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.

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Australian Birds KEUNEA PHOTOGRAPHY