February 2nd: Wedge-tailed Shearwater

Over the weekend, several birders in SEQ took advantage of the wild winds brought on by an ex-cyclone to go sea watching. I thought I would take similar advantage and ducked up to Caloundra and Coolum for the afternoon. Sadly, I didn't do anywhere near as well as others did on my sea watching, with only Crested Terns and a few Wedge-tailed Shearwaters to show for my efforts. I did see one probable Jaeger way off in the distance, but too far to even be sure it wasn't a Common Noddy. While sitting at Point Cartwright at Mooloolaba watching for seabirds, I did have one spectacular sighting, a snake I am fairly sure was a Taipan. I've sent shots to a reptile expert I know and hopefully I captured enough information to confirm an ID. I certainly wasn't going to pick it up and count underbelly scales! On my way out from Pt Cartwright I also saw a Varied Triller, bird #250 for the year. For me this seems like a real milestone, as I'm now at the point I consider the halfway mark. The next 50 species will be fairly easy, though take much longer than the first 250. The last 50 though, will be incredibly hard, so it is really at 300 that the real slog begins.

I ducked up to Point Perry and Point Arkwright at Coolum but had no more luck on the seabird front. I did find a white-morph Eastern Reef Egret, a bird we missed earlier in the year, so that was a nice surprise. I've resolved to have another go at sea watching if conditions present themselves, but I will probably head to Point Lookout on Stradbroke Island with other birders as more eyes will hopefully have more luck. At Coolum I ducked into the heathland to pick up an easy White-cheeked Honeyeater, and then ducked out to the Bruce Highway via Yandina to have a go at Grey Goshawk, which is often on the power lines in this area, but was sadly absent today.

My final stop for the day was to head down towards Toorbul. Not to the wader roost - it was low tide. I was heading down to a little wetland just before the wader roost where I had been told Brolga might be possible. Sure enough, as I pulled in four Brolga were flying over the wetland, obviously heading to roost somewhere. What luck to arrive just as they took to the air. A few minutes later and I would have dipped on them.

So with a few new additions I've finally broken the 250 mark.

UPDATE: Heard back from my friend - the snake is an Eastern Brown Snake. Apparently the brow and neck aren't right for Taipan.

Total birds to date: 253

Photo 1: Wild weather at Pt Cartwright
Photo 2: Unknown snake at Pt Cartwright
Photo 3: Unknown snake at Pt Cartwright