Over the King’s birthday long weekend five of us stayed at the Myall Park Botanic Gardens and did surveys there and in surrounding areas of importance.
All up it was a fantastic long weekend with some really great birding!
Myall Park Botanic Gardens is a botanic gardens of international importance for its preservation of Australian flora. We used this as our base and kept an ongoing list of birds on this site, as well as the surveys in the surrounding areas.
At Myall Park Botanic Garden (mixed woodland, shrubland and lagoon) over three part-days we listed 61 species within a 500m radius including White-throated Nightjar, Owlet-nightjar, Nankeen Night-Heron, White-necked Heron, Red-winged Parrot, Spotted Bowerbird, Speckled Warbler, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Masked Wooodswallow, White-browed Woodswallow, Leaden Flycatcher and red-capped Robin.
| Australian Magpie | Gymnorhina tibicen |
| Australian Owlet-nightjar | Aegotheles cristatus |
| Australian Pelican | Pelecanus conspicillatus |
| Bar-shouldered Dove | Geopelia humeralis |
| Black-fronted Dotterel | Elseyornis melanops |
| Blue-faced Honeyeater | Entomyzon cyanotis |
| Brown-headed Honeyeater | Melithreptus brevirostris |
| Common Myna | Acridotheres tristis |
| Crested Pigeon | Ocyphaps lophotes |
| Double-barred Finch | Taeniopygia bichenovii |
| Galah | Eolophus roseicapilla |
| Great Egret | Ardea alba |
| Grey Butcherbird | Cracticus torquatus |
| Grey Fantail | Rhipidura fuliginosa |
| Grey Shrike-thrush | Colluricincla harmonica |
| Grey Teal | Anas gracilis |
| Grey-crowned Babbler | Pomatostomus temporalis |
| Jacky Winter | Microeca fascinans |
| Laughing Kookaburra | Dacelo novaeguineae |
| Leaden Flycatcher | Myiagra rubecula |
| Little Corella | Cacatua sanguinea |
| Little Friarbird | Philemon citreogularis |
| Magpie-lark | Grallina cyanoleuca |
| Masked Lapwing | Vanellus miles |
| Masked Woodswallow | Artamus personatus |
| Mistletoebird | Dicaeum hirundinaceum |
| Nankeen Kestrel | Falco cenchroides |
| Nankeen Night-Heron | Nycticorax caledonicus |
| Noisy Friarbird | Philemon corniculatus |
| Noisy Miner | Manorina melanocephala |
| Olive-backed Oriole | Oriolus sagittatus |
| Pale-headed Rosella | Platycercus adscitus |
| Pied Butcherbird | Cracticus nigrogularis |
| Pied Currawong | Strepera graculina |
| Rainbow Bee-eater | Merops ornatus |
| Red-capped Robin | Petroica goodenovii |
| Red-rumped Parrot | Psephotus haematonotus |
| Red-winged Parrot | Aprosmictus erythropterus |
| Restless Flycatcher | Myiagra inquieta |
| Royal Spoonbill | Platalea regia |
| Silvereye | Zosterops lateralis |
| Speckled Warbler | Pyrrholaemus sagittatus |
| Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater | Acanthagenys rufogularis |
| Spotted Bowerbird | Ptilonorhynchus maculatus |
| Striated Pardalote | Pardalotus striatus |
| Striped Honeyeater | Plectorhyncha lanceolata |
| Sulphur-crested Cockatoo | Cacatua galerita |
| Superb Fairy-wren | Malurus cyaneus |
| Variegated Fairy-wren | Malurus lamberti |
| Weebill | Smicrornis brevirostris |
| Welcome Swallow | Hirundo neoxena |
| White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike | Coracina papuensis |
| White-browed Woodswallow | Artamus superciliosus |
| White-eared Honeyeater | Nesoptilotis leucotis |
| White-necked Heron | Ardea pacifica |
| White-plumed Honeyeater | Ptilotula penicillata |
| White-throated Nightjar | Eurostopodus mystacalis |
| Willie Wagtail | Rhipidura leucophrys |
| Yellow-billed Spoonbill | Platalea flavipes |
| Yellow-faced Honeyeater | Caligavis chrysops |
| Yellow-rumped Thornbill | Acanthiza chrysorrhoa |
A highlight of the park is the bird hide, which allows great vision and proximity to many birds.
Striped honeyeater Plectorhyncha lanceolata Photo: Scot McPhie
Double-barred Finch Stizoptera bichenovii Photo: Scot McPhie
Australian Raven Corvus coronoides Photo: Scot McPhie
Noisy Friarbird Philemon corniculatus Photo: Scot McPhie
Silvereye Zosterops lateralis Photo: Scot McPhie
Spotted bowerbird Chlamydera maculata Photo: Scot McPhie
Erringibba National Park is a brigalow-dominated woodland and we conducted 4 of the standardised 2ha-20minute surveys there, listing a total of 34 species (94 individuals), including Speckled Warbler, Red-capped Robin, Eastern Yellow Robin, Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, Western Gerygone and Red-winged Parrot.
An intriguing highlight at Erringibba was what we thought was a mass wood slater migration – but may in fact be “a “flood bugs” Australiodillo bifrons – a type of slater whose movements may indicate rising water. See below in Scot’s video for footage of them.
| Apostlebird | Struthidea cinerea |
| Australian Raven | Corvus coronoides |
| Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike | Coracina novaehollandiae |
| Brown Honeyeater | Lichmera indistincta |
| Brown-headed Honeyeater | Melithreptus brevirostris |
| Chestnut-rumped Thornbill | Acanthiza uropygialis |
| Eastern Yellow Robin | Eopsaltria australis |
| Galah | Eolophus roseicapilla |
| Grey Butcherbird | Cracticus torquatus |
| Grey Fantail | Rhipidura fuliginosa |
| Jacky Winter | Microeca fascinans |
| Little Corella | Cacatua sanguinea |
| Little Friarbird | Philemon citreogularis |
| Magpie-lark | Grallina cyanoleuca |
| Noisy Friarbird | Philemon corniculatus |
| Noisy Miner | Manorina melanocephala |
| Olive-backed Oriole | Oriolus sagittatus |
| Red-capped Robin | Petroica goodenovii |
| Red-winged Parrot | Aprosmictus erythropterus |
| Restless Flycatcher | Myiagra inquieta |
| Rufous Whistler | Pachycephala rufiventris |
| Speckled Warbler | Pyrrholaemus sagittatus |
| Striated Pardalote | Pardalotus striatus |
| Striped Honeyeater | Plectorhyncha lanceolata |
| Superb Fairy-wren | Malurus cyaneus |
| Torresian Crow | Corvus orru |
| Variegated Fairy-wren | Malurus lamberti |
| Weebill | Smicrornis brevirostris |
| Western Gerygone | Gerygone fusca |
| White-winged Chough | Corcorax melanorhamphos |
| Willie Wagtail | Rhipidura leucophrys |
| Yellow Thornbill | Acanthiza nana |
| Yellow-faced Honeyeater | Caligavis chrysops |
| Yellow-throated Miner | Manorina flavigula |
Hannaford Scientific Reserve is also brigalow dominated, and we conducted 2 of the standardised 2ha-20minute surveys there. Listing a total of 13 species, including Singing Honeyeater.
| Brown Honeyeater | Lichmera indistincta |
| Eastern Yellow Robin | Eopsaltria australis |
| Grey Fantail | Rhipidura fuliginosa |
| Grey Shrike-thrush | Colluricincla harmonica |
| Mistletoebird | Dicaeum hirundinaceum |
| Rufous Whistler | Pachycephala rufiventris |
| Singing Honeyeater | Gavicalis virescens |
| Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater | Acanthagenys rufogularis |
| Striped Honeyeater | Plectorhyncha lanceolata |
| Superb Fairy-wren | Malurus cyaneus |
| Torresian Crow | Corvus orru |
| White-throated Gerygone | Gerygone olivacea |
| Willie Wagtail | Rhipidura leucophrys |
| Yellow Thornbill | Acanthiza nana |
We also found some freshwater snail shells on the reserve. Darryl Potter at the Queensland Museum helped us nail them down to either Glyptophysa novaehollandica (native) or Physa acuta (introduced). Without seeing them live it is impossible to distinguish them.
Overall, 75 bird species recorded on the entire long weekend, in rather dry conditions. None of the group photos really worked out – but here’s one anyway!
And finally, Scot kept a travel-log video which can be seen below.