Gavin Goodyear
Well-known member
Saturday morning saw me leaving Laceys Creek, in the outer north western suburbs of Brisbane, at 5.15am for the 2 ½ hour drive to Crows Nest National Park on the Great Dividing Range north of Toowoomba. I drove via Mount Glorious through Crossdale and then took the Crows Nest-Esk Road just north of Esk. Along this road the only birds of interest were a small group of White-winged Choughs. The only mammal sighted was a single Red-necked Wallaby which are a common macropod in South-east Queensland in suitable habitat. As the road climbed up through The Bluff the cloud cover intensified and the temperature dropped so it was quite cool compared to the temperature lower down near the coast.
I arrived at the National Park around 7.45am and it was initially very quiet with a strong breeze blowing. I headed straight down the track to Crows Nest Falls. Here the breeze was more subdued and there was some bird activity around the lookout which included Buff-rumped Thornbill, Eastern Spinebill, Lewin’s Honeyeater and Golden Whistler. Continuing down to the rock pool I happened across a single Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby, which is a specialty of this reserve (although they can be found at a few sites in the area and I have seen them close to home in the Mount Mee State Forest), and a single Eastern Water Dragon in the rock pool. On returning to the car park there were several Musk Lorikeets along with Rainbow Lorikeets and a quick check of the creek produced Pacific Black Duck and Dusky Moorhen.
Ravensbourne National Park was the next stop where it was even colder, darker and windier than the previous site. This is an area where Black-breasted Button-quail can be found but I had no luck this trip and didn’t really concentrate on looking for them. A quick walk around the Cedar Block near the lookout produced few birds apart from White-headed Pigeon, Brown Cuckoo-dove, Brown Gerygone, White-browed Scrubwren, Eastern Yellow Robin, Green Catbird, Red-browed Finch and a handful of others. I moved on to the Rainforest Circuit where no new birds were added but I did flush some Feral Pigs from a deep gully in the rainforest.
After leaving Ravensbourne I headed down to Esk and then on to Gatton campus of University of Queensland situated in the district of Lawes. Lake Gallettly is the major attraction here. It usually hosts thousands of waterfowl but at the moment it is relatively quiet, possibly due to the good conditions through a large area of the inland. No Pink-eared Duck were observed although some may have been roosting behind a small island in front of the hide. Birds that were seen included Australasian Grebe, Magpie Goose, Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, Hardhead, Australian White Ibis and Purple Swamphen. At one stage as I walked out of the hide, four Ground Cuckoo-shrikes flew over heading in a northerly direction. Bush birds included Superb Fairy-wren and Brown Honeyeater. This site can also be good for Little Grassbird which appears to be much commoner in the southern states. As I was leaving a single Black-shouldered (Australian) Kite was observed hovering near the hide. Other animals observed included numerous Macquarie (Brisbane Short-necked) Turtles and the butterflies Bright Cornelian and Common Crow.
A quick stop at Jankes Lagoon near the junction of the Gatton-Esk Rd and Lake Clarendon Way added Swamp Harrier and Brown Quail to the day’s avian observations as well as a handful of waterfowl species already recorded through the course of the day. The next area visited was Lake Clarendon, albeit briefly, which was quiet bird wise although it was mid afternoon when I arrived. A single Brown Falcon, some Fairy Martins and Great, Intermediate and Little Egrets posing side by side as if on the page of a field guide. Leaving here a single Blue-winged Kookaburra was perched on a power pole with a Laughing Kookaburra sitting on a fence post a short way up the road. At Lester Bridge the Black-necked Stork nest was occupied as you would expect for this time of year. Travelling along Haslingden Rd, Lockyer Waters I stopped and scanned for Banded Lapwing in a traditional paddock with success. While driving through the district of Splityard Creek on my way back home a Northern Brown Bandicoot (a mammal) bounded across the road. Normally this species would be seen after dark. To top the day off, while talking to good friend Tom Tarrant (some may recognize his name as a member of this forum) a Pacific Baza clumsily landed in a tree across from his gate.
All in all, it was an enjoyable day out with enough birds and animals to keep me happy.
Cheers
Gavin
I arrived at the National Park around 7.45am and it was initially very quiet with a strong breeze blowing. I headed straight down the track to Crows Nest Falls. Here the breeze was more subdued and there was some bird activity around the lookout which included Buff-rumped Thornbill, Eastern Spinebill, Lewin’s Honeyeater and Golden Whistler. Continuing down to the rock pool I happened across a single Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby, which is a specialty of this reserve (although they can be found at a few sites in the area and I have seen them close to home in the Mount Mee State Forest), and a single Eastern Water Dragon in the rock pool. On returning to the car park there were several Musk Lorikeets along with Rainbow Lorikeets and a quick check of the creek produced Pacific Black Duck and Dusky Moorhen.
Ravensbourne National Park was the next stop where it was even colder, darker and windier than the previous site. This is an area where Black-breasted Button-quail can be found but I had no luck this trip and didn’t really concentrate on looking for them. A quick walk around the Cedar Block near the lookout produced few birds apart from White-headed Pigeon, Brown Cuckoo-dove, Brown Gerygone, White-browed Scrubwren, Eastern Yellow Robin, Green Catbird, Red-browed Finch and a handful of others. I moved on to the Rainforest Circuit where no new birds were added but I did flush some Feral Pigs from a deep gully in the rainforest.
After leaving Ravensbourne I headed down to Esk and then on to Gatton campus of University of Queensland situated in the district of Lawes. Lake Gallettly is the major attraction here. It usually hosts thousands of waterfowl but at the moment it is relatively quiet, possibly due to the good conditions through a large area of the inland. No Pink-eared Duck were observed although some may have been roosting behind a small island in front of the hide. Birds that were seen included Australasian Grebe, Magpie Goose, Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, Hardhead, Australian White Ibis and Purple Swamphen. At one stage as I walked out of the hide, four Ground Cuckoo-shrikes flew over heading in a northerly direction. Bush birds included Superb Fairy-wren and Brown Honeyeater. This site can also be good for Little Grassbird which appears to be much commoner in the southern states. As I was leaving a single Black-shouldered (Australian) Kite was observed hovering near the hide. Other animals observed included numerous Macquarie (Brisbane Short-necked) Turtles and the butterflies Bright Cornelian and Common Crow.
A quick stop at Jankes Lagoon near the junction of the Gatton-Esk Rd and Lake Clarendon Way added Swamp Harrier and Brown Quail to the day’s avian observations as well as a handful of waterfowl species already recorded through the course of the day. The next area visited was Lake Clarendon, albeit briefly, which was quiet bird wise although it was mid afternoon when I arrived. A single Brown Falcon, some Fairy Martins and Great, Intermediate and Little Egrets posing side by side as if on the page of a field guide. Leaving here a single Blue-winged Kookaburra was perched on a power pole with a Laughing Kookaburra sitting on a fence post a short way up the road. At Lester Bridge the Black-necked Stork nest was occupied as you would expect for this time of year. Travelling along Haslingden Rd, Lockyer Waters I stopped and scanned for Banded Lapwing in a traditional paddock with success. While driving through the district of Splityard Creek on my way back home a Northern Brown Bandicoot (a mammal) bounded across the road. Normally this species would be seen after dark. To top the day off, while talking to good friend Tom Tarrant (some may recognize his name as a member of this forum) a Pacific Baza clumsily landed in a tree across from his gate.
All in all, it was an enjoyable day out with enough birds and animals to keep me happy.
Cheers
Gavin
Seems like it was a nice trip though, a lot of cool species there, a lot of shared ones too. Would love to see a Pacific Baza one day though.
