queensland

A Spotted Bowerbird came down for a drink too. Of course this is another Lifer (I had seen one the day before for you can hardly make out what it was from the pictures LOL), so I'm counting this one instead!;) Nice birds, aren't they, and blend in so well with the habitat!

These rather 'shrike-like' birds have a habit of sort of shuffling their wings around when they land. They're very attractive I think.

We were at the Back Dam, Bowra when suddenly Judy started to laugh and attracted our attention to some distant Emus. Remember, we're sitting down in a hollow, so there was quite a high bank, which then gradually fell away towards the forest. About 4 Emus were walking along there and all we...

At last I found a picture of a male Cockatiel to show you. When the flock came in most settled in the tree on the opposite side of the dam from where we were sitting.

Even though there were a few of these and they always seemed to be down for a drink, I think they were truly beautiful honeyeaters. Sorry if you're getting tired of seeing them, but I was rather pleased with this picture. I guess the scientific name comes from the white 'plume' which looks...

This is a Yellow-throated Miner, which does look like his cousin the Noisy Miner, but if you look carefully you will see the yellow, not only on the forehead but on the sides of the neck too.

I watched as a few Budgerigars flying in, they flew towards the bit where the Cocktiels had been but then I lost them!! So I took a few pictures of the bit where I'd last seen them more in hope than expectation. couldn't see anything on the camera screen. Imagine my surprise when I downloaded...

I watched a little flock of Cockatiels fly in. They settled on the water's edge, but not very close unfortunately. This is a female. How lovely it was to see them in the wild.

Galahs are found pretty much throughout Australia (at least the parts I visited!). This is a female with the reddish eye and she was checking to see if there was room for her to land on the fallen tree in the water.

The three Ravens came back too, and I managed to get this one in flight as they left. Quite pleased that I'm able to see his white eye up there!!

The pretty little Diamond Dove was there again too. They really are adorable. Actually Hans was really mean... he insisted I contact Ken to let him know I'd seen one, as he knew it was on Ken's wanted list!;)

My book calls these wee honeyeaters "plain"! Can pretty be plain? Anyway I think these White-plumed Honeyeaters are really charming and cute.

.... Luke and John!! I was still looking for the 12 Apostles, but this morning at the Back Dam there were just four of them.

We came across a nice flock of Major Mitchell's Cockatoos feeding on the Bowra entrance road verge. Tried, and tried and tried, but couldn't get one with the crest raised this time.

We'd got through the gates onto the reserve now when a movement high in the sky cause Hans to stop the car. We all piled out to try and spot it. Not my best picture, but the only time I saw one of these - Square-tailed Kite. This area seemed to be very good for raptors, we'd seen a few species...

The next morning early breakfast in the beer garden, cases packed ready to decamp to the cabin at Bowra, for there was now a room for me too. Just before we turned off towards the Bowra road we came across a Little Corella feeding on the weed seeds on the verge.

The next Lifer was hiding in a tree! How beautiful this White-browed Woodswallow is, which his chestnut underparts and silvery supercilium. I think this may have been the only one I saw.

After exploring the evaporation ponds we then went to try the river from a parking area beside the bridge. We were still trying to acclimatise ourselves as to what was around when I spotted a Black Kite flying over. Quite high, but fairly pleased with the result.

I was fascinated by the moon ... it is a different shape when not full. Over in the UK it forms sideways crescents, but in Australia it was the bottom half that was missing. That had never occurred to me before, although I knew the stars would be different.

After lunch we went off exploring more of the reserve and turned up at the delightfully named Gum Hole. A large water hole in the middle of nowhere. These lovely bee-eaters are found over most of Australia and really are very colourful.

The earlier picture of the dam was taken from the side where the homestead is. This dotterel was on the far side and as far right as you can get (not quite visible in that picture). This is a juvenile Black-fronted Dotterel.

I thought it was time to show you the dam beside the homestead. The dead tree in the middle had the bee-eater.

I woke up in my outback hotel room and found this Cockroach trying to complete my puzzle!! Hans later told me that they are not native to Australia. Presumably they came off the early transport boats.

...these are just "plain dull brown"! How sad to have that description for my latest Lifer eh? I was so hoping I'd see a Jacky Winter, because I love the name. He flew after this shot!

He doesn't seem to have worked out yet how to stan up, does he LOL I guess the adult from this morning was keeping an eye on this youngster who was sitting on a tiny bit of island (more a big lump of mud) a few yards into the water.