On New Year's Day (and on 1 July) I do a mini-twitch to see how many bird
species I can record within 10 km of home. This exercise was started by Roger
Hicks when he was living in Altona, Vic, and he is still doing it now he has
returned to England. I did not do it when I lived in Geelong because I was
rarely at home for New Year, but I have now done it 4 times here in Ipswich Qld.
At home in Ipswich from 5am to 5.45am I got 22 species (Koel, Channelbill,
Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Pale-headed Rosella, Little Corella,
Blue-faced and Brown Honeyeaters, Little Friarbird, Silvereye, Superb
Fairy-wren, Figbird, Torresian Crow, Magpie-lark, Magpie, Pied Butcherbird,
Kookaburra, Crested Pigeon, Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike, Doublebars, Spotted
Turtledove, Common Myna).
I added the next 24 (mostly common bush birds but sadly dipping on the local
Grey-crowned Babblers) in a couple of good spots in the Ripley area south of
Ipswich; unfortunately a lot of this is soon going to be covered with houses in
a giant urban development. My usual wader spot near Swanbank is completely dry
(and I have no other so got almost no waders) but Swanbank itself was good with
all 4 cormorants including a Little Pied on a nest (and the big Pied sitting
among the remnants of theirs - they were on them in October), a Darter on a
nest, and several Great Crested Grebes. Even though it was hot in the middle of
the day I did well at Kholo Gardens north of Ipswich - among the usual birds
were several I haven't recorded there before - Cicadabird, White-bellied
Cuckoo-shrike, a pair of Little Shrike-thrushes and an immature Spectacled
Monarch. My last long stop was at College's Crossing (also north of Ipswich)
where good birds included 2 beautiful adult White-bellied Sea-eagles, a pair of
Jacanas with a youngster, at least 9 Cotton Pygmy Geese, and Striped Honeyeater.
This was my best result so far with 93 species despite the drought. I really
don't know the area well yet and tend to think of Ipswich as a good base to go
to other places like the Lockyer Valley, but I think this is pretty good for an
area mostly covered with town.
Happy New year to all
Margaret
Margaret Cameron
2 Cintra Street
Eastern Heights
Queensland 4305
Australia
07 3282 9151
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