Exploring What’s on my Doorstep: WhistlingKite24 does South-east Queensland

[WhistlingKite24]

Location 101, 102 + 103 – Hinterland Regional Park, Schuster Park and The Spit, Gold Coast – 31st August 2024:

I don’t like the Gold Coast region south of Brisbane too much. It’s highly developed and generally has poorer diversity of wildlife especially closer to the coast. Despite this, I decided to give the area a go and visited three new sites today – a larger weedy park in the hinterland, a mangrove-rich habitat along a creek and a coastal beach walk opposite SeaWorld Gold Coast. It was a very hot end to winter today approaching 35 degrees today but at least it wasn’t raining for once. I have spent multiple weekends scouring around for various targets but simply haven’t had much luck at all this winter. I guess that is the part of having a wildlife thread but the warmer season is set to be booming with a wide range of species around popping up. The Sacred Kingfishers and Pacific Koels are already calling, huge numbers of butterflies have been emerging joining the winter species and dragonflies are quickly emerging from the weediest waterways. Today’s first stop was the Hinterland Regional Park which is located in Mudgeeraba. A humble place; a large open dog park/picnic area with a bush portion that weaves through some small waterbodies and farmland. The main highlight was several Black-shouldered Kites hovering in full view over the hot grass. I often see Black-shouldered Kites from the Gold Coast train in farmland. Flocks of Scarlet Honeyeaters, Brown Honeyeaters and Red-backed Fairywrens were generally common in the thicket as well. A male Australian King-Parrot made me smile as it fed on its own while a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo was ripping up the lawn as they love to do all the time. Australian Wood Ducks and a Laughing Kookaburra were sheltering from the heat. There were also swarms of butterflies today, freshly emerged and mating frantically. Dozens of Lemon Migrants, Brown Ringlets, Varied Eggfly and incredible-looking Utetheisa moths which have the most outrageous patten of orange, white and black with a yellow head flush. They are worth searching up.

Laughing Kookaburra sheltering from the heat

Schuster Park was more productive than the first park. Starting out as a dairy farm, it has a rather traditional-looking open park with Galah, Australian Wood Duck, Australasian Figbird, Masked Lapwing and Welcome Swallow, which if you follow the creek past the playground, there is a small swampy mangrove walk further along Tallebudgera Creek, framed by waterfront houses in Gold Coast suburbia. There are far superior mangrove walks in Brisbane (Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk and Nudgee Beach) and the Sunshine Coast (Maroochy Wetlands) but it was a rare opportunity to visit some small, albeit fragmented, mangrove habitat in the Gold Coast. The calls of Torresian Kingfishers filled the mangroves with their piercing cries and I came across a nest as well with a pair nearby with a Blue-faced Honeyeater inspecting the area nearby. Torresian Kingfishers were excellent to see here close to the border to New South Wales as they are uncommon southwards. There were some common but always-good-to-see species of small birds including lots of Golden Whistlers, Rufous Whistlers, Superb Fairywrens, Red-backed Fairywrens, Silvereyes and a lovely little flock of Red-browed Firetails feeding on small section of mud under mangroves. I heard Mangrove Honeyeaters but only saw a single Lewin’s Honeyeater. There were hundreds and hundreds of Semaphore Crabs as I reached the boardwalk section of the loop. They are square-bodied crabs that are common along the east coast. Like the Fiddler Crabs, they have very long eye stalks. The claws are purple on adults, but most of the ones I saw were orange-clawed juveniles. A large juvenile White-bellied Sea-Eagle flew over as well and Olive-backed Orioles were common and frequent. An alright site if you are in the area but the Tallebudgera Creek Conservation Park (location #21) would provide access to more mangrove habitat plus a longer walk, optimising changes for more species.

Torresian Kingfisher

Galah

Finally, it was getting very hot but I decided to complete the set. The Spit (Federation Walk is the birdy part) is an interesting one. It’s on the same street as SeaWorld Gold Coast and five minutes from the hustle and bustle of Surfers Paradise’s inner centre with its tall skyscrapers and was a pleasant surprise in the midday heat. It is a designated pathway that will lead you all the way through the Coastal Reserve to the Gold Coast Seaway from where you can take in scenic views of the coastline. Lots of coastal birds here among this unique slice of coastal dune habitat. The sandy well-vegetated beaches and crashing waves were home to a good range of species with the bulk of birds being Brown Honeyeaters, Double-barred Finches and there were lots of Great Crested Terns flying swiftly. A single Green Tree Snake raced along the sand and into a tall beach hibiscus. There is a lot of landcare that has gone into the Spit and volunteers have to regularly supplement water to establish the plantings further. These taps and irrigation networks made for fantastic perches for the main feature species here; swarms of Rainbow Bee-eaters. Probably over 50 were seen here and they were regularly moving from tap to tap. Some were feeding on the ground as well. Next time I visit SeaWorld, I will ensure I cross the road and revisit Federation Walk being a small slice of uncommon rewilded beach.

Rainbow Bee-eaters

 

[WhistlingKite24]

A Springtime Serpent – Sandy Camp, Wynnum, Seventh Brigade Park, Brisbane – September 2024

These past couple of days I have been visiting the usual Brisbane sites like Wynnum Boardwalk, Sand Camp and the local Seventh Brigade Park for the Great Southern Bioblitz. An initiative supported by iNaturalist to promote spring diversity in the South Hemisphere at this productive time of the year. At Sandy Camp, the weather provided a great start with an approaching total of 40 bird species seen in under an hour I was there. The highlight was seeing a Tawny Grassbird hop across the path. Anyone familiar with these birds would know they are skulking specialists and rarely leave thick grass but the insect life on the pathway tempted this one out in full view. The cries of Brown Quail were pleasing to hear and I later saw one at Wynnum Boardwalk which was shockingly my first for the year; their numbers in Brisbane really suffered following the floods and their numbers still haven’t recovered even at their useful haunts like Oxley Creek Common. Sacred Kingfishers are abundant at this time of year as well and pairs of them filled powerlines around the site. The mangroves at Wynnum Boardwalk were teaming with birdlife; a greater range of species than I was used to for that site. Black-faced Monarch, Leaden Flycatcher, Olive-backed Oriole and Rufous Whistler were supported by the resident Torresian Kingfisher and Mangrove Gerygone. The five resident Grey-crowned Babblers, among the last in coastal Brisbane, were busily feeding at their regular feeding site whilst being mobbed by a single Striped Honeyeater. Another generally uncommon species within the city.

Tawny Grassbird

Grey-crowned Babbler

Being September, it’s currently time for all of reptiles to be on the move. This morning, I went to Seventh Brigade Park to get my fill of butterflies mainly but I spotted a huge beautiful Coastal Carpet Python out in the open, crossing the path near the shopping centre. There were regular dog walkers that stopped in shock (some in horror) at the sight of this huge python in full view as they quickly grabbed their little terriers. These pythons are generally arboreal and spend most of their time hidden despite being common even in Brisbane’s most urban areas. The ibis colony at the park is breeding along with the resident Black Flying Foxes and the python was heading in their direction, wasting no time in crossing the path onwards towards its next feed.

Coastal Carpet Python

 

[WhistlingKite24]

Bits and Pieces around Brisbane – October 2024:

I have been focussing my wildlife watching just around local spots here and there whenever I had the opportunity. I should be doing some local spotlighting finally soon towards late November for gliders before my December trip; stay tuned for that if I see something decent. First recent spot was Mt Cootha Botanic Gardens of course for the spring bloom of activity. The waterlily ponds are simply a must for anyone visiting in front of the library, near the car park. A great sit and wait spot. The Eastern Dwarf Frogs are back following a very quiet winter as the waterlily foliage receded. They are now reliably found in the warmer months with the growth of the lily pads and supporting cast of reeds. As I sat and watched the frogs, I was able to further appreciate the insect life among them picking up Eastern Billabongfly, which is a damselfly I’d only seen in Tasmania, and a Spotted Amber Ladybird Beetle. Albeit introduced, the ladybird beetle was bright red classic looking one unlike the common orangey Variable Ladybirds. There was also a Hairy Line-Blue butterfly that landed on a waterlily; a species that has benefitted from widespread planting of its food tree in the suburbs.

Eastern Dwarf Frog

Within the gardens, the Bordered Rustic butterflies remain common into spring with their orangey flushes of colours travelling across the gardens. Lemon Migrants and Caper Whites are picking up in numbers as well, indicating dry summer conditions with the volume of butterflies around. My first Peacock Carpenter Bee was very nice as well; imagine a stocky metallic green-blue bee with bumble bee-like behaviours. They are known for burrowing into the stems of grass trees and often rest in them over cooler months. It was also good fun to watch the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos rip up a well-watered lawn. The cockatoos didn’t appreciate an Australian Brush-turkey approaching them. One cockatoo lunged at the turkey a few times but the turkey approached anyway and starting fluffing up to size up the cockatoo. The cockatoo then jumped at the brush-turkey and there was a full-blown tussle between them. Besides scratching at each other, the cockatoo brough its beak into the mix and that quickly saw the turkey retreat. The Bush Stone-Curlews were very territorial as well with several stripey chicks growing up quickly.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo vs. Australian Brush-Turkey

Another weekend was recently spent at Enogerra Reservoir. The highlight was several Bell Miners at eye level, allowing me to have unprecedented views of these olivey songsters. They aren’t many accessible places to see Bell Miners in south-east Queensland though generally the entire D’Aguilar National Park is bound to produce distant sightings among their resonant calls. The track is generally poor birding recently even in the early morning due to so many joggers and runners making it difficult I find for prolonged views. Fortunately, there are a few pockets of the track that connect above to the bike trail so I walk small sections of that far quieter trail that leads to waves every so often. Mainly Lewin’s Honeyeaters, Brown Honeyaeters, Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, Eastern Yellow Robins and White-browed Scrubwrens with the recently split Australian Spectacled Monarch and a female Leaden Flycatcher calling loudly. An Eastern Whipbird shot past as well while a suspected Square-tailed Kite silhouette flew over but it was just too far enough to confirm for sure.

Bell Miner calling

Finally, a local one. A bit of an odd one as well. There is a single Robust Ctenotus; a big 20-centimetre beautifully-patterned striped skink known from woodlands with undisturbed areas as their preference, that has lived near a pedestrian crossing opposite a public library. Its habitat is literally a single hedge and pathway. There are reliable records on iNaturalist and it had been there for a couple of years and since I hadn’t seen the species for a few years I gave it go. While I didn’t see the skink on my way past its residence along a main road, I returned in the afternoon sun and it was in full view on the pathway. Not sure how it has managed to avoid a roving cat, kookaburra or magpie but it was great to see one.

Robust Ctenotus – a lizard you could give a postal address to

 

[WhistlingKite24]

My First Local Spotlighting – 23rd November 2024:

Target Species: Greater Glider

Recently a Common Ringtail Possum has once again found its way into my backyard. Unlike previous possums this one emerges almost daily just before dusk in the dim light, much to the dismay of the local family of Blue-faced Honeyeaters. The possum emerges from its drey; a spherical nest made from branches and twigs that are lined with bark and grasses. The rufous pulcher form of this species occurs in south-east Queensland and is very visually distinct from the southern forms with rich red underparts and less white markings on the chest and belly. Unlike Brushtail and Ringtail Possums, some other relatives haven’t adapted to the urban sprawl and require greater habitat and corridors to sustain themselves close to the city. One of these species is the arguably the show-stopper of all local mammals; the Greater Glider. My favourite Australian mammal. As the largest species of marsupial gliding possum reaching lengths of a metre, this species is a gentle giant. It feeds on eucalyptus leaves and bud and moves slowly. It only glides to maximise foraging opportunities.

Common Ringtail Possum

Greater Gliders aren’t doing well in south-east Queensland. The reserves south of Brisbane in Redlands and Logan are holding very fragmented populations of gliders nowadays and it is being increasingly difficult to pinpoint them reliably. Greater Gliders rarely use small corridors and are sensitive to green islands of forest. They need well-connected bushland reserves with ample hollows; an increasingly rarity. Interestingly, as their main native predator, Powerful Owls have been adapting to these fragments of bush and have been know to pick off the last couple gliders at a few reserves. It's all a very fine balance. The sun was still setting as I made my way into the main reserve I visited. I won’t name the reserve publicly but it was a familiar place I knew from daytime birding. I had several frogs I wanted to see but unfortunately the pathways were filled with Cane Toads of every shape and size. There were frogs calling including Great Barred Frog but none were seen. About half an hour later, the first eyeshine was seen. It was very strong, bright white and about 20 metres up a tree. A small face was seen peeking out of a hollow and it was an easy as that; a Greater Glider slowly crept out of its log. I walked another couple of metres and a second one was out already in full. It was significantly lower and I got a brilliant view of it as it perched out in the open. Its large ears were up and listening carefully while I was able to appreciate the length of such a creature. Best find of the year.

Greater Glider

With the anticipation of seeing Greaters in the wild over within the first hour, I was able to settle into the groove of spotlighting navigating the headtorch and camera. There were a few birds around like Plumed Whistling-Ducks that passed over in dusk, a Leaden Flycatcher perched low to the ground surprisingly and roosting family units of Laughing Kookaburra and the odd Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. A Common Bronzewing was another species around. Calls of Australian Owlet-Nightjar (which don’t give eyeshine) and Australian Boobook were clear but neither species were seen. Any diurnal birds I saw I tried to keep brief to not disturb them too much. The forest floor had some interesting species about with the main invert highlight being several large Fraser’s Banded Snails; a large native species of snail that was brought out due to all the recent rain. They were much larger than I was expecting. There were a few moths knocking about as well with one very nice having orange hindwings called Neola semiaurata. Cicadas and crickets formed the main part of the evening chorus.

Fraser’s Banded Snail

A tiny critter was seen closer to the ground than the larger Greater Gliders that were mainly in the towering canopy. A single Sugar Glider was ripping up the bark. Sugar and Squirrel Gliders coexist in the same habitat so require careful identification but fortunately there were several very clear features to determine Sugar; a Roman nose, smaller size and clear white tail tip (the last is the least reliable). It should be noted this would be an actual Sugar Glider following the taxonomic review and split. Sugar Gliders are now only found along a strip of coastal eastern Australia with Savanna Glider across the Northern Territory and Krefft’s Glider basically everywhere else in Australia. The Greater Gliders also continued with regular sightings.

Sugar Glider

Greater Glider – fifth one of the night

There were regular trills in the trees about and the trills intensified and I realised there were at least two of them trilling. A pair of large Powerful Owls chicks were present with an adult that had just brought back a kill. I caught a distant view of light-coloured figures high up in a tree. Another nocturnal bird was lower to the ground with a large Tawny Frogmouth preening and later watching the undergrowth for potential prey. These frogmouths can spend hours scanning and waiting low to the ground, being the most common nocturnal bird and pretty much guaranteed in any decent location with enough tree coverage.

Tawny Frogmouth

The final major highlight besides a lifer Eastern Small-eyed Snake, was my first local Short-beaked Echidna. It was well tucked in along the side of the pathway, burrowing deep into the earth. I didn’t want to disturb it so I didn’t say with it long but it was pretty exciting to see one in Queensland after several sightings in Tasmania last year. Short-beaked Echidnas have proven very difficult to find here due to their nomadic and secretive nature. Overall, beginner’s luck allowed me to see lots of success in only a couple of hours. Along with the pelagic trip earlier in the year, the wildlife highlight of the year.

Short-beaked Echidna

 

[LaughingDove]

This is an excellent thread! Only just come across it, and I haven't read all of it yet (you've written an impressive amount!) but I'll come back to it when I have some time and read the rest.

It also looks to be an invaluable resource resource if/when I eventually visit Brisbane again!

 

[Therabu]

Amazing outing !

 

[WhistlingKite24]

Nesting Time - Maleny, Sunshine Coast - 7th December 2024:

This weekend was a scorcher; yesterday was 35 degrees celsius in Brisbane with very little wind at all. I headed to the coast seeing a few little waders at Scarborough to see if they are back and was rewarded with a small flock of Pacific Golden Plovers, Whimbrels and Ruddy Turnstones dodging the growing summer crowds on a few rocky outcrops. However, Saturday was slightly cooler so I made my way to Maleny where it is always a few degrees cooler. I started my morning at Mary Cairncross as I find early summer to be prime time for rainforest birding. Many of the species are actively foraging throughout the day with lots of nest building and foraging to feed their chicks. I started along the Richmond Butterfly Walk with a pair of Australian Spectacled Monarchs nearby. They were very close and were busily attending to a single chick that had already fledged but was sitting in the nest. One of the adults caught a big fat green cicada and gave it a few knocks and flew down to feed the fuzzy chick. Wonderful to watch.

Australian Spectacled Monarch

Among the ‘tocks’ of marsh frogs and pitta cries, the pond past the visitor entrance was absolutely teaming with the movement of bathing birds in the warm morning. There were several Yellow-throated Scrubwrens but even nicer was a Black-faced Monarch that perched boldly close to the forest floor. Black-faced Monarchs are among my all-time favourites and are generally seasonal in the lowlands but breed reliably in rainforest. It bathed regularly, dipping itself into the water and heading for a nearby branch. A very rare view to see them so close. The monarch was later joined by a Rufous Shrike-thrush that was even bolder.

Black-faced Monarch

The overall highlight of my visit was seeing so many Murray’s Skinks; an endemic species of rainforest-dwelling lizard that has very intricate patterning include some delicate blue speckles. The skinks were lying on all the fallen logs with at least 11 different lizards seen in this relatively small reserve. The density is clearly very high here and the skinks were out and about across the pathways even. There were some very large ones that squeezed themselves into the logs. A few other highlights included seeing an Eastern Yellow Robin fledgling with the adults, a White-headed Pigeon, Green Catbirds of course and a pair of Eastern Whipbirds. No logrunners strangely.

Murray’s Skink

Finally, I spend a couple of hours at Obi Obi Creek without any platypus sightings. However, the pair of Azure Kingfishers were out at the observation desk and were flying from perch to perch. A single White-throated Gerygone was calling loudly and emerged briefly before plunging itself into the grasses that surround the water, feeding on insects. A new species of damselfly; Flame-headed Riverdamsel was a happy find additionally. The males have orange-yellowy faces with a greenish-blue overall colour. On my way out, a pair of Spangled Drongos were attending to a nest with one perched high up and the other constructing the nest. They picked a very exposed place to place their nest in the full sun just above the river.

Azure Kingfisher

Spangled Drongo at nest

 

[WhistlingKite24]

Holiday Duck – 13th December 2024 – Warner Lakes, Moreton Bay:

Target Species: Musk Dusk

Today is my first day of holiday break, and in a rather serendipitous event, a Musk Dusk has appeared at Warner Lakes (location #62) where I previously have tracked down Cotton Pygmy-Geese a year and a bit earlier. One of Australia’s most curious and distinctive species of bird, the Musk Duck is a rare vagrant to south-east Queensland wetlands. Most records are of single birds in Brisbane, and this species is not particularly gregarious. Males are almost twice the size of females at about two kilograms in weight and 60-70cm long. In the breeding season, the males exude a musky odour, giving the species its common name. Females are considerably smaller and the bird in question was one. It was an easy search at this suburban lake sifting through coots, jacanas, more coots and moorhens to finally pinpoint the single sooty duck out in the open. Excellent lifer to start wrapping up the year.

Musk Duck

 

[WhistlingKite24]

Nesting Time - Maleny, Sunshine Coast - 7th December 2024:

This weekend was a scorcher; yesterday was 35 degrees celsius in Brisbane with very little wind at all. I headed to the coast seeing a few little waders at Scarborough to see if they are back and was rewarded with a small flock of Pacific Golden Plovers, Whimbrels and Ruddy Turnstones dodging the growing summer crowds on a few rocky outcrops. However, Saturday was slightly cooler so I made my way to Maleny where it is always a few degrees cooler. I started my morning at Mary Cairncross as I find early summer to be prime time for rainforest birding. Many of the species are actively foraging throughout the day with lots of nest building and foraging to feed their chicks. I started along the Richmond Butterfly Walk with a pair of Australian Spectacled Monarchs nearby. They were very close and were busily attending to a single chick that had already fledged but was sitting in the nest. One of the adults caught a big fat green cicada and gave it a few knocks and flew down to feed the fuzzy chick. Wonderful to watch.

Australian Spectacled Monarch

Among the ‘tocks’ of marsh frogs and pitta cries, the pond past the visitor entrance was absolutely teaming with the movement of bathing birds in the warm morning. There were several Yellow-throated Scrubwrens but even nicer was a Black-faced Monarch that perched boldly close to the forest floor. Black-faced Monarchs are among my all-time favourites and are generally seasonal in the lowlands but breed reliably in rainforest. It bathed regularly, dipping itself into the water and heading for a nearby branch. A very rare view to see them so close. The monarch was later joined by a Rufous Shrike-thrush that was even bolder.

Black-faced Monarch

The overall highlight of my visit was seeing so many Murray’s Skinks; an endemic species of rainforest-dwelling lizard that has very intricate patterning include some delicate blue speckles. The skinks were lying on all the fallen logs with at least 11 different lizards seen in this relatively small reserve. The density is clearly very high here and the skinks were out and about across the pathways even. There were some very large ones that squeezed themselves into the logs. A few other highlights included seeing an Eastern Yellow Robin fledgling with the adults, a White-headed Pigeon, Green Catbirds of course and a pair of Eastern Whipbirds. No logrunners strangely.

Murray’s Skink

Finally, I spend a couple of hours at Obi Obi Creek without any platypus sightings. However, the pair of Azure Kingfishers were out at the observation desk and were flying from perch to perch. A single White-throated Gerygone was calling loudly and emerged briefly before plunging itself into the grasses that surround the water, feeding on insects. A new species of damselfly; Flame-headed Riverdamsel was a happy find additionally. The males have orange-yellowy faces with a greenish-blue overall colour. On my way out, a pair of Spangled Drongos were attending to a nest with one perched high up and the other constructing the nest. They picked a very exposed place to place their nest in the full sun just above the river.

Azure Kingfisher

Spangled Drongo at nest

Summer is the best time for rainforest birding even during the warmer hours of the day. The fruiting figs and palms have full crops drawing in the wide range of large-bodied fruit pigeons that spend most of the year well-camouflaged. The stench of rotting fruit littered across the rainforest floor and the sound of falling fruit hitting the leaf litter signifies its prime time to watch these big birds fly across the canopy and feed in active flocks. I’ve spent some recent time at both Mount Glorious and Mary Cairncross, my preferred sites for rainforests when Lamington is not feasible. At Mount Glorious, the Topknot Pigeons were the dominant species along with passing Wompoo Fruit-Doves as they hung themselves from palm trees as they fed. Green Catbirds are traditionally elusive but are also attracted to the fruiting trees. A pleasant surprise here were several Regent Bowerbirds which I had such bad luck with in 2024 I didn’t see at all last year (even with two trips to Lamington National Park!). They were perched high up and didn’t come down to the fruit as the catbirds seemed to chase them away as they approached. A few choice little birds as well at Mount Glorious included Black-faced Monarch and Eastern Spinebill with the latter species largely restricted to rainforest for south-east Queensland, contrasting the abundance in which I found spinebills to be in southern Australia. At Mary Cairncross today included a similar experience with the addition of a flock of six White-headed Pigeons and many more Brown Cuckoo-Doves. I came across a nesting Wompoo Fruit-Dove on its flimsy nest. Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves were calling loudly around the palms and I waited patiently for any movement but they remained very elusive in their traditional habits. Like Regent Bowerbirds, another species that was absent from the 2024 list was Noisy Pitta but fortunately there were no less than three pitta today hopping along the pathway, digging up worms. Finally, I need to highlight a very neat damselfly species – the Golden Flatwing - seen at Mount Nebo. This species is strictly endemic to south-east Queensland and is restricted to rainforest streams. The individual below is not the traditional black and orange colouration but a recently emerged individual that literally shone in the sunshine like a metallic jewel.

Wompoo Fruit-Dove

Noisy Pitta

Golden Flatwing - endemic to south-east Queensland

 

[WhistlingKite24]

Location 104: Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk – 8th January 2025:

Target Species: Richmond Birdwing

West of the Gold Coast, Mount Tamborine has been covered in a separate post (location #68) as a popular daytrip for locals with small pockets of national park amongst large properties and housing developments. Having visited the Atherton Tablelands now in north Queensland it reminds me a lot of that area with a constant patchwork of forests; often tiny pockets among the town with a significant landmark like a strangler fig or waterfall aiding in the protection of a rainforest segment. On the outskirts of the town is the skywalk; a paid attraction that allows visitors to walk among the canopy of rainforest, 30 metres above the ground at some stages of the walk. The skywalk is a privately owned attraction that is a stronghold of the Richmond Birdwing. Aided by captive breeding efforts by David Fleay Wildlife Park, the skywalk has served as a release site for the butterflies to increase genetic diversity of local populations as they are fragmented. 50 captive-bred butterflies were released here to supplement a dwindling population and from today at least it was clear they were here in large numbers. 500 birdwings have been released across south-east Queensland which have not only supplemented existing populations but also reintroduced butterflies in certain areas especially in coastal lowlands. These are of course spectacular butterflies but today I was surprised to see so many showy emerald males. Traditionally I often just see large dark females travelling around forest searching for their vine food plants. The skywalk trail enabled very close views of these butterflies as there is a dedicated garden for them.

Richmond Birdwing – endemic to the region and has benefitted from captive breeding

The birdwings were joined by black and red Jezebel Nymphs, blue-white Pale Triangles and the orange glow of Bordered Rustics captured my attention. Following lots of butterfly canopy action, the walk entered rainforest at eye level with a gentle descent into the dark forest floor with Green Catbirds picking off fruit while I spied at least four Australian Spectacled Monarchs in the thicket with Large-billed Scrubwrens. Sulphur-crested Cockatoos flew over as I reached a cantilever bridge with fantastic views across the palms heaving with red fruit with lots of perching insects visible including a new dragonfly with quite the common name -Whitewater Rockmaster. This species isn’t found north of the Gold Coast so very pleased to see it here. There were skinks everywhere along the trail. They were larger than the usual Lampropholis skinks and far prettier with a long thick tail and an orangey wash across the side. A quick search confirmed they were Gully Shadeskink. Reptiles continued with Eastern Water Dragons among streams and Bar-sided Skinks perched on strangler figs. A pleasant place to spend some time and I really enjoyed seeing the volume of birdwings at this site. With a little luck, hopefully a more common sight in the years to come.

Green Catbird

Bar-sided Skink

 

[WhistlingKite24]

Moray Magic – Kings Beach, Sunshine Coast – 17th January 2025:

Target Species: Snowflake Moray, White-speckled Sea Hare

Yesterday I returned to the very unique rock pools that surround Kings and Shelly Beaches, harbouring a very diverse ecosystem that is largely dictated by the movement of the tides that bring the wildlife in and out depending on the time of day. I just arrived as the tide was rising so I had to wait several hours for the ocean to recede before exploring the rock pools. There is fortunately a long pathway that leads up to Mofatt Beach with a lookout that promises sightings of sea birds and turtles. It should be noted that this is one of the few nesting sites recorded for sea turtles in southeast QLD and there are strict regulations surrounding this area to ensure the few turtles that do nest here are protected. The walk up to the lookout provided only occasional sightings of birds; Little Wattlebirds fed on the blooming banksias while Pied Cormorants, Great Cormorants, Great Crested Terns and Silver Gulls flew across the water. I stopped at the lookout and scanned the water and surprisingly saw a large brick-red creature surface out of the corner of my eye. Presuming this was a sea turtle I waited for half an hour and was rewarded with a clear sighting of a Green Turtle. I was very pleased to see one clearly from land as my previous sighting of this species locally was from a boardwalk at eye level.

Green Turtle from lookout

I returned to the main rock pool area and saw that the water was gradually receding. Little Corellas flew across the shallow water towards the coastal casuarinas and fed actively for several hours. This enabled me to get up close views of them while I waited for the next hour. The first sign that the water would be shallow enough soon was heralded by the arrival of four Pacific Reef Herons. All of them were the grey morph but I did see a white one fly over beforehand. The herons were following several fishermen that had set up their equipment to catch some coastal fish. One heron however was actively hunting a Mottled Lightfoot Crab that was the first to emerge from the water, perched high on barren rock as waves crashed around it. The heron stealthily stalked the crab and grabbed it swiftly. The crab had other plans and latched onto the heron’s face. There was a bit of a struggle and the heron backflipped to get rid of the crab that was now hanging off the heron. The crab was flicked off and retreated into the water.

Pacific Reef Heron vs Mottled Lightfoot Crab

Pacific Reef Heron

Pools of water were now forming creating shallow little ecosystems to explore. The first set of species seen were large groups of many small little fish which so far included Dusky Frillgoby, Peacock Rockskipper, Rippled Rockskipper, Lined Rockskipper, Cocos Frillgoby and Starry Goby. These large groups of fish formed feeding colonies and resembled little dugongs munching on the thick algae as if it were sea grass. I don't know a lot about these fish but it was really fascinating to see how they timed their movements and crossed from pool to pool as the water disappeared further and further out. The hermit crabs started moving in and out of water. There was a new species I haven’t seen before; it was very pretty with a red and maroon colouration. The commoner Yellow-footed Hermit Crabs are guaranteed to be seen in large numbers. Some were even fighting over vacant shells. There were also a few glass shrimp now starting to pop out of their rocky crevices. Of course, the main reason I was there was to find Snowflake Morays; a popular aquarium fish with an intricate pattern. Feeding mainly on crustaceans, this species can be found at well-established intertidal rock pools with the area having a sizeable population. My first fleeting glimpse of a moray was under rippling water. Fortunately, as the water retreated more eels were moving towards the sea and a small one was spotted elegantly pushing itself across and out of a rocky crevice into deeper water in full sunshine, not afraid to emerge out of the water momentarily to travel across. Beautiful. Happy with that sighting I headed back towards the beach but before I did I caught sight of a large pool of water that had trapped a large group of fish. This included a tiny Raccoon Butterflyfish darting about while several Chrysiptera damsels had neon blue markings that popped against their olivey body, like little bobbing flashlights. I am leaning towards Pacific Surge Demoiselles but haven’t reached a solid identification (if even possible). Whatever they are, they were such striking fish. There were also juvenile Convict Surgeonfish, Yellowmask Surgeonfish, Stripey and lots of fish that couldn’t be identified to species level.

Snowflake Moray – small one

Chrysiptera sp.

Finally, I spotted two large striking adult morays entwined in what can only be described as a dance. They were constantly encircling themselves, gently nipping each other and retreated every so often in the rocky crevices. They regularly emerged and the ‘dancing’ was gradually quicker, and they even popped their heads out of the water at times as their swirling movements built in speed. Probably my favourite local wildlife experience I’ve ever had as it was so utterly unexpected.

Snowflake Morays

 

[WhistlingKite24]

There was a new species I haven’t seen before; it was very pretty with a red and maroon colouration.

Now identified as Coral Hermit Crab Clibanarius corallinus.

 

[WhistlingKite24]

Rising from the Shea-Oaks – Mount Samson, Moreton Bay – 20th January 2025:

Target Species: Glossy Black Cockatoo

Today I went to find the Glossy Black Cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus lathami; a striking species of black cockatoo that was impacted by the 2019-2020 bushfires. Birdlife Australia estimates 38% of their south-eastern range was impacted with their fire-sensitive food plants, mature she-oaks, and breeding hollows being destroyed widely. The Kangaroo Island population was further devastated. Thankfully these fires largely remained out of Queensland but the overall population is decreasing leading to it being classed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. The location for these Glossies is along a roadside in Mount Samson, on the way to Mount Glorious and is reliable site close to Brisbane for them. I quickly spotted four males chewing away at the she-oaks among other excited birders. In a wild context, they look smaller than the other black cockatoos and the male’s chocolate head, dusky black plumage and orangey-red tail panels were very eye-catching. I didn’t see any females (with yellow head markings) but another few males called as they gently flew across the paddock to join them. Their call is croak-like with a drawn-out crackly quality, less piercing than other black cockatoos, perfectly matching their less raucous nature and smaller size. But even more prominent was the sound of chewing and cracking of cones as they fed in the she-oaks, crushing the cones as they held them in their claws. Once feeding they remain silent themselves. First bird lifer for 2025 is a significant bird with unique place in the local ecosystem and a future that remains uncertain.

Glossy Black Cockatoo

 

[Tetzoo Quizzer]

What happened with the Sea Hare on 17th?

 

[WhistlingKite24]

What happened with the Sea Hare on 17th?

It was a target species but I didn’t see it in the rockpools.

 

[WhistlingKite24]

Top Ten – Various Locations – January/February 2025:

Now that I’m back at work I am taking any casual opportunity I can get to see some wildlife so I have collated a top ten list of sightings over the past two months that I haven’t covered in separate trip posts – some are local whilst others are a bit further afield. It’s all a bit bitty but some very nice species among them as summer continues deliver consistently good and pleasant weather. I will be back in far-north Queensland in September all going well (weather dependant) in other good news so look out for that. Targets will include Musky Rat-Kangaroo, Southern Cassowary and of course Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroo take two among others.

1) Tawny Frogmouth, Podargus strigoides – Burnie Brae Park

We start with a local win. I have been following the local patterns of frogmouths for many years as they are a species that do regularly enter suburbia readily. There is a pair that live at this tiny park. It’s mainly just grass, a community garden which is good for butterflies and a tiny slither of trees in the far corner near the playground. There has been a pair of frogmouths that change their position from the community garden to these trees regularly. They disappeared for a little while, often going to the nearby school grounds where they can’t be seen regularly. But they recently returned and doubled their numbers with two chicks that have successfully fledged in very little coverage. I didn’t want to disturb them too much so I took a quick couple of photos before I left. Very nice to see them breeding locally in such a tiny park. Bush Stone-Curlews remain present here as well often roosting at the same patch.

2) Joseph’s Coat Moth, Agarista agricola – Araucaria Circuit, D’Aguilar National Park

Big swallowtail-sized diurnal moths that are an electric combination of vivid colours. What more could you want. My first Joseph’s Coat Moths were seen a few months prior to starting this thread at Boondall Wetlands and I’d not seen them since until last weekend at the national park. A single moth was busily egg-laying one a few viney plants and travelled across the forest floor at eye level.

3) Pale-vented Bush-hen, Amaurornis moluccana – 7th Brigade Park

The calls of bush-hens have been filling my local park along the weedy corners. They are such cryptic birds that although I walk about the creek line where they breed several times a month, I didn’t see them at all last year and there were a handful of sightings in 2023. Yesterday I got lucky with one sunning itself in full view on a log, wings spread. I had my multipurpose “bugs ‘n’ birds” lens which I use for reference shots for iNaturalist rather than the distant bird photography lens but I was pleased to at least get a prolonged view of one. Initially I thought it was a brush-turkey chick as there is a current boom of these fluffy little brown blobs in most parks. But it was thrillingly a bush-hen. I have realised that the ones I have been seeing are juveniles. So, I imagine the yellow-billed adults are a bit bigger than a crake.

4) Red-bellied Black Snake, Pseudechis porphyriacus – Kedron Brook Wetlands

Snake season has been good so far with the main highlight being a big beautiful Red-bellied Black Snake along a bikeway in Kedron Brook Wetlands. Unfortunately, if the poisonous Cane Toads aren’t enough, these snakes are often victims to bikes here and are hit by them as they zoom past along the track at high speeds. Fortunately, this one was quick to cross the path and melded back into the grassland on the hunt for its next swamp rat or frog. As I have mentioned before, Kedron Brook is so close to the airport it should be the first point of call for any visitor to Brisbane to get the local mix of grassland, parkland and mangrove species. Mangrove Honeyeaters remain very common here for example.

5) Restless Flycatcher, Myiagra inquieta – Ewen Maddock Dam

On Australia Day, I visited Ewen Maddock Dam which is technically a new spot but I won’t cover it separately as although it was pretty productive there wasn’t anything particularly novel besides two species. The first was a Restless Flycatcher. It had been several years since I’d seen one and it was being chased by a Willie-Wagtail which look remarkably like them in fact. It was later seen sunning itself on the grounds, wings out, showcasing its glossy plumage in the sunlight. This dam is a hotspot for the low-flying Varied Sword-Grass Brown, a butterfly which is broken up into at least six distinct subspecies. The south-east Queensland rawnsleyi subspecies has a fragmented population from K’gari to Caloundra. I saw a single butterfly after about three hours of searching; well worth it. Lots of jacanas here as well.

6) Common Gum Tree Bug, Amorbus robustus – Burnie Brae Park

I don’t know much about these bugs but I know that Amorbus bugs have different dramatic instars – immature stages - that are remarkably different to one another. When adults, they are a rather drab brown in comparison. The one below was in its fourth instar with a grey-blue pale body and orange accents.

7) White-winged Black Tern, Chlidonias leucopterus - Maroochydore Sewage Treatment Plant

This was a fun and quick lifer at the sewage treatment plant where I picked up my lifer Radjah Shelduck. There were about fifty of them elegantly lowering their beaks as they gleaned the water’s surface for inverts. They eventually settled among Black-fronted Dotterels and co. They are a seasonal migrant and only stick around when there is a plentiful food supply. Little and Lesser Crested Terns remain the two big gaps for south-east Queensland terns.

8)Tawny Coster, Acraea terpsicore – White Hills Reserve

First recorded on Australian shores in 2012, the Tawny Coster stems from India and Sri Lanka and has been undergoing a dramatic range expansion across south-east Asia and now Australia. This species is a natural colonist and is now reaching southern Queensland and beyond. First recorded in Brisbane in 2021 at Boondall Wetlands, today was my first sighting of one among Glasswing butterflies which share the same food plants. The orangey intense glow of this species felt a little more exotic than the other local butterflies I will admit.

9)Koala, Phascolarctos cinereus – White Hills Reserve

White Hills remains Brisbane’s koala heartland. Six different koalas were easily spotted today including a young joey from the lookout luckily enough. Most were in full view with their main preference being a sturdy fork in the tree. No Swamp Wallabies today as I ventured through the hilly corners of the reserve but a male Australian King-Parrot and Rainbow Bee-eaters always put a smile on my face.

10) Sooty Oystercatcher, Haematopus fuliginosus – Scarborough

I did my rocky wader walk along Scarborough with bountiful numbers of Ruddy Turnstones and Pacific Golden-Plovers this year. No tattlers yet but others have seen them there. Common Terns were an added plus as a summer visitor along with the staple Caspian and Crested Terns. A Sooty Oystercatcher stole the show as always staying close to a couple of Pied Oystercatchers and Whimbrels. The whole Scarborough area receives very little protection unfortunately but at least the rocky shorelines serve as some sort of buffer for this fragile habitat.

 

[WhistlingKite24]

Pre-cyclonic Crakes – 7th Brigade Park and Kedron Brook Wetlands, Brisbane – February and March 2025:

Target Species: Australian Crake

For the past couple of weekends, I have mainly kept things very local besides a single morning at Maleny in the Sunshine Coast. It wasn’t very productive but the highlight was an Oriental Cuckoo that appeared out of nowhere across a field heading towards housing across pasture. With a pigeon-like flight pattern, I initially thought it was a Topknot Pigeon or even a falcon of some sort that was rapidly flying across but I took a rubbish photo and was able to confirm. Oriental Cuckoos migrate to Australia annually from northern Asia and are generally very unobtrusive and silent. They are one of the rarer local cuckoos so I was thrilled. My cuckoo list currently includes Oriental, Pallid, Fan-tailed, Horsfield’s Bronze, Shining Bronze, Pheasant Coucal, Pacific Koel and Channel-billed Cuckoo. Sahul Brush Cuckoo is my bogey bird and I have never seen one incredibly despite being in the right habitat regularly. They aren’t particularly rare at all which makes it even stranger. I’ve heard their piercing cries innumerable times and I almost had a sighting of one at Sandy Camp and one at a beach in Bribie Island recently but it was such a blur I wasn’t able to confirm. Other highlights at Maleny included an ever-reliable Platypus at the viewing platform; a White-necked Heron feeding in an open paddock; and the last humid flush of several sunning butterflies before it cools. On the topic of cuckoos, the Pheasant Coucals at the local park have been calling loudly throughout the day. They are very big-bodied birds out in the open with powerful legs but are experts at traversing through weedy sections of Brisbane’s suburban parks. One coucal was particularly bold and perched upright on top of an exposed tree and commenced to produce its distinctive woop-woop call and suddenly took off with beautiful powerful wingbeats with its dangly feet and tail, trailing behind.

Pheasant Coucal

For the past month, the park has been having small nightly bursts of rain that leave the grassy pathways wet with a surge of insect activity, moving all the grasshoppers and grass-loving skippers out into the open as opposed to being hidden within the grass. Bugs have been great but a recent highlight has been a juvenile Green Tree Frog; the first one I have seen in the area. It was extremely well-hidden on a young gum tree and it was one of those sightings that makes you think how on earth did I spot that. Green Tree Frogs are widely common across coastal Australia but anecdotally aren’t as common as they used to be in Brisbane’s suburbs; a combination of competition with Cane Toads, disease and water pollutants leaching from industry and houses doesn’t help their population. These frogs admittedly do go through boom periods and we seem to be entering a good patch for frogs. I’ve always had shocking luck with frogs so this was very pleasing.

Australian Green Tree Frog

Nearby was a large writhing mass of insects. They were a group of spitfires which are sawfly larvae, a relative of wasps. There are about 200 species of sawfly in Australia. Some feed on eucalypts, others on tea tree and bottlebrush. The term "spitfire" comes from the larvae’s defence strategy of releasing a harmful fluid when threatened. This fluid, which is actually plant oils from the eucalyptus trees they feed on can be sprayed as a defence mechanism when they feel threatened. This tactic is effective against most predators. They group together in larval colonies on branches during the day, and at night they fan out to feed on foliage. When it is time to move, they travel along the ground in very tight knit groups. These colonies may be made up of young sawflies from different adult females which are rarely seen themselves, as there is safety in numbers. The larvae communicate with one another in two ways – via tapping, which involves tapping their tail ends, or by whole body vibration via contraction of their whole bodies. The young carry out these communication strategies to keep the group together and also in the build up to any movements between feeding areas. There were some very nice butterflies and moths around clinging on the edges of the wet grass including a Lyell’s Swift and a Plain Box-Owlet.

Spitfires

Plain Box-Owlet

I'm not a big plant person but there is one species – Red Ash – that when it flowers in the local park, attracts a notable plethora of wildlife. I did a little survey of a short, low-lying tree where I could see across the canopy to observe the bugs. Initially there were swarms of Chauliognathus flavipennis - a brightly-coloured soldier beetle that is highly nomadic– frantically feeding on the flowering buds and mating as well. Like little impalas of a greater ecosystem. Big bumbling rhinos in the form of Brown Flower Beetles traversed the flowers while several species of hoverflies, bristle flies and native bees made way for them. A graceful longhorn beetle arrived - Chlorophorus curtisi – and joined the feeding frenzy. Lions were perched in the corner of the trees - several Common Assassin Bugs were surveying from key feeding stations, sucking their hoverfly prey dry with their piercing proboscis as they fed among the bounty and additionally Lean Lynx Spiders stalked the flies carefully like leopards. Butterflies were occasional; Small Green-banded Blues were expected considering they complete their life cycles on this tree and there were also Speckled Line-Blues and the large Common Crow. Rainbow Lorikeets were raucous in a neighbouring ornamental flowering gum tree with an assortment of skipper butterflies among them as well.

Small Green-banded Blue on Red Ash

Rainbow Lorikeet

Two weeks later, reports started popping up on eBird for Australian Crake at Kedron Brook Wetland Reserve. Adults and chicks; a very precious breeding site for this traditional occasional visitor to the region. I missed the previous Brisbane crake report two years ago and I came close to seeing one at Laratinga Wetlands in South Australia but no luck. On Saturday, I walked several kilometres to the wetlands via Kalinga Park and the bikeway which provided a large feeding flock of Chestnut-breasted Mannikins and Double-barred Finches. I really enjoy waxbills but it was extra nice to see them up close. At the wetlands I did a lap of the lake and realised I didn’t actually know where the crakes would be but made a few predictions and went to the grassy islands of land among the muddy parts of the site. I immediately spotted hundreds of Pied Stilts breeding and they were even Red-necked Avocets among them which made the walk worthwhile in itself. Chestnut Teals, Black Swans and Australian Pelicans fed actively in the furthest sections with Sharp-tailed Sandpipers in their hundreds, erupting in short bursts of flight regularly spooked by a Whistling Kite or Eastern Osprey that would survey the waterbody regularly. There have been records of a Pectoral Sandpiper but I couldn’t pinpoint it clearly enough to tick it off. There was an abundance of Black-fronted Dotterels here on the mud and even a trio of Red-kneed Dotterels which I was thrilled about seeing as they bobbed around the water’s edge. There was even a duo of Latham’s Snipes that emerged from the reeds as continued the search for the crakes. A really fantastic selection of wetlands birds. I patiently waited near a grassy section with the only activity being Buff-banded Rails hopping in and out continually. No success with the crakes unfortunately but it was still satisfying with a decent range of species.

Red-necked Avocet, Pied Stilt and teals

Sunday came around and I changed plans from going to the Sunshine Coast to see the new night monkeys at Wildlife HQ to trying a second time for the crake. I went for the crakes with forecast of rain predicted. I try at the same spot again with a few nice small birds around the grassy fringes like Golden-headed Cisticola and Australian Pipit as well. I spotted a lot of the same species as Saturday but found three Red-capped Plovers which can be a tricky bird to get within Brisbane sometimes. I bumped into three birders and they told me I was on the wrong side of the wetlands for the crakes and that they had seen one 20 minutes ago! I sprinted over to the other side of the reserve through a section of the reserve that is mowed down regularly to create a pathway. I passed a large gathering of Monarch and Lesser Wanderer butterflies, Tawny Grassbirds and Plumed Egrets and found the spot. I staked out a spot and waited; more Buff-banded Rails, plovers, dotterels, stilts, avocets mazed their way around the grassy patches. After five hours or so, I called it. No crakes for me this time round. Birding is frustrating like that sometimes and this was a valuable reminder but I was fortunate to see some nice species. A pair of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were aggressively defending with showy and ear-piercing warnings against any approaching lorikeet or myna near their nesting hollow on my return back to the entrance.

Red-capped Plover

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Now this week things have completely changed and weekend plans have been flipped on their head. A tropical cyclone - Cyclone Alfred - is currently ominously heaving off the coast of Brisbane; the first one that will reach our shores in 50 years, fuelled by warm ocean temperatures. As a category 2 it hopefully won’t be as destructive as the infamous north Queensland ones but still a once-in-a-life event for a region that traditionally doesn’t get these weather systems. Predicting to pass across Brisbane on Saturday morning, today I spent the day preparing and cleaning up the yard as it was still a relatively clear day and my work is closed for the next two days. A Pale-headed Rosella accompanied my morning chores as it had magically appeared. It had been months since I’d seen a local rosella and it preened actively for an hour or so before flying off into the greying skies.

Pale-headed Rosella

My couch skink – Barney the Dark Bar-sided Skink – is doing well and continues to hunt moths regularly and today was soaking in the last bit of sunshine that will be available for a little while. Today the number of Australian Brush-Turkeys was up today to five individuals roosting together, the local camp of Black Flying Foxes eerily took off today in the early morning light and didn’t return this evening and finally, a one-eyed Pied Currawong is now also roosting among the brush turkeys. The wet ground has further brought some activity from the burrowers with Scute-snouted Calyptotis – a sleek, slightly iridescent soil-loving skink, travelling past small puddles, seeking higher ground in the late afternoon. Even the abundant Delicate Garden Skinks were climbing up the palm trees, a species that is infrequently seen off the leaf litter. Finally, as the sun set this evening, the White-breasted Woodswallows that are more or less residents along an electrical powerline including a little chatty fledgling in tow tucked down behind the wooden post bracing themselves for what’s to come in the next 48 hours…

Barney the Dark Bar-sided Skink - in its couch/cyclone shelter

 

[Lafone]

Some lovely pictures there. Great shots of the cockatoos and lorikeets and that red necked avocet must have been a treat. While there were no crakes, some great other birds you've summed up the ups and downs of going out for wildlife well!

 

[Abbey]

Pre-cyclonic Crakes – 7th Brigade Park and Kedron Brook Wetlands, Brisbane – February and March 2025:

Target Species: Australian Crake

For the past couple of weekends, I have mainly kept things very local besides a single morning at Maleny in the Sunshine Coast. It wasn’t very productive but the highlight was an Oriental Cuckoo that appeared out of nowhere across a field heading towards housing across pasture. With a pigeon-like flight pattern, I initially thought it was a Topknot Pigeon or even a falcon of some sort that was rapidly flying across but I took a rubbish photo and was able to confirm. Oriental Cuckoos migrate to Australia annually from northern Asia and are generally very unobtrusive and silent. They are one of the rarer local cuckoos so I was thrilled. My cuckoo list currently includes Oriental, Pallid, Fan-tailed, Horsfield’s Bronze, Shining Bronze, Pheasant Coucal, Pacific Koel and Channel-billed Cuckoo. Sahul Brush Cuckoo is my bogey bird and I have never seen one incredibly despite being in the right habitat regularly. They aren’t particularly rare at all which makes it even stranger. I’ve heard their piercing cries innumerable times and I almost had a sighting of one at Sandy Camp and one at a beach in Bribie Island recently but it was such a blur I wasn’t able to confirm. Other highlights at Maleny included an ever-reliable Platypus at the viewing platform; a White-necked Heron feeding in an open paddock; and the last humid flush of several sunning butterflies before it cools. On the topic of cuckoos, the Pheasant Coucals at the local park have been calling loudly throughout the day. They are very big-bodied birds out in the open with powerful legs but are experts at traversing through weedy sections of Brisbane’s suburban parks. One coucal was particularly bold and perched upright on top of an exposed tree and commenced to produce its distinctive woop-woop call and suddenly took off with beautiful powerful wingbeats with its dangly feet and tail, trailing behind.

Pheasant Coucal

For the past month, the park has been having small nightly bursts of rain that leave the grassy pathways wet with a surge of insect activity, moving all the grasshoppers and grass-loving skippers out into the open as opposed to being hidden within the grass. Bugs have been great but a recent highlight has been a juvenile Green Tree Frog; the first one I have seen in the area. It was extremely well-hidden on a young gum tree and it was one of those sightings that makes you think how on earth did I spot that. Green Tree Frogs are widely common across coastal Australia but anecdotally aren’t as common as they used to be in Brisbane’s suburbs; a combination of competition with Cane Toads, disease and water pollutants leaching from industry and houses doesn’t help their population. These frogs admittedly do go through boom periods and we seem to be entering a good patch for frogs. I’ve always had shocking luck with frogs so this was very pleasing.

Australian Green Tree Frog

Nearby was a large writhing mass of insects. They were a group of spitfires which are sawfly larvae, a relative of wasps. There are about 200 species of sawfly in Australia. Some feed on eucalypts, others on tea tree and bottlebrush. The term "spitfire" comes from the larvae’s defence strategy of releasing a harmful fluid when threatened. This fluid, which is actually plant oils from the eucalyptus trees they feed on can be sprayed as a defence mechanism when they feel threatened. This tactic is effective against most predators. They group together in larval colonies on branches during the day, and at night they fan out to feed on foliage. When it is time to move, they travel along the ground in very tight knit groups. These colonies may be made up of young sawflies from different adult females which are rarely seen themselves, as there is safety in numbers. The larvae communicate with one another in two ways – via tapping, which involves tapping their tail ends, or by whole body vibration via contraction of their whole bodies. The young carry out these communication strategies to keep the group together and also in the build up to any movements between feeding areas. There were some very nice butterflies and moths around clinging on the edges of the wet grass including a Lyell’s Swift and a Plain Box-Owlet.

Spitfires

Plain Box-Owlet

I'm not a big plant person but there is one species – Red Ash – that when it flowers in the local park, attracts a notable plethora of wildlife. I did a little survey of a short, low-lying tree where I could see across the canopy to observe the bugs. Initially there were swarms of Chauliognathus flavipennis - a brightly-coloured soldier beetle that is highly nomadic– frantically feeding on the flowering buds and mating as well. Like little impalas of a greater ecosystem. Big bumbling rhinos in the form of Brown Flower Beetles traversed the flowers while several species of hoverflies, bristle flies and native bees made way for them. A graceful longhorn beetle arrived - Chlorophorus curtisi – and joined the feeding frenzy. Lions were perched in the corner of the trees - several Common Assassin Bugs were surveying from key feeding stations, sucking their hoverfly prey dry with their piercing proboscis as they fed among the bounty and additionally Lean Lynx Spiders stalked the flies carefully like leopards. Butterflies were occasional; Small Green-banded Blues were expected considering they complete their life cycles on this tree and there were also Speckled Line-Blues and the large Common Crow. Rainbow Lorikeets were raucous in a neighbouring ornamental flowering gum tree with an assortment of skipper butterflies among them as well.

Small Green-banded Blue on Red Ash

Rainbow Lorikeet

Two weeks later, reports started popping up on eBird for Australian Crake at Kedron Brook Wetland Reserve. Adults and chicks; a very precious breeding site for this traditional occasional visitor to the region. I missed the previous Brisbane crake report two years ago and I came close to seeing one at Laratinga Wetlands in South Australia but no luck. On Saturday, I walked several kilometres to the wetlands via Kalinga Park and the bikeway which provided a large feeding flock of Chestnut-breasted Mannikins and Double-barred Finches. I really enjoy waxbills but it was extra nice to see them up close. At the wetlands I did a lap of the lake and realised I didn’t actually know where the crakes would be but made a few predictions and went to the grassy islands of land among the muddy parts of the site. I immediately spotted hundreds of Pied Stilts breeding and they were even Red-necked Avocets among them which made the walk worthwhile in itself. Chestnut Teals, Black Swans and Australian Pelicans fed actively in the furthest sections with Sharp-tailed Sandpipers in their hundreds, erupting in short bursts of flight regularly spooked by a Whistling Kite or Eastern Osprey that would survey the waterbody regularly. There have been records of a Pectoral Sandpiper but I couldn’t pinpoint it clearly enough to tick it off. There was an abundance of Black-fronted Dotterels here on the mud and even a trio of Red-kneed Dotterels which I was thrilled about seeing as they bobbed around the water’s edge. There was even a duo of Latham’s Snipes that emerged from the reeds as continued the search for the crakes. A really fantastic selection of wetlands birds. I patiently waited near a grassy section with the only activity being Buff-banded Rails hopping in and out continually. No success with the crakes unfortunately but it was still satisfying with a decent range of species.

Red-necked Avocet, Pied Stilt and teals

Sunday came around and I changed plans from going to the Sunshine Coast to see the new night monkeys at Wildlife HQ to trying a second time for the crake. I went for the crakes with forecast of rain predicted. I try at the same spot again with a few nice small birds around the grassy fringes like Golden-headed Cisticola and Australian Pipit as well. I spotted a lot of the same species as Saturday but found three Red-capped Plovers which can be a tricky bird to get within Brisbane sometimes. I bumped into three birders and they told me I was on the wrong side of the wetlands for the crakes and that they had seen one 20 minutes ago! I sprinted over to the other side of the reserve through a section of the reserve that is mowed down regularly to create a pathway. I passed a large gathering of Monarch and Lesser Wanderer butterflies, Tawny Grassbirds and Plumed Egrets and found the spot. I staked out a spot and waited; more Buff-banded Rails, plovers, dotterels, stilts, avocets mazed their way around the grassy patches. After five hours or so, I called it. No crakes for me this time round. Birding is frustrating like that sometimes and this was a valuable reminder but I was fortunate to see some nice species. A pair of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were aggressively defending with showy and ear-piercing warnings against any approaching lorikeet or myna near their nesting hollow on my return back to the entrance.

Red-capped Plover

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Now this week things have completely changed and weekend plans have been flipped on their head. A tropical cyclone - Cyclone Alfred - is currently ominously heaving off the coast of Brisbane; the first one that will reach our shores in 50 years, fuelled by warm ocean temperatures. As a category 2 it hopefully won’t be as destructive as the infamous north Queensland ones but still a once-in-a-life event for a region that traditionally doesn’t get these weather systems. Predicting to pass across Brisbane on Saturday morning, today I spent the day preparing and cleaning up the yard as it was still a relatively clear day and my work is closed for the next two days. A Pale-headed Rosella accompanied my morning chores as it had magically appeared. It had been months since I’d seen a local rosella and it preened actively for an hour or so before flying off into the greying skies.

Pale-headed Rosella

My couch skink – Barney the Dark Bar-sided Skink – is doing well and continues to hunt moths regularly and today was soaking in the last bit of sunshine that will be available for a little while. Today the number of Australian Brush-Turkeys was up today to five individuals roosting together, the local camp of Black Flying Foxes eerily took off today in the early morning light and didn’t return this evening and finally, a one-eyed Pied Currawong is now also roosting among the brush turkeys. The wet ground has further brought some activity from the burrowers with Scute-snouted Calyptotis – a sleek, slightly iridescent soil-loving skink, travelling past small puddles, seeking higher ground in the late afternoon. Even the abundant Delicate Garden Skinks were climbing up the palm trees, a species that is infrequently seen off the leaf litter. Finally, as the sun set this evening, the White-breasted Woodswallows that are more or less residents along an electrical powerline including a little chatty fledgling in tow tucked down behind the wooden post bracing themselves for what’s to come in the next 48 hours…

Barney the Dark Bar-sided Skink - in its couch/cyclone shelter

What beautiful pictures as always and I hoped you stay safe in the cyclone!

 

[WalkingAgnatha]

and I hoped you stay safe in the cyclone!

Cyclone still hasn't hit just yet so we really will just have to wait and see. Hoping for some insane seabirds from it although haha.