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For those who have followed this saga in the past,
an update:
After returning from Ashmore Reef, came back to a
swathe of emails claiming Little Bitterns (aka mythical beastie) at both
Minnipee Wetlands and Sherwood Arboretum in Brisbane.
"Here we go again," thought I, and this morning I
made my first of what I presumed would be my usual series of fruitless
pilgrimages in search of this alleged bird (aka ixobrychus
extinctus)
Met up with Tom Tarrant at Minnipee at an unseemly
hour. Birding was good, with Red-kneed Dotterels, Baillon's Crakes - this is a
big spring for Baillon's in Brisbane - but no Bitterns (aka feathered
figment)
After a relaxed coffee (why hurry for a bird that
doesn't exist?) we headed west for the more usual haunt of Sherwood Arboretum
(aka second home). It's great at Sherwood at the moment anyway - dry conditions
have brought an influx of birds more usually found further inland into
Brisbane.
More Baillon's, 3 Hardhead (unusual here) several
Little Grassbirds and a White-winged Triller. Right. To the reeds then in search
of the Bittern (aka crock of dog poo).
So I'm strolling casually along the bank eyeing the
vegetation without too much effort, momentarily turn my head AND THERE'S THIS
THING LEAPING CLEAR OF THE REEDS WITH TRAILING LEGS AND BIG BUFF WING PANELS
AAAARRRGGHH!
It settled on an horizontal, broken reed stem,
right in the open thanguverrymuch and just... sits there. For two minutes. And
then just strolls back into the reeds again.
Anyways, I pinch myself three times to check that
I'm awake, and off we go again ... more Baillon's, no Bush Hen, and oh well
after about three quarters of an hour we're back at the spot and there's ANOTHER
no-longer-quite-so-mythical-beastie barely 25 metres from where the first one
was, this time an immaculate adult male with a black back, and he's just...
sitting there.
And then he's poking his way along, picking off the
odd tadpole or whatever, and soon the female's sitting out in the open again,
and I'm just looking from one to the other and back again and, well, in the end
we had to leave them both behind because there's only so many hours in the day,
y'know?
Life is good.
Cheers, AS
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