As a result of a strong tip off New Years eve, from
a non birdo, but a very observant friend who told me he
saw a pair of birds on an eastern bay of Lake Moondarra that were
- size of plover (lapwing ?)
- upturned beak
- red legs
- black stripe on side of body
That had me absolutely stumped ! But no birds at
all were in that area at all early (7.00am) New Years Day so I will never
ever know.
But I travelled anti-clockwise over a rough track
around the northern end of the lake to Wide Bay on the western shores of the
Lake. We have had a bit of rain that has lifted
the Lake Moondarra water level a little and no doubt altered the feeding habitat
for the waders. All but one of the Sharp-tailed
S/p (100s), Marsh S/p (20-30), Red-necked Avocets(12), Black-tailed Godwits
(9) have left since my previous visit. The Black Swans, Coots,
Hardheads (100s of each) Pacific Black-Duck, Crested Grebes remain. However
2 dozen Wandering
Whistling-ducks first sighted two months ago were again
located
But hiding amongst the 100s of Hardheads were about
Freckled Ducks including a Male in breeding plumage .. very
rare for here. They were totaIly unexpected &
I almost overlooked them. They did not
appear to have the normal prominent high crown. Even the male faced away from me hiding his (dark) red lores at
first.
Another turnup were 5 Pacific Golden Plover. Photographs I
took, were identified by Justin Jansen of the Netherlands as probable first year
winter plumage.
To the north on the way to Spear Creek Bay I
stopped to identify Yellow-rumped Thornbills - an
infrequent visitor. Almost immediately I heard the distant call off a Cuckoo. I
eventually got an excellent view of a Brush Cuckoo which I
believe is the first record for the Isa area.
Total for the 11-1/2 hours was 67 species which was acceptable as I did not
target the Crake/Rail, Parrot, Finch/Mannikin etc habitats.
Regards
Bob Forsyth, Mount Isa, NW Qld.
1 The more you watch the more
you see !
