210) A few more on the Local Scene

Sacred Kingfishers

We hopped down to Terra Nora to check out the new arrivals. We have been noting subtle shifts in the species down here as winter approaches. Kingfishers - notably absent all summer, are again making an appearance.

A Striated Heron well hidden in the trees on the shoreline

Varied Triller -

A Rufous Whistler enjoying a snack (anyone who dreams of coming back as a bird so they can fly, really ought to watch what birds eat for a while...)


































A photo from a prior Lamington Trip - the Green Catbird is another frequently heard  but hard to spot species. A unique call - a bit like a really irritated cat (see lower R-side of http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Ailuroedus-crassirostris). They tend to stay high in the canopy - which in the rainforest is well nigh invisible!

209) Escaping to Lamo

Satin Bower Bird decorating

I have been escaping up to Lamo - our "neighborhood" rain forest (Lamington National Park) as often as I can. Its a short(ish) drive and as the summer ends, there are lots of birds moving about. Though the Satin Bower birds are quite common in summer and great fun to hear as they yak at each other in the campground every morning, it is great to find the males meticulously building their bowers -moving the same twig back and forth, back and forth, until it is...just...right. All the twigs in the u-shaped bower were collected and placed by him.

My last Lamo trip was a day of 'scuffers' - the birds which are really hard to photograph as they are down in the litter scuffin for bugs. That means they are in heavily shaded, dense undergrowth. Interestingly, at first light many are quite oblivious to me (this one practically walked over my foot. But by sunrise they are skittish - can't get anywhere near them. This is the often heard, rarely seen Eastern Whipbird

The Logrunners are also tough to see in the open. This pair (female to R, male below) were moving with constant calls through the undergrowth and didn't seem to mind my thrashing about in pursuit.

As winter approaches the Albert's Lyrebirds start calling more. This female walked up a fallen tree (from the last big storm) right over my head - too close to focus!

Another favorite easy destination is Terra Nora Broadwater. This  pair of Ospreys nest here every year

 A female Mistletoe bird having brekkie!

A Leaden Flycatcher having a snack...

208) More from Sundown

Red-rumped Parrots

Even though it was a rainy day, we drove along interior road between two different parts of Sundown, it was a great, birdy road.  We saw a small flock of aptly-named red-rumped parrots from afar, and Dirk was determined to get a better picture.  They are such beautiful birds!  This burned out stump seemed of particular interest to this pair.  When we decided to move away from it, the female disappeared inside, indicating they probably had a nest in there, somehow.  We left the area so they could tend their young in peace.

Surprisingly, we saw this gorgeous Black-necked Stork (affectionately called a Jabiru) along one of the main roads on the Gold Coast (on our way driving to Sundown NP).  In the "Green Heart" where they haven't developed yet, perhaps because it is a floodplain that regularly floods and for some reason, they haven't channelized it yet like every other wetland here.  We could tell this bird is a female, because of her golden eye.  The males have black eyes.  They are big birds, with a wing span of two metres.

While eyeballing some red-rumped parrots grazing near the size of the road, this little gem popped into our vision--a plum-headed finch.  They happened to also be on our to-see list, so we were glad to spot him!  Glad he's getting some good grass seeds to eat.

These white-plumed honeyeaters were a curious bunch.  No sooner had we pulled up and walked away from the 'Rav' (our new little 4WD), than these two, and one other companion, immediately flew over and started inspecting themselves in the sideview mirrors.  They had a mission, and seemed to know exactly what they were doing, but we couldn't figure it out!  They seemed to like the raindrops on the mirrors?  They weren't fighting with the other 'strange' birds (their reflections), rather, they seemed almost to be grooming, and using the beads of water to wash up?  Very curious!

Bright pink galahs gaily decorate the gray-green mistiness of a somber day.  I was surprised, one day in the train station, to see a 2x3 ft poster featuring a close-up of a Galah's pretty face.  The writing on the poster said simply 'Don't be a Galah.'  Apparently it's used in commercials against drunk driving.  As in, 'don't be a bloody galah!'  (or fool).  We like these birds, but apparently they have some sort of a bad reputation.  They eat spilled grain and other things by the side of the road, and I imagine they get killed alot by people who don't bother to let them get out of the way.  So, who's the fool?! 

This nice kangaroo and her joey were relaxing near our campsite, but she kept a close watch on the little guy.










We were eating lunch when I saw something out of the corner of my eye moving around the tent.  I decided to investigate, and much to our surprise, there was this 4ft long Goanna (we don't know exactly what it is), ambling across our campsite into the grasses at the edge.  Good thing he had absolutely no interest in us, at all! 

207) Sundown

A Tawny Frogmouth stunned by Dirk's flash

We spent a fabulous weekend in Sundown National Park, one of our favourite birdy areas.  There's a nice, quiet, old-fashioned campground with a wide variety of birds, a lazy river, and lots of kangaroos lounging about.  Dirk found three frogmouths within 5 minutes of nightspotting from our campsite, we had a lace monitor sniffing about our tent while we were eating lunch, and we enjoyed the companionable zitting of the restless flycatchers in the trees between us and the river.

The gregarious Apostlebirds were out in force--we'd never seen so many.  They're called 'apostlebirds' because 12 is a common group number, but we were pleased to see sociable groups of up to 20 birds--which means they're doing well.  At one point, we were slowing meandering down the road scanning for birds when we saw a group strutting towards us, some of them playing with mud and straw along the way (gathering material for the communal nest?).  Some squabbling ensued as they passed us, and I swear I saw one playfully side-swipe another, and somebody's straw was dropped.  All in the day of the life of teenagers and a big happy family!

A Golden Whistler indulging in some hanky-panky with his lady love.  She seemed to be falling for his smart yellow, black, and white suit, or maybe he had serenaded her with the best song?

We were surprised to find two Spotted Bowerbirds this far east!  We think of them as mostly an interior, arid-habitat bird.  If you look carefully, you can see his hot lilac-pink nuchal (back-of-the-neck) crest.  When we saw him in silhouette, we knew he was a bowerbird from the size and shape of his shnozz (technical term for beak).

A harried Black-chinned Honeyeater--mom and dad were busily providing nutrition to their kids.  This species of honeyeater is not commonly seen--they are nomadic, and so are unpredictable to find. We were generously provided a tip from another birder, who had spotted their nest.  There were two or three chicks, the nest was tucked away in the leaves, so a bit difficult to see exactly what was going on.  But we think mom and dad were feeding the kids high-energy lerp snacks, one of them is stuck on top of the beak of this bird. ("A lerp is a structure of crystallized honeydew produced by larvae of psyllid insects as a protective cover." ~Wikipedia