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| Lake Coolmunda, October 2020 Photo: L. Beaton |
Friday: a walk down to the lake's edge was the afternoon activity. The dam is at 28% capacity and there were numerous freshwater mollusc shells marooned in the grass. The water birds were disappointing with only Pelican, Grey Teal, Black Duck and Cormorants recorded.
Saturday: a tag-along around the lake starting at Elbow Bend on the McIntyre Brook. As this is downstream from the dam, water is released and constantly flowing. Birds gather here and 41 species were seen plus 5 species of butterfly and 2 species of dragonfly. The favourite birds here would have been an Azure Kingfisher (if you had a glimpse as it flashed away) and the Plum-headed Finches feeding in the roadside grass. The photographers were delighted.
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| White-winged Chough at Elbow Bend Photo: C. Bonner |
Bracker Creek was the next stop and what a feast for naturalists it was. A number of birds were nesting including Dusky Woodswallows and Brown Treecreepers. Two Black-fronted Dotterels were feeding on a pebbly shoreline and a Sacred Kingfisher was fishing from a stump in the middle of the creek.
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| Sacred Kingfisher at Bracker Creek Photo: C. Bonner |
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| Field Nats watching the Sacred Kingfisher at Bracker Creek Photo: H. McCosh |
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| Black-fronted Dotterel Photo: C. Bonner |
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| Nats at the Devine State Forest waterhole Photo: D. Pocknee |
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| Above - White-eared Honeyeater Below - Yellow-faced Honeyeaters at Devine State Forest Photos: Chris Bonner  |
Mosquito Creek Rd, a Queensland birding "hot spot" gave us few new birds as it was too hot by this time. Luckily we stopped in the state forest where we chanced upon a small waterhole. Here we sat and ate our lunch while watching the birds come in for a drink.
In the afternoon 5 members went back to Coolmunda Conservation Park to see the Shiny-leaved Eucalypt (Eucalyptus virens). This has a status of "vulnerable" as it is only found in four areas in Queensland.
Sunday: some campers were leaving us so we were a small group that gathered at Elbow Bend. This was worth going back to, and we were able to see the Little Egret quite closely which you don't always get a chance to do. We also found Double-barred Finches nesting over the Brook.
We followed Tobacco Rd into Inglewood where we had morning tea in a shady park surrounded by Noisy Friarbirds. It was there that more people left and it was only the stalwarts that stayed overnight to leave on Monday.
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| Little Egret at McIntyre Brook Photo: M. Corbett |
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| Fairy-wren and lunch Photo: M. Corbett |
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