Around mid-November 2023 I heard a ‘commotion’ from my barn, and noticed an adult Brown Falcon (Falco berigora) perched at the apex of a large Hoop Pine to the south. It was being ‘relentlessly’ attacked by a pair of Australian Magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) who obviously had a nest nearby.
Fortunately I had a camera and tripod nearby and managed to get this footage, sadly it was quite warm and heat-haze is evident.
Whilst bird-walking locally this year (2023) I noticed an increase in the amount of buttonquail ‘platelets’ in the vine-forest scrub near the banks of the North Pine River. ‘Platelets’ are created by various species of Turnicidae when they spin around and kick the leaf-litter exposing the bare-earth whilst searching for invertebrates and seeds on the ground. I have never seen any of these birds perched in trees before. Initially, I assumed that the platelets were made by Painted Buttonquail (Turnix varia), which are the most frequently encountered Turnix species in the general area, but, after placing audio-sensors and trail-cameras out I discovered that they were actually made by Black-breasted Buttonquail (Turnix melanogaster). In the past year I’ve captured a reasonable amount of this rare and declining species on camera, but have only seen physically them on a couple of occasions. Interestingly, all buttonquails are polyandrous (the females are usually more colourful and leave the parental-care to the males.)
One of the first-clips from July 2023, this infra-red footage shows three foraging-birds and how, when a threat is perceived, they can ‘freeze’. Check the bird on the right: it moves very slightly.
Unfortunately the footage from the trailcams are not high-quality but it is definitely possible to identify which species is evident.
During October I noticed another bird taken on an animal-track nearby, to my surprise this was actually a Painted Buttonquail.
Check out the camouflage of this male BBBQ (…footage just captured!) He is foraging in a platelet then is ‘alerted’ to some danger and freezes.
In December 2022 I was fortunate to be invited to participate in a bird-count at the Seven-mile Lagoon at Lockyer Waters on the Yuggara – Ugarapul ancestral land. Fortunately this coincided with reports of several Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum) and I was given permission to obtain footage/photos.
I had previously seen the same species on 22 December 1996, and from the poor-footage you can see that conditions were quite similar then, maybe it was a ‘tad’ drier?
I believe the video-quality has also improved somewhat since then.
Recently I visited Wappa Dam near Yandina in SE QLD with Linda to try and get some images and video of Cotton Pygmy-goose, we ‘struggled’ with light on the first morning, spending nearly 3 hours trying to get reasonable sunshine on the birds, however were much more successful the next day….we returned later in the morning. Here are a few clips and images from my Canon EOS RP with RF800mm ISM lens.
Have been getting some interesting video of this species Elseyornis melanops close to my residence near Rush Creek (Dayboro, SE Qld)
This clip was taken hand-held (….without a tripod) hope it’s not too ‘jumpy’.
Spring is in the air…..
Nice find on my dawn-walk this morning, a Golden-headed Cisticola (Cisticola exilis) singing on the side of Strong Rd.
Captured this footage of the Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis) in early-November 2021 with a Canon RP and RF 800mm IS F11 hand-held. I think I may have discovered a new ‘martial art-form’, trying to hold a telephoto lens steady whilst several blowflies crawl up and down your bare-legs, and in and out of your facial-orifices, needs much practice.
Recently there has been plenty of Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus) action around my Barn, including quite a few of the ‘nominate’ New Zealand race ‘lucidus’. Unfortunately I haven’t managed to get any video-clips of them at this stage (late-March 2021) but with the new Qld COVID ‘lock-down’….it might just happen!
Clearwing Swallowtails (Cressida cressida)
It’s rather unusual to get footage of this butterfly as they never seem ‘stationary’ for long. The female is the larger of the two and the older name of ‘Big Greasy’ comes from the transparent appearance of their wings, appearing to be similar to greaseproof paper.
They are fairly-common butterflies in Southeast Queensland, seen mating in mid-September 2020. I’ve ‘slowed’ the clip down by 50% to improve the views.
Singing for Christmas at the ‘Barn’, near Dayboro, SE Qld
This one was taken two years earlier at ‘The Crossing’, Draper, SE Qld in March 2020
Two Chirruping Wedgebills (Psophodes cristatus) were observed singing near the Noccundra Hotel, SWQ Queensland in early-May 2021 whilst I searched in vain for Grey Grasswren (Amytornis barbatus). Unfortunately this clip was filmed without a tripod but hope it’s not too ‘shaky’.
