Nathan Road, Dowse Lagoon and D'Aguilar National Park

The past two days have been very busy for me, both being full days of birding. Yesterday, I drove to the northern edge of Brisbane, to the Nathan Road Wetlands Reserve in Redcliffe. Here, I was hoping to find some of the interesting wader species reported during the last month at the reserve.

After an extremely long time spent trying to work out how to access the reserve, it seemed to me that walking through a grassy forest, followed by thick grassland, was the only way to get into the reserve. While attempting to work my way through the forest, a large movement made me jump out of my skin. An enormous Eastern Grey Kangaroo hopped off from about three metres' in front of me, followed by four joeys! It really was an awesome sight.

Some time later, I spotted several White-headed Stilts coming into land on the reserve. Assuming that they must be landing in an open, watery area, I headed towards them. A stunning Swamp Harrier was a surprising, but fantastic, bird to see heading low over the grassland as I approached the Stilts, while I also accidentally flushed a Brown Quail.

It turned out that the Stilts had indeed landed in area of muddy water. Numerous Masked Lapwings; Little, Intermediate and Eastern Cattle Egrets; Australasian Swamphens; White-faced Herons and Royal Spoonbills shared the same spot. Some careful scanning of the Sharp-tailed Sandpipers finally revealed one of my targets, a Pectoral Sandpiper. This Siberian, Alaskan and Canadian breeder mostly spends the winter in South America, but small numbers head to Australia and New Zealand instead, while some birds reach Europe and even southern Africa. This was a very pleasing lifer for me, especially as considering the remarkable migration it has undertaken to reach Brisbane. I also found four Marsh Sandpipers (another Siberian breeder), a new bird for my '600 challenge,' and for my Brisbane list. Sadly, the Ruff, Wood Sandpipers, Latham's Snipes, Australian Painted Snipe and Red-kneed Dotterel, all reported recently, seemed to not be present!

My next stop was Dowse Lagoon, a medium-sized lake surrounded by town in Sandgate, where some interesting birds had been reported earlier in the day, including three Latham's Snipe. Sadly, my search for them drew blank again, but some fantastic birds were seen. Two magnificent Comb-crested Jacanas strolled across the lilypads, while the many ducks present included two Wandering Whistling Ducks and two Grey Teals. Herons and their allies were abundant, with vast numbers of Australian White Ibises and Eastern Cattle Egrets feeding alongside at least twelve Royal Spoonbills and Great White, Intermediate and Little Egrets. Other birds on the lake included several Australasian Grebes, Australian Pelicans, Australasian Darters, Australasian Swamphens (about 25) and White-headed Stilts and a profusion of Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants. The highlight was undoubtedly another '600 challenge' and Brisbane tick for me, a Whiskered Tern, which was hunting low over the water. Birds in the parkland surrounding the lagoon included Olive-backed Oriole and Sacred Kingfisher. I have not been to many places so alive with bird-life!

Two Australian White Ibises flanking three magnificent Royal Spoonbills, with a Pacific Black Duck and Hardhead in front (and a Crested Pigeon in the top right corner!)

On the way home, I visited Nudgee Beach, which was sadly swarming with people, resulting in all of the waders having been spooked, but an Eastern Osprey that flew overhead provided a pleasing year-tick.

Today, I decided to head up to D'Aguilar to visit my final completely new habitat of the year for my Brisbane year list, wet rainforest. I started at Maiala, where I enjoyed a fantastic walk along the Rainforest Circuit. I was immensely pleased to find an Australian Logrunner foraging right next to the path a short way into the forest. This fantastic and distinct species, one of only three members of the Logrunner family, resembled a small Quail with a long tail as it hurried across the undergrowth. This individual was a female, and consequently had a stunning orange throat. This awesome bird was one of my most-wanted species in Brisbane, so I was immensely pleased to find one, and it was shortly followed by another a little further up the track. Not long later, I heard a fantastic and extremely distinctive call echoing through the forest. It was two Wompoo Fruit-Dove making their brilliant 'wom-poo' call. Sadly the two birds seem to fly off as I approached, without me seeing them, though I soon found one just above my head, sat on its nest.

Not the best picture at all! This species is truly magnificent in voice and colour, with its red-and-yellow bill, bright green-and-yellow back and deep purple chest. What an awesome bird!

Other birds seen along the walk included classic Maiala species such as Australian King-Parrot, Eastern Whipbird, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Pale-yellow Robin and Russet-tailed Thrush. Just beyond Maiala, I found a magnificent and petite Rose-crowned Fruit Dove and two Satin Bowerbirds, while an enormous Wedge-tailed Eagle flew overhead. Sadly I missed Green Catbird, Regent Bowerbird and Paradise Riflebird (and, unsurprisingly, Noisy Pitta again), along with several other birds, but I will certainly be back as soon as possible.

I decided to try several other spots in the park on the way back into Brisbane, starting with Boombana. Here. I found a surprising number of the Maiala birds, including three more Australian Logrunners (once you seen one, you can't stop seeing them!). Two Little Shrikethrushes provided my only year-tick here. I then tried Gap Creek Reserve, which was extremely quiet, with an Eastern Yellow Robin and a White-throated Needletail, along with a profusion of Bell Miners the only birds of note, and Gold Creek Reservoir, which produced nothing of any interest bar two Australian King Parrots and a pair of Brown Quails, a species I seem to be seeing everywhere this year!

Brisbane year total: 156; additions: 18 (Swamp Harrier, Pectoral Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Whiskered Tern, Eastern Osprey, Bell Miner, Yellow-throated Scrubwren, Australian Logrunner, Eastern Whipbird, Pale-yellow Robin, Australian King Parrot, Russet-tailed Thrush, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Buff-rumped Thornbill, Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Satin Bowerbird, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Little Shrikethrush)