Yellow-tails and Soaring Temperatures

Thankfully the searing heat of the past week finally broke yesterday afternoon when the skies opened up and torrential rain poured down upon the earth. The mornings themselves were glorious [see my previous post] but by around 0600 hours the heat factor was beginning to dominate and by about 0700 hours it was nigh-on impossible to do anything active outdoors – including a gentle stroll to view birds!

As I tap this out on the keyboard it’s a little after 0900 hours on Saturday morning, 30 January 2010, and cloud cover remains; a gentle breeze is blowing with an occasional colder flurry. Far more comfortable than last week’s 30+ temperatures [two days at 40 degrees]. We’ve even managed to plant a row of jacaranda and poinciana trees [to serve as shade for the two dogs- who share a 40x25m compound].

Well, what a difference an hour makes! I’d no sooner written the previous paragraph than a Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo came gliding in from behind the west side of the house, heading for the trees on the south, so low I could almost have reached out and touched it!. Sadly, before I could grab my camera, it had disappeared but clearly not too far as Fay and I could still hear it call. We dropped everything, I grabbed the camera [a SONY Alpha 100 with a Minolta AF 100-300 lens, although given the SONY/Minolta combination the focal range is 150-450] and went looking for the bird. At that point a second cockatoo called from the west and again, judging by the call, only a short distance from us.


Fay continued south, I veered to the west. I was perhaps four metres from the bird before I noticed it partly hidden behind a trunk. It took a little careful repositioning to relocate myself into a better angle.

Also in that hour, the sun has escaped from behind the cloud and now [at a little after 1000 hours] it is almost too hot to work outside. The breeze however persists and that keeps temperatures from soaring through the thermometer.

I note that my Year List tally postings don’t quite match up with actual totals. In the past couple of days we’ve added Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo and the Eastern Spinebill to bring the score to 139. For the sake of clarity I attach the complete list as it stands at Saturday 30 January 2010.

The top 5 sightings remain as before.

Apostlebird
Babbler, Grey-crowned
Baza, Pacific
Bittern, Black
Black-Cockatoo, Red-tailed
Black-Cockatoo, Yellow-tailed
Boobook, Southern
Bowerbird, Satin
Brush-turkey, Australian
Bronzewing, Common
Butcherbird, Grey
Butcherbird, Pied
Chough, White-winged
Cicadabird
Cisticola, Golden-headed
Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested
Corella, Little
Cormorant, Great
Cormorant, Little Black
Cormorant, Little Pied
Cormorant, Pied
Coucal, Pheasant
Crow, Torresian
Cuckoo, Black-eared
Cuckoo, Brush
Cuckoo, Channel-billed
Cuckoo, Fan-tailed
Cuckoo-Dove, Brown
Cuckoo-shrike, Black-faced
Cuckoo-shrike, Ground
Currawong, Pied
Dollarbird
Dove, Bar-shouldered
Dove, Emerald
Dove, Peaceful
Dove, Rock
Dove, Spotted
Duck, Australian Wood
Duck, Musk
Duck, Pacific Black
Eagle, Wedge-tailed
Egret, Cattle
Egret, Eastern Great
Egret, Eastern Reef
Egret, Little
Fairy-wren, Red-backed
Fairy-wren, Superb
Fairy-wren, Variegated
Falcon, Peregrine
Fantail, Grey
Figbird, Australasian
Finch, Double-barred
Finch, Red-browed
Flycatcher, Restless
Friarbird, Little
Friarbird, Noisy
Frogmouth, Tawny
Galah
Gerygone, White-throated
Godwit, Bar-tailed
Grassbird, Tawny
Grebe, Australasian
Grebe, Great Crested
Gull, Silver
Hardhead
Heron, White-faced
Heron, White-necked
Hobby, Australian
Honeyeater, Blue-faced
Honeyeater, Brown
Honeyeater, Lewin's
Honeyeater, Scarlet
Honeyeater, Striped
Honeyeater, Yellow-faced
Ibis, Australian White
Ibis, Glossy
Ibis, Straw-necked
Kestrel, Nankeen
Kingfisher, Sacred
King-Parrot, Australian
Kite, Black-shouldered
Kite, Whistling
Koel, Eastern
Kookaburra, Laughing
Lapwing, Masked
Lorikeet, Little
Lorikeet, Rainbow
Lorikeet, Scaly-breasted
Magpie, Austarlian
Magpie-lark
Martin, Fairy
Martin, Tree
Miner, Noisy
Mistletoebird
Monarch, Spectacled
Monarch, White-eared
Moorhen, Dusky
Myna, Common
Needletail, White-throated
Oriole, Olive-backed
Osprey, Eastern
Oystercatcher, Pied
Pardalote, Spotted
Pardalote, Striated
Pelican, Australian
Pigeon, Crested
Pigeon, White-headed
Pigeon, Wonga
Pipit, Australasian
Quail, Brown
Reed-Warbler, Australian
Robin, Eastern Yellow
Rosella, Pale-headed
Scrubwren, White-browed
Sea-eagle, White-bellied
Shrike-thrush, Grey
Silvereye
Sparrow, House
Sparrowhawk, Collared
Spinebill, Eastern
Spoonbill, Yellow-billed
Starling, Common
Stone-curlew, Bush
Swallow, Welcome
Swamphen, Purple
Swan, Black
Teal, Grey
Tern, Crested
Thornbill, Brown
Thornbill, Yellow
Treecreeper, White-throated
Wagtail, Willie
Whipbird, Eastern
Whistler, Golden
Whistler, Rufous
Whistling-Duck, Plumed
Whistling-Duck, Wandering
Woodswallow, Dusky
Woodswallow, White-breasted

Glorious Morning

In spite of what the eventual header to this post intimates, IT IS Friday morning, 22 January 2010, and it's glorious.

Fay and I were up and about at around 0600 taking a casual stroll around the bottom [southern] half of the property. I write this from the south verandah [there are also north and east verandahs].

I have Sulphur-crested Cockatoos screething as they fly around. The two Rainbow Lorikeets continue to dominate the southern birdtable while a pair of Galahs wait patiently, in the overhanging tree, for their turn.

In the background there is a Bar-shouldered Dove calling and a few Blue-faced Honeyeaters are flitting back and forth between south and north feeders. To the north there is a Brush Cuckoo advertising its presence.

A little earlier there was the rauocous call of the Channel-billed Cuckoo and far off to the south I heard the Pheasant Coucal.

The initial flurry over, the lorikeets have gone to investigate fresher pastures, or rather to investigate what some of our other bird-feeding neighbours have on offer. The Galahs have dropped down to the feeder. The Apostlebirds are arguing the toss over some trivial matter somewhere in the orchard and the world immediately around me is at peace.

We added White-eared Monarch to the Year List which now stands at 136; the Top 5 remain as per previous post.

Julian

Birding Company in the South Burnett

When we first ventured out into the South Burnett, in search of a more relaxing brand of birding [we’ve been around the world on a number of occasions, chasing “ticks”] we seriously thought we were the only birders in the region. Or at least, in all my days with Birds Queensland [including a stint as President] I’d only ever heard of one South Burnett birder and he had died in the early 1990s.

When we purchased the property, the real estate agent did mention that there were a couple of locals interested in birdwatching but she had few details and I came away with the distinct impression that she meant an couple of old dears who scattered a few breadcrumbs around their backyard. Not quite what we had in mind.

The first real inkling that we were not alone came when I found Birds Queensland’s new website; their “old” website had been no more than adjunct to my own personal website which of course expired once Fay and left in search of greener birding pastures. Among the several “rare bird sightings” we came across a claim of Australian Bustard [Ardeotis australis] in the Kingaroy area. Kingaroy, a few miles up the road, is a little beyond their accepted range. Not surprisingly, the claim has been forwarded to the Queensland Rarities Committee.


It still didn’t really filter through. The three birders involved were probably no more than passing itinerants who struck lucky [or had a collective vivid imagination]. The area continues to attract a substantial number of passing birders, especially those in search of Black-breasted Button-quail.

A short while later I noted the same three names claiming a Crested Shrike-tit in Din Din State Forest. There was no problem with the claim itself, Crested Shrike-tit has been noted here on a number of occasions but Din Din is not on the normal beat of itinerant birders in search of Black-breasted Button-quail. The penny began to squeeze through the dim mists.

Their names appeared again. Then yet again. A quick search through the local telephone directory revealed that people with all three surnames lived in the immediate area; Fengland lived no more than three kilometre away!

The answer was obvious, telephone. Yet I hesitated. I’d been warned to be wary of country xenophobia, the local yokels do not take kindly to Big Boys from the City trying to tell them what or how to do things. That was not my intention but I was an ex-President of the Society and I was from the City.

Fay and I added a few of our own Nanango sightings [with Glossy Black-Cockatoo as the ultimate carrot] hoping that one or all of these unknown birders would contact us. They didn’t.

The matter was finally resolved because of an aberrant Sacred Kingfisher. This is a summer visitor to the South Burnett but Fay and I had recorded a sighting in June [austral winter]. Being a inveterate hoarder by nature I tend to keep ALL my original records, sometimes down to the odd scrap of paper that was the only thing at hand on which to record a sighting. I double-checked these and sure enough we had Sacred Kingfisher as present in June 2003.

The only solution I could see was to telephone one of the “Bustard” birders to check if they had any similar aberrations in their records. As the Fenglands were the closest I plumbed for them and when a female voice answered I explained that I was hoping to speak to Robert, the birdwatcher. The voice became a little surprised if not quite indignant. She was the birdwatcher in their household, Robert merely tagged along to keep her company.

Chauvinistic moment of embarrassment, but all’s well that ends well.

















Indeed, all three of the “Bustard” birders have turned out to be the female of the species. We arranged to bird East Nanango State Forest. Others joined us on our inaugural joint outing. From being alone we are suddenly part of a small group of dedicated South Burnett birders.

Fay and I were with two of the group when we flushed the Black Bittern at Brooklands.

The tale continues. We met two further, albeit beginning, local birders via a lutinistic Brown Honeyeater. That tale will have to wait awhile.

The Year List has risen to 134, however, rather than list the entire tally I simply include the additions since the last blog.

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
Southern Boobook,
Australian Brush-turkey
Golden-headed Cisticola
Rock Dove [introduced]
Bar-tailed Godwit
Tawny Grassbird
Spectacled Monarch
White-eared Monarch
Eastern Osprey
Pied Oystercatcher
Spotted Pardalote
Eastern Yellow Robin
Grey Shrike-thrush
Common Starling [introduced]
Crested Tern
Dusky Woodswallow
White-breasted Woodswllow

TOP 5

1. Black Bittern
2. Australian Hobby
3. Spectacled Monarch
4. Black-eared Cuckoo
5. Ground Cuckoo-shrike

Random Thoughts

Matters have moved along a little since my last blog. Life’s like that. You sit still and it moves on. You take an active part and it moves on. Moral: whether you take an active part or sit on your bum, life moves on so you might as well be involved and have some hope of directing your Fate.

We first came to the South Burnett [becoming known for its winemaking and olives] back in April 2001. Only weekends in those days. There was an abandoned tin shed on the property so we parked our old campervan alongside and enjoyed the birds each morning. Double-barred Finches to spare.



In May 2002 we had an old Queenslander [a recognized style of house] moved onto the property and thereafter slept on bare floorboards while we began the slow process of house renovations. They continue to this day.

The birds also continued to put in an appearance but then they’ve probably been doing just that for countless eons with or without human interference.

The Year List has moved on a mite since the last post. It currently stands at 116. It will of course ease off for a while as Fay is back at work and we need to travel further afield to once again add big numbers to the tally. Ours is very much a joint list. We bird together.


Apostlebird
Babbler, Grey-crowned
Baza, Pacific
Bittern, Black
Bowerbird, Satin
Bronzewing, Common
Butcherbird, Grey
Butcherbird, Grey Pied
Chough, White-winged
Cicadabird
Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested
Corella, Little
Cormorant, Great
Cormorant, Little Black
Cormorant, Little Pied
Cormorant, Pied
Coucal, Pheasant
Crow, Torresian
Cuckoo, Black-eared
Cuckoo, Brush
Cuckoo, Channel-billed
Cuckoo, Fan-tailed
Cuckoo-Dove, Brown
Cuckoo-shrike, Black-faced
Cuckoo-shrike, Ground
Currawong, Pied
Dollarbird
Dove, Bar-shouldered
Dove, Peaceful
Dove, Spotted
Duck, Australian Wood
Duck, Musk
Duck, Pacific Black
Eagle, Wedge-tailed
Egret, Cattle
Egret, Eastern Great
Egret, Little
Fairy-wren, Red-backed
Fairy-wren, Superb
Fairy-wren, Variegated
Falcon, Peregrine
Fantail, Grey
Figbird, Australasian
Finch, Double-barred
Finch, Red-browed
Flycatcher, Restless
Friarbird, Little
Friarbird, Noisy
Frogmouth, Tawny
Galah
Gerygone, White-throated
Grebe, Australasian
Grebe, Great Crested
Gull, Silver
Hardhead
Heron, White-faced
Heron, White-necked
Hobby, Australian
Honeyeater, Blue-faced
Honeyeater, Brown
Honeyeater, Lewin's
Honeyeater, Scarlet
Honeyeater, Striped
Honeyeater, Yellow-faced
Ibis, Australian White
Ibis, Glossy
Ibis, Straw-necked
Kestrel, Nankeen
Kingfisher, Sacred
King-Parrot, Australian
Kite, Black-shouldered
Kite, Whistling
Koel, Eastern
Kookaburra, Laughing
Lapwing, Masked
Lorikeet, Little
Lorikeet, Rainbow
Lorikeet, Scaly-breasted
Magpie, Australian
Magpie-lark
Martin, Fairy
Martin, Tree
Miner, Noisy
Mistletoebird
Moorhen, Dusky
Myna, Common
Needletail, White-throated
Oriole, Olive-backed
Pardalote, Striated
Pelican, Australian
Pigeon, Crested
Pigeon, Wonga
Pipit, Australasian
Quail, Brown
Reed-Warbler, Australian
Rosella, Pale-headed
Scrubwren, White-browed
Sea-eagle, White-bellied
Silvereye
Sparrow, House
Sparrowhawk, Collared
Spoonbill, Yeloow-billed
Stone-curlew, Bush
Swallow, Welcome
Swamphen, Purple
Swan, Black
Teal, Grey
Thornbill, Brown
Thornbill, Yellow
Treecreeper, White-throated
Wagtail, Willie
Whipbird, Eastern
Whistler, Golden
Whistler, Rufous
Whistling-Duck, Plumed
Whistling-Duck, Wandering

2010 End of Week 1 & Raptors

Brooklands Water Reserve











Here, Down Under, we’re starting the second week of 2010. It’s grey, overcast and considering this is our summer, cold. I’m sitting on the south veranda overlooking the larger of the bird tables. The Galahs [16] and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos [4] dominated a while ago but a Noisy Miner alarm call saw them scatter to be replaced by Apostlebirds [5] and the occasional Blue-faced Honeyeater. Somewhere off in the distance I can hear a Torresian Crow and a Grey Butcherbird.

Apostlebird














The first week was quite momentous for the Year List, especially in raptors. The current tally stands at 104.

We hit the track running with glorious views of a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagles followed almost immediately by a pair of Pacific Baza. That in itself was a surprise. We tend to see them individually. At the Gibson State Forest we chanced upon a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles feeding on a wallaby carcass and on the way home stumbled across a local ‘magatick’, the Australian Hobby [Falco longipennis].

On Monday, returning to work, Fay was compensated by views of the Peregrine Falcon that calls the peanut silos home. I’ll have to pop over to Kingaroy to add it to my list. On Wednesday we had to travel to the coast on business but managed to add Nankeen Kestrel and Black-shouldered Kite [the same critter that is now resident in southern Spain and dotted along the north African coastline].

It augers well for 2010. During 2009 we had Whistling Kite, Brown Goshawk and Collared Sparrowhawk nearby. In the last weeks of 2009 we had a Little Eagle hovering no more than a couple of metres above our heads and perhaps six metres away- and that was only six kilometres from our front gate! Also on the list, but rarer, are both the Brown and Black Falcon. We know of some fairly reliable sites for Osprey and Brahminy Kite. The Grey Goshawk is a regular occurrence in the Bunya Mountains, some 60km from here.

We already have 25% of Australia’s diurnal raptors; the potential to score 50% without travelling too far afield.

Black Swan in flight @ Brooklands Water Reserve







Current Tally [in alphabetical order based on main name]

Apostlebird
Babbler, Grey-crowned
Baza, Pacific
Bittern, Black
Bowerbird, Satin
Butcherbird, Grey
Butcherbird, Pied
Chough, White-winged
Cicadabird
Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested
Corella, Little
Cormorant, Little Black
Cormorant, Little Pied
Cormorant, Pied
Coucal, Pheasant
Crow, Torresian
Cuckoo, Black-eared
Cuckoo, Brush
Cuckoo, Channel-billed
Cuckoo, Fan-tailed
Cuckoo-Dove, Brown
Cuckoo-shrike, Black-faced
Cuckoo-shrike, Ground
Currawong, Pied
Dollarbird
Dove, Bar-shouldered
Dove, Peaceful
Dove, Spotted
Duck, Australian Wood
Duck, Pacific Black
Eagle, Wedge-tailed
Egret, Cattle
Egret, Eastern Great
Egret, Little
Fairy-wren, Red-backed
Fairy-wren, Superb
Fairy-wren, Variegated
Falcon, Peregrine
Fantail, Grey
Figbird, Australasian
Finch, Double-barred
Finch, Red-browed
Flycatcher, Restless
Friarbird, Little
Friarbird, Noisy
Frogmouth, Tawny
Galah
Gerygone, White-throated
Grebe, Australasian
Gull, Silver
Hardhead
Heron, White-faced
Heron, White-necked
Hobby, Australian
Honeyeater, Blue-faced
Honeyeater, Brown
Honeyeater, Lewin's
Honeyeater, Scarlet
Honeyeater, Striped
Honeyeater, Yellow-faced
Ibis, Australian White
Ibis, Straw-necked
Kestrel, Nankeen
Kingfisher, Sacred
King-Parrot, Australian
Kite, Black-shouldered
Koel, Eastern
Kookaburra, Laughing
Lapwing, Masked
Lorikeet, Rainbow
Magpie, Austarlian
Magpie-lark
Martin, Fairy
Martin, Tree
Miner, Noisy
Mistletoebird
Moorhen, Dusky
Myna, Common
Needletail, White-throated
Oriole, Olive-backed
Pardalote, Striated
Pigeon, Crested
Pigeon, Wonga
Pipit, Australasian
Quail, Brown
Reed-Warbler, Australian
Rosella, Pale-headed
Scrubwren, White-browed
Sea-eagle, White-bellied
Silvereye
Sparrow, House
Spoonbill, Yellow-billed
Stone-curlew, Bush
Swallow, Welcome
Swamphen, Purple
Swan, Black
Teal, Grey
Thornbill, Brown
Thornbill, Yellow
Wagtail, Willie
Whipbird, Eastern
Whistler, Rufous
Whistling-Duck, Plumed
Whistling-Duck, Wandering


TOP FIVE

1. Black Bittern
2. Australian Hobby
3. Black-eared Cuckoo
4. Ground Cuckoo-shrike
5. Pacific Baza

Staffordshire Visit & Bitterns

It could make me spit. I of course should have noticed with my first post. On my south veranda [from where I composed those few humble words] it was New Year’s Eve but I note that the published posting is dated the previous day. Likewise with my first blog of 2010 – the published version has me still in 2009, hinting that the 60 birds opening my new Year List were fraudulently assembled.

Not to worry. Worse things have happened to me over the years. And given that I’m here in simple error to begin with, it hardly seems worth the moan.

I came looking for a connection with West Midlands birders. Staffordshire in particular but anywhere within the region would have sufficed. Fay and I plan to return for a month’s sojourn in September.

On previous trips we had somehow always managed to “find” someone to help out. Bevan Craddock springs immediately to mind. We “bumped” into each other along some muddy Staffordshire farm track or other and discovered that besides an interest in birds we shared a passion for the county’s history [www.staffshistory.org.uk]. Peter Dedicote came across with keys to the Beldive Reservoir. And of course Keith Woodhead accompanied us throughout and introduced us to pastures further afield. We owe our first Red Kite to him and Jenny.

But it was all a long time ago. My last trip outside Australia was back in 1999 and that makes for one awfully long dry spell between visits. I have lost contact with Bevan. Peter is in the Algarve. Keith now revels in the delights of adjoining Shropshire.

It seemed a reasonable idea to look for new contacts. I initially came across Martin Yapp’s blog. A West Midlander! It looked promising, especially when I clicked on a few of his “followers” and found that I was in the midst of other West Midland birders – nay, even Staffordians like Richard Powell, from somewhere near the old Smoke-on-Stench- Fay’s ancestral homeland [Tunstall]. She still has family in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Alas, in my humble agedness it took me a moment longer to realise that a blog is a blog and that it is not confined to specified borders. Those reading this could well be West Midlanders but equally they could be sitting behind a computer in the middle of downtown Phoenix, Arizona [a spot Fay and I visited back in 1997].

No doubt in due course someone will inform me that there is in fact a network of bloggers concentrated on the West Midlands and that all I need are a few choice passwords. If that be the case, I can only hope that some understanding soul will nod me the wink before next Septemeber.

I’ve decided to rejoin the West Midlands Bird Club in any case.

Australian Wood Duck at Pioneer Park
And so to today’s brief birding adventure. The skies continued to threatened even more rain but we decided to dare our luck. Besides, Colleen telephoned yesterday evening to suggest that we venture forth together.

Odd things happen. Fay and I started birding the South Burnett, the immediate Nanango area in particular, back in April 2001. We had the house moved onto the property in May 2002. Throughout we thought we were the only birders in the immediate vicinity.

We continued in that belief until a few months before Christmas. An aberrant Sacred Kingfisher dispelled all notions on loneliness. That is perhaps a tale better told later down the track.

We met Robert and colleen and through them Lauren, Keith and Trish. Somewhere in the background other await the opportunity to bird with us.

Our target was the Brooklands Road Water reserve; our tally [with new Year List additions in red] included :

Australian Magpie
Dollarbird [a roller]
Pied Butcherbird
Galah [a small cockatoo]
Noisy Miner [a honeyeater]
Rainbow Lorikeet
Australian Wood Duck
Magpie-lark [don’t ask!]
BLACK BITTERN [not only a new Year List entrant but a MEGATICK]
Torresian Crow
Striped Honeyeater
Little Friarbird [another honeyeater]
Australian King-Parrot
Channel-billed Cuckoo
Grey Butcherbird
Crested Pigeon
Sacred Kingfisher
White-bellied Sea-eagle
Masked Lapwing
Pacific Black Duck
White-faced heron
Pacific Baza
Striated pardalote
White-throated Gerygone [an austral warbler]
Rufous Whistler
Eastern Koel [a cuckoo]
Laughing Kookaburra [a kingfisher]
Brown Honeyeater
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Little Corella
Brush Cuckoo

Tally: 31
New on Year List: 6
Year List: 66