Queensland (Part 3)

My final day in Queensland dawned cold and foggy, reminding me of a winters day in England rather than tropical Australia!! As today was going to be a sightseeing day (with a bit of birding thrown in of course!) I decided to hang around and wait for the fog to start to lift. I spent some time at the local park. This clump of reeds is a definite reminder of home - winter on the Somerset Levels. The fog gives a nice wash to these two Black Swans. As the sun started to break through, I headed up into the Bracken Ranges, and soon broke through the clouds. As I headed south towards Brisbane, I stopped in a lovely country town, and spotted a couple of Blue-faced Honeyeaters in a palm tree. My final stop before heading to the airport was at Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve near Maleny. This is a lovely spot with a view down to the Glasshouse Mountains, and it also has a fantastic Rainforest walk. It was incredibly dark in the rainforest, and even with the ISO pushed up to 3200 I was still only getting 1/25 to 1/50th second exposures, so I apologise for the quality of some of these shots. I saw a great range of birds including Noisy Pitta, Logrunner, Yellow-browed Scrubwren, Spectacled Monarch and Brush Turkey. I only managed identifiable shots of the last two.

Queensland (Part 2)

,Following the Conference, I stayed in Queensland for the weekend. I headed further north to Gympie, a historical goldmining town. Early Saturday morning I went to Rainbow Beach, and then on to Inskip Point. This is a hotspot for Black-breasted Button-quail (BBBQ). I had received mixed opinions on how easy it is to see BBBQ here. Some people had never missed, whilst others had been here multiple times and never seen them. Within a couple of minutes I had found some platelets (small circular areas scrapped free of leaf litter whilst the bird is feeding), but no site of the bird. Moving slowly through the bush I found plenty of platelets, plenty of Noisy Friarbirds and Little Wattlebirds. I did manage to get some shots of White-breasted Woodswallows. Inskip is also a regular haunt for Beach Stone-curlew, so I decided to try for these . No joy at the end of the point, but while walking back to the car, I noticed a huge area of muddy foam moving in with the tide...........except the tide was going out. Closer inspection showed that the "foam" was actually a mass of Soldier Crabs. As I cut back through the bush I saw a movement in the litter.......BBBQ?......no, a small lizard. Not sure of the ID, I'll check it out when I get home. I went back to the platelet spot, and stood quietly. Away to my left I heard a rustle in the leaves, slowly I inched towards the sound, and there he was........BBBQ!! I slowly followed him for about ten minutes until he went through some thick scrub. I had to go round, and never saw him again. By this time I was almost on the beach again, so went to see if any waders (shorebirds) were feeding on the falling tide. As I stepped onto the beach, I surprised three Beach Stone-curlews. Both target birds in the bag!! With time on my hands I took a slow drive along a few backroads and ended up in Cooloola Cove where a flash of green caught my eye. Although I have never seen one before I knew what this bird was!! Yes, it's a Red-Winged Parrot. Three new birds in one day......It's a long time since that has happened!! In passing I also saw a few other nice birds including Red-backed Fairywren, And Scarlet Honeyeater.

Queensland (Part 1)

I am currently on a short trip to the Gold coast in Queensland on a conference for work. Yesterday the weather was very windy and I didn't get out, but this morning was beautiful. I headed down to the beach to watch the sunrise. I thought I would pretty much have the beach to myself, but no, there were joggers, walkers and fishermen all there before me!! This is the view from Broadbeach, looking North towards surfers Paradise. I also looked to see what birds where about. Nothing special, Rainbow Lorikeets, Noisy Miners, Australian Ibis and a poor one-footed Silver Gull. Finally I took a quick look in the hotel garden (which is actually on the roof of the adjacent shopping mall.)

This is a bird of paradise flower