Friday October 21
Pam and I left soon after 7.30, in time for the rush hour ! Toorbul en route to our weekend cottage was the plan - until I found that high tide was at 4.20 a.m. That made the high tide wader roost an impossibility. We went to Bribie Island instead, Buckley's Hole, Waterworks road and Kakadu. Very pleasant birding but nothing of note apart from a juvenile Black-crowned (Nankeen ) Night Heron.
Via the drive in Beefy for a lunchtime pie, we re-joined the Bruce Highway and motored north towards Cooroy. As we left Beefy's , six Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos flew overhead and Pam decided to chase them - causing Martina great distress. It was the wrong way and she kept repeating 'Perform a U Turn as soon as possible'. We didn't see the birds again either.
Soon after re-joining the Bruce, an enormous dark Heron flew over. It could only have been a Great-billed Heron, although it's further south than the book says it should be. The only other bird of that size and colour is the immature Black-necked Stork but this bird definitely had the folded neck of a Great-billed, the Stork has a stretched neck when flying. A tick.
As we passed the Highway Beefy, Mike drove out into the stream of traffic two cars ahead of us. How spooky is that? I texted Sara to 'Look behind you' and a forest of arms waved.
Kuribigilba House lies between Cooroy and Tomantin on a road to Noosa. It's set in 6 acres of lovely grounds and is half a house, the other half occupied by the young and very pleasant owners.
We sat on the porch for the whole afternoon, Pam, Josh and I, joined by Mike first and then Sara after her sleep. Josh spent much of the time wearing my binoculars, genuinely enjoying fantastic views of Pale-headed Rosellas, Blue-cheeked Honeyeaters, Pied Butcherbirds and Noisy Miners.
Pale-headed Rosellas
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| At the feeder |
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| In a Jacaranda Tree - the trees are beautiful at the moment |
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| Blue-cheeked Honeyeater |
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| Noisy Miner - a Honeyeater too |
We also saw a pair of Channel-billed Cuckoos, Pam's list adding up to 18 birds in total. Four Eastern Grey Kangaroos sheltered in the shade of a distant tree.
When not birding, Josh spent his time playing with Mojo, who had a fun and thoroughly exhausting afternoon - until Tristan put a gate up at the end of the porch. He was either chasing birds, barking at horses, chasing shadows or enticing Josh to play with him and his new favourite toy - red canvas with two balls inside which he found somewhere. Maybe when he's older than 10 months he'll learn some discretion.
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| Come and get it |
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| Missed it.....Mojo hasn't learnt to 'Drop' yet! |
His final act of the day was to chase after the two female kangaroos which appeared in our area.
Dinner was booked for 6 at a local pizza place - in the middle of nowhere but had to be booked as it was a Friday. Difficult to describe.....unlike anywhere I've ever been before but we all loved it. Walked in past an open area where they were rolling out the dough, assembling the pizzas to order ad cooking them in proper pizza ovens. The woman proprietor found us a table outside under an awning, saying, help yourselves to cold drinks, otherwise you might never get served, just tell us what you've had at the end of the evening. Mike produced wine and beer out of a bag and she brought us glasses.
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| Eastern Grey female with Joey in the pouch - he quickly disappeared |
A round of garlic pizza kept us going until -much later - the food was brought. Josh told her it was th best pizza he'd ever eaten. Mine was good too and so large that Sara and Pam helped me eat it. A very eccentric place but delightful.
Mike had a bath as they only have showers at home, Josh is soaking at the moment, Sara is asleep and I'm off to bed as soon as I've finished this.
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