Two separate meetings in Brisbane, one on Thurs/Fri and one on Mon/Tues meant I would either have to stay in Brisbane for a weekend or fly back to Adelaide and catch the red-eye early on Monday. I couldn’t face that, so decided to stay and occupy my weekend with a spot of birding (what else?). You may not believe me when I say that the meetings were organised by other people and I had nothing to do with the timing, but it’s the absolute truth!
I’ve done a bit of birding around Brisbane over the last few years (including one family holiday that strategically included a few days in Lamington National Park in the Gold Coast hinterland), so I have gradually picked up a number of the SEQ birds that we don’t get down south. Even so, there are still quite a few “easy” birds around Brisbane I’ve not connected with. But I decided that with a weekend at my disposal I’d target a hard bird, Black-breasted Button-quail (BBBQ, otherwise known as the “Barbecue Bird”). I joined forces with local birder Tom Tarrant who very generously devoted his weekend to helping me find various stuff in sites that he has birded over many years. Tom is originally from Wallingford, so we made a small team of Oxonbirders, bombing around together in south-east Qld.
Saturday morning I picked up Tom and young Qld birder, Charlie Scott, from Tom’s place in Dayboro about 45mins NE of downtown Brisbane, and we drove another 2 hours north. A couple of brief stops along the way yielded some padders but also a lovely Grey Goshawk. Our destination was a forest of mixed native regrowth and hoop pine plantation where Charlie had seen BBBQ recently. His gen was good: within a minute of arriving we had noted fresh platelets under the hoop pines, and then seconds later Tom announced he’d seen some movement on the forest floor that was probably our quarry. We peered intently through the trees but after no further movement and no response to playback, Charlie walked quietly in a slow arc. A few minutes later we saw him emerge 20m in front of us, and shortly after he beckoned us over — he had the birds!
Tom and I approached carefully, me barely able to believe our good fortune. But I was getting ahead of myself. Following Charlie’s directions I saw what was probably the head of a bird slink down behind some cover, and then various bits of leaf-litter were tossed up in the air as it made another platelet tantalisingly out of sight. I waited some more in the hope it would emerge, but presumably now aware of our presence it slunk away. When I eventually approached closer I realised that we’d seen it on the edge of a dense cover of lantana within which we would have no chance.
To cut a long story short, we spent the next 6 hours finding lots more platelets in various sites in the forest, but not seeing a BBBQ, and in fact seeing very few birds altogether. Tom and Charlie were somewhat at a loss to explain our dip, though it was very windy for the entire day which might have been a factor. I just think it goes like that sometimes. I consoled myself with a female Satin Bowerbird and a Green Catbird, and TBH it was nice just to be out birding again after very few opportunities in the year to date.
We didn’t have a whole lot of luck after we left the BBBQ site either. Rather than drive back to Dayboro directly we went back via Mt Glorious, calling in at dusk to Browns Rd hoping for Sooty Owl or Marbled Frogmouth. Eighteen months earlier I’d found my lifer Sooty in this spot (see “Sooty and Sweep”). But windy conditions are poor for owls and we left there empty-handed. A couple of beers at a bar in Samford was a nice way to finish the day — birding-wise disappointing, but it had still been enjoyable with excellent company.
For Sunday, Tom was available and keen to come out birding again so I had to make a call: try for the BBQ bird again, or something different. With the forecast for more wind, and a reluctance to drive long distances two days in a row, I plumped for some birding around Dayboro. Tom would show me some of his local patches, I would pick up some of my missing “easy” birds and I would be easily able to get back to Brisbane to return my hire car to the airport.
As yesterday, I picked Tom up at 7 and we headed straight for a nice patch of sub-tropical forest less than a km from his house. Straight away I started to see nice birds including a few targets. I had ticked Spectacled Monarch on my honeymoon in 1997 (on Brampton Island), but not seen once since, and Emerald Dove was a lifer (I discovered this in retrospect!). As we wandered back to the car Tom alerted me to a call, his ears tuned in to the local songs and calls. A White-eared Monarch was above us. My first of this lovely species didn’t give great views, but we would end up seeing 6 during the day, including one that posed beautifully at the Samsonvale Cemetery. A small flock of Red-browed Firetails flushed from the grassy roadside verge, then a gorgeous Rose Robin put in an appearance.
About a km on we stopped briefly on the ford at a place called Lees Crossing. Tom commented that it’s quite a good spot for Platypus though we were probably now too late in the day (8am). I went to drive off then saw some ripples — surely not. But yes! It was a platypus. As we watched we realised there were in fact two shuttling back and forth across the still pool. This was an excellent stroke of luck and I was excited and gratified to grip this back having dipped in Tasmania in 2017 and then missed one that Louisa saw on Kangaroo Island earlier this year.
A Square-tailed Kite on the nest was nice to see, then a cup of tea at Tom’s friends’, Ian and Sue Flinders was a welcome break. From, here we trundled over the Samsonvale Cemetery, these days one of the best known birding sites in the area having been put on the map for its quails and forest birds by Tom when he first moved here 30 years ago. Here I had my best views of the delightful White-eared Monarch.
A Striped Honeyeater sang (but was not seen), likewise some Chestnut-breasted Mannikin.
After lunch in Samford we called in to another friends’ house, Mike and Linda Lewis, who upgraded my request for a cup of tea to a beer (v nice!) and I sipped this as we sat on the deck, admired their stunning view and watched a great variety of honeyeaters come to their baths. Brown, White-throated and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, Eastern Spinebill and best of all, a gorgeous male Scarlet Honeyeater all paid visits, along with Peaceful and Bar-shouldered Doves.
We birded a few more areas, finding a Wedge-tailed Eagle, Red-backed and Superb Fairywrens, a showy Darter, several female Australasian Figbirds but drew a blank on my other target for this area, Rose-crowned Fruit-dove. We concluded they are not back yet.
After dropping Tom back in Dayboro I headed to the airport to return my rental car. I had one more stop planned, Kedron Brook Wetland, for a crack at Australian Grass Owl. I picked up Tawny Grassbird (brief flight views and unequivocal calls from the dense grass) and about 200 Magpie Geese came in to roost but despite a vigil over dusk and for an hour after dark constantly scanning with bins and occasionally torch, I drew a blank yet again. Conditions had been windy but had calmed after sunset so I actually thought the chances were quite good. Sadly, it was not to be and I would bracket the weekend with a final dip.
