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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

A year birding Oz & NZ (1 Viewer)

1 & 2. (Eastern Brown) Snake in the grass
3 & 4. Eastern Blue-tongue - these were from the exact same spot a month or so later, and I saw it here a few times.
 

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03/09/11 – another deadly encounter.....
I decided to check out Kedron Brook Wetlands, a large area with a nice mix of habitats close to the airport. If you get a train to Toombul it’s possible to walk over to the start of the cycle path which runs through the wetland. It does get some really good birds from time to time e.g. shortly after I left the country, Freckled Duck, Lewin’s Rail and King Quail were being reported for a while. It’s also a good spot Eastern Grass Owl, which started being reported again just after I left!

Anyway, to start with I headed out down a grassy track to get a good view over the large area of open water at the site. Getting within feet of an Eastern Brown Snake without noticing it made me vow to be a bit more careful when out walking, as if I’d stepped on it things might not have gone so well. This lasted less than 24 hours, after which I managed to do the exact same thing with a Red-bellied Black Snake. These aren’t as dangerous as Eastern Browns but they look a lot cooler. This was a large individual, and it looked particularly impressive as it was holding its flattened body up to catch the sun. Once again there was no hint of aggression, and after taking a few shots I was able to walk away without it having moved. Getting close to such awesome snakes was really special, and those two encounters would definitely rank as some of the best I had while in Oz.
There were plenty of good birds to be seen too. Number and variety of birds of prey had generally been very low up until this point, so it was great to see plenty here. Nankeen Kestrel, Whistling Kite and Eastern Osprey were new, but there were also multiple Black-shouldered and Brahminy Kites, as well as singles of Peregrine and White-bellied Sea-eagle. Other highlights were Mangrove and Striped Honeyeater, White-breasted Woodswallows and a covey of Brown Quail. I had good views of Caspian Tern fishing in the creek, and Buff-banded Rails were seen in some of the marshy patches. The lake held a number of Australian Pelicans among other waterbirds.
Finally, walking back to the station through the Toombul Centro shopping centre gave me my first House Sparrow of the trip!

Birds
142. Nankeen Kestrel
143. Whistling Kite
144. Mangrove Honeyeater
145. Brown Quail
146. Striped Honeyeater
147. White-breasted Woodswallow
148. Eastern Osprey

149. House Sparrow

Reptiles & Amphibians
8. Red-bellied Black Snake
 
1-3. a beautiful Red-bellied Black Snake
4. to break up the evil snake pictures, some fluffy little White-breasted Woodswallows
 

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06/09/11
Another trip over to the Wynnum area produced most of the good species from the previous visit e.g. Striated Heron, Collared Kingfisher, Australian Pelican. On my way over I’d stopped briefly at Lindum to check out a swampy area near the station, and was rewarded with my first Magpie Geese, although they were fairly distant and there was a strong heat haze.
Some waders had started arriving back on the mudflats at Wynnum and in addition to familiar species like Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit, I saw my first Pied Oystercatchers and Eastern Curlews. At Manly Harbour there were 3 Eastern Ospreys chasing each other between the boat masts.
Highlight for the day was another reptile though, with a really nice Eastern Bearded Dragon blending in with some dried leaves near the Lytton wader roost hide.

Birds
150. Magpie Goose
151. Pied Oystercatcher

152. Whimbrel
153. Bar-tailed Godwit
154. Eastern Curlew

Reptiles & Amphibians
9. Eastern Bearded Dragon
 
Shots from Wynnum:
1. Striated Heron
2. Sacred Kingfisher
3 & 4. Eastern Bearded Dragon
 

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08/09/11-10/09/11 – North Stradbroke Island
As part of a uni trip we were spending a couple of nights on North Stradbroke Island. It’s a beautiful place, with plenty of nice beaches and some good cliffs at the northern tip. Ferries run regularly from Brisbane and I think there are regular buses on the island, but as we were being driven I don’t know how easy it is to get around by public transport.
Our project was mainly lab-based, but a night walk at Amity Point on the first evening finally gave me my first Koala! It was fairly high up, but through bins you could see it very well – very cute and charismatic creatures. I’d been actively avoiding the local Lone Pine Koala sanctuary as I didn’t want my first Koala to be a captive one, so I was very happy to see one out here in the wild (although I would’ve liked to find one for myself...).
I didn’t get a chance to do much else wildlife-wise, but White-bellied Sea-eagles and Brahminy Kites were going past the lab at regular intervals, and Bush Stone-curlews were calling loudly outside our rooms during the night. There were good views of Eastern Osprey cruising past the cliffs at Point Lookout, and the many flowering shrubs were attracting a lot of honeyeaters including Little Wattlebirds, which I’d only previously seen in the Blue Mountains.
Other than the Koala, the only mammals were bats. There was a large mixed species roost by the cemetery which contained both Black and Grey-headed Flying-foxes. Grey-headed was a first for me, and they are a lot better looking than Black Flying-foxes!
Two new species of bird came in my last 15 minutes on the island, while we were stood waiting at the ferry terminal. Firstly, I noticed a few stunning Rainbow Bee-eaters hawking over a playing field, and then a White-necked Heron glided over, before disappearing behind some trees. The latter species was quite unexpected – they are generally inland birds, and I thought I was going to have to travel away from Brisbane to see them so it was a real bonus to catch up with one here.

Birds
155. Rainbow Bee-eater
156. White-necked Heron


Mammals
9. Koala
10. Grey-headed Flying-fox




17/09/11
Among the usual species, there were a couple of Nutmeg Mannikins feeding in the grass at Oxley Creek Common. Having seen my first Rainbow Bee-eaters on Stradbroke I’d been wondering when they’d show up in Brisbane, and today there were a few hawking over the fields.

Birds
157. Nutmeg Mannikin
 
19/09/11 - 26/09/11 – The Great Barrier Reef
For one of my modules I had the option of a weeklong field course at the uni’s Heron Island Research Station, which seemed too good an opportunity to miss. Heron Island lies towards the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, and as well as the research station there is a resort which operates a boat service from Gladstone. It’s a perfect tropical island, with a wooded area in the middle surrounded by white sandy beaches and the turquoise waters of the lagoon. Although the island is less than 1km in length, the lagoon stretches much further. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, and had almost wall to wall sunshine with very little wind. Being out here for a week of stormy weather wouldn’t be so pleasant. We had to do some work on individual projects, but I managed to fit in some birding time. As I can’t remember for definite which days particular sightings were on, I’ll group them all here.

In Gladstone Harbour there had been a few Pied Cormorants. I’d seen some probables in Sydney Harbour, but they’d been too distant to confirm the id.
On reaching Heron Island, the most obvious inhabitants were the Black Noddies. Their nests covered most of the trees, and as you wander around there will generally be a few at eye level – really charismatic birds and a lot of fun to watch. There were a few Brown Boobies around, usually perched out on the marker buoys at the edge of the reef. Other seabirds included a nice variety of terns: Crested, Lesser Crested, Black-naped and Little. Black-naped Terns, which really gleam white when in flight, were my favourite.
The Island was named after the Eastern Reef Egrets (before someone inconsiderately renamed them from Herons to Egrets) and there were plenty of both colour morphs around. They were often out on the reef but they also hung around under the trees, presumably trying to raid the Noddy nests.
There were quite a few waders around too, including my first Grey-tailed Tattlers, Pacific Golden Plovers and Lesser Sand Plovers, plus my first Turnstones for the trip.
Resident land birds included ‘Capricorn Silvereye’, a subspecies restricted to islands on the Southern GBR, and Sacred Kingfisher. Buff-banded Rails were also common and remarkably tame. They had essentially taken on the role of Sparrows/Pigeons in cities, and I had one snatch a slice of toast from my plate during breakfast one morning. There were also a few ‘lost’ migrant passerines: a Reed Warbler (presumably Australian Reed Warbler), a Leaden Flycatcher and my first Black-faced Monarch. A pair of White-bellied Sea-eagles were resident on the island too, and they caused a lot of panic among the seabirds whenever they went for a lap of their patch.

Birds
158. Pied Cormorant
159. Black Noddy
160. Eastern Reef Egret
161. Brown Booby

162. Turnstone
163. Grey-tailed Tattler
164. Pacific Golden Plover
165. Lesser Sand Plover
166. Black-naped Tern
167. Black-faced Monarch
168. Lesser Crested Tern

169. Little Tern
 
Paradise, a.k.a. Heron Island
 

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1 & 2. Black Noddy - it seems a bit strange that a Black Bird in the tropics would spend so much time basking as in picture 2, but I believe it's to help keep the feathers in good condition
3. Lesser Crested Tern
4 & 5. blue and white morph Eastern Reef Egrets
 

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1. Grey-tailed Tattlers roosting on the research station roof
2. Lesser Sand Plovers
3. Pacific Golden Plover
4. Buff-banded Rail
 

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19/09/11 - 26/09/11 - GBR marine life
I can’t move on without mentioning the marine life, which was absolutely incredible. Snorkelling was outstanding, with clouds of colourful fish as well as some exciting larger species. We got to do some snorkelling out at the edge of the reef, but the harbour itself was excellent too. There were plenty of Green Turtles, plus Black-tip and White-tip Reef Sharks and the occasional Spotted Eagle Ray. On one trip, there was an impressive Ornate Wobbegong shark sat on the bottom, and some cool Lionfish drifting by the shipwreck. The definite highlight though was swimming with two huge Manta Rays out beyond the reef crest. We were able to follow them for a while as they cruised below us, and it was quite possibly the best wildlife encounter I had in Oz.
Even if you didn’t get in the water there was still plenty to see, particularly at the harbour where the deep water meant that big animals could move in close to the shore. There were always a few Black-tip Reef Sharks cruising the surface, and Spotted Eagle Rays and Green Turtles would appear occasionally. On one evening, a huge Barracuda cruised in from the reef, passed under the jetty then headed back towards the open sea.
Another hotspot was the aptly named Shark Bay. As the tide moved in, a number of Lemon Sharks would appear and start patrolling just off the beach. Huge Cowtail and Whiptail Stingrays also favoured that area, and there were some impressive Shovelnose Rays present too. Watching all of these big predators move around in shallow, crystal clear water was awesome.
The trip was mainly focused on marine invertebrates, and while it was difficult to concentrate on these while there were sharks and turtles around there were some cool things to be found - the nudibranch and flatworm species, Christmas-tree Worms, Pincushion Stars, Tiger Cowries and Giant Clams being personal favourites.

Reptiles & Amphibians
10. Green Turtle
 
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Shots from the harbour and Shark Bay:
1. Green Turtle
2. Black-tip Reef Shark
3. Spotted Eagle Rays
4. Lemon Shark
5. Cowtail Stingray
 

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We were allowed to borrow underwater cameras to photograph marine inverts for our project, but strangely all my photos came out like these:
1. Manta, terrible shot but highlight of the trip
2. Epaulette Shark
3. Green Turtle resting on the sea floor
 

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1. Chromodoris kuiteri
2. Giant Clam close-up
3. Pincushion Star
4. Parrotfish in the harbour
 

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Very good report - some outstanding pictures.

Thank you very much Andrew!

27/09/11
Having returned from the reef trip I now had the weeklong mid-semester break with nothing arranged. I’d been considering some options in the previous weeks, but after finally settling on a plan I headed up to uni to use the internet and make a few phone calls, before heading in to town to buy a cheap tent from K-mart (an Aussie superstore, and very handy for just about anything you might need) ready to set off on another adventure the next day.

While at uni, alarm calls alerted me to a huge Channel-billed Cuckoo in a fig-tree. I saw (and heard) them fairly frequently around Brisbane from then on but they were usually flying over high, or perched up in the canopy, so this first one, feeding almost at eye-level, gave my best views. Their calls are horrendous!

Birds
170. Channel-billed Cuckoo
 
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1. Channel-billed Cuckoo
2. Macquarie Turtle in the uni lakes
3-5. The Little Corellas at UQ lakes - when they fed on the ground like this there would frequently be little squabbles breaking out, as in photo 5
 

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28/09/11 – Into the outback
I’d decided that it would be wrong to spend a year in Australia without seeing icons such as Budgies, Emus, Zebra Finch and Red Kangaroos, and to find these I needed to head inland. Outback birding without a car is tricky, but I’d worked out that getting to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s Bowra Station, which has a number of very special species, was just about possible by bus and taxi. A 9 hour coach journey will get you to Cunnamulla, and from there Bowra is about 16km away. There is a taxi service in Cunnamulla which will take you out there (as long as the roads haven’t been made impassable by heavy rain), and if I’d thought of it at the time then that distance would’ve been doable by bike too.
Early in the morning I got on the coach and settled in for a full day of travelling. As I was travelling by day, there was plenty to see during the journey. I could mark my progress in to ‘the outback’ by the gradually increasing tickability of the Emus: in an Emu farm near Toowoomba – no, fenced in on a front lawn – a bit dodgy, and then wandering across some wide grassy plains – yes! Seeing a pair of Banded Lapwings flying across a field was a real bonus as I didn’t encounter them anywhere else on the trip, while groups of White-winged Choughs and Apostlebirds were also good to see. I was the only passenger for the last 2 hours of the trip, and the driver invited me up to the front to give me a bit of a guided tour as we continued inland. As the light started to fade Kangaroos started crossing the road in front of us, making things slightly more hazardous.
Getting in to Cunnamulla I found the campsite and set up my tent. That night there was some very heavy rain and thunder overhead and, without knowing whether I’d even be able to get to Bowra, I started thinking that this trip might’ve been a bad idea, but fortunately it was nice and dry for the rest of my stay.

Birds
171. Emu
172. White-winged Chough
173. Banded Lapwing
174. Apostlebird
 
29/09/11
When I’d arrived it had been dark, but on waking I found that the campsite was situated on the edge of town, right next to an area of large sand dunes which I set out to explore. Around the campsite there were a number of Yellow-throated Miners, and a party of Apostlebirds were working their way through the area constantly chatting to each other. Apostlebirds are real characters, and they’re very entertaining to watch.
Out in the dunes, I came across a Swamp Wallaby, and then a group of Eastern Grey Kangaroos. I was very pleased to get my first proper look at some Kangaroos, and there were a fair few in the area including some big males. Getting to the top of one of the dunes a stunning male Red-winged Parrot flew past, and a flock of small birds moving through a tree contained both Yellow and Inland Thornbills. I also came across an awesome Shingleback basking nearby, looking like a pinecone with legs. This is an inland species in the east of the country, so it was a nice one to catch up with.
Further on I came across a fenced off wetland area. Judging by the number of cartridges around it was used for shooting, but the habitat looked good and there were a number of birds present, including a group of Glossy Ibises and one lone Yellow-billed Spoonbill. A few Snake-necked Turtles could be seen basking.
A few moments later, my heart stopped as I spotted a pale grey raptor gliding in overhead. Bowra is one of the most reliable locations for one of Australia’s most elusive birds – the Grey Falcon, and these dunes were only a short distance away as the Falcon flies. However, I was slightly confused when upon checking through bins I found that the bird was quite obviously a Grey Goshawk (e.g. classic Accipiter shape, unmarked face, plain grey breast fading to white belly, unmarked pale underwings etc.). Going by the distribution maps in the guide books this would appear to be a fair way out of their normal range, and that was probably one of the very few situations where Grey Falcon would actually have been the more likely option!
After this, I had to head in to town briefly to sort out a few things for the rest of the trip. On the banks of the Warrego River a Rufous Songlark flushed from some long grass, and there were some White-plumed Honeyeaters moving through the trees. Australian Raven had taken over as the common corvid, and there were a number of Fairy Martins collecting mud for nest building.
Back in the dunes for the afternoon, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater was a new species and shortly afterwards I came across my number one target for the trip. Heading up a slope I noticed a group of Fairy-wrens moving through the undergrowth. I’d had a few false starts as Variegated Fairy-wrens were frequent in the scrubby vegetation, but these were the real deal – Splendid Fairy-wrens, confirmed when a stunning adult male hopped in to view. These were one of the main reasons for making this trip – I’d noticed that the male Fairy-wrens in Brisbane had been looking good at the minute, so tracking down the most beautiful Fairy-wren of the lot at its best seemed like an unmissable opportunity. The colour of these is incredible, and they have to be one of the nicest birds on the planet. A Feral Cat which bolted from some dense scrub wasn’t quite such a welcome sight.

In the late afternoon I headed over the Warrego River to check out an area of wooded grassland. Whiskered Terns were feeding over the river itself, and a Little Eagle gave excellent views as it soared overhead, carefully scanning the area. Some beautiful Plum-headed Finches and a nice Red-backed Kingfisher were both great additions to the 'inland species' list. Peaceful Dove and Jacky Winter were also new species, and there was a distant Emu feeding in the grassland.
After dark at the campsite there were swarms of one particular moth species fluttering around the lights, and at one point a Tawny Frogmouth flew down to snatch one up.

Birds
175. Yellow-throated Miner
176. Red-winged Parrot
177. Yellow Thornbill
178. Inland Thornbill

179. Glossy Ibis
180. Yellow-billed Spoonbill
181. Grey Goshawk
182. White-plumed Honeyeater
183. Rufous Songlark
184. Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
185. Splendid Fairy-wren

186. Whiskered Tern
187. Little Eagle
188. Plum-headed Finch
189. Jacky Winter
190. Peaceful Dove
191. Red-backed Kingfisher


Mammals
11. Eastern Grey Kangaroo
12. Feral Cat

Reptiles & Amphibians
11. Shingleback
12. Snake-necked Turtle
 
1. bad photo, but awesome bird - Splendid Fairy-wren
2. Swamp Wallaby, which would struggle to be in less of a 'swampy' environment
3. Skippy
4. Fairy Martin
5. Shingleback
 

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