Cool looking birds we get them in FNQ especially up on the Tablelands.
Very similar looking in flight to the hornbills I used to see in the Solomon’s.
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BH’s been a bit crook this week and hasn’t been up to walking about in pursuit of birds…but she let me know she wouldn’t mind me chauffeuring her around the soggy trails at Western Treatment Plant. Got a bit hairy for our Kia Rio around the slippery muddy sidetrail at T Section, fortunately we didn’t end up in the parallel sewerage ditch, touch and go for a few fraught moments.
#Glossy Ibis - WTP
#Black-tailed Native Hen (AKA Turbo Chook) WTP
#Great Knot - WTP. This pair of lifers in the foreground is a bit special, being rare and endangered. BH’s pic is the first on her site this year. Bigger than most waders, the diagnostic feature is the extended beak, otherwise it closely resembles the far more common but slightly smaller Red Knot. Bit blurry because they were on a distant sandbar and right at the edge of her zoom range. The bird hide was empty yesterday when we were there, guarantee it was chockers today after BH’s post.
#Pipit-WTP Striking shot , I reckon.
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Just spent a couple of days at the Gluepot Reserve about 50 km north of Waikerie SA. I was hoping to see a Major Mitchell cockatoo and perhaps a regent parrot or two. It’s been very dry there so no luck. Here’s a shot of the noticeboard at the visitor centre. Shows some of what folks are seeing.
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Great list and BH asked me to add that we are currently in the Mallee and searching and failing to find the Pink Cockatoo.
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#273 Malleefowl - Nowingi track, off the Old Calder Hwy (A wide red dirt road still used by trucks) Hattah. Cannot begin to calculate how much road rubber we’ve chewed up chasing this endangered lifer around the North West over the last three years. Finally found it and only because we turned around when walking on a quiet red dirt track in Hattah and spotted it cutting across our tracks 80 metres or so to the rear. Crept back and were privileged enough to see it fossicking about near our parked car for 10 minutes or more. Much bigger than I imagined, turkey size or bigger, I think. BH is over the moon, of course.
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Half your luck ! We inspected many mounds at the Gluepot but none of them seemed to have any recent Mallee Fowl activity. I was lucky enough to see one many years ago.
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So we drove down the Nowingi track this evening looking for said Malleefowl. Probably a bit optimistic since you guys have been looking for 3 years. Found a fresh mound with clear recent tracks. We did find this guy though.
Chestnut Quail Thrush.
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Congrats! We did the Nature Drive from the Visitor Centre at Hattah about 6.30 tonight, primarily because the Pink Cockatoo was sighted yesterday, and saw FA. And I mean FA. Not much out at all. BH reckons the wind today put the birds off.
PS. We saw the Malleefowl about 7 pm yesterday about 200 metres in from the turn off from the Old Calder, to the right where cars pull in to park.
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A few of BH’s pics from our recent trip North West.
#Regent Parrot-Wyperfeld NP
#Orange Chat-Merrinee
#Gilberts Whistler-Mt Korong. And yes it has the worm.
#Helmeted Guineafowl-Charlton. They are wild round here but are not included in the count. Quite an unexpected sight.
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I had a beautiful pair of Golden Whistlers visited the bird bath today. I wasn’t quick enough to capture a photo, but this little Silvereye (& his family) popped in shortly afterwards.
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#279 Dollarbird - Seymour. BH not happy with the shot but pleased to capture a bird she hasn’t seen for a long time, despite several trips to Seymour in its pursuit.
PS BH tells me it’s called a Dollarbird because of the white disks under its wings resembling silver dollars, which we saw in its flight but couldn’t capture with the camera on the wing.
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#281 Double-barred Finch - Glenrowan. This Vic lifer, BH snapped it in the NT earlier in the year, is tiny and absolutely stunning. Spotted Pardalote type looks, which is high praise indeed.
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#Speckled Warbler - Warby Ranges. When BH told me this lifer was top of her wanted bird list for our annual November trip to the Glenrowan region, I imagined it would be much larger than this Thornbill sized dazzler. What’s in a name, eh?
#Leaden Flycatcher - Myrtleford. Reckon this pic from today is a late candidate for this year’s calendar.
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#Leucistic Magpie - BH’s first sighting of a bird that has become a regular at Flinders Golf Course.
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Hey Grr , have you any idea how long that particular maggie has been around ?
BH not sure but reckons it has been reported at Flinders since the start of this year at least. Apparently they are often shunned and even attacked by other Magpies and too visible to predators so it has a precarious existence. Worth noting Flinders Golf Course attracts many birders, especially along the coast road access where we saw it on a fairway.
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Some pics from our trip to Goschen yesterday.
#Budgerigar - Goschen. After securing the initial pic below BH said, “I didn’t just come here for a budgie…I came for a tree full of them.” Five minutes later they obliged. BH was over the moon.
#Australian Owlet-Nightjar - Goschen. This is special. Lost count of the number of times this year we have visited the supposedly reliable tree hollow in Crusoe Reservoir and failed to see this critter. Wandering round the grounds of Goschen’s abandoned state school yesterday when this one popped into the tree next to BH and gave us the stare treatment. Didn’t move at all. We reckon it had a hollow with a youngster in it nearby and wasn’t entering it until we were out of range.
#Masked Woodswallow - Goschen.
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