Long Jetty

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We are staying for a couple of weeks at Long Jetty, which is an odd place. It is more built up than I thought as the area is long and skinny. Traffic heading for Sydney must be a nightmare here!

Long Jetty is on the south eastern side of Tuggerah Lake, which is fed by the small gap known as The Entrance. There are pathways along the lake and lots of green areas and beaches. Despite the traffic, it is quite beautiful. 

Walking south along the lake there are several jetties and boat launches. They provided us with much amusement as there were lots of water birds that got very excited when any boats arrived or left. In quieter areas, herons, cormorants and darters combed the shore. Our first find was one such shy heron, the striated. They are very small and usually perched head down over water as they hunt. 

 

Striated Heron

At the first boat ramp we came across pelican were eagerly awaiting the boats. We think most of them were youngsters as they lacked the strong marking on the face of the adults. While we waited we saw many circling and dashing into land when they thought food might be available. 

Australian Pelican

Perching quietly on the railings of the boat ramp were some Chestnut Teal. Normally shy, they were very tolerant of us and let us approach and photograph them for quite some time. Obviously used to people being around. 

Male Chestnut Teal

Female Chestnut Teal

On our first night in Long Jetty, we stayed at the caravan park in Long Jetty and were awoken by the unmistakeable but very gentle call of the Tawny Frogmouth. One advantage of being in a campervan is that you get to be out and about in the night if you need the loo! It was this that caused me to look behind us for our early alarm call and to my surprise, there they were sitting on the fence behind the van. Magic!

Tawny Frogmouth

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Urunga Boardwalk

                                 

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We went to several spots around Urunga but none compared to the amazing boardwalk. It stretches along the Kalang River, then meets the Bellinger River before heading out to sea. It took us over 30 minutes to walk it and although it was a fairly gloomy day, the views were fabulous.

Terns were hawking along the rivers and flying around the headland. The only ones I managed to shoot were the largest, the Great Crested. I am still working on getting them in a full dive.

Great Crested Tern

As we walked back along the boardwalk we saw hundreds of Little Black Cormorant flying across the river. They were too far away to photograph and although we did track them across the water to Yellow Rock Island, we couldn't get over there. It was a shame because the island shores was full of oystercatchers, cormorants and terns. What we did see was a Little Pied Cormorant fishing in one of the pools formed by the incoming tide underneath the boardwalk.

Little Pied Cormorant

Also under the boardwalk were groups of Soldier Crabs. I have never seen them before and they were fantastic to watch as they scurried around, sifting through the sand for bugs.

Soldier Crabs

In between the boardwalk and the river proper was a retaining wall which seemed to be made from reclaimed blocks of slate. Where the water spilled into the area, a more natural looking wall stopped the river claiming the whole area. Although flooded at high tide, this area was home to godwits, gulls, curlews and this lovely Whimbrel who sat very nicely for me on the wall.

Whimbrel

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Lowanna

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Lowanna is a suburb of Coff's Harbour, believe it or not. It is high up in the Dorrigo Mountain Range in thick forest. We spent a few days here visiting a friend and the views were quite spectacular and the wildlife even better.

Australasian Pipits were running everywhere that there were open spaces. You can always spot them as they bob their tails when in motion. They are rather plain brown birds but their behaviour is always interesting.

Australasian Pipit

We went out spotlighting a couple of times and in one local park found a dozen Giant Barred Frog. These endangered frogs were huge with wonderful markings. They were placid and tolerant and very, very odd!

Giant Barred Frog

In abundance here were Masked Lapwings. Also known as Spur-winged Plovers, these are very noisy birds and always ready to set off an alarm call. They nest on the ground so their chicks are particularly vulnerable. As soon as any threat is perceived, they scream and screech. They are also not shy of showing aggression to humans either. In New South Wales, these are the black-shouldered sub species. 

Masked Lapwing

One of the most exciting finds we had was not of a bird but of the aptly named, Pretty-faced Wallaby. They have strong, dark facial features and rufous fur. We saw a pair of them and although they were obviously shy, I got a few shots.

Pretty-faced Wallaby

Unsurprisingly, there were lots of treecreepers in the dense forest. We heard them calling regularly but they were difficult to find. Eventually, we were lucky enough to find one sitting on a tree stump. This is probably the first time I have had a good look at the front of one.

White-throated Treecreeper

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Yamba

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My partner Mark and I stopped at Evans Head on our way south. It was our first stop in New South Wales and I was treated to a fabulous lunch of crab rolls and beer. On to Yamba next and we headed for the beach. From a distance, we could see a lot of gulls sitting together but closer inspection yielded some terns as well. It has been a while since I had to creep towards birds on a beach but I was thrilled to see at least 3 species there.

The Great Crested Tern is a large bird, only a little smaller than the Caspian which is the biggest in the world. They are very striking in breeding plumage with a dark cap and crest. These birds were in non-breeding colours with a faded cap. Striking nonetheless.

Great Crested Tern

Contrasting to the Great Crested, was the Little Tern. These birds migrate to Australian shores to breed each year and this one is probably moulting out of breeding plumage. While it looks a similar size to the GCT, it is less than one third the size, making it one of the smallest species found in Australia.

Little Tern

Only slightly bigger than the Little Tern is the Common Tern. While they look very similar to the little in non-breeding plumage, they have dark legs and a shorter slope down the forehead.

After having my fill of terns, I wandered around the car park. Currawong, butcherbird, miners and honeyeaters were searching for food in the trees and on the ground. A large Water Dragon skulked around, dashing under cars when people or dogs got too close. Some shrubs were calling to me and in investigation, I found the Variegated Fairywren.

Male Variegated Fairywren

It is the male birds that are brightly coloured and often most hard to find. The young males look like the plain brown females and it is these birds that we see the most. They seem to be the bodyguards for the secretive adult male.

Female Variegated Fairywren

My last fairywren encounter was of a young male, moulting from the brown colour of the female to adult colours. Very interesting.

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O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat

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This post relates to my 2024 visit to Lamington National Park. I have visited before and the post relating to that trip can be found here.

We stayed in the caravan park rather than the lodge and I much preferred it. Each morning and afternoon Crimson Rosella and Australia King-Parrots would look for food on the ground right outside the campervan. When we were really lucky the parrots would come and sit on our shoulders. It is a little disconcerting that the birds at O'Reillys are so tame but you can't help but enjoy getting so close to them.

Above campsite I could hear a new call, regularly repeating. It took me a while to track it down but I was very rewarded when I did. A male Rose Robin was singing and singing. It was present the whole time we were there and this is my best shot.

Rose Robin

Throughout Lamington NP are Albert's Lyrebird and while it cannot be guaranteed that you will see them, it is so worth looking for them. One morning we found one, just scratching away on the ground in front of us. The rusty colours were so vibrant and its tail feathers spectacular.

Albert's Lyrebird

As well as a huge number of birds in the area, there are also plenty of marsupials, lizards and other creatures. We were lucky enough to find some very interesting lizards including the Angle-headed Forest Dragon, a relation to the Boyd's Forest Dragon frequently seen in Far North Queensland.

Angle-headed Forest Dragon

There is a great walking track out to Python Rock which gives incredible views of the area. It is also a beautiful walk through the forest where you can find a variety of birds and animals. Our favourite sighting was of several Land Mullet, Australia's largest skink. 

                               

Land Mullet

The forest floor is also somewhere to keep a close eye on. Eastern Whipbird and Australian Logrunner work the leaf litter for food. I particularly liked the logrunner as they scraped away using the feet in a lateral motion. The females have an orange breast and the males are white. As they skulk around in the undergrowth, they are very difficult to photograph. As we sat still for a while, we managed to get close to a pair. 

Australian Logrunner

Eastern Whipbird

There are several bottlebrush trees around the O'Reillys compound and the Eastern Spinebill can often be seen feeding there. One sunny afternoon I came across a young bird basking in the light. I took about 50 photographs, it was just stunning with such different colours to the adults.

Eastern Spinebill

We went out spotlighting a couple of times and were thrilled with what we found. Even on our way back to the campground, we came across a gorgeous small possum sitting just munching on leaves. It allowed us to get quite close, possibly as curious as we were!

Ring-tailed Possum

One of my favourite sightings was the White-headed Pigeon as I had only seen them once before and didn't have any decent photos. Although we saw lots of them, they were always flying high up and pretty fast. Then, one morning right in front of the campervan, one sat beautifully for me. The photo doesn't really do it justice, they are stunning birds.

White-headed Pigeon

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Springbrook National Park

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Springbrook National Park is up in the McPherson Range west of the Gold Coast. It is an incredibly diverse area with lush rainforests, waterfalls and lots of interesting wildlife. There are several campsites in different areas and we chose The Settlement campground which was in a small rainforest clearing. Whipbirds, robins and parrots were all around, calling and dashing about. 

My first success was to find a male Australian Logrunner. They have a white breast, while the female's are orange. I found a pair of them squawking noisily as they scratched around in the undergrowth. They are related to the Chowchilla found in Far North Queensland and you can see and hear why! 

Male Australian Logrunner

As well as birds, there were lots of butterflies and moths around and I was particularly taken with this vivid blue butterfly that was sucking something (moisture?) up from between the stones on the tracks. 

Common Bluebottle Butterfly

Adjacent to the campground was a more open field with lots of grass and shrubs. Fairywren, firetails and parrots were all feeding here and my favourite sighting was the Crimson Rosella. They were comically teetering on grass stalks to get to the seeds.

Crimson Rosella

All around the area were groups of pademelon. They were reasonably tame if approached quietly as they fed on the grass in the clearings.

Red-necked Pademelon

Spotlighting was difficult as it drizzled a lot after dark and it was on a mad dash back to the campervan when I spotted this frogmouth sitting, rather forlornly on a post. Trying to protect my camera, I walked slowly towards it and to my surprise, I got within touching distance of this remarkable creature. I didn't attempt to touch it, fearing the loss of a finger in that huge bill. 

Tawny Frogmouth

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Kholo Botanic Gardens, Ipswich

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Kholo Botanic Gardens was not my birding target at Ipswich. I was actually looking for the Black-breasted Buttonquail a little further north but was met by a very steep gravel road which I didn't really want to drive the campervan up. As I hastily did a u-turn, I spotted a sign to the gardens and thought I would try my luck.

The garden approach showed immaculate lawns and a small pond. Lots of the tracks were closed due to storm damage but I could walk around the pond and some way into the rainforest. There was also a sweeping view of the Brisbane River to the east.

I could hear Noisy Miners screeching and carrying on and it took me some time to identify the other bird calls but there were a reasonable number of them. The best was a fly by from a Channel-billed Cuckoo calling as it went. 

Back in the pond, it was the lizards that took centre stage. Numerous Water Dragons were soaking up the afternoon sun and I also found a smaller lizard that I couldn't identify at the time. 

                                      

Water Dragon

Water Dragon

Eastern Water Skink

Although there was plenty of birds calling, my only photograph was of a White-faced Heron, fishing in the pond.

White-faced Heron

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