I spent a couple of hours at lunchtime at the Maroochy Wetlands Sanctuary at Bli Bli on the Sunshine Coast. I chose this time as the tides and heat were right for seeing the crabs which were really the objects of the excursion. However, it was one of those days when cicadas were calling and visible, and the birds seemed quite cooperative and were singing loudly all around me at a time they’d usually be avoiding the heat.
As well as the Collared, Sacred and Azure Kingfishers, there were Grey and Little Shrike-thrushes, several Mangrove Gerygones right beside me, Grey and Rufous Fantails, etc. etc., but the absolute highlight was a juvenile Shining Flycatcher going into male adult plumage. It was the splotchiest creature I have ever seen, blobs of chestnut, white and black in no particular pattern, and the shoulders were not just glossed with blue, but appeared the blue of the Superb Fairy-wren! It flitted around for so long, and quite close, that I was even able to show it to some folks who came without binoculars!
Great way to be finishing this year’s birding for me!
Robyn Howard ===============================
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 ===============================
