Two Months of Lifers Down Under (1 Viewer)

delia todd · Jan 5, 2020

Thanks Nora. It's so hard deciding on which bird to use. Think I'll just have to do regular swaps LOL

This one was such a lovely surprise visitor to Hans' garden, there hadn't been any 'new' birds there for a bit LOL.

Chosun Juan · Jan 5, 2020

Delia - you left too soon !

We laid on a lovely balmy 48.9°C (120°F) day yesterday - it was most pleasant

- you would have loved it - lol ! :-O

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/sydney-s-penrith-the-hottest-place-on-earth-amid-devastating-bushfires

Chosun :gh:

delia todd · Jan 5, 2020

Gawd!!! That's not funny is it Chosun.

Yes, I saw that was expected on yesterday's news reports. Any sign of any relief for you yet?

Take care lass.

Chosun Juan · Jan 5, 2020

Yes Delia - down to a light and breezy 30°C today and even had 3 drops of rain :t:

Need more of the H20 to snuff these fires out - or for the firefront to make like a kelpie chasing it's tail and burn themselves out.

The good thing about 48.9°C is that it makes the 40°C due at the end of the week seem quite fresh - I might even need to put a cardigan on - lol ! :-O

Chosun :gh:

delia todd · Jan 5, 2020

From there think I've got a bit lost as to where the next stop was but in a parking area found a Noisy Miner, Grey Butcherbird and Australian Magpie. We left there and headed to Canyon Lookout.

En route, we stopped for these delightful wee creatures (lost my notebook, but think they're Pademelons); a couple of them on the grass verge. We watched them until another car came.

Another interesting walk through jungle to the viewpoint.... and what a view it was too.

Leaving there, we detoured to the Rosellas Cafe and B&B; first up a Brushturkey wandered up their drive and sat on their water dish.... to be continued

Lisa W · Jan 5, 2020

What a cute little creature. Splendid shot of the Turkey.

delia todd · Jan 5, 2020

The next bird to arrive (actually more than one!) was Crimson Rosella.

We stood watching them for a while before moving on to explore the Cream Track a much wetter forest than I'd been used to, with a fine view at the end.

We then made our way to The Best of All Lookouts, the view I've chosen to show you is overlooking New South Wales and you can just make out the double-peaked Mt Cougal. Off to the right of this picture is the rather impressive Mt Warning.

So, we were making our way back to the road when suddenly Hans picked out an Australian Logrunner in the undergrowth. It was so dim in there, I'm surprised my camera managed to pick him up.

The last picture? Well, I was still mesmorised by the trees, shapes and well everything, I just had to stop and study the way this vine wound its way round the tree.

SueO · Jan 6, 2020

Love ALL the rosellas.; spots and splashes of vibrant, shimmering color! I still miss OZ very much after all these years. Thanks for taking the time to share your trip.

delia todd · Jan 6, 2020

Yeah Sue... they really are such love birds. Enjoyed watching them.

delia todd · Jan 6, 2020

Now, I really am lost as to where we were in Springbrook. I know we explored more trails and also came into some open areas. We stopped beside a road for a while and took more pictures, but just can't put a name to the places.

At one trail, there was a sign for Albert's Lyrebird, so in case I didn't see a real one ... well here's a picture of one

So, species seen include Torresian Crow, Galah, Little Correla; a beautiful Pale Yellow Robin - remember chasing him up and down a road till I got a focused image LOL.

A Drongo species - very distant view high in a tree Top Knot Pigeon (at the Natural Bridge track), but sadly no picture, a flight of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and a Lewin's Honeyeater.

Judy pointed out to me a rather impressive Staghorn Fern too.

Scridifer · Jan 6, 2020

That Crimson Rosella is amazing Delia! My favourite bird of your trip keeps changing with almost every post you make! Goodness only knows what it will be by the end of the trip, and will be most interesting to hear yours!

Chris

delia todd · Jan 6, 2020

LOL Chris! I have the same difficulty. Sometimes it's a 'pretty' one, sometimes it's one that is very hard to see, like the Logrunner, or one that's hard to get like the robin in the last post.

I dunno yet!!!:stuck:

delia todd · Jan 6, 2020

O'Reilly's National Park

16 October 2019

Another very early start to get to O'Reilly's a rather famous place among birding visitors to Queensland.

However, we stopped for a break at O'Reilly's Vineyard for a cuppie and break before facing the long and hairy drive up the mountain.

During our short break here, we saw a Maned Duck with a couple of ducklings. Also seen/heard here, but no pictures were Eastern Whipbird, Pacific Black Duck, Masked Lapwing, Galah and Noisy Friarbird.

It appears the Alpaca Farm has now been re-located here too. I wondered at first if it was due to the risk of fires up on the mountain, but it seems to be a permanent move.

Shortly after we left the vineyard a Straw-necked Ibis was spotted near the river. At last I managed to get a picture of one!!!

Judy Skilfully manouvred the car on the twisty, narrow road, with loads of hairpin bends. Fortunately it wasn't busy!

On the drive up we encoutered Noisy Miner, Torresian Crow, Pied Currawong, Australian Magpie, Eastern Yellow Robin, a very flighty Grey Shrikethrush and Red-necked Pademelons; either on the road or when we pulled into one of the viewpoints.

So at last we got into O'Reilly's and had hardly recovered our breath and sorted ourselves out when Hans spotted a juvenile Eastern Whipbird just yards from the path! At last something to show for all the times I'd been hearing them call and actually got a recording on my phone (don't know how to download it onto my laptop yet though LOL). This was closely followed by an Eastern Spinebill; I'd seen one earlier that month, but not managed to get a picture at that time.

The first picture though, was left over from the day before at Springbrook and shows Australian bees on pine sap.

etudiant · Jan 6, 2020

Just love your report, surely a lifetime trip, with pictures to match.
Good on you!!

Separately, am fascinated by the bee shot, are they some native species or have European bees adapted to the demands of life down under?

delia todd · Jan 6, 2020

Hi Etudiant and many thanks for your comments.

As far as I know, these bees are native to Australia - they were tiny and looked quite different to our Honey Bee.

etudiant · Jan 7, 2020

delia todd said:
Hi Etudiant and many thanks for your comments.

As far as I know, these bees are native to Australia - they were tiny and looked quite different to our Honey Bee.

Well, when I served as a bee watcher here in NYC Central Park, our guru, Jeremy Rosen, an eminent bee specialist from the American Museum of Natural History, told us there were over 200 bee species found in NYC. So it would be logical for Australia to have its own endemics.
Still would very much like to know what these were, bees using pine sap is really unknown here in the US afaik.

delia todd · Jan 7, 2020

I really can't be of much help Etudiant, but I Googled and found this PDF. Don't know if it's of any use to you?

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/35088746.pdf

etudiant · Jan 7, 2020

delia todd said:
I really can't be of much help Etudiant, but I Googled and found this PDF. Don't know if it's of any use to you?

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/35088746.pdf

Just wow!
A really wonderful paper and a very fine piece of work. Thank you so much for sharing this.
I'd no idea that these stingless bees had developed the capacity to exploit resins so widely. Here in NYC, they are usually labelled as 'sweat bees', but not characterized more fully. Clearly we missed a lot!

peterday · Jan 7, 2020

When we were in O'Reilly's in 2008 we saw a Whipbird on the path, very tame. I wonder if this one's a descendant!

delia todd · Jan 7, 2020

We'd only been at O'Reilly's for about 10 minutes and had already seen so much. I would have gone home happy even then LOL

A couple of 'normal' birds followed, in the pretty wee Red-browed Finch, then an Australian Brushturkey was seen strutting around.

I caught up with Hans and Judy watching a beautiful Crimson Rosella, who was keeping an eye on a stunning Regent's Bowerbird.

These were in an area where they have installed a model of the Stinson aircraft which crashed in their forest in 1937. After 11 days Bernard O'Reilly found the crash site with two surviving passengers. He made them comfortable before returning with a rescue party the next day. Obviously there's far more to this story than I've recounted here.

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