Actually, I had the displeasure of seeing a sizeable flock of mynahs
roosting in a mangrove tree near the Redland Bay jetty Sunday evening
after an enjoyable day atlassing on Russell Island. [It will be
interesting to see if they take to island hopping though the region.]
For some strange reason, Moreton Bay has not been comprehensively
atlassed [Macleay Is was virgin territory when I popped over there a
month ago].
For those unfamiliar with SEQ, Moreton Bay is Brisbane's equivalent of
Sydney Harbour - just a lot bigger, with no "bridge" and limited
development on the far "shore". There are a number of ferries and
barges that traverse the bay, and it is quite a pleasant ride through
the southern bay to a cluster of four islands - Karragarra, Macleay,
Lamb and Russell.
Heading home late in afternoon, you go cruising past mudbanks that in
summer should be covered with waders and loafing seabirds. [At the
moment there are heaps of black swans, white ibis, white faced herons
and eastern curlews etc. There was also a flock of black winged stilts
- who obviously didn't know they were supposed to be at Lake Eyre doing
their bit to reproduce the species.]
Anyhow, Leanne and I took our bikes over to the Russell Island [$5pp
return] - Leanne was reacquainting herself with cycling and Russell has
plenty of quiet roads. The "deadeye dick" event of the day for me was
spotting a bush thickknee lying down by a stump at 50m while riding
along a road. [The really humourous thing was that there was another
one standing behind it, but I didn't notice it until a couple of minutes
later].
Another interesting thing was the complete lack of silver gulls for the
day - maybe they've all buggered off to Lake Eyre. There was, however,
the odd caspian tern flying along the strait between Russell and
Straddie.
Lots of whistling kites and a few brahminy kites circling about, and the
usual indeterminate quail [seen disappearing into the vegetation near a
swamp - Russell Island is notorious for real estate scams involving
wetland subdivisions - you have to laugh when you see some of the street
signs]. There were plenty of noisy friarbirds, but apparently no noisy
miners. Brown and scarlet honeyeaters were also common.
There a few mangrove kingfishers, drongos, bee eater, peaceful and bar
shouldered doves and a flock of double barred finches.
Regards, Laurie.
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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