Pardalote Holt: April and the birds keep coming.

A Striated Pardalote, after whom the Holt is named.

Looking back on previous posts over the years April has been a traditional time for me to sort the garden out after the rains of summer have passed. This year I intended the same; however, the warm wet summer brought with it a rise in the mosquito population and the Gold Coast was struck with a swathe of Ross River Fever cases. Unfortunately I was amongst them. The day I went down with the symptoms was the day after I had some really good birding. I had hosted a delightful pair of ladies, Sue and Pam, to the Holt. We'd seen lots of birds and we had done the 'grand tour' of the grounds, so the day had gone well. The following morning I awoke with some aches and my first thoughts were that my fitness must have gone rapidly downhill for my aching to be so strong after such a short walk; but that wasn't the case and over the next few days the aching grew until I was hobbling around like an old man. By the end of the week it dawned on me that these aches weren't going away and so I paid a visit to the doctor. He listened to me describing the symptoms, asked where I lived and then quick as a flash told me that I probably had Ross River. A blood test and a few days later it was confirmed. Ross River is a virus, so there's no cure. The Doc gave me some anti-inflammatory tablets, which really helped with the aches, but did little for the other symptoms that included constant nausea, fever, acute lethargy and my brain turning to jelly. The standard prognosis is that the initial bout of symptoms lasts for about six weeks and are likely to reoccur a number of times over the following 12-months before the body eventually develops an immunity. So, no gardening!

Of course that didn't stop me from birding, in fact sitting out on the deck watching birds at least took my mind off the nausea. This is also a good time of the year to be out in the bush as many small birds are migrating northwards to avoid the cold of the southern winter. Silvereyes, that are tiny, migrate from Tasmania and southern Victoria, all the way up to north Queensland. A remarkable trip of several thousand kilometers. It was recently discovered that they largely move at dawn and dusk spending the day feeding and replenishing their energy. I've come to the conclusion that the Holt situated as it is, on a saddle between two foothills of Mt Tamborine, is probably one of the main migration highways, as the sheer number of small birds that pass through is impressive. At the same time there maybe some resident birds that have recently bred and who are now out and about with their young, so the upshot of which is there's a lot of small birds about. New to the Holt was the Spectacled Monarch, which like the Black-faced Monarch last month, turned up with at least one juvenile in tow. The other arrivals this month included Grey and Rufous Fantails, Eastern Spinebills, and Scarlet Honeyeaters. The Grey Fantails in particular arrived in numbers towards the end of April and within a couple of weeks were dancing from almost every tree.

Grey Fantail

Rufous Fantail

I became quite excited in the middle of the month when I discovered our 'hotspot'. There's a particular area of bush, just a couple of metres off the driveway and up near the road where the spillway from the dam and a minor intermittent creek join with the main creek. It's sparsely wooded with Box Brush, Spotted Gum and Casuarinas, mostly growing to no more than 4m high and for some unknown reason, for a period of about half an hour each day, usually starting just after 2pm, it becomes a magnet for small birds. It was here that the Spectacled Monarch turned up, but it was joined by Yellow-faced and White-throated Honeyeaters, Leaden Flycatchers, Red-backed Fairy Wrens, Golden and Rufous Whistlers, White-throated Gerygone, Yellow, Yellow-rumped and Brown Thornbills, Grey Shrike Thrish, White-throated Treecreepers, Striated Pardalote and the Grey and Rufous Fantails.

Dragging myself away from birds for a moment (just a brief one), I've noticed that when we get a big downpour of rain, combined with a big drop in temperature, then the larger fish in the dam all shoal near the surface.

Silver Bream shoaling

It almost looks as if they are struggling for air, but it only lasts for half an hour or so and then they happily disappear back to the depths.

Still, that was long enough to be away from birds so onto the monthly sightings....

Regulars (seen at least 5 days in the week)

Bar-shouldered Dove
Bronzewing
Brown Honeyeater

Brown Honeyeater feeding on the Pineapple Sage

Double-barred Finch

Galah

Galahs

Pacific Black Duck

Pacific Black Duck munching on the feeder.

Peaceful Dove

Pied Currawong

Pied Currawong singing in the gums

Plumed Whistling Duck

The Plumed Whistling Ducklings continue to grow.

2-weeks later and all this growing takes it out of you!

Rainbow Lorikeet


"Room downstairs only!"

Rainbow Lorikeet

Striated Pardalote

Striated Pardalote digging

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
Welcome Swallow

Welcome Swallow

White-throated Gerygone

Sometimes called the Bush Nightingale, the White-throated Gerygone

White-throated Honeyeater

White-throated Honeyeaters

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Yellow-faced Honeyeater in the Grevilleas.

Common (Seen at least twice a week)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

Dusky Moorhen

Dusky Moorhen on the dam.

Eastern Spinebill
Golden Whistler

The male Golden Whistler

Grey Fantail
Grey Shrike Thrush

Grey Shrike Thrush (imm)

Mature Grey Shrike Thrush catches the bug.

Laughing Kookaburra
Leaden Flycatcher

Leaden Flycatcher

and again because she's so pretty!

Lewins Honeyeater
Little Corella

Snowy the Little Corella

Noisy Friarbird

Noisy Friarbirds

Noisy Miner
Rainbow Bee Eater

Rainbow Bee Eaters

Rufous Whistler

female Rufous Whistler

Spangled Drongo

White-throated Treecreeper

Willie Wagtail

Uncommon (Seen two to five times during the month)

Australian Magpie
Boobook
Brown Cuckoo Dove
Brown Goshawk

Brown Goshawk eyeing up the chooks!

Brush Cuckoo

Brush Cuckoo juvenile

Brush Cuckoo adult

Eastern Yellow Robin

King Parrot
Little Friarbird

Little Friarbird

Magpie Lark
Mistletoebird
Pale Headed Rosella

Pale-headed Rosella

Pied Butcherbird
Red-backed Fairy Wren

Red-backed Fairy Wren

Red-browed Finch
Silvereye
Spectacled Monarch

Spectacled Monarch

Wedge-tailed Eagle
Buff-rumped Thornbill
Yellow Thornbill

A tiny Buff-rumped Thornbill

Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Rare (Seen only once)

Brown Thornbill
Masked Plover
Purple Swamphen
Red-browed Finch

Red-browed Finch

Rose Robin

The shy Rose Robin

Rufous Fantail
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Scarlet Honeyeater
Swamp Harrier

Three of seven Swamp Harriers circling the house.

Which comes to a total of 64-species, one more last year, but not all the same species. Wood Ducks were common last year, but I suspect the Plumed Whistling Ducks have driven them off; however I cannot explain the drop in Australian Magpie numbers. Still, let's see what next month brings. Cheers Rob.