Birdline Central & Southern Queensland Weekly Update

Birdline Central & Southern Queensland Published sightings for the week ending 31 Aug 2014. Sat 30 Aug Long Billed Corella Numinbah Valley Qld Barry and Jennifer Layton Ground Cuckooshrike Lake Clarendon 2 feeding in paddock beside causeway, approx. 100m along from gate. Near gnarled old gum tree. 1100 hours. Jo & Matt Culican Fri 29 Aug Swift Parrot Gould Adams Park, Kingston Two birds still present. Seen well after searching for about 50 minutes through all the eucalpyts and lorikeets, feeding in a tall Gum-topped Box near the creek, to the west of the car park. Only called once. Sandra Galliene Shining flycatcher Coochin creek camp ground Female seen foraging in mangroves on far bank from the campground James Fong Thu 28 Aug Black breasted button quail (5) Noisy Pitta (2) Inskip Point Recreation Area Great conditions for birding this morning following the thunderstorms the previous afternoon. Good variety of species with the highlight being able to watch a quail scratch out a platelet before it became aware we were watching. The hotspot for the quail and pittas was toward the end of the walking trail on the right hand side Hedley and Irena Earl Eastern Reef Egret Humpybong Creek mouth / rock groyne Following up on yesterday’s report, we found two birds on the rock groyne at the beach ‘mouth’ of the creek about 8:00am. Their colouring initially made them hard to find among the rocks but, when found, close observation was allowed – they were not shy at all. After 20 mins. of photos, etc, one flew up over the road and seemed to be heading for the spillway area where sighted yesterday. Brian & Meg Johnson Wed 27 Aug Eastern Reef Egret Grey morph Humpybong Creek Redcliffe Sighted at the spillway just downstream from the fountain. Constantly chasing off a Little Egret and ignored a Great Egret close by. I had a report of two but could only sight one. Vince Bugeja Tue 26 Aug Wedge-tailed Eagle Boonah Qld Two adults on nest with chick Wendy Dunn Lindsey Reeves Letter-winged Kite Brisbane, Airport, International Departures Report from July 16, 2014 received 26/8/14 – Having spent the night at Ibis, I arrived at the airport before sunrise, observing birds for an hour in front of International Departures. A kite passed by, on its way inland, first circling by the buildings and then being chased by a crow. Instead of the expected Black-shouldered Kite, it was a splendid adult Letter-winged Kite, the last raptor species I still missed in Australia. The main identification feature were the wide black bars across the underside of its inner wings (axillaries to the base of primaries), otherwise pure white, just a hint of dark in the very tips of primaries. After this stroke of luck, being rerouted from Honiara to Brisbane to Nadi instead of direct flight to Nadi did not feel so bad, after all! Could have taken a photo or two, but was too focused on admiring the rare sight to do that. (Moderator’s Note: This report is from July 16 and is unconfirmed – please do be on the lookout for this species however note that Kedron Brook Wetlands hosts a number of Black-shouldered Kites.) Petri Hottola Mon 25 Aug Pheasant Coucal (2) East Mary River Rd, Conondale Amazing views of both coucals roadside around 4pm this afternoon. We have never seen this bird close up before and certainly never seen the brilliant feather display Hedley & Irena Earl Sun 24 Aug Masked Owl, Southern Boobook Booloumba creek Rd 9pm last night we were pleased to finally sight a masked owl. At a property suggested to us we arrived at the location, played one taped call and the owl came in within 20 seconds. A boobook called once from the same location but otherwise no other owls were heard or sighted Hedley and Irena Earl