Eungella means Land of Clouds and this weekend I found out why!
Eungella township is also known as Dalrymple Heights and is 85 km west of Mackay. At 725m it literally reaches the clouds!
With only one honeyeater left to complete the set and four days off work I headed straight to Eungella to find the rare Eungella Honeyeater.
I booked into the Broken River Mountain Resort which is 5 km from the township and was pleasantly surprised at the comfortable accommodation, friendly staff and stunning surroundings. Platypus can be observed easily in the river right next door to the resort!
I immediately set off to find the Eungella Honeyeater as a cyclone was heading towards the area meaning that by Sunday it would be wet, windy and the weather would deteriorate! Thankfully I managed to hear one calling within the first hour or so but try as I did the bird decided to remained hidden in the upper canopy and refused to budge. I then tried another location and after searching finally found another one calling. Again a frantic search of the canopy and finally YES! TICK 702!! YAY - got the honeyeater set!
Kookaburra
With the pressure off I was able to look around and enjoy the surroundings. Found some nice birds before the weather deteriorated to drizzle and mist. Some birds seen include Cicadabird, Black-faced monarch, Drongo, Bustard, Red-browed Finch, Eastern Yellow Robin, Red-tailed Tropicbird, Forest Kingfisher, Kookaburra and Scrub Turkey.
Red-browed Finch
Top-knot Pigeon
Pale Pea Blue
Scalloped Grass Yellow
Evening Brown
Graphic Flutterer
Macleay's Swallowtail
Platypus
Australian Bustard
By Sunday the cloud was right on the mountain, it was rainy, drizzly and hard to see anything further than 10 metres away.
The cyclone is due to hit tomorrow so I think birding may be over for now :-)
Scalloped Grass Yellow
