A Trip to Parklakes at Bli Bli

Today I went with a couple of friends to Parklakes at Bli Bli. Parklakes is a residential community which has numerous waterways and lagoons around it. Many of them look like they are man made while some are naturally occurring. We were unsure of exactly where to go when we arrived.

When we first arrived we parked at the end of Parklakes Drive and there were a few small dams just off to the left. A few Purple Swamphens and several Tawny Grassbirds were in the long grass around these.

One of the several Tawny Grassbirds

As we made our way back we saw some more waterways and ponds behind the playground/park. This area had a good variety of birds but not the ones we were looking for. The main birds we saw were Golden Whistlers, Red-backed Fairy-wrens, Pacific Black Ducks, Wandering Whistling-Ducks, Dusky Moorhens, Purple Swamphens, Blue faced Honeyeaters, Spangled Drongos just to name a few.

While we were here we met another young guy taking photos also. He was looking for the Little Bittern in particular. After talking with him we all realised that the area that we were in was not the correct area for the snipes, bittern and crakes. There are a few much larger lagoons further down the path towards the northern part of the estate. We stuck with this fellow birder for the majority of the morning. While we were there we saw about ten other people also taking photos, each looking for a few particular species.

All of the following photos were taken in these two larger lagoons.

The only Royal Spoonbill sighted

There were quite a few Baillon's Crakes close to the reeds around the edge of the lagoons. This was the first time I have ever seen them. I was surprised by how small they were. I was expecting them to be about the size of a Buff-banded Rail but they are only half the size! They were quite close to us and were walking out in the open for a reasonable length of time. Usually the are more secretive than this as far as I'm aware.

A Baillon's Crake

This Little Egret stayed in close proximity to the Royal Spoonbill for about two hours. As the Royal Spoonbill was sifting for food with his bill he was stirring up food for the Little Egret.

The Little Egret was regularly seen with one leg laying on the reeds like this

The Little Egret hunting

Another Baillon's Crake

The Baillon's Crake looking for prey

The same Baillon's Crake from above

A Baillon's Crake

Two Little Bitterns were seen several times briefly flying out from the reeds and landing in the reeds a little further down. They didn't come out to the edge of the reeds where they could be viewed for longer periods so we didn't manage to obtain a photograph in the time we spent there. They would fly out about every 20 to 30 minutes and move to a new location within the reeds. I was surprised by the size of them as well actually. This was also a first for me. I had never seen them before today. Hopefully I get another chance in the near future to get back down and capture a photograph of them.

Several Black-fronted Dotterels were seen in the shallow water and muddy areas of the smaller lagoon. The Latham's was seen briefly and a couple of the other birders managed to capture a photograph, but I wasn't one of them.

A Black-fronted Dotterel

The same Black-fronted Dotterel

There were a few flocks of Plumed Whistling-Ducks, approximately 50 in total that were here as well as a few smaller flocks of Pacific Black Ducks.

A pair of Plumed Whistling-Ducks

Plumed Whistling-Ducks

These cormorants were sitting on the light poles of the tennis court near the lagoons. The next light pole over also had a cormorant but a different species.

Little Black Cormorants

Little Pied Cormorant

This Baillon's Crake was not near as approachable as the Baillon's Crakes sighted earlier in the morning. As soon as this one stepped out from the reeds it ran across the water into the closest reeds.

A more secretive Baillon's Crake

There were several Chestnut-breasted Mannikins that were sighted flying about the lagoons and landing at the tops of the reeds.

A Chestnut-breasted Mannikin

On the large oval to the eastern side of the lagoons about seven Australian Pipits could be seen. I would love to come back to this spot to try and photograph some of the other species that were here. Overall a good morning out birding, even though it was so hot, so early in the morning.

More updates and pics coming soon.

 

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Australian Birds Photography: KEUNEA PHOTOGRAPHY 

Elusive or Common Birds of the Lockyer Valley

On Sunday I decided to go to the Lockyer Valley again to try and locate some of the "now common birds" of the Lockyer Valley. Over the last few weeks there have been many reports of Hoary-headed Grebes, Australasian Shovelers, Freckled Ducks and Yellow-billed Spoonbills, most of them in large numbers according to several blogs and web sites. I have made many trips to the area in the last few months but have not seen any of these species except for 2 Freckled Ducks on one occasion. Since the reports have been more frequent and larger numbers of all these species in the area recently I thought I would go for another look with a few friends to help me scan the dams, lakes and lagoons. It seemed to be a sure thing as just the day before all of these species had been sighted in large numbers in many spots, by several people in the Lockyer Valley.

 

We arrived at the first location before 9 o'clock and we left the Lockyer Valley just after 2 o'clock. It was a glorious day. A warm day of about 29 degrees and hardly a cloud in the sky all day. A perfect day for bird watching.

 

We arrived at Atkinson's Dam first. There were heaps of Australian Pelicans here along with heaps of Eurasian Coots, Little Black Cormorants and numerous Black Swans, Australasian Grebes, Great Crested Grebes, Grey Teal and Pink-eared Ducks. We didn't stay here for long as all of these species I have photographed before and most of them were quite a distance from the bank which made it near impossible to obtain decent photographs.

 

A postcard shot of the Australian Pelicans

We headed to Seven Mile Lagoon next. All the same species were seen here that were at Atkinson's Dam along with several Black-winged Stilts, Masked Lapwings, Magpie-larks, Intermediate Egrets, Great Egrets and possibly a few thousand (at the most) Pink-eared Ducks spread over several flocks. Hardheads were also very common. Two Freckled Ducks were also spotted. I didn't take many photos here either due to the distance between myself and the birds.

 

Black-winged Stilt

Australian Pelicans flying in formation over Seven Mile Lagoon

A Black Swan with some Pink-eared Ducks

Great Egret at Seven Mile Lagoon

Great Egret just after landing in the water

On the way to our next destination one of my friends spotted this Nankeen Kestrel on the power pole on the side of the road. This is the first time I have photographed this particular bird.

Nankeen Kestrel

The same Nankeen Kestrel

Our next stop was Lake Clarendon. Here we found basically all the same birds as the first two locations, just in lower numbers.  Pacific Black Ducks were also common here. While we were here we did see several Cockatiels, Grey-crowned Babblers and a large flock of Whistling Kites. In total there were approximately 40 - 50 birds circling the lake.

A Black Swan up ending searching for food

Part of the flock of Whistling Kites

Our next location was Jahnke's Lagoon. This lagoon had a large number of species for the size of the body of water. Basically the same water birds were seen again as the other locations except no Australian Pelicans were seen. Many Plumed Whistling-Ducks were present along with a couple of Little Pied Cormorants.

Mixed flock of Plumed Whistling-Ducks, Pink-eared Ducks, Grey Teal, Eurasian Coots and Little Black Cormorants

Same species as above with a Little Pied Cormorant

Pink-eared Ducks



Great Egret

Our next stop was Pechey's Lagoon. We went to lagoon 1 and 2. This area is beautiful. The surrounding bush had many birds calling out. One of the birds I was unable to identify by call. We didn't go looking for the birds in the bush as we had a limited time at each place. After scanning the waters of the lagoon basically the only birds we could see were a few Black Swans and Pacific Black Ducks along with heaps of Eurasian Coots and Plumed Whistling-Ducks. We didn't keep many photos from here as we already have heaps of good quality photographs of these birds and they are extremely common in SEQ.

Our second last place to visit was Karasch's Lagoon. This lagoon had the same species of water birds again that we had seen at the other locations. Several Red-kneed Dotterels and a few Black-fronted Dotterels were spotted also. In the surrounding trees we saw a couple of Little Corellas, heaps of Common Mynas, several Australian White-Ibis and Scaly-breasted Loikeets.

Pink-eared Duck

Little Pied Cormorant

Black-winged Stilt

A pair of Little Corellas

Australian White-Ibis

Our last stop before heading home was Lake Galletly at The University of Queensland, Gatton Campus. There were mainly Magpie Geese. There were possibly a 150 in total. Other than that there were a few dozen Pink-eared Ducks, Grey Teal, Plumed Whistling-Ducks, Eurasian Coots, Australasian Grebes and several Hardheads. Red-kneed Dotterels and a few Black-fronted Dotterels were also sighted. In the trees around the lake several Grey Fantails were seen as well as 50 or more Superb Fairy-wrens. The Superb Fairy-wrens are not near as photogenic as the Variegated or Red-backed Fairy-wrens. I had a few issues with the focussing of the camera too while trying to photograph them which didn't help, hence the quality of the photograph.

Pink-eared Ducks circling searching for food

Magpie Geese preening

A couple of Magpie Geese with some Plumed Whistling-Ducks

Another couple of Pink-eared Ducks

Grey Fantail

Superb Fairy-wren

Magpie Goose

After visiting all these locations and having a good look at each spot plus scanning all the smaller waterholes and dams along the way we failed to find the species we were after. It was still a great day out and we got a few good shots and saw a new species. One of my friends got to see many new species on the trip as this was her first time birding in the Lockyer Valley.

After I got home that evening I saw that there were another few reports that said that most of the species I was looking for were sighted in the same places that we visited, by a few different people. I must be very unlucky. I know that the birds can move from place to place throughout the day but what is the chances of not seeing any of the species I was looking for, at any location yet others were able to see them around the same time (within a few hours at the most) at the same place? 

The one that confuses me the most is the Hoary-headed Grebe. Grebes will stay on a given body of water until nightfall. They don't travel during the day except very short distances if they are attacked, usually still on the same body of water. At one of the smallest locations that I visited apparently the Hoary-headed Grebes were sighted by others. I would nearly guarantee that they were not present at this location as we had two good quality cameras scanning the water and reeds plus a good set of binoculars.

If they were sighted on Atkinson's Dam or Seven Mile Lagoon I could understand as they are huge bodies of water and they could easily be missed. Pechey's Lagoon is quite small and easily observed. I have no doubt that the birds have been seen by people in the area and in the numbers they are saying but I think some of the reports could be inaccurate too. I think I will take sightings and blogs with a grain of salt from now on as anybody can post bird sightings on web sites really. Without a photo, or good equipment mistakes can be made on identifications. To be honest I thought I spotted the Hoary-headed Grebes on two occasions that day. After getting a more detailed view or shot I realised that they weren't, they were in fact juvenile Australasian Grebes.

Anyway that's enough about that. I hope I haven't offended anyone in the last few paragraphs, as that is not my intention.

More updates and pics coming soon.

If you're interested in my blog check out my site below by clicking on the link.

Australian Birds KEUNEA PHOTOGRAPHY

A Quick Trip to the Lockyer Valley

About five days ago I had to go down to the Lockyer Valley so I thought it might be a good opportunity to get a few shots in the area once again. I was hoping for some different birds and as luck would have it I found one new species that I haven't seen before and got some much better photos of some other species.

We started off at Lake Galletly at The University of Queensland, Gatton Campus. The lake was full this time after all the recent rain so the ducks were closer to the hide which made it easier to obtain photos. There were 40 or so Pink-eared Ducks, several Australasian Grebes, well over 100 Plumed Whistling-Ducks, lots of Grey Teal and Magpie Geese. As all the mud on the bank was now under water none of the Dotterels were seen.

A Pink-eared Duck standing on a pipe just below the water

Australasian Grebe

Plumed Whistling-Ducks

A trio of Grey Teal

Just some of the Pink-eared Ducks

 

A pair of Pink-eared Ducks

 

A pair of Pink-eared Ducks resting at Lake Galletly 

The only Intermediate Egret that was seen at this location

After leaving the university we travelled to Lake Clarendon just down the road. It was impressive to see this Lake also at total capacity. As a result the number of species of birds was also reduced here as the muddy banks were under water. Lots of Little Pied Cormorants were seen along with lots of Little Black Cormorants, several Grey Teal, a few Intermediate Egrets, one Great Crested Grebe, several Australasian Grebes and many hundreds of Eurasian Coots.

A Grey Teal with ducklings with a couple of Eurasian Coots

An Intermediate Egret in flight

The solitary Great Crested Grebe

On our way to our last stop we come across a  field of grain which I think was milo. We were travelling slowly due to the road works in the area and I heard some Cockatiels calling from the edge of the paddock. I stopped the car and found them feeding on the seed heads. There were about 15 birds in the flock, most of which were males.

One of the few female Cockatiels

Male Cockatiel

The last stop was a lagoon near Lowes Road at Placid Hills. Apparently the lagoon is called Lowes Road Lagoon but I was unable to find the name on a map. I was very excited to see a pair of Freckled Ducks for the first time. By the time I got close enough they had separated and were quite a distance on the water. This lagoon had a large number of species. A pair of Freckled Ducks, many Grey Teal and Hardheads, about 50 Pink-eared Ducks, hundreds of Eurasian Coots, several Australasian Grebes, a few Black-winged Stilts, and lots of Red-kneed Dotterels, a few Black-fronted Dotterels and a large number of Scaly-breasted Lorikeets.

One of the Freckled Ducks

The Freckled Duck with some Grey Teal and an Australasian Grebe
 

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet looking for a nesting hollow

The Black-fronted Dotterels were well camouflaged

Red-kneed Dotterel

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet eating lantana berries





A pair of Australian Wood Ducks with ducklings



More updates and pics regularly.

If you're interested in my blog check out my site below by clicking on the link.

Australian Birds KEUNEA PHOTOGRAPHY