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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MKinHK" data-source="post: 3416738" data-attributes="member: 21760">A visit to the mangrove boardwalk started well with ten or so Straw-necked and Australian White Ibises patrolling the edge of the adjoining cricket pitches, Australian Figbird, Olive-backed Oriole, and Black-faced Cuckooshrike in the carpark trees and then a cracking pair of Nankeen Night Herons that Barry had staked out in a particular tree. We were temporarily distracted by an unusually streaky Grey Shrike Thrush bustling about in the leaf litter and, a bit further on, by the first Pale-headed Rosellas of the trip. These are long-tailed slender parrots with a beautiful powder blue wings and tail, red undertail and a head the colour of Cornish clotted cream. There were relatively fewer birds from the boardwalk itself, but these included a wonderfully confiding Torresian Kingfisher (recently split from Collared from which it is separated by the darker upperparts and almost black head) that perched up close and called to its mate a few times, and a Mangrove Gerygone feeding unconcernedly among the lowest mangrove shoots. A nearby patch of open water held fifty or so Black-winged Stilts, a few Greenshanks and Whimbrels, while a Bright-capped Cisticola popped out of the nearby grassland and a third or fourth year White-bellied Sea Eagle drifted majestically over. The tide had dropped as we drove out and we added Sharp-tailed and Curlew Sandpipers, Eastern Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit and Pied Oystercatchers among the more numerous Grey-tailed Tattlers. Looking over the same area from inside the boardwalk we had earlier seen hunting Gull-billed Terns and the larger, carrot-billed Caspian Terns.The final two stops were right next to the port of Brisbane – the aptly-named Swan Lake hosting a fine range of waterfowl that included Wood Duck, Hardhead, Grey Teal, Australasian Grebe, Black Swan, and Chestnut Teal. Three Whistling Kites drifted over from the port and the first couple of Brahminy Kites of the day also appeared. With birds appearing from everywhere both Mangrove and Striped Honeyeaters and more Mistletoe Birds showed well in a couple of trees right by the carpark. The fenced-in wader roost held mostly cormorants, and a few Australian Pelicans but the trees along the fringe held five superb Rainbow Bee-eaters huddled in cosy groups, and well within reach of my lens.CheersMike</blockquote>

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