The break in our travels during mid year found us back on the Sunshine Coast for a while, where I visited a few of my local haunts. There were some big seas and on shore winds prevailing, so I headed up the coast to try a spot of sea-bird watching. Apart from a few Australasian Gannets and a tern or two there wasn't much about.
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Point Arkwright |
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Point Perry rockscape |
The sewage treatment plant at Maroochydore had a few waterbirds present, some loafing on the grass banks and others busy feeding in the nutrient rich waters.
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Chestnut Teal & Pacific Black Ducks |
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Black-winged Stilt |
Out at the Maroochy Wetlands Sanctuary some of the local passerines were making the most of the winter sun.
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Maroochy River & Mt.Coolum |
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Welcome Swallow |
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Willie Wagtail |
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Scarlet Honeyeaters |
A visit to Parklands Forest Reserve yielded some close up views of some inquisitive members of the Malurus family and a shrike-thrush posing as a treecreeper.
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Variegated Fairy-wren - male |
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Variegated Fairy-wren - female |
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Little Shrike-Thrush |
Along the north shore of the Maroochy River at Mudjimba, a far off shape on the sand banks turned into a Beach Stone-Curlew through the field scope. I had read a report of a sighting by Greg Roberts in a post he published on his excellent blogsite
http://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com.au/, which gave me the incentive to look for this enigmatic wader.
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Maroochy River - north shore |
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Beach Stone-Curlew |
Cheers and Happy Birding
Beautiful Landscape Images, displaying the coast's natural beauty. I love the scarlet honeyeater picture, they are such beautiful little birds.
ReplyDeleteThanks Judi. The Sunshine Coast still has some lovely natural areas, especially the northern section and some great birding locations.
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