Mackay Qld Butterflies

After being washed out of Eungella I had one day in Mackay.

Sadly my 100mm-400mm lens took in water up on the mountain to the point where is was so fogged up I was unable to use it. I'm hoping it will dry out but it may need to be sent off for repair.

Not wanting to miss the opportunity to get some photos I invested in a 18mm-55mm lens and spent a few hours at the Botanic Garden.

Mackay is a great place for birds as well as Butterflies and Dragonflies. Next time I think I'll wait for the dry season though!

Eastern Water Skink

 

                                                                      Eastern Water Skink

Cycad Blue

 

Scalloped Grass Yellow

 

 

Cycad Blue 

 

 

 

                             This is the foggy look through my water-logged lens.... Chocolate Argus

Another fogged up lens photo - artistic yes, but not what I was after!  Blue Tiger

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bordered Rustic

 

                                                                     Orange Bush Brown

 Varied Eggfly

 

 Varied Eggfly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Grass  Yellow

 

 

 

 

 

 Varied Eggfly

 

 Varied Eggfly

 

 Varied Eggfly

 

 

 

 Varied Eggfly

 

 

 

 

 

Pale Orange Darter 

 

 

 

Zodiac Moth Alcides metaurus

 

 

 

 

Eungella in the Wet

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 :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darwin birding in the Wet Season

My bogeybird for the last couple of years has been the Rufous Owl. It's one of those birds that everyone who has seen it says they has a "Dead Cert" location for it, but it's never there when I try.

Getting sick and tired of Adelaide's scorching summer I decided to spend a whirlwind weekend in Darwin to search for my 700th bird in Australia. Yeah ok, it's the wet season but I also needed to find Swinhoe's Snipe which  are relatively simple in the wet. Thankfully my mate lives there and he generously offered to put me up and assist me to search. Then one of my other birding friends decided to join us so it ended up being quite a fun and social weekend!

The Swinhoe's Snipe was easy to find in the grass with a flock of 5 of them within a few minutes. Apart from the tail length, the Swinhoe's  fly quite differently to the Pin-tailed Snipe. Swinhoe's flush and then fly low for a short distance then drop back down where-as the Pin-tails fly up high and keep flying as far as the eye can see!  We had excellent views of the snipe but due to the rain and overcast conditions getting decent photos was impossible!!

Celebration time and high fives all around! 700 - TICK!

 

 

We searched various rainforests for the Rufous Owl, getting attacked by leeches for our efforts, sadly without success and I was beginning to think that it was a fictitious species.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We gave up, climbed back into the car and drove off. Suddenly as we drove down the road in the dark a stunning beautiful Rufous Owl flew across in front of our car in the headlights!! Great view even if it was only brief! 701 TICK!





My friend Jen and I spent a few hours birding at Fogg Dam which was a hive of activity with Pied Herons, little Egret's, Jacanas, Royal Spoonbills and Magpie Geese feeding on the wall.

 

 

Gilbert's Dragon

 

Common Grasshawk

 

Common Grasshawk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Common Glider

 

 

Common Crow

 

 

Common Crow

We tried for the recently reported Phalaropes but they had left a few days before we arrived. No matter, they will turn up somewhere else and I can twitch them then....

Darwin delivers again and I'm pleased to report that the Rufous Owl does exist after all!!

Horsfield's Bushlark

 

 

Pied Heron

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Royal Spoonbill

 

 

 

Rufous-banded Honeyeater

 

 

 

 

White-bellied Sea-eagle

 

 

 

 

Female Chalky Percher      Diplacodes trivialis

 

 

 

 

Slatey-grey Snake

 

 

 

Water Buffalo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Pied Heron