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| Black Falcon [Steve Popple pic] |
Another successful weekend away for our group with good company and good birds and wildlife.
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| Blue billed Duck [poor pic by Ken Cross] |
The weekend started at 5-30pm on the friday afternoon or it was going to start then however one of our number was delayed by a massive fire which caused a chaos that in turn caused massive traffic delays. It was soon forgotten though as we drove up over the Blackall Range through Mapleton and Maleny before dropping down west of Peachester enroute to Kilcoy and our evening meal. Next stop was our digs for a two night stay - Esk Caravan Park.
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| Pink eared Duck with Blue billed in attendance [Ken Cross] |
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| Pink eared Duck [Ken Cross] |
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| Pink eared Duck [Ken Cross] |
From this base we explored, over a very windy Saturday, a variety of the Lockyer Valley sites. Best birds included multiple sightings of Black Falcon, two blue billed Ducks at Gatton's UQ campus,hundreds of Pink-eared Duck, several Banded Lapwing and excellent views of Buff rumped Thornbills plus migrating Silvereyes from Tasmania. Thanks to Mike Mathieson who was our trusty guide and navigator.
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| Buff rumped Thornbill [Ken Cross] |
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| Buff rumped Thornbill [Ken Cross] |
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| [Tasmanian sub sp] Silvereye [Ken Cross] |
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| [Tasmanian sub sp] Silvereye [Ken Cross] |
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| Banded Lapwing [Steve Popple] |
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| A nice line of Cockatiels - rarely if ever seen on the Sunny Coast [Steve Popple] |
Had dinner and a few obligatory drinks at an Esk Hotel before some essential sleep...
Sunday allowed us to explore the nearby Crow's Nest Falls National Park and there was a lovely short two kilometre walk through forest that circled back via the creek line. A reasonable variety of bush birds with Rose robin perhaps the standout. Koala was the stand out mammal.
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| Koala [Ken Cross] |
Lake Perseverance allowed us to 'twitch' Brush tailed Rock Wallabies. A cute little macropod species that are reasonably easy to find on the dam wall.
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| Brush tailed Rock Wallaby [Ken Cross] |
Bird Species recorded
Esk Weekend
Australian Brush Turkey
Magpie Goose
Plumed Whistling-Duck
Wandering Whistling-Duck
Black Swan
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| Hardhead, Black Duck, Plumed Whistling Duck, Pink eared, Grey Teal [Steve Popple] |
Australian Wood Duck
Grey Teal
Pacific Black Duck
Hardhead
Pink eared Duck
Blue billed Duck
Australasian Grebe
Rock Dove
Spotted Dove
Crested Pigeon
Peaceful Dove
Bar-shouldered Dove
Wonga Pigeon
Australasian Darter
Little Pied Cormorant
Great Cormorant
Little Black Cormorant
Australian Pelican
White-necked Heron
Eastern Great Egret
Intermediate Egret
Cattle Egret
White-faced Heron
Little Egret
Glossy Ibis
Australian White Ibis
Straw-necked Ibis
Royal Spoonbill
Yellow-billed Spoonbill
Eastern Osprey
Black-shouldered Kite
Black Kite
White-bellied Sea-Eagle
Whistling Kite
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Nankeen Kestrel
Black Falcon
Purple Swamphen
Dusky Moorhen
Eurasian Coot
Black-winged Stilt
Black-fronted Dotterel
Red Kneed Dotteral
Masked Lapwing
Banded Lapwing
Whiskered Tern
Galah
Little Corella
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Cockatiel
Rainbow Lorikeet
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Little Lorikeet
Australian King Parrot
Pale-headed Rosella
Red-rumped Parrot
Pheasant Coucal
Shining Bronze-Cuckoo
Southern Boobook
Laughing Kookaburra
White-throated Treecreeper
Superb Fairy-wren
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| Superb Fairy-wren [Steve Popple] |
Red-backed Fairy-wren
Variegated Fairy-wren
White-browed Scrubwren
White-throated Gerygone
Striated Thornbill
Buff-rumped Thornbill
Brown Thornbill
Spotted Pardalote
Striated Pardalote
Lewin's Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
Noisy Miner
Little Wattlebird
Scarlet Honeyeater
Brown Honeyeater
White-throated Honeyeater
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Noisy Friarbird
Little Friarbird
Striped Honeyeater
Eastern Whipbird
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Golden Whistler
Rufous Whistler
Grey Shrike-thrush
Australasian Figbird
White-breasted Woodswallow
Grey Butcherbird
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| Leaden Flycatcher female [Ken Cross] |
Pied Butcherbird
Australian Magpie
Pied Currawong
Grey Fantail
Willie Wagtail
Torresian Crow
Leaden Flycatcher
Restless Flycatcher
Magpie-Lark
Rose Robin
Eastern Yellow Robin
Silvereye
Welcome Swallow
Fairy Martin
Tree Martin
Common Starling
Common Myna
Double-barred Finch
Red-browed Finch
House Sparrow
Mammals
Brown Bandicoot
Koala
Red necked Wallaby
Brush tailed Rock Wallaby
Reptiles
Macquarie River Turtle
Another weekend away, this time to Tin Can Bay is planned for the last weekend in November.
