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On one of our regular Sunday morning jaunts with
the large dog in the back of the stationwagon
we headed for Giru, a small sugar town half way
between Townsville and Ayr in North Queensland.
We had passed through a week before
when all was quiet but now the sugar mill is belching out
dark-laden vapours into the atmosphere, enhancing a
landscape increasingly blackened by bushfires.
The best 20 minute 2ha monitoring (aka smoko
spot for the rest of the team) was at a lagoon
between Giru township and Cromarty boat ramp on the
Haughton River, on a rising tide. (We wisely
avoided the boat ramp itself).
Birds observed at lagoon (in order of
scribbling):
Grey Fantail
Sunbird
Large-billed Gerygone
Leaden Flycatcher
Little
Kingfisher
Willy Wagtail
Bar Shouldered Dove
Whistling Kite
Black Kite
Dusky Honeyeater
Magpie Lark
Spectacled Monarch (heard only)
Other birds observed in vicinity of
Giru:
Kestrel
Aust White Ibis
Black Necked Stork
Great Egret
Richards Pipit
White-breasted Woodswallow
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
Magpie Geese
Pied Stilt
Masked Lapwing
Brolga
Torresian Crow
Alex Appleman
Townsville, NQ
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