Three days' later, I visited Anstead Bushland Reserve on the western edge of Brisbane. Here I hoped to find some bushland specialities. I certainly wasn't disappointed! The birding highlights included a stunning female Pacific Koel in the car-park, along with an equally magnificent Pheasant Coucal, 9 Oriental Dollarbirds and 10 White-throated Needletails overhead. I also added a bird to my 600 challenge, with several Little Friarbirds seen around the edge of the reserve.
The greatest sightings of the day were undoubtedly of two mammals. These were Koalas, one of Australia's most famous creatures and an unbelievably cool species to see. Finding two of these awesome animals just a half-hour drive from home felt incredible, there certainly aren't many cities in the world where such a creature can be found so close to the centre!
Koala at Anstead Bushland Reserve. Two of this brilliant creature were seen, at different ends of the reserve. It was a great privilege to see this amazing animal so well in the wild.
On the night of Christmas Day, I headed to JC Slaughter Falls in Mount Coot-tha Forest in pursuit of night-birds. Shortly after dusky, a Southern Boobook appeared, perched at the top of a distant tree, and gave some great views under torchlight. A second individual flew over us a little later, while at least four more were calling from nearby. It was also immensely pleasing to find this bird near the car-park:
Tawny Frogmouth, one of my favourite birds I've seen.
We headed home without any further sightings, other than a profusion of Cane Toads, certainly not a good creature to be seeing here...
The next day was my final day of birding in 2015, as we visited Enoggera Reservoir in D'Aguilar National Park on the edge of Brisbane. Sadly I failed to find any final year-ticks, though a Little Shrikethrush and two Cicadabirds were fantastic new birds for me in Brisbane. Other birds of interest that I saw included a Chesntut-breasted Mannikin, 7 Red-browed Finches, 3 Eastern Yellow Robins, two Leaden Flycatchers, two Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and a Channel-billed Cuckoo, while the usual assortment of Hardheads, Pacific Black Ducks, gallinules and Australasian Grebes were on the lake.
Tawny Frogmouth was my 720th species of the year, a total which included 208 lifers from six countries. 2015 was an immense year for me, with trips to Scotland, Italy, an unbelievable journey from the west coast to the east coast of the USA, an amazing week in Kenya, a great roadtrip up the length of New Zealand and some fantastic time spent exploring my new homeland, Australia. Let's hope 2016 is just as good!
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