Hervey Bay

Arrived in the Bay after dark Sunday night. Very good to see Dad, who is well. Staying 2 nights, until we head to Brisbane on Wednesday for Jack's concert at the Conservatorium.

Monday, caught up with Dad a bit. Checked out the Pier, Harbour. Murphys are encouraging the Ospreys to nest somewhere else than on the main shiplift this year... they don't appear to be succeeding, as one flew out of the hanger, calling, despite the witch's hat atop the nest...

Tuesday AM caught up with our birding buddy, Christine Heiser, who showed us around the recently-acquired Fraser Coast Council reserve at Takura. Part of the old Stocks family holdings, the site has been set aside to protect the remnant dry rainforest that flanks the hills. We wandered around the area (68 ha total) and got some interesting species on the list:
* Blue-winged kookaburra (immature bird, Chris took photos; our collective first for Fraser Coast) - it stood its ground against an adult Laughing, clearly the bigger bird in that context
* Emerald dove, Wonga pigeon (H), Brown cuckoo-dove, Rose-crowned fruit-dove, Bar-shouldered dove
* Little wattlebird
* Golden-headed Cisticola
* Tawny grassbird
* Black-shouldered kite
* Whistling kite
* Pale-headed rosellas, Scaly-breasted lorikeets, Rainbow lorikeets
* White-throated gerygone, Fairy gerygone
* Grey fantails everywhere, Rufous fantail
* Olive-backed oriole, Figbirds
* Black-faced cuckoo-shrike
* Speckled warbler (just one, shy)
* Parties of Variegated fairy-wrens, with multiple juvenile birds (no tail colour, no lores colour, just tails longer, more cocked, than Red-backed, some with rectrices growing in; adult males about; all heavily arboreal, gleaning insects from wattle blossom)
* Shining bronze-cuckoo, probably female ssp plagosus
* Pallid cuckoo (H)
* Rose robin - one juv/immature, one female, one young male
* Eastern yellow robin
* Noisy pitta
* Large-billed and White-browed scrubwrens
* Striated pardalote (H)
* Brown thornbill
* Willy-wagtail
* Eastern whipbird (H)
* Honeyeaters: Scarlet, Brown, White-throated, Lewin's, Eastern spinebill
* Golden whistlers, Rufous whistler
* Rufous shrike-thrush
* Varied triller
* Torresian crow, Pied butcherbird, Grey butcherbird
* Australian magpie
* Straw-necked and Aust White Ibis
* Cattle egret
* White-faced heron
* Double-barred and Red-browed finches
* Hundreds of fresh platelets and a quick visual of what I am pretty sure must have been a Black-breasted button-quail, running for cover like a Melomys... endless rustlings in the leaf litter... they are clearly abundant in there!

Beautiful weather right here, right now. But I am watching the forecasts for the coming 7+ days in the SW of the State with mild concern... 😬 We practised with the tent yesterday, lol. At least it has a fly...Leia mais