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Buff-breasted Buttonquail: an Update

November 28, 2021, 7:07 pm
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A scientific report has been amended in response to criticism by some in the birding community that researchers were dismissive of multiple sight records of the extremely rare Buff-breasted Buttonquail (illustration above by Birds of the World). The report published by the Threatened Species Recovery Hub of the National Environmental Science Program last July raised the prospect of all recorded sightings of Buff-breasted Buttonquail from south of Cooktown being misidentified Painted Buttonquail. A newly amended version of the report concedes that some records may be authentic. The Buff-breasted Buttonquail is found only in the savanna woodlands of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula (below). The July research report by a team of University of Queensland scientists says the last confirmed records of the bird were probably in the 1920s. It argues that the buttonquail population may have crashed due to several factors including the introduction of cattle, changed fire regimes and feral predators. What follows are recent changes [in square brackets] made to the report.
(1) Version 1: “These unverified observations have influenced our perception of the species’ autecology and threats….” Version 2: “These observations have influenced our perception of the species’ autecology and threats….” [unverified is dropped] (2) Version 1: “This research has found sufficient evidence to suggest that all southern records of Buff-breasted Button-quail could involve misidentified Painted Button-quail. Our research has found the features and methods researchers and birdwatchers have used to identify Buff-breasted Button-quail from Painted Button-quail are incorrect.” Version 2: “Our research has found that many of [not all] the features and methods researchers and birdwatchers have used to separate Buff-breasted Button-quail from Painted Button-quail are incorrect. This may suggest that a significant proportion of southern records of Buff-breasted Button-quail could involve misidentified Painted Button-quail.” [The suggestion that all southern records could involve misidentification is removed.] (3) Version 1: “Due to our research there is now considerable evidence to suggest all reports from this region have in fact been misidentified Painted Button-quail.” Version 2: “Due to our research there is now evidence to suggest many, and perhaps most [not all] reports from this region may have been misidentified Painted Button-quail.” (4) Version 1: “Furthermore, this project has determined previous reports from the 1980s to the present day in the Wet Tropics and Einasleigh Uplands Bioregion are likely to be erroneous, suggesting the last confirmed record of this species was probably in the early 1920s.” Version 2: “Furthermore, this project has determined that a significant proportion of reports from the 1980s to the present day in the Wet Tropics and Einasleigh Uplands Bioregion could have been misidentifications.” [“significant proportion” is added; “likely to be erroneous” is deleted] (5) Version 1: “However no contemporary reports are accompanied by verifiable evidence despite the dramatic increase in photography by the birding community.” Version 2: “However, no contemporary reports are accompanied by verifiable evidence, such as a skin or photograph, despite the dramatic increase in photography by the birding community.” [What constitutes verifiable evidence is clarified.] The edited report is here (copy and paste URL): file:///C:/Users/Greg%20Roberts/Documents/BBBQ%20version%202.pdf
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North Queensland, December 2021: Chasing wet season visitors

December 17, 2021, 2:55 pm
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I wanted a few photo ticks from far North Queensland of species that can only or most easily be seen in the wet season, so I flew to Cairns last week on a cheap Covid tourism industry recovery fare ($75!). A hire car (Apex is much cheaper than the big names) was picked up and I was off to the famed Kingfisher Park Lodge at Julatten. I’d not visited there before, but it’s arguably the best site in the country for Red-necked Crake. This time of year is the end of the dry season, hot and with little water about; the crakes (above and below) were seen easily with multiple encounters in forest fragments, on lawn edges and at bird baths. I saw them several times from my motel room deck (first image below).
Another wet season visitor I was after (none of these targets were lifers) was Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher. This glorious bird was happily common, with several active termite mound nests on the property and birds seemingly calling all over the place.
Early the next morning I drove up to the grassy clearing atop Mt Lewis, the go-to site for Blue-faced Parrotfinch. They are not usually there in numbers until late in the wet season so this was a bit hit-and-miss, with just a single sighting of one bird on ebird this season. However, a parrotfinch was literally the first bird I saw in the gloomy light upon arrival. An adult and a subadult fortunately hung about until the light improved, exploring roadside seed along the rainforest edge.
Other birds were somewhat hard to come by but I saw - among others - Chowchilla and Tooth-billed Bowerbird (below).
Others included Bridled Honeyeater and Bower’s Shrike-thrush (below).
Back at the lodge I spotlighted around the grounds that evening seeing several Bush-Rats (Rattus fuscipes) and Fawn-footed Melomys (above) and an obliging Giant White-tailed Rat (below).
An Amethystine Python put in an appearance (above), as did a gaunt White-lipped Tree-frog (below).
The next morning I had nice views of a male Superb Fruit-Dove.
I headed north to Cooktown, stopping at a lagoon along Hurricane Road near Mt Carbine which can be productive. A pair of Squatter Pigeon by the road were unusually tame.
At the lagoon was a vocal Brown Treecreeper of the distinctive north Queensland race melanotus.
I was given a site for Spotted Whistling-Duck by my friends Kath Shurcliff and David Houghton at Keatings Lagoon near Cooktown. In very hot and humid conditions I tracked down a flock of 18 birds which kept to themselves in well-vegetated backwaters, showing no inclination to join the large numbers of Wandering Whistling-Ducks in more open areas.
Also at the lagoon were a couple of Tropical Scrubwrens.
The next morning I failed to connect with Black-winged Monarch along the road to Walker Bay (above) outside Cooktown, where they had been seen recently, although Kath heard one. I had to make do with a Yellow-spotted Honeyeater on its nest.
Carlia longipes (Closed-litter Rainbow-skink) was common in the leaf litter.
I drove south to Kuranda for an overnight stop with my friend Alexander Watson. A pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrots showed beautifully at eye level by his back door. Many thanks to Alexander for lending me his camera for this trip after I dropped mine in a creek two days before leaving for Cairns!
I moved on to Cairns. It took a couple of visits to the France Road turf farm to finally notch up Eastern Yellow Wagtail, which had been present here in recent weeks. The first of three birds seen eventually was well-picked up by Martin Cachard.
In and about Cairns, Torresian Imperial-Pigeons were nesting everywhere. This migratory species once nested only on offshore islands, visiting the mainland to feed. An abundance of suitable food (palm fruit mostly) evidently accounts for the change in behaviour.
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Painted or Buff-breasted? Buttonquail in the spotlight

December 19, 2021, 4:14 pm
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Painted or Buff-breasted? Buttonquail, that is. In the image of specimens above by Patrick Webster, that’s a Painted Buttonquail on the left, a Buff-breasted Buttonquail on the right. The reputation for being Australia’s most mysterious bird has shifted from Night Parrot to Buff-breasted Buttonquail. The BBBQ is the only species of Australian bird not to have been definitively photographed to date: by that I mean that no images have been made publicly available or been publicly verified independently. No record of the species – one of a handful of birds endemic to the savannah woodlands (below) of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula - has been backed by photographs or other solid evidence such as specimens since the 1920s, when birds were collected in the Coen area of central Cape York. The bird is known from just seven specimens.
University of Queensland researchers have looked for the BBBQ for the past three years without success; they fear the species may be on the brink of extinction. Two north Queensland naturalists with considerable field experience insist the BBBQ is thriving in at least one area. Most reports of the species from the past three decades have been from the Mareeba-Mt Mulligan-Mt Carbine region, which I will refer to as “southern Cape York” for the sake of convenience. I am among those who have long harboured doubts about the authenticity of many of these records. The area abuts the northern Atherton Tablelands and is well south of what is generally accepted as the biogeographical region of Cape York (below). Most sightings were fleeting flight glimpses; buttonquail and quail are notoriously difficult to identify in flight, especially in woodland or forest.
In a report earlier this year published by the Threatened Species Recovery Hub, University of Queensland PhD student Patrick Webster (below) and colleagues put up a compelling argument for dismissing the many sightings based solely on brief flight views. The report makes a good case for arguing that buttonquail populations may have collapsed due to several factors including the introduction of cattle, changed fire regimes and feral predators. Critics say the authors went too far by effectively rejecting all records over recent decades from southern Cape York. As I reported earlier on this blog, following an outcry from birders offended by the questioning of records, the report was amended recently to concede more sightings may be authentic.
I have been told of a handful of accounts of birds on the ground by experienced observers in southern Cape York that sound convincing, although none are recent. Now, well-known north Queensland naturalists John Young and Lloyd Nielsen say John has photographed BBBQ with camera traps at an undisclosed location. To wind the clock back a little, John had claimed, with Lloyd’s support, to have taken the first ever photographs of a BBBQ in 2018 – a bird in flight (screenshot below) - at the Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s Brooklyn Sanctuary near Mt Carbine. John has since agreed the image was not sufficiently clear for the public to be convinced of the bird’s identification.
Patrick and colleagues have looked for BBBQ without success on Brooklyn and at other sites in southern Cape York – and elsewhere over Cape York Peninsula more generally - where birds were reported in recent decades. They found that Painted Buttonquail was widely distributed not only through southern Cape York – where that species has long been known and was thought to live side-by-side with BBBQ – but well to the north of this region in what we might call the heart of Cape York. The research team maintains this is not conclusive evidence that the BBBQ is no more and is continuing efforts to track down the species. Patrick has done some useful work with examining and putting together BBBQ specimens, including the identification of two that had been previously overlooked.
John and Lloyd insist that John’s latest images are the real deal: the first ever photographs of the BBBQ. Both gentlemen are highly experienced field naturalists with significant discoveries and records under their belt. John captured international attention when he found the Night Parrot and took the first ever photographs (above) of the species in what is now the Pullen Pullen Reserve in north-west Queensland in 2013. That was no small achievement. Lloyd has published numerous offerings which have substantially boosted our knowledge of north Queensland birds, such as the splitting of Cryptic and Graceful honeyeaters. John met me at my Sunshine Coast hinterland home earlier this month (below) to share a single image of what he is certain is a BBBQ. I am grateful for the opportunity he gave me to have a look. My immediate reaction was that the bird was indeed interesting. It did not look to me like a Painted, appearing too plain and brownish-buff rather than greyish. As I reported on my Facebook timeline, the bird to my eyes resembled a BBBQ based on field guide features. Among features I cited of interest were the relative absence of spotting, rufous-chestnut colouration along the back, and uniform brownish-grey rump and tail. However, I pointed out that the head and front of the bird were obscured in the image - which in any event was not sharp - so that crucial diagnostic features such as eye colour and bill length and size could not be seen. I could not therefore be certain of a BBBQ identification in my view.
I have never pretended to be a buttonquail identification expert and there are plenty of others who are more finely attuned than me in matters of forensic feather analysis. I was therefor somewhat surprised at the strength of the response to what was a short note on my personal Facebook timeline, not a public page. I was accused of being used as a “cover” by John to authenticate a record that some harboured doubts about. I was told I needed to “set the record straight”. More seriously, two defamatory memes were posted on the #BIRDHARD Facebook page. One depicted a caricature of John holding a gun to my head. The memes were quickly taken down by the page but for reasons best known to himself, John insisted on sharing them on Facebook, assuring they were seen by many more than would otherwise have been the case. John included in his post a suggestion that Patrick’s team was behind the memes, but I do not believe there is any evidence for this.
I might add that various other memes (example above) on this Facebook page and elsewhere seem to me to be disrespectful and scornful of records sincerely believed in by some birders. As my friend Glen Ingram points out, humour is meant to be uplifting; it should not be about putting people down. Glen and I are among those birders, incidentally: we believe we saw BBBQ on the ground, up close and clearly, near Iron Range in 1984. In the wake of this hullabaloo, Patrick has provided useful photographs as well as a thoughtful summary; I thank him for his co-operation. Other information has been provided by various observers, notably my friend Chris Corben, which helps to shine a line on BBBQ identification features. Patrick’s images demonstrate that the rich colouring on the upperparts of a Painted can be more extensive with females in the breeding season than is generally believed to be the case; the colouring was widely considered to be restricted to the shoulder area. This extended colouration feature is well-shown in the images below.
Based on specimens photographed by Patrick, notwithstanding the limitations posed by specimens, the rump and upper tail of a BBBQ should be sandy-rufous rather that than brownish-grey. It looks to be the case that a good feature for BBBQ is the relative absence of dark bars on the back and scapular feathers, so a BBBQ should appear more uniformly sandy-rufous in this area than Painted. However, this part of the bird was largely not visible in John’s photograph. The image of specimens below shows this feature well, although it varies somewhat between individuals.
The bird in John’s image, which has since been shown to other observers, shows wing coverts heavily spotted black and white; it has been suggested to me that BBBQ wing markings should show much less black, with essentially just white spots on a plain sandy-rufous background. John insists that several well-qualified observers have backed his assertion that the bird is indeed a BBBQ, but says these people do not wish to be identified. (So fraught are events surrounding this controversy that a degree of reticence to publicly join the fray is perhaps understandable.)
Some of the distinguishing features discussed in this post can be seen in its first image. In light of these various exchanges, I asked John to again show me his photograph to refresh my memory as there remained features I considered to be of interest, including the relative absence of spotting on his bird other than on the wing coverts. John declined my request. Some reputable observers tell me my description fits Painted better than BBBQ. My view remains that it is not possible to be certain of the bird’s identity in the absence of images showing the key bill and eye colour features. These are demonstrated in Patrick’s superimposing of Birds of the World’s BBBQ illustration over a Painted BQ image above. (The former may not do justice to the size and shape of a BBBQ bill, if further information beyond the examination of existing specimens suggests it is more like that of the closely related Chestnut-backed Buttonquail, below, image also by Patrick Webster.)
At the end of the day, the central point of this matter is the absence of proof of eye colour and bill shape and size in John's image. John says those features are clearly visible in some of 15 colour images he obtained from his camera traps. He told me he has shared those images with Lloyd but nobody else. John says on Facebook: “Lloyd and I are totally happy we have Buff Breasted Button Quails and we are far from amateurs as some out there might think. We have decided to keep everything to ourselves now till we are ready…. We will just squirrel our info away from here on in till we are ready to reveal all.” I visited Lloyd twice at his Mt Molloy home (below) last week to discuss the BBBQ conundrum and other matters. Lloyd told me had seen just one image, which similarly to the one I was shown, did not show key identification issues; he has not seen an image showing the bird’s head. When I asked Lloyd to say for the public record how confident he was that we finally had an image of a BBBQ, he replied: “I’m convinced it’s a Buff-breasted from what I’ve seen in the field but I’d like to see a bit more of it. Having seen 20-odd Buff-breasted Buttonquail over many years, I’d say I’m 99 per cent sure.” Features he cited in support of this view were wing pattern (“not as streaky and dark” as Painted) and plain and uniform tail and rump.
Plumage aside, other features are cited as being helpful for identifying BBBQ. It is supposedly significantly larger than Painted, but specimen measurements taken by Patrick suggest this is not the case. The infrequency of sightings has been attributed to its unusually shy disposition, but there is no reason why the BBBQ should be any more obtuse than its cogeners, and buttonquail generally, while sometimes difficult, are not exceptionally difficult to track down in the field. John and Lloyd insist they will not be sharing images further pending publication of a joint paper on the BBBQ that Lloyd has been working on for several years. For his part, Lloyd is awaiting an indisputable image of a BBBQ before completing the paper. Nor will John and Lloyd disclose the site. They say they do not want a repeat of the way John was treated after his Night Parrot discovery, and that the birds have been there for thousands of years and are therefore not at risk if their whereabouts remain a secret.
I respectfully disagree, and John’s Night Parrot discovery helps to explain why. I have in the past been critical of John’s treatment post-discovery and of the early handling of the Pullen Pullen project. It has become clear over the eight years since John’s finding that the Night Parrot population in the region is critically low, contrary to what many thought would turn out to be the case. With young parrots leaving the nest being highly vulnerable to predation by feral cats (photographed at Pullen Pullen above), and continuing risks from fire and other factors, the future of this population is precarious. Ongoing, highly interventionist management by Pullen Pullen’s owners, Bush Heritage Australia, shaped by University of Queensland research at the site, is essential. In my view, history will regard John’s generous decision to share his find with others at the time – however much he may regret it now – as the right thing to do. That decision has arguably been responsible for salvaging a critically endangered Night Parrot population. And of course, it was the spark that ignited research efforts that led to the discovery of parrot populations in Western Australia.
Recent history is replete with other examples of short, sharp wildlife population declines. Witness how rapidly the population of the Golden-shouldered Parrot (above) – like the BBBQ, another Cape York woodland endemic – has declined in recent times due to changing fire regimes. Other Cape York woodland birds are in decline. The northern-most population of the Eastern Bristlebird, in Queensland’s Conondale Range, was extinct by 1991, within a few years of its discovery. The remarkable Gastric-brooding Frog was similarly extinct within a decade of its discovery. Because something has been there for thousands of years, it does not mean it is going to be there in another 1000 or 100 or even 10 years. Fingers crossed for the Buff-breasted Buttonquail.
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Timber company giant rejects modest rewilding trial for endangered rainforest

January 24, 2022, 8:51 pm
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The timber giant HQPlantations and the Queensland Government are continuing to resist a modest proposal to trial the rewilding of pine plantation over a tiny fraction of the 330,000 hectares that the company has under state forest licence in Queensland. A plan to convert the 21,000-hectare Imbil State Forest in the Sunshine Coast hinterland to rainforest was initially put to the state government in August 2019 (http://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com/2019/08/imbil-state-forest-plan-to-to-save.html). HQPlantations holds licences over 14,600 hectares of the state forest which have been converted to Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) plantation. The area was subtropical lowland rainforest - a habitat listed by the federal government as critically endangered in 2011 - in its natural state.
Once widespread in south-east Queensland and north-east NSW, the habitat has been reduced to small fragments by land-clearing. Rewilding Imbil State Forest would restore an extensive area of subtropical lowland rainforest; experts in various natural history fields agree that if left alone, mature hoop pine plantation will regenerate successfully as rainforest. As a starting point, a trial is proposed to allow 200ha of plantation – 0.06% of the company’s state forest holdings in Queensland - to regenerate. The area would connect an existing reserve in Imbil State Forest (above and below) around Little Yabba Creek with the largest remaining stand of lowland rainforest in Conondale National Park. It is home to numerous rare wildlife species such as the Giant Barred-Frog and Masked Owl.
Australia’s largest natural history organisation, BirdLife Australia, has taken up the cudgel to champion the proposal, with chief executive officer Paul Sullivan urging the company and state government in correspondence last month to reconsider their earlier refusal to agree to the trial. Imbil State Forest is administered by two government departments – the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) and Department of Environment and Science (DES). BLA has written to the respective ministers, Mark Furner (DAF) and Meaghan Scanlon (DES), as well as their departments and the HQPlantations stewardship manager, David West.
In an encouraging development, Scanlon’s office described the trial proposal to BLA as a “creative initiative” and said it aligned with work that DES is undertaking elsewhere in the state to secure threatened species and ecosystems. However, the minister added that a trial would require a significant licence acquisition which would need the approval of both DAF and HQPlantations; BLA was encouraged by DES to engage directly with both.
Consequently, BLA told DAF and the company that BLA research with plantation managers and owners elsewhere in Australia clearly demonstrates that bird diversity and abundance is improved by maintaining and connecting remnant habitat within forestry plantations. BLA pointed out that the forthcoming United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and Conference of the Parties in Kunming, China, will highlight the critical importance of mainstreaming biodiversity into business practices. The organisation stressed that reversing biodiversity declines and species loss can only be achieved by working cooperatively with industry, including the forestry sector. BLA said: “Re-wilding some of the hoop pine plantations in the Imbil State Forest would be a huge win for biodiversity, industry sustainability and ecotourism. The proposed trial, supported by research, would provide an innovative pilot to inform future regeneration projects led by community groups, industry and landowners.”
In a co-ordinated response, DAF and HQPlantations dismissed the proposal. DAF said the company would be entitled to seek compensation from the state for compensation for any reduction in the plantations and noted that Aracauria is generally grown for 45 years or longer before harvesting, making it a particularly long-term investment for the company. The department said Araucaria plantations support 600 jobs in processing and harvesting and were worth $115 million a year to the Queensland economy. David West, on behalf of HQ Plantations, told BLA that the company’s position aligns with that of DAF, and the company would continue to focus on sustainably managing carbon sequestering Araucaria plantations to support Queensland’s regionally based timber processing and economies.
The area proposed for the trial was cut several years ago so the trees there are a long way from being of commercial value. Moreover, Imbil State Forest has enormous potential as a recreational and tourism destination for the nearby Sunshine Coast - Australia’s 10th largest city with one of the nation’s fastest growth rates – and more generally for Brisbane and south-east Queensland. The Charlie Moreland camping area in the state forest, for instance, is hugely popular and frequently suffers from severe overcrowding. The economic benefits of a large reserve in the state forest would likely exceed that being derived from plantation harvesting. Looking ahead, BLA’s Paul Sullivan adds: “The forestry industry will lose its social licence to operate if it doesn’t mainstream biodiversity into its business practices.”
Meanwhile, the Queensland University of Technology is using the Imbil State Forest rewilding proposal as a model for students in its School of Architecture and Built Environment to study. Over the past two years, students have been assigned the task of developing plans to value and advance the regeneration plan. Projects include assessments of the economic value of rewilding the state forest to the nearby towns of Kenilworth and Imbil. QUT academics have undertaken GIS mapping to assess the extent of plantation and milling at various stages.
I recently had a pleasurable couple of days in Imbil State Forest undertaking further fauna surveys in mature Hoop Pine plantation and adjoining subtropical rainforest and eucalypt forest fragments. Some of the creatures seen are illustrated in this post, from the first image (Koala) followed by Marbled Frogmouth, Pale-yellow Robin, Paradise Riflebird, Red-necked Pademelon, Orange-eyed Tree-Frog and Eastern Stony Creek Frog. Watercourses such as Yabba Creek were in full flow due to recent rains.
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No Ruff Too Tough

February 5, 2022, 8:28 pm
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The Ruff is a rare visitor to eastern Australia. Although I’ve seen quite a few in Australia, especially when I lived in Perth, I’d not yet photographed the species in this country. So when one was found by Peter Spradbrow at Flat Rock, Ballina, on 23 November, 2021, I was interested to see if it hung around. The Ruff wasn’t seen again until 31 December when it was located by Steve McBride associating with Great Knots and others at a shorebird high tide roost at South Ballina, on the beach a short way south of the Richmond River mouth. Ruff usually occurs in Australia in wetlands or saltmarshes, so these marine environs were atypical habitat. The bird roosted regularly at the site until 17 January, 2022. I headed down to Ballina that day but didn’t get to look until the next morning. No Ruff was present, then or the next day.
Meanwhile, it emerged later that the Ruff turned up on sandflats in North Creek, adjoining The Serpentine – north of the Richmond River - at low tide on January 16. It was found on other dates at this site up until January 26. On February 2, the bird was back roosting at South Ballina. It is not far between these two areas (a bit over 1km as the Ruff flies) but sometimes flooded roads and a vehicular ferry have to be negotiated to make the river crossing. I headed down to Ballina for the second time on February 4. The weather was atrocious with continuous gale-force winds and driving rain. On this and the following day, beach conditions at South Ballina were impossibly difficult, with a giant swell inundating the roost area even at lowish tides. Three Beach Stone-Curlews (below) at the carpark at the end of South Ballina Road were pleasing.
The small number of shorebirds present included Eastern Curlew (above), Sanderling, Red-necked Stint and Ruddy Turnstone (3 species together below, followed by Sanderling).
Local birder Hans Wolmuth meanwhile was lending a hand, checking out spots north of the river. Hans had no joy in the morning and we both looked unsuccessfully around North Creek in the late-afternoon. Still, the Little Terns were entertaining.
Finally, at 6.30am this morning at low tide, I found the bird on sand flats close to The Serpentine. Conditions were still difficult with gusty winds and heavy rain. The Ruff was variously feeding, bathing and preening. It again was associating with Great Knots (first image below; all Ruff images in this post were taken today) and appeared to be quite relaxed for a short while before it and the knots flew off in a southerly direction. Hans found them 3.5 hours later on a nearby sand bar, and saw the birds fly back to where I located them early in the morning. The local movements of this bird remain something of a mystery. What we do know is that it has been in the Ballina area for about 10 weeks - an unusually long time for this vagrant.
A rainbow crowned off an excellent morning.
A visit to nearby Flat Rock was less energising with the rock covered in a layer of metre-high sea foam.
On the way back a brief spot at Wadegos Bach, Byron Bay, turned up a Wandering Tattler (below) and large numbers of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters close inshore.
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First New Caledonian Storm-Petrel record in Australia overlooked – for 50 years

April 12, 2022, 10:21 pm
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Half a century ago, it was the habit of myself and a handful of birding enthusiast friends – notably Chris Corben, Glen Ingram and Anita Smyth – to regularly walk parts and occasionally all of the 38km ocean beach of North Stradbroke Island, near Brisbane. We usually did so by relaying with motorbikes, so we would not have to retrace our steps. We were on the hunt for dead, beachwashed seabirds. One such walk, with Chris and Anita, took place on July 21, 1973. There was a strong storm two weeks earlier with gale-force south-easterly winds lashing the coast. We found a treasure trove of beach-washed birds, mostly half buried in sand. Among them were 2 Little Shearwaters (very rare in Queensland), 2 Grey-headed Albatross (ditto), 4 White-tailed Tropicbirds, a juvenile Sooty Albatross (first record for Queensland), 4 Southern Giant Petrels including 1 white phase (another Queensland rarity) and 20 Antarctic Prions. I picked up a small dead bird 12km south of Pt Lookout which at first we thought was a Wilson’s Storm-Petrel. Then, as my notes at the time say: “An inspection of the underparts left no doubt that it was a Black-bellied Storm-Petrel.” Measurements of the tarsus, culmen and toe and claw ruled out White-bellied Storm-Petrel. The bird was deposited as specimen QM014391 in the Queensland Museum.
I published the find in the journal Sunbird (4-3, 1973), claiming it as the first record of Black-bellied Storm-Petrel for Queensland. It was later pointed out that Frederick Godman in his Monograph of the Petrels (1907-1910) said there were specimens of the species from the “coast of Queensland” in the British Museum. There were no pelagic trips at the time we were beach combing. We know these days that the species occurs frequently off southern Queensland in winter, such as in the image above. Fast forward that half a century. Recently, the little-known New Caledonian Storm-Petrel was described as a new species. The paper: “Fregetta lineata (Peale, 1848) is a valid extant species endemic to New Caledonia” by Vincent Bretagnolle, Robert L. Flood, Sabrina Gaba & Hadoram Shirihai. Only three specimens of this storm-petrel exist, although it is well-known from numerous sightings of birds off the southern Queensland and northern NSW coasts in recent years by the Southport pelagics folk, such as the one photographed below by Rob Morris.
The first of these specimens was collected in Samoa in 1839 and the second in 1922 in the Marquesus Islands. The third specimen, it turns out, was what we thought was the Black-bellied Storm-Petrel we found in 1973. The paper notes that Bretagnolle looked at our Queensland Museum specimen, noted its “dark streaks”, and identified it as Fregetta lineata - just the third specimen in existence. It is to the left of a real Black-bellied Storm-Petrel specimen from North Stradbroke Island in the first image of this post. New Caledonian Storm-Petrel was totally off our radar at the time. Almost nothing was known of this then near-mythical bird and the possibility did not enter our heads. This edifying saga has a cute twist. Chris Corben now lives in the US and earlier this month was on a Mooloolaba pelagic with me – the first he had been on in Australia for several decades. We had a good run of storm-petrels, including a White-bellied Storm-Petrel (rarely seen in Australia, below) and were hoping for a New Caledonian. I casually mentioned that I hadn’t seen one ever when Louis Backstrom piped up, saying something to the effect of “except that dead one you found on Stradbroke”. Chris and I hadn’t got around to reading the newly published paper. To that point on the boat, we were blissfully unaware of the fact that we’d discovered a new species for Australia, half a century ago.
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Plains Wanderer and more – South-east Oz Autumn 2022 Part 1

June 3, 2022, 5:48 pm
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We kicked off a 6-week road trip of NSW, Victoria and South Australia on April 20 with a couple of nights at Kookaburra Camping Ground near Deepwater in the northern highlands of NSW. This is a delightful camping spot amid granite belt woodland with fantastic views. The transformation from our last visit a couple of years ago, when the region was - along with much of the country - in the grip of drought, was astounding. Lush vegetation and an abundance of water everywhere were the order of the day.
Major changes in wildlife populations and diversity were obvious. Last time there was an abundance of macropods attracted to the small area of green grass around the camping ground. This time just a couple of Euros were spotted.
Birdlife was prolific enough, though the Diamand Firetails that were common last time were absent; the landowner says they died of starvation due to an absence of seed during the drought. Scarlet Robins were a delightful presence around the camping ground and plenty of Dusky Woodswallows and Striated Thornbills were about.
The Eastern Striated Pardalote (subspecies ornatus of Striated Pardalote) was common here. The first image below is of this subspecies. The second was taken in Adelaide later in the trip and shown here for comparative purposes; it is the subspecies substriata.
We continued with overnight stops in Gunnedah and Peak Hill, with this pair of Red-rumped Parrots looking good in the morning light.
We had a couple of nights by the Murrumbidgee River at Narrandera. Here, as elsewhere on the trip when we were in the Murray-Darling Basin, the river was in full flow with adjoining river red gum floodplains under water following good rains in recent months. A joy to behold.
Nice birds were about the riverside scrub, including a few Yellow Thornbills and Brown-headed Honeyeaters around our camp.
From here we headed into Victoria and the famed natural grasslands of the Terrick Terrick National Park. The woodlands around the campsite were very birdy with Hooded Robin and Diamond Firetail among the species seen, while a Swamp Wallaby showed nicely roadside.
However, it was the nearby grasslands that were my area of interest. This area has become a stronghold for the critically endangered and enigmatic Plains-wanderer, which is endemic to the sparse native grasslands of inland Victoria, NSW and south-west Queensland. I first saw the species in the mid-1970s on private property near Hay in NSW. I saw it again near Deniliquin with Phil Maher on another property when we put together a news story for The Sydney Morning Herald on the bleak future facing this species. I was very keen to see it again a few decades down the track, this time with camera in hand. Previously we found the birds by driving around with a spotlight at night as they are very difficult to locate during the day. Now, with the welfare of birds in mind, walking is the go. I am most grateful to Scott Baker for helping me out with site information and to Simon Starr, who runs professional tours to locate the birds (as does Phil Maher) for providing me with tips. I hit the grasslands (below) at dusk with my thermal scope along with the usual spotlights and other gear. By myself, as I looked out over the grasslands, I realised this was going to be a challenge.
I had flushed several Stubble Quail and Little Buttonquail in the afternoon and it wasn’t long before I found some roosting Little Buttonquail with the thermal scope.
I then located the first of several roosting Stubble Quail in the same manner.
Eventually, after four hours, I spotted a male Plains-wanderer with the scope and saw it through binoculars but could not relocate it; evidently they sometimes run! Soon after, however, I found a lovely female Plains-wanderer which allowed close approach. Success at last.
After Terrick Terrick we headed south, the GPS taking us down some obscure country roads, where Long-billed Corellas were common, like this flock near Ararat.
We had three days at the pleasant seaside town of Port Fairy. In the camping ground I finally nailed a photo tick of European Greenfinch, an introduced species, as a small flock was being stalked by an immature Collared Sparrowhawk.
An adult Australasian Gannet put on a show in the boat harbour.
A Flame Robin was an unexpected find at the local cemetery.
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White-bellied Whipbird & Black-eared Miner to Barking Owl: South-East Oz Autumn 2022, Part 2

June 4, 2022, 5:14 pm
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Following our visit to Victoria (next post) we crossed the border into South Australila for a pleasant couple of days at Mt Gambier, with its lovely Blue Lake.
We had a couple more relaxed days at Beachport, a nice little town at the southern end of the Coorong.
The campground here was alive with Common Wombats, with several on the lawn around our van after dark. Present in scrub about town were quite a few Rufous Bristlebirds, but they were shy and unresponsive: not surprising for this time of year.
It was then on to the German heritage town of Hahndorf for an overnight stay, and a few days in Adelaide. Here I tracked down a second introduced bird photo tick for the trip – the Barbary (African Collared) Dove.
We headed north for a couple of nights in the interesting historic settlement of Port Wakefield at the top of Yorke Peninsula. I needed a photo tick of Slender-billed Thornbill and several parties were found easily in thick saltbush adjoining the caravan park.
We drove south to the bottom end of the peninsula for 3 nights at the very pleasant township of Marion Bay. A Shingleback was there to greet us.
The town is the gateway to Innes National Park and its beautiful coastal scenery, where we were to spend a good deal of time.
I had seen White-bellied Whipbird many years ago on Kangaroo Island and was after an image. I looked unsucessfully along the track to Royston Head in Innes National Park, a well-known site, as well as along several tracks further north in the Warrenben Conservation Park. I eventually tracked down a pair calling near the West Cape Lighthouse in Innes. I saw one bird a couple of times briefly but like the bristlebirds, they weren’t in a mood for photographs. More co-operative were the many Southern Scrub-Robins about, both in Innes and Warrenben.
The Spotted Scrubwren here is at the eastern extremity of its range. Purple-gaped Honeyeater is one of the more common species in the park.
A pair of Painted Buttonquail showed well in Innes.
We continued north-east to the vast mallee BirdLife Australia-owned reserve of Gluepot for a three-night stay in Babbler Camp. I’d seen Black-eared Miner in this region in 1977 – when pure birds were more numerous than the Yellow-throated Miner hybrids which subsequently increased in numbers, threatening the future of the Black-eared Miner. Recent research indicates the species is at least holding its own in remote areas of mallee and is likely increasing its population. The birding was tough here in cold and windy conditions. Small groups of miners were regularly encountered but birds were flighty and difficult to observe. I concentrated on Tracks 7 and 8, where most recent records were from. The mallee was quiet but as energising as ever, while the sunsets did not disappoint.
Eventually I saw what I believe to be a “pure” Black-eared Miner drinking at the Grasswren tank; the absence of any indication of a pale rump and the submoustachial feathering below the bill in good viewing conditions indicated its identity.
A few other miners at the drinking station, like the one below, appeared to be either hybrids or it was difficult to be sure of their identity.
Mulga Parrots put in frequent appearances at the tank and elsewhere around the reserve.
A male Western Whistler was nice to photograph. I saw a Red-lored Whistler male briefly but it didn’t hang around.
We moved on to Morgan for an overnight stay on the Murray River and then to Balranald on the Murrumbidgee for a couple of nights. Once again, the abundance of water in the rivers and adjoining river red gum floodplains was impressive.
Yanga National Park, close to Balranald, was quite birdy. Several Greater Bluebonnets and Regent Parrots were seen here along with a Pallid Cuckoo and a large party of curious Emus.
We had another stay on the Murrumbidgee at Darlington Point, where Brown Treecreepers were engaging and numerous in the camping ground.
Less co-operative were Superb Parrots, but a couple were tracked down on the town’s golf course.
We headed north for a stopover in the delightful town of Mudgee. An Eastern Shrike-tit showed nicely in scrub outside town.
Our final stay of substance was three nights in the Coorongooba Camping Ground in Wollemi National Park in the famed Capertee Valley of eastern NSW. The sandstone cliffs and other scenic features in this area are breathtakingly beautiful. Again, when we were here a few years ago, the area was in drought. This time, lush vegetation and rushing streams were the order of the day.
Superb Lyrebirds were calling commonly but not showing well. A Rockwarbler was more co-operative.
Speckled Warblers also put on a show.
Gang Gang Cockatoos were present in numbers, feeding on some kind of gum nut along the road.
More surprising was a Barking Owl that serenaded us at night and was tracked down during the day.
Common Wombats were about the camping ground and several Sugar Gliders were located after being heard calling earlier.
Euros were numerous.
I stumbled upon a Brush-tailed Rock-Wallaby and its joey that were so close I couldn’t fit the whole animal in the frame. We continued on to overnight with friends who live near Dungog and a couple of coastal overnight stops in NSW before returning home.
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Buff-breasted Buttonquail: Smoke & Mirrors

July 1, 2022, 4:46 pm
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What follows is a transcript of my story in today’s edition of The Weekend Australian (2-3 July, 2022). The first three images in this blog post are central to the story. The first image is of a nest taken by John Young at Brooklyn in north Queensland, published in 2018 and claimed to be that of a Buff-breasted Buttonquail. The second image is of a Painted Buttonquail on a nest taken by Young at a different, undisclosed site where he says he has also photographed Buff-breasted Buttonquails and their nests; this was published last January. The third image is the second one “flipped” or inverted, so what appears on the left in the second image now appears on the right, and vice versa. When this image is compared with the first one from Brooklyn, many similarities are obvious, suggesting they are the same nest. The fourth image is a composition by Clive Hallam pinpointing some similar features.
QUAIL’S FLIGHT OF FANCY Queensland Government authorities are refusing to classify the most mysterious and rare bird in Australia as “critically endangered” although its own experts conclude it may already be extinct. A row over the fate of the buff-breasted buttonquail, a small ground bird found only in the woodlands of Queensland’s Cape York, erupted as doubts emerged over the authenticity of photographs claimed to be the first ever images of the buttonquail and its nest. The bird is the only one of the estimated 900 bird species recorded from Australia for which there are no verified photographs. State authorities believe numerous sightings of the buttonquail – especially a spate of recent reports by prominent north Queensland naturalists John Young and Lloyd Nielsen – rule out the need to classify the bird as Critically Endangered, a status that would generate funds and management plans to save the species.
However, University of Queensland scientists studying the bird told authorities that many or all the sightings are questionable or baseless because of confusion by observers with a closely related but much more common species - the painted buttonquail. An expert team from the university’s Recovery of Threatened Species group says the buff-breasted species has not been reliably seen for 100 years, when the naturalist William McLennan found birds in the Coen area of Cape York in 1922. The team headed by PhD student Patrick Webster has not found a trace of the bird during four years of intensive surveys across Cape York.
Young was propelled to international fame in 2013 when he took the first photographs of a night parrot, regarded then as the country’s rarest bird. Nielsen is a well-known natural history author and a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to conservation. After his parrot discovery, Young was employed as an ecologist by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy to study both the night parrot and the buff-breasted buttonquail.
Young (above) claimed to see 25 buff-breasted buttonquail and find nine nests between 2016 and 2018 at Brooklyn, an AWC-owned property near Mt Carbine in north Queensland, in addition to multiple sightings in other places since the 1970s. He also claimed numerous night parrot records from north-west Queensland and South Australia. Young left the AWC when doubts surfaced about some of his parrot records. A 2019 inquiry by the agency found those records were false or questionable, with the likelihood that eggs on one nest in Young’s images were fake. Young and Nielsen have since focused attention on the buttonquail, launching a public appeal recently for donations for research at a secret new north Queensland site where Young claims to have found the bird. The AWC in 2018 published an image taken by Young, claimed to be one of the first of a buff-breasted buttonquail nest; it contained eggs. The agency also published what it said were the first images of the buttonquail itself, photographed in flight (below), but ornithologists concluded they were of such poor quality that the bird could not be identified.
Last January, Young published on social media an image of a nest with a painted buttonquail in it which, he said, was part of a collaborative effort by him and Nielson to compile a detailed publication about the birds, including comparisons between the two buttonquail species. Young said the image demonstrated how differences between the nests of buff-breasted and painted buttonquails are “like chalk and cheese” (see his post below). But critics believe the photographs depict the same nest.
Forensic photography expert and RMIT University professor Gale Spring said metadata containing dates and other information were removed from the two images, so he could not be certain they are the same nests. However, “there are some landmark similarities between the egg photo and the bird photo that support the proposition that the two photographs are of the same nest”. Young dismissed as “crazy” any suggestion that the images depicted the same nest. “They are two totally different nests,” Young said, declining to comment further. However, his colleague Nielsen (below) said the nests appeared to be the same, pointing to an identical small white stone in both imaes: “I can’t imagine how John made the mistake. He knows the buff-breasted buttonquail well.”
Respected wildlife researcher Chris Corben said there are many features common to the two images : “It is evident to me that it is the same nest .” Young has not photographed buff-breasted buttonquails in any of the nests he claims to have discovered, although scientists say this is often possible by approaching the nests at night or setting up camera traps. Webster and his team were given the GPS co-ordinates for Young’s sites at Brooklyn by the AWC and searched them thoroughly, spotting only numerous painted buttonquail. Young claimed late last year to have taken multiple photographs of a buff-breasted buttonquail at his new site. None were released publicly. Some ornithologists who saw one image say it is likely a painted buttonquail. Although Queensland authorities dismissed the need for action to protect the species, two of their own experts sit on a national panel of scientific experts who conclude in a newly published paper that it is one of 16 wildlife species where there are no recent verifiable records, with a greater than 50 per cent chance they are already extinct. A Queensland Department of Environment and Science spokesperson said the application to upgrade the buttonquail’s status was deferred because of the need for “further information justifying discounting some records and inconsistencies with recent publications”.
Asked about its experts believing the bird may be extinct, while at the same time declining to change its status, the department said : “There was no overlap of experts on the two processes and the processes involved differ and had different objectives.” University of Queensland professor James Watson, who is overseeing the buttonquail research, said Webster’s team had carefully assessed numerous buff-breasted buttonquail reports. Watson said there had been unsubstantiated sightings in recent years: “These observations when investigated have no substance and have continued to contaminate the record.” The failure to list the bird as Critically Endangered means “it is very difficult to get any traction with practical, on-ground conservation actions.” The university team last week submitted a fresh submission to the department seeking a status upgrade for the species. Nielsen said that unlike himself and Young, doubters and “so-called scientific experts” had never seen a buff-breasted buttonquail and were in no position to pass judgement on the sightings of others. Extensive modification of the Cape York woodlands by changed fire management and cattle grazing has drastically reduced populations of several bird species and is likely responsible for the demise of the buff-breasted buttonquail. Young, with Nielsen’s support, claimed in 2006 to have discovered a new species of parrot in south-east Queensland – the blue-browed fig-parrot. The Queensland Government was forced to withdraw its support for the claim when investigations by The Australian cast doubt on the authenticity of an image of the bird.
END OF STORY: POSTSCRIPT. When photographs are “flipped” or inverted, they are mirror images of the original photographs. Why do photographers sometimes do this? You would have to ask them. The image below of a Masked Owl in north Queensland was taken by John Young and published in 2018.
The next image is also of a Masked Owl taken by John Young in north Queensland and published last March.
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Buff-breasted Buttonquail: An image claimed to be of this species revealed

July 9, 2022, 8:07 pm
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A previously unpublished image above and below (cropped) is claimed by north Queensland naturalists John Young and Lloyd Nielsen to be a Buff-breasted Buttonquail. It was taken at a secret site late last year on a camera trap in north Queensland where Young claims to have encountered Buff-breasted and Painted Buttonquail together, along with the nests of both species.
As I reported last week - in the next post on this blog and in the pages of The Weekend Australian - Young published an image earlier this year of what he said was a Painted BQ on its nest at this site, labelling it on Facebook: “Male Painted Buttonquail brooding eggs on nest Number 5 after a serious search for breeding sites over the past few weeks.” When that image is “flipped” or inverted, however, it is clear the nest is the same as one in an image published in 2018 that Young claimed to be that of a Buff-breasted BQ at Brooklyn, a different site. The composite below shows the many features common to nests in the two images. In response to this publication, Young and Nielsen, who have launched a public appeal for funds to aid Young’s research at the secret site, directed a torrent of personal abuse at me, but neither denied its substance.
Much discussion ensued about what happened to multiple images of Buff-breasted BQ claimed to have been taken by Young at his new site. Young showed me the camera trap image on his phone during a visit to my home (below) last December. At the time I was initially impressed; the bird looked different and did not appear to me to be a Painted BQ. However, I was concerned that key facial features, especially eye colour, were obscured in the image and therefore I could not be certain. Young was insistent that I publicly agree with his identification and I did so after receiving an iron-clad assurance that he had other images showing the key missing features. My request to retain a copy of the image was denied.
As I freely admit, that was a mistake on my part. I subsequently looked again at the image on a bigger screen on Nielsen’s home computer, and considered buttonquail identification material from various sources. Those included notes published recently by Patrick Webster about plumage phases not previously known for Painted BQ, and useful commentary from my friend Chris Corben, an astute observer of the finer features of feathers. It seems likely this image in fact depicts a Painted BQ (below). The rump and upper tail of a Buff-breasted BQ should be sandy-rufous rather than brownish-grey. The relative absence of dark bars on the upperparts of Buff-breasted BQ suggest the species should be more sandy-rufous than Painted BQ. I touch on this in a previous blog post: https://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com/2021/12/painted-or-buff-breasted-buttonquail-in.html
The claimed image of BBBQ is one of what Young insisted was a collection of 17 images taken from camera traps at the time. What happened to the others? They have not surfaced. Young (below, at his new site) said publicly they would be kept in safe hands by himself and Nielsen, until a joint paper they are working on about the Buff-breasted BQ is complete.
To my surprise, when I saw him in December, Nielsen said he was shown just the single image – the one featured in this post. Young claims more recently to have taken further images. He has furnished an unknown number of these in the form of colour prints on paper to Nielsen and others. One friend, Alwyn Simple, described the eyes of a bird in one print as “large milky yellow” and not the red eyes of a Painted BQ; below is a composite showing these differences.
Nielsen says he is “100 percent” convinced the latest images are that of Buff-breasted BQ. He initially said the earlier camera trap image was also “100 per cent” a Buff-breasted BQ; when I asked why, he referred to its “uniform and plain” tail and “streaky, dark” wing pattern. Later, Nielsen said that “perhaps I should have said 80 percent”. Last week on Facebook, Nielsen seemed to be having second thoughts about the adequacy of images produced to date, saying: “We need to get good high quality photographs...” and “we are hoping to get high res images this coming breeding season”. The waiting game continues and like many others, I would be delighted if these images eventually emerge. Nonetheless, it is curious that among the many BBBQ nests supposedly found over several decades, not a single image of a bird on a nest has surfaced, when organising this at night especially should not be difficult. In anticipation of further personal vitriol as a consequence of this post, I point out I am criticising neither Young nor Nielsen but am endeavouring to stick to facts which should be in the public arena.
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Eastern Grass Owl

September 6, 2022, 6:27 pm
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Very happy to snap the above image of an Eastern Grass Owl on the Maroochy River floodplain in August, 2022. More images of this bird or its mate below. The sky is more blue in the first image because it was taken a little earlier in the evening than the others.
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Eastern Grass Owl on the decline around the Sunshine Coast

September 29, 2022, 4:30 pm
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The Eastern Grass Owl is regarded generally as scarce in Australia. In south-east Queensland it is restricted to tall grassland in coastal areas, often interspersed with sugar cane plantations. The Sunshine Coast is arguably the stronghold of the species in the region. Birds here are concentrated in the grasslands and plantations of the Maroochy River floodplain, and in isolated areas of wallum heath.
Since moving to the Sunshine Coast in 2009, I have noticed a clear and sharp decline in numbers of Eastern Grass Owl locally. They were once resident in Yandina Creek Wetland and along the adjoining River Road but I’ve not detected them there during recent surveys. Across the Maroochy River in the vicinity of Burtons Road near Bli Bli, I was aware of three pairs in different places on private property, to which I had access with permission from owners. This population is much reduced and any birds remaining are no longer nesting, as they had in the past.
A few birds remain elsewhere on the floodplain, where the images in this post were taken recently, but overall the population continues to decline. Records from wallum heath in Noosa and Mooloolah River National Parks were always few but there has been just one (in Mooloolah River NP) in recent years to my knowledge.
One of the great local conservation initiatives – by the Sunshine Coast Council, Unitywater and the Queensland Government – in recent years has been the establishment of the so-called Blue Heart. About 1000 hectares of wetland (including Yandina Creek Wetland) and adjoining properties have been acquired and protected as reserves north of the Maroochy River. Unfortunately the project does not extend south of the river, where most of the populations of Eastern Grass Owl and other scarce grassland and wetland species occur.
The new runway at Sunshine Coast Airport destroyed one of the finest grassland areas, which was occupied by two pairs of Eastern Grass Owl, as well as some of the last remnants of wallum heath surviving on the Sunshine Coast outside national parks. The cane farms in the Burton Road area are being subdivided by the council (above and below), although the land is highly flood-prone. In the past, cane farmers rotated areas of land under cane and grassland, allowing the owls and other wildlife to move around and survive. Now, much less cane is grown and grasses are cut by new landowners. Those small areas left uncut are overcome with weeds as well as Allocasuarina and Melaleuca trees. Consequently, most habitat suitable for the Eastern Grass Owl and other species is gone and what remains is shrinking. On top of all this, the Sunshine Coast is one of Australia's fastest growing regions with ever growing vehicle traffic. Several road-killed grass owls have been picked up around the Maroochy River floodplain.
POSTSCRIPT The ABC Sunshine Coast put this story up online about the issues discussed above: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-13/eastern-grass-owl-protection-wetlands-housing-sunshine-coast/101508324
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New Zealand Part 1: On the hunt for Great Spotted and Little Spotted Kiwis

November 8, 2022, 5:53 pm
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The five species of kiwi endemic to New Zealand have long been among my favourite birds. Unlike so many NZ birds, all five have managed to survive the predations of stoats and other introduced pests, although their populations are seriously depleted. Intervention by the NZ Department of Conservation and dedicated community-based conservation organisations has been instrumental in bringing kiwis back from the brink. I had previously had fantastic encounters with the North Island Brown and Okarito Brown Kiwis and wrote about them in articles about wildlife conservation in NZ for The Bulletin magazine and The Weekend Australian newspaper. I’ve just returned from a three-week trip to NZ with my partner Glenn where I hoped to do the same with two more species: the Great Spotted and Little Spotted Kiwis.
I started the hunt by heading out at night around Arthur’s Pass (above) high in the mountains of the South Island to listen and look for Great Spotted Kiwi, which is restricted to the island’s north-west. I heard a male calling briefly near the village but it was not interested in playback. More co-operative was a flock of Kea the next morning in the village centre (below).
We headed west of Arthur’s Pass to meet up with Kristy Owens and George Nicholas from the Paparoa Wildlife Trust, which is doing a magnificent job expanding the Great Spotted Kiwi population through a captive breeding and release program. Young birds are held in a 12ha forested “creche” near Atarau surrounded by a predator-proof fence until they are about 12 months old, when they are large enough to fend off stoats and other predators -which remain a threat to eggs and young birds – and can be released into the wild in the Paparoa Range of the west coast. A year after release, about 85% of birds are doing well.
Five birds were in the creche at the time of our visit, each weighing about 1.2 kilos and therefore almost ready for release. We radio-tracked one bird which leapt from cover and eluded us. Eventually we tracked down another kiwi (above) which Kristy gently extracted from a burrow it was sharing with a second bird. After weighing, measurements and other checks (below), the bird was taken back to the burrow.
Satisfactory as this encounter was, I was hopeful of further meetings with wild kiwis. We moved on to the west coast town of Punakaiki. I headed off at night to a well-known kiwi hotspot – Paparoa National Park, and Bullock Creek Road (below) which leads to it. Over several hours I heard a male and a female calling from the Inland Pack Track in the park and another male calling from the roadside. Then I saw a kiwi briefly before it disappeared in thick undergrowth. I heard 3 other male kiwis calling at different sites: on the main road south of Punakaiki where the Westland Petrel colony is located; on a nearby private property where petrels nest; and at the Waikori Road end of the Inalnd Pack Track. All up I saw 1 wild Great Spotted Kiwi and three others in the creche, and heard a total of 7 birds in different places, suggesting their population locally is not doing too badly.
We left the South Island for Wellington where I hoped to see the Little Spotted Kiwi on the 225ha Zealandia Ecosanctuary on the city’s outskirts. The reserve is owned by Zealandia, another private community group doing excellent work in the never-ending battle to protect NZ’s endangered wildlife. Described as the first reserve of its kind on the main islands, Zealandia is surrounded by a 8.6km predator-proof fence (below).
The project has reintroduced 18 species of wildlife back into the area, several of which had long been absent from the NZ mainland. Some, like the Kaka (below), had become extremely rare in the Wellington area but are now common thanks to the nesting and feeding haven provided by Zealandia.
Among the reintroductions is the Little Spotted Kiwi. About 150 kiwis thrive in the reserve (below) and the public has the chance to see one during guided nocturnal tours. I joined a tour and found it somewhat frustrating; more than half the time was during daylight and twilight hours, focusing on animals that can be more easily seen during the day. Our guides didn’t seem to be overly interested in locating kiwis.
Eventually, while watching semi-nocturnal Brown Teal moving up a streamline, I heard a rustle at my feet, looked down with my pencil torch, and there was a kiwi less than a metre away. It scratched about as it walked across my feet and a nearby track. By the time the rest of the group got on to it, the bird was moving away; these images were the best I could manage with the compulsory red filters on the guide’s torches. The guide was talking so much it was not possible to track what the kiwi was doing, but a memorable experience nonetheless.
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New Zealand Part 2: Westland Petrel Flying High

November 9, 2022, 5:22 pm
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Other than kiwis (following post) I was keen to catch up with a few other NZ birds I’d missed during my previous 6 or 7 visits to the country. One is an endemic breeding seabird, the Westland Petrel, which is an occasional visitor to Australian waters but one I’d missed on multiple pelagics. We had a few days in the delightful town of Punikaiki with its dramatic coastal scenery (below) and abundance of forest.
The petrels breed nowhere but in a 4km stretch of forest at elevations at between 50 and 250m within a couple of kilometres of the coast south of Punikaiki (below).
I positioned myself by Coast Road 5km south of the town at sunset near Scotsman Creek. The birds fly over here to reach their nests in the Te Ara Taiko Reserve after dark. About half an hour after sunset, between 50 and 70 petrels duly flew over at varying heights. Although getting dark they were clearly large, all dark Procellaria petrels. These birds are winter breeders and chicks are only just beginning to fledge now; many more birds fly over earlier in the breeding season.
While waiting for the petrels I saw a Shining Bronze-Cuckoo of the NZ-breeding nominate subspecies.
Although ticked, I was keen for more petrel encounters. Bruce Menteath runs petrel-viewing tours on his property which accommodates a couple of the 36 sub-colonies spread over a breeding area of 8 square kilometres. I met Bruce at sunset and walked the 200 stairs to a viewing platform used by petrels as a launching pad for returning to sea after feeding chicks. Bruce explained that birds usually land within 1 square metre of a favoured landing site and walk from there for 10-20 metres to the nest. Unfortunately we failed to see any adult birds – which was highly unusual - but Bruce showed me a well-developed chick in its burrow (below) on the way down. He refuses to accept payment if he fails to show clients an adult bird.
About 4000 petrels breed in the area and the total population is estimated at 10,000, so the birds appear to be holding their own. Locals do their bit by turning off street lights when newly fledged youngsters are at risk from vehicle and street lamp strike.
Other endemic NZ birds doing well around Punikaiki included Weka, which appeared to be everywhere. The species is one of the problem predators of petrel chicks and eggs. Weka (adult with chick below) on the trip generally were much more numerous than during my past visits to NZ, and were absurdly tame.
Grey Gerygone was abundant, as was the NZ Grey Fantail.
The charismatic Tui was all over the place.
So was the friendly Tomtit.
Two endemic ducks, NZ Scaup and Paradise Shelduck, were widespread and common, while Glenn saw a Blue Duck fly over at Arthur’s Pass, which we visited before Punakaiki and after arriving in Christchurch.
Variable Oystercatcher is common along the coast.
A thriving colony of White-fronted Terns can be enjoyed at close quarters at the Pancake Rocks south of Punakaiki.
After visiting Punikaiki and Picton (the subject of another post to come) we crossed from the South Island to the North Island across Cook Strait on the Islander ferry. I knew that at this time of year, Westland Petrels are quite common in Cook Strait and I saw several from the boat’s deck. Although quite distant, a couple were close enough for half-decent images (first and last in this post) and to clearly see the diagnostic bill features in the field.
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New Zealand Part 3: Orange-fronted Parakeet, NZ King Shag, North Island Saddleback on Blumine Island

November 10, 2022, 4:58 pm
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A highlight of our 3-week trip to New Zealand was a visit to Blumine Island in the stunning Queen Charlotte Sound, part of the Marlborough Sounds that dominate the landscape of the South Island’s northern end. We had a delightful 6 days in the port town of Picton (below) where we were to hop on the ferry at the end of our stay to cross Cook Strait to the North Island.
Blumine Island has been cleared of predators, allowing for the reintroduction of several species that are today extremely rare and threatened elsewhere. It’s a wet landing so not a regular stop-off for tour operators. You need to arrange with the boat company beforehand to be dropped off and picked up. We had 2 hours on the island (below) - more than ample time to pick up the specialties - and used the company E-ko Tours. Be warned, the fares – like just about everything in NZ – are not cheap.
The boat takes you through the delightful scenery of the Marlborough Sounds.
We hadn’t not long left port when we encountered a pod of Dusky Dolphins, including a couple of females with small calves in tow.
We checked out a small colony of the endemic Spotted Shag on a. rocky outcrop.
The main seabirds about were plenty of Australasian Gannet (first image below), White-fronted Tern and Fluttering Shearwater (second image), with a few Sooty Shearwaters.
At another rocky outcrop we found one of the targets – the New Zealand King Shag, which is endemic to the Marlborough Sounds, with all of its nesting sites within a 50km radius. We had 5 birds at our first stop and another 9 at a second outcrop which they shared with a New Zealand Fur Seal. Another bird was seen flying near Blumine Island, giving a total of 15 seen.
We found the two targets on the island – Orange-fronted (or Mahlberg’s) Parakeet and South Island Saddleback – within 10 minutes of landing. A single parakeet was calling from scrub at the landing point and easily located (first image in this post). It was later joined by a second bird. Then another pair was found nearby, with one bird seen entering and leaving a nesting hole (below).
The saddlebacks were just as showy, putting on quite a performance around the small camping ground by the landing point.
New Zealand Bellbirds and New Zealand Pigeons were common and easy to see.
Before leaving Picton I checked out some wetlands nearby where quite a few Black-billed Gulls, another NZ endemic, were present.
As reported in the first post for this trip, I visited the Zealandia Reserve on the outskirts of Wellington to see Little Spotted Kiwi. I returned for a day trip to enjoy the resident Tuataras – an ancient reptile driven to the point of extinction before last minute intervention by the NZ authorities.
Also in the reserve were a few North Island Saddleback, until recently considered conspecific with its South Island counterpart , but the juveniles of the two species have very different plumages.
North Island Robins were common and vocal.
Takahe, another species brought back from the brink, has been introduced to Zealandia but the single pair there has yet to breed. I’ve seen this species previously in the South Island’s Murchison Mountains - the only place where a wild population survives.
A male Rifleman rounded up a fine trip.
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Buff-breasted Buttonquail & Coxen’s Fig-Parrot declared Critically Endangered but is it too late?

November 29, 2022, 5:20 pm
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The Queensland Government has pledged to work to save the Buff-breasted Buttonquail from extinction after upgrading its status to Critically Endangered, although the delay in doing so may mean the species misses out on crucial conservation funding. State authorities also upgraded the Coxen’s Fig-Parrot to Critically Endangered in government declarations published late last week. The upgrading of the buttonquail’s status is recognition of the view that the species is far more rare than is generally appreciated and indeed may be extinct. It is endemic to the savannah woodlands of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula. North Queensland naturalists John Young (below) and Lloyd Nielsen in the late-1980s began reporting Buff-breasted Buttonquail from woodlands between the Atherton Tableland and Lakeland Downs at the southern end of Cape York. Since then, numerous records of the species from that region have been claimed, but no supporting evidence such as a photograph has emerged to support any report.
The University of Queensland’s Research and Recovery of Threatened Species group has been undergoing intensive surveys of this and other areas of Cape York in recent years to locate the species in a program headed by PhD student Patrick Webster. Webster and his colleagues have failed to find evidence of the presence of the species anywhere, but they logged numerous records of the closely related Painted Buttonquail (below). In March 2021, the group lodged a submission with the state’s Special Technical Committee detailing results from these surveys and urging the upgrading of the bird’s status to Critically Endangered. The submission was rejected, with state authorities arguing that more evidence was needed before taking that step. Last July, the group submitted a fresh submission.
At the same time, I reported in the pages of The Weekend Australian (http://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com/2022/07/buff-breasted-buttonquail-smoke-mirrors.html) that a photograph of a nest (below) claimed by John Young to belong to belong to a Buff-breasted Buttonquail in fact was occupied by a Painted Buttonquail; the image had been manipulated to mask details of the nest. Soon after, I published an image which Young and Nielsen claimed to be of a Buff-breasted buttonquail which had not previously been released publicly (http://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com/2022/07/buff-breasted-buttonquail-image-claimed.html). Most people who have seen the image say it is in fact a Painted Buttonquail. Although Young and Nielsen claim to have found numerous nests belonging to Buff-breasted Buttonquail and to have seen birds on many occasions, no images have been produced to support the claims.
The 20-month delay by Queensland authorities in upgrading the status to Critically Endangered meant the species was not included in the federal Government’s list of the 20 most endangered birds under its Threatened Species Strategy, so the buttonquail may miss out on funding for crucial conservation programs and research. The Queensland Department of Environment and Science said in a statement that it will continue to protect habitat known to be important for the species; work with partners to improve knowledge and understanding of the buttonquail; and implement management actions where possible to support the recovery of the species. As well, the department will continue efforts to control cattle, manage fire (including appropriate planned burn prescriptions) and manage habitat.
The department said it has determined that populations of both the Buff-breasted Buttonquail and Coxen’s Fig-Parrot were “extremely low”. This admission constitutes a major change of view on the part of state authorities that is welcome if overdue. In 2018, the state took the extraordinary step of downgrading the status of the fig-parrot from Critically Endangered on the basis that its estimated population of between 50 and 250 had not changed for many years. No evidence has surfaced to support this population estimate. Like the Buff-breasted Buttonquail, no evidence in the form of photographs, dead birds or solid follow-up observations has emerged to corroborate a single one of the many records of Coxen’s Fig-Parrot that have been accepted as genuine by state authorities. Again like the buttonquail, the fig-parrot (below) sadly may be extinct.
The bird has disappeared in the wake of the widespread destruction of subtropical lowland rainforest in south-east Queensland and north-east NSW. I have argued (http://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com/2019/09/imbil-state-forest-response-to-critics.html) that an attempt be made to restore a substantial area of this endangered habitat by allowing hoop pine plantations in Imbil State Forest in the Sunshine Coast hinterland (below) – an area once frequented by the fig-parrot - to regenerate as rainforest, beginning with a small 200ha trial program. The Queensland Government and the timber industry rejected the proposal.
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Oriental Pratincole at Seven Mile Lagoon

December 12, 2022, 9:54 pm
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The Oriental Pratincole is a very rare visitor to south-eastern Australia, so the finding by Colin Trainor of five pratincoles at Seven Mile Lagoon, in the Lockyer Valley west of Brisbane, on November 26 generated much excitement. The finding is all the more extraordinary since the birds were at the same spot that Chris Corben, Greg Czechura and I had a flock of 26 Oriental Pratincoles in November 1971 – 51 years ago! - and where another flock of 10 birds was located in November 1996 by Andrew Stafford. The 1971 record was the first for South-East Queensland; the 1971, 1996 and current records are the only ones for the region.
All three records of Oriental Pratincole were in the south-west corner of the lagoon, which is often dry but has had plenty of water in it recently due to good seasonal rains over the past two years. The lake was full for many months but the water level has receded more recently, exposing mud around the shore. Following Colin’s find, multiple visitors to the site at first failed to relocate the birds, so it was generally believed they had moved on.
I knew that on the previous two occasions when pratincoles were at Seven Mile, they hung around for several weeks so I decided to have a look on December 5 – 9 days after the initial discovery. I recognised from Colin’s images where his birds were, on relatively exposed mudflats. I located 7 pratincoles about 150 metres further to the south-west, close to the interface between the mud and lush aquatic vegetation (above). Unfortunately my birds were in the vegetation so didn’t show brilliantly for photographs. They flushed and flew high, circling for a short while before landing again some distance away. I decided not to disturb them a second time. Since then, the birds have been seen in the same area by many observers, with up to 9 birds recorded. The only other migratory shorebirds present during my visit were a few Sharp-tailed Sandpipers (below) and a couple of Common Greenshanks.
The lagoon was for many years leased cattle property but it has been acquired by the Lockyer Valley Regional Council. A canal connecting the lagoon to the nearby Atkinsons Dam is owned by SEQ Water. In a welcome boost for biodiversity conservation, the council is working on a management plan for the lagoon with the aim of retaining it in its natural state. The council advises me that there is not yet public access to the site without prior approval for surveys that may assist its management plans. The council said anyone wishing to visit the lagoon can seek permission by calling 1300 005 872.
Seven Mile Lagoon was unknown to the birding community prior to our 1971 discovery. My notes at the time say we had visited Atkinsons Dam, then a well-known birding site, but it was full so we drove on, stumbling upon a “fairly large lagoon just north”. Here, “our greatest expectations were surpassed”. Indeed. There were plenty of migratory shorebirds including Curlew-Sandpiper, Pacific Golden Plover, Red-necked Stint, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and then, two Pectoral Sandpipers - another regional rarity. Chris spotted the first of the flock of 23 Oriental Pratincoles in the same area where the birds are presently. Crop stubble and grassland were also bountiful: many Stubble Quail were seen including several pairs with young, along with numbers of King Quail, Little Buttonquail and Red-backed Buttonquail. A week later, we revisited the lagoon and saw 26 pratincoles. This time in the stubble we also found Red-chested Buttonquail. In 1996, Andrew found his flock of 10 pratincoles, again in the same part of the lagoon.
After my December 5 sighting of the current birds, I headed off to look for other birds, finding a flock of White-winged Choughs (above) – an uncommon species east of the Great Divide in southern Queensland – nearby. A pair of Black Falcons (below) were on the hunt at the junction of Esk-Gatton Road and the Warrego Highway near Gatton.
Nearby at Lake Galletly were six Blue-billed Ducks, including a pair up close. These birds have been here continuously now for a couple of years.
Plenty of smart looking Striped Honeyeaters were about.
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A cautionary and spooky tale of travel drama in West Africa with a twist of Night Parrot

January 13, 2023, 8:20 pm
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The Rockjumper company logo

Some people are impressed by the fact that I’ve seen 8000+ of the world’s 10,000+ species of birds, but if you've got the time and money to pay big bird tour companies for guided trips, it’s not difficult to amass totals of that order. I’ve preferred to organise my own overseas trips undertaken solo; with my partner and/or a small group of friends; or with groups I organise as leader and/or guide in co-operation with local birding guides.

That’s not to say it’s not sensible to sign up with the big tour operators. If you have the money it may indeed make sense; it’s an easier option that those mentioned above. Also more safe and stress-free, supposedly. I’ve only once participated in a tour organised by one of the big operators – a three-week trip to Cameroon in West Africa in 2006 run by South Africa’s Rockjumper. It was a long time ago but I’ve been intending since then to tell a precautionary if hair-raising tale about that trip. I’m now belatedly doing so.


Our Rockjumper tour of Cameroon

The 10 participants were flying at different times from different parts of the world to Cameroon’s economic capital - the city of Douala. Unbeknown to me, two other participants, Ketil Knudsen from Norway and Niels Poul Dryer from Denmark, were on my flight from Paris. I was one of the first to disembark in Douala but my luggage was last off the plane. I cleared Customs, expecting to find a Rockjumper representative waiting with a placard displaying my name, in accordance with company arrangements. I learned later that by this time, the representative had met Niels and Ketil and whisked them off to a roadside kerb some distance from the terminal gates, where they waited for me. My fellow tour participants asked Rockjumpe's man how I was expected to know where to find them. He offered no explanation other than that he was confident I would. He did not return to the terminal to look for me.



So when I emerged from Customs, there was no Rockjumper representative. Instead, an excitable and vocal group of about 100 young African men were vying vigorously and loudly for my attention. I was certain Rockjumper had to be there somewhere. I told the crowd I was being met by Rockjumper. Somebody called out, asking for my surname. I told them. Soon after, a placard appeared: ROBERTS it read in bold black capitals. Phew, with a sigh of relief I made my way to the guy with the sign and we headed off. I was exhausted after the long flight from Brisbane and not thinking clearly. It simply did not occur to me that the sign had just been composed.

We headed not to the airport exit gates but through an underground carpark to a cafe, where he told me to wait for a few minutes while he went and got some supplies for the trip. The only other person in the cafe was a young woman who watched me intently, saying nothing. As I sat there, it dawned on me that this man was unlikely to be the real deal. I realised that I was extremely vulnerable, with a heavily laden luggage trolley in tow. I got up and quickly made my way back to the airport terminal entrance area, a distance of about 500 metres. The woman said nothing.


From L to R: Me on the Cameroon tour with Niels, local guides and Ketil 

I emerged from the terminal and there was still no Rockjumper representative: I gather that by then he had left the airport with the other two guests. Rockjumper had given us two numbers to call in case of an emergency. Both numbers repeatedly went to voicemail, although it was well-known to the company that guests were arriving at the airport at around that time. I knew the name of our hotel in Douala, the Ibis, and called it. The receptionist told me the hotel had no bookings for Rockjumper or for me, and they couldn’t put me through to anybody from the company (which turned out to be untrue). There were a couple of taxis at the airport and one driver was insistent that I get in, but I had read enough about crime-ridden Douala to know to avoid taxis. Douala’s crime problems are chronic: just last month authorities tightened security in the city in a bid to contain escalating levels of gang violence, with one newspaper reporting the community was “gripped with fear”.

I had no idea what to do next. Usually I have arrangements in place to facilitate departure from airports in foreign destinations but I was in the hands of Rockjumper. I looked around for police or airport ataff but there were none. It was then that I was tapped by a well-dressed African man who told me that I needed to follow him immediately. I wasn’t impressed with that idea after what had happened, but he said he’d been watching and talking to an airport informant. He gave me the startling news that a group of well-known gangsters was on my trail!


Inside Douala International Airport terminal

The group, including the man with the sign, turned up at the cafe just after I’d left and then disappeared. But they were now regrouping and heading my way with the intent evidently of abducting or robbing me. The well-dressed man showed me his ID indicating he worked for one of the city’s prestigious hotels and said we had to leave quickly in his vehicle. He was quite frantic and distressed so I believed him; by then there were very few other people about. We ran (as best you can when pushing a heavy trolley) to his vehicle in the carpark and as we got in, a group of four young men came running towards us shouting; two wielded weapons that appeared to be machetes.

My benefactor put his foot to the floor and accelerated just as the mob was about to reach us. He was demonstrably shaken, as was I. He told me these men belonged to a gang which had robbed people at the airport, taken part in carjackings, and were believed responsible for the murders of people in the city. Whether the men chasing us were connected to the taxi-driver who insisted I get in his cab is unknown, but travellers to Cameroon are warned to avoid taxis as cab drivers often work in co-operation with gangs. My rescuer drove me to the Ibis, where I confirmed that the hotel was indeed expecting me. I offered money to this wonderful man who doubtlessly spared me a great deal of grief and possibly my life, but he refused to accept it.


David Hottintott

I decided at once that I needed to put the incident out of mind if I was to enjoy the tour; that it must be the consequence of unfortunate mishaps. It was not until later, especially after talking to Ketil and Niels, that the magnitude of Rockjumper’s failures became clear. Half way through the tour, we flew to Douala on a domestic flight from Garoug in northern Cameroon. At the airport we ran into the Rockjumper man who was supposed to meet me upon arrival in the country. I demanded to his face to know why he put my welfare in danger. This brought an unexpected intervention from tour leader DavidHoddintott – an otherwise affable and extremely capable birding guide – who tore into me, insisting the man had been there with a welcoming sign and I must have walked past him, and that I was blowing the incident up out of proportion. Luckily Ketil and Niels overheard this; they told David in no uncertain terms the truth of what transpired.


Grey-necked Rockfowl: pic by Matthew Matthiessen

I raised the matter with Rockjumper owner Adam Riley after returning home. I was offered an apology and a credit ($400 from memory) towards the cost of a future Rockjumper trip. The company would ensure that in future, all guests arriving on tours would be met. It had been my intention to write a travel feature on the trip for my employer at the time, The Australian newspaper, but I was not in a mood to do so after these events. To be sure, the trip was an outstanding success birdwise and we saw some wonderful species including Grey-necked Rockfowl. The guiding was of a high standard and the organisation generally sound. No doubt the great majority of tours don’t encounter these issues.


Adam Riley

But over the years, the experience has quietly and surprisingly gnawed away at me. I’ve had a few near misses with danger on birding forays over the years, but signing up with one of the world’s most respected bird tour companies was supposed to be… safe. Above all, safe. The matter came to the fore again in 2017 when I reported in the pages of The Australian and on my blog that Adam Riley was sounding out a potential participant for “glamping” trips to Pullen Pullen Reserve in western Queensland, where the Night Parrot had been rediscovered.

The idea, which Adam outlined in an email (below) was for clients to pay $25,000 a head – most of it as a donation to Pullen Pullen owners Bush Heritage Australia – in return for the opportunity “to see” a Night Parrot. The species is regarded as one of the rarest and most mysterious birds in the world. The trips were organised under the auspices of BirdLife International, the email said, although BirdLife denied involvement.



Adam told me it was not difficult to make the link between my “expose” about the glamping trips and what he dismissed as my “gripe” – dictionary definitions of gripe include “minor complaint” and “complain about something in a persistent, irritating way” - about the Cameroon experience. He thought the matter had been settled “amicably” years ago (news to me), adding: “I still do not feel that Rockjumper was in any way negligent….”

So Rockjumper was echoing David Hoddintott’s view expressed at the airport that everything the company did was appropriate. Adam’s comments made a mockery of the apology offered previously. The Rockjumper view? Nobody from the company greeting me upon arrival? Yes there was. Emergency phone numbers going to voicemail? No matter. Hotel not having a record for the group or me? Not our fault. Chased through an airport carpark by a group of thugs with evil on their mind? Either made up or dramatised, and nothing to do with us anyway. In sum: nothing to see here. Not then, not now.


Night Parrot 


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Papua New Guinea Cruise Part 1: All at Sea

February 8, 2023, 7:56 pm
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Red-footed Booby

We’ve just returned from a 12-day cruise from Brisbane to Papua New Guinea aboard the Coral Princess from January 26 to February 6. I’ll post separately about productive birding experiences near Rabaul and in the Conflict Islands. This post is to give an idea of what to expect on a cruise of this nature and to outline what happened with seabirds along the way. It’s important to note that seabirding from large cruise ships is difficult; you’re a long way up from the water and birds are usually distant.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

First birds of interest were a surprisingly good number (about 10) of Brown Booby perched with Pied Cormorants on pylons as we left Moreton Bay late-afternoon on Day One. At 6am the next day (January 27) we were at 23.79020S, 153.47622E, well north of Fraser Island, heading north at 17 knots an hour, a speed maintained for most of the cruise. Several hundred Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were seen as the morning progressed, most heading north. By 9am we had crossed the Tropic of Capricorn about 170km east of Rockhampton (23.48139S, 153.42456E) and it wasn’t until then that the first and last Tahiti Petrels for the trip were seen – 3 distant birds. 

Masked Booby

 An hour later we were skirting the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef (22.82514S, 153.31802E) about 300km east of Rockhampton and bird numbers picked up. I saw in quick succession Masked Booby, Red-footed Booby, Red-tailed Tropicbird (1 single and 1 pair), White-tailed Tropicbird (1 pair) and a female Lesser Frigatebird. Wedge-tailed Shearwaters remained abundant but mostly as singles and small groups flying north. By 2.30pm we were about 350km east of Mackay (21.40460S, 153.08650E) having notched up several more Masked Boobies, another White-tailed Tropicbird and a few Sooty Terns. 

White-tailed Tropicbird

By this time, the shearwaters began dropping off markedly in numbers. At 6am on 28 January, with the phone GPS no longer working, we were about 500km east of Cairns in the Coral Sea Islands Territory. Several Masked Boobies were regularly following the ship, attempting to catch flying fish disturbed in its wake. 

Flying Fish

Another White-tailed Tropicbird was seen. Wedge-tailed Shearwater by now was scarce. At 9.30am, 500km east of Cape Flattery, a couple of Red-footed Boobies joined the Masked Boobies following the ship, with both species maintaining a presence for the rest of the day. 

Red-footed Booby (above and below)



Small flocks of Sooty Tern were about. A distant bird that was very likely a Herald Petrel was seen briefly. We were in the PNG port of Alotai on 29 January for a land visit.

The Coral Princess berthed in Alatou

Unfortunately my attempts at organising a birding trip had failed so I was reduced to looking at Pacific Swallows and Singing Starlings along the foreshore of this somewhat bedraggled town.

Pacific Swallow

Singing Starling

 Boys charged $5 to be photographed with a captive Blyth’s Hornbill (this image was not paid for!). 

Captive Blyth's Hornbill

Other birds around town were Willie Wagtail, Torresian Crow, White-breasted Woodswallow, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin, Torresian Imperial-Pigeon and Varied Honeyeater. In the late afternoon we departed, enjoying the scenic Milne Bay as we headed east through PNG waters. 


Milne Bay

 January 30 was another day at sea, having now left the Coral Sea which had been with us for most of the trip and crossing the Solomon Sea. At 6am we were about 80km north-east of Fergusson Island (9.15418S, 151.40258E). Not much was seen other than a few Brown Boobies early morning. Around this time I saw another Red-tailed Tropicbird, a couple more Red-footed Boobies (although boobies had by now stopped following the ship) and some Sooty Terns.

Sooty Tern

In the afternoon I saw a pod of Long-flippered Pilot Whales (7.54995S, 151.72454E) and more Red-footed Boobies. At 6am on January 31 we were 10km east of Cape Gazelle at the eastern end of New Britain (4.46433S, 152.46290E) and 40km west of New Ireland. This was the kind of area we needed to be in for the rare and highly localised Beck’s Petrel, but no petrels of any kind showed. Even Wedge-tailed Shearwaters had not shown for a few days now. What we did find unexpectedly was a Uniform Swiftlet (of the New Britain endemic subsp pallens) alive on the deck.

Uniform Swiftlet


 A few Lesser Frigatebirds and Black-naped Terns were about and a nice pod of Gray’s Spinner Dolphins put on a show close to the ship. 


Gray's Spinner Dolphin (above and below)



We had a two-day stop in Rabaul. Day one was partly occupied with a cultural tour of World War II relics around town and the wastelands that emerged after the city was buried by volcanic ash in 1994. Birds included Singing Starling, Glossy Swiftlet, Golden-headed Cisticola, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Willie Wagtail, King Quail, Hooded Mannikin and Willie Wagtail. Day two was a productive visit to forest away from town; the subject of the next blog post. 

Children at Rabaul

Rabaul's still active volcano

We left Rabaul late in the afternoon of February 1, seeing a mixed flock of Great and Lesser Frigatebirds, and a flock of Island Imperial-Pigeons flying to a small offshore island. February 2 was when we supposed to visit Kiriwina Island in the famed Trobriand group. I was looking forward to this, especially the chance for the coveted Curl-crested Manucode. A rain squall prevented us from landing with tenders and the captain turned the ship around and headed south at 10am, eight hours before we were scheduled to leave the island. We learned later that the weather cleared up with an hour and it remains a mystery why the captain did not elect to wait a little longer to see if the weather improved.

Lesser Frigatebird

 We continued south at a painfully slow speed (with much time to kill before our next destination) but saw nothing other than a few Brown Boobies and Crested Terns. Things thankfully improved on January 3 when we were able to land on the Conflict Islands, the subject of another post. At 6am on February 4 we were 650km east of Cape Melville. Boobies were all about the ship diving for flying fish, with 6 Masked, 4 Brown and 10 Red-footed making the line-up at one point. A Great Frigatebird and another Red-tailed tropicbird showed. 

Red-tailed Tropicbird

At 9am, about 500km east of Cape Flattery (14.90885S, 152.47574E), I saw an interesting petrel/shearwater but this poor image (below) is the only I managed; it looked markedly smaller than the many Wedge-taileds I’d seen earlier on the cruise and was flying erratically close to the water in the company of Sooty Terns. It may have been a Christmas Shearwater but the image does not rule out Wedge-tailed.

Mystery Shearwater

Around lunchtime I saw a Flesh-footed Shearwater, which is pretty much unknown in waters this tropical. At that point, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters had not been seen for several days.

Flesh-footed Shearwater

Around mid-afternoon, 450km east of Cairns (16.37149S, 152.64106E), Wedge-tailed Shearwaters again began to show in small numbers. The large number of boobies following the ship (24 at one point, more than half of them Red-footed) began to drop off, with Brown Booby becoming the more common species as we headed south. Sooty Tern continued to show occasionally. 

Masked Booby (above and below)


 January 5 was the last full day of the cruise: another day traversing the Coral Sea. At 6.30am we were 320km east of Mackay (21.20436S, 153.19432E). Common Bottle-nose Dolphin was a long way from shore here. 

Common Bottle-nosed Dolphin

The first Streaked Shearwaters (2) of the trip put in an appearance among mixed flocks feeding on bait fish of Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Brown Booby, the occasional Masked Booby and Sooty Tern. Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were common throughout the day. 

Streaked Shearwater with Wedge-tailed Shearwaters

At 3pm we were 100km north of Fraser Island when we were joined by 3 Red-footed Boobies, which remained with the ship until 5.30pm, by which time we were 40km north-east of Sandy Cape. We disembarked in Brisbane on the morning of January 6.





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Papua New Guinea Cruise Part 2 : Birding the rainforest of New Britain near Rabaul

February 9, 2023, 9:12 pm
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Black-capped Paradise-Kingfisher

During our cruise from Brisbane to Papua New Guinea, we had an overnight port stop in Rabaul in east New Britain. This allowed an opportunity for a morning of rainforest birding on February 1. I’ve visited Rabaul previously while working as a journalist and had limited opportunity to bird forest patches far from town. Most birders visit west New Britain and little is known ornithologically of the island’s eastern half. I was able to organise a highly recommended tour with the Rabaul-based company Pauvu Tours (contact Tulipa Paivu tpaivu40@gmail.com) or find them on Facebook.


Rachael from Pauvu Tours

A fellow cruise passenger, Colin Palethorpe, joined me. We were allowed off the ship early and were picked up at 5am in a 4-wheel drive. With driver Mare and guide Rachael, we drove 65km south-east of Rabaul into the hills to a patch of rainforest near Rachael’s village, Delroy, in the Warangoi area. I knew there was little good habitat close to Rabaul, 30km in a straight line to this site near the Warangoi Powerhouse. The often bad roads (the drive took us 1.5 hours, arriving about 6.30am) was through a depressing sea of coconut, Chinese-owned oil palm and other plantations with even secondary regrowth confined to scraps in gullies.


Bismarck Crow

The site at 170 metres above sea level was a fine stand of rainforest overflowing with birds but it was small and shrinking – essentially flanking a 500m stretch of road - with extensive areas of forest around it having burned recently.


Yellowish Imperial-Pigeon

Nonetheless it gave us a good sampling of New Britain and Bismarck specialties in quick succession. Yellowish Imperial-Pigeon and Red-knobbed Imperial-Pigeon were quite common, perching openly in the early morning sun; there was no sign of Finsch’s Imperial-Pigeon. Superb Fruit-Doves were common. 


Red-knobbed Imperial-Pigeon

Superb Fruit-Dove

Several Great Flying-Fox were seen perched and flying.


Great Flying-Fox

A pair of stub-tailed Bismarck Hanging-Parrots flying up the road was a welcome sight, while Blue-eyed Cockatoos noisily joined the morning chorus. Eclectus Parrots were common, flying overheading and feeding in a fruiting tree. 


Eclectus Parrot female (above and below)


Moutached Tree-Swifts sat atop tall trees. White-mantled Kingfishers called from inside the forest but only brief flight views were had.


Moustached Tree-Swift

More co-operative was a pair of Black-capped Paradise-Kingfishers, with both birds showing nicely.


Black-capped Paradise-Kinfisher (above and below)


As we left the area we saw a couple of Melanesian (Collared) Kingfishers in more open habitat. A Bismarck Pitta teased at it called at close quarters, allowing  a decent if brief flight view. 


Melanesian Kingfisher

New Britain Friarbird was very common. A pair of Bismarck Fantails were heard and then seen furtively making their way through the undergrowth; the species is scarce at this low altitude. Others included Bismarck Crow, Black Sunbird and Ashy Myzomela. We left the area late morning and were back at the ship by 1pm, so it’s an easy trip for cruising birders to undertake during a Rabaul stopover.


New Britain Friarbird

SPECIES (*lifer): Great Flying-Fox*.

Buff-banded Rail, Brahminy Kite, Pacific Baza, Amboyna Cuckoo-shrike,

Red-knobbed Imperial-Pigeon, Yellowish Imperial-Pigeon*, Superb Fruit-Dove, Blue-eyed Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot, Coconut Lorikeet, *Bismarck Hanging-Parrot, Brush Cuckoo, Channel-billed Cuckoo, Uniform Swiftlet, Glossy Swiftlet, Moustached Tree-Swift,

*White-mantled (New Britain) Kingfisher, *Black-capped Paradise-Kingfisher, Melanesian (Collared) Kingfisher, *Bismarck Pitta, Pacific Swallow, Varied Triller, Barred Cuckoo-Shrike (subsp sublineata), Black Sunbird, New Britain Friarbird, Ashy Myzomela, Red-banded Flowerpecker (subsp lagardorum), *Bismarck Fantail, Black-tailed Monarch, Velvet Flycatcher, Spangled Drongo (subsp laemostictus), Bismarck Crow, Singing Starling, Hooded Mannikin. 33 species (6 lifers). Elist here.


Black Sunbird female




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