Featured Image : Blue-face Honeyeater in Jacaranda.
One of the many beautiful settings at the Gardens
Greetings from Pomona!
We have been sitting at the Pomona Showgrounds for almost a week now which is becoming probably our favourite place to hang out when visiting family down this way.
It’s just north of the Sunshine Coast, a bit of a drive when going visiting but it’s a great little town well away from the madness of the coast.
Catching up with everyone has been great and kept us quite busy, so we haven’t had much time to get out and about into nature.
This Graphic Flutterer (above and below) put on quite a show
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Today was our last chance so we visited the Noosa Botanical Gardens which is only about 10 minutes drive from here. We visited here back in June when we were heading north but there wasn’t that much birdlife around.
Press Play to view Stephanie’s Video Snippets of the Gardens and wildlife
Little Wattlebird’s also loved Jacaranda
Adult Eastern Whipbird
Juvenile Whipbird
Whipbirds
Well today it was just teeming with birds 😁😁 We did a morning shift and then after a break and a snooze we went back this afternoon, just fantastic. We saw a few new birds and the big carpet python laying on the banks of a small pond was an added bonus. It looks like he must have eaten a large bird or maybe a bat as you could see something sticking out on his side….maybe the legs of something….
This Blue-faced Honeyeater was very photogenic with the Jacaranda Backdrop
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Juvenile and Immature BF Honeyeaters (Below)
Australian Emerald in motion.
So we have had a great time in this area and would love to stay a bit longer but work is calling so we have to keep moving on closer to Stanthorpe.
Female Eastern Koel
Eastern Koel poking her head out
Channel-billed Cuckoo
Barred Cuckoo-Shrike
White Breasted Woodswallow
Tomorrow we will head up the range to Toowoomba Showgrounds for the weekend and catch up with the last of our maintenance jobs. We are praying that the weather is nice to us as we really need to get a coat of polish on the van. A huge job that we have been putting off for a while. We are also hoping to visit Redwood Park again, our favourite birding place while in Toowoomba. So please enjoy the pics and video.
Well as you will see by the pics and video, the Wanderingeagles have plonked themselves in absolute bird heaven 😁😁
We are so glad on deciding to drive a little bit further south to Childers.
We have picked avocados in this area quite some years ago and always liked the surrounds here.
We stayed at a different caravan park then but we had heard of this amazing park/ retreat, with a big lake at its doorstep so we we’re pretty keen to have a look.
Seeing a Glossy Ibis in the wild for the first time was certainly a highlight for us.So we got a few pics
The owners have created this beautiful oasis in amongst the surrounding sugar cane and other farms so it seems that any bird in this area would surely want to visit here.
Whiskered Terns were continuously patrolling the LakeWhiskered Terns
Looking over the Lake towards the Retreat
They allowed us to park our rig on the marquee site…..usually reserved for weddings etc, which is the prime spot only about 10 metres from the lakes edge.
So while we are enjoying our morning and afternoon cuppochinos we have this amazing birdlife show going on outside our dinette window.
It’s been great waking up to their sounds and we love the frogs chirping away as we go to sleep at night.
A Galah taking time out
Golden_headed Cisticola
A pair of Crested Pigeons seemingly enjoying the view
Tree & Fairy Martins were devouring the early morning bugs.
A pair of Cotton Pygmy Geese
Misty Morning
This is definitely a place we are coming back to, and will be staying for longer.
We have never found a bird paradise like this where it’s all at our doorstep, fantastic.
The Owners, Gazza and Shazza made us feel so welcome, they have quite a menagerie going on here.
Miniature Horses, lots of different types of bird breeding, deer and more.
There is so much to look at.
Where there’s fresh water you’ll find Purple Swamphens
The Sacred Kingfisher always on lookout
Gazza loves his Mistletoebirds 🙂
Press Play to view Steph’s Snippets of this Birder’s Paradise
Little Black Cormorant’s galore
A tranquil setting
A Plumed Egret soaking up the morning sun.
Red-backed Fairywren
Plumed Egret
Great Egret
Australasian Grebe
The Majestic Black Swan
More Residents of the Lake
Comb-crested Jacana
Gazza’s Historic Settlers Hut
Cattle Egret with Breeding Plumage
Female Leaden’s Flycatcher
Pelican’s frequented here also
White-faced Stilt
Graphic Flutterer Dragonfly
A long range shot of a Bustard pair which flew over and landed in the fresh Sugar Cane
We did manage to pull ourselves away to visit one of our favourite beaches.
Woodgate Beach is around half an hours drive from here. We didn’t see many birds but it was low tide at the estuary and all the little soldier crabs were out and about en masse…..it was incredible to watch.
We have never seen this before, I took a small video of them. They kept us amused for quite some time.
A quick departure from the Lake to visit Woodgate Beach where we witnessed thousands of Soldier Crabs marching along the beach
Press Play to view Steph’s ‘Soldier Crab’ Snippets
We leave tomorrow and head down to the Sunshine Coast which will be very very busy, a big change from the beautiful serenity here.
Please enjoy Anthony’s amazing photos, and check out my videos,
Bye for now Steph and Anthony.
Catch and Release Fishing is also popular here. Gazza got a nice Barra this morning.
Featured Image : Buddy …. The newest member of the Family.
Our Family Joins us for the weekend
Our Grandkiddies & Buddy
Hello from Rockhampton!!
Everything went really well for the weekend at Cape Palmerston, we had a great time catching up with family.
The weather of course was hot and very windy and also one morning of rain but luckily that cleared and we ended up having a great afternoon.
We didn’t end up going to the National Park as the family have a new addition……a gorgeous Border Collie pup, only 11 weeks old. If we ever get a dog it would be one of these, they are so cute and easy to train and tremendous fun. We let him off the leash on the beach and he never ran off which I think is amazing for such a young pup. You would certainly never get bored with life with one of these gorgeous dogs as company.
We had a great time with the Grandkiddies too, being 8 & 10 now we can have fantastic conversations with them and they are also really good fun to hang out with.
Three Generations of Bulldog supporters
We were so busy though the whole weekend that we really didn’t have much chance for birding. We did see quite a few different shore birds at low tide and Anthony missed out on photos of the Red – tailed Black Cockatoo. There wasn’t much scenery either for videos so I haven’t got much to show either.
Press Play to view Steph’s Video Snips
Stephanie Loves Holidays
Striped Flutterer
Common Glider Flyby
A couple of Dragonflies from the Botanical Gardens at Rocky
Rajah Shellduck
Rajah Shellduck
Rajah Shellducks at Cape Palmerston
Brahminy Kites at Rocky
Yesterday we made our way further south to Rockhampton, we picked up our extra 200 kilos of stuff that we had offloaded to a storage shed on the way up the coast. Wow…..that was just a little depressing trying to fit it all in again😩😩
Next off season we will get a storage shed in Stanthorpe and off load there and also maybe sell and give away some stuff that we definitely don’t use anymore.
This morning we visited the Botanical Gardens which is always a nice relaxing place to meander around. There’s a great cafe and also a lagoon with the standard array of ducks, pelicans, stilts, birds of prey etc.
Female Darter
Pelicans at the Botanical Gardens, Rocky
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Other Birds
We are on the road again tomorrow but haven’t decided yet how far south to go….have to ponder over some maps first and see where we want to be for a few days. So please enjoy the photos and snippets we did manage to get.
Well we have had a nice relaxing stay in Bowen. The weather has been fine though a bit too cloudy for the amazing coastal photos that you usually get here. The ocean can look a very light blue and the beaches stunning white on a really clear day without too much wind.
View of Bowen from Flastaff Hill
Bowen Coastline
View south from Flagstaff Hill
Horseshoe Bay
Horseshoe Bay
The coastal walk is great with picturesque outlooks, we were hoping for some birds of prey ‘ flybys’ but weren’t lucky enough.
This afternoon we visited the rivermouth at Queens Beach at low tide and saw quite a few Eastern Curlews, Red- capped Plovers and some other terns and shorebirds so that was really nice.
Red-capped Plover – a joy to photograph, they are sooooo cute
Red-Capped Plover
Red-Capped Plover on the hunt
Press play to view Steph’s Video snips of Bowen
Eastern Curlew Flyby
Its exciting to be near the coast to capture some amazing shorebirds
Caspian Tern
Little Tern (Breeding Adult)
Gull-billed Tern
We visited Mullers Lagoon in the middle of town a few times. There’s always a good variety of water birds here.
We were a bit concerned about the water quality there though……they have signs everywhere warning us humans not to drink the water as it’s ‘ Reclaimed Effluent’ it has a bizarre greenish tint to it.
Of course the birds don’t know that otherwise they wouldn’t be there I guess. We did see 3 dead pelicans there so that took the shine off for us, we don’t know what they died from.
A Nankeen Kestral doing a great balancing act
Pelicans Synchronised Fishing
Plumed Whistling Ducks
Straw-necked Ibis Flyby
Blue-faced Honeeaters
Some popular birds of Mullers Lagoon
White-faced Stilt at Mullers Lagoon
Tomorrow we are off to Cape Palmerston, we haven’t been there before so are quite exited to be going somewhere new🤩🤩
The van park is 100 metres from the beach, also a National Park not too far away so hopefully we will have good weather and see lots of critters.
We will also be catching up with Anthony’s son and family…..( my two gorgeous inherited grandchildren ). We don’t get to see them much with our current lifestyle so it’s really great that they are also hitching up their van and coming to spend the weekend with us 😁😁 we will have a great time.
The aptly named Peaceful Doves are difficult not to PhotographThis Pied ButcherBird held this pose for quite some time … so I abligedThis Whistling Kite was eying off his evening meal, perched over a roosting Island at Mullers Lagoon
So bye for now and of course enjoy all the pics and video snippets.
