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| Superb Fruit-Dove |
A flurry of decent observations in the Sunshine Coast region, most notably a way-out-of-range Torresian Imperial Pigeon, continued in the form of another pigeon. A female Superb Fruit-Dove was found by Esther Horton-Van Der Woude last month at Gardeners Falls, a popular tourist spot near Maleny. While one or two Superb Fruit-Doves turn up annually, the behaviour of this bird was highly unusual. It was feeding in a privet at eye level and hung around for several days in the same spot, allowing most locals to get onto the bird.
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| Superb Fruit-Dove |
Then Tony Baker found a White-browed Crake at Buckleys Hole, Bribie Island. When I arrived a few hours later, I saw the bird briefly before it disappeared. It emerged again and showed well but distantly on the far shore opposite the hide for about 20 minutes. This is the first record of this tropical species for our region and just the second for south-east Queensland.
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| White-browed Crake |
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| White-browed Crake |
I headed out to the South Burnett for a couple days, exploring the newly expanded western sector of the Zone of Happiness. I found Bullcamp Road east of Nanango, and various roads and tracks that run off it, to be particularly productive. The highlight was a covey of Red-chested Buttonquail flushed from well-grassed woodland. Other good birds in the area included a flock of 100+ Plum-headed Finch, Black-chinned Honeyeater, Brown-headed Honeyeater, Brown Treecreeper, Apostlebird and White-winged Chough.
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| Black-chinned Honeyeater |
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| Plum-headed Finch |
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| Red-chested Buttonquail |
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| White-winged Chough |
I also explored the Burnett Highway between Nanango and Goomeri and several roads to its east, notably Kilcoy-Murgon Road and Kinbombi Road, double-tracking the highway to do this. More good birds followed including Red-winged Parrot, Cockatiel, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Striped Honeyeater and Buff-rumped Thornbill.
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| Red-winged Parrot |
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| Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater |
A pelagic trip off Mooloolaba yesterday was worthwhile with a Black-bellied Storm-Petrel being the stand-out. Good numbers of Providence Petrel and Wilson's Storm-Petrel were also seen.
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| Black-bellied Storm-Petrel |
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| Providence Petrel |
