The first BSQDD excursion for 2025, held on 15 February, was a joint activity with Toowoomba Bird Observers at a private property beside Lockyer Creek in the Lockyer locality (between Helidon and Murphys Creek).
After some handy overnight rain, fears of a washed-out session were allayed by dry weather although overcast and clearing only slowly. The cattle paddocks had plenty of cover and pools and shallows in Lockyer Creek were full, with lush beds of bulrush and sedge; the bottlebrush and sheoak shrubs/saplings had not been bowled over by a major flood this wet season, despite recent flood debris 1.5m above pool level.
Our sharp-eyed team of eight observers recorded just over 50 bird species with several extras at the road crossing of Lockyer Creek a little farther downstream, visited after leaving the property. Highlights included: an adult Nankeen Night-Heron perched in a mature waterside sheoak; a juvenile Shining Bronze-Cuckoo that did not move from a close and clear viewing position for about five minutes; and around 35 White-throated Needletails (Vulnerable, and Migratory: EPBC Act 1999) spiralling higher and higher having possibly emerged from an overnight roost in a clump of trees.
After morning tea, five brown accipiters, at least one of which was a Brown Goshawk, also flew up together very high. As we took our refreshments, a perched Great Egret required some careful inspection because of its partial breeding colours and plumage. A Speckled Warbler on the ground and among dead shrubs seemed to be carrying food but breeding could not be confirmed.
Thanks to Mick Atzeni for arranging access to the property and guiding us around the scenic creek environs. Photographer images helped identify some of the numerous birds perched high in the distance atop stags of tall trees. Here is the list of birds for the day:
| Australasian Figbird | Sphecotheres vieilloti |
| Australian Magpie | Gymnorhina tibicen |
| Bar-shouldered Dove | Geopelia humeralis |
| Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike | Coracina novaehollandiae |
| Black-shouldered Kite | Elanus axillaris |
| Blue-faced Honeyeater | Entomyzon cyanotis |
| Brown Goshawk | Accipiter fasciatus |
| Brown Goshawk/Collared Sparrowhawk spp | |
| Brown Honeyeater | Lichmera indistincta |
| Channel-billed Cuckoo | Scythrops novaehollandiae |
| Common Cicadabird | Edolisoma tenuirostre |
| Dusky Moorhen | Gallinula tenebrosa |
| Eastern Whipbird | Psophodes olivaceus |
| Great Egret | Ardea alba |
| Grey Butcherbird | Cracticus torquatus |
| Grey Shrike-thrush | Colluricincla harmonica |
| Laughing Kookaburra | Dacelo novaeguineae |
| Lewin’s Honeyeater | Meliphaga lewinii |
| Little Friarbird | Philemon citreogularis |
| Little Lorikeet | Glossopsitta pusilla |
| Little Pied Cormorant | Microcarbo melanoleucos |
| Masked Lapwing | Vanellus miles |
| Nankeen Night-Heron | Nycticorax caledonicus |
| Noisy Friarbird | Philemon corniculatus |
| Noisy Miner | Manorina melanocephala |
| Olive-backed Oriole | Oriolus sagittatus |
| Oriental Dollarbird | Eurystomus orientalis |
| Pacific Black Duck | Anas superciliosa |
| Pale-headed Rosella | Platycercus adscitus |
| Peaceful Dove | Geopelia placida |
| Pheasant Coucal | Centropus phasianinus |
| Pied Butcherbird | Cracticus nigrogularis |
| Pied Currawong | Strepera graculina |
| Purple Swamphen | Porphyrio porphyrio |
| Rainbow Bee-eater | Merops ornatus |
| Rainbow Lorikeet | Trichoglossus moluccanus |
| Red-backed Fairy-wren | Malurus melanocephalus |
| Scaly-breasted Lorikeet | Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus |
| Shining Bronze-Cuckoo | Chalcites lucidus |
| Silvereye | Zosterops lateralis |
| Spangled Drongo | Dicrurus bracteatus |
| Speckled Warbler | Pyrrholaemus sagittatus |
| Straw-necked Ibis | Threskiornis spinicollis |
| Striated Pardalote | Pardalotus striatus |
| Striped Honeyeater | Plectorhyncha lanceolata |
| Superb Fairy-wren | Malurus cyaneus |
| Torresian Crow | Corvus orru |
| Wedge-tailed Eagle | Aquila audax |
| White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike | Coracina papuensis |
| White-throated Gerygone | Gerygone olivacea |
| White-throated Needletail | Hirundapus caudacutus |
| White-throated Treecreeper | Cormobates leucophaea |
