Last week we travelled to Queensland to visit Carmel's parents. While primarily a family visit, I did take the time to visit a couple of favourite spots and get some bird photographs.
The Bli Bli track past the retirement village near the bridge provided a number of opportunities for bird photography. Most obvious were the Red-backed Fairy-wrens. I estimate that there must be between 20-30 of them living along a 500m stretch of the track. One of the males came to meet me in the car. He did not seem too perturbed, but did a couple of pecks at the mirrors and windows just to make sure that the red car was not another male. After pooping on the mirror housing he flitted back to the bushes near the car park where he had a harem of followers.
These are just a few of the many photos that I captured of both sexes in the Bli Bli area.
The other common bird on this trip was the Brown Honeyeater. We have them on the Central Coast too but I have never seen them there. They are everywhere on the Sunshine Coast and there is a constant background of their noisy calls. These photographs were taken in Carmel's Parents' garden.
The yellow pip behind the eye is a distinguishing feature of the adult bird but it is missing in immature birds. There were quite a few immature birds present. They often appeared less sleek than the adults.
They sometime hover while feeding and although I observed this action several times I did not manage to capture it. Unlike Humming birds, the hovering lasts only a short time.
Some of the trees along the Bli Bli track had Mistletoe growing in it and it was not long before I saw a pair of Mistletoe birds feeding among it. The female was much more approachable than the male for some reason, but I eventually photographed both. I even have a photo (not displayed here) of the female passing the special Mistletoe seed poo that is responsible for propagating Mistletoe to new locations.
Australian White Ibis were a feature of the morning and evening sky. There is a small rookery near the lake belonging to the local retirement village and these birds would be seen flying off in the morning and returning in the evening. There were always a few feeding in the grounds of the retirement village.
The Bli Bli track had a few Golden Whistlers who gave away their presence by their calls. Once I heard them it was just a matter of waiting until they flew down to see if I was still there. I didn't photograph any females this time. The males are always difficult to photograph nicely because their dark eye is hidden in the dark part of the head. Fortunately they are usually pretty placid and its a matter of sitting around until there is a bit of eye-glint.
I found three finches at Bli Bli this time. The Chestnut Mannikin was a bit of a surprise as I had not seen it there before. I have photographed them in Ingham on previous trips to Queensland
The Double-barred Finches were expected but there were a lot more of them visible this time around. Finches are alway a challenge to photograph because they are a flock bird and it is difficult to get close to them. You find yourself trying to get close to one bird only to have one fly up from your feet, spooking the whole flock.
Reb-browed Finches were also there so I took the opportunity to photograph them while I could get close to them. There are plant of these at home at the moment but they are very difficult to creep up on.
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