Gavin's Feathers, Fur and Scales of Southern Queensland

After dropping off a part at Fig Tree Pocket in western suburbs of Brisbane, I decided to visit Gold Creek Reservoir for the morning to see if it lived up to the hype of a good birding site. It did.

Arriving a few minutes after 8am, I followed the track clockwise around the lake. Birding was a little bit slow through the open forest but there were patches of birds including Australian King-parrot, Pale-headed Rosella and Golden Whistler. Around the grassy lake edge were White-faced Heron, Red-backed Fairy-wren and Red-browed Finch. Not too many birds were present on the water- 25 Australasian Grebe, Little Black Cormorants, Pacific Black Duck and Dusky Moorhen. Welcome Swallows hawked over the lake and the manicured lawn below the dam wall.

Towards the upstream end of the reservoir, the track passed through a small patch of vine forest and highlights here included Russet-tailed Thrush, Painted Button-quail x 3 and a very vocal pair of Lewin’s Rail which behaved in a typical manner by remaining hidden from view under a large Lantana clump despite being less than ten metres away.

After following the trail – which was in poor shape in places – I ended up back on the same section of the track where I had observed the Painted Button-quail so I returned back to the car. Before leaving I decided to have a look at the last causeway before you reach the gate to the reservoir. White-eared Monarch are often reported from here and after a crude imitation of the call, I had a single bird fly straight in ending the mornings birding in style.

continued from part 2

Tuesday I again headed to Channel Island and Palmerston STW, East Point and Buffalo Creek. There were plenty of sea turtles around the bridge but I was not confident in identifying any of them I am sure there was at least two species including Green and I did get a good look at a Hawksbill Turtle on Wednesday. If anyone is familiar with this area I would like to hear from you what the likely species may have been. Also there were a pair of Batfish swimming around below me which I am sure I have narrowed down to species but again I would like to hear from someone familiar with this location or area. A single Red-backed Kingfisher was present on powerlines along Channel Island Road between the bridge and Wickham Point turnoff.

Wednesday morning was spent at Charles Darwin NP, Channel Island yet again and the afternoon saw me searching unsuccessfully for Rufous Owls at the Botanic Gardens. Some good birds at Charles Darwin NP included Mangrove Golden Whistler, Arafura Fantail and Dusky Honeyeater.

After picking Ashley up from the Airport at 6am on Thursday, we headed for the Botanic Gardens on the off chance of hearing Rufous Owl returning to roost. Next stop was Channel Island Rd for Red-backed Kingfisher. By the time we reached Pine Creek it was the middle of the day and no Hooded Parrots could be located. We continued on to Mataranka. After arriving in the afternoon and asking the hosts at Mataranka Cabins about the possibility of Rufous Owl, we had a bit of a look around the Red Goshawk nest. On being advised that we were likely to have more success late in the afternoon, a trip was made into town for some tucker and then we returned and tried our luck finding roosting Rufous Owls – unsuccessfully. Back to the Red Goshawk and one flew in just as we got there. It was thought to be the female from last seasons hatch. With that one under the belt we went back to the cabins park and down to the boat ramp. Just before dusk I just happened to turn around after hearing a noise in the gully beside me and there was a large owl sitting out in the open. A nice Rufous Owl which allowed us to watch and photograph it for a couple of minutes before moving off. After this we did a night drive down John Hauser Drive which proved uneventful.

The following morning we had a quick look to see if the Goshawk was present but it wasn’t visible to us at the time so we started back towards Darwin. A brief stop was made on the Central Arnhem Hwy about 6km in off the Stuart Hwy after Ashley spotted a Bustard in the woodland. Other birds here included Varied Lorikeet, Yellow-tinted, Rufous-throated, Banded and Black-chinned (Golden-backed) Honeyeater. After a quick and unsuccessful check at Chainman Creek west of Katherine for Chestnut-backed Button-quail, we again tried Pine Creek for Hooded Parrot and again failed. It was late morning so after lunch at the cafe we decided to head back to our accomodation at Tumbling Waters Caravan Park to drop our bags off and then try Buffalo Creek for Chestnut Rail.

The Chestnut Rail didn’t put in an appearance although they were heard calling around dusk. There were some waders and terns for Ashley to sort through as well as the ever present Pacic Reef Egret, White-bellied Sea-eagle and Azure Kingfisher.

Saturday the decision was made to visit Adelaide River Bridge for the Mangrove Golden Whistler and Arafura Fantail, then we headed to the Marrakai Road to try for the Gouldian Finches and Buff-sided Robin. Both were easily located as well as the Freshwater Croc I’d seen earlier in the week. After spending some time birding at a few spots along the road we headed back to the accommodation for a couple of hours before trying Buffalo Creek again for the Chestnut Rail. Again we dipped.

Sunday we decided to try Buffalo Creek yet again for the Rail before heading to the airport. We were rewarded almost instantly with brief but good views of a bird out in the open across from the boat ramp. A nice end to another great visit to Darwin.

continuing on from part 1

Monday was spent around Adelaide River Bridge on the Arnhem Hwy, Marrakai Rd (between the Arnhem Hwy and Bamboo Creek) and Fogg Dam. Leaving Darwin first thing in the morning , my first stop was Anzac Parade which runs from Arnhem Hwy past Fogg Dam. The main purpose here was to check if there were any Red-backed Kingfisher. Two pairs were observed between the Highway and the Fogg Dam.

Next stop was the Adelaide River Bridge a bit further along the highway. This area is reputed to be reliable for Mangrove Golden Whistler and I can attest to that as I have had 100% success in four visits. A few other species were observed here such as Little Corella, Varied Triller and Arafura Fantail.

En route to Marrakai Rd a Dingo was observed near Leaning Tree Lagoon. Several good birds were observed along this road with the highlight for me being Gouldian Finches. Although I didn’t catch up with the numbers that were being reported, I saw a couple of pair with one pair feeding a number of dependants. There are also plenty of Black-tailed Treecreepers along this road. There were plenty of Diamond Doves, White-winged Trillers and Little Woodswallows. Raptors were well represented and included Black-breasted Buzzard, Brown Goshawk and Brown Falcon. A stop at a small creek crossing provided close views of a young Freshwater Crocodile that was doing its best to convince me either it wasn’t there or it was dead. In a small waterhole were plenty of Black-banded Rainbowfish. On arriving at Bamboo Creek, Buff-sided Robin were quickly found. Another nice bird here was a single male Red-backed Button-quail. I had to do a double take as back home it is really difficult to get on ground views (let alone clear on ground views) of this species. As there was no ground cover along the banks of the creek I had great views as it walked between Bamboo clumps. I turned around at this point and headed back out to the highway and on to Fogg Dam.

My plan was to stay after dark to do a few drives along the dam wall as it can be a great place to see various species of snakes. This plan was cut back to two passes due to three cars of locals collecting Northern Long-necked Turtles making it difficult (for me anyway) to spot anything along the causeway. I did see a single Keelback and a Northern Brown Bandicoot.

Arriving here around midday, I started by doing both walks (Monsoon Forest Walk and Woodlands to Waterlillies Walk). Even though it was a quiet part of the day there were plenty of birds around including Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Collared Sparrowhawk, Little Bronze-cuckoo, Broad-billed Flycatcher, Shining Flycatcher, Grey Whistler and Bar-breasted Honeyeater. From the walks I went straight to the hide across the other side of the causeway where there were plenty of waterbirds including Radjah Shelduck, Pied Heron, Glossy Ibis and Australian Pratincole. Moving back to the causeway there was a small Estuarine Crocodile basking on a small mud island. Birds included Green Pygmy-goose, White-bellied Sea-eagle, Paperbark Flycatcher and Crimson Finch.

Leaving the dam after dark, a nice surprise in the form of an Orange-naped Snake was on Anzac Parade between the dam turnoff and the highway.

Continued in part three.

A mate from the UK was making a stopover in Darwin en route to lead one of his tours in PNG and asked if I wanted to join him. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse as I love this region. Ashley wasn’t arriving until the 14th and only had two main targets although there were several lifers available for him in the area. The targets were Rufous Owl and Red-backed Kingfisher and I had decided to go to Mataranka to get the Red Goshawk for Ashley and as a second site for Rufous Owl which proved to work well.

Saturday afternoon was spent around East Point Reserve, Botanical Gardens (unsuccessfully looking for the Rufous Owls that are often present) and Buffalo Creek Boat Ramp where I didn’t bother staying due to the amount of people around. It was a nice afternoon catching up with species I don’t get to see too often in recent years such as Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Torresian Imperial Pigeon, Green-backed Gerygone, White-gaped Honeyeater, Red-headed Honeyeater and Yellow White-eye to name a few.

Sunday morning I headed out to Channel Island to try for Great-billed Heron (unsuccessfully) and Palmerston Sewage Treatment Works for mangrove species and waterbirds. Although I dipped on Great-billed Heron (not a lifer but I haven’t seen one in a long time) I managed to get 25 species on this small island while I was here. Some of the birds here included Pacific Reef Egret, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher, Yellow Oriole and Great Bowerbird.

As I was standing on the bridge I heard several microbats making a racket from under the bridge. In the expansion gaps on horizontal tops of several support pylons were numbers of medium to large microbats that I thought may have been a species of Sheathtail or Mastiff bat from the poor views that I could obtain. If anyone reading this has experience in this location or could enlighten me on the most probable species that would be located here I would really appreciate hearing from you.

Leaving the bridge I headed for the Palmerston poo ponds catching up with Radjah Shelduck, Pied Heron, Shining Flycatcher, Rufous-banded Honeyeater and Crimson Finch among others. A nice surprise for the area was an immature Black-breasted Buzzard being mobbed by Sulphur-crested Cockatoos over woodland immediately to the south. Species dipped on that are often seen here included Mangrove Grey Fantail and Mangrove Robin.

As it was only around noon, I headed to Howard Springs Nature Reserve to fill in some more of the day. There were plenty of mosquitos here as usual but they were bearable. This reserve is renowned for Rainbow Pitta and I managed to see one here. Other nice birds included Arafura Fantail, Grey Whistler and Large-billed Gerygone. Repticks here for me included Arafura File Snake, Macleays Water Snake and Northern Yellow-faced Turtle. There were several fish species including Barramundi, Black Catfish and Sooty Grunter.

Contined in part 2

I had the good fortune to show a prominent US birder some birds on his first visit to Brisbane over the previous weekend.

Friday 27th

After picking David up from the airport around midday and checking into his temporary digs we headed to Nudgee Beach to look for a couple of target birds – Mangrove Honeyeater and Mangrove Gerygone. As well as the targets we recorded several other species here such as Striated Heron, Spangled Drongo, an immature Rufous Fantail in the mangroves, Rufous Whistler and Grey Shrike-thrush.

Next stop was Osprey House in Griffin to get the Australian Owlet-nightjar that is often here. The bird was present and after spending a little time with it I decided to drive through the suburbs of Kallangur and Petrie to look for Square-tailed Kite. A pair of this species frequents the area every autumn and into winter but due to the heavily overcast conditions I wasn’t hopeful of coming across them and alas they remained unticked. After a bit of a look around we headed back to David’s accommodation and ended the days birding.

Saturday 28th

After some heavy rain overnight which was forecast to continue through Saturday along the coastal plain, I decided to head out to the Lockyer Valley where the radar showed a light drizzle happening. First I had to vote, so along the way we stopped at Nudgee Beach again to pick up Australian Pied Oystercatcher. After leaving Narangba we headed over Mount Glorious stopping to dip on the Red-browed Treecreeper and continued out of the heavier rain into the light drizzle that was falling in the valley. Picking up several Banded Lapwing on the turf farm across from Boyces Rd, but dipping on Ground Cuckoo-shrike, we made our way to Lake Gallettly for Pink-eared Duck, Blue-billed Duck and Little Grassbird. The two ducks were happy to show themselves but the Little Grassbird remained  heard only for today. We left here and headed to Lake Clarendon to look for Black Falcon but could not see any birds either perched or in the air. We decided to call it a day and head for home. As soon as we crossed the D’aguilar Range we were back in heavy rain again but this eased overnight.

Sunday 29th

The sun was shining as we set off Sunday morning and headed to JC Slaughter falls to look for Powerful Owl. Due to the previous nights rain the Aboriginal Heritage Trail was closed and with the creek swollen, access to the owls roosting areas was difficult so we had to leave this one go. Next stop was Bellbird Grove for Spotted Quail-thrush which were easily located. We headed for Maiala in the D’Aguilar NP at Mount Glorious and among common rainforest species the target of Russet-tailed Thrush was found. After completing the Rainforest circuit I decided to head for Wivenhoe Outlook to have another go for Red-browed Treecreeper. It remained unticked for my new American friend. As I walked back to the car feeling a little defeated I made the executive decision to try around Lake Samsonvale for some newly returned Rose Robins. These are winter visitors to the foothills and coastal plain. A call was made to Tom Tarrant and after coming down to the Samsonvale cemetery it was decided to try the end of Postmans Track as he had seen some here the weekend before. We ended up seeing some ‘brown’ birds and hearing more but didn’t get to sight any nicely coloured males. Among several common species for the area was a flock of Varied Sittellas which I always enjoy seeing. As it was getting into late afternoon we decided to call it a day and head back into Hendra to the accommodation.

Although I was disappointed with the lifer tally I was able to get for David, I had to concede that it wasn’t to bad considering that Saturday was almost a complete washout.

I left for Girraween National Park late morning on Saturday the 7th and arrived around 2pm. Although there were crowds of people I still managed to find several reptile species but due to the time of day birding was very quiet. The birding highlight was a pair of Chestnut-rumped Heathwren (Hylacola) which was a target for my year list. Back to the reptiles, I managed to turn up several Nobbi Dragons, a Jacky Lizard, several Leseuer’s Velvet Geckos, a couple of Bynoe’s Prickly Geckos, an Eastern Striped Skink, some South-eastern Morethia Skinks and a couple of White’s Skinks.

Eastern Striped Skink Girraween NP

Returning after dark I had high expectations of seeing plenty of reptiles due to the warm temperature but maybe due to the full moon being at or near its brightest (tracks easily negotiated without torch) very little was found with the highlight being Granite (Wyberba) Leaf-tailed Gecko which was a lifer.

Wyberba Leaf-tailed Gecko Girraween NP

Also observed was a roosting White-throated Treecreeper and a Common Brushtail Possum was snooping around the picnic tables at the Day Use Area. Southern Boobook and Australian Owlet-nightjar were heard calling several times.

Wyberba Leaf-tailed Gecko Girraween NP

A couple of hours Sunday morning was spent at Boonoo Boonoo NP east of Tenterfield in NSW. There were a few birds about – the best being a pair of Spotted Quail-thrush near the Boonoo Boonoo Falls Day Use area. Several honeyeater species were present including Eastern Spinebill, Yellow-faced, Fuscous and White-eared Honeyeaters. A large flock of Musk Lorikeets flew over and settled out of sight. I managed to add Cunningham’s Skink, Eastern Water Skink and Garden Skink (Lampropholis guichenoti) to the weekends herp list. The rest of the day was spent driving around and going to look at a place between Pyes Creek and Stannum I used to go camping with my parents and brother when I was a youth in the early eighties to the early nineties. It was here that I realized that the granite country was a great place to look for reptiles.

Returning to Girraween after dark I managed to see a bit more than the previous night, probably as the moon rose later and wasn’t as bright while I was there. Common Brushtail Possum was observed on the walk out to the Junction and a lot of cracks and fissures I checked harboured Southern Spotted Velvet Geckos. After hearing the repetitive yip calls of a Sugar Glider I saw one along a branch in the canopy of a Eucalypt. I also observed a Common Dunnart around an area of low vegetation on rock. Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard and another Granite Leaf-tailed Gecko was found.

Monday morning saw me leave Tenterfield along the Bruxner Hwy towards Sundown NP. En route many Common Wallaroo were encountered along the roadside as well as some Red-necked Wallaby and Eastern Grey Kangaroo. Around the Mole River district three Turquoise Parrots flushed from beside the road with two flying north and one flying south. Walking back along the road, Turquoise Parrots were heard and after a short venture into the woodland another two were flushed. Nearby another three were feeding on the ground which had had a fire through relatively recently. Black (Swamp) Wallaby was also here.

A Spotted Harrier was observed roadside south of Mingoola probably getting ready to hunt the covey of Brown Quail which were sunning themselves in the table drain. Diamond Firetail were picked up just before the park boundary. None of my targets were picked up in Sundown although there were a few birds present such as Painted Button-quail, White-plumed Honeyeater, Speckled Warbler, Jacky Winter, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Yellow Thornbill, Welcome Swallow and others. I left Sundown and headed for Mosquito Creek Rd, Coolmunda.

Apart from several more macropods not much else was observed on the way apart from four Emu on the Texas-Stanthorpe Rd. A shy Gilbert’s Dragon was observed on a fencepost along the Limevale-Greenup Rd. Reaching Mosquito Creek Rd late morning I had little hope of seeing any of my main targets apart from White-winged Fairywren which were found without trouble. I didn’t manage to see Squatter Pigeon or Blue Bonnet which were the other targets. A single Emu was observed as well as a single Gould’s Monitor (or Sand Goanna in your best Australian accent).

Sand Goanna Coolmunda

Sand Goanna Coolmunda

From here I decided to join the queue of traffic and head back to Brisbane happy with what I had found over the weekend.

I spent Saturday morning visiting a few sites within the southern section of D’Aguilar National Park. First stop was Walkabout Creek at the Park Headquarters and information centre on Mount Nebo Rd, The Gap to see if any Bush Stone-curlews were present. Two were quickly found in the bus parking area.

Next stop was Bellbird Grove further up Mount Nebo Rd. This is a well known site for Spotted Quail-thrush. When I arrived, Buff-rumped Thornbill was about all that was calling. Walking down the road towards the picnic area didn’t produce any sightings or calls of the target birds so I headed back up the hill and took a track which cuts across from the Bellbird Grove access to Mount Nebo Rd. Apart from numerous Lively Rainbow Skinks (Carlia vivax) and some Open-litter Rainbow-skinks (Carlia pectoralis), not much else was found on this track. Crossing Mount Nebo Rd and following the track up to a disturbed, cleared area underneath transmission lines, plenty more Carlia were sighted as well as a single Arcane Ctenotus(Ctenotus arcanus). While looking through several species of butterflies I noticed an Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog (Litoria fallax). Returning back to the car I heard an incessant  two note call of an immature Spotted Quail-thrush begging for food. A short climb up the hill gave good views of male, female and immature.

Lively Rainbow Skink Bellbird Grove

Clearwing Swallowtail Bellbird Grove

Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog Bellbird Grove

Leaving here I headed for Lightline Rd which is near the end of Forestry Rd, Mount Nebo. Walking down the hill, White-eared Monarch were heard calling from the gully. On reaching the campsite just under 2km down the road, a Burton’s Legless Lizard was located near an outcrop of rock.

Burton's Legless Lizard Mount Nebo

Heading back up the hill an unidentified snake was observed briefly as it headed into long grass at a rate of knots. It was about 90-110cm long, blackish (although not the glossy jet black of a Red-bellied Black Snake), and with the head distinct from the body. I have seen a blackish Eastern Brown Snake at Mount Mee before but not sure the jizz fits. Further up the track, a tail of what was most likely a Red-bellied Black Snake disappeared into the Lantana and was not located again. Before reaching the car close views were had of Crested Shrike-tit, male Golden Whistler and Regent Bowerbird.

Burton's Legless Lizard Mount Nebo

After lunch at Olleys Coffee in the Rainforest, other areas visited included Dundas Rd (behind the Mount Nebo Waste Transfer Station) and Boombana with not much more being added to the days sightings.

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Four visits were made to this reserve during the month- 11th pm, 12th am, 18th am and 26th pm. Plants recorded flowering included Spade Flower, White Root, Ivy-leaved Violet and Round-leaved Goodenia.

57 species of birds were recorded through the month with highlights including calling Australian Owlet-nightjars, Forest Kingfisher (a species I rarely record on the site), Black-faced Monarch, Crested Shrike-tit and Black-chinned Honeyeater.

Three species of mammal were detected through the month with an early observation of Yellow-footed Antechinus on the 26th (usually don’t start noticing this species until the end of March or early April). I was also able to confirm the presence of Black-striped Wallabies here after a probable sighting last year although others may have known of their presence for some time. These are similar looking to Red-necked Wallabies which also occur here and are easily overlooked (which is what I have been doing by not following up brief sightings).

Among the 4 species of reptiles noted through the month, Yellow-faced Whipsnake (which is a common elapid around Brisbane), Eastern Bearded Dragon and Lace Monitor were present.

Eastern Bearded Dragon attempting to be unnoticed

Twenty species of Butterflies were recorded during the month including Northern Silver Ochre, Splendid Ochre, Speckled Line-blue, Small Green-banded Blue,  Imperial Hairstreak and Blue Tiger.

Splendid Ochre

Speckled Line-blue

Apart from the commoner dragonflies present, Red-tipped Shadefly, Short-tailed Duskdarter and Royal Tigertail were among the 10 species recorded.

Royal Tigertail

Mosquitofish were present in the creeks.

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After bugging my boss for a few weeks, he finally had enough and told me to take a couple of days off to give him a break. So it was that after work on Wednesday I was on the D’aguilar Hwy heading for Lake Broadwater. It was an uneventful trip as far as wildlife with the only things seen being Feral Cats and Foxes. I saw a single Green-striped Frog (Cyclorana alboguttata) on Lake Broadwater Rd. Arriving at the campground at around 10pm there was not much activity apart from a Common Brushtail Possum and a few Green Tree Frogs (Litoria caerula)

Rising before dawn, a bowl of cereal was eaten while listening first to a distant Barking Owl then followed by a Southern Boobook. As some colour crept into the sky, silhouettes appeared of some of the many Eastern Grey Kangaroos found here. In the amenities block Red Tree Frog (Litoria rubella) was present. While waiting for the sun to rise I decided to go for a drive to see if there were any animals moving back to their daytime cover but nothing was observed crossing the road.

Once the sun was up, the South West Track was my destination. Numbers of Noisy Friarbirds were flying to their feeding areas. As I crossed the grassy plain, Rufous Songlarks were observed. On reaching the edge of the tree line the calls of Yellow Thornbills gave away their location where they were moving through the Cypress along with Speckled Warblers. Not long after I left my car to start walking around the track a familiar call was heard but it took a short time to remember what it was – a Diamond Firetail. This is a species I only see a couple of times a year and I hadn’t recorded one here before. Yellow-faced and Brown Honeyeaters were common feeding among flowers of two species of Mistletoe (Buloke Mistletoe and Harlequin Mistletoe). As I continued walking along the track I noticed the shape of a Burns’ Dragon (Amphibolurus burnsi) sitting on a piece of fallen timber. Other reptiles picked up on the walk included Bynoe’s Gecko (Heteronotia binoei), Tree Skink (Egernia striolata), Eastern Ranges Rock-skink (Liopholis modesta), South-eastern Morethia Skink (Morethia boulengeri) and Fire-tailed Skink (Morethia taeniopleura). White-winged Chough, Red-capped Robin and Inland Thornbill were some more birds typical of this habitat that were recorded on the way around the track. On the way out a lone Square-tailed Kite was observed being mobbed by numbers of Noisy Miners.

Bynoe'sGecko

Eastern Ranges Rock-skink

Buloke Mistletoe

Harlequin Mistletoe

Next stop was the walk along the lake past the overflow to the Wilga Campground. A few butterflies and dragonflies were observed along here but as the day had heated up there wasn’t too much activity among the birds. After reaching Lake Broadwater Rd again I headed back towards my car and along the way a loud commotion was heard which turned out to be Noisy Miners, Blue-faced Honeyeaters and Pied Currawongs mobbing a Barking Owl which flew from a tree near the road further back into the scrub. Then it was back to the car and off for a quick look up Schultz’s Rd which runs off Lake Broadwater Rd. Not much happening along here apart from a couple of flocks of Zebra Finch and a Black-shouldered (Australian) Kite.

Barking Owl

After going into town to pick up some lunch, I headed back to the campground and took it easy for a couple of hours while I charged up my camera battery. Around the campground were the resident Apostlebirds, Little Corella and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos. A smallish Lace Monitor made a dash through camp and up a tree with the Apostlebirds hot on its trail.

Campground Apostlebirds

Lace Monitor

Late afternoon was spent back at the South West Track with nothing new being added to the trip list. It was off back to the campground to await darkness before doing a night drive to look for herps. In the failing light a small ‘Bell’s phase’ Lace Monitor was observed at speed heading straight for a tree near the shoreline and going straight up and into a hollow unfortunately not stopping for a photograph. The night drive started all right with a Tawny Frogmouth near the intersection of Lake Broadwater Rd and the Moonie Highway, then a Spotted Black Snake on Schultz’s Rd. But after that nothing, despite doing several passes over two and a half hours.

Spotted Black Snake

Friday morning saw me leaving around 7 am with no sign of the Lace Monitor from the previous evening. I decided to detour through Norwin, south of Bowenville, to check on a site I had seen Black-faced Woodswallows in the previous month. Thankfully they were still present. Continuing on through to Toowoomba and into the Lockyer Valley there was nothing much of note (having missed the Black Falcons at Lake Clarendon by two minutes) and then up to Wivenhoe Lookout near Mount Glorious for a quick look. Major Skinks and a large Dragonfly which turned out to be a Sigma Darner (Austroaeschna sigma) were present. This is a good site for the Major Skinks and also produces Red-browed Treecreepers semi regularly although I couldn’t get onto any today. And so ended the trip.

Sigma Darner