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
