So
off we headed for Lamington N.P. in Queensland, passing through the towns of
Burra (really liked it), Peterborough (didn’t much like it) and getting a tick
at Olary; Little Crow (which was a lovely, tiny town consisting of a
friendly publican and galahs). A
couple of days later we stopped at Gibralter Range N.P. and had our first
Rainforest experience. I got four
new birds (Brown Gerygone, Logrunner, Yellow-throated
Scrubwren (later to become chooks) and, most impressively Wompoo
Fruit-dove). We had stopped the
previous day at the more famous Warrumbungles and were thoroughly underwhelmed
by it, but just loved Gibralter and pencilled it in for a later and longer
visit. By the time we had crossed
NSW and landed in the grottiest cabin in NSW in Ballina we had seen 148 birds
and got eight ticks.
Next
day we drove up to Lamington immediately ticking Regent Bowerbird and
Australian Brush Turkey even before checking in to O’Reilly’s. We loved O’Reilly’s, the service was
great, the accommodation beautiful and the food good. Over the next couple of days we went on
lots of walks, ticking Green Catbird, Brown Cuckoo-dove,
Albert’s Lyrebird and Pale Yellow Robin. Tim O’Reilly is the activities
coordinator (or something) and aside from being really nice bloke was a great
help, putting up with lots of questions from me about where I could tick some
more birds and so it was, armed with three pages of mud maps, that we headed off
the mountain, down Duck Creek Road, on the 14th of August to
Beaudesert.
Just
a quick aside as to why we went to Beaudesert. When we checked out our money situation
for this very indulgent part of the trip in Ballina, we had more than enough to
cover the cost, however when we double checked in Beaudesert the funds were
gone! Now, as we had spent lots
leading up to trip, we accepted this as true and hastily organised to borrow the
funds to cover the cost, which was very embarrassing, however on our return from
holidays we found that the Commonwealth Bank had made a mistake and the money
was there again with nary a word from these fine people. Suffice to say we have ceased all
banking with the incompetents at the Commonwealth Bank as this is the straw that
broke the camel’s back (and are faced with such encouraging alternatives!).
With
that off my chest back to the birds.
The 14th was a twitching day like no other. It started with a pair of Glossy
Black Cockys, White-chinned Honeyeaters and Pale-headed
Rosellas as we made our way down the mountain. At the bottom of the mountain we got a
Pheasant Coucal flying out of the grass and I ticked off Torresian
Crow although dipped on Red-backed Fairy-wren and Bar-shouldered
Dove. In Beaudesert I got
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin and Brown Honeyeater in a creek bed and
as I turned to leave a Double-barred Finch flew into a nearby tree. We then headed to a Jabiru nest
and saw one on the nest and another walking around in the paddock beyond. We then got Figbird and
Comb-crested Jacana and I saw my first male Scarlet Honeyeater (having
seen a female at Fairy Dell in Victoria earlier this year). So far I had only dipped on
Bar-shouldered Dove, Plumed Whistling-duck and Red-backed Fairy-wren, but then
as we returned the way we came, at precisely the spot that Tim had said they
would be I got RBFW’s. 11
ticks for the day, including some good ones, I was thrilled.
All
too soon we had to leave O’Reilly’s, although I still didn’t have Paradise
Riflebird despite them being seen 4 times by Andy Rhodes an English birder on
his honeymoon. I spent a lot of
time in the area that they had been seen and managed to turn up 3
White-headed Pigeons to add to my list, but no Riflebirds. I also dipped on Topknot Pigeons that
had been seen flying past our room on a couple of occasions, and no one was
seeing Pittas. In fact the only
Pittas that were being seen were dead, apparently from the extraordinary dry
that they are experiencing. It is
the driest period in 60 years at Lamington, when records started to be taken and
many of the epiphytic ferns were showing the strain.
We
then returned fairly directly to sign papers relating to the sale of our house,
adding Spangled Drongo and the fantastic Brahminy Kite as we
went. We saw 184 species on the
trip, 78 year ticks and I got 29 ticks.
Best bird for me would be the Glossy Blacks, the Brahminy Kites, the
Spotted Nightjar and the Regent Bowerbirds (although feelings are a bit mixed
about the nature of the twitch).
Most disappointing dip was clearly the Malleefowl, because I went
expecting to see one and didn’t, I’ll get the Riflebird on another trip and
didn’t expect to see one. We had a
great trip, even if it didn’t go as planned and Georgie was great in the car,
however we will try the camping thing again when she is a bit older.
I am
happy to provide a complete bird list and details of where I saw them on
request.
Regards
Stuart
