Toowoomba Bird Observers - Newsletter Extract (Issue 335)

A hardy band of about 30 birders, including members of the TBO, took part in a survey of Regent Honeyeaters and Swift Parrots in the Traprock Country of SE Queensland during the weekend 30 July to 1 August. Both of these species are classified as endangered and every year a national survey is conducted to gauge the health or otherwise of their numbers and distribution. Traprock refers to an interesting geological formation centred in the Inglewood, Texas and Karara areas.

The nerve centre of the survey was a privately owned camping area (Glendon Campground), which is located several kilometres off the Cunningham Highway about 35 km west of Warwick. Despite the drought, the camping area was nice and there was plenty of firewood for great evening campfires to ward off the evil spirits and the cold. Fortunately, the nights were reasonably mild so there was very little frost in the mornings.

The main areas targeted during the survey were Duraki and Ashgrove State Forests, Mosquito/Sandy Creeks Roads to Lake Coolmunda and areas near Gore and Karara. Conditions on Saturday morning were good for birding, cool but not cold and only a slight breeze. However, on Sunday the wind was quite strong so conditions were not ideal for detecting birds feeding in the blossoms.

There was a reasonable amount of blossom on the Mugga Ironbark and White Box trees so expectations were high on spotting Regents and Swifties. However, nobody from our group managed to spot these elusive species during the weekend survey, though Nicci Thompson and Bruce Lawrie spotted a pair of Regents at 'Glenelg' near Cement Mills on Wednesday, August 4th. Also, Harry Hinds from QPWS saw a single Regent Honeyeater at a dam in Duraki SF during the survey period. He also saw a single White-fronted Honeyeater, which is a very interesting record for this area because this species was not recorded in southern Queensland east of Cunnamulla during the recent Birds Australia Atlas survey.

The weekend provided some good birding with about 126 species recorded ranging from Emus to Silvereyes. Due to the reasonable amount of blossom there was a feast of honeyeaters with 20 species recorded: Red Wattlebird, Little Friarbird, Noisy Friarbird, Noisy Miner, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Striped, Regent*, Blue-faced, Lewin's, Yellow-faced, White-eared, Yellow-tufted, Fuscous, White-plumed, Brown-headed, White-throated, White-naped, White-fronted*, Brown, and Scarlet.

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Raptor Census June 2005

This years Raptor Census was conducted by four groups covering areas to the north, south, east and west of Toowoomba. Conditions were fine but it was cool, at times windy and overcast.

The northern section covered four areas from Highfields to Cooby Dam, Cooby Dam to Goombungee, Goombungee to Cooyar and Cooyar to Highfields. In all 181.5 kilometres were travelled.

The southern section covered Toowoomba to Warwick and included - Hodgson Vale, East Greenmount, Budgee, Hirstglen, Upper Pilton, Goomburra, Spring Creek, Clintonvale and Freestone.

The eastern section covered Grantham - Lakes Apex and Freeman - Brimblecombe's Dam, Forest Hill - Lake Dyer - Lake Clarendon - Helidon Spa - Toowoomba. Survey time was about 6 hours starting at 7.15am.

The western section covered Oakey, Jondaryan, Bowenville, Formartin State School, Norwin, Cecil Plains, Dalby and Bowenville.

Raptor Survey - Overall Summary of Results

Species	N	S *	E	W	Total Number Seen
Black-shouldered Kite	2	7	8	10	27
Black Kite				12	12
Whistling Kite			14	4	18
White-bellied Sea-Eagle			3		3
Spotted Harrier		2			2
Swamp Harrier				1	1
Collared Sparrowhawk			1		1
Wedge-tailed Eagle	6		2	3	11
Little Eagle			1		1
Brown Falcon	1		5		6
Australian Hobby			6		6
Black Falcon			2	1**	3
Peregrine Falcon			1		1
Nankeen Kestrel	9	19	35	53	116

• N - Northern Section
• S - Southern Section (* This survey was conducted on 12 June 2005)
• E - Eastern Section
• W - Western Section

** This Black Falcon was seen catching a Magpie-lark near a cattle trough on the southern side of the highway opposite the Oakey Abattoirs. It knocked the Magpie-lark to the ground on the first swoop and caught it on a second dive as the Magpie-lark attempted to escape. This same bird was eventually found enjoying its kill about a kilometre away in a paddock near the sub-station. A Black Kite found and harassed the falcon until it eventually gave up its meal.

This was a very good result with 208 raptors seen comprising 14 species. This is an increase in both species seen and total number of raptors from that recorded in 2004.

Thank you to all who contributed especially the organisers of each section. Contributors included Kath O'Donnell, Pat McConnell, Ken & Fiona Wells, Michael Atzeni, Olive Booth, Greg & Toni Campbell, Allan Reynolds, John Hadley, Lynnette Madden, Darren Fielder, Gloria Glass, Ester Townsend and Helen & Derek Wilson.

Pat McConnell
Records Officer