Brisbane

I have spent the past three weeks gradually settling in to my amazing new homeland- Queensland. Most of the time has been used to get the considerable amount of admin that comes with moving to a new country done, but with this out of the way, we have been able to explore some of the extraordinary wild areas surrounding Brisbane. I am so extremely happy to be living here!

Of course, new birds for my 600 challenge have been regular, though without my own car and consequently having my family with me whenever I have been able to leave the city, bird-watching opportunities have been rather scarce. Over the first few days, regular Brisbane species made for easy additions to my list, and were a very nice way of settling into the fantastic bird-life of the country. Around our temporary house in central Brisbane, Rainbow Lorikeets, Australian Magpies, Pied and Grey Butcherbirds, Blue-faced Honeyeaters, Welcome Swallows, Pied Currawongs, Magpie-Larks, magnificent White Ibises, Australasian Figbirds and of course Noisy Miners are abundant. It is amazing to listen to some of the noises these birds make, especially the Currawongs and Butcherbirds. It was very nice to come upon my first lifer since moving to Australia permanently very close to the house, a single Pale-headed Rosella, which was seen very well. Explorations around other parts of Brisbane (mostly looking for a longer-term house) produced a host of other birds, such as Australian Pelicans, Australasian Swamphens, Common Mynas, Spotted Doves, Laughing Kookaburras, Black-faced Cuckooshrikes, Galahs, Straw-necked Ibises, Australian Brushturkeys, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, White-headed and Crested Pigeons and several others. There really is a fantastic selection of species found just within the centre of the city. On the 6th September, a brief trip up to the amazing D'Aguilar National Park (just 35 KM from our house!) took us into some true rainforest. Sadly, I was unable to do much bird-watching, though I did see a stunning Regent Bowerbird, my first-ever. There can't be many more brightly-coloured birds! Other species seen included White-browed Scrubwren (only my second-ever sighting), Eastern Yellow Robin, Little Corella, Lewin's Honeyeater, Grey Fantail and the stunning Australian King Parrot and Golden Whistler. I will be back here as soon as possible!

A trip to the City Botanical Gardens in the CBD on the 16th produced several more species, though sadly no Buff-banded Rails this time. Two fantastic Bush Stone-curlews more than made up for it though! This magnificent bird appears to be thriving anywhere with the smallest patch of grass and a tree in the city. I have since seen a pair in the tiny Wickham Park- there is virtually no grass here at all!

Bush Stone-curlew in Brisbane City Botanical Gardens. This awesome species is unexpectedly really quite common in the middle of the city!

Some of the other birds I photographed in the gardens:

Noisy Miner. Probably the most common bird in Brisbane.

Dusky Moorhen

Australian White Ibis (what an awesome bird to be abundant in the middle of a city!), with a Hardhead and Dusky Moorhen behind

Pacific Black Duck

Hardhead and Dusky Moorhen

Definitely not a bird! This terrapin was one of several fantastic non-bird species that were common in the park, along with Red Fruit-bats, some large lizards (I need to identify these!) and some enormous eels!

On the 20th September, we set out on an expedition to one of my favourite towns in the world, Byron Bay, on the north New South Wales coastline. Of course, by leaving the city, new birds for my challenge total were regular. The first were Eastern Cattle Egrets, amazingly a species first recorded in the country in only 1948, and now a very regular sight nationwide. The next was Whistling Kite, the 500th species of bird I have seen in 2015, already my second-best ever calendar year! Several more birds were seen in and around Byron Bay, with Greater Crested Terns and Australasian Gannets passing offshore and Pied Oystercatcher and Eastern Osprey among the species on the beach.

Female Red-backed Fairywren, Byron Bay

Australian Brushturkeys, Byron Bay. These awesome birds are very common in north New South Wales and Queensland, especially in car parks and picnic areas!

 Australasian Figbird at Byron Bay

Laughing Kookaburra, Byron Bay

On the drive back, we passed through arguably the most stunning countryside I have ever seen, in the area around Lamington National Park. I urgently need to come back here!! A few more new birds for my challenge were seen in the breath-takingly beautiful place, including Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Striated Pardalote, Bar-shouldered Dove and Sacred Kingfisher, along with another Regent Bowerbird.

On the 22nd, we explored some more extraordinary countryside, the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. I can really see myself living here! The weather wasn't great sadly, and consequently birds were again difficult to find, though I did continue to (very slowly) approach my 600 target.

Australian Golden Whistler, Mapleton Falls NP

WOW!!! The Sunshine Coast Hinterland

Forest Kingfisher at Lake Baroon. An Australasian Grebe was also seen here.

And finally, today (the 24th), I visited Mt Coot-tha Forest. This forest is only 15KM from Brisbane's CBD, but that was hard to believe as I walked through pristine dry woodland, swarming with birds in total peace. Fantastically, I saw five new life birds today, along with a further four new for my challenge total. The first was a stunning Rufous Fantail, shortly followed by an even-more magnificent, bright-red Scarlet Myzomela and a wonderful Spectacled Monarch.

Spotted Pardalote. This stunning 9cm-long bird was my fourth lifer of the day.

A really awful picture, but it was fantastic to see my fifth lifer of the day, the Eastern Whipbird. I hadn't appreciated the large size of this skulking species- I had been thinking it was about the size of an Eastern Yellow Robin, but it is in fact a stonking 30cm long!

Sulphur-crested Cockatoos. Galahs, Rainbow Lorikeets and an Australian King Parrot were also seen.

Laughing Kookaburra. Certainly one of my favourite birds!

It was fantastic to have this Grey Goshawk fly overhead, only my second sighting of the species.

I will definitely be doing a lot more exploring of this awesome forest!

Meanwhile, I have been miserably failing at finding a job in Brisbane (even McDonald's has rejected me!). I am hoping to travel to New Zealand soon, which would be incredibly exciting!

Kenya 27th August-1st September

After returning from the USA, I had my final two weeks in the UK before emigrating, which was mostly spent packing up, though I did manage to get in a couple of birding trips (which I will cover in the next post).

On the 26th, I flew to Nairobi, before catching a connecting flight onto Kisumu and then driving to the Kakamega Forest. This has been a place that I have wanted to visit for a very long time, with an extraordinary variety of birds, many of which cannot be found anywhere else in Kenya, or in some cases even the world. 

I had already begun adding to my challenge total (600 species between school and university), with some of the more common Kenyan species, along with four Grey Crowned Cranes at Nairobi Airport, and Hamerkop and Abdim's Stork at Kisumu Airport.

As we arrived at the forest, I saw my first lifer of the trip, the White-headed Saw-wing (a member of the Swallow family). This species, along with the Black Saw-wing, was very common at Kakamega. We soon reached Rondo Lodge, our accommodation for the next four nights.

Rondo Lodge

We spent the rest of the day searching the garden for birds and were rewarded fantastically well. Grey-throated Barbets, a bird with a fantastic pair of horn-like feather behind its bill, were abundant, as were Cardinal Woodpeckers, Little and Cinnamon-chested Bee-eaters and Vieillot's, Black-throated and Brown-capped Weavers. Sunbirds were in every tree, mostly Bronzy, but also numerous Northern Double-collared and Green-headed (both of which were new to me). Flycatchers were also present in good numbers, with White-eyed Slaty, African Grey, African Blue, African Dusky, Northern Black and the rare Chapin's Flycatchers all seen in the grounds of the lodge. Other birds seen in the garden included Joyful Greenbul, Yellow-throated Leaflove, Grey-headed Nigrita and Mackinnon's Shrike (all of which were lifers).

Grey-throated Barbet

The highlights of the search around the garden were undoubtedly the sightings of two fantastic Turaco species. First, three Ross's Turacos were seen flying overhead before landing in a tree right next to the lodge. The stunning dark-blue body contrasting with bright-red wings and a yellow bill and face was truly resplendent. Soon after, five Great Blue Turacos appeared in the tree we were told they nest in (literally right next to reception). These magnificent birds are almost one metre in length. It is undoubtedly one of my favourite, if not my favourite, bird I have ever seen.

Great Blue Turacos- such an awesome species!

In the early evening, we headed down the path into the forest adjacent to the lodge. Immediately, new birds started appearing, with Grey-winged and Snowy-crowned Robin-Chats and Black-faced Rufous Warbler all seen in the first ten metres. Slender-billed and Yellow-whiskered Greenbuls were very common, while regular stops along the walk produced such species as Red-tailed Bristlebill, Equatorial Akalat, Brown-chested Alethe, African Thrush, White-chinned Prinia, Black-collared Apalis, Yellow-billed Barbet and Western Oriole. It really was extraordinary, with birds literally calling from every tree and from the undergrowth. While watching a stunning Red-tailed Bristlebill preening itself, an extraordinary species appeared. It was a White-spotted Flufftail, part of a highly secretive family of birds closely related to the Rails and endemic to Africa. Soon, another individual appeared, giving us breathtaking views as it drank from the stream. Sadly it was rather dark by this time, and consequently my camera really struggled to focus at all...

White-spotted Flufftail

The next morning, we woke up and walked the same trail again. Before we had even begun, two magnificent Crowned Eagles flew out of their nest (amazingly in the same trees as the Great Blue Turacos' nest!). Later on in the day, one had returned and gave some stunning views.

Crowned Eagle

Along with many of the previous day's species (though sadly no Flufftails) were several new ones. Barbets were common, with Red-fronted, the stunning Black-billed and a Hairy-breasted all seen, along with the more regular Grey-throated and Yellow-billed. Striking Lüdher's Bushshrikes were numerous this morning, while several Grey-chinned Sunbirds, Yellow White-eyes and Stuhlmann's Starlings were also present. The highlight, however, was undoubtedly seeing a Grey Parrot fly over. This charismatic species is now confined to the Kakamega Forest in Kenya, where they may be fewer than 10 individuals remaining, and consequently it really was a privilege to have seen this bird.

Returning the lodge's garden, a fantastic flock of Green Pigeons flew in and landed in the Crowned Eagle/Great Blue Turaco tree.

African Green Pigeon

An African Hawk-Eagle flew over and my first-ever Petit's Cuckooshrike appeared very briefly. It was fantastic to see three Black-and-white-casqued Hornbills fly over as well.

Later in the afternoon, we met up with a bird guide, who took us on a short walk in some different forest near the lodge. Several more new species were seen on this, including lifers in Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Purple-throated Cuckooshrike, Plain Greenbul, Chubb's Cisticola and Dark-backed Weaver, along with a fantastic African Cuckoo and three Red-chested Cuckoos.

African Cuckoo

Two Ross's Turacos were seen fantastically well on this walk

The next morning, we got up early and headed deep into the forest. We ended up walking for over eight hours, seeing a whole heap of fantastic birds. Before we had even left Rondo, I had added Brown-throated Wattle-eye and Black-billed Weaver to my life list and lifers continued to appear, with such species as Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeon; Little, Little Grey and Ansorge's Greenbuls (found nowhere else in East Africa); Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat; White-tailed Ant Thrush; Uganda Woodland Warbler; Green Hylia; Banded Prinia; Chestnut Wattle-eye; Dusky Crested Flycatcher; Dusky Tit; Bocage's Bushshrike; Square-tailed Drongo; White-breasted Nigrita; Pink-footed Puffback and Black-crowned Waxbill all firsts for me. It was amazing to see some more of Kakamega's magnificent specialities. I had enjoyed a very brief view of a vocal Bar-tailed Trogon, a true gem of the forest. More obliging were three Blue-headed Bee-eaters that appeared in front of us as we watched a mystery Greenbul. These birds, restricted to Kakamega and South Nandi Forests in East Africa, were truly stunning and were a surprisingly regular sight in the forest.

Blue-headed Bee-eaters in Kakamega

Blue-headed Bee-eater nest. This is literally just a tiny hole about a foot off the ground!

                                     

Red-tailed Monkey. This species is a speciality of West Kenya.

Nearby, a smoky-grey-coloured bird was seen flying into a nearby tree. It was soon confirmed to be an Ashy Flycatcher- a rare bird in the forest, so rare in fact that our guide had never seen one in fifty years of birding in Kakamega! This was, unsurprisingly, also a first for me.

We soon reached an open area. A Tawny Eagle flew overhead and a Great Sparrowhawk (only my second-ever after one in South Africa in 2006!) headed into the forest. White-headed and Black Saw-wings were once again abundant, while three Mottled Swifts- a very notably large bird with a pale underside, went overhead, yet another lifer for me.

As we returned towards Rondo, we came upon a large commotion of passerines seemingly mobbing something, Their target soon became a clear: a magnificent Red-chested Owlet that was perched less than two metres from us!

Red-chested Owlet. This bird is actually smaller than a Common Starling!

A selection of Kakamega's remarkable Butterfly biodiversity

                           

Yala River. A Green Sandpiper flew rapidly downstream here- it was pretty weird to see this species here and in Dorset and Somerset in the space of five days!

Sykes's Monkey (on the right), next to a Red-tailed Monkey. These were two of four common Monkey species in the forest, the other being Blue Monkey and Black-and-white Colobus.

Another Blue Monkey

Later in the evening, we were lucky to have two more Grey Parrots flying over the garden.

We started very early the next morning, heading up to a nearby sunrise-viewing spot. The views were spectacular:

There were a few different bird species here, with Little Rock Thrush, African Pipit and my first-ever Grey-rumped Swallows all seen. 

We then headed back, deep into the forest. Lifers were once again numerous, with Yellow-spotted Barbet; Brown-eared and Yellow-crested Woodpeckers; Olive-green Camaroptera, Buff-throated Apalis, Olive-bellied and Green-throated Sunbirds and African Shrike-flycatcher all seen. A Green Malkoha (a relative of the Cuckoos and Coucals) was seen very briefly and was an extremely pleasing new bird for me. Just as I was beginning to fear I would leave Kakamega without seeing two of its remaining specialities, we had some great luck. First, a fantastic Turner's Eremomela appeared. This tiny species is endangered worldwide and is restricted to small patches of remnant forest in the DRC and Uganda, along with Kakamega. 

The other species seen was my twelfth Greenbul of the trip, the endemic Kakamega Greenbul. Two were seen very well. Though members of this large family of birds are really quite dull in appearance, their identification presents a rather enjoyable challenge. It was very pleasing to have seen all but two of the area's Greenbuls (I only missed Toro Olive and Honeyguide). Several other new birds for my challenge were also seen today, in African Paradise Flycatcher, Lesser and Scaly-throated Honeyguides and a surprise Martial Eagle, another first for our guide.

It was great to see a Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill this well right next to Rondo!

We woke up at four in the morning the next day to head back to Kisumu for our return flight to Nairobi. On the way, we passed two police cars stopped by the roadside. Looking to see what was going on, I noticed a dead body lying on the dirt track, having been hit by a car. This was the first human corpse I had seen and this was consequently an immensely harrowing moment. Somewhat shaken, we continued our journey, passing numerous walkers on the road, strolling along in dark clothes without any light. It seemed remarkable that our driver managed to avoid hitting any of them.

Arriving in Nairobi, I continued in my quest of 600. Three Water Thick-Knees had been seen standing next to a puddle just outside Kisumu Airport already, and in Nairobi's airport, Bronze Mannikin, Reichenow's Seedeater, Hadada Ibis and the magnificently-ugly and truly enormous Marabou Stork were added. These magnificent bald-headed Storks are abundant in Nairobi, thriving in its dirty conditions. We soon reached our accommodation for the night, my favourite hotel, the Fairview. As per usual, bird-life in this inner city hotel's fantastic garden was abundant, with numerous Yellow-billed Kites and Marabou Storks flying overhead, along with a single Augur Buzzard and Variable Sunbirds, Speckled Mousebirds, Ring-necked Doves, Common Bulbuls, Baglafecht Weavers and Bronze Mannikins very common in the garden itself. Several Olive Thrushes, Amethyst Sunbirds and Black-backed Puffbacks were seen, along with a number of magnificent African Paradise Flycatchers and a nesting Hadada Ibis. There aren't many cities in the world with birdlife comparable to that of Nairobi!

African Paradise Flycatcher, Fairview Hotel. Being Nairobi, there was a wire fence in the way of most of the photos I took!

It was very nice to see this individual extremely close!

I paid my regular trip to the 'Little Sparrowhawk' tree. On almost all of my visits to this hotel, a male Little Sparrowhawk has been sitting there. But not this time:

Fence in the way, again

A fantastic juvenile African Goshawk was here this time! This was my first sighting of the species since 2006, and what a magnificent bird!

                           

Some of the other birds in the garden: Speckled Mousebird, Olive Thrush and Baglafecht Weaver

Early the next morning, I managed to find one more species for the trip total- a Speckled Pigeon, before we drove to Nairobi Airport. I then began my (extremely) long journey to Brisbane in Australia, via Abu Dhabi. It was an immense relief to arrive at my new home 23 hours later!

It had been an extraordinary trip, my ninth to Kenya in the last eleven years and once which yielded 79 new life species and pushed my Kenya list through 500! What a fantastic country. I can't wait to be back!