Hi all,
I had the good fortune last week to go to Mackay for a two day workshop that
ended on the Friday. This meant that I could take the weekend in Mackay to
have a bit of a look around. Which of course really means birding!
On the Thursday we were taken around by John from the Rockhampton EPA and
shown a variety of wetlands, picking up birds like Radjah Shelduck and
Blue-winged Kookaburra. The day was a bit stormy though, so not much else of
interest for the trip. The Friday began well though, with Pied Imperial
Pigeon flying past the car on the way to the meeting, a new bird for me. It
ended even better, because after the meeting ended I headed down to the
Botanic Gardens and birded there for a few hours. This lead to two more new
birds for me. Helmeted Friarbird was the last Friarbird I had to see in
Australia, and I got great views of one perched in a flowering Banksia after
a lot of searching around the gardens grounds. The second new bird was a
surprise, since it wasn't on the official MACBOCA list for Mackay - Little
Kingfisher. I got spectacular views in a little patch of sunlight in the
middle of a sheltered pool of water. I was so enthralled by the bird, and
then panicked to confirm it really was a Little Kingfisher, that I didn't
even think to take a photo. Marge Andrews of MACBOCA thinks that this was
the first record of the bird for the immediate Mackay area.
On Saturday Marge kindly took me to Eungella National Park to look for the
Eungella Honeyeater. This is a bird that is found only on the rainforest
plateau behind Mackay, and can be very difficult to get onto as it lives
high in the rainforest canopy.
We started the birding for the day by stopping on the roadside to check out
another Kingfisher - this time a Sacred Kingfisher - and managed to get good
looks at Yellow Honeyeater (my first new bird for the day), Yellow-bellied
Sunbird, and White-rumped Swiftlet (my second new bird for the day).
Eventually we made it up to the town of Eungella, at the start of the
plateau. Marge suggested we start at Diggings Road at the south end of the
area. Within about 5 minutes of starting to look we heard our first bird.
But hear was all we did, as this bird eluded us. Indeed, for the next six
hours we heard several birds but they continued to elude us at each site we
visited. In the process of looking, we managed to get a look at a
Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, another new bird for me. About 25km away from where
we started, at the end of Dalrymple Rd, we came across a patch with at least
three Eungella Honeyeaters calling. Again they eluded us, and we finally had
to call it a day...
But as we got into the car to leave, they called again, and we had one last
try to get a look at this elusive bird. We saw movement in a Tree Waratah
that was in bloom, but were disappointed to see it was only an Eastern
Spinebill (a good bird on most days, but not this day) - and then a dark
shape came tearing out of the foliage, seeing off the Spinebill. It was a
Eungella Honeyeater. The bird proceeded to preen itself and feed in the open
for five minutes, as if to say "ok, I suppose you've earned a look now". But
the day wasn't over. On the road back to the town of Eungella we heard their
now-familiar call again, and this time it was five birds, hopping around
much lower than the last bird, calling loudly and being generally obnoxious
in the fact that we had worked so hard to find one, and now they were
everywhere. All in all a most satisfying day. Perhaps the best new birds are
the ones you really have to work for.
As if this wasn't enough, I was asking about other birds in the area that I
hadn't seen before on the way home, and the topic of Black Butcherbird came
up. Marge said they were in many of the habitats in the area, but were often
quite difficult to find. About five minutes later we found one in the town
of Walkerston, sitting in the open on a powerline. It very generously
allowed me to take a photo from fairy close quarters.
The day finished at Padaminka Nature Refuge, run by Maureen Cooper of Birds
Australia. She tells me she will have a website shortly, and I will post the
link to birding-aus when it is available. In the space of a mozzie-filled
hour we picked up about 40 species just walking around the creekline and
dams on the property, including good looks at Dusky, Yellow, Brown,
White-throated, and Bar-breasted Honeyeater, Little Grassbird, and Forest
Kingfisher. Padaminka is great - Maureen is doing a wonderful job of
rejuvenating an old sugar cane farm into a healthy wetland, grassland and
bush area. She even has Bush Hen (heard but not seen while I was there) and
White-browed Robin (didn't even hear while I was there) on her property.
The following morning (Sunday) I was woken by the amazing dawn chorus, and
was able to photograph a Yellow-bellied Sunbird male and female in the
grevillea just outside my room. A Dusky Honeyeater saw them off, so I
managed a quick snap of that too before it departed. Another walk around the
property saw Australian Hobby, Black Kite, and Whistling Kite added to my
list, along with Leaden Flycatcher, Little Bronze-Cuckoo, Tawny Grassbird,
and Nutmeg and Chestnut-breasted Mannikin. An Australian Bustard flying
overhead made for a great view, and I had much better looks at Helmeted
Friarbird, and Yellow and Bar-breasted Honeyeaters than I'd ever had before
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