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!
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