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| A cheeky Crimson Rosella |
We are lucky to be surrounded by beautiful birds in our 'neighborhood.' An overnight jaunt to Lamington was so much fun, all the birds are active in the pursuits of springtime--eating, songs, chasing tail (really!) and raising families. The Crimson Rosellas are used to being fed from trays of seed that the tourists buy at the visitor's center. Even if you don't have food, the rosellas will check just to make sure.
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| Eastern Whipbird |
Whipbirds are usually experts at foraging about the forest floor inobtrusively (Dirk says: they skulk and flit - rarely do I get a clear view!) although it's always fun to hear their contact calls--the male with his whipcrack and the female's answering 'tchew-twchew.' This pair had a hungry youngster to feed, though. We were paying no attention to hearing whipbirds close by, and checking out a Noisy Pitta nest when these two appeared in front of our noses--where we were just happened to be in a prime spot for gathering something good to eat.
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| Eastern Whipbird |
They were hopping about in clear view, calling and darting back to the woods to take food to Junior. Dirk kept having to back away because he couldn't focus his camera so close when they were at his feet!
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| Rufous Fantail |
We had been seeing beautiful Rufous Fantails in the woods--their bright fan tails 'glow' so prettily in the rainforest--but they are very difficult to get pictures of, because they are so quick in their movements. We were taken aback when this bird flew suddenly from a spot right beside us on the trail, when we realized she had a nest with tiny little nestlings in it! We stepped back and she settled back in to keep everyone warm and cozy, we kept our distance (Dirk has a very long lens) so we'd not make her nervous or abandon her duties. Her nest is held together with spider-silk (look closely!)
We were fortunate to spot this Regent Bowerbird bower, the only reason we found it tucked back in the woods was because we heard its architect wooing his lucky lady! (We'd never seen a bower of this species before, they're very discreet bowers compared to other bowerbirds.) So as not to disturb the flirting going on, we left them to themselves and we went back later to find the bower again to take this picture. The two birds were nowhere to be found in the middle of the day.
Notice the little blue berry carefully stashed in the back on the floor of this bower, along with some special leaves?
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| Regent bowerbird (female) |
We watched the dashing suitor hold the berry in his beak while posing for the girl, but apparently it was all show and not an offer of food, since here the berry is, uneaten. We understand that this is not unusual for Regent bowerbirds to use berries and leaves for decoration and props. Their brethren, the Satin Bowerbirds, are all about blue decorations outside of the bower--including bits of blue plastic.
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| Spotless Crake |
We were excited to find Spotless Crakes at our favourite little local wetland. Hope they found lots to eat before journeying to the next wetland.
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| Spotless Crake |
In this case the weedy edges helped Dirk out as he was able to creep into position and then push his camera through the weeds to get a clear view. These guys are really skittish!
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| Buff-banded Rail |
We also spotted Ballion's crake and this Buff-Banded Rail. Fun to see these birds at a suburban wetland!
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| Yellow TuftedHoneyeater |
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| Black-chinned Honeyeater |
Durakai Forest is a funny place, apparently very important for honeyeaters. We were over in the Stanthorpe area on a bird survey and decided to stop by here on the way back. We couldn't fins the "popular" wetland and were despairing of seeing much when this bright yellow flash stopped us. We stopped by a *tiny* little puddles and watched dozens of honey-eaters descend for their afternoon drink.
Note the spectacular eyeshadow on the two below!
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| White-naped Honeyeater |
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| Yellow-tufted Honeyeater |
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| Fuscous Honeyeater |
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| Black-faced Monarch |
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White-throated Gerygone |
These tiny birds are hard to find and hard to photograph, they sing a beautiful song but are still quite inconspicuous way up in the forest canopy.
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| Apostlebird |
These wonderful Apostlebirds had a nearby communal nest with everybody hanging out in the heat of the day in a nearby tree, keeping watch
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| Apostlebird |
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| Tawny Frogmouth |
Looking like a dead-branch, this Frogmouth is safeguarding her nest and her eggs.
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| Grey Falcon |
How lucky to see a Grey Falcon in our local Hinterland Park!
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| Magpie-lark |
What a resourceful little family this is! These birds have made a safe nest in the carpark of the railway station, perched atop a single pipe. How industrious they were to haul mud and other nest supplies all that way! Both the female and male do nest-duty, this is the male bird. we only hope the chicks fledge successfully and fly right the first time, out to a nice tree and some greenery!
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| Magpie-lark |
