A big Easter: the final chapter

I'll compress the last three days into one post, mostly because the Sundown NP trip was quite disappointing. The following day from Girraween I wanted to check out something else the ranger had mentioned - there were Southern Emu-Wrens in Girraween just like my grandmother had told me, and though they hadn't been seen since 2002, the ranger gave me the last known location for them and directions for how to get there. So I drove around to Bald Rock NP, on the NSW side of the border. I was taken by surprise at the $7 entry fee, but fortunately had enough cash on me to cover it. I hiked off down the border track, mostly seeing interesting butterflies and reptiles, with the occasional dirt common bird on the way. I finally made it to the heath area around lunchtime, the complete wrong time to look for Emu-Wrens. I had a thorough walk through the area - the heath is all pretty new, with fire having wiped it out back in 2002, so as long as not all the bird perished in the fire, there is a good chance they are still there. It is a big enough area to support a small population, and there are apparently other heath areas in that part of the park to check too. I will have to organise an expedition there sometime to establish if they are still there. On the way back to the car I had Crested Shrike-Tits foraging down low, always a good bird to see, even though I had some the day before.

The next day was spent entirely at Sundown NP, but in the north end. We looked for Turquoise Parrots all day with no luck - there is some significant irony in the fact that the supposedly easy species is the one I missed AGAIN, and the two very difficult ones were, in the end, fairly easy. I did manage to find Speckled Warblers and Inland Thornbills in the woodlands near Beehive Mine, and heard what I think was a Little Bronze-Cuckoo calling, as well as a definite Superb Lyrebird near Red Rock Gorge, which was a big surprise to me but are known from the area apparently. On the way out of the park we had a Fan-tailed Cuckoo giving great views calling from by the road, and I had four Wedge-tailed Eagles cruise over, one that didn't have a tail!

The next day I woke up at 3:30am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I headed off in the dark hoping for owls on my way back to Coolmunda. I was planning to look for Spotted Bowerbirds at Inglewood and have another crack at Mosquito Creek Rd and Durakai. My long drive in the dark produced only two night birds, one Tawny Frogmouth, and one unknown that was probably also a Frogmouth. By dawn I was on Mosquito Creek Rd, nearly at the state forest section. I had more Speckled Warblers around the car as the forest got light enough to see, and I moved back slowly along the road looking for anything interesting. As the sun came over the horizon I got my wish. I stopped to look at a kangaroo bouncing through the field. It stopped near the rising sun, and as I panned across, there on the other side was an Emu standing proud in the grass! A coat of arms sunrise! Emu was another bird that is common elsewhere in the country but very difficult locally, possibly even moreso than Squatter Pigeon, which is at least resident in the area, though rare. This was to be my second-last new bird for the trip.

Inglewood was beautiful in the morning light, but though I searched for a good two hours, had no luck on Spotted Bowerbirds. I did find more Plum-headed Finches, making me wonder once again how it took me so long to see my first ones! Coolmunda Dam was a complete waste of time, with a few pelicans and NO DUCKS! Obviously someone forgot to tell the waterbirds I was coming, but this is the worst I have ever seen the dam for birds. Still plenty of water, but possibly too much fringing vegetation for comfort.

Durakai was a hub of activity, though it was more of the same birds from day one. A Scarlet Honeyeater immature male was interesting, and briefly evoked the possibility of female Black Honeyeater til I saw the hint of red. I desperately searched for Regent or Black-chinned Honeyeaters, but sadly no luck. I had one last throw of the dice to make for new birds on the way home.

I went back to Brisbane via Toowoomba instead of Cunningham's Gap, and visited a friend of mine, Mick Atzini in the Upper Lockyer area. We had a good walk along his creekline, where last week there was an Oriental Cuckoo, and several weeks ago he had Red Goshawk fly past. Sadly, we had no such luck, but driving in to his place, I did, finally, get a Forest Kingfisher. I thought "cool" and thought no more of it, as this is a common species in coastal QLD. When I told Mick he got pretty excited - turns out it's the first record he knows of from the area for 15 years! My final new bird of the trip, and it turns out to be a vagrant! Mick took me to some interesting places, including one that used to be reliable for Red-chested Button-Quail (10 years ago!) that I'll have to check out towards the end of the year.

I slowly made my way home after a huge day, and a huge trip. I'm pretty chuffed with myself - Squatter Pigeon, Superb Lyrebird, Southern Whiteface and Emu are all very hard birds on the local scale, and Scarlet Robin and Pallid Cuckoo are must-get migrants that I was a little worried about, though I did expect to get both for the year.

Total birds to date: 304

Photo 1: Emu at Mosquito Creek Rd, near Inglewood
Photo 2: Plum-headed Finch preening, Inglewood