BIRDING IN 2019 - Jan England

My year started in South Australia as I had been travelling around Australia since the end of May 2018.  I spent Christmas Day at Eyre Bird Observatory and on Boxing Day moved on to South Australia where I wanted to find the Naretha Blue Bonnet.  There were 7 Barred Cuckoo-shrikes at the turnoff to the Observatory which was exciting.  I went into Koonalda Homestead owned by South Australia National Parks where it was 45 degrees so not very pleasant but couldn’t find the Blue Bonnet. 

Word was out that a Citrine Wagtail had turned up at Whyalla Wetlands so after one night at Smokey Bay CP I headed to Whyalla.  It was 48 degrees when I stepped out of the car at 1:30pm but it was too windy to even hold up the scope or my binoculars so I decided to come back next morning.  I spent the night at Fitzgerald Bay where it blew so hard I had to put the roof down in my van in the middle of the night. It didn’t get below 30 degrees all night.  Back next morning to get better views of the Wagtail and I even managed a recognizable  photo.

Citrine Wagtail

After visiting my sister in Millicent I headed for Werribee where James Mustafa met Polly Cutcliffe and I and he showed us the Tufted Duck just as it flew off not to be seen again for 11 days. This was my second new bird in a few days.  Then on to my daughter’s place north of Melbourne before going over to Tasmania in the ferry. I met up with my son who had moved to Tassie nine months previously and then I travelled around the State finding most of the endemics all of which I had seen previously.  Fires were prevalent in the area so travelling was restricted. I also went on a pelagic out of Eaglehawk Neck but didn’t get any new birds as it was a quiet day.

Tufted Duck

After being away from home for 10 months I decided it was time to head home so I came up along the coast and I was home in 5 weeks at the end of March. But I had missed the Blue Bonnet so I booked a trip with Peter Waanders at the end of April. This started in Port Lincoln where we found the new White-bellied Whipbird (split from the Eastern Whipbird) and then headed west to Koonalda where we found the Naretha Blue Bonnets (only 3) and ended in Adelaide where we found the Barbary Dove which I had never seen.

The rest of the year was fairly quiet until I went with Michele Grant to Carnarvon Gorge for a week in early September. It was lovely to see some green vegetation as the rest of the country in the area was very dry.  Michele and I have been doing the Sippy Downs wetland surveys in most months this year. 

Then off to Cape York with Ken Cross and Steve Grainger.  I had done the Cape many times over the years but it was nice to see some of these special birds again.  The weather was good and the company was excellent.

In October I went to King Island as I wanted to see some of the subspecies found on this island.  It is a very scenic island and very interesting with a World No 1 Golf Course at Cape Wickham and a very productive kelp industry. Their dairy industry has declined because of the cost of transferring cattle and produce across the strait but the cheese factory is still operating.  It was amazing to see how many Wild Turkeys roam the island as well as Common Pheasant.

I have just finished the year with a week in Victoria and a trip to Werribee Sewerage Farm (the No1 birding site in Australia for me) where we saw 2 Long-toed Stints as well as a myriad of other waders and waterfowl but no other specialities this time.  This week I went to Lake Samsonvale flushing a pair of Stubble Quail and then to Cove Rd.   Who knows what 2020 will bring!

Birding, a beginner’s perspective, by Terry Kirkland

out of area - Australian Bustard

Six years ago I enrolled in a U3A Sunshine Coast croquet course because having then recently retired from a high pressure media career I needed a release, something low stress, yet stimulating and refreshing and individual. Six years later I’m still a very active player with the Caloundra Croquet Club. Croquet is a beautiful game.

 

Californian Quail in NZ

Two years ago I enrolled in another U3A activity, birdwatching, because I love the bush and I love binoculars. Birds are nice, but that wasn’t my motivation. I just needed an excuse to wander the outdoors and use my binos more. Birding too, I’ve since discovered, is another beautiful activity. And I now think birds are more than nice, they’re fascinating.

So what?

I started both activities because I wanted to try something different, and that has turned out to be highly rewarding for me. Both activities have similar backbones...done well they demand individual focus, planning and research; they are low impact, but require enough energy to spend 3-5 hours and more in the field. I’m writing this because the important factor in continuing in both pursuits is that, while it’s fine finding your own way, “newbies” gain from some guidance. Both activities require skills and wandering around the court or bush or shore-side without some initial direction can be less than fulfilling.

I soon out that found trying to engage with a random male birder or even worse a pair of male birders at a bird site was often pointless. Many were rude and dismissive. Bit sad, but there you go. On the other hand most ladies I met were helpful and supportive. Interesting.

My 2019 U3A group is a wonderful bunch of people ranging from total newcomers to the hobby to three or four top-notch birders (known to most of you) who spread their knowledge as best as possible in a 20+ group situation. The Sunshine Coast Birding Facebook Group, though, has been the circuit breaker for me and after a number of faltering posting attempts in late 2018 I’ve spent my time on the page in 2019 watching and learning. I think I’m now learning birds and their habitats at an exponential rate from the clearly wide skillsets of the participants in the group. And Carol Popple, I think I’ve even reduced my double-ups when I do submit a post!! Thank you for your patience.

White throated Treecreeper

 

Nankeen Night heron

female Koel in a waterfall of fruit

SC mega - croquet playing Banded Lapwing

grasshopper

In the past two years I’ve been on specialised birding tours to the NT and FNQ and travelled with my U3A group to the Ballina and Dalby regions and to Jimna, and all trips have been eye openers to the world of birds and the wildly diverse nature of folk that are birders. Love it!

 

RTBC

female Red winged Parrot

I have birding apps on my phone, and books and bird charts, but to us newcomers male, female, juvenile and breeding plumage variations, changing names, etc. can be confusing. The Facebook page…the bird IDs, the photos, good and bad, help the inexperienced. The distances travelled by our top birders is staggering, and they in my view are the real educators because they seem to me to be those stretching the boundaries beyond the easier-to-find birds and locales and genuinely seem to enjoy sharing. Same in all fields…the top guns are the sharers. I probably, no certainly, won’t see all the birds and habitats they’ve shared, but I thank them because I’ll keep looking. I’m sure the birds do, too, because they need all the support they can get.

Variegated Wren

My kids and grandkids now think I’m a bit OCD birds and I hear them talking to their friends and whispering “he is a bit odd, he watches birds AND he plays croquet!!.}  I really must stop sending them photos of the red-bellied blacks and king browns I meet on my walks, though. And I’ve had to promise them I’ll let someone know where I go when I head bush. I’ll get around to doing that at some stage.

(Although I’ve upgraded my camera to a nice kit, I want to be a bird watcher not a photographer, so view my attached photos in that light please.}

 

local Pacific Baza

Grey Heron, Tokyo

female Riflebird - Atherton Tableland

Cassowary

GS Parrot - Artemis

Happy birding.

Terry

2019 - My Birding Year - Zoe Farris

Regent Honeyeater

2019 was my second year Birding, and just as exciting as my first year, 2018. I saw many birds for the first time, and many I get to know the year before, but there were two events stand out in my mind for 2019. The first was the notification that a pair of Regent Honeyeaters were spotted at Springfield Lakes outside Brisbane. I set the satnav without knowing exactly where I was headed and off I went on my first long distance trip to see a particular bird.

Regent Honeyeater

After a few hours driving I arrived and started looking in the few places the birds and been reported. I met a few other Birders and we chatted as we searched. For over two hours we had no luck and my time to return to the Sunshine Coast was drawing near. Disappointed, I headed toward the car, thinking that the trip was still worth it for the experience and meeting other likeminded people, when a call went up. "They are over here!"

The two Regent Honeyeaters were in a small tree by the lake and quickly made their way to the larger tree near the café. With about twenty Birders standing around the tree the birds were comfortably preening and flitting about. I am sure they were enjoying all the fuss.

From what I heard from other, more experienced Birders, this pair were the only ones known to be so far south. And my research showed that they had once been seen up the along the Sunshine Coast and beyond. I spent a few hours watching these lovely birds and counted myself among the lucky group who go to see them.

The second event was an extended one, two months in all. A few blocks from where I live, at Golden Beach, a pair of Tawny Frogmouths had a clutch of three chicks. The nest was very low, touching distance, and right above the main walkway. The pair and their kids had a regular parade of people, kids and dogs passing beneath them, with many walkers stopping for a look. Luckily everyone showed respect for the parents and looked without intrusion. As the babies grew and began to explore their nest, they gathered even bigger crowds of locals and were as interested in the people as the people were interested in them.

Tawny

Tawny Frogmouth fam

junior

Over the next few months the babies grew and started leaving their nest to explore the nearby branches of their tree. On his first day out of the nest the third little one found himself on the Boardwalk hand railing, with dad in a tree nearby, watching. While passers-by kept a safe distance, I had to make the decision to move the little one to a safer spot as a fun run was about to pass through, and I was worried that people and their dogs might accidently scare the tiny Frogmouth. With care I lifted the baby from underneath, with as little contact as possible and moved him to the branch under dad. Unfortunately, a pair of Butcherbirds attacked and he flew off into the mangroves. I retrieved him again and sat him on a long branch and lifted him right up to dad.

From this adventure the family of five Tawny Frogmouths thrived. They spent daytimes resting in the trees near the Boardwalk entrance, learning to sit still, which the chicks were not too good at in the beginning, learning to fly, jumping from branch to branch at first, waiting for mum and dad to bring dinner home.

here's looking at you, kid

Over the two months the young ones grew and started flying off after their parents, and eventually only a few at a time were seen in their 'training trees' as I called them. While they may have stopped in a few times I suspect they went further afield. I was so happy they had a successful hatch and all grew to fledge, and at the same time a sadness at their leaving.

The other thing I have enjoyed has been the amazing people I have met. I didn't attend as many outings as I would have liked but the Mary Cairns Cross day was a special occasion, as I caught up with people I have met previously, but also some newbies, as I has been the year before. I love it when others are around to share and point out birds for each other.

Great experiences, beautiful birds and amazing people are why I took up Birding and I look forward to more and varied adventures in 2020. - Zoe Farris

My 2019 Birding Year – Lauren Tomkinson

Lauren in the field

Ever since I was born, 12 years ago, my parents have been taking me birding.

 My 2019 birding year started off great, I love owls, and in January, on a night drive through Sunday Creek Road, we were lucky enough to find half a dozen fledgling Australian Boobook owls. Sooo cute! Later in the year, on other night-time outings, I also got to see my first Sooty Owls and Masked Owls. I didn’t see any Powerful Owls or Barking Owls this year though, unless you count the beautiful Barking Owl Silo Art which I saw while on holiday at Goorambat in Victoria. 

Sooty Owl [mum]

Masked Owl [mum]

Masked Owl [me]

Fledgling Boobook mum]

Barking Owl - Silo portrait

I also saw my first Marbled Frogmouth this year. I can remember all the way back to 2014, when I was 6 and I went on my first night-time Birdlife Members walk at Charlie Moreland’s and I could hear a Marbled Frogmouth but I couldn’t see it, despite us staying behind for hours to walk the circuit track with Steve and Carol after all the other members had left. So to finally see a Marbled Frogmouth this year, sitting on a branch close to the road was an exciting find.

My Marbled Frogmouth pic

My Boobook

Because I don’t have a facebook page yet, I don’t post in the facebook birdcount challenge, but I do use QuestaGame. This year I competed in the Maroochy Wetlands Eco-challenge for kids. I had competed in previous years but this year I tried extra hard and submitted lots of bird photo’s, although most of them were blurry. The camera I was using was a 2^nd hand Nikon P510 on auto setting, it has a great zoom but unless the birds sit still for me my photo’s are just plain awful. The only good photo I got over the 2 week competition was a Large-Billed Scrubwren. If you identified the sightings you got extra points, a lot of the common ones I knew, the others I had to look up in my bird book and using google. I put a lot of time in submitting photo’s and trying to identify them and I was so excited when I heard I won!

My Large billed Scrubwren

Birding legend!

In September, when my parents took me on a driving holiday I saw lots of birds in the outback on our way to Darwin. I also saw lots of birds at the Corroboree Billabong where we travelled through the everglades on an airboat, but my biggest dip was at Nitmiluk Gorge where I saw, but didn’t get a photo of their rare visitor, a Great Billed Heron.

My Dad goes to Cape York nearly every year for his holidays and next year he is taking me to the Cape and to the Tip of Australia, I am so looking forward to 2020 and all the new birds I will see on the way.

2019 My Birding Year By Michael Dawson

Blsck necked Stork

Growing up I was always more interested in watching and enjoying nature. I would be in the outfield playing that boring game cricket and be more interested in watching the masked lapwings and its chicks.

Nankeen Night Heron

For many years I have watched the abundance of birds, using my trusty old slater field guide trying to quickly identify from memory.

Restless Flycatcher

This year I picked up a camera and gave the “Game” a go. I thought that I would be happy to reach 100 species, I reached it and realised I was enjoying myself, meeting some awesome fellow birders and exploring some birding areas I had never ventured into. So the count went on!

Cattle Egrets

Some of my highlights of the year are seeing a Green Pygmy Goose for the first time, doing a pelagic trip off Mooloolaba and seeing a Masked Booby. To add to my bird identifying skills has been a major bonus as well.

Latham's Snipe

Reaching a total of over 250 species has far outreached my expectations. Will I be back in the game next year?…… Let the birding bug  see where it takes me!

Welcome Swallow

Birding is good for the heart, good for the soul and mind, and seriously better than anything on tv!

MY BIRDING YEAR--- a non-illustrated story - by Russ Lamb

                                             

Writing an annual review of my birding year used to be a regular event, but I somehow fell out of the habit-----until now. The year started well with a trip to Tassie and my first ever Eaglehawk Neck pelagic which produced 6 lifers, a rare event for me these days. Never thought of myself as a petrel-head, but there I was ticking-off both Grey-backed  and White-faced Storm-Petrel, along with Great-winged, White-chinned and  Grey-faced Petrel. A new tubenose in Buller’s Albatross, and the strange sight of a very southern Brown Booby ended a great day on the water. Morepork was also on my target list and I was woken one morning pre-dawn by the classic call, scrambling to find bins, torch etc. However, a  through two hour search of the bush behind the house failed to locate the bird. I was also determined to see a Satin Flycatcher and located a female feeding a juvenile , finally removing lingering doubts I’d harboured about previous Qld sightings of this species. And no trip to Tasmania is complete without casting one’s eye on my favourite robin , the Pink Robin. Because birding has to include dips as well as ticks, I confess to failing to find the Hudsonian Godwit, despite three valiant attempts.

The highlight of the year was the Cape York trip from Weipa to Cairns guided by Ken and Steve. Although I’d birded most of the route previously in 2006 it was great to see again those Cape and Iron Range specialities, with my stand-out species being Northern Scrub-Robin, Yellow-billed Kingfisher and Palm Cockatoo. One whole day in Lakefield NP was all we had but there were memorable sightings of Emu, Brolga, Sarus Crane, Bustard, Black-throated Finch and Black-breasted Buzzard. The trip ended on a high with the sighting of a Black Bittern in Cairns.

A few days over the border in the Byron/Ballina region allowed visits to some of my favourite birding sites. The magnificent West Byron Wetlands gave me Rufous Songlark and Black-eared Cuckoo, species which I hadn’t seen for many years. A Brown Songlark at Lake Chickiba, Ballina was in the same category.

And local birding on the Sunshine Coast was, as always, varied and interesting. My local birding is structured around , but not exclusive to, a number of Birdlife Australia projects. Surveys at the Yandina Creek Wetlands can be a challenge, but one is always rewarded with a wide range of species, Wood Sandpiper being my pick of the year. Monthly surveys at Jabiru Park/Fearnley Hide for the Wetlands Project are always rewarding, with Black-necked Stork regularly seen, and just this month a number of Oriental Cuckoo appearing and easily seen. Some winter nights were spent on the Powerful Owl Project in the Cooroy/Pomona area, following a fairly strict surveying protocol, with unfortunately no PO’s detected. We did however hear Masked Owl behind some houses, and our last night had Owlet-Nightjar calling in three separate locations. I’m also involved in monthly wader/shorebird counts at the Noosa River mouth, always great to get out on the water and observe the changing species and counts over the year. A pair of Beach Stone-Curlew are resident there, and usually seen. And during the warmer months there’s a couple of  National Latham’s Snipe counts to be undertaken.

As in most years, this year I day- guided overseas and interstate birders from the birding-pal website, from Sweden, NZ, USA, Netherlands, Canada and WA. It’s always a pleasure to show visitors our great habitats and birds, and this year Black-breasted Button-Quail and Regent Bowerbird headed the list. And our last Birding Sunshine Coast mid-week outing produced the spectacular sight of around 200 White-throated Needletail drinking and bathing on the wing over Ewen Maddock Dam.

So a varied year, with many good birds and even better company. I look forward to seeing many of you out there in 2020 

Top birds seen on the Sunshine Coast for 2019

Below are a variety of opinions, in no particular order...

1. Australasian Bittern photographed over Coolum industrial estate by Gillian Matthew. And then again over Parklakes  by Gary [and Deb] Quirk - an excellent record [and photo] of a specie not really expected here.

   

   Australasian Bittern over Coolum [G. Matthew]

   

   and again over Parklakes [Gazanddeb]

2. Great Bowerbird [not seen by me] photographed near Montville by Gillian Matthew - an unbelievable record [though i clearly believe it as i have seen the pic!] What is such a bird doing in Montville!? The nearest population is probably as north as Bowen. This is a specie that does not migrate, as far as i know not particularly nomadic, is a bird of lowlands and not hills, drier forests and scrubland not closed forests....Therefore everything about this record seems 'weird'. It is great that birds do not read the books and continue to amaze and confound.

   

   it is a Bowerbird and it is great [G. Matthew]

3. Bar breasted Honeyeater seen briefly at Lake McDonald in January was another mega for the Sunshine Coast.
4. Blue winged Kookaburra - again an interesting vagrant - one of the first SC records. Some records on ebird are almost certainly false.

   

   Blue winged Kookaburra

5. Banded Lapwing - an unexpected dryland bird that turned up to play croquet in Caloundra. Thanks are due to Terry Kirkland for getting the word out in a timely fashion!

   

   Banded Lapwing

6. Oriental Cuckoos seemed to be almost common in 2019 with multiple sightings at multiple sites - surely a new bird for many! 

   

   Oriental Cuckoo [P Fraser]

7. A long staying Freckled Duck at Gympie caused many to drive north.

   

   Freckled Duck in Gympie [Steve and Carol Popple] 

8. A huge flock of Plum headed Finches at everyone's favourite birding locale - Finland Road was a pleasant and amazing surprise. Again a dryland specie turning up near the coast.

   

   some Plum-headed Finches

9. Other dryland species turning up included Rufous and Brown Songlarks and Pallid Cuckoo on Finland Road. As well as Stubble Quail. 

   

   amazing shot of a female Stubble Quail at Finland Road [G. Matthew]

   

   Pallid Cuckoo

10. How could I forget? First ever record of Wood Sandpiper on SC at Yandina Creek Wetlands in January.

    

    YCW Wood Sandpiper

11. Diamond Firetails [and with it a great little suite of species – Brown Treecreeper, Dusky Woodswallow, Jacky Winter, Fuscous and Yellow tufted Honeyeaters, Rufous Songlark etc etc]  recorded near Jimna as the SOH extended controversially further west.

    

    Diamond Firetail

12. F Galegar Road also has a great little suite of spp – Weebill, Striated, Yellow and Buff rumped Thornbills, Speckled Warblers, Red tailed Black cockatoos etc etc]

    

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13. Pelagics off Mooloolaba yielded Long tailed Jaeger and Masked Booby along with other species such as Wedge tailed, Short tailed, Flesh footed, Huttons, Fluttering,  Shearwaters, Wilson’s Storm Petrel, Tahiti Petrel etc. Special thanks to Greg Roberts and Richard Fuller for continuing to organise these trips.

    

    Composite pictures of a Long tailed Jaeger [R Fuller et el]

    

    Masked Booby [G. Matthew]

14. Black tailed Native hen recorded at the year’s end on Cove Road, Stanmore.

    

    Black tailed Native hen

15. Hoary headed Grebe recorded on Kinbombi Falls Road in the northern parts of the zone by Paddy Colley and Gillian Matthew.

    

    Hoary headed Grebe [G. Matthew]

16.   Not so much unusual birds, we know they're there. Just damn hard to see. Several brilliant pictures of Ground Parrots and Pale-vented Bush-hens (and even chicks).

    

    Pale vented Bush hen [S. Harrison]

    

    wonderful image of a Ground Parrot in Cooloola [Ian 'Christopher Robin']

All non attributed pics taken by Ken Cross