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.

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Australian Birds KEUNEA PHOTOGRAPHY

Birding Around my Coles Creek Property

After a month or two with little or no birding it was great to finally get out there again taking some photos. With work, the rainy weather and two floods going through the property in the last two months I have been unable to get many photos. This is a collection of the few shots I got over the last few months from around the property.

Each year the Varied Sittellas come to the property. This is usually just before the rain comes and they are only seen on the property for a few weeks and then they move on once again. This year was the largest flock that I have seen pass through since I have lived here. There was about 40 individuals in the group this year.

Varied Sittella

A Varied Sittella lifting bark looking for food

Another Varied Sittella

A Varied Sittella ready to take flight

Another bird that seems to come and go around the property is the Leaden Flycatcher. They can be seen and heard for most of the year except for Winter. This year they also seemed to be more common than usual. Unfortunately they always perch close to the top of the big gums though so obtaining a good photo is difficult.

Leaden Flycatcher in flight

Two male Leaden Flycatchers

Leaden Flycatcher cleaning itself

 

For the three years I have lived at the property I have heard a bird calling on a regular basis but usually in hard to access parts of the property. This bird can also be heard on moonlit nights where it can call for hours at a time. I often wondered what the bird was. Finally a few weeks ago several of them began calling out in the trees not far from the house. It took quite a while to even locate them in the tree tops and I was surprised to find that they were Brush Cuckoos. It is actually the first time I have seen them, even though I have been hearing them call regularly for years. While I watched them I noticed they are not a very social bird. If they weren't sitting very still they were attacking each other quite ruthlessly.

Brush Cuckoo



Another one of the Brush Cuckoos

All three of the birds in the next two photos are regularly seen on the property, especially during the wet season. One solitary White-necked Heron is only ever seen at a time. The Pacific Black Ducks are very common and can be seen any day. They range from groups of 4 or so up to 40 or more.

White-necked Heron and a Pacific Black Duck

White-faced Heron

The Scaly-breasted Lorikeets are also very common on the property. I'm pleased that they are much more common than the Rainbow Lorikeets here. As the numbers of Rainbow Lorikeets increase in an area, sadly the number of Scaly-breasted Lorikeets decline as they are smaller and not as aggressive as the Rainbow Lorikeets.

 Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

The same Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Around all the dams and creeks the Purple Swamphens can be regularly seen or heard. They are very numerous around the property all year round.

Purple Swamphen

Another common resident here are the Fairy-wrens. Since the floods there are definitely less around. I'm not sure if this is a direct effect of the flood or if possibly the Sparrowhawk that has moved in since the floods has been catching them in large numbers. They can still be heard any given day but there numbers have deteriorated. Hopefully over the coming months their numbers increase once again.

Juvenile Male Variegated Fairy-wren 

This Sparrowhawk moved onto the property after the floods. We have regularly seen the Grey and Brown Goshawks on the property which cause a lot of problems with the free range poultry, but they only seem to catch the poultry when they have chicks. After the chicks fledge, which they did nearly two months ago they seem to leave the animals alone. This Collared Sparrowhawk on the other hand has been harassing all the birds in the aviaries and all the poultry that are in pens. As soon as it spots me it flies off and lands in the trees in the distance. Hopefully he leaves them alone soon.

Collared Sparrowhawk

The Varied Trillers were first sighted about 6 months ago and have now taken up residence in one corner of the property. There numbers have nearly doubles since I started observing them. They can be seen regularly in this part of the property.



Female Varied Triller


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