Sunday, 21 August 2016

Tin Can Bay / Rainbow Beach Weekend 20 / 21 August

View of Double Island from Carlos Blow, Rainbow Beach
      BirdLife Sunshine Coast – Tin Can Bay / Rainbow Beach Weekend 19/20/ 21 August 2016

Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach were the main destinations for a weekend away and despite the fact that a couple of the ‘specials’ remained unseen, an excellent weekend was enjoyed by all.
Tin Can Bay Woodland

A full complement of 17 people squeezed into our Budget rent a bus and departed not long after 5pm from Nambour and had a quick trip to The Sleepy Lagoon Motel at Tin Can Bay. This is a nice clean place at a more than reasonable price. And as it is right next door to a pub a perfect place for a group of birders to stay!

The trip really began on Saturday when we met our hosts, Lionel Muir and his wife Jeanette, keen members of the Gympie Field Naturalists, at 7am at our hotel.
Little Black Cormorant

Dolphins ready for feeding

Australian Humpback Dolphin

First stop was to observe first the feeding of the [Australian] Humpback Dolphins nearby. This has become an institution at Tin Can Bay and is by far the easiest way to see this rare species. Many enjoyed a quick coffee and breakfast and our first birds; Brown, Mangrove, White throated, Blue-faced and White Cheeked Honeyeaters plus both friarbirds, nesting Whistling Kites, Pelicans and Cormorants, who were keen to spoil the dolphin’s feasting.
male Fairy Gerygone [S. Popple]

Next stop was Inskipp Point where the search for the elusive Black-breasted Button-quails began in earnest. The quail’s scratchings were frustratingly evident however the birds remained unseen. The scrub at Inskipp was noisily birdy – many honeyeaters, drongos, Eastern Yellow Robin, Whistlers, Variegated Fairy Wren, and, for me best of all, Fairy Gerygones – their rapid cyclic calls giving them away. Also of note were excellent views of a pair of Beach Stone Curlews which people viewed in between getting bombed by over-zealous Masked Lapwings.  Australian Pipit parading on the beach was, perhaps, an interesting record also.
Beach Stone Curlews

Carlos Point proved to be an excellent spot for an early lunch. An abundance of Honeyeaters in the flowering gums and melaleucas, including a single Striped Honeyeater, made it difficult to concentrate on the food. A determined nesting Lapwing remained stationary throughout our time there despite a few photos. Tree Martins and Welcome Swallows drank and collected nesting mud while a steady stream of other birds sailed through.
Tree Martin
Welcome Swallows

Next on the agenda was the short bush walk to the famous Carlos Sand Blow. Carlo Sand Blow was named by Captain Cook after one of his deck crew named Carlo. The unique "moonscape" sand mass covers over 15 hectares and overlooks the towering coloured sands. From the Rainbow Beach water tower at the top of Cooloola Drive. 
the whole gang...

A quick walk in the shade of the rainforest of Bymien Picnic Area prevented us from getting to the exposed plain at Cooloola too early…. A few good birds were there but most remained unseen. Wompoos, Pittas remained invisible however Pale Yellow Robins, Green Catbirds, Brown Gerygones and White-browed Scrubwrens were easily seen.
Cooloola Plains - Ground Parrot habitat
Some took time to meditate

But soon we negotiated our way onto the Cooloola Plains and its heath habitats that were home to Ground Parrots. Only two of our group managed to lay eyes on the birds and for them they proved to be lifers. The rest of the group contented themselves with hearing the ringing calls of the birds as the sun set.  Before then we scored some good raptors; Swamp Harrier, Brown Falcon and a hite-breasted Sea Eagle. As night fell we made our way back to Tin Can Bay and its hotel where the waitress had forgotten our booking [for 19 people] and we had to sit at make shift tables in front of the live music act. It could have been worse…


Sunday started like Saturday – coffee near the dolphins and adjacent species. Next - Twitching the Bush Stone Curlews at the Golf Course before a nice walk down to Snapper Creek.  A visit to a wader roost on the estuary and a sewerage works rounded out our morning. After lunch we headed for home with just a brief stop off at a country billabong to jag a few more species for our weekend away.
Bush Stone Curlews
Juvy Blue-faced Honeyeater
SC Cockatoo

Young Mangroves

A Hobby!
The Hobby 


Robyn, Jan and Ken


Lesley, John, Jan, Megan And Jeanette



Vince, Glenis, Tom, Robyn and Jan.
Megan smiling..




  1. Australian Brush Turkey
  2. Brown Quail  - h
  3. Magpie Goose - enroute
  4. Black Swan
  5. Australian Wood Duck
  6. Grey Teal
  7. Chestnut Teal
  8. Pacific Black Duck
  9. Hardhead
  10. Australasian Grebe
  11. Rock Dove - enroute
  12. Spotted Dove
  13. Crested Pigeon
  14. Peaceful Dove
  15. Bar-shouldered Dove
  16. Wompoo Fruit-Dove - h
  17. Topknot Pigeon
  18. Australasian Darter
  19. Little Pied Cormorant
  20. Great Cormorant
  21. Little Black Cormorant
  22. Pied Cormorant
  23. Australian Pelican
  24. White-necked Heron
  25. Eastern Great Egret
  26. Intermediate Egret
  27. Cattle Egret
  28. White-faced Heron
  29. Little Egret
  30. Australian White Ibis
  31. Straw-necked Ibis
  32. Royal Spoonbill
  33. Eastern Osprey
  34. Black-shouldered Kite - enroute
  35. White-bellied Sea-Eagle
  36. Whistling Kite
  37. Brahminy Kite
  38. Spotted Harrier
  39. Swamp Harrier
  40. Wedge-tailed Eagle - enroute
  41. Australian Hobby
  42. Brown Falcon
  43. Purple Swamphen
  44. Dusky Moorhen
  45. Eurasian Coot
  46. Bush Stone-curlew
  47. Beach Stone-curlew
  48. Australian Pied Oystercatcher
  49. Black-winged Stilt
  50. Red-capped Plover
  51. Black-fronted Dotterel
  52. Masked Lapwing
  53. Comb-crested Jacana
  54. Whimbrel
  55. Eastern Curlew
  56. Gull-billed Tern
  57. Crested Tern
  58. Silver Gull
  59. Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
  60. Galah
  61. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
  62. Rainbow Lorikeet
  63. Ground Parrot
  64. Shining Bronze-Cuckoo
  65. Fan-tailed Cuckoo
  66. Laughing Kookaburra
  67. Forest Kingfisher
  68. Sacred Kingfisher
  69. Collared Kingfisher
  70. Rainbow Bee-eater
  71. Noisy Pitta - h
  72. Green Catbird
  73. Red-backed Fairy-wren
  74. Variegated Fairy-wren
  75. White-browed Scrubwren
  76. Large-billed Scrubwren
  77. Brown Gerygone
  78. Fairy Gerygone
  79. White-throated Gerygone
  80. Brown Thornbill
  81. Striated Pardalote
  82. Lewin's Honeyeater
  83. Yellow-faced Honeyeater
  84. Mangrove Honeyeater
  85. Noisy Miner
  86. Little Wattlebird
  87. Scarlet Honeyeater - h
  88. Brown Honeyeater
  89. White-cheeked Honeyeater
  90. White-throated Honeyeater
  91. Blue-faced Honeyeater
  92. Noisy Friarbird
  93. Little Friarbird
  94. Striped Honeyeater
  95. Eastern Whipbird
  96. Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
  97. Varied Triller
  98. Golden Whistler
  99. Rufous Whistler
  100. Little Shrike-thrush
  101. Grey Shrike-thrush
  102. Australasian Figbird
  103. Olive-backed Oriole
  104. White-breasted Woodswallow
  105. Grey Butcherbird
  106. Pied Butcherbird
  107. Australian Magpie
  108. Pied Currawong
  109. Spangled Drongo
  110. Grey Fantail
  111. Willie Wagtail
  112. Torresian Crow
  113. Leaden Flycatcher
  114. Restless Flycatcher
  115. Magpie-Lark
  116. Rose Robin
  117. Pale Yellow Robin
  118. Eastern Yellow Robin
  119. Golden-headed Cisticola
  120. Tawny Grassbird
  121. Silvereye
  122. Welcome Swallow
  123. Fairy Martin
  124. Tree Martin
  125. Common Myna
  126. Mistletoebird
  127. Red-browed Finch
  128. Australasian Pipit


Total Bird Spp – 128

Mammals – Australian Humpback Dolphin
Reptiles – Lace Monitor

Frogs – Litoria fallax [heard]

No comments:

Post a Comment