I was determined to try again for Scaly-breasted Munia. Not the birding choice I would have made if I’d not been doing a big year, as this would be my third attempt. It’s a fascinating case though, being an introduced species that has become very rare in recent years. One wonders why this is. Perhaps its population never really gained sufficient size and connectivity to persist over the long term; perhaps the climate is a bit too temperate – globally it is a tropical species, and south-eastern Australia is among the highest latitudes of any part of its current world distribution. Maybe green space and long grasses needed by this species are disappearing in Brisbane. Whatever the cause of its decline in the city, I was keen to see this bird, as there might not be another good opportunity this year.

After I arrived at Fitzgibbon Bushland I began coming across small groups of Chestnut-breasted Mannikins, and traversed right across the area with no luck. Eventually I returned to the spot where the birds had initially been found by Ross Smith and seen again by Ged Tranter. I saw a small group of finches, raised my bins and there it was! Right there, just nonchalantly sitting there. I reeled off a few blurry pictures, later realising they were horribly overexposed because I had previously been photographing flying birds. It shuffled down into the bush, and I kept on it for about 5 minutes, but after that it just seemed to evaporate. I didn’t see or hear it leave, and simply couldn’t find it again. No matter, the tick was in the bag and I was mighty relieved.

I decided to push on to Tinchi Tamba, and have another look for the Black Falcon that had been seen over a week ago. It was a very long shot, but I thought I’d try nevertheless. Arriving at the small car park, I realised I had the place to myself, and wandered out onto the expansive wader roost area, since it was high tide and I wondered if the falcon might investigate it during that time. Except for a small flock of Red-capped Plovers there were no shorebirds roosting. As I got onto the plain, three finches flushed from close by and flew across in front of me – Plum-headed Finches! They landed in a tree and I got some very long range pics, but then they flew again and I lost them. This is a rare and erratic species in Brisbane, and this was the first record for Tinchi Tamba, the 232nd species recorded at this exceptional site. I texted the news to Ged Tranter and Steve Murray, both keen Tinchi birders. Steve showed up about an hour later but unfortunately couldn’t relocate the birds.

I spent the rest of the morning scanning carefully for raptors, taking advantage of the 360 degree sky view on the wader roost plain. The final tally was 1 Brown Goshawk, 2 Whistling Kites, 6 Brahminy Kites, 3 White-bellied Sea-eagles, and a Nankeen Kestrel. And just before I was about to leave, a Square-tailed Kite appeared rather distantly in the east, a year tick. I was pleased with this, because although I wasn’t worried about missing it for the year, it’s a scarce species and now one less to plan time for. Steve Murray later had a Swamp Harrier and Rick Franks had a Little Eagle – all in all an amazing raptor day for Tinchi Tamba. Just Black Falcon missing…

With two year ticks today (Scaly-breasted Munia and Square-tailed Kite), my year list rose to 263 species. I spent 4 hours 50 minutes birding, walked 7.717 km and drove 76.6 km.

Scaly-breasted Munia at Fitzgibbon Bushland. Horribly overexposed because I forgot to change the camera setting back from previously photographing a flyover bird. Also poorly framed and out of focus, although to be fair I only had a few seconds to grab a pic.

Plum-headed Finches at Tinchi Tamba – these are two of the three birds that flushed from in front of me and landed in a tree at the SW corner of the wader roost plain. Very distant record shot – this documents the first record of this species at Tinchi Tamba, which now has 232 species listed on eBird.