The Great Birding Adventure 2012 - Part 3: Queensland Continued

Friday 17th Aug, 5:30am! Jumped into the car and headed south. First stop was Boondall Wetlands, just north of the Brisbane Airport. First bird was a Buff-banded Rail crossing a track towards a small wetland. Nice! Walked to the bird hide (where there was nothing!) but then picked up an Olive-backed Oriole who hung around calling continuously in the early morning chill. Then it was a leisurely drive through Brisbane to meet up with Mat Gilfedder, one of the E-Bird officionado's who had kindly agreed to spend the day birding with me. After collecting him at his home we headed to Gold Creek Reservoir. There is a reservoir and a creek and this place, birding-wise is GOLD!

A few kilometres before we reached GCR, Mat spotted a Grey Goshawk overhead. Leapt out and got great views of it flying above us. Lifer Number 3 for the trip. Happy Mike. We then headed on and parked just before the entrance to the reservoir. The creek dissects the road on a number of occasions and these are great spots to check out. And the birds didn't disappoint - Spectacled Monarch, Varied Triller, Scrarlet Honeyeater, Brown Goshawk, Rose Robin, Brown Cuckoo-Dove and then the target bird I was looking for - White-eared Monarch. We heard it for ages before it finally gave up and showed itself. More great views and an average photo taken. Lifer Number 4. Very Happy Mike. Just as we were about to move on, we heard a scuffling sound, and then a Noisy Pitta took off from the undergrowth. With the aid of my Morcombe app, we called it back and it landed in the sunlight on a branch. Mat was able to get off a photo before it took off again. We were both stoked. We then traversed the reservoir and saw a wide variety of birds - Figbirds, an Azure Kingfisher, and a flock of Pale-headed Rosellas were the highlights. Bell Miners were calling from further up the hill, and King Parrots flew overhead. GCR is a brilliant place!

The rest of the day was spent checking out local wetlands, having close encounters with Bush Stone-Curlews and spending a bit of time at the visitors centre and wetland at the Port of Brisbane. Another great place to see lots of different species, including Mangrove Honeyeater. Eventually, we ended up at a swampy grassland near the Brisbane airport, supposedly a good place to see the very uncommon Eastern Grass Owl. We met up with a few other keen birders and headed out into the grass just as the sun was going down. Waiting patiently proved difficult as the mozzies came out in their hoards - if you go there, remember this and take lots of mozzie repellent. About an hour after dark (around 6:30pm), we suddenly had movement above our heads. A ghostly shape appeared above us and hovered for a moment. We whipped our flash-lights on to it and followed an owl as it flew over to a bare tree at the edge of the wetlands and landed. We watched for a few minutes until it took off again and landed in the grass below. It was then that the long, outstretched legs were clearly seen. A Grass Owl! And there was great rejoicing! Lifer Number 5. A VERY happy Mike! We all then took off, me thanking Mat for an awesome day and promising to return the favour when he comes down to Adelaide. I then turned the car towards the Gold Coast and headed for the next part of the adventure. Got to the Treasure Island Holiday Park, had a quick bite to eat, and then fell into bed in my cabin.

Up early the next morning to get to the Southport Marina in time to go on the Pelagic organised by Paul Woolbridge and co. In retrospect, this is not the best time of the year for a pelagic out of the Gold Coast. August is too late for some species and too early for others. The trip out is also very uneventful and long. We hardly saw a bird, apart from a few Shearwaters - Wedge-tailed, Huttons and Fluttering. Once out at the shelf, the birding unfortunately remained the same - a couple of Providence Petrels, a number of Wilson's Storm-Petrels, and lots of Wedge-tails. Finally, a Tahiti Petrel turned up and I got really good views and a very ordinary photo (my pelagic photographing can only be described as poor at this stage - gonna have to do some more research, because I kept three photos out of hundreds taken). Lifer Number 6. Happy to tick it, but I must admit my enthusiasm was rather muted. Was pretty happy to get back to port and head off to Lamington National Park. Arrived at Binna Burra, had a very pleasant dinner and climbed inside my swag. Fell asleep almost immediately.

At dawn, I drove to O'Reillys. This was not meant to be a lifer day, but rather a "see as many cool things as I could" day - and that is how it turned out. Paradise Riflebird, Satin Bowerbird, Logrunner, Brown Thornbill, Wonga Pigeon, Yellow-throated Scrub-wren, Bassian Thrush, Lewin's Honeyeater, Eastern Whipbird, King Parrot, Crimson Rosella, Red-browed Finch, Pied Currawong, Grey Fantail, Superb Fairy-wren, Brush-turkey - I had a ball!

After another early night (these became common!), I met up with Barry Davies, a professional birder living near Binna Burra, and we trekked into the forest looking for the Rufous Scrub-bird. This is an incredibly difficult bird to find even if you are just about sitting on top of it, and we spent most of the morning scouring spots, hoping to get it to show itself. We were stoked to have an Albert's Lyrebird stumble onto us and then take off in a panic, plus we had great sightings of Rose Robin and Pale Yellow Robin. Unfortunately, the Scrub-bird was proving much tougher. It called on a number of occasions, sometimes quite close, but the matted undergrowth made seeing it almost impossible. At our final spot, we sat quietly and played Morcombe's app a couple of times. Eventually, I spotted some movement and got the bino's up. Gone. And that was it. It was almost certainly a Scrub-bird but I didnt get enough of a look to be sure. Size - correct. Behaviour - correct. Call - correct. Decent view - NU! Looked at Barry and made a decision - not counting it. Rats! Sad face!

To compensate, we headed back to Barry's house for a lovely toasted sandwich while watching birds go off in his back yard. Then a male Regent Bowerbird flew in - stunning! And then we walked down the back and had a Noisy Pitta come and say hello - very stunning! Made me consider the Noisy Miners and Common Starlings I get in my back yard. Hmmm.

The afternoon was made up of another long walk through the forest - Grey Goshawk, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Top-knot Pigeon, another Noisy Pitta (ho hum), and lots more. And then, after a quick bite to eat and letting the sun go down, we went Marbled Frogmouth hunting. First bird ..... Frogmouth ..... Tawny. Very nice, but .... Second bird ..... Frogmouth ..... Marbled! Flew over our heads and landed on a branch. Hung it's wings down over the branch and made a most amazing call. Brilliant! Lifer Number 7. Happy Mike again! Two great days in the forest, but the best was yet to come - Far North Queensland! Stay tuned for Part 4!