Birdline North Queensland Weekly Update

Birdline North Queensland

Published sightings for the week ending 26 Aug 2012.

Sun 26 Aug	Australian Hobby, Emerald Dove Ross River Bush Gardens Australian Hobby (1) feeding (on a bird) in tree on riverbank Emerald Dove (1) thickest part of bush garden, seen here before but unusual for Townsville. Ed Pierce
Thu 23 Aug	Black Swan, Cotton Pygmy-goose Saltern Lagoon, Reedy brook, Valley Of Lagoons Black Swan (200) .Highly abundant on this lake at present. Counted up to 200 but true number is likely to be well over this are present, possibly over 1000 birds. Cotton Pygmy-goose. Currently this species is very abundant on this lake and surrounding wetlands. At present there is likely to be well over my estimated count of 40 individuals. There is an unusually high aggregation of this NCA listed Near Threatened species in the Valley of Lagoons at present. Kurtis Lindsay
Tue 21 Aug	Metallic Starling Mossman Hundreds in the trees around the Mossman Sugar Mill. Julie Sarna
Mon 20 Aug	Southern Cassowary Dubuji Boardwalk, Cape Tribulation Southern Cassowary (1) Immature. About halfway around the boardward. We waited for the bird to get off the boardwalk so that we could pass. It came to within about 1 metre of us and then slowly moved off to eat fallen fruit beside the track. Julie Sarna (1190)
Fri 10 Aug	Spotted Bowerbird 18km W of Einasleigh River bridge on Gulf Dev Rd In 16 years of trips to this area I had my first encounter with a Spotted Bowerbird as one flew over the road in front of me - this is the absolute edge of this species distribution & is very rarely seen this far north-east. Martin Cachard
	Cumberland Dam, 20km W of Georgetown Cotton Pygmy-Goose 2 pairs of adults of this uncommon species here, but no Masked Finches, no Pictorella Mannikins & no Spinifex Pigeons nearby. Small numbers of Black-throated Finch, & huge numbers of White-browed & Masked Woodswallows were present (roughly about 1000 White-browed & 100 Masked). Martin Cachard
Thu 9 Aug	Carpentarian Grasswren, Aust Ringneck, Black-tailed Treecreeper McNamara Rd, W of Mt Isa Due to a very disappointing series of fires lit by the mining companies right in the heart of this well known Carpentarian Grasswren site, I still managed to locate one pair of them in an area just over 10kms N from the hwy - this spot was devastated the very next day. Also present where I searched were a pair of Aust Ringnecks (Cloncurry race 'macgillivrayi'), a few parties of Black-tailed Treecreepers, many Spinifexbirds, many Varied Lorikeets & Budgies, a Crested Bellbird, & many Grey-headed & Grey-fronted Honeyeaters. As a result of these burns, the whole area along McNamara Rd north from the hwy, including the rock cairns, is almost completely burnt. A lot of country to the S of the hwy has also been burnt. Martin Cachard
Wed 8 Aug	Painted Finch Sybella Creek, S of Mt Isa Some very quiet & patient birding on my part was rewarded with a very close encounter with a pair of Painted Finch, coming right to my feet feeding on spinifex seeds. The dazzling male is pictured here. Martin Cachard
	Black-breasted Buzzard, Kalkadoon Grasswren, Grey-headed & Grey-fronted Honeyeaters Sybella Creek, S of Mt Isa A nice advanced immature Black-breasted Buzzard had the grasswrens ducking for cover this morning, but I still managed to locate another pair of Kalkadoons much further to the W of the pairs found late yesterday. The most common honeyeaters here were Grey-headed & Grey-fronted Honeyeaters. Martin Cachard
Tue 7 Aug	Kalkadoon Grasswren Sybella Creek, S of Mt Isa An adult male of the same pair is shown here. Martin Cachard
	Kalkadoon Grasswren Sybella Creek, S of Mt Isa At my favourite site for this species, I located 2 pairs of Kalkadoon Grasswrens within 10 minutes of arriving. It is nice to see them paired up in readiness for breeding, unlike my previous observations in early winter. The adult female of one pair is shown here. Martin Cachard

Birdline North Queensland is sponsored by BirdLife Northern Queensland and BirdLife Townsville and co-ordinated and hosted by Eremaea Birds.

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