|
Hi all
Been out and about a bit lately and seeing good numbers of
birds. Last Wednesday took a Canadian visitor out through Cunningham's Gap
and looped back around to Bill Jolly territory at Gatton. At Kalbar we had
nice views of Brown Quail and in the cemetery had the usual Zebra and
Double-barred Finches along with Yellow-rumped Thornbills and Superb
Wrens. Restless Flycatcher with Willie Wagtails made it a good
stop. Three Brown Falcons calling and doing some aerial acrobatics near
Kalbar was great to see and started a great raptor day. Main Range NP for
smoko had the usual Musk Lorikeets, Crimson Rosellas, Satin Bowerbirds,
countless Bell Miners, Lewin's HE and Yellow-throated Scrubwren. A stop a
woodland spot near Forest Springs yielded Fan-tailed Cuckoo being harassed by
Grey Fantails, Striated Pardalotes, Yellow Thornbills, Buff-rumped Thornbills,
Rufous Whistlers, Eastern Rosellas and a few others. Numerous Red-rumped
Parrots along the way and we saw a few Spotted Harriers. Near Ma Ma Creek
had a nice group of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos.
On to Gatton and lunch at Lake Apex where we saw a Little
Eagle take a Cattle Egret- quite spectacular!! It dragged it from the
water and under a bush where it just appeared to sit on it for the next 45
minutes. Here we also had Pink-eared Ducks, Aust. Shovellers, Sharp-tailed
Sandpipers, Hardheads as well as the usual other suspects. Lowes Road had a lone
Bar-tailed Godwit and 4 Cotton Pygmy Geese. Gatton College had the usual
impressive array of Magpie Geese, Pink-eareds, Plumed Whistling-Ducks etc.
Lake Clarendon area gave us large numbers of Cockatiels and at the Lake,
Red-necked Avocets and White-bellied Sea-Eagles. We also scoped up Bill
Jolly and John Hadley on the other side looking at the Pied Stilt. On to
Forest Hill and John Hadley's road where we saw (in about 500 metres)
Peregrine Falcon, Hobby, Kestrels, Black-shouldered Kite, and a Black
Falcon hotly pursuing a dove into some trees. We saw numerous
Kestrels and Black-shouldered Kites during the day. There was also a tree with
several hundred Tree Martins milling about. Just down the road we had
Bee-eaters and Common Bronzewing with some Bar-shouldered Doves.
To finish the day we took in the Painted Snipe at Lake
Dyer (just one there). All up we saw 99 species for the day and I had a
very happy Canadian!! Her Australian aunt who had come along just for the
ride finished the day a 'hooked' birder.
My 2002 list is creeping up slowly. Now 287 species with a
few newies on last Wednesday. Hard work but someone has to do
it!!
Cheers
Roy
|
