Hello everyone,
I'm sure you all heard it as the lead story on the ABC news this
morning - I have finally seen my first Albert's Lyrebird. Thanks to
those who, a year ago, responded to my request for locations. That
trip to the hinterland of the Gold Coast was aborted, but we filed
the information. James and I finally made it to Tamborine over the
weekend. It's just that the Gold Coast is a place we avoid carefully,
and we were obliged to go there in this instance. And Tamborine was
close from there.
For those who are yet to find the bird, read on.
We were out in the forest before light, around 5.30am. We started at
Witches falls NP, where we heard the bird calling, but it was
frustratingly far from the track, and we weren't getting anywhere. We
then drove not far to The Knoll NP, and found "Lyrebird Corner" on
the track, knocking Noisy Pittas, Logrunners and Ground Thrushes out
of the way. We were hanging around the spot, hearing lyrebird calls,
but not seeing any, when the call of nature obliged me to abandon my
watch and return up the hill to the loo. This was one of those
misfortunes which turned into good fortune, because on my way back
down the hill, barely out of the picnic area, I was treated to about
ten minutes of lyrebird mimicry, which took my breath away. I heard,
many times, a repertoire of Crimson Rosella, King Parrot, Satin
Bowerbird and Catbird calls, as well as a distinctive sound of timber
cracking prior to falling to the forest floor. As it was a windy
weekend, we had been hearing this timber cracking sound quite a bit,
but at the time the bird was calling, all was quiet on the wind
front. The bird was only about 15 metres from me, and yet I couldn't
see it. And then I had to go and spoil it. In trying to get a better
viewing position, I stepped carefully onto a dry stick, and that was
the end of the concert.
I found James, who had not been as successful as I, and we drove to
our last hope, the Curtis Rd end of Palm Grove NP. At this stage it
was 8am, and our chances were running low. All these parks are quite
close to each other. The terrain is very steep in this part of the
park, and the tops of the palms were in our horizontal line of view.
A male Albert's Lyrebird was walking around in the forest canopy
about 20 metres from us, and we had excellent views, although not
long enough for my liking. Soon he glided elegantly down to the
forest floor, and was obsured by the tangle of fallen palm fronds. I
must admit that we were astounded to find the bird high in trees,
although we knew they roost in trees at night. When I had raised my
binos, I had expected to see a Brush Turkey, not a lyrebird. Gee
whizz, we were so excited. We seldom see a new bird these days, and
August has yielded two new birds for me - the lyrebird, as well as a
Spotted Nightjar out near Broken Hill, far west NSW.
We stumbled upon a gem of a B&B place, which we can really recommend.
Isla & Dave Boxall let a couple of rooms at their home, Hillside B&B,
at 25 Leona Court, Mt Tamborine, Qld 4272. Phone (07) 54453887. email
- or- Just check, I
can't recall whether hotmail has ".au" after the ".com", but most of
you will know. Isla & Dave charge $85 per couple during the week, and
$95 at weekends, per night. They also have a separate 2BR cottage for
rent. There is a spa, pool, and the setting is beautiful, with
escarpment views across to the Gold Coast from the breakfast table on
the patio. Each guest room has private bathroom, and there is a
shared lounge and kitchen for guests. We loved it. Amazingly, Isla
turned out to be an old Birds Australia volunteer for Phil Straw when
she was in Sydney. If anyone is in touch with Phil, please pass on
Isla's best wishes. She and Dave are members of the local Mt
Tamborine birding group, which, I believe, falls under the Tamborine
Mountain Natural History Association. I might add that we found
volunteer Janette Malone, also a member, to be very helpful, when we
called in to the information office at Doughty Park.
Cheers,
Jill
--
Jill Dening
Sunshine Coast, Qld
26º 51' 152º 56'
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