Birding Brisbane
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July 2019 Birding Brisbane Birds and Birdwatching in the River City Volume 1, Issue 7 Special feature: Kedron Brook Wetlands Reserve Kedron Brook Wetlands pressive species tally is a unique site in the for this site—currently inner Brisbane suburbs. standing at 200! Ked- Accessed via a rounda- ron Brook Wetlands Inside this issue: bout at the eastern end Reserve is renowned for of Toombul Rd, it is a flat one special bird in the site made up of wetlands, Brisbane LGA – the grasslands, mangroves, Australasian Grass Kedron Brook Wetlands 1 scattered clumps of Owl, a species sought woodland trees and lan- after by birders from In-depth bird news 1 tana thickets in patches far and wide. Accord- eBird skills: Sound re‐ 6 along the perimeter. ingly, the site is visited cordings Pathways form a circuit at dusk by observers all around the area and link eager to locate it and Mystery Photo 6 with the bike path along the species has a rela- Contributing to the 6 Kedron Brook. There are tively high site observa- Atlas many mown strips tion rate of 14.6%* with Undersurveyed Atlas 7 amongst the grasslands many ebird lists con- Square to act as firebreaks in taining just that 1 spe- Black-shouldered Kites breed at From the Atlas: Austral‐ 7 ian King-Parrot dry times and these can cies. Caution is needed Kedron Brook. Here a juvenile List of Observers 10 be walked when the area though, because Barn devours dinner. Photograph on is not inundated after Owls have recently 25th May 2019 by Ged Tranter. heavy rains. been discovered at the site, and confusion be- owl species currently This variety of habitats tween the species is cer- have... (Continued p. 4) Highlights: has resulted in an im- tainly possible. The other · Red-rumped Parrot at the Port of Brisbane · Special feature on Kedron Bird news, June 2019 Brook Wetlands Reserve · Uploading sound recordings The standout bird in east of the Dividing to eBird June was a fine Red- Range, and the bird was rumped Parrot found by widely twitched by local · Contributing to the Atlas of the Birds of Brisbane Brad Woodworth at birders keen to add it to Swan Lake (Port of Bris- their Brisbane tally. At · Identify the mystery bird nd bane) on 2 , and ulti- least 37 observers went · Go birding in Damascus Adult male Red-rumped Parrot mately staying until the to see the bird (and re- Barracks! at Swan Lake, Port of Brisbane last day of the month. ported their sighting to on 2nd June. Photograph by · Australian King-Parrots This species is scarce eBird), demonstrating Richard Fuller. Bird news, continued how much interest there is in local rarities such as this. The bird showed no obvious signs of a cap- tive origin, and the time of year is consistent with a coastward move- ment of several other dry country species. An excellent find by Brad Woodworth, although the bird was also possibly seen by other observ- ers in the days leading up to Brad’s discovery. Otherwise, June was a rather sub- dued month in Brisbane birding, with the cooler months not yet bringing in too many rare inland Barn Owl at Kedron Brook Wetlands Reserve on 18th June. Photograph vagrants and the vast majority of by Terence Alexander. summer migrants gone as well. Nevertheless, a band of dedicated birders did manage to pick up in reporting rate between 2005 some goodies over the course of and 2017. Although there hasn’t year (RS). the month. been a blank year in this period, it Nocturnals were around in good Shorebirds, as would be expected has come very close, and for what- numbers for those who searched, for June, were not around in high ever reason, the species now ap- with Barn Owl at Kedron (TA, numbers, although the majority of pears to have become very rare in MD) on the 18th, Grass Owl at regular species for the city were Brisbane. Just outside our city Kedron throughout the month, still picked up over the course of boundary, up to six Lesser Crested Powerful Owl at Mt Coot-tha on the month, mostly owing to dedi- Terns were at Wellington Point 30th (JO) and Hawkesbury Road cated shorebird observations by (Redland) during June. on the 24th (RG), and Southern the Queensland Wader Study A sprinkling of migrant passerines Boobook at Hawkesbury Road on Group at the Port of Brisbane and graced the mainland, with a Spec- the 24th (RG), and Kenmore on the Manly Wader Roost. Shorebirds tacled Monarch at Kenmore Hills 30th (JB). Owlet-Nightjars were encountered over the month in- on 2nd (JB), and a Black-faced around in several locations, in- cluded (but not limited to) Terek Monarch at Anstead on 6th (JD, cluding Enoggera Reservoir on the Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, KB). These records are interest- 12th (NB), Gold Creek on the 8th Lesser Sand-Plover and Double- ing, as little is known about the (JC) and England Creek on the banded Plover. Also on the coast, a overwintering habits of some of 26th (LB). Tawny Frogmouth were Lesser Crested Tern was seen on our landbird summer migrants. reported in good numbers across st the 1 at Manly (BW) and then on Keep an eye out for more! the city. No-one ventured up to the the 2nd at Wynnum (KC), a good highland rainforest at night. record for the city, although a Several notable scarce species Most of the common raptor species handful of birds make it to Manly around the city were recorded around the city were reported annually. There are Lesser Crest- throughout the month too, with a throughout the month, while scar- ed Tern records from all months in Black-necked Stork at Oxley cities included Square-tailed Kites Brisbane, but it is distinctly a win- Creek Common on the 18th (LB, at Boondall, Dowse Lagoon and ter visitor, presumably from Great MB), Red-backed Buttonquail at Brookfield, Little Eagle at Dowse Barrier Reef breeding grounds fur- Hawkesbury Road on the 4th (RG), Lagoon, Port of Brisbane, Kedron ther north. The main peak of rec- Painted Buttonquail also at th Brook, Enoggera Reservoir and ords is from May to August, but it Hawkesbury Road on the 24 (RG) Oxley Creek Common, Spotted is a rare bird even in winter. And and at Lake Manchester on the 2nd Harrier at Tinchi Tamba, Bris- apparently becoming rarer in the (CB), and Little Bronze-Cuckoo at bane Airport, Oxley Creek Com- last few years, with a distinct drop Fitzgibbon on the 28th – a highly unusual record for this time of mon and Shelley Road Park. Black Page 2 Birding Brisbane Bird news, continued Falcons at Dowse Lagoon on the 24th (GT, SM) and Oxley Creek Common on the 17-18th (JV, MGi, JC) were probably the highlights for the month. This species is enig- matic in Brisbane, with one or two birds being frequently seen, but not yet pinned down to any partic- ular location. Perhaps that will change in the future should a breeding event occur. Finally, some noteworthy winter nomads were reported throughout the month. These included Red Spot the odd one out! Eagle-eyed Ged Tranter noticed this Wattlebird photographed at Sandy Rock Pigeon flying with Topknot Pigeons over Dowse La- Camp on the 29th and 30th (GD) goon on 16th June. and Whites Hill on the 22nd (GN), continuing the fantastic year for this species locally. Other winter passerines included Jacky Winter at Kholo Road (CB, JC, AN); Dusky Woodswallow at Gold Creek (CB), Kholo (AN) and Lake Manchester (CB, AN, JC, WS); Musk Lorikeet at Prior’s Pocket (RG) and Lake Manchester (CM, AN). All in all, not a bad 30 days for the city’s birds, but lets hope July brings more rarities! Round-up by Louis Backstrom, Richard Fuller and Sandra Gal- lienne. Note that sightings report- ed here may or may not be con- firmed, and records of rarities are pending acceptance by relevant rarities committees. This pair of Red-backed Fairywrens at Adavale Street on 28th June was engaged in mutual preening, a pair bonding behaviour. Photograph by Ed Frazer. Volume 1, Issue 7 Page 3 Kedron Brook Wetlands Reserve continued... a much lower reporting rate— Southern Boobook has just 3 sight- ings (0.35%) and Barn Owl, four (0.46%), the most recent record for it being on 18th Jun 2019 by Mi- chael Daley and Terence Alexan- der. Other than the Australasian Grass Owl, the site is special for the diversity of waterbird species, especially the waders that inhabit the wetland areas in the summer months with the most prolific be- ing the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, currently reported at 35.5% and Marsh Sandpiper at 11%. This exceptional nocturnal photograph of an Australasian Grass-Owl Past records indicate there is al- was taken at Kedron Brook Wetlands Reserve by Ged Tranter on 14th ways a chance of something rare August 2018. The long, trailing legs are one of the identification features. appearing. Unusual species such as Long-toed Stint have appeared twice – first reported just once in Pacific Black following about 10% Pelican fourth at 73.7% and 2004 by Dez Wells and not seen behind on (47.6%). Some of the Masked Lapwing fifth at 70%. again until 2018 when up to 3 in- more unusual species seen are dividual birds were reported an- Plumed and Wandering Whistling- Eurasian Coot have not yet been other 51 times, currently it is rec- Ducks with only 5 records each recorded in 2019 and numbers orded at a rate of 6.1%.