With the reservoir filling up (64.7% today), and all the muddy edges having disappeared, the potential for shorebirds appearing is declining markedly. It’s going to be a bit boring when the level is rising, and better birding when the level is dropping I guess. I thus decided today to explore some of the woodlands along the western edge of the reservoir, where I could focus on exploring new areas without fear of missing out on shorebird action. But first, back to the big news of yesterday. Rick Franks called late morning to say that Felicia Chan had found a trio of GLOSSY BLACK-COCKATOOS on the patch!!! I raced down there, and within half an hour from the call was watching the birds calmly feeding on Casuarina fruits with a few metres of me, Felicia, Rick and Ged Tranter. It was a family party – a juvenile with an adult male and adult female.
Not only is this a brilliant species for the patch list, but it’s also a Brisbane lifer for me – the first time I have seen this species within the Brisbane Local Government Authority boundary. Nerdy I know, but there’s a few of us who watch this list, and the friendly competition is a bit of fun and keeps up our enthusiasm for local birding and bird-finding. There is only a sprinkling of Glossy Black-Cockatoo records in Brisbane, with most in the Mount Nebo / Mount Glorious area. The subcoastal woodlands around Redland have more regular records, and presumably these birds originate from this local population. Maybe they are regularly at Tingalpa, but haven’t been found before because of relatively poor birding coverage.
Fast forward to this morning, which began fairly quietly, although I did manage to flush a small buttonquail species, either Red-backed or Red-chested, which unfortunately flew quite distance and I couldn’t re-find it. Best birds were a Spotted Pardalote, a Forest Kingfisher and a singing White-winged Triller. Good birds to get under the belt. After finishing along the west side, I headed back to the Glossy Black-Cockatoos for another look, which was worth it as I got better sound recordings and photos.
With the addition of Glossy Black-Cockatoo (yesterday), Spotted Pardalote, Forest Kingfisher, White-winged Triller, Lewin’s Honeyeater and Australasian Figbird, my patch year list rose to 129 species.
eBird lists:
Place | Distance | Time | Spp |
Mt Gravatt-Capalaba Rd | 5.58 km | 232 min | 66 |
JC Trotter | 1.27 km | 33 min | 8 |
TOTAL | 6.85 km | 4 h 25 min | 68 |