The Wren Volume 7 Number 4 December 2018 Red-backed Fairy-wren ...................................................................................................................... Jason Stanyer PRESIDENTS REPORT CELEBRATIONS!! It’s time to congratulate the local team Red-backed Hairy-men for competing in the 2018 Twitchathon and winning the Queensland division of the Birdathon event. They were placed fourth nationally. Well done HAIRY MEN. I must apologise for my poem this issue. Whilst it does include a bird, it is not primarily a bird story. December is the month of Christmas and so an appropriate story I thought. Hope you like it? The spring time of every year is always a busy one for birds as well as for people and this year has been no exception. For Birdlife Mackay, the annual Bird & Wildlife Week at Eungella is always going to be a major commitment and effort by those who become involved. Participating with the Mackay Conservation Group, Reef Catchments and Conservation Volunteers Australia keeps us busy through this time of year. Daryl Barnes Contents Eungella Bird & Wildlife Week .................................... 2 Eungella Bird & Wildlife Week / MCG Beautiful Walk ...... 3 Regional Wildlife Gallery ........................................... 4 Regional Wildlife Gallery / A Berry Lovely Plant ............ 5 Hunting Fairies ........................................................ 6 Hunting Fairies ........................................................ 7 Hunting Fairies ....................................................... 8 Reef Blitz ............................................................... 9 Calendar 2019 / Finch Hatton & Fruit-Doves .............. 10 Finch Hatton & Fruit-Doves / Sightings ..................... 11 Thank You Santa Claus .......................................... 12 Birds of Western Australia ...................................... 13 Birds of Western Australia / Twitchathon................... 14 Clermont Report - IRNP.......................................... 15 Calendar 2019 / Personal Profile .............................. 16 Whitsunday Report / September Outing .................... 17 September / October Outing ................................... 18 October Outing / November Outing .......................... 19 2019 Monthly Outings Calendar ............................... 20
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The Wren
Volume 7 Number 4 December 2018
Red-backed Fairy-wren ...................................................................................................................... Jason Stanyer
PRESIDENTS REPORT
CELEBRATIONS!! It’s time to congratulate
the local team Red-backed Hairy-men for competing in the 2018 Twitchathon and winning the Queensland division of the
Birdathon event. They were placed fourth nationally. Well done HAIRY MEN.
I must apologise for my poem this issue.
Whilst it does include a bird, it is not primarily a bird story. December is the month of Christmas and so an appropriate story I
thought. Hope you like it?
The spring time of every year is always a
busy one for birds as well as for people and this year has been no exception. For Birdlife Mackay, the annual Bird & Wildlife Week at
Eungella is always going to be a major commitment and effort by those who become involved. Participating with the Mackay
Conservation Group, Reef Catchments and Conservation Volunteers Australia keeps us busy through this time of year.
It was the Chiming Wedgebill and by the end of the phone call she was well and truly sick of hearing that
rather melancholy chime. They are certainly persistent and seem tantalizingly close enough to photograph but
they are extremely wary and sighting is not as easy as is hearing them.
Another favourite bird was the Red-capped Robin
which always delights. They dance to the ground with
a flash of bright colour and quickly fly back to their
perch with some poor insect in their beak and then
announce their skill with a cheery metallic trilling.
We would have liked to have spent longer at
Hamelin and maybe extended the birding to be even
more profitable with some better weather, but, there
is still a lot of this huge state to see. And, there is a
whole heap of different species in the south-west
corner!
The binoculars will not be hung on the hook just
yet!
Story by Lesley Deacon. Photos by Barry Deacon.
TWITCHATHON 2018
It was decided between a few of us that we, Birdlife Mackay, should again enter a team in this year’s National
Twitchathon. Last year Barry Deacon initiated a three-man team to enter the Birdathon category where teams
compete during three hour-long sessions in one day. The team of Barry, Gerry and I managed 94 species.
This year’s team was obviously determined to ‘out-do’ the efforts of last year’s Red-backed Fairy-men team.
Whether extra sets of eyes would make the difference was unclear but the team grew from three originally to
six and comprised of: Gerry Gerygone Woodruff, Richard Robin Atkinson, Brolga Bill McLean, Jason Jabiru
Stanyer, Sam Piper Tarlinton and Daryl Darter Barnes. These keen birdo’s made up Mackay’s team of Red-
backed Hairy-men.
The plan was to go out and attack DeMoleyn’s Lagoon early and we did just that. Once the first of the three
hour-long sessions (6am to 7am) was completed we then drove to Sandringham Reserve for the second session
(8am to 9am). After smoko and a photo shoot at the Botanic Gardens, we began our final hour there as well.
This hour included the drive to Shellgrit
Creek (10.30am to 11.30am) allowing
us sufficient time to get all the waders.
We made sure our visit to Shellgrit
coincided with the high tide of the day.
Numbers overall briefly were; the first
hour produced 49 species, the second
produced 34 new species and the third
managed another 27 new species for a
grand total of 110 species.
Surprise additions were Latham’s Snipe,
Pallid Cuckoo, Red-kneed Dotterel,
Torresian Kingfisher and Beach Stone-
curlew.
The event was not only a fundraiser for threatened birds and their habitats, but it was also a fun exercise.
Report by Daryl Barnes
Red-capped Robin
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14 The Wren
THE CLERMONT REPORT
Iron Range National Park trip.
It has always been on our agenda to go to the Iron Range
National Park, so this year with some helpful advice from fellow
birders who had been there, made it happen. Our first stop was
the free camp at Mt Molloy, always a great place for some R&R
and the birding here is always fabulous. Never having been to
Cooktown before, this was our next stop. This part of the trip
reminded us of the possibilities of incurring mechanical problems.
A timing-light needed attending to and so we had an extra couple
of days in the Peninsular Caravan Park at Cooktown. In the park
were Mistletoebirds, Rose-crowned Fruit-doves, Wompoo Fruit-
doves and heaps of Orioles kept us occupied whilst after dark a
Large-tailed Nightjar went on for long periods of time.
Our next stop was Laura and again, with the advice of other
travellers, left our van at the compound at the hotel. We stopped
in their park for the night and enjoyed a shower. The next
morning when we started the car there was a terrific scream
coming out of the intake snorkel. A broken manifold stud was the cause but we ignored the noise and travelled
on. Fellow travellers said to us, “Toyota tough, no problem, it will handle the distance!” (It did last out the trip
and we got it repaired back in Cairns.)
Leaving Laura there was about 20klms of sealed road and then we had to stop and reduce tyre pressure to
cope with the atrocious conditions. After a torturous trip we arrived at Artemus Station where Sue told us about
her wonderful work with the preservation of the Golden-shouldered Parrot. She had installed feed stations
around the property to help with their preservation. Our cameras were very busy taking photos of this
endangered species. Sue showed us where the Golden-shouldered Parrot fed naturally on the ground. We would
never have spotted them as they blend in so well with their surroundings. Another first for us was the Black-
backed Butcherbird. We stopped here a couple of days and were privileged to go with a tour guide to a dam on
the station to photograph some White-eared Masked Finch.
As well as car issues to deal with, the next problem came when I got the settings wrong on the freezer and
we had to feed everyone in the camp as the meat was thawing out.
We moved on to our next camp on the Archer River
stop. The following morning we were off to ‘Cooks Hut’
and the Iron Range National Park for five days. The first
morning after arriving at the Rainforest Camping Area I
got my first lifer, the Red-cheeked Parrot. Most days we
could see them both perched on a particular broken limb.
This was fantastic as mostly it flew overhead. Other
species in the vicinity were Magnificent Riflebird, Boatbill,
Northern Scrubwren, Frilled Monarch and many others.
We were privileged to be given a map where our friend
at Artemus Station (Tour Guide operator) showed his
customers around the hot spots at Iron Range National
Park, we got the Electus Parrot (M & F), Palm Cockatoo,
Magnificent Riflebird and White-faced Robin. We had a
30 second tent and blow up mattress to camp in, two
nights it sprinkled rain with no problems, but after 5
days camping in the tent we were pleased to get back to
Laura for a bed in the caravan.
We had some communication problems with our friend who towed her van all the way to IRNP and returned
the same day. The road was that rough (for us) doing 40klms on the rough stuff, others flew past and it looked
like we were parked up! We travelled back from Laura to Mt Molloy and camped the night. John & Joanne Morris
had mentioned the birdlife at Mt Carbine was exceptional and we were pleased we did go as there
Palm Cockatoo
White-faced Robin
White-faced Robin
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December 2018 15
Yellow-breasted Boatbill
was quite a lot of birdlife there. We camped at Cairns where
we had our car attended to, then onto Mission Beach where
we hoped to get the Cassowary but missed out.
Crystal Creek was our next camp where we stopped a few
days. From here we went up to Paluma and saw the
Victoria’s Riflebird and Eastern Yellow Robin getting fed plus
saw many other birds. Don was a magnificent host making
us cups of coffee and toast which enticed us to visit on
consecutive mornings arriving at 6am each time. Whilst we
encountered very windy weather at Paluma, we lapped up
the hospitality.
We then travelled down to Groper Creek and saw our
friends there and had a few days in the park, and then it
was onto Seaforth. We spent some time up at Eungella and
got good photos of the EH thanks to Daryl for putting us on
the HOT SPOT straight up. Our friends from Melbourne
thought the EH was common we saw more than 10 for the
morning as well as Topknot Pigeons that were everywhere
we went.
After a week based at Seaforth it was homeward bound. A tree next door was in blossom and Black
Honeyeaters were attracted to its nectar. In other news, three of the neighbour’s cats had disappeared three
weeks before we got home (lucky us as we would have received the blame being bird lovers).
Story by Olive McTrusty and photos by Bob McTrusty
Sightings of Interest:
16/08/2018. 2 Brown Cuckoo-Doves at Botanic Gardens, seen by Joanne Morris 16/09/2018. 3 Emus near Crediton Hall Eungella, seen by Desley Williams
28/09/2018. 1 Latham’s Snipe at Botanic Gardens, seen by Jason Stanyer 30/09/2018. 2 adult and one juvenile Black-necked Stork, seen by Sylvia Martinez 10/11/2018. 4 Varied Sittellas near Marian/Hampden Road
White-faced Robin
Yellow-breasted Boatbill
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PERSONAL PROFILE of MARGARET LANE
1/ What is it about bird watching that appeals to you?
Answer: There is always something to look at or look for if you are interested in birds. And I am interested in
habitat so want to know where the birds live and what they feed on, although I don't know very much as I am a
‘trainee’ birdo and haven’t done too much training for the last year.
2/ Do you have a favourite bird and why?
Answer: Brown Honeyeater because a family lives in my
garden and every day I hear them feeding on the native
plants and I see them queuing up for a bath in one of the
two bird baths. They are very busy, very chatty birds. I
observed a nest on one of bottlebrush shrubs in my
garden a few years ago - sadly, the two chicks did not
fledge. I have not seen a nest since then but am sure
they have one hidden away where I can’t see it.
3/ If money was no object where would you like to go
birding
Answer: Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary in the Kimberley
to see the Gouldian Finch and everything else to see on
that property.
4/ What bird has eluded you the most?
Answer: Well, I am just happy to see what I see, but I am having trouble identifying the Golden-headed
Cisticola that I know can be seen in the grassland of Sandfly Creek Reserve. And, I have a wonderful painting of
the Regent Honeyeater by John Wolmsley. I'd love to see a Regent Honeyeater in situ.
5/ Do you prefer to go birding alone or with company?
Answer: With company, because I need lots of help!