KUREELA KAPERS

After living at our abode at Kureelpa (see previous post) for just over a year now, we have built up a nice list of 100 species of birds seen or heard, from the property.

One of the highlights was a pair of Black-shouldered Kites that nested in the top of a tall hoop pine out front, raising two chicks to fledging stage before dispersing.  

Black-shouldered Kite - adult

Black-shouldered  Kite - juveniles

We occasionally hear their contact calls or see them hunting in the distance over the surrounding paddocks.

A pair of frogmouths spent a morning trying to roost un-obtrusively before, I suspect, being moved along by a Magpie-lark that had alerted me to their presence with his noisy alarm calls.

Tawny Frogmouths

This particular pigeon is a regular, recognizable by the distinct, patchy plumage around the head and neck. 

White-headed Pigeon

One of the seven species of cuckoo on our list, posed nicely on the back fence. We only hear it's mournful call for a short while at certain times of the year, before it moves on.

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

This triller, a rare visitor to the area turned up one day, searching for invertebrates among the wilting flowers of a silky oak in the backyard. A bird I've only seen on a couple of occasions in over 15 years of living on the Sunshine Coast, it was a thrill to see one at home and so close, albeit for only a short time.

White-winged Triller

Raucous flocks of these large cockatoos fly by, sometimes landing in the flowering grevilleas for a poke around before heading off down to the coast or up to the ranges. You can fully appreciate the size and character of these wonderful birds from close range.

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo

The Restless Flycatcher is a resident bird that usually lives up to it's name, but in this instant bucked the trend and sat still for more then five seconds.

Restless Flycatcher - at rest

And restless!

This lorikeet, a casual visitor to the garden was searching for sustenance in the form of nectar from a grevillea flower.

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

As was a Dusky Honeyeater, a regular here that competes for food resources with it's more prolific cousin the Brown Honeyeater.

Dusky Honeyeater

Another highlight was couple of  visiting Little Lorikeets. An uncommon species I have only seen a couple times up this way, that flew in with a small flock of Scalies amongst which they can easily be overlooked.
 

Another of our seasonal visitors are the Silvereyes, which I always delight in hearing and seeing as they pass through in busy little groups. Sometimes I am privileged to hear a solitary bird quietly mimicking other bird species, a trait not commonly known of this diminutive migrant.

Silvereye

A lone White-necked Heron that flys in regularly to a small dam on the neighbours property, is one of the few members of this family we see from here.

White-necked Heron

Our raptor count is quite impressive with ten species, but no decent images of any seen from here except the temporarily resident B.S.Kites. I had the pleasure of observing a Spotted Harrier flying past quite closely one day, but with no camera handy. I have included a photo of one taken this year from another location here on the coast.    

Spotted Harrier - Bli Bli 

Cheers & A Happy (Birding) New Year!

Bird list, Kureelpa: 17/12/14 - 31/12/15
Seq.	Species	Scientific Name	Date	Location	Comments
1	Australian Brush-turkey	Alectura lathami
2	Brown Quail	Coturnix ypsilophora			heard
3	Magpie Goose	Anseranas semipalmata			heard
4	Australian Wood Duck	Chenonetta jubata
5	Pacific Black Duck	Anas superciliosa
6	White-headed Pigeon	Columba leucomela
7	Brown Cuckoo-Dove	Macropygia amboinensis
8	Emerald Dove	Chalcophaps indica			heard
9	Crested Pigeon	Ocyphaps lophotes			heard
10	Bar-shouldered Dove	Geopelia humeralis
11	Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove	Ptilinopus regina			deceased (14-09-15)
12	Tawny Frogmouth	Podargus strigoides
13	White-throated Needletail	Hirundapus caudacutus
14	Little Pied Cormorant	Microcarbo melanoleucos
15	White-necked Heron	Ardea pacifica
16	Eastern Great Egret	Ardea modesta
17	Cattle Egret	Ardea ibis
18	White-faced Heron	Egretta novaehollandiae
19	Australian White Ibis	Threskiornis molucca
20	Straw-necked Ibis	Threskiornis spinicollis
21	Black-shouldered Kite	Elanus axillaris
22	Pacific Baza	Aviceda subcristata
23	White-bellied Sea-Eagle	Haliaeetus leucogaster
24	Brahminy Kite	Haliastur indus
25	Brown Goshawk	Accipiter fasciatus
26	Collared Sparrowhawk	Accipiter cirrocephalus
27	Spotted Harrier	Circus assimilis
28	Wedge-tailed Eagle	Aquila audax
29	Nankeen Kestrel	Falco cenchroides
30	Brown Falcon	Falco berigora
31	Purple Swamphen	Porphyrio porphyrio
32	Dusky Moorhen	Gallinula tenebrosa			heard
33	Masked Lapwing	Vanellus miles
34	Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo	Calyptorhynchus funereus
35	Galah	Eolophus roseicapillus
36	Little Corella	Cacatua sanguinea
37	Sulphur-crested Cockatoo	Cacatua galerita
38	Rainbow Lorikeet	Trichoglossus haematodus
39	Scaly-breasted Lorikeet	Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus
40	Little Lorikeet	Glossopsitta pusilla			22/02/15 - 2 birds in silky oak
41	Australian King-Parrot	Alisterus scapularis
42	Pale-headed Rosella	Platycercus adscitus
43	Pheasant Coucal	Centropus phasianinus
44	Eastern Koel	Eudynamys orientalis
45	Channel-billed Cuckoo	Scythrops novaehollandiae
46	Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo	Chalcites basalis			heard
47	Shining Bronze-Cuckoo	Chalcites lucidus			heard
48	Fan-tailed Cuckoo	Cacomantis flabelliformis
49	Brush Cuckoo	Cacomantis variolosus			heard
50	Southern Boobook	Ninox novaeseelandiae			heard
51	Laughing Kookaburra	Dacelo novaeguineae
52	Forest Kingfisher	Todiramphus macleayii
53	Sacred Kingfisher	Todiramphus sanctus			heard
54	Rainbow Bee-eater	Merops ornatus
55	Dollarbird	Eurystomus orientalis
56	Red-backed Fairy-wren	Malurus melanocephalus
57	Brown Thornbill	Acanthiza pusilla			heard
58	Striated Pardalote	Pardalotus striatus
59	Lewin's Honeyeater	Meliphaga lewinii
60	Noisy Miner	Manorina melanocephala
61	Little Wattlebird	Anthochaera chrysoptera
62	Dusky Honeyeater	Myzomela obscura
63	Scarlet Honeyeater	Myzomela sanguinolenta
64	Brown Honeyeater	Lichmera indistincta
65	White-cheeked Honeyeater	Phylidonyris niger
66	Blue-faced Honeyeater	Entomyzon cyanotis
67	Noisy Friarbird	Philemon corniculatus
68	Little Friarbird	Philemon citreogularis
69	Eastern Whipbird	Psophodes olivaceus
70	Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike	Coracina novaehollandiae
71	Cicadabird	Coracina tenuirostris
72	White-winged Triller	Lalage sueurii			9/11/15 - single bird in silky oak
73	Varied Triller	Lalage leucomela
74	Golden Whistler	Pachycephala pectoralis
75	Little Shrike-thrush	Colluricincla megarhyncha			heard
76	Australasian Figbird	Sphecotheres vieilloti
77	Olive-backed Oriole	Oriolus sagittatus
78	White-breasted Woodswallow	Artamus leucorhynchus
79	Grey Butcherbird	Cracticus torquatus
80	Pied Butcherbird	Cracticus nigrogularis
81	Australian Magpie	Cracticus tibicen
82	Pied Currawong	Strepera graculina
83	Spangled Drongo	Dicrurus bracteatus
84	Grey Fantail	Rhipidura albiscapa
85	Willie Wagtail	Rhipidura leucophrys
86	Torresian Crow	Corvus orru
87	Restless Flycatcher	Myiagra inquieta
88	White-eared Monarch	Carterornis leucotis			heard
89	Spectacled Monarch	Symposiarchus trivirgatus			heard
90	Magpie-lark	Grallina cyanoleuca
91	Eastern Yellow Robin	Eopsaltria australis			heard
92	Golden-headed Cisticola	Cisticola exilis			heard
93	Tawny Grassbird	Megalurus timoriensis			heard
94	Silvereye	Zosterops lateralis
95	Welcome Swallow	Hirundo neoxena
96	Common Myna	Sturnus tristis
97	Mistletoebird	Dicaeum hirundinaceum
98	Double-barred Finch	Taeniopygia bichenovii
99	Red-browed Finch	Neochmia temporalis
100	Chestnut-breasted Mannikin	Lonchura castaneothorax

BOWRA SANCTUARY - Part 2

All up during our five day stay at Bowra we saw nearly 80 species of birds, the most conspicuous being the smaller bush birds. Some were easier to photograph than others, but my main aim when birding is to observe and enjoy the experience as a whole and if I get a decent image that's a bonus. 

Jacky Winter

Rufous Songlark

Zebra Finch

I still like to add new birds to my life list though, and did when I found a small group of Hall's Babblers in the thick Mulga scrub about 8 km from the Homestead, pishing one inquisitive bird in for a good look at it's identifying features. It didn't hang around for a photo though and was quickly flying and bouncing off with rest of the mob.    

Diamond Dove

Splendid Fairy-wren - female

A bird I failed to find even after some diligent searching around a known area for them was the Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush, a cryptically patterned ground bird that obviously blends in well with it's preferred habitat.

Stony Ridge - spot the Quail-thrush!

While walking along looking for the elusive Quail-thrush I nearly bumped into the massive web of this  large spider. The females can measure up to 45mm in body length and the male a puny 6mm. 

 Orb Weaver

The image below along with the Brolgas in my previous post is a favourite, primarily because I very rarely snaffle three or more birds in one frame unless it's a distant flock of waders or such.  

Hooded Robins - 2 males and a female

Red-capped Robin

Bowra is renowned for its birds of prey and we saw seven varieties there. The bird list has 19 raptor species including Grey Falcon (seen on our previous visit) and Black Falcon, one that still eludes me and my official bogey bird.    

Brown Falcon

Black-shouldered Kite

  

Black-breasted Buzzard

Black-breasted Buzzard

Bowra Sanctuary is managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, an organization that owns 23 sanctuaries across Australia and well worth supporting. 

See here for more info: http://www.australianwildlife.org/Bowra.aspx

Bourke's Parrot

Cheers & Happy Birding

OVER THE BORDER

Clare and I headed off to Lismore in northern New South Wales back in early October, for a family re-union with her rellies. We stayed in a local caravan park and in between the various family gatherings we were able to get out and about the local area for a bit of sightseeing.

On a drive out to New Italy via Coraki we stopped for some raptor watching among the rolling hills and farmlands. This kite very kindly flew on to a high perch close by and gave us stunning views through our binos. 

Black-shouldered Kite.

  

On the way back to Lismore that afternoon the weather became unsettled and we could see some activity ahead.

Our return route was leading us straight towards some decidedly unfriendly looking skies.

We were approaching the storm front at an angle and soon caught up to the towering face of the 

monster. In the end it was it was all show and not much blow, thank goodness! 

 

The morning of that same day we had stopped in for a walk in Rotary Park Rainforest Reserve at Lismore Heights, hoping to see some bush birds.There weren't too many feathered fliers but plenty of furry ones. It looked like a colony of fruit bats had taken over the area for their daytime roost and the noise and smell of hundreds of these much maligned creatures was quite overpowering. Nevertheless we did the circuit without any mishaps and even saw a few birds including some nesting White Ibises.

      

Grey-headed Flying Fox

Just hanging around.