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters of the trip. Other birds about the camp included Australian Owlet-Nightjar, Pallid Cuckoo andWhite-browed Babbler.

Hut build by shepherd early-1870s, southern Flinders Ranges
We hiked the Sugargum Lookout trail in the morning and were most impressed with a hut built by a shepherd in the early-1870s which is still standing strong.

Anita & Greg
We moved on south to Adelaide to spend a few days with our friend Anita Smyth, who lives in the lovely Adelaide Hills.

Crimson (Adelaide) Rosella
One of the birds seen from Anita's verandah was Crimson (Adelaide) Rosella.

Little Raven
A wander about the forests of the hills in Belair National Park and elsewhere in the area turned up quite a few Musk Lorikeets (including one bird at a nesting hollow), Eastern Rosella and Little Raven.

Musk Lorikeet

Musk Lorikeet
We checked out some of the cultural sites around Adelaide - the interior of the State Library in the city was most impressive and the old precincts around Port Adelaide were interesting. We spent a morning checking out some wetlands and salt marshes north of Adelaide - St Kilda, White Road Wetlands and Greenfields Wetlands. We saw 200+ Black-tailed Native-hen, quite a few Hoary-headed Grebe, a few Little Grassbirds and 2 Wood Sandpipers.

Black-tailed Native-hens - White Road Wetlands
Hoary-headed Grebes - Greenfields Wetlands
Wood Sandpiper - Greenfields Wetlands
Back in the Adelaide Hills at Anita's home, a female koala was nice. 

Koala - Adelaide Hills





Around Oz Part 36 - Victoria's Mallee: Hattah-Kulkyne National Park

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Malleefowl
Following our visit to Adelaide (see previous post) we moved eastwards across the South Australian border to Hattah-Kulkyne National Park in north-west Victoria. I had been to Hattah several times but not to our destination this time for a three-night stay – Lake Mournpull camping ground.

Mallee - Hattah-Kulkyne 
Due to Murray River flooding for environmental management, most major roads in Hattah (and the main camping ground at Lake Hattah) were closed so we had to get there via the somewhat rickety Konardin Track. It was fortunate that the store owner in the roadside hamlet of Hattah knew this, because there was nothing on Victorian National Parks websites to indicate it.

Flooded River Red Gum
The camping ground is nicely laid out around the shores of Lake Mournpull, now extensively flooded. The cost here, however, of $30 a night for an unpowered site with no facilities but a pit toilet is manifestly excessive by interstate standards.

Great Crested Grebe
The first afternoon I hiked a bit of the Mournpull Track. Displaying pairs of Great Crested Grebe were in the water about the campsite and Yellow (Crimson) Rosellas were common.
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Yellow Rosella
Other birds noted included Nankeen Night-Heron, Pink Cockatoo, Mulga Parrot, Inland Thornbill, Chesnut-rumped Thornbill, Splendid Fairy-wren, Red-capped Robin, Southern Whiteface, White-eared Honeyeater and White-browed Babbler.  There were lots of frogs calling, although the nights were cold.

Splended Fairy-wren

Mulga Parrot male
Mulga Parrot female

Pink Cockatoo
The first morning we hiked the Warepil Lookout circuit together and I repeated the walk later in the morning. Fresh tracks from Malleefowl were seen but no birds. Birds about included Yellow-plumed Honeyeater, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Striped Honeyeater, Spotted (Yellow-rumped) Pardalote, White-winged Triller, Pallid Cuckoo and Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoo.

Spotted (Yellow-rumped) Pardalote
In the afternoon I walked a few kilometres up the Konardin Track; extras for the local list included Jacky Winter, Hooded Robin and Brown Treecreeper. We are again plagued by heavy winds during the day which severely limits the ability to find stuff.

Malleefowl tracks
On the second morning I left early for a 16-km hike, heading west up the Konardin Track to Nowingi Track, then south to the Old Calder Highway and back to the camp ground via Warepil Lookout. Along Konardin I found fresh Malleefowl tracks which had crossed my boot prints from the afternoon before. Then along Nowingi Track I had a Malleefowl scratching about just 20m from me. It did not seem too perturbed by my presence as I watched it for about 20 minutes; this was the same area where I had previously seen Mallee Emu-wren. I've seen Malleefowl 3 or 4 times previously but this was my closest encounter.

Malleefowl

Malleefowl

Malleefowl
I also a single Chesnut Quail-Thrush, at the junction of Nowingi and the Old Calder. Other birds for the local list today include White-fronted Honeyeater and Little Crow, while Emu and a nice flock of Regent Parrots were about the camp ground. Hattah is renowned for its variety of parrots.

Regent Parrot

Regent Parrot
White-eared Honeyeater
The sole quail-thrush and malleefowl aside, I’ve not seen or heard other terrestrial specialties of the region on this trip - Southern Scrub-Robin, Mallee Emu-wren, Striated Grasswren, Shy Heath-wren. Although mid-September, it is cold and birds generally are quiet; it could be that they are still in winter behaviour mode. However, I would have expected more encounters; I’ve seen these species on previous visits to Hattah. It has been suggested that grasswrens and other small terrestrial birds in South Australia have suffered as a result of an explosion of feral cat numbers in recent years - due to a series of good weather seasons in southern inland Australia.
Cat paw imprint - Hattah
It has also been suggested that cat numbers have increased in south-west Western Australia due to the success of fox control programs in reserves such as Dryandra; the assumption is that foxes are efficient predators of kittens. This may be why the endangered Brush-tailed Bettong and Numbat have declined in recent years at Dryandra and elsewhere after initially doing well in response to the fox control measures.

Certainly I saw plenty of fresh cat paw marks on the trails at Hattah, as indeed I did at Dryandra and other reserves we visited recently in South Australia and Western Australia.

On the last morning I walked part of the Mournpull Track, encountering an excellent pair of Gilbert's Whistlers; this is another species I would have expected to see more of.

Gilbert's Whistler

Gilbert's Whistler


Around Oz Part 37 - Mildura & Broken Hill: Redthroat, Chirruping Wedgebill, Flowers and Sculptures in the Desert

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Redthroat
Following our visit to Hattah-Kulkyne National Park (see previous post) we moved on to Mildura for two days at the Palms Caravan Park on the edge of town. Mildura is a hotspot for all things River Murray – irrigation; paddle steamers (some build 120+ years ago and still in service); those grand red gums linings its banks. We visited various spots including old homesteads, Loch II, the wharf area, Kings Billabong (most impressive and looking like a great place to camp), Etiwandi Wetlands (totally unimpressive) and Red Cliffs. Mildura is a nice town with lots of character.

Murray River paddle steamer

Murray River - Red Cliffs
I checked out some of the Murray River wetlands around town but nothing of interest, though I had the first Red-rumped Parrots of the trip. We headed north from Mildura to Wentworth, where we saw the confluence of the Darling and Murray rivers, then on to Broken Hill for a two-night stay in the Lake View Caravan Park.

Murrary and Darling Rivers meet at Wetnworth
The park is on the eastern fringe of Broken Hill, a town with a rich historic and artistic heritage. Broken Hill once boasted 60 pubs but we struggled to find one open on a Sunday night, ending up at the quaintly named Democratic Workers Club.

Early in the morning I searched some of the bluebush-acacia woodlands in the hills on the edge of town. It was nice to see Chirruping Wedgebill seemingly everywhere.

Chirruping Wedgebill

Chirruping Wedgebill
Then I found a magnificent male Redthroat, a species I had failed previously to get a decent snap of. I also saw a male Black Honeyeater briefly. There were also plenty of Rufous Songlark about.


Redthroat

Redthroat
We visited Sculptures and the Living Desert Sanctuary, 12km from town. This is a collection of sculptures of varying quality from artists around the world sitting atop an imposing hill in the middle of the desert; definitely worth a visit.

Broken Hill nestles in the desert

Sculptures & The Living Desert Sanctuary
Emu, Zebra Finch and Budgerigar were here, as well as Euro and Central Australian Bearded Dragon.
Central Australian Bearded Dragon

Euro
We dropped in on the Broken Hill Synagogue Museum, a stately building with a lady manager who talks way too much, and the Minerals Museum.

Old Broken Hill Synagogue

 No sign of drought in this neck of the woods. Again, the arid woodlands are ablaze with wildflowers.

Wildflowers aplenty about Broken Hill
Among the wildflowers were some patches of iconic Sturt's Desert Pea growing in depressions beside a railway line.

Sturt's Desert Pea

On our last morning I birded about 15 km out on the Wilcannia Road. I saw more Redthroats and Chirruping Wedgebills along with Red-capped Robin, Crimson Chat, loads of Rufous Songlarks, Southern Whiteface and the first Chesnut-crowned Babblers of the trip. 

Southern Whiteface

Chesnut-croswned Babbler

Around Oz Part 38 - Wilcannia to Brewarrina, the Western Plains of NSW

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Blue Bonnet
Following our visit to Broken Hill (see previous post) we headed east through Wilcannia to Emmdale, a roadhouse with an area for camping behind it, for a two-night stay.  We had planned to head north from Wilcannia to camp in the Pardoo-Darling National Park but didn’t think it was worthwhile doing the 100km round trip on dirt roads. Emmdale is on the edge of the national park, with tracks through it starting across the road from the roadhouse.

Emmdale Roadhouse - Time to Relax

Emmdale - Sunset over the mulga.
We met our friend Kathy, who drove from Newcastle to join us for the five days we planned to spend in the Darling River region national parks.  Like the rest of our trip - with the conspicuous exception of the Winton-Longreach area - the inland scrub here was looking good with plenty of ground vegetation and flowering shrubs.

Emu - in abundance around here
About Emmdale we saw large numbers of Emu, Red Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo, along with unusually good numbers of Blue Bonnets. We had a lively evening in the roadhouse bar that evening.

For our only full day here, it rained continuously, and often heavily; this was the first time on the trip that we were confined to our camper trailer by rain. Brief forays about during rain spells turned up Chesnut-rumped Thornbill and Mulga Parrot but not much else; Yellow-throated Miner, Apostlebird and White-winged Chough were common.

Emmdale - Joys of camping in the rain
We headed east to Cobar, seeing Spotted Bowerbird there while we lunched.

Spotted Bowerbird
We had planned to camp in Gundabooka National Park for a three-night stay but the rains closed all roads, so we threw darts at a map and ended up at the Four Mile Campground, just outside Brewarrina. We were right on the banks of the Barwon River here, so very nice, and free camping. Large flocks of Red-tailed Black Cockatoo were along the river.

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo 

Barwon River - from our camp near Brewarrina
Birds on the floodplains and in surrounding scrubs include Red-rumped Parrot, Brown Treeecreeper, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Restless Flycatcher, White-winged Triller and 4 species of woodswallow - White-breasted, Black-faced, Masked and White-browed. Night birds calling were Southern Boobook, Australian Owlet-Nightjar, Tawny Frogmouth and Eastern Barn Owl. Kathy saw a single Pink Cockatoo along the river. Also of interest have been a couple of Pale-headed Rosellas - I would have thought well outside their range limit.

Brown Treecreeper
We had a morning checking out some roadside woodlands around Brewarrina. Birds included Red-winged Parrot, Red-capped Robin, Cockatiel, Blue Bonnet, Pallid Cuckoo, Chesnut-rumped Thornbill and White-winged Fairy-wren. A few Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Red-capped Plovers were on a small irrigation dam.

Pallid Cuckoo

Cockatiel




Around Oz Part 39 - Kings Plains National Park NSW: Heath-wrens and twin flat tyres

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Chesnut-rumped Heath-wren
We departed the western plains of NSW (see previous post), heading east to the pretty town of Bingara, where we overnighted in a caravan park and dined at the RSL Club. Then it was on to Kings Plains National Park, north-east of Inverell, which I’d not visited previously.

Kings Plains National Park

Kings Plains National Park
We had the delightful Ironbark Camping Ground to ourselves, set beside a creek in the beautiful NSW western slopes woodlands with their wonderful granite rockeries - a region so familiar to us through many visits to sites such as Girraween and Sundown national parks.

Camping at Kings Plains
We had only a few days of our round-Oz trip left, and had prided ourselves on not having had a single mechanic mishap with the vehicle, not even a flat tyre. Then we discovered that the stony road on the way in to Kings Plains National Park in north-east NSW had punctured not one but two tyres. One tyre had a pretty savage tear but the other was a slow leak. Glenn, ever the capable handyman, managed to get the vehicle back to Inverell for new treads by stopping and inflating the slow-leak tyre at 10-km intervals.



Fuscous Honeyeater and Yellow-tufted Honeyeater are common in the woodlands. Other birds about included quite a few that were new for the trip as we hadn’t been in far eastern Australian before here:  Buff-rumped Thornbill, White-naped Honeyeater, Eastern Yellow Robin, Leaden Flycatcher, White-throated Treecreeper, Pied Currawong. Also about are Brown Treecreeper, Azure Kingfisher, Eastern Rosella, Crimson Rosella and Dusky Woodswallow.

On the first afternoon I found a very nice Chesnut-rumped Hylacola (Heath-wren) which I managed to get a few snaps of.  It was near the road in suitable looking metre-high heath.

Chesnut-rumped Heath-wren

Chesnut-rumped Heath-wren
Mammals include good numbers of Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Swamp Wallaby and Red-necked Wallaby.

Swamp Wallaby
In the morning I reconnected with the hylacola and saw the first of the eastern races of Black-chinned Honeyeater and Crested Shrike-tit for the trip; I had seen the golden-backed race of the honeyeater in north-west Queensland and the NT, and the western race of the shrike-tit in WA. 
Also about were Brown Thornbill, Striated Thornbill, White-browed Babbler, Little Lorikeet and Striped Honeyeater.

Black-chinned Honeyeater

Crested Shrike-tit


           

Around Oz Part 40 - Bald Rock National Park & Heading Home: Spotted Quail-thrush, Superb Lyrebird, Red-browed Treecreeper, Glossy Black Cockatoo

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Spotted Quail-thrush male
After visiting Kings Plains National Park (see previous post) we decided on a two-night stay in Bald Rock National Park on the NSW-Queensland border as our final stopover before heading home after four months on the road. We called in at Bluff Rock near Tenterfield, where a large number of Aborigines were thrown to their deaths in 1844 by settlers avenging the theft of sheep. Makes you think.

Bluff Rock - Aboriginal massacre site
Bald Rock National Park abuts Girraween National Park in Queensland, the two combining to create a large, excellent reserve of woodland, granite boulders and outcrops, swampy glades and tall forest. In my view, Bald Rock is a better site as it has wide, grassy tracks - ideal for critter-spotting - that grade gently, unlike the steep, narrow and rocky paths of Girraween.

Wonga Pigeon
The camping ground at Bald Rock is also beautifully set out and unclustered. Birds about the camp include Crimson Rosella, Wonga Pigeon and Satin Bowerbird.

Greater Glider
I spotlighted Greater Glider and Common Brushtail at night. Southern Boobook, Tawny Frogmouth and Australian Owlet-Nightjar were about.

Border Track, Bald Rock National Park
I spent a morning doing the 14-km Border Track. With Glenn joining me for the first sector, we spotted a Superb Lyrebird crossing the track. This is the restricted range and notoriously shy race edwardi, which I had seen just once previously. We heard a second bird further along the track.
Soon after I found a small group of Red-browed Treecreepers feeding in the same trees as a pair of White-throated Treecreepers. (White-throated and Brown Treecreepers had been feeding together at Kings Plains.)


Red-browed Treecreeper
Red-browed Treecreeper
I flushed a pair of  Spotted Quail-thrush from the track, managing excellent views of both sexes. Soon after I flushed a third bird which was by itself. So I've seen 4 species of quail-thrush on this trip (the others being Western, Nullabor and Chesnut),
Plenty of honeyeaters were about - Yellow-faced Honeyeater, White-eared Honeyeater, White-naped Honeyeater, Eastern Spinebill, Noisy Friarbird, Yellow-tufted Honeyeater, Red Wattlebird.

Spotted Quail-thrush female

Spotted Quail-thrush female

Spotted Quail-thrush male
An Australian Little Eagle soared overhead as I continued my walk.

Australian Little Eagle
I checked out the Northern Lookout, which looks out over Girraween and Bald Rock itself - the largest granite monolith in Australia. The boulders around here were festooned with wildflowers, ferns and lichens.

Bald Rock

Boulders - Northern Lookout, Bald Rock
Moving on,  I searched a patch of montane heathland where Southern Emu-wren has been seen, but no sign of the bird. I found an extensive area of fur from a recently deceased Greater Glider - presumably the work of a Powerful Owl.
Then I found a pair of Glossy Black Cockatoos by the track feeding on Allocasuarina cones; I had seen evidence of their feeding the afternoon before. Just 100 metres up the track was a party of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. It's not often that these two species can be seen together; it means I saw all five Australian black cockatoo species on this trip. This was an awesome morning of birding - Superb Lyrebird, Red-browed Treecreeper, Spotted Quail-thrush, Glossy Black Cockatoo, Little Eagle and more.

Glossy Black Cockatoo

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
...

Camping Trip Around Australia 2014 - Tips, Highlights, Ups and Downs

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Camping at Kings Plains National Park, NSW
Having successfully motored around Australia on our four-month camping trip, a few notes are offered on how to plan such a sojourn; to summarise ups and downs (mostly ups) encountered along the way; and to report some highlights, birding and otherwise.

The whole journey, from when we departed the Sunshine Coast on June 4 this year - my Subaru Forrester towing a campervan - to when we returned home on October 3, was planned carefully. I've long been a firm believer in travel planning. It saves an extraordinary amount of time and energy to know where you are going and have a fair idea of where you are staying. So first up, our route needed to be sorted out. I have travelled around Australia twice, hitch-hiking as a teenager the first time and spending five years doing it the second time (living in Adelaide, Alice Springs, Darwin and Perth along the way) so I had a good idea of where we wanted to head.

We opted to travel through western Queensland, across the top of the Northern Territory, continuing west through the Kimberley of Western Australia, then south to the Pilbara, the mulga lands and on to south-west WA. Our route would take us east from there across the Nullabor to South Australia, through the Eyre Peninsula to Adelaide, and on through the mallee of north-west Victoria to western and north-east NSW before returning home. Four months proved to be a good length of time for the task. We left out north-east Queensland, south-east Australia, Tasmania and Central Australia; to do any of them adequately would have needed more time.

 Bitter Springs, Mataranka, NT
One of us is a birder and the other a non-birder, so the first principle is to plan an itinerary that caters for both. I aimed to combine a fair smattering of birding hotspots and bush camping with a decent look at towns and cities and staying in caravan parks. We think it worked out fine.

Before leaving, I put together a list of places we wanted to visit and nutted out an itinerary, which we followed with a few variations along the way. I worked out travel times between destinations, using sites such as the RACQ travel planner (http://www.driveaustralia.com.au/racq/trip-planner/). I believe it is important to limit distances driven on any day and not to drive at night. The most driving we did on one day was 6-6.5 hours on just 3 or 4 occasions; often we drove for a comfortable 2 or 3 hours between destinations.

Nourlangie Rock, Kakadu National Park, NT
We thought it was desirable to spend at least one night at each destination to get to know the place, but we overnighted at a handful of places when long travelling distances required it. Mostly we had 2 or 3 nights at any given spot with longer stays in Darwin (one week - our longest stopover), Broome, Perth and Adelaide. We became adept at assembling and dissembling our Jaco Finch campervan, taking an average of 30 minutes to do either. At Karijini National Park (blog post here http://tinyurl.com/pt45mpc) we chose to move camp because when we arrived, the only spot available was in a zone allowing noisy generators; when a generator-free spot became available the next day we shifted to it, taking just 45 minutes to complete the move.

Cambridge Gulf at sunset from Five Rivers Lookout, Wyndham, WA
On the subject of generators, they are a major disincentive to stay at designated free camping spots, such as those in Camps Australia Wide.We used the guide to help find 2 or 3 overnight spots out of the 122 nights we were away. These free camping areas are usually noisy, crowded, and close to busy highways; the guide can be a useful indicator of where not to stay. We found a couple of unmarked spots off the road for bush camping; one near Cue in the WA mulga was especially pleasant.

Wildflowers in the mulga - Yalgoo, WA 
While planning the trip, I researched the requirements and costs of camping in national parks in each state and territory. I checked out the prices of various caravan parks in towns and cities and used Trip Advisor to get an idea of their quality and position, so we had one picked out in each destination in advance. I often corresponded via email with caravan parks before we left. Although we were in the tropical north in winter, at the height of the grey nomad invasion (of which we seemingly were part) we needed to book ahead just once, for Broome.

Everywhere else, we simply turned up and were able to find a camping spot, electing mostly to take unpowered sites. Our campervan is connected to the vehicle by an Anderson plug which keeps the van battery charged and the fridge going while driving. We did not have television, air-conditioning or the like so our power needs were minimal and met by the battery and gas. Unpowered sites were usually considerably cheaper than powered, and often were more nicely positioned on the periphery of parks. We stayed in a motel just once – 3 nights in Margaret River – and had 4 nights with a friend in Adelaide. We spent $3,200 on accommodation – an average of $26 a night. National park camping fees varied between states; the $30-a-night charge for a pit toilet and nothing else in Victoria's Hattah-Kulcoyne National Park was outrageous.

Wandoo woodland at Dryandra, WA
Nor were camping conditions as crowded as we expected on the grey nomad trail. In Darwin, for instance, although the Lee Point Resort and Caravan Park was almost full, we had a reasonably private spot overlooking the bush. The exception was the cheek-by-jowl Tarangau Caravan Park in Broome, where the owners pack in as many as they can. (Fortunately some Brisbane friends had flown over to join us in Broome. They booked a motel room across the road, so we had a bolt-hole to escape to .) In southern Australia, as it was late winter, there were no hordes of grey nomads to contend with and on several occasions we were the only people camping.

Cape Arid National Park, WA
Petrol varied widely in price, and predictably was most expensive in such isolated fuelling stops as those on the Nullabor Plain and Barkly Tableland. The price went from $1.56 a litre in Mt Isa to $1.96 at Camooweal, a relatively short drive north. The most expensive petrol was $2.16 a litre at the garage at the turnoff from the Great Northern Highway to Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) National Park, WA. We intended to visit the park, staying at the Spring Creek Camp Ground near the entrance. However, we were told by camp ground staff that the Subaru would not be able to drive through the park as it was not 4-wheel-drive, and that we could be fined by national parks officers if we tried. We learned later that this was a ruse, with the aim of signing people up for expensive 4-wheel-drive tours, so beware if you go there. In any event, the camp ground was dirty and crowded, so we were happy enough to give the place a miss.
Incidentally, the Subaru proved perfectly capable of going everywhere we wanted to go, including some suitably bumpy roads.

Nullabor Plain, SA
We spent a total of $4030 on petrol, chewing up 2,444 litres – an average of $1.65 a litre. The cheapest petrol was on the way home in south-east Queensland. We had no mechanical problems with the vehicle and suffered just two flat tyres. Unfortunately they happened at the same time, at Kings Plains National Park (http://tinyurl.com/lxgzkjs) in NSW. Apart from replacing the tyres and having a wheel alignment done at the time, the only vehicle repair costs on the trip were replacing the car battery and campervan battery, and servicing the Subaru in Perth – a total of $1300. Added to that are the costs of servicing the campervan and vehicle after returning. So not including food, alcohol and a few odds and ends such as museum and national park entry fees, the trip cost the two of us around $9,000.

Flooded River Red Gum, Hattah-Kulcoyne National Park, Vic
We worked around being in the Top End of the NT and the Kimberley at the height of winter, a sensible strategy to escape the cold but one which had us in south-west WA in early-August, a little earlier than the optimum time to see wildflowers at their best and to avoid the wet winters of that region. We were fortunate with the weather, however, being confined to the campervan by rain for just one of the 122 days we were on the road.

The weather in south-west WA was uncharacteristically mild and fine, and we enjoyed some quite spectacular wildflower displays, especially in the mulga lands and at Cape Arid. In Eyre Peninsula in SA we encountered some serious winds at times, particularly at Whyalla where we feared our little abode was going to be torn apart. The inland was usually cold at night though never severely so; the long johns and woolly gloves were left unpacked. Sometimes temperature fluctuations were startling – the thermometer dropped from 28 to 18 degrees in the space of an hour as we headed south into the Pilbara in WA.

I'm often asked for trip highlights. Birding highlights later but in terms of aesthetics and landscapes, I was blown away by the view from the Five Rivers Lookout at Wyndham ( http://tinyurl.com/pst3eg7); the vast expanses of the Cambridge Gulf at sunset simply took my breath away. Another memorable sight was rounding a corner at Muirella in Kakadu National Park to see Nourlangie Rock glowing on the horizon, the sandstone massif reflected in the wetlands stretching below it. The fabulous Dale Gorge at Karijini National Park, referred to above, was another heart stopper. Karijini, by the way, was the only place where we paid a penalty for not carrying spare petrol; we would have liked to have visited other gorges in the park but did not have sufficient fuel.

Port Lincoln National Park, Eyre Peninsula, SA
We never tired of the stunning coastline of south-west WA – at Cheyne Beach, Albany, Walpole, Cape Arid (this national park east of Esperance was especially appealing (http://tinyurl.com/n8fg62k) and elsewhere – and of southern Eyre Peninsula in SA, particularly around Streaky Bay and south of Port Lincoln (http://tinyurl.com/q96zv79). Cape Keraudren in the southern Kimberley (http://tinyurl.com/lxfnxdz) was an unexpectedly beautiful stopover.

Darwin and Perth are former home cities of mine and it is a pleasure to revisit them; our week in Darwin was especially blissful. Smaller towns each had their own character and we enjoyed getting to know them a little as much as the cold beer and pub counter meals. (To avoid drink-driving, the proximity of pubs to caravan parks was a factor in our caravan park selections.) Among the towns we liked were Blackall in Queensland; Pine Creek in the NT; Kununurra and Wyndham in the Kimberley; Geraldton, Cervantes, New Norcia, Bunbury, Albany and Esperance in south-west WA; Port Lincoln and Whyalla in  SA; Mildura in Victoria and Broken Hill in NSW. Margaret River in south-west WA, surrounded by tall forests and beautiful beaches, is a stand-out in the town stakes.

Broken Hill and surrounds, NSW
On the subject of food, cooking while camping, while pleasant enough, can become a bit of a chore after a while. We generally avoided canned or frozen meals but tried to keep it simple so we did not waste time. We had a small Weber Q oven for frying and baking, and quite often made use of facilities such as microwave ovens in caravan park camp kitchens. Outside the van we had some pleasant culinary experiences - a duck curry at a hotel in Mt Newman and lobster seafood platter in Cervantes were especially memorable. Food costs varied hugely. A steak with chips and salad at Pine Creek, NT, cost $35; the same meal, with a bigger steak, cost $11 in Esperance.

If you like a drink, beware of the difficulties of purchasing alcohol in northern WA and the NT as authorities try unsuccessfully to put a lid on the indigenous drinking problem. Often we could not purchase cask wine or could do so only at certain hours (for instance, after 2pm in Katherine). Sometimes it was not possible to buy reasonably priced wine. For a bottle each of their cheapest reds and whites in a pub in Wyndham, we paid $46; the same wines at home would have cost $18.

Notwithstanding my pre-trip research, some caravan parks did not live up to expectations. The Norseman Caravan Park in WA was a rip-off at $38 a night for an unpowered site, especially when our view was the back of a shed and a pile of rubbish. Conversely, some parks were delightfully positioned and suitably private. Stand-outs were the Bathers Paradise Caravan Park in Esperance, WA; Coalmine Beach Caravan Park near Walpole, WA; Pinnacles Caravan Park at Cervantes, WA; Mataranka Cabins and Camping at Mataranka, NT; and the Discovery Tourist Park at Kununurra, WA.

Camp grounds in national parks also varied sharply in appeal. We were particularly impressed by the Congelin camp ground at Dryandra, and the camp grounds in the national parks of Karijini and Cape Arid in WA, Kakadu in the NT, Port Lincoln in SA, and Bald Rock in NSW.

Bald Rock National Park, NSW
We did not encounter problems with crime or harassment of any kind. We suffered no injuries or serious illness. We managed even not to lose anything. One serious hiccup was the collapse of the focusing function on my near-near Sony Cybershot 300 camera; I was without a camera for a week until my old Cybershot 200 arrived in the post from home. The only experience with a mildly scary twist was me running into a very large Saltwater Crocodile while birding the mangroves at Wyndham (http://tinyurl.com/pst3eg7).

The trip is detailed in a series of 40 blog posts preceding this one. All up, we drove 19,999.3 kilometres in four months to complete the trip. And no, we felt no compunction to drive around the block for a few hundred metres to round it off.

BIRDS

I saw 441 bird species, 3 of which were lifers due to recent taxonomic splits: Nullabor Quail-thrush, Western Quail-thrush and Pilbara Grasswren. I tried though failed to see another potential lifer – Western Ground Parrot. I also saw a few races which are potential splits, notably the south-west WA forms of Rufous Fieldwren and Crested Shrike-tit. I was not after a big list and because I was not preoccupied with chasing ticks, I was able to indulge the pleasures of photography and reconnecting with birds I had often not seen in decades. We saw a total of 49 Wedge-tailed Eagles on the trip. Some of the birding highlights follow.

Hooded Parrot, Edith Falls, WA
Western Queensland. Plum-headed Finch at Blackall; Flock Bronzewing, Spinifex Pigeon & Grey-headed Honeyeater at Bladensburg National Park.

Rufous Owl, Kakadu National Park, NT
Northern Territory. Rufous Owl at Mataranka and Kakadu National Park; Hooded Parrot & Gouldian Finch at Edith Falls; Black-tailed Teecreeper, White-lined Honeyeater, Partridge Pigeon & Little Kingfisher at Kakadu National Park; Rainbow Pitta at Fogg Dam; Purple-crowned Fairy-wren at Victoria River.


Gouldian Finch - Wyndham, WA
Kimberley, WA. Star Finch, Sandstone Shrike-thrush, Buff-sided Robin, Yellow-rumped Mannikin & White-browed Crake at Kununurra; White-breasted Whistler at Wyndham, Broome and Cape Keraudren; Gouldian Finch at Wyndham; Great-billed Heron at Derby; (Asiatic) Gull-billed Tern & Black-breasted Buzzard at Broome.


Pilbara Grasswren - Mt Newman, WA
Pilbara-Mulga Lands, WA. Painted Finch at Karijini National Park and Mt Newman; Pilbara Grasswren & Spinifexbird at Mt Newman; Western Quail-thrush & Ground Cuckoo-shrike north of Cue; good numbers of White-fronted, Black & Pied Honeyeater in the mulga; Chiming Wedgebill at Yalgoo.

Western Whipbird - Cheyne Beach, WA
South-West WA. Musk Duck, Blue-billed Duck and other waterfowl in Perth; Rufous Treecreeper, Blue-breasted Fairy-wren and other SW WA specialties at Dryandra; Red-eared Firetail at Margaret River, Cheyne Beach and Walpole-Nornalup National Park; Rock Parrot at Cape Leeuwin and Cape Arid (and Lincoln National Park in SA); White-backed Swallow at the Pinnacles; Crested (Western) Shrike-tit near Walpole; Rufous (Western) Grasswren near Cervantes and at Cape Arid; Western Whipbird, Western Bristlebird & Noisy Scrubbird at Cheyne Beach; Hooded Plover & Cape Barren Goose at Esperance.


Malleefowl - Hattah-Kulcoyne National Park, Vic
South Australia. Nullabor Quail-thrush & Slender-billed Thornbill at Nullabor; Southern Scrub-robin at Lincoln National Park; Western Grasswren at Whyalla Conservation Park.

Redthroat - Broken Hill, NSW
Victoria. Malleefowl, Gilbert's Wistler & Chesnut Quail-thrush at Hattah-Kulcoyne National Park.


Spotted Quail-thrush - Bald Rock National Park, NSW
NSW. Redthroat & Chirruping Wedgebill at Broken Hill; Chesnut-rumped Heathwren at Kings Plains National Park; Spotted Quail-thrush, Red-browed Treecreeper & Superb Lyrebird at Bald Rock National Park.


Western Pygmy-Possum, Cheyne  Beach, WA
Mammal highlights included Western Pygmy-Possum at Cheyne Beach, and Southern Right Whale at Cheyne Beach and Cape Arid.


Macleay Island and Brisbane Bits

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Bush Stone-Curlew, Macleay Island
I had a few days visiting my friend Glen Ingram on Macleay Island in southern Moreton Bay and checking out some birding hotspots around Brisbane.

Juvenile Black-winged Stilt, Lindum Wetland
I started off at the wetland on Burnby Road, Lindum. A flock of about 15 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers was here (at the spot where a Ruff and Pectoral Sandpiper were present early this year) along with 3 Red-necked Avocets and a flock of 12 Red-kneed Dotterels. I flushed a Common Sandpiper from the mangroves immediately to the east of the wetland. Here and elsewhere, I was to see quite a few juvenile Black-winged Stilts. A list of birds seen at Lindum is here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20344923.

Glossy Ibis & Grey Teal, Sandy Camp Road Wetlands
I moved on to the nearby Sandy Camp Road Wetlands. Water levels were low and there was not much about. A single Glossy Ibis was present and a Spotless Crake was heard. Plenty of Comb-crested Jacanas about and Brown Quail showed nicely on the track.

Red Knot & Bar-tailed Godwit - Wynnum
Then it was on to the wader roost at high tide at the end of Wynnum Road North. Although the tide was very high, there were not many waders present. Of interest was a relatively large number (20+) of Red Knot but no Great Knots, the latter a much more common species in south-east Queensland.

Marsh Sandpiper & Common Greenshank - Wynnum
Marsh Sandpiper and Common Greenshank were seen together at Wynnum - a nice comparison.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Curlew-Sandpiper - Manly
Then it was on to the wader roost behind Manly Boat Harbour. Waders were in large numbers, although no rarities appeared to be about. Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Red-necked Stint and Lesser Sand Plover were abundant. In smaller numbers were Great Knot, Pacific Golden Plover, Curlew-Sandpiper, Eastern Curlew, Ruddy Turnstone and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. A couple of Large Sand Plovers and Red Knots were also spotted.
Curlew-Sandpiper - Manly
On Macleay Island, Glen has made good friends of his local Bush Stone-Curlews. A pair with two well-developed young has taken up residence in his front garden. Another pair is in residence in his back garden. The territorial boundaries between the two groups are fragile and the source of much bickering.

Bush Stone-Curlew
 Other birds on the island included Collared Kingfisher showing well on an overhead wire; I have seldom seen the species perched on wire,

Collared Kingfisher
After leaving Maclean Island I headed off to Mt Coot-tha to look for the Square-tailed Kite nest reported from the Summit Trail. Although I tracked down the GPS co-ordinates from ebird, I could not find any trace of the kites. A consolation prize was a Southern Boobook which flushed from a eucalypt hollow, only to be mobbed by an avalanche of Noisy Miners.

Southern Boobook

Australian King-Parrot
Also here was a showy male Australian King-Parrot.

Yellow Honeyeater on Bribie Island

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Yellow Honeyeater Bribie Island
A Yellow Honeyeater has turned up hundreds of kilometres out of its range on Bribie Island, off the south-east coast of Queensland. This is the first record of this species in south-east Queensland, or indeed anywhere south of Rockhampton, 600km to the north, or perhaps even St Lawrence, 800km north.

Yellow Honeyeater
The bird was in flowering shrubs and trees at Banksia Beach, on the eastern shore of the island. It was found last Wednesday by a local observer and photographer, Janice O'Donnell.  On the occasion she found it, the bird was feeding with Brown Honeyeaters in a flowering Jacaranda. Janice, who noted that the Brown Honeyeaters behaved aggressively towards the Yellow Honeyeater, had not been able to relocate the bird subsequently.

Yellow Honeyeater
The site is a park off White Patch Esplanade, Banksia Beach, on the right behind some houses just before a bridge over a small mangrove-lined stream. For the record, Janice wanted the whereabouts of the site kept under wraps for the time being as she was concerned that the bird and residents living adjacent to the park would be disturbed by visitors. I agreed to comply with her wishes but Rob Morris, a moderator on Eremaea, published the details without the permission of either myself or Janice.

When I arrived at the site in the afternoon of Sunday November 2 about 3pm, I heard the honeyeater as soon as I got out of my vehicle. It was feeding in a flowering Silky Oak and during the 30 minutes or so I watched, it visited a variety of shrubs. It was quite vocal and did not appear to be shy.

Yellow Honeyeater
The honeyeater is way out-of-range and was presumably a vagrant nomad. Bribie Island has the southern-most population of another mainly tropical species, Fairy Gerygone, so the place has some form in this regard.

Yellow Honeyeater
 The Yellow Honeyeater normally occurs as far south as St Lawrence but there a couple of sight records claimed for the Rockhampton area.

Yellow Honeyeater habitat - Bribie Island
I called in at Buckley's Hole on the way home. A single female Australasian Shoveler was of note but not much else around. This wetland currently has extensive areas of fringing mud due to dry conditions.

Australian Shoveler - Buckley's Hole

Brisbane's Square-tailed Kite Nest

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Square-tailed Kite - Mt Coot-tha
It's not every day that the nest of one of Australia's rarer raptors is found within a few kilometres of the CBD of one of its big capital cities, so Brisbane is blessed with the successful nesting of Square-tailed Kites at Mt Coot-tha.

Square-tailed Kite
The birds were detected nesting in a Spotted Gum about 20 metres up in June. They have reared a single chick and when I visited the nest this week the youngster was in fine form, fully fledged and close to leaving.

Square-tailed Kite
The extraordinary thing about the nest site is that is located over a busy road, with a constant procession of vehicles, joggers and bikes passing underneath. The birds are completely unperturbed and indeed appear to take an interest in proceedings.

Square-tailed Kite
I had the nest under observation for 3 hours. During that time, an adult was always nearby, either in the nest tree or in an adjacent tree. One adult was on sentry duty for two hours before the second took over. The adult that was away from the nest was seen regularly, quartering the tree-tops in the surrounding open eucalypt forest or flying overhead, evidently in search of prey.

Square-tailed Kite
The adult kite attending the nest ignored potential prey in the surrounding trees as Rainbow Lorikeets, Noisy Friarbirds and others went about their business. The adult was left unmolested while perched near the nest but when it took flight or flew nearby, the kite would be mobbed by Pied Currawongs or Torresian Crows.

Juvenile Square-tailed Kite on Nest
The young bird, evidently hungry, called incessantly while I was there. The adult called just once, when a Torresian Crow landed in the nest tree. The kite crouched low with tail up, chattering vigorously until the crow left. The nest attracted the attention of the constant stream of passers-by, many of whom expressed interest in the birds; some folk told me they had frequently seen the birds during regular walks.

Adult Square-tailed Kite on nest
I was shown a Square-tailed Kite nest in a Spotted Gum near Bundaberg in 2012 by Eric Zillmann and Trevor Quested (see here). Eric told me that the kites had nested in the same area for 17 consecutive years. The birds usually build a different nest each year but would occasionally top up an old nest to use again.

Square-tailed Kite Adult & Juvenile together
The kites have nested also at Mt Coot-tha in recent years. Hopefully they will continue to do so. 

Yandina Creek Wetland and its Wonderful Waterbirds at Risk of Destruction

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Black-necked Stork
Lewin's Rail, Spotless Crake, Black-necked Stork, Red-necked Avocet and Mallard were among a fine array of waterbirds seen yesterday in an extensive area of wetland and grassland at Yandina Creek on the Sunshine Coast that is threatened by development. Other good birds included Latham's Snipe, Red-kneed Dotterel, Whiskered Tern, Glossy Ibis and Little Grassbird.

Spotless Crake
I had previously birded the far eastern edge of this wetland, drawing attention to good species there such as Australian Painted-Snipe (see here) and Black-tailed Native-Hen (and here).  This spot is visible from River Road but is presently dry. Although I had permission from the owners of the adjacent property to bird there, I had been unaware until today of the extensive area of grassland and wetland that extends inland and west from here. This area - evidently Lots 2 & 3 River Road RP 107173- is potentially one of the most important coastal wetlands for waterbirds in south-east Queensland.

Red-necked Avocet
Today I heard 5 Lewin's Rails calling from 3 sites and saw 1 bird briefly. I heard no fewer than 12 Spotless Crakes and saw 3, including some nice close views. A fine male Black-necked Stork was strutting its stuff. Also present were 4 Red-necked Avocets, a species I had not seen previously on the Sunshine Coast. Of further interest was a free-flying female Mallard. This bird clearly was not domesticated or semi-domesticated, unlike the great majority of Mallards encountered in south-east Queensland; genuinely wild, feral Mallards are rare in SEQ, unlike in the southern states.

Red-kneed Dotterel
About 20 Red-kneed Dotterels were present; this visitor from the inland has been in this area for a couple of years now. Little Grassbirds were calling commonly, side-by-side with Tawny Grassbirds. A flock of 50 Whiskered Terns was noted and at least 20 Latham's Snipe were flushed.

Royal Spoonbill
Three Glossy Ibis were seen along with good numbers of more common species such as Royal Spoonbill and all four species of egret.

Yandina Creek Wetlands looking west to Mt Ninderry
These wetlands have been created by tidal flooding from the Maroochy River and associated canals due to changes in the water table caused by many decades of sugar cane farming, which has long stopped at this site. Although created artificially, the wetlands and grasslands provide excellent habitat for waterbirds. Their preservation and management would help atone for the widespread destruction of wallum heath and natural wetlands around the Sunshine Coast.

Yandina Creek Wetlands looking east to Mt Coolum
I have had discussions with the Sunshine Coast Regional Council about the prospect of the council acquiring some of the land in this area (Lot 2 River Road) which is presently up for sale. Another area of bird-rich wetland adjacent to Lot 2 was bulldozed for a housing block redevelopment (see here). The council is reluctant to  purchase the land because it thinks the price is too high and because it is concerned that waterbirds could interfere with air traffic at the nearby Sunshine Coast Airport, where runways are being extended.

The council advised me in a letter dated August 12, 2013 that although the land had habitat value for some bird species, priority was given to acquiring properties that exhibited "significant environmental values and are in highly strategic locations". How the council came to the conclusion that these wetlands are not of significant environmental value and are not in a  "highly strategic" location is not explained.

The airport runway extensions will destroy large swathes of this human-modified grassland-wetland habitat along with remnant wallum heath that is home to a tiny population of endangered Ground Parrots. The Yandina Creek Wetlands, however, are well to the west of the extensions. In view of today's discoveries, I will be asking the council to think again. Anyone who feels the same could email the council here at mail@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au, asking that their concerns be drawn to the attention to the mayor, Councillor Mark Jamieson.

A full list of birds seen today can be found here.

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