January 10th: Grass Owl

The goal of heading out today was twofold: find as many migratory shorebird species as possible during the day, and see the Grass Owls near the Brisbane Airport that have become suddenly reliable at sunset.

We started in mid-afternoon with an overly hopeful trip to the Metroplex Wetlands to try and see Little Bittern. While this didn't pan out (unsurprising), it was a pleasant stop on the way, and we did manage to add Australian Reed Warbler to our year lists. Our next stop of the day was at Thornside, formerly one of the best wader roosts in the state, though now sadly severely depleted due to human activity. Indeed, there were people on the roost with toddlers and dogs while we were there, though we did manage to get a few species of waders. Of more interest (to me) were the Mangrove Honeyeaters, an easy species if you know where to look, but still a satisfying one to get on the list early on. I also added Mangrove Gerygone, and a juvenile Brahminy Kite.

Our next stop was at Manly. The fishermen were out in force (well, it was a Sunday), but fortunately there were no dogs around to scare off the shorebirds. And that was a good thing too, as there were several thousand around. We managed to find 19 species of shorebird at Manly, including 16 migratory shorebirds. A single Grey Plover in the main flock was definitely the highlight - an uncommon species in SEQ. We searched the waders very carefully for something really unusual, but sadly no Dowitchers or Broad-billed Sandpipers could be found. We spent a lot of time here and sadly had to skip Wynnum and head straight to the airport.

It was a good thing we did, as we got there with only half an hour to spare before "go-time" when the Grass Owls would hopefully lift off from the grass and fly around. We ran into a number of other people there with the same idea that we had, including a group from UQ at least one of which had been there the night before. As we waited the mosquitoes became gradually worse, until we all agreed they were as bad as we had seen anywhere at any time. The sun went down, and it got darker. The time the owls had come up and flown around the previous few days went past and it got so dark we could barely see anything. And then, someone called out -they had seen one take off! That bird went down into the grass again, but then someone shone their spotlight onto something overhead and there it was, a Grass Owl metres from our heads, cruising over silently. It circled us once only, and then headed off over the treeline at the far edge of the field. We beat a hasty retreat, but everyone was satisfied and we had all had great views of this elusive bird.

Total birds to date: 171

Photo 1: Mangrove Gerygone, Thornside
Photo 2: Manly Wader Roost
Photo 3: Striated Heron, Manly Wader Roost
Photo 4: Black-winged Stilt pair, Kedron Brook Wetlands