Steve Murray, Rick Franks and Ged Tranter did an epic day birding at Lake Manchester yesterday, and found a Red-backed Kingfisher and a party of Black-chinned Honeyeaters, both excellent birds for Brisbane. I didn’t have much time this morning, as I had to be back to drop the children at day care before 0800. So I had to choose either the kingfisher or the honeyeaters. I chose to try for the kingfisher, reasoning that a group of Black-chinned Honeyeaters were likely to hang around whereas the kingfisher could depart any moment. I set the alarm for 0400 and duly arrived at Buylar Rd only to find to my horror that it was enveloped in thick fog! If there’s one weather condition that kills birding, it’s fog.

I groped my way toward the fence line where the kingfisher had been yesterday afternoon, but I knew my chances were low to non-existent even if the bird was around somewhere. There was simply no sign of it, although a Restless Flycatcher was some small consolation. All too soon, my time was up and I had to retreat back to the car and head home, bitterly disappointed. I could potentially make some time available tomorrow morning, and so I resolved to come back tomorrow for a re-match. Maybe starting by looking for the Black-chinned Honeyeaters, and then moving to the Red-backed Kingfisher spot. Watch this space.

With one year tick today (Restless Flycatcher), my year list edged up to 253 species. I spent 1 hour 31 minutes birding, walked 1.937 km and drove 112.6 km.