Playing the Game in 2019 - Steve and Carol Popple

Gympie hosted a Freckled duck

This is our fourth year playing “The Game”; trying to photograph the most birds within the Sunshine Coast “Zone of Happiness” and as the year draws to a close and the opportunity to get a new bird reduces, it’s timely to reflect on the year that was. 

This year the boundary of the Zone was extended west to Nanango and up to Goomeri bringing some new species into play.

At last Jimna was available for birding and our first trip there was amazing; the minute we pulled up in the car there were birds everywhere. Within 30 minutes we had added Brown Treecreeper, Speckled Warbler, Yellow-tufted Honeyeater and Dusky Woodswallow, and after some concentrated searching, a Diamond Firetail was found; certainly one of the highlights of the year. 

Jimna was added to the 'Zone' allowing Diamond Firetail to join the ranks of the pictured!

We took two weekend trips to Yarraman during the year doing our bit to support the rural economy discovering not only birds but the Nanango markets on the first Saturday of each month (well worth visiting). 

Hot on the trail of new birds meant a lot of eBird researching which turned up a host of interesting sites. Stopping at Blackbutt we spent a lot of time looking for Red-rumped Parrots, previously recorded there by Greg Roberts. After a couple of hours of fruitless hours searching we finally snagged a pair of birds flying over the road. One quick Uturn later searching resumed before they were found, fortunately perching briefly near the Sports Ground. 

Red rump pair

Yarraman Weir area gave us good sightings of Weebill and Superb Fairywren with Nanango giving up Brown-headed Honeyeater, Buff-rumped Thornbill, Apostlebirds and plenty of Common Bronzewings.

As usual the uncommon birds added spice to the year with the Blue-winged Kookaburra near Yandina Wetlands, the Freckled Ducks at Gympie (took 2 goes to get that one), Banded Lapwing at Caloundra (also took me 2 goes, lucky Carol only works 5 minutes away so she got it easy) and the Oriental Cuckoo influx capping off the list. 

Other highlights of the year included the pair of Peregrine Falcons at Maroochydore that we saw catching Rainbow Lorikeets effortlessly, the Black-breasted Buttonquail at Inskip Point, finally getting Ruddy Turnstone after 4 years of trying and the pair of Brolgas at Gunalda.

Every year there are some misses the biggest for us this year was TopKnot Pigeon in a normal year we have flocks in our garden feeding on Camphor Laurel berries this year no fruit = no birds! Noisy Pitta for the second year running also gave us the slip.

Will we be back playing again in 2020? The answer is Yes, at worst it is a good excuse to get birding every weekend and nothing is better than that feeling we you get that bird that eluded you in the past. Watch out Greater Sand Plovers 2020 is our year!