On 12 June I flew into Brisbane to
attend a meeting, staying overnight in Spring Hill, just up the road from the
office. With only limited time between the meeting and the return flight I
decided to maximise birding time with a pre-breakfast stroll through the nearby
Roma Street Parkland development. My first bird was a Noisy Miner, followed in
close succession by other hardy endemics - Torresian Crow, Magpie Lark, Wood
Duck and Pacific Black Duck at the lake, Australian White and Straw-necked
Ibises scavenging the picnic areas and Crested Pigeons in the gum trees retained
within the perimeter. Construction is still underway but I was very impressed
with both the design and the plantings – especially in the Fern Gully section
where I found a solitary Black Duck shepherding 2 very young chicks. I am sure
given time these gardens will provide habitat for a wide range of species close
to the CBD.
Back in my hotel room I paused between
mouthfuls of scrambled egg to fix the binoculars on the wildlife visible through
the window. City traffic is an ungiving environment but at rooftop level several
species have found surrogate perches and safe feeding grounds. I found the
inevitable Common Starlings and a Spotted Turtle Dove but was intrigued to see a
Laughing Kookaburra on a TV aerial and a Masked Lapwing foraging between the
cooling vents on a flat inner-city roof.
The meeting concluded I hastily changed
from business clothes into casuals and ordered a taxi out the front. At the
entrance I heard Silvereyes in a street tree opposite the office. Silvereyes
have numerous races in different locations, and as is usualy the case I had just
got used to one set of names when the whole lot came under review. Silvereyes
found in the monsoon scrub and rainforest edges in North Queenland are Zosterops
ramsayi (now called Z. vegetus) whereas the Brisbane birds were probably the
cosmopolican Z. familiaris (now renamed Z. cornwalli), found in gardens and
parks from Southern Victoria to SE Queensland, however I had no time to check
this out as the taxi arrived.
When I heard I would be in
Brisbane I sent a posteding to birding-aus, asking if the South Island
Pied Oystercatcher (SIPO), spotted at Clontarf on the southern side of the
Redcliffe Peninsula back in April was still around. Indeed it was, and the tide
was favourably high in the mid afternoon. A flurry of emails were exchanged and
I arranged to meet up with the SIPO’s "finder" Bob Inglis at Sandgate Railway
Station. After a brief tour of the beach front we headed across the causeway and
positioned ourselves on the rocky groyne near the boat ramp at Clontarf’s
Pelican Park awaiting the high tide. A group of Australian Pied Oystercatchers
(OZPO) were lounging on a natural rock outcrop not far off shore, accompanied by
Little Pied Cormorants, a darter and a few Crested Terns, whilst Ruddy
Turnstones seemed to favour the man-made groyne. The show-stoppers were the
Pelicans, serenely gliding in a group near the boat ramp whilst Common Dolphins
broke the surface close inshore. Being a week day there were no jet skiers and
the few boaties seemed at peace with their surroundings and did not disturb the
wildlife. There was time to look at Bob’s photos of the bird and grasp the
distinguishing features of the SIPO and the OZPO.
As the tide peaked the OZPO’s moved
onto the groyne and Bob slowly surveyed them through the telescope. As I
waited a Great Egret landed at the far end and stood in classic pose for a few
moments before flying off. Bob gestured towards the telescope, asking "What do
you think?" I focussed the view-finder and watched for several minutes,
describing the features as they came into view, first the white in the wing bar
and short stocky legs, then as the bird moved its head and preened the longer
bill which seemed paler towards the tip. I compared the bill and legs to the
OZPO’s within the same frame and they were noticably different. I gave a silent
cheer whilst trying to remain outwardly calm.
As the afternoon wore on Bob showed me
a few of the wetland sites set aside by Brisbane City Council on the south side
of the Pine River, first the Tinchi Tampa Wetlands, not far from the Gateway
Arterial, where we saw Chestnut Teal, Pied Stilts, a Glossy Ibis, Hardhead and a
pair of Brolga in the nearby grasslands, then on to Deep Water Bend Reserve
where we saw Ibis, a Brahminy and a Whistling Kite from the bird hide. Lastly we
called in briefly at the Boondall Wetlands before Bob dropped me at the airport.
A magical few hours in which the SIPO
was a hoped for but unexpected bonus. I cannot thank Bob enough
for generously giving of his time to show me around and for putting me
onto the SIPO; but credit must also go to Brisbane City Council for setting
fragile areas aside as ‘recreational open space’ and for the work going into
redeveloping the old Roma Street yards into parkland.
Alex Appleman, Townsville, NQ.
