Up at 0230, I drove up to Mount Glorious in search of nocturnal species, mainly thinking of Sooty Owl, Masked Owl and Marbled Frogmouth. My first stop yielded only a distant Southern Boobook, and so I headed to Lawton Road where I have seen both Marbled Frogmouth and Sooty Owl in the past. Sure enough, almost straight away I heard a Sooty Owl calling, and eventually got good views, although my pics were rather dark. A nice rainforest speciality under the belt, but the fact that a sooty owl was vociferously calling meant my chances of Marbled Frogmouth were diminished. In any case, light was beginning to pierce the darkness so I headed to the spot where the Common Blackbird had been seen the day before. I set up just on the Brisbane side of the border, about 100m from where the bird had been yesterday and listened expectantly. Almost straight away I heard the Blackbird singing, even though it was well before dawn and only a few other birds had started up. A mix of Green Catbird and Common Blackbird song – strange times indeed. With the bird safely on the year list, I walked over the border into Moreton Bay Regional Council territory and got brief views and a photo of the bird. It flew as close as 50 metres to the border at one point, and I think if one waited long enough it would eventually cross over into Brisbane.

Enough of this shenanigans, I wanted to get into the rainforest. I birded several spots along the road, noting many of the rainforest specialities, and then birded Joyners Ridge Road. There were lots of Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves and Black-faced Monarchs calling, a nice White-headed Pigeon, Paradise Riflebird, Eastern Spinebill, Crimson Rosella, Pale-yellow Robin, Noisy Pitta, Russet-tailed Thrush, Logrunner, and Satin and Regent Bowerbird. I searched fairly hard for New Holland Honeyeater along the road near the Community Centre, but couldn’t find one. This is a localised species in Brisbane and one I’ll need to keep an eye on.

On the way back home, I dropped in at Kedron Brooks Wetland for Red-necked Avocet, and had about 80 birds.

My year list at the end of the day was 187 species. I spent 4 hours 30 minutes birding, walked 4.323 km and drove 119 km.