January 31st part 1: Diamond Firetail (Girraween area)

So on the last day of January we decided to end the month with a bang and visit one of the few remaining areas that would net us a swag of new birds for the year. After some discussion we decided to visit the Stanthorpe/Girraween area. This area has a lot of sentimental value for me, as I learnt to birdwatch in the area with my grandmother. This was before the days of keeping lists and being serious about what to see and where, so my knowledge of the area as far as where to go to look for birds is fairly eclectic. Fortunately, Andrew knew a great spot on Old Wallangara Rd to start the day off, and this is where we headed first.

We did stop on the way just once, at the rest stop past the crest of Cunningham's Gap. I had in the past seen Bassian Thrush hopping around on the lawns here and was hoping for a repeat performance. We did get brief views of a Zoothera of some kind, but not enough to confirm an ID and definitely not hopping around on the lawn like a chook. Our compensation was a pair of Glossy Black Cockatoos gliding overhead calling and landing nearby. We only had very poor views but this is an iconic species and can often be very hard to find, so we are both happy to have it on our lists for the year.

Old Wallangara Rd is just south of Girraween National Park. I'm sure I drove down the road on a number of occasions as a child, but I have to admit, I've probably never gone birding there before. It turns out that this is an amazing place to go birding. The area is an unassuming strip of roadside vegetation that looks like it couldn't possibly support much in the way of birds, let alone rare ones, but we saw some amazing things in our time there. We started with White-plumed Honeyeater, a common enough bird but again at the very edge of its range near Brisbane. The new species flowed quickly; Dusky Woodswallow, White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike (including an intermediate/dark phase), Restless Flycatcher, White-browed Babbler, Scarlet, Brown-headed, and Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters, Brown Treecreeper, Little Eagle, Red-winged Parrot, Eastern Rosella, Musk Lorikeet... All of these were great birds, and many difficult to get near Brisbane, but there were two we were specifically after at this location: Turquoise Parrot and Diamond Firetail. Sadly our first Neophema parrot for the year will have to wait, as we neither saw nor heard one of these gorgeous little bundles of colour. We did manage to get views, distant though they were, of Diamond Firetails. Interestingly, despite this being the main target of the day, another bird stole the show while we were watching a Firetail feed on the ground: a juvenile Hooded Robin flew into the tree above it.

Hooded Robins are one of Australia's most seriously declining woodland species. They are uncommon through most of their range, and downright rare this close to Brisbane. We ended up seeing two juveniles/immatures in the area, and while not absolute proof they are breeding in the area, it is wonderful to see that they are breeding successfully nearby. More wonderful is that we how have another very hard species ticked off the list.

After our roaring success with the Firetail and the Hooded Robin, we decided to have one more quick look back through the roadside vegetation to see if we had missed anything. Turns out we did, and on our way back through we lucked onto a male Crested Shrike-Tit foraging through the trees. These are an amazing bird known for their powerful bill that can tear bark from trees or fingernails from unfortunate bird banders with equal ease. These birds can be difficult to find in SEQ, so it was another in a series of great birds to get for the year.

We started heading into Girraween, finding Weebill on the way in. At the main picnic ground we added Red Wattlebird, and walking down the start of Junction Track we found White-eared Honeyeater, but bird-wise the area was extremely quiet. We did see some great butterflies though, and in the end had to decide between looking for more butterflies and heading off to find more birds. We of course opted for birds.

Our next stop was Storm King Dam to look for Musk Duck, a bird Andrew had never failed to see there. My experience had been less positive, but we easily found a single female bird on the main body of the dam. We searched the edges carefully for rare shorebirds, but could only turn up a couple of Latham's Snipe, nice birds for the area and for the day, but not new for the year.

We headed down Eukey Rd, where I was able to show Andrew the house and farm that my grandparents used to own. It's always sad driving past these for me, as I have such fond memories of the place and the area as a whole, and since then particularly the farm has fallen into ruin. All the hundred year old grape vines are dead, and most of the fruit trees are gone apart from a few apple trees that have run wild. Crossing the highway again we headed down back roads through the wineries area. We finally caught up with Red-rumped Parrot, and while doing so also found Plum-headed Finches, which while not new for the year, are always a great bird to see. It was at this point we made a decision - we had planned to spend the whole day in the Girraween area, but had now seen nearly everything we came for. Andrew noticed on the map that back roads would lead us all the way from Ballandean to Inglewood. Since this had been another option on our list of places to go on the day, we decided to spend the afternoon in the Inglewood/Durakai area and try our luck at a few different habitats.

To Be Continued....

Photo 1: White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike pale morph at Old Wallangara Rd
Photo 2: Little Lorikeets feeding at Old Wallangara Rd
Photo 3: White-browed Babblers at Old Wallangara Rd
Photo 4: Crested Shrike-Tit male at Old Wallangara Rd