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.
Greetings from the Crystal Creek Caravan Park!! ( at the foot of the Paluma Range).
Well this is certainly the place to base yourself if you want to explore the area.
It’s only 20 kms up to Paluma, there is a very steep narrow range road to traverse and after our last visit two months ago I swore I wouldn’t go up there again. The road is fine but seems to attract a few ‘wallies’.
Being a Monday we thought we would be relatively safe and it was fine, we only passed a few cars up and down so that was a bonus. Anthony of course only had one thing on his mind……The Golden Bowerbird.
We have been looking and looking for a few years now and never seem to be in the right place at the right time but this morning all the stars aligned and as soon as we saw the bower….with a gorgeous male sitting out the front doing some decorating…..we knew we were in for a treat…Things got even better when another male flew in attempting a Bower takeover.
It was pretty much action packed for at least the two hours that we were there. We got some great photos and video……they weren’t bothered by us at all as they were so busy trying to outshine each other, chase each other and also the occasional dive bomb each other. We only fleetingly saw a female come in and they both reacted straight away…like it was ‘Showtime’.🤩🤩
We never saw either of the males go back down to the bower which was a shame as we would have liked some pics of the decorating but we couldn’t have asked for a better day, we couldn’t believe our luck.
We also managed to walk around 5 kms through the beautiful rainforest to a couple of lookouts and a little creek/ waterfall. Also of course Birthday Creek falls where the Bowerbirds are.
The Gorgous Golden Bowerbird
The 2 metre Bower adorned with Lichen
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Please enjoy this slide show
Press Play to View Steph’s Snippets of the Golden Bowerbird
Another quite difficult bird to Photograph is this Male Chowchilla
Birthday Creek Falls & Cloudy Creek, Paluma
The tiny Red-capped Plover at Balgal Beach
Today’s events have overshadowed yesterday’s which was also a great day. We arrived here earlyish and even though it was super hot drove off to visit Rollingstone and Balgal Beach. These are both good places to see lots of birds. The fish and chips at the Fisherman’s Landing are pretty good too.
Balgal Beach LandingCan you spot the tiny Red-capped Plover
Great habitat at the creek at Rollingstone
Press Play to view Steph’s Video Snippets of Rollingsone & Balgal Beach
The always inquisitive White-browed RobinRainbow Bee-eaterBrown-backed Honeyeater
Anyway it’s certainly been an action packed couple of days, tomorrow we are off to Bowen so we hope our luck with the birds continues.
Our new front legs on the van work perfectly so that sure is a relief.
Featured Image: Male Darter preparing for take-off
Comb-crested Jacana leaping through the Lilies at Tyto
Hello again from Ingham!!
The last week has just flown by, we have been out and about most of those days as the weather has been good though it’s really starting to warm up now so I’m glad we are heading south.
Graphic Flutterer Dragonfly (above) and Tropical Rockmaster Damselfly
Press Play to view Steph’s latest Video Snips
We find it difficult to walk pass these gorgous Crimson Finches without taking a photo. These are our favorite shots of these critters whilst at Tyto Wetlands. (Top: Male, Centre: Female, Bottom: Immature Male)
Our front legs for the van arrived mid week and Anthony didn’t have too much trouble fitting them though it appears there is some very small ( hopefully minor ) piece missing. He did give the legs a go and all seems ok though we have ordered this little missing piece and will be picking it up in Rockhampton on the way south.
Flying Foxes at Ingham Botanical Gardens. We think its a great attraction for Ingham. Sadly the majority of locals (as always) don’t feel the same.
Rufous Whistler’s (Male above and Female below)
A couple of Snaps from Taylor’s Beach. (Clockwise from Top: Osprey, Immature Red-capped Plover, Gull-billed Tern, Immature Crested Tern)
As usual we have put off some much needed maintenance that we really have to do today as tomorrow we are off to Crystal Creek. From there all our trips will be very quick, only a couple of nights at stops along the way. Of course we will be in nature as much as possible, there is nowhere else we would rather be.
The very secretive White-browed Crake (above) and Buff-banded Rail (below)
“Snakes” ….. What snakes
Please enjoy our last photos and video of this area, oh and guess who spotted that gorgeous Carpet Python way up in a tree….😊😊
Featured Image : 2 metre Salt Water Crocodile on the banks of a lagoon
A Whistling Kite watching our every move
Well things have been going really well in Ingham!!
Tyto Wetlands has been alive with birdlife every day, we have been doing a morning lap…..back to the pod for lunch, then out again late afternoon.
The afternoon light on the first lagoon is fantastic for photos, lots of birds are dipping in for a bath so you can just stand on the little bridge and watch all the action.
A very pretty Yellow Honeyeater in the late afternoon light
White Gaped Honeyeater
Female Rufous Whistler
Northern Fantail
Brown-backed Honeyeater
There has also been plenty of croc action too…
We always knew there was one saltwater crocodile in the lagoons….somewhere…..but had never sighted him …. until now.
There is the original big boy, at around 4 metres, that we have seen most days and also the smaller one in the first lagoon is around 2 metres .
He has been putting on a show, and never ventures too far from his slide on the bank, and he seems incredibly hungry.
Nearly every time we spot him he is eating something.
One day a big fish, then a huge Eel and yesterday we couldn’t work out what on earth he was eating then we realised it was a big fruit bat, and seemed to have a bit of trouble getting those rubbery wings down.
Press Play to view a bit of Croc action
Crocs of Tyto
Thislarge Male Agile Wallaby didn’t seem to mind the Willie Wagtail hitching a ride.
Crimson Finches are in abundance at present, always hard to walk past without taking a pic.
As too are the gorgous Red-backed Fairywrens.
We haven’t seen any unusual birds but it’s great to see all the locals again. Lots of birds are nesting so it’s a very busy time.
The Wandering Whistling ducks are a nice site on the lagoons.
With the weather starting to heat up, it brings back a few Dragonflies.
Chalky Percher
Graphic Flutterer
Colorful Blue-tail Damselfly
This Plumed Egret settles down for the evening after a big feed (below)
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Press Play to view Stephanie’s Video snippets of Tyto
This Pacific Baza (Crested Hawk) was a welcome sighting.
Yellow Oriole
Brown Goshawk
White-browed Robin
Golden-headed Cisticola
A few more Bird sightings
A Brown-backed Honeyeater on one of the many Lotus Flowers that adorn Tyto Wetlands
We are still waiting for our new front legs for the van to arrive….
They are coming from Victoria, which always seems to take forever.
Hopefully they come in the next few days.
We had already pre booked some parks ahead so have had to cancel everything for now. And also don’t want to rush back to work which is looming for the start of November.
They still haven’t had any rain in the Stanthorpe area so things are very grim there.
We still have plenty of places we want to check out on the way south so hopefully we can get on the road again soon.
