A couple of quick spins around Lockyer Valley hotspots over the last couple
of days with visiting birders Deanee & Stephen Clark from Norfolk, UK,
yielded a succession of highlights.
For the first couple of days of their visit to the Lockyer, torrential rain
(around 10 inches over the weekend) interfered more than somewhat with
birding ambitions. But once the rain stopped and life in the valley began to
return to something approaching normal, we were in for a couple of days of
non-stop birding highlights.
For example, breakfast yesterday, Sunday, was interrupted by a passing
Peregrine Falcon which initially crossed the house and garden at speed, only
to wheel around on the other side of the creek and execute a low pass
directly over our heads. Later that day, we all enjoyed close views of two
Pacific Bazas, a Wedge-tailed Eagle and a very busy Australian Hobby which
was careening around Lake Dyer feasting on the abundance of dragonflies
there. Later still, we watched at least eleven pairs of Pink-eared Duck
executing their distinctive practice of circling each about the other,
filtering the pond-life they mutually disturbed.
Breakfast this-morning (Monday) was simply abandoned, as first one, then
two, then three Wedge-tailed Eagles landed on the hillside just across the
creek from us and took turns to rip at a carcase of a Sand Monitor which
they had brought with them. We spent close on an hour watching these three
mighty predators sequentially sharing their morning snack, while our own
breakfasts stood abandoned nearby. One eagle was clearly a very dark adult
bird, one a rufous juvenile and the third somewhere between the two in
colouring but closer to the larger adult in size. We should have
photographs of this adventure up on the website in the next couple of days.
After a somewhat late breakfast, our visitors were to enjoy still more
regular Lockyer specialities, including Plum-headed Finches, Ground
Cuckoo-shrikes, Channel-billed Cuckoos, Spangled Drongos, and back at
Abberton a pair of resident Speckled Warblers, and of course Nankeen
Night-herons every evening.
A couple of great days after the rain, that excited our visitors and us
equally!
Bill Jolly
"Abberton",
Lockyer Valley, Queensland.
Visit our website at http://www.abberton.org
Email:
Ph: (+61) 7 4697 6111 Fax: (+61) 7 4697 6056
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