G’day
In the spirit of people posting write-ups of good birding accommodation, I would like to mention “Kelsie’s Cottage” at Greenlands – about 10 mins west of Stanthorpe on the Texas Rd. It is a handy spot for people traversing the New England Highway, or birding, bushwalking or doing the wine tasting fooding thing on the Granite Belt.
Kelsie Neilson has an environmental background and has a 2 bedroom cottage on a land for wildlife block. There is a birdwatching verandah on two sides of the cottage. I’m not sure what the RE type is, but it is a eucalypt woodland with extensive undergrowth and a small dam (with plenty of small fish). I photographed close to 20 species of woodland birds while I was there a couple of weeks ago (the usual suspects – Miners, Magpies, Crows etc were thin on the ground because of the undergrowth).
One of the features of the property is a “Chook Mahal” – an unused luxurious chookpen about the size of an average house (complete with fruit trees and frog pond). I got some nice pix of Speckled Warblers on the edge of the pen.
From the rocking chairs on the verandahs, you can watch fairy wrens, finches, fantails, tree creepers and geregones etc. There were quite a few Musk Lorikeets feeding in the flowers in the eucs, and a family of Crimson Rosellas feeding on some bushes close to the ground. Round the dam, there were bronzewing pigeons, honeyeaters (e.g. Naped, Yellow-faced and White Plumed) and pardalotes coming in for a drink. There were also Dusky Woodswallows, Peaceful Doves and Forest Kingfishers up in the canopy, with Dollarbirds patrolling the sky. I heard a few cuckoos calling, but the highlight was finding a Rufous Whistler nest with freshly hatched chicks …
Overall, it is a very nice place, with better vibe, range of bird species and night sky than most of the other accommodation in the region. It is hard to beat birding breakfasts and beer o’clocks on ye olde verandahs … I can pass on Kelsie’s contact details to any birders looking spend some time on the Granite Belt …
Regards, Laurie.
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