Lisa's report or possibly that of Dominic Chaplin who signed off at
the end of the report is good news but is also quite disturbing.
The good part is reporting both BBBQ and Ground Parrots at Cooloola.
Many of us visit these spots areas annually or more often and usually
see both species.
However most who visit are rather more responsible than whoever did
this birding appears to be.
To quote the report,
" I then spent from 05.00-06.30 crashing about in the undergrowth
close to where the calls seemed to be coming from, achieving very
little apart from falling in wet concealed ditches from time to time.
I did flush a Tawny Grassbird and also a small dark Quail (King?)
I thought flushing birds was what hunters did-- not responsible birders.
The Ground Parrot is an uncommon species and in Queensland is
threatened.
This is one of the few places where they are doing well.
It is a National Park.
We would like them to be still there in 100 years.
It is offensive to the National Park authorities to go crashing about
in the undergrowth as this undergrowth is the habitat for that
threatened species.
I also find it offensive that someone interested in birds should have
so little consideration for the welfare of the birds that they should
behave like this.
We all know some bird watchers are more interested in seeing birds
that in the birds welfare.
I hope in this case it was a matter of enthusiasm overcoming
consideration.
I implore those concerned and all other birders to remember that the
birds welfare is of prime importance. Even of more importance than of
you or I getting good looks at a bird.
My rant for the week
Regards
Peter
On 22/01/2009, at 9:27 PM, Lisa Tanner wrote:
I am just writing to report a successful expedition to Rainbow Beach
SEQ where I was lucky enough to find the Ground Parrot & the Black-
breasted Buttton-quail on the same day.
Directions
1. Ground Parrot
One parrot was seen 50m from the location suggested in Thomas &
Thomas. This is:
Drive 16km West from Rainbow Beach
Turn Left/South onto Cooloola Way
After 2.9km turn Left/East down a track just before the powerline
After 1.7km stop on the 'bridge' (actually a small hump in the road
over a concrete pipe)
19 Jan 2009 06.30 One parrot flushed beside the road, 50 m East of
the bridge
2. Black-breasted Button-quail
One BBBQ was sighted in the location suggested by Sean Dooley in his
first book.
This is:
From Rainbow Beach Drive approx 10km North to Inskip Point. (This
is where the ferries leave to go to Fraser Island.)
Drive as far as the turning loop on the bitumen.
Park just before the loop.
Leading NW from the loop is a sandy walking track which leads a
short distance to the point.
After about 1-200m hundreds of 'platelets' were found. These are
caused by the BBBQs spinning around causing a circular depression of
approx 15cm diameter in the leaf litter.
19 Jan 2009 13.30 One BBBQ was observed spinning around for as long
as I cared to watch. Noisy 4WDs are driving past all day so the
Quails must be very habituated to disturbance. (Actually I also saw
two BBBQs in the exact same location one year previously in
atrocious conditions of heavy rain.)
Ground Parrot
Came very close to running over a White-throated Nightjar sitting in
the middle of the track on the way down Cooloola Drive. About 3-4
Ground Parrots were calling from the heathland between 04.30-04.45
when it was still dark. As soon as it became light enough to actully
see a parrot they all stopped. But if anyone ever wanted to see a
New Holland Honeyeater, this would be the place to start looking. I
then spent from 05.00-06.30 crashing about in the undergrowth close
to where the calls seemed to be coming from, achieving very little
apart from falling in wet concealed ditches from time to time. I did
flush a Tawny Grassbird and also a small dark Quail (King?)
Walking back along the road to the car whilst pondering my next move
a beautiful slender green/yellow parrot took off from the roadside
and gracefully flew 50 into the heath, never to be seen again.
Other birds seen at this location: Brown Quail, Pied Cormorant,
Welcome Swallow, White-throated Nightjar, Noisy Frairbird, New
Holland Honeyeater, Australasian Pipit, Red-browed Finch, Red-backed
Fairy-wren, Grey Shrike-thrush, Willie Wagtail, Tawny Grassbird,
White-throated Needletail
Black-breasted Button-quail
Inskip Point is actually an excellent spot for birding. As well as a
collection of very tame bushbirds including a Satin Flycatcher along
the walking track there were also thousands of seabirds on the sand
islands just off shore. In between birding much amusement can also
be had watching 4WDs get stuck in the deep sand trying to reach the
Fraser Island ferries.
I came to the same location in 2008 with the same objective of find
the Quail and the Parrot. In weather not fit for man nor beast I was
very pleased to fing a pair of Quail but Cooloola way was deep under
water so I never reached the parrot site. I'm not sure if these
parrots can swim.
I was quite surprised by the large number of platelets beside the
track. In places there were more platelets than spare
ground.Obviously the Quail are not bothered by the traffic but a
pair of Goannas observed at the same spot might cause more of a
problem. Just off shore was a large sand island which had literally
thousands of seabirds resting on it. They were slightly hard to pick
without a scope but there must have been huge numbers of Common
Terns and Crested Terns amongst the migratory waders. The beaches
were quite popular with Red-capped Plovers and I also managed to
pick out one Sanderling amongst them.
A perfect day was capped off at the point watching the great flocks
of terns wheeling over the ocean in the sunset. Just to finish it
off a pair of Indo Pacific Humpback Dolphins swam past 10m off
shore. One of them swam along for a good 5 minutes with his head
right out in the air, looking about and admiring the scenery and
sunset himself.
Other birds seen at this location: Bar-tailed Godwit, Red-capped
Plover, Royal Spoonbill, Pelican, Grey-tailed Tattler, Whimbrel,
Curlew, Sanderling, Red-necked Sting, Pied Oystercatcher, Caspian
Tern, Common Tern, Crested Tern Little Tern, Siver Gull, Pied
Cormorant, Brahminy Kite, Brush Turkey, Fairy Gerygone, Brown
Thornbill, Rufous Whistler, Satin Flycatcher, Mangove Honeyeater,
Lewins Honeyeater, Whte-breasted Woodswallow, Bar Shouldered Dove,
Eastern Yellow Robin, Eastern Whipbird, Little Wattlebird, Varied
Triller, White-browed Scrubwren
Dominic Chaplin
PO Box 208
Bungalow QLD 4870
Tel 0419 028 077 Fax 07 4051 4896
http://www.pinecreekpictures.com.au
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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