Queensland twitchers were all a flutter when Michael Daley reported last night (October 31, 2021) that he had found a Semipalmated Plover at the Geoff Skinner Wetlands Reserve, at Wellington Point by Moreton Bay, not far from Brisbane. It is only the second record of this vagrant from Queensland and there are just a handful of sightings for Australia, mostly in Western Australia.
By the time I got there about 11am today, it was low tide. Apart from the initial sighting late yesterday, quite a few people saw it early this morning, but all sightings had been at or close to high tide, when large numbers of shorebirds roost here. So whether it would be around all day was an unknown quantity, although Red-capped Plovers and some small shorebirds often remain at high tide roosts throughout the day, providing there is sufficient feeding habitat around. I ran into a couple of local birders; we spread out and I spotted the plover through my scope about 10 minutes after arriving.
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The Semipalmated Plover appeared quite settled, feeding with a couple of Red-necked Stints and Red-capped Plovers on one of a small number of shallow pools that were scattered around the large claypan. Apart from these three species, the only other shorebirds were 2 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers; just a few hours earlier, hundreds of shorebirds were present. The plover was flushed by a council mosquito inspector and settled on a nearby pool, where we watched it for about 30 minutes before the small group flew off to another pool 50 metres away. We left the birds there. Harsh light conditions in the middle of the day did not make for ideal photographic conditions. Gum boots are strong advised for this site! The species elsewhere in Australia has sometimes (but not always) hung around for long periods of time. The image below is the plover with stints.
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At the end of last week I checked out some of my favourite sites in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane. Bird of the day was Ground Cuckoo-shrike – a party of 4 feeding close to the road, just south of the junction between Watsons Road Boyces Road, near Atkinsons Dam. This species, a rarity in south-east Queensland, is resident in small numbers in the valley but always difficult to come across.
Also on Watsons Road, a Little Red Flying-fox was found dead after evidently striking a barbed wire fence.
At Lake Galletly near Gatton, 6 Blue-billed Ducks were present. The birds have long been attracted to this site but are absent for lengthy periods. They’ve been there for several months now and were recently reported to have young but I saw no ducklings; they may have been eaten or were hiding.
Pink-eared Duck was in good numbers on the lake, with 140 counted. This is another species that fluctuates wildly in numbers in south-east Queensland, often being absent for lengthy periods.
Plenty of Short-necked (Brisbane River) turtles (Emydura macquarii) were on the lake edges.
Australasian Shoveler was found with ducklings at Karasch’s Lagoon. Better still were the 14 Hoary-headed Grebes present here. The birds have evidently been on the lagoon since early this year. During my last few visits this lagoon has been dry so it was nice to see it full.
Other birds at Karasch’s included about 10 Red-kneed Dotterel and more Pink-eared Ducks.
Rains this year have been patchy, however, and other wetlands like Lake Clarendon and Seven Mile Lagoon remain dry. A small dam near Lake Clarendon had good numbers of Whiskered Tern in breeding plumage.
A Spotted Harrier was close to the road at Seven Mile Lagoon.
At Peach’s Lagoon, few waterbirds were in evidence but Red-rumped Parrot (above) and White-winged Triller (below) were about.
On the home front, a pair of Square-tailed Kites are nesting for the second year in a row at Koala Park in Nambour, not far from home.
