Go North -- 07 -- Iron Range

Other beauties seen in Iron Range included ....

Starting with the shorebirds.

Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris

Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres

Torresian Kingfisher Todiramphus chloris

Eastern Reef Egret Egret sacra light and dark morph

Next the bush birds.

Brown-backed Honeyeater Ramsayornis modestus

Brown-backed Honeyeater Ramsayornis modestus

Spectacled Monarch  Symposiarchus trivirgatus

Shining Flycatcher, male Myiagra alecto

Varied Triller Lalage leucomela

Yellow-spotted Honeyeater Meliphaga notata

And best to last ... Eclectus Parrot Eclectus roratus. The female is the colourful one or though I think the bloke is pretty good too. There is a tree in Iron Range that has had a nesting pair forever It is visible from the road and an easy tick, if they show themselves. 10/10 to Erica for spotting the male on the branch as we were driving past. Additionally, Ethan and I spotted a pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrots at Portlands Road which were the local race, Marshall's Double-eyed Fig-Parrot.

Eclectus Parrot, female Eclectus roratus

Eclectus Parrot, male

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, female Cyclospitta diophthalma marshalli

Bird Nerds in Queensland 12

It was a toss up between Lake Macdonald and Maroochy Wetlands as to my favourite site until our last visit to the wetlands. Another early start and it was going to be a good day when Ethan spotted an Azure Kingfisher as we were driving along and then we had 24 species in the carpark without moving more than 5 metres! We could have just gone home at 5.15am but decided to stay on.

Just some of the birds included ...

Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove Ptilinopus regina. It was about 5.15am shot against a bright sky and about 2 stops over exposed and played with in Photoshop. I think a male of the eastern form.

Collared Kingfisher Todiramphus chloris which I believe is now called the Torresian Kingfisher. It is a large bird. There were a pair.

Third bird of the day was the Mangrove Gerygone Gerygone levigaster again. I think this is a delightful little bird. 

There were plenty of wattlebirds about, mostly Brush Wattlebird Anthochaera chrysoptera. This one allowed a considered photographic approach in a timely fashion thus razor sharp focus. 

However, the star of the show this particular morning was the next bird. We were almost back at the carpark and deviated just a few metres down a short side path in the rain forest section. We had heard a Monarch again and I was keen to a) see it again and b) see if I could get better photos. Well, there was one flitting about near and on a small tree maybe 3-4 cm wide and suddenly we noticed the reason for the interest. Two Spectacled Monarchs Symposiarchus trivirgatus were in the last stages of completing the building of their nest. Wow. Magic. With a bit of luck I shall be back there in mid-Feb and there should be some young'uns to see. Magic.

Bird Nird visits Queensland 03

From Tamworth, the run in to Brisbane is via Warwick and down "the gap" then on past Ipswich to an adventure on the Clem7 tunnel under the Brisbane River [still 150 clicks to Buderim!]. Well, it was off birding with Ethan first thing the next morning to a couple of spots he and his Gran, Elaine, had been to at a previous visit back in the winter.

First stop was the Maroochy Wetlands Sanctuary. Ethan was quite insistent that we get there as early as possible. As a legacy of Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Queensland has never been a participant in daylight saving time hence it is one hour behind the rest of the east coast [and half an hour behind South Australia - doesn't that make sense!] thus the sun rises at 5am at the summer solstice. This means the 5 or 6 resident Pacific Koels [and Kookas and magpies] start up about 4.30am as the sky lightens in the east. We were at the sanctuary at 6! Believe it or not, being in the usual environment of the Koel and hearing a mob of them calling each other around the neighbourhood sounded quite normal and not at all intrusive. I actually enjoyed them - unlike the one lonely resident in Sale with his plaintive, repetitive "ko-el, ko-el".

Maroochy Wetlands Sanctuary is a very nice piece of environmental real estate between the outskirts of Bli Bli and the South Maroochy River. You park your car in a small carpark by the entrance to a soft fruit farm and the visitor centre. The first part of the path takes you through a small section of rainforest then a boardwalk goes through some open forest, mangroves and pockets of casuarina to the riverside. Ethan and Eliane had been here with a local birder, Russell, earlier in the month so Ethan had a good idea about what was present. He could hear a Spectacled Monarch calling as well as fig birds, fantails, crows, magpies, honeyeaters  etc. We hadn't gone two yards before we were ambushed by Rufous Fantails. Just as Gouldiae has to sweep Eastern Yellow Robins out of the way, we had to sweep the Rufous Fantails out of the way as well as the Lewins Honeyeaters! We also spotted a Shining Flycatcher as a highlight and the Spectacled Monarch on our return via the rainforest.

Australian Figbird Sphecotheres viridis

Lewin's Honeyeater Meliphaga lewinii

Rufous Fantail Rhipidura rufifrons

This is the first decent image I have taken of this beautiful species which I only saw for the first time at Nangara Reserve near Drouin last year courtesy of Gouldiae. Before that I had neglected to even recognise that the species existed. I think it is a delightful little bird. Here are some more images of it.

Spectacled Monarch Monarcha trivirgatus

Both the Fantail and the Monarch were in the rainforest section so it was pretty dim in there. High ISO and a bit of Photoshop manipulation for these images. More later.