Xavier's Bird Lists

Opened with three Bush Thick-knee in the carpark for my hotel on the Gold Coast. Strong.

Started in earnest on Thursday morning at Coombabah with an absolute haul of 43 species. Torresian Crow and Pied Butcherbird were everywhere and easy to spot, unlike the Scarlet Myzomela who taunted me all day with their call until I finally spotted one near the end of my walk. A chance spot in my peripheral vision discovered a silent and static lone Pale-headed Rosella very high in the trees, hard to find a good angle to ID. Sad I never got a closer look at another.

Off to Tamborine Mountain in the afternoon where I found a selection of new birds foraging in the litter: Australian Logrunner, Noisy Pitta, and the sketchiest of glances at a Green Catbird before it spooked.

Arrived at O'Reilly's in Lamington National Park just after sunset, where I was to stay for the next three nights.

I was not prepared for the "daily bird walk" at sunrise the next morning. A whole flock of Regent Bowerbird were waiting patiently for some breakfast from the crowd, and along the boardwalk nothing was afraid: Eastern Yellow Robin, White- and Yellow-throated Scrubwren, Lewin's Honeyeater, and even the infamously elusive Eastern Whipbird were all coming to visit in plain sight. A Bassian Thrush seemed less enamoured with the crowd, who in turn were happy to ignore him, but not I with my soft spot for introverted birds.

A Satin Bowerbird was collecting right outside my room when I returned, posing for a lovely shot.

After a long trail run down into the denser forest to tag a heap of waterfalls, I went for another walk in the afternoon and found the aftermath of the parrot feeding, which is done at a different spot with specialised feed to try and keep them from taking over the park. A flock of Red-browed Finch were too preoccupied with picking up scraps to notice me getting in close for a photo.

I returned to the bird walk the next morning for a similar experience. This time I stayed with the group, and was shown the Satin Bowerbird bower next to the trail – so much blue refuse!

Highlights from my run after: an Australian Logrunner building a nest, and my first glimpse of an Albert's Lyrebird. In the afternoon I returned to the boardwalk to try and get some photos in better light (somewhat successfully), but then some light rain started rolling in and I took the opportunity to rest and recover.

Kamarun Lookout before sunset was almost completely unnoteworthy, except I found my only male Golden Whistler for the trip. So that's something.

For the final day I tried to hit a number of hotspots on the drive back to the airport. First was Lower Beechmont Conservation Area, which was firetrail among tall trees. Lovely, and plenty to listen to, but didn't see much. Wasn't really feeling it so didn't stay long. Hinterland Regional Park was next, and WOW was it perhaps the most beautiful park I've seen. Stunning. Large variety of flora and plenty of birds (I saw 25 species), including a pair of Bar-shouldered Dove and some more Regent Bowerbird.

I failed twice to find the Elanora Wetlands Reserve entrance, before giving up: I didn't have enough time to do it justice before my flight anyway. Final bird was a dissapointing Common Myna as I dropped off the car.