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South-west Qld winter 2023South-west Qld winter 2023
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2023 winter break, Sal's Queensland parrot hunting trip... to see Dad, watch Jack dazzle Brisbane (go Jacky!), and meet some country and species I haven't met before, and that Marty hasn't visited in a while. Read more
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  • TravelerSouth-west Qld winter 2023
    Day 1

    Cairns to Bowen

    June 24, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Left Cairns 4.15am, aiming to spend time exploring subcoastal, maybe coastal, habitats at Jerona/Barratta Creek, Alva Beach, Wunjunga Wetlands

    Jerona / Barratta Creek, late morning: checked out mangrove, claypan and samphire habitat SSE of Jerona, around Barratta Ck camping area. Leaden but no Broad-billed flycatchers; pair of (nesting?) Brown goshawks; loads of Blue-winged Kookaburras; few Pallid cuckoos; multiple Black-winged storks;
    Golden-headed (no Zitting) cisticola; Red-backed Kingfisher

    While there, noted : c 10m tall, dense stands of Ceriops (australis?) dominating large stretches, interspersed w Avicennia marina, with multiple small stands of Bruguiera exaristata, and stand-out Xylocarpus moluccensis turning orange-red as they shed their leaves for the winter. Some of the gnarled old Bruguieras were a knock-out.

    Wunjunga wetlands were surprisingly quiet, as quite dry. On the largest series of pans (SE section), c 300 Red-capped plovers, c 40 Grey teal, a few dozen Australian pratincole, 8 Royal spoonbill, 4 Australian pelicans, the odd Gull-billed tern, Caspian tern, many egrets of all sizes, Swamp Harrier, White-bellied sea-eagles, several Nankeen kestrels, several Brown falcons, many Whistling and Black kites, Forest and Sacred kingfishers.

    Other birding highlights on the road south today:
    Great-billed heron - flew over the highway, alighting into paperback forest in swampy section S Cardwell, N Fishers Creek
    Grey goshawk (white morph) - 8.5km N Ingham, bw Seymour $& Herbert R, on power line studying cane field
    Brown falcon - just S of Grey goshawk
    Brahman kites - plentiful along highway stretch N Cardwell and Kirrama Ranges    Read more

  • TravelerSouth-west Qld winter 2023
    Day 2

    Bowen to Hervey Bay

    June 25, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Said Hi and Bye to Col at the Ocean View Motel yet one more time, Bowen looking as naturally beautiful, and socially ???, as always... our go-to overnight pitstop on the big drive south/north. Had an odd moment checking out the Bowen wharf just after sunset: what appeared to be a tug (it was dark!) was moored at the western finger wharf (restricted access), and we concluded that its owners were warding off unwanted seabirds by looping at full volume playback of a recording of a medley of raucous bird calls - maybe parrots feeding young? a raptor greeting? It was really weird. We passed on fish and chips at the eastern marina wall, and scuttled back with Red Rooter (no coleslaw available; it's Bowen) to the room, to watch the AFL, read and pass out.

    Off at 6.15am. Cool, moist, fine, hence misty morning - we even saw a spectacular wave cloud over a mountain S of Bowen. Like most magical moments, it eluded digital capture, so no pic ;-)

    No birding highlights this leg. Detoured down Port Alma Road S of Rocky, on the off chance we might sight a Yellow Chat. Salt piles were shining brilliantly in the sun, ponds looking sparkly, saltbush in reasonable nick, but nada... not even a Red-capped plovers in sight (must have been holidaying at Wunjunga). Just a huge new boat ramp towards the N end of the road, providing easy access to some lovely Myrtle mangroves (Osbornia octodonta) and soul-salving views of my kind of landscape - a muddy, mangrovey, tidal creek 💚🤎💙    Read more

  • TravelerSouth-west Qld winter 2023
    Day 4

    Hervey Bay

    June 27, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    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...    Read more

  • TravelerSouth-west Qld winter 2023
    Day 5

    South Bank, Brisbane

    June 28, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Stopped the night in Briz to watch Jack and peers perform at the MOST (that's Most Outstanding Students 😉😛) gala concert at the Conservatorium of Music. Blown away by the quality, vibe, and sheer life force of the performances. Jack was lead trombone in 3 ensembles: symphonic winds, big band (jazz), and the symphony orchestra. 80 state school students from across Qld were selected (by audition tape) to take part - 7 were selected from Cairns SHS's music program (punching above its weight again). They attended a 10-day residential camp in Brisbane, where they were taught by internationally-renowned conductor David Lam, jazz/trumpet legend John Hoffman, and others, and got to perform a composition by successful Australian-Ukrainian composer, Catherine Likhuta, alongside her (leading on piano). Jack nearly blew the roof off the Con theatre with an awesome improv solo during the big band performance. Afterwards, one of his teachers/conductors, PatrickPickett (owner and artistic director/conductor of the Qld Pops Orchestra), congratulated us on Jack's work ethic and performance, praising him to the hilt. Proud parent moment 😁😁Read more

  • TravelerSouth-west Qld winter 2023
    Day 6

    Brisbane to Gatton

    June 29, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    The morning slipped into cold, grey conditions as we headed west from Brisbane at 6am. We stopped in at the Gatton UQ campus to check out the lake famous for its resident, breeding Blue-billed ducks. Didn't disappoint 3 adult males in full colour, 4 females/immature birds. One male repeatedly displaying for a disinterested female, in between foraging dives. Others on/at the lake included:
    Pink-eared ducks c 400+
    Grey teal c 20
    Plumed Whistling ducks c 10
    Pacific black ducks c 20
    Australasian grebes c 100
    Australian white Ibis
    Royal spoonbill 4
    Australasian swamp-hen
    Dusky moorhen
    Variegated fairy-wren
    Restless flycatcher
    Brown goshawk
    Grey fantail    Read more

  • TravelerSouth-west Qld winter 2023
    Day 6

    Gatton to St George

    June 29, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Stopped a few times briefly along the drive west from Toowoomba, esp. to check out flowering mistletoes, abundant in the Eucalypts, Acacias (also flowering) and Casuarinas. We stopped first around Jondaryan on the Darling Downs (Warrego Hwy), then cut across to the Moonie Hwy via Cecil Plains. We noted interesting, quality brigalow and casuarina habitat in Southwood NP, east of St George, as a place to return to in future. Many Yellow Thornbills, Brown HE, Yellow-faced HE, Singing HE, Spiny-cheeked HE, and a sole Striped HE seen (but others heard). Also many Nankeen kestrels, Black-shouldered kites, the odd Brown falcon and Brown goshawk, Pied currawong, White-winged chough, Australian raven, Galah, Cockatiel, Yellow-eared miner, and irksome numbers of Indian mynahs around the broadscale-cleared cotton properties in particular. Got beautiful looks at a male and female Red-rumped parrot pair along the Cecil Plains Road.

    Soil turned redder, sandier, more Callitris, Broad-leaved ironbark, mulga forms replacing brigalow, as we entered the Balonne Shire. We passed through St George and headed west for Thrushton National Park. The weather was being gentle: it had rained lightly that morning, skies were still leaden, v cold, and a few small puddles still on the side of the unsealed roads as we headed north off the highway, into the park. We slowed to let winter-coated cattle clear the roadway, and heard the manic call of a Major Mitchell (Pink) cockatoo. Sure enough, a male was watching us, crest raised, disapproving... he flew off a little way and watched, as we studied back. Eyes full, we had no sooner turned to head back to the car than he flew down to his water point: the roadside puddle. New bird #2, for Sally, today 😊    Read more

  • TravelerSouth-west Qld winter 2023
    Day 7

    Thrushton National Park... to Cunnamulla

    June 30, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    Got to Thrushton at sunset and set up camp for the night at the old homestead camping ground - not another vertebrate, let alone a human soul, in sight. The evening was cold - very cold for us (< 10 degrees) - and the air damp. Pitched the tent in case it rained, but slept in the swag because it didn't. The skies cleared to bless us with the light of a waxing gibbous moon until the small hours. Didn't here a peep from the critters all night. Took bets on the first bird call, and both of us were proved right: Aussie Raven rustled over us (my guess) just as a Grey butcherbird sung out (Martin's). We rose at first light around 6.30am, registered the Jacky winters, an unidentified raptor, and White-plumed Honeyeater at the camp site, made a coffee to counter the 4 degree factor (🥶), and struck out birding.

    Walks and a longer drive revealed a surprising array of birds:
    * Thornbills and Weebills were everywhere: it was like a master-class inn thornbill ID, with good looks at mixed flock after mixed flock: Yellow, Inland and Chestnut-rumped thornbills, in the company of Weebills
    * White-browed treecreepers were abundant and easy to hear and spot
    * Mallee ring necks- 2 pairs
    * Splendid fairy-wren
    * Hooded robin
    * Red-capped Robin (on the way out of the park, south-western edge)
    * Striped HE, Singing HE, Brown-headed HE, Spiny-cheeked HE, Brown HE
    * Mistletoebird
    * Double-barred finches
    *White-bellied cuckoo-shrike (H)
    * Laughing kookaburra (H)
    * Common bronzewing
    * Bar-shouldered dove
    * Diamond dove (H)
    * Varied sitella
    * Brown falcon
    * Nankeen kestrel
    * ? Crested Bellbird (skulked off)
    * Australian magpie
    * Pied butcherbird (leaving on the southwestern side)

    Packed up camp at lunchtime and headed off to Cunnamulla/Eulo. Many emus along the road. En route Marty found us my first ever Bluebonnets! A party of 5 birds feeding in some Mulga trees, next to dozens of Yellow-throated miners. All were alarmed by a roving Peregrine Falcon that swept through low, as we watched. The Bluebonnets were as stunning as I'd imagined with royal blue faces; the birds we saw were the haematogaster subspecies, red lower belly, yellowish vent.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth-west Qld winter 2023
    Day 7

    Eulo bore

    June 30, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We camped overnight at the bore east of Eulo, along with a small sample of what Sal is calling for her sanity's sake the every man and his Ram crowd. To be fair, we turned up in the middle of the Cunnamulla Fella long weekend rodeo. We both felt a bit down, as the site has become a massive free camp footprint; so instead of sitting quietly, unobserved, waiting for Bourke's parrots to come to drink on sundown, we were watched by dozens of pairs of eyes, all sitting around in tight caravan/camper trailer social circles, each with a sizeable fire, music playing, voices at full pitch, and with occupants never setting foot outside a 5 metre radius of their camp rings. Oh well. Hopefully they aren't the ones responsible for all the emu roadkill along the highway...

    Anyway, some birds persist. Around 5am we heard an Owlet-nightjar calling near our camp. On our morning walk, we saw Sal's first Mulga parrots - an extraordinary male and female, feeding on small seed in the morning light - possibly the most beautiful birds Sal has ever seen; certainly the most beautiful parrots. Nearby were her first Chestnut-crowned babblers, plumage colours reminiscent of White-browed woodswallows; large, charismatic, wary birds. Also sticking to their guns on their patches were Red-capped and Hooded robin pairs, Singing honeyeaters, a few Brown treecreepers, and a solitary Australasian grebe and Grey teal on the bore overflow, to whom we waved goodbye as we headed off past Eulo for quieter birding pastures...    Read more

  • TravelerSouth-west Qld winter 2023
    Day 8

    Eulo bore to Quilpie Road (and back)

    July 1, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    After leaving Eulo bore, we had a quick nose around some of the more interesting looking places we could find just off the highway to Eulo, and then drove around 15km north up the Quilpie Road, looking for a spot where Marty had found Chestnut-breasted quail-thrush and White-browed treecreeper over 15 years ago.

    We drove slowly along the old highway, now disused and gradually being reclaimed by the forces of nature... It was a hive of bird activity: a pair of Pink (Major Mitchell) cockatoos swung past and yelled hi; multiple parties of Chestnut-rumped thornbills, Splendid fairy-wrens, Striped and Spiny-cheeked HE's. The nectivores were clearly being attracted not only to clumps of flowering mistletoes, but also to a beautiful eucalypt with glossy leaves and half-bare ochrey/coppery-coloured bark, that favoured waterways along with the regular Eucalyptus coolabah - we worked out they were Yapunyah trees, common within their restricted range around Thargomindah.

    Up the Quilpie Road, not much was happening for us birdwise right at this time, as we avoided one caravan/trailer combination after another, possibly ducking and weaving to avoid the inclement weather (rain and very cold conditions were forecast to sweep through). Once we got back to Eulo, we realised that a more immediate issue was driving the traffic: the town had run out of diesel, right in the middle of the Cunnamulla Fella festival. We drove back to Cunnamulla to fuel up, as we were aiming to get at least 2 nights in Currawinya National Park, before the rain closed the access roads.    Read more

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