Birds of Munghorn Gap NR

 Spent three days camping at the Honeyeater flats camping area. This camping area is administered by the National Parks service based in Mudgee and a booking must be obtained to use the site. Proved to be an abundance of birds in the surrounding area, particularly near the junction of Moolarben Road and Wollar Road.

The following are some of the birds photographed from the area.

Crested Shrike-Tit (Falcunculus frontatus)

Diamond Firetail (Stagonopleura guttata)

 Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis)

 Jacky Winter (Microeca fascinans)

 Jacky Winter (Microeca fascinans)

Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis)

White-naped Honeyeater (Melithreptus lunatus)

Birds of Wilsons Promontory

A three day stay on Wilsons Promontory on Victoria’s South East coast  in March 2012 proved to be rewarding in terms of birds sighted and photographed. We stayed just outside the national park at Limosa Rise, http://limosarise.com.au/, that turned out to be a great choice. They have three, excellent, self-catering cottages surrounded by native plantings that attracted many of the local bird species.

The national park is well known for its scenery, walking trails, rugged coastline, native animals and birds. Many of the walking tracks were just about to be re-opened following the floods of early 2011

The following are some of the birds photographed from the area.

Brown Thornbill

Grey Fantail

New Holland Honeyeater

Pacific Gull (Juvenile)

Silvereye

White-eared Honeyeater

Yellow Faced Honeyeater

Gipsy point

Visited Gipsy Point which is on the Genoa River not far from Mallacoota. Stayed at the Gipsy Point Lakeside www.gipsy.com.au. which proved to be excellent accommodation and a good location for birding. They have a feeding twice a day which attracts large numbers of Rainbow Lorikeets, King Parrots, Galahs, Red-Browed Finches etc. Much of the surrounding flora has been planted so as to attract a lot of birds, small birds in particular. Spotted Superb Fairy Wrens, New Holland Honeyeaters, Bell Miners, Eastern Yellow Robins, Satin Bower Birds etc.

Besides birds there is a large resident population of kangaroos as well as other smaller marsupials.

We were there during the heavy rains in early March so the river was in flood hence no sign of the White-Bellied Sea Eagles which reportedly fish in the river. Did see a Whistling Kite which resides in the area.

Eastern Spinebill

Kangaroo

New Holland Honeyeater

Rainbow Lorikeets Feeding

Superb Fairy-Wren (Male)

Birds of the Mareeba Wetland

During June we took a trip to Nth Queensland and one of our chosen locations to visit was the Mareeba Wetlands. The birding in this area we found to be excellent, particularly the savanna birds. There were a good number of wetland birds as well but not in the numbers and varieties as apparently are around later in the year (wetlands are normally closed during the summer months).  

The birding experience was significantly enhanced by spending a morning with David “Chook” Crawford of Close-Up Birding Adventures (www.closeupbirding.com.au). Dave has intimate knowledge of the Mareeba Wetlands and birding in North Queensland in general. With his help I managed to get some decent photos especially of species specific to the area.

Some of the highlights:

Black-Throated Finch (Poephila cincta)

Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris)

Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus - race melancephalus)

Squatter Pigeon (Geophaps scripta - race peninsulae)

White-Throated Gerygone (Gerygone olivacea)

Mareeba Wetlands

During our June trip to Nth Queensland stayed at the Jabiru Safari Park located in the Mareeba wetlands.

The Mareeba Tropical Savanna and Wetland Reserve is an hour and 15 minutes drive west of Cairns, on the northern edge of the Atherton Tablelands (Cairns Highlands). The 2000ha reserve consists of open savanna woodland, grassland, and freshwater wetlands. The wetlands are man made and the whole area is a Conservancy dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and savannah flora and fauna. 

Jabiru Safari Park has deluxe tented accommodation and the main lodge is located on the edge of Clancy's lagoon.

Sunset over Clancy's lagoon

Water lilies in Clancy's lagoon

Birds at Thala Beach

There were extensive opportunities in the grounds of the Thala Beach Lodge for bird photography and bird watching. 

 The following are the stories behind just three of these species:

Large-billed Gerygone

A pair of Large-billed Gerygone had built their nest hanging from a branch over one of the small rock swimming pools at the Lodge This species has an amazing nest of grass, leaves and spiders web that hangs by a very thin thread usually over a stream helping to protects it from tree snakes etc. The birds were constantly taking food into their nest to feed their young.

Following is a picture of one of the birds moments before it enters the nest:

Here is a picture of the nest and if you look closely at the lower left hand side you can see one of the birds passing on food.

 

Nesting Osprey

Thala Beach Lodge has its own pair of resident Osprey. The Lodges resident bird expert tells a great story concerning these birds. The Osprey have nested in the lodges grounds for many years, originally in a dead tree but more recently atop a power pole. A couple of years ago the male disappeared, what happened no one knows.  The female found a new mate who turned out to be a much younger bird her “toyboy” as referred to by the birding guide. Unfortunately in their first year the male, being inexperienced in such matters as nest building, allowed the nest to deteriorate so that the eggs laid fell through and were broken. This year everyone is hoping for a better result. The following was one of the images I took of the nesting pair and perhaps a fitting caption would be – “nothing gets done properly around here unless I do it myself!” 

Double-eyed fig parrots

Literally stumbled across this pair doing what fig parrots do best – feeding on figs. I was following some Bee-eaters at the time and happened to look up and notice these two.  Understand they are not so common so privileged to get quite a few shots. Had to be patient and wait for them to emerge from the shadows and foliage onto this particular cluster of fruit. 

The following species were photographed during our stay in the second week of June 2011:

Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides), 
Yellow-spotted Honeyeater (Meliphaga notata),

Yellow Orial (Oriolus flavocintus),

Black Butcherbird (Cracticus quoyi),

Papuan Frogmouth (Podargus papuensis),

Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus),

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus),

Spangled Drongo (Dicrurus bracteatus)

Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae),

Satin Flycatcher (Myiagra cyanoleuca),

Varied Triller (Lalage leucomela),

Large-billed Gerygone (Gerygone magnirostris),

Bar-shouldered Dove (Geopelia humeralis),

Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus),

Spotted Turtle-dove (Streptopelia chinensis),

Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca),

Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata),

Mistleltobird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum),

Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx russatus) male,

Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx russatus) female,

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot (Cyclopsitta diphthalma- race macleayana) male,

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot (Cyclopsitta diphthalma- race macleayana) female

Thala Beach Lodge

On recent trip to Nth Queensland we stayed at Thala Beach Lodge located about 15 min south of Port Douglas. The Lodge is situated on about 150 acres of private land on the northern end of Oak beach.  The immediate area provides excellent bird watching/photographing opportunities (more to follow).

Oak Beach looking south

View towards Port Douglas