Wandering Dutchman meets Long-billed Corella

My step-son, Heath, spent a year in The Netherlands after completing year 12. He stayed with the one  host family, the Middelvelds, for the entire year. His host-brother, Robert, is just a year older and Heath's host-sister, Anneke, is a year younger. The relationship between the families has remained strong over the subsequent 12 or so years. Heath has visited them often [international traveller that he is] and Elaine and I spent two separate weeks with Albert and Gertje in 2010 at their house in North Holland. Robert is a very keen birdwatcher. He could almost be called a twitcher. He is presently in Australia on a road trip from Melbourne to Cairns with Heath.

I was asked along on the road trip to supplement Heath's diminished bird watching enthusiasm! I picked Robert up from Tulla on Saturday 23 January and we headed straight for Portland to check out the Australasian Gannet colony at Point Danger where they were having an "open" day the next day Sunday. After a stop at Colac to ease Robert back into Aussie birdwatching over Lake Colac, we were stopped by several hundred Long-billed Corellas Cacatua tenuirostris on the drive into Warrnambool through the industrial and mega-shops estate to the east of the town. One of the last posts from the Ben Cruachan blog was about the arrival of a Long-billed Corella in Maffra. Let me say there are hundreds of the things in the west of Victoria and you could be wondering why they haven't arrived in Gippsland earlier.

So Robert was on the lookout for a flock of white birds in the air but it was the mob on the ground, hoeing into the kikuyu on the roadside that were unmistakable and unpassable. They were right by the Princes Highway, unperturbed by trucks and semis and B-doubles and cars zooming past. Once we were close, it became obvious that they moved away from you as you approached thus only showing their backs and rears to the camera. We soon had that figured out with Robert going around behind them and quietly "driving" them towards the camera and the setting sun. A lifer for both of us. A pretty good start to the trip.

Bird Nerds in Queensland 13

Well, we are just about done with the first Queensland trip. After Maroochy Wetlands there was the trip back to Victoria but I was keen to visit the Wynnum Wetlands at Sandy Camp Road in the docklands area of Brisbane itself. After saying my goodbyes to Erica and the boys in the evening, I was up at 4am and on the road soon after to arrive about 5.30 to take advantage of the cool morning. Birding is not much fun after 9am. The intensity of the sun is uncomfortable at best. Here is a map of the area.

The area to the top of the image is now a large container terminal with lots of traffic movement. But the birds don't seem to mind at all. The orange hatching reputedly harboured a Black Bittern, the black circle is an Oprey nest, the pink hatching had a Rajah Shelduck and there were crakes in the dark-blue area. It is an excellent place to spend a few hours. In the four hours I was there I managed to tick 57 species. Here are some images.

Brown Quail Coturnix ypsilophora

Comb-crested Jacana Irediparra gallinacea

Chestnut-breasted Mannikin Lonchura castaneothorax

Australasian Darter Anhinga novaehollandiae

female Australasian Figbird Sphecotheres vieilloti

female Leaden Flycatcher Myiagra rubecula

Mr Leaden Flycatcher taking his turn

Magpie Geese Anseranas semipalmata

Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus [pr male]

Pink-eared Duck Malacorhynchus membranaceus

Magpie-lark Grallina cyanoleuca

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike Coracina novaehollandiae

Striped Honeyeater Plectorhyncha lanceolata. I never got to see it upright!!

Tawny Grassbird Megalurus timoriensis

White-breasted Woodswallows Artamus leucorynchus

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.