Hi All,
Spent an enjoyable afternoon and evening in D’Aguilar NP west of Brisbane yesterday, with several highlights.
My afternoon efforts concentrated on the trail to the north of the main road, about 5.5km west of Maiala. There were many good birds here, with Noisy Pittas very vocal (at least 4-5 birds), but always a little too far off the trail to see. A cracking male Paradise Riflebird foraged overhead, while Australian Logrunners, Rufous Fantails, Rose Robins and Green Catbirds were among the other birds seen around and about. Wompoo Fruit-Doves were heard but remained hidden as well.
After dusk I was joined by Jim Sneddon and George Chapman, and we tried the same trail. First cab off the rank was a very vocal pair of Marbled Frogmouths, with the male bird posing for fantastic photographs. A distant Sooty Owl was heard. After moving on to Brown’s Rd we heard another Marbled Frogmouth close by, and another distant Sooty Owl.
From there we moved on to Manorina, where the Sooty Owl has been reliable for a couple of weeks now, and we may have figured out why. A persistent rasping back in the forest that was in the trees but not moving is I think, a young bird. The call was quite persistent, matching the description in HANZAB for fledged young. We tried to get close to the call, but the forest off the trail is quite thick and we abandoned the search. The adult did come in after a while, giving one descending scream as it approached, and in response to squeaking gave the insect like trill which allowed us to locate it high up in the canopy. It remained high, vocalising occasionally, but as with previous visits seemed happy just to hang around and let us watch, not seeming overly perturbed by our presence or the spotlight.
We eventually left the birds in peace, very happy with our evenings efforts! If anyone has any questions, please let me know.
Regards and good birding!
Nick Leseberg Tropical Birding www.tropicalbirding.com
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
