In the first part of May, I did some birding in North Queensland, near
Mackay and near Brisbane. With 4 other interested and interesting people,
I joined Klaus Uhlenhut's (Kirrama) Golden-shouldered Parrot 5-day tour to
the Musgrave, Julatten and Daintree areas near Cairns. Following the tour,
I flew to Mackay to look for the Eungella Honeyeater and thence to Brisbane
to try to see some other northern species which had until now eluded me.
This was my second tour with Klaus and he was again very professional and
successful in showing each of us the special birds of the area as well as
the birds on our personal wish lists. We had very good views of male and
female parrots on the road near Windmill Creek and later, Klaus found a
nest in a termite mound containing about 3 nestlings and an egg. The male
and female later returned to the nest and we had the classic views of this
rare species. Other good sightings near Musgrave were Black-backed Butcher
Bird, Black-throated and Masked Finch, Bustard, Beach and Bush
Stone-Curlew, Barking and Boobook Owl, Papuan and Tawny Frogmouth.
Around Julatten we were shown among others the Lesser Sooty Owl, and at
Mount Lewis we had good views of a Blue-faced Finch on the road at the
upper site before an Eastern Spinebill spooked it. On Chris Dahlberg's
Daintree Cruise (part of the tour) we were shown Little Kingfisher and a
juvenile Great-billed Heron. Squalls near the coast blew in 2 female
Lesser Frigate Birds which we saw from the coast road.
I drove from Mackay Airport to the site described in Thomas & Thomas at
Eungella in about 1.5 hours. It was late when I arrived but the
honeyeaters were responsive to pishing and I had glimpses of 2 before it
got too dark. The call as described in Pizzey and Knight (starting like a
Drongo and finishing like a Willie Wagtail) is very easy to recognise. I
returned the following morning in continuous light rain from above and
leeches from below and again only caught glimpses of the bird.
From Brisbane Airport I drove to Yarraman and spent in all about 7 hours
at and near the Black-breasted Button-Quail site mentioned in T & T without
success. From there I had a side trip to Bunya Mountains and looked for
the Sooty Owl roost site again from T & T and again without success.
Back in Brisbane I spent a little time at Thorneside searching for
the Mangrove Honeyeater and eventually found some near the Boat Launching
ramp south-west of the point. A better place to find these as well as
Mangrove Gerygone is the mangrove walk in Boondall Wetlands accessible from
Nudgee Beach. The other part of the wetlands sign-posted from the Motorway
near the Airport seems not as good for mangrove species.
Please contact me if you require further information.
Regards,
Gil Langfield
Melbourne, Australia
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