Early One Morning

Well, it certainly has been a long spell between drinks. Only to be expected. Fay returned to work in early January; Queensland schools went back at the end of January. A new school year [unlike the September/July UK timetable], a new class, a new year level, a new [and heavier] teaching load and to boot, I'm the Senior Teacher [for which read unpaid Deputy Principal -Headmaster].

Not that we haven't put in some birding, or at least added to the 2010 Year List. We had good views of one of my favourite little birds, the Rufous Fantail and while up in the early hours of the morning [studying for that Graduate Certificate in Ornithology] my diligence was rewarded with the unmistakeable call of the White-throated Nightjar. Somewhere along the line we also managed to add the White-throated Honeyeater.

That put the year's tally at 142 [with no changes to the top five].

We've managed one survey of the nearby Tarong Power Station and no doubt I'll get around to spelling out exactly what that entails anon. We took out a pair of novice birders around the also nearby Tarong National Park- their first birding experience other than listing their own backyard species [one of which is admittedly the very rare lutinistic Brown Honeyeater].

This morning however, Fay and I managed an early morning trip to Mt Wooroolin, accompanied by members of the loosely formed "South Burnett Birders", minus Robert but with new addition, Heather.

Fay and I had visited Mt Wooroolin once before, during one of Fay's lunch breaks when I was on holiday but only birded the "top". On this occasion we walked around the "bottom", a mixture of vine scrub edge and open woodland.



The list [in order of seeing them] and with new additions to the Year List in block capitals includes:

Bar-shouldered Dove
Australian Magpie
White-throated Treecreeper
Torresian Crow
Grey Butcherbird
Eastern Whipbird
Lewin's Honeyeater
Sulphur-crested cockatoo
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Golden Whistler
White-throated Honeyeater
Double-barred Finch
Pied Currawong
Rainbow Lorikeet
Eastern Yellow Robin
Silvereye
Pied Butcherbird
Sacred Kingfisher
Brown Honeyeater
Weebill [Australia's smallest bird]
Mistletoebird
Laughing Kookaburra
Restless Flycatcher
Brown Quail
BLACK-FACED MONARCH
Noisy Friarbird
Peaceful Dove
Australasian Figbird
Scarlet Honeyeater
Pheasant Coucal
VARIED TRILLER
Dollarbird
Galah
Variegated Fairy-wren
Brown Thornbill

35 species; 2 additions to Year List

Current Tally: 144 species