I ducked out this morning for some birding, electing to look for migrants along the NW border of the LGA instead of trying again for rare residents, which would still be around later in the spring and into summer. But I seriously miscalculated on the weather front! The radar looked OK, but when I got to Bald Hills, it was raining cats and dogs, and it looked set in. I sheltered in the car for a while but then decided to brave it, without the luxury of a raincoat or umbrella, and (wisely in retrospect) deciding to leave the camera behind. Soaked, I checked the gravel pits along Linkfield Rd, first from the Moreton Bay Regional Council side, and then from the Brisbane side. The latter yielded a Baillon’s Crake and a Latham’s Snipe, but nothing rarer than that.

Retreating to car in the still incessant rain, I drove around the corner and checked the Bald Hills Raptor Watchpoint from the car. Again nothing special, but another 8 species for this hotspot, and it feels like a place where a decent rarity could turn up one day. After a quick check at a piece of urban bushland around the corner, I headed into Pinaroo cemetery, and birded around the lake in the NE corner. Now this is a spot that looks really promising, with papyrus covering one end, and some nice undisturbed bush at the other, sporting Eastern Whipbird, Eastern Yellow Robin, White-throated Honeyeater, Golden Whistler etc – species characteristic of higher quality habitat. A cracking male White-winged Triller was flying about, which was a nice bonus.

Louis Backstrom joined me, and we birded the lake for a bit before calling it quits and heading to Kedron Brook Wetlands Reserve (eBird list). Louis needed Black Falcon for the year, and one had been seen recently here. We scanned for raptors for three quarters of an hour, but no Black Falcons could be seen. After Louis left, I wandered around to the eastern shore of the main pool, and checked the sharpie flock carefully. I couldn’t pick out any Pectoral Sandpipers, but had a cracking Curlew Sandpiper to round off the morning.

With no year ticks today, my year list remained on 298 species. I spent 3 hours 54 minutes birding, walked 2.639 km and drove 83.8 km. My chronological year list is here.