Our second excursion to Ravensbourne National Park as the Darling Downs group took place in balmy weather and spirits were high after so many trip cancellations over the past year or so due to wet weather.
Birds were quite active, so our progress was gradual and resulted in a decision to not visit the distant lower area (drier open-forest) but focus just on the rainforest.
As always, we were in awe of the girth and height of some of the Sydney blue gums and other emergent trees and botanically-aware members showed us some interesting understorey plants.
Highlights among the birds seen included a baker’s dozen Topknot Pigeons bursting from their high perch, many cheeky pairs of Rufous Fantail and a pair of Russet-tailed Thrush that seemed to be bringing food to an unseen nest.
Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Green Catbird and Spectacled Monarch were present but hard to see. Species that we don’t see around Toowoomba but that we would hope to add on future visits include Paradise Riflebird (more likely in the highest section, not visited today), Yellow-throated Scrubwren (over 20 previous Birdata records, in 10 months of the year) and Australian Logrunner (2 previous Birdata records, both in October 2015). All the birds seen on the day follows:
Australian Brush-turkey – Alectura lathami
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike – Coracina novaehollandiae
Black-faced Monarch – Monarcha melanopsis
Brown Cuckoo-Dove – Macropygia phasianella
Brown Gerygone – Gerygone mouki
Cicadabird – Edolisoma tenuirostris
Crimson Rosella – Platycercus elegans
Eastern Koel – Eudynamys orientalis
Eastern Spinebill – Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris
Eastern Whipbird – Psophodes olivaceus
Eastern Yellow Robin – Eopsaltria australis
Golden Whistler – Pachycephala pectoralis
Green Catbird – Ailuroedus crassirostris
Grey Fantail – Rhipidura fuliginosa
Grey Shrike-thrush – Colluricincla harmonica
Large-billed Scrubwren – Sericornis magnirostra
Laughing Kookaburra – Dacelo novaeguineae
Lewin’s Honeyeater – Meliphaga lewinii
Little Shrike-thrush – Colluricincla megarhyncha
Noisy Friarbird – Philemon corniculatus
Pale-headed Rosella – Platycercus adscitus
Pied Currawong – Strepera graculina
Rainbow Lorikeet – Trichoglossus moluccanus
Regent Bowerbird – Sericulus chrysocephalus
Rufous Fantail – Rhipidura rufifrons
Rufous Whistler – Pachycephala rufiventris
Russet-tailed Thrush – Zoothera heinei
Sacred Kingfisher – Todiramphus sanctus
Shining Bronze-Cuckoo – Chalcites lucidus
Silvereye – Zosterops lateralis Spangled
Drongo – Dicrurus bracteatus Spectacled
Monarch – Symposiarchus trivirgatus
Spotted Pardalote – Pardalotus punctatus
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo – Cacatua galerita
Topknot Pigeon – Lopholaimus antarcticus
White-browed Scrubwren – Sericornis frontalis
White-headed Pigeon – Columba leucomela
White-throated Treecreeper – Cormobates leucophaea
Wompoo Fruit-Dove – Ptilinopus magnificus
Wonga Pigeon – Leucosarcia melanoleuca
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo – Zanda funereus
Today with ten observers we listed 41 species in 3.0 hours, whereas on our previous survey of this area and habitat (6 February 2021), with seven observers, we listed 45 species in 3.5 hours. We used the 500m radius area search and the table below reveals that 32 of the cumulative 54 species (59%) were recorded on both occasions.
There are many factors influencing the differences, including the status of flowering and fruiting trees and the fact that, on both occasions, separate parts of the trail network were not walked. The 500m radius method of surveying is good for compiling, in short time, an inventory of species that occur in a habitat but is less useful than the 2ha-20minute method, for comparing between visits and locations.
