Sooty Owl, Little Bittern, Marbled Frogmouth, Rainforest Frogs on a Warm Summer Evening

Sooty Owl

Sooty Owl, Marbled Frogmouth and some delightful rainforest frogs were the highlights of an evening in Mapleton National Park in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Australian Little Bittern

Earlier, I headed off in the late afternoon with Susie Lycett and Fiona Anderson to Parklakes at Bli Bli, where the male Australian Little Bittern that has been around for a few weeks again showed well. It was on the first lake, closest to the Yandina-Bli Bli Road, where I've not seen it before. I managed to get close to the bird while it was in a classic bittern freeze-mode, doing a better job of looking like a stick that the image suggests.

Marbled Frogmouth

 We headed up into the Blackall Range where the first of 4 Greater Gliders for the evening was spotted just after sunset. Two Sugar Gliders were also seen during the evening. Further along the road in Mapleton National Park, it didn't take much effort for a female Marbled Frogmouth to show at a favoured haunt for this species.

Australian Owlet-Nightjar

We also managed good views of an Australian Owlet-Nightjar after some effort.

Eastern Stony Creek Frog

Orange-eyed Tree Frog

Plenty of wet weather lately so great conditions for rainforest frogs. Good numbers of Eastern Stony Creek Frog (Litoria wilcoxii) were out and about, with the males brightly yellow-green and several pairs in amplexus. Nice to see quite a few Orange-eyed Tree-Frogs (Litoria chloris). Other frogs included large numbers of Great Barred River Frogs (Mixophyes fasciatus), Brown-striped Marsh-frog (Limnodynastes peronii), Eastern Sedge-Frog (Litoria fallax), Pearson's Tree-Frog (L. pearsoniana) and Peron's Tree Frog (Litoria peronii). Cane toads were surprisingly and pleasantly few in number up in the forest.

We moved further up the road and eventually tracked down a fine Sooty Owl roadside (first image in this post). This species is difficult in the Blackall Range, being easier to see in the nearby Conondale Range.

In other local critter news, pairs of both Lewin's Rail and Pale-vented Bush-hen have returned to one of their favoured haunts, at North Arm. Spotless Crakes have moved into both the small artificially created wetlands in the Coolum industrial estate.

Brush Cuckoo

In the home garden, cuckoos have been particularly conspicuous this summer, with large numbers of noisy Eastern Koels and plenty of Brush Cuckoos about.

Eastern Koel