John Hadley turned up 7 Painted Snipe this-morning (Tuesday) at Seven Mile
Lagoon in the Lockyer Valley.
We went back together mid-morning to do some serious scanning of the
margins - and straightaway walked onto a flock of 20!!
There were four well-coloured females, and several obvious males, the
balance being made up of immatures and males in intermediate plumages. They
were a fairly tight flock, but strung out just a bit with overlapping birds,
and it was difficult to take in so them all in at once. There was no cover
available for hundreds of metres, which made it impossible to approach
closely. I took some distant photos, just to place the group on record - but
they really are only record shots, still good to have them.
Maybe these birds have come north to Queensland after more southern
breeding?
A Black-necked Stork was nearby, and still about 70 or so Red-necked
Avocets.
The approach to the Painted Snipe location was through private property
(with the permission of the owners), but with that number of birds around,
we might reasonably expect to come across some or all of them at other
locations in the valley in the days ahead, including other parts of Seven
Mile viewable from the roadside.
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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