DEFINING DECEMBER

In another place I wrote:

ecember was going to be a month of two halves. 

Up to and including Friday 13^th birding was to be decidedly patchy in birding terms; final report cards to compose – how do you tell a doting mother that her beloved daughter is decidedly a sandwich short of a full picnic, or, how do you find a way of pointing out to the obviously unwashed father whose every other utterance is a four-lettered expletive that he can’t really hold the school responsible for the decidedly foul language used by his macho 9-year old son?  Not that it’s all that way inclined; for the vast majority it’s just finding another way of repeating more or less what you maintained at the end of the first semester.  Leopards and spots?

From Saturday 14 December it was to be a decidedly more birdy period.  I was effectively retired after 43 years in teaching.  Summer vacation and long-service leave would keep me out of the classroom until my actual retirement on 25 April 2014.  My time was my own and birding was decidedly on the horizon.

 

While Allen Road failed to adhere to the script, the South Burnett in general came very close to performing its part word perfect.  Our computer records clearly indicate that during the first working week of month [1^st – 6^th December], apart from the trip to Dusty Hills Winery for my official retirement lunch, all other Bird Journal entries revolved around Allen Road and birds noted at Blackbutt State School; the latter very casual observations either first thing in the morning on arriving [between 0600 and 0630 hours as a rule], heard from the classroom or while out on playground duties.

The first real foray into birding the South Burnett came on Saturday 7 December; by then the bulk of report cards had been finalized, merely waiting to be edited by the Principal.  It came as a welcome break from the graft although our initial sortie involved only the local Sewage Treatment Plant in Grey Street and the Nanango Fauna Sanctuary.  The latter was again disappointing, as it had been on previous visits in September and November.  The Sewage Treatment Plant [23 species] was more promising, with the solitary Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus a gem.

On Sunday 8^th we ventured forth to investigate the Darley Crossing Circuit followed by a quick visit to the L-shaped track [bordered by open woodland] running between the Nanango-Tarong Road and Nobby Smith Drive.  The pick of the 35 recorded species along the Circuit had to be the two Fairy Martins Petrochelidon ariel while the woodland offered fabulous views of a male Satin Flycatcher Myiagra cyanoleuca.

Thereafter, as predicted, the second week of the month [8 – 13^th December] fell away into a humdrum routine of clearing years of accumulated “junk” [and I’m an old hoarder from way back; a relative [Western] Jackdaw Corvus monedula or, in Australian terms, perhaps a male Satin Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus].  There were class parties to organize, end-of-year concert items to perfect and various goodbyes to make.

Again, as I penned in that other place:

On the other hand - and no doubt Papa Hemmingway would have penned it in a far more appropriate style, something about the best laid plans of mice and men- there was always the unexpected; the long list of chores that had somehow slipped below my radar while my head was buried in schoolbooks and report cards: the verandahs needed ceilings; the bannister rails needed repairing and painting; the henhouse leaked; there was a carpet snake housed under the pigeon loft; there was weeding to be done and holes to be dug for new plants and of course the house needed cleaning up in preparation for Christmas.  Did I mention Christmas cards to write and post and presents to be wrapped?

However, unlike Allen Road, the birding did not completely evaporate under the pressure of mundane household chores.  It wasn’t quite as prolific as I had perhaps expected when first contemplating my post-teaching life but birding in the third week of the month [14^th – 21^st December] showed promising signs of a brighter birding future just over the horizon.  Actually the glory of the entire week rested on the shoulders of our excursions on 17 December.  Fay gleaned a trip to the Bunya Mountains with the Nanango Information Centre volunteers; one of the staff, a former working colleague, was unable to convince her spouse of the potential pleasures of being aboard with a busload of nattering old women so offered his place to Fay.  She could see the potential of birding the Bunyas and that brought her the Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans, Satin Bowerbird, Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris and Nankeen Kestrel Falco cenchroides.

The real promise lay in the fact that shortly after Fay’s return from the Bunyas we agreed to call in at the Nanango Fauna Sanctuary and Grey Street Sewage Treatment Plant – our second visit to both locations that month.  As before, the Sanctuary [five species] rather disappointed while the Sewage Works, with 28 species, was far more gratifying.

From thereon in birding in the South Burnett hummed, or at least it clamoured with excitement on both 22^nd and 31^st of the month.  In an attempt to locate a packet of mace [a traditional spice used in the making of Cumberland sausage] we travelled into Kilcoy, which, strictly speaking, lies well beyond the South Burnett and should be featured in Birding Beyond the Pale.  Suffice to say that we hit both Yowie Park [good coffee and fine birding] and the newly-discovered Winya Road dams.

On our return, with mace secured, we called in on the Tarong Power Station, via Berlin Road.  The Cooling Water Dam brought us good views of three Musk Duck Biziura lobata – one bird behind the four recorded during 2010 but entirely surpassed by the 20 seen in 2009.  Yet these were completely eclipsed by the fourteen [14] Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus on the dam.

Berlin Road had one of its quieter days.

By the end of the year, the December tally stood at 110 species, one behind the December 2012 all-time record and only one ahead of the December 2009 score.

We made a last attempt to improve the numbers by visiting Tarong National Park on 31 December.  Our tally included: Australian Brush-turkey Alectura lathami, Brown Quail Coturnix ypsilophora, Brown Cuckoo-Dove Macropygia phasianella, Rainbow Bee-eater Merops ornatus, Noisy Pitta Pitta versicolor, Green Catbird Ailuroedus crassirostris, Regent Bowerbird Sericulus chrysocephalus, Yellow-throated Scrubwren Sericornis citreogularis, Brown Gerygone Gerygone mouki, Yellow Thornbill Acanthiza nana, Brown Thornbill Acanthiza pusilla, Black-faced Monarch Monarcha melanopsis and Red-browed Finch Neochmia temporalis. 

And that, for the more mathematically minded amongst you, came to a total of 13 species, thrusting the final December 2013 tally to 123 birds.

From possible obscurity the month capped all previous December tallies [since 2001] to establish a new record for that month.

 



 

NOVEMBER NATTER

 

While birding along Allen Road may have been a little disappointing during November, this was far from the case for the South Burnett in general.  It wasn’t the highest monthly tally for the year to date – that honour goes to the 126 species recorded in August- but at 125 it comes a close second.  Further, November 2013 has seen the best monthly tally since the inception of regular records in 2001; there remains the November 1996 aberration from the days before our move to the region but it involves only the one visit to the Palms National Park with a humble tally of fourteen [14] species.

As an aside, that was in fact our second incursion into the South Burnett during 1996; we had ventured here in March of that year, to Yarraman State Forest [in search of Black-breasted Button-quail].

The only comparable November tally was last year’s 113 species, recorded from sixteen [16] separate sites across the South Burnett region.  As a matter of coincidence, that was the exact number of locations visited during November 2013.   Nine of those overlapped both 2012 and 2013; six sites surveyed in 2012 were omitted in 2013 and conversely, seven sites covered in 2013 had not been surveyed the previous year.

There were of course all the regular species one comes to expect and where would we be without them!  No one wants to venture down the road of the unfortunate North American Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius or the humble British Tree Sparrow Passer montanus.  As one of my former birding mentors once quipped, “We’re all too busy chasing the uncommon species; it’s the common birds you no longer see that should concern you.”

 

There was no shortage of Australian Wood Duck Chenonetta jubata nor of the Pacific Black Duck Anas superciliosa; both the Crested Pigeon Ocyphaps lophotes and Bar-shouldered Dove Geopelia humeralis maintained their strong showing; Rainbow Lorikeets Trichoglossus haematodus, Galahs Eolophus roseicapilla and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos Cacatua galerita turned up in almost every location surveyed.  Among other regular birds of the region, the Noisy Miner Manorina melanocephala continued to dominate checklists, as did the Australian Magpie Cracticus tibicen and Torresian Crow Corvus orru.

It was however the one-offs, those birds appearing only once during November that really established the month’s credentials; its character.  Even during the first week, three species,

Brown Quail Coturnix ypsilophora, Tawny Grassbird Megalurus timoriensis [both showing well on the 4^th] and the Australian Brush-turkey Alectura lathami [7^th] that started the ball rolling.  Another four species appeared as one-offs during the second week – all on the 13^th: Varied Sittella Daphoenositta chrysoptera, White-headed Pigeon Columba leucomela, Crested Shrike-tit Falcunculus frontatus and Rufous Fantail Rhipidura rufifrons.

November hit the jackpot in the third week when, as part of the Birds Queensland planned outing to Blackbutt, we visited Din Din Road, Yarraman Weir and the Gibson State Forest - it had become our habit to join BQ on a number of their weekend campouts as Saturday morning visitors only.  What an avian Mecca!  In the space of an hour or so we tallied thirteen [13] species. 

Along Din Din Road we recorded:  Rainbow Bee-eater Merops ornatus; White-throated Treecreeper Cormobates leucophaea; White-throated Honeyeater Melithreptus albogularis; Dusky Woodswallow Artamus cyanopterus [first South Burnett sighting since December 2011]; Jacky Winter Microeca fascinans [first sighting in the South Burnett since August 2011], Rufous Songlark Cincloramphus mathewsi [a first ever record for the South Burnett and the first Queensland sighting since September 2000] and Double-barred Finch Taeniopygia bichenovii.

During a morning tea break at the Yarraman Weir we added Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo and then, post tea break, in the Gibson State Forest a last minute flurry gave us: Superb Fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus; Brown Thornbill Acanthiza pusilla; Varied Triller Lalage leucomela; Australian Raven Corvus coronoides and Red-browed Finch Neochmia temporalis.

Three days later [19^th] we added the Red-winged Parrot Aprosmictus erythropterus to the monthly tally.

                                                                 The best shot I could get in the circumstances.

The last days of the month would have been hard pressed to maintain the flow of one-off species experienced during the previous week but nevertheless it was not a total failure.  Far from it; the 22^nd saw our only Black Swan Cygnus atratus for the month while two days later, the 24^th witnessed the sole sightings of Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus, Yellow-billed Spoonbill Platalea flavipes and White-throated Needletail .  Four Scaly-breasted Lorikeets Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus presented themselves for viewing on the 28^th and the last day of the month, at the local Refuse Transfer Plant Sewage Plant, brought Black Kite Milvus migrans [much reduced in numbers since earlier days]; the Grey Street Sewage Treatment Plant provided good views of Intermediate Egret Ardea intermedia and one Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus.

In and amidst all that, the last weeks of November were among the most hectic I’ve ever experienced in 43 years of teaching; besides the tests, marking and report cards I had to prepare my room for the new staff member replacing me in 2014 – can you imagine how much assorted litter and plain junk one rather obsessive middle-aged teacher can gather over a lifetime at the Chalk Front?

OVER OCTOBER

As I penned in the OCTOBER OFFERINGS blog for Allen Road [and with sincere apologies for those of you who came here via that posting]:

Given that it is now mid-December, some might well consider this monthly report a mite on the tardy side.  Yes.  However, going on the premise of better late than never, it is present here with an brief explanation as to why it has taken this long to emerge.  It was actually written by the end of the first week in November and awaited a few textual adjustments and the addition of the photographs.  Piece of cake; like falling off a log.  Then the enormity of the new Australian Curriculum dropped on me like the proverbial lead balloon.  Testing, marking and of course report writing.  Gone are the days when teachers could simply comment “worked well” or “could do better.”  November and early December [when the November report would normally be prepared] became lost in a mountain of schoolwork.  I drowned in a deluge of data that had to be prepared and transferred to various computer files – and then forwarded to various areas.

‘nough said.  I’m over the October delay.  The October report for the South Burnett is here.

In essence we recorded 111 species from 18 different locations which, oddly enough, coincides exactly with the 2012 October tally [111 species over 18 locations].  Together they continue to hold the record tally since the onset of South Burnett reports in 2001; only approached by the 110 in October 2010 and 109 in October 2009; all other years came in at below the century score.

However, October 2013 for us will always be the month of the Blue Bonnet Northiella haematogaster.  We had long considered that parts of the South Burnett would be favourable Blue Bonnet habitat but had never seen any in almost 3800 separate computer entries for the region dating back to January 1990.  The last recorded sighting we have of Blue Bonnet is in the St George area back in 2000- a 13-year gap.

It never really occurred to us that our first South Burnett sighting would literally be around in the corner.  On 7 October we were surveying the Rocky Creek Circuit which we had recently tweaked to include McGillevray Road.  It was as we were turning into this latter part of the circuit [a left out of Reeve Road] that Fay noted two parrot-like birds flit across the road a few metres ahead of us.  Time froze.  We knew its name but the words wouldn’t come out.  A moment later we simultaneously breathed out, “Blue Bonnet.”  The birds alighted in shrubbery on the right-hand side of the road.  We could almost touch them.  I eased the Subaru yards closer; Fay had her binoculars trained on the pair.  I stopped and took up my binoculars.  It was not a Lifer but after a 13-year drought it was a pleasant sensation to have them in sight again – and in the South Burnet to boot!

Purloined from en.wikipedia.org

There were other notable South Burnett sightings during the month.  At the Broadwater Camping Reserve we saw only our third Cotton-Pygmy Goose Nettapus coromandelianus of the year; we had glorious views of a pair cruising along on Barker’s Creek.

 

The White-bellied Sea-eagle Haliaetus leucogaster over Meandu Creek Dam was the first since Chinchilla at the end of June 2013.  It showed for a second time during October at the Broadwater Camping Reserve in the third week of the month.

A number of birds managed only the one appearance during the month: Berlin Road [7^th] provided the solitary Collared Sparrowhawk Accipiter cirrocephalus, Red-browed Finch Neochimia temporalis and the Australian Reed-Warbler Acrocephalus australis; Rocky Creek Circuit [also on 7^th] came up with a single White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike Coracina papuensis and Golden-headed Cisticola Cisticola exilis; finally Broadwater scored well with the aforementioned Cotton Pygny-goose together with Little Corella Cacatua sanguinea, White-throated Honeyeater Melithreptus albogularis and Tree Martin Petrochelidon nigricans.

The tale of October cannot be allowed to slip by without mention of the magic moments when a Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris came to perch in overhead wires a few metres from where Fay and I stood, albeit half-disguised as passing wind-blown litter.

 

 

 

 

SPRINGING INTO SEPTEMBER

Given that Fay and I managed to visit only 16 of the now 80 different established locations spread out across the region one would have expected the monthly tally to be rather on the low side; not as low as the 28 recorded species of September 2010 when we spent most of that month in the U.K. but nevertheless a paltry total would not have surprised.  Nothing of the sort eventuated.  September 2013 came in at a very respectable 110 species; only four species behind the record 114 of September 2012 and the last two Septembers remain the only ones with tallies above 100 species.

Allen Road, a sub-strand of the South Burnett, clearly accounted for some of the unexpectedly high tally; surveys at the Tarong Power Station, particularly the Black Creek and Cooling Water Dams, punched above their weight; Berlin Road came good, especially with the Brown Falcon Falco berigora and Speckled Warbler Chthonicola sagittata of the 14^th; the Grey Street sewage treatment plant was another white knight coming to the rescue of an otherwise dismal September prospect.

 

As expected the passerines took the lion’s share, accounting for 44% of sightings although this becomes the new nadir, dropping below the previous low of 48% back in 2002.  Of these the honeyeaters topped the species family distribution charts, as they have since the conception of records back in April 2001; in 2007 their nearest numerical rivals, the pigeons and doves, equalled them at 10% of all recorded sightings for the month

September carried its avian gems.  The 14^th produce the Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus at the Cooling Water Dam and a host of Tree Martins Petrochelidon nigricans flitting over the dam wall on the same day.  Not to be outdone by its sister reservoir, the Black Creek Dam came up trumps with a Black-faced Monarch Monarcha melanopsis and our only Golden-headed Cisticola Cisticola exilison the 29^th of the month.  The latter dam went on to produce the sole September Australian Reed-Warbler Acrocephalus orientalis and the second only Red-browed Finch Neochmia temporalisof the month.  As we were departing the Power Station complex on the 29^th, the region’s first Channel-billed Cuckoo Scythrops novaehollandiae flew by overhead.

The Palms National Park, rather a disappointment over the past few visits, at least partly redeemed itself in our eyes by presenting us with a Spotted Pardalote Pardalotus punctatus, an Eastern Yellow Robin Eopsiltria austalis, a Little Shrike-thrush Colluricincla megarhyncha and a Scarlet Honeyeater Myzomela sanguinolenta.

To cap matters off, on the 22^nd Berlin Road provided us with good view of an Australasian Pipit Anthus novaeseelandiae.

 

Awesome August

 

 

 

In essence August opened with the merest trickle of birds, increased in pace as the month proceeded and finally departed the 2013 calendar with an exciting flurry.  It was the obverse of Allen Road which suffered from the fact that Fay and I ventured further afield around the South Burnett, indeed even further, Beyond the Pale on occasions; the more we wandered, the less time we had to concentrate on Allen Road.

During the month we covered 20 of the 80 identified sites in the immediate region, including new additions David Road [Taromeo] and the Mudlo National Park [Kilkivan].  The former is the home of our good friends [and part-time birders] Richard & Bess Newman.  Hopefully if I can eventually present them with a reasonably comprehensive “backyard” birdlist [they made a start back in the early days] it will encourage them to pay birding more attention.  The latter remains something of an enigma.  We had noticed it on the maps and had always suggested to ourselves that one day we should venture out to explore its birding potential.  We never did and it took a Birds Queensland weekend outing [we joined them for the Saturday] to get us there.  A second trip is now firmly on the calendar.

We ended the month with 127 species, the best tally since records started back in 2001, clearly outstripping the second best total of 109 species in 2012 [the only two years in which August has topped the 100-species mark]. Of those, 49% [59 species] were passerines; parrots and allies managed 9% [12 species] marginally ahead of the pelicans and allies, also 9% but with only 11 species.

 

One species of particular note to us during the opening week of August was perhaps the White-necked Heron Ardea pacifica.  While by no means a rare species for the area, it is less frequent and less abundant than the White-faced Heron Egretta novaehollandiae; 94 recorded sightings compared to 370 for the latter.  Thus, it is always a little exciting to see a White-necked Heron.

The second week began looking good with our trip to the Tarong Power Station complex [10 August]: the White-throated Treecreeper Cormobates leucophaea, Weebill Smicrornis brevirostris and Rufous Whistler Pachycephala rufiventris put in their only appearance in the area but were all hugely over-shadowed by the Grey Goshawk Accipiter novaehollandiae, last seen in more or less exactly the same spot three months earlier [May 2013].

The following day, on a return to the Power Station, the two finches, Double-barred Taeniopygia bichenovii and Red-browed Neochmia temporalis showed well along one of the tracks around Meandu Creek Dam.

The third week exploded with a flurry of birds, hoisting August from the tally doldrums to become a serious contender for the Best Bird Month of the Year Award.  It squeezed into third place, behind July at 129 and January on 134.  We’d decided to join Birds Queensland on 24 August on their Kilkivan outing.

 

 

The Azure Kingfisher Ceyx azureus, only our second sighting of the species since December 1996 [and both in the South Burnett], made the long trip out to Kilkivan worthwhile in itself.  I noted it flying across the road to perch on a strand of wire running across the small creek at the caravan park entrance.  Fay, in the front passenger seat, had initially missed it so I slowly reversed until she too could get a good look at its blazing colours.  It was all pleasingly reminiscent of that beautiful Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis flitting about on rocks by the beach at Marazion, Cornwall, back in January 1994. 

Mudlo National Park provided us with crippling views of a Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis, cautiously foraging alongside the gravel road; a pair of Glossy Black-Cockatoos Calyptorhynchus lathami only metres above our heads and seemingly within easy reach of an outstretched hand; confirmation that Rainbow Bee-eaters Merops ornatus were back in town; the first Little Shrike-thrush Colluricincla megarhyncha sighting since December 2009; our first Spectacled Monarch Colluricincla megarhyncha since September 2012 and our first record of Leaden Flycatcher Myiagra rubecula since January this year.  As a touching finale, the Australasian Pipit Anthus australis put in its only South Burnett sighting for the month.

And all that before 31 August when we ventured forth to the Gordonbrook Dam for our eighth visit here [the previous one earlier in January 2013].    In keeping with the literary theme  of “awesome” we came away with our best ever tally, beating the former best [43 in October 2010]  with 55 – including the superlative, the crème de la crème, six Freckled Ducks  Stictonetta naevosa a mere stone’s throw from the shoreline.

The first Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus since January 2013 put in an appearance, floating down to join the above-mentioned Freckled Ducks.  The pair of Royal Spoonbills Platalea regia was our first South Burnett sighting of this species since the solitary bird at the Sewage Plant back in April 2013. The four Yellow-billed Spoonbills Platalea flavipes complemented the pair noted at the Sewage Plant a week earlier.  The two White-breasted Woodswallows Artamus leucorynchus added to the growing Trip List, as did the unexpected but welcomed Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia.

Aye, an absolutely awesome August.

From the same view point a few hours later

 

 

 

 

Limited Jaunts in July

 

In a quite gob-smacking way, July 2013 turned out to be the most productive July on record.  The monthly tally of 119 species easily outstripped the previous best, 82 species in 2010 and almost quadrupled the lowest ever score of 31 species in July 2007.  Surprising because it didn’t seem to be a particularly active period with only seven [7] South Burnett destinations recorded: Nanango Fauna Sanctuary [6, 14 and 28 July], the Sewage Plant [6 July], Bunya Mts [7 July], Berlin Road [21, 27 and 28 July], both the Hoop Pine plantation and open woodland areas within the Tarong Power Station complex [14 July], Mt Wooroolin [26 July] and Neumgna Road [28 July].

Clearly, species diversity was the key.  Not that any of the seven produced particularly outstanding individual tallies:

Fauna Sanctuary	30
Sewage Plant	21
Bunya Mts	25
Berlin Road	18
Tarong [Hoop]	16
Tarong [open wood]	14
Mt Wooroolin	23
Neumgna Road	7

Nevertheless there were a few gems during July that set off a pleasing pattern.  The White-headed Pigeons Columba leocomela [7 July] posed in their usual spot, just north of the composite bridge over the gully in Blackbutt. They were adequately complemented by the Green Catbird Ailuroedus crassirostris, Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans, Topknot Pigeons Lopholaimus antarctieus and Red-rumped Parrots Psephotus haematonutus on the way to and at the Bunya Mts [7 July].

A week later [14 July] we had good views of a male Muck Duck Biziura lobata and seven Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus on the Cooling Water Dam at the Tarong Power Station complex.  They were overshadowed by close views of a Little Eagle Hieraaetus morphnoides at the Meandu Creek Dam [Tarong Power Station].  The species presented itself again a week later.

20 July brought crippling views of a Spotted Harrier Cicus assimilis while later, en route to the Jimbour “Opera in the Park”, we were inundated by a large flock of Cockatiels Leptolophus hollandicus.

The Brown Quail Coturnix australis along Berlin Road [21 July] was eclipsed only by the later sighting [a little further along Berlin Road] of a Brown Falcon Falco berigora [identified by both sight and call].

 The month concluded with the first Rainbow Bee-eater Merops ornatus of the season [28 July], albeit seemingly a little early given the cold conditions.  The Scarlet Honeyeater Myzomela sanguinolenta[30 July] was our first since early April 2013.

                                                                 Section of Cooling Water Dam

 

Can August [109 in 2012] top that?  Stay tuned.