Great Walk Cooloola Part One

Cooloola Great Walk, (102km), opened on Saturday the 27th of March and has been designed for 5 days walking, with 4 camps, tables, rainwater tanks and toilets provided along the way.
The track takes you through Rainforest, tall Eucalypt Forest, Dry Coastal Woodland and Heath Plains, over sandblows, past perched lakes and along sandy beaches.
The following photos take you from the start of the track leading up to the Carlo Sandblow.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Whimbrel, Red-necked Stint , Double-banded Plover

Went down to Rainbow Beach for the opening of the Great Walk (Cooloola Section) which I will post soon. After the opening we went to Inskip Point to see what Shorebirds were still around. Walking through the track to the point we saw Scarlet Honeyeater, Rainbow Lorikeet, Little Wattlebird, Brown Honeyeater and others, but they were either uncooperative for decent photographs or it was too shady. On the beach were a couple of Whimbrel, Red-necked Stint and some very fat Double-banded Plover, and not much else.

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Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)

Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis)
Double-banded Plover (Charadrius bicinctus)

Straddie Birds and Boat

With less than ideal weather of late for Birdwatching or Photographing them it is time to go back over what photos I have that are on standby for times like this.

All these photos were taken while on Stradbroke Island in February this year. The Crested Tern were taken on Main Beach and the Double-banded Plover, Ruddy Turnstone and Red-necked Stint were taken on Flinders Beach which is sheltered from the strong wind.

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Crested Tern (Sterna bergii)

Double-banded Plover (Charadrius bicinctus)

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis)

The photo of the Sailing Boat is to show you how rough it was. We measured 40km winds on Main Beach, not the best conditions for counting birds and very hard to take photos as well.

Glad I was on the beach and not out at sea.

Lesser Sand Plover

The Lesser Sand Plover are getting ready to leave our shores for their northern migration and are showing lots of beautiful colour. So when we next count this site the numbers of birds and species should be well down. Overall count for this day was 15 species 1650 birds.

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Lesser Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus) Little tern (Sterna albifrons)

Lesser Sand Plover & Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris)

Lesser Sand Plover, Little Tern & Grey-tailed Tattler (Heteroscelus brevipes)

Decided not to kayak this time due to strong winds. With plenty of runoff from the creeks because of the heavy rain we have had the water was coloured tannin instead of clear as it normally is. Usually there is at least a metre of sand on the walk up to the wader site, but with the weather the way it was strong winds were pushing the waves up to the edge.

The Samphire looks a lot healthier now that we have had lots of rain.

White-bellied Sea-Eagle & Flying Foxes

This juvenile White-bellied Sea-Eagle was soaring over our local Flying Fox colony while we were undertaking a count recently. Three other raptor species have been observed at this roost site over the years - Whistling Kite, Grey Goshawk & Pacific Baza.

Have included a little about our Flying Fox colony for general information.

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White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)

Black Flying Fox (Pteropus alecto)

The Black Flying Fox undertakes seasonal movements from one camp site to another in search of food (native and exotic fruit). No long distance movements have been recorded in this Flying Fox.

Little Red Flying Fox (Pteropus scapulatus)

Grey-headed Flying Fox can travel further than the Black up to 40km a night in search of food (fruit). They range from Victoria to Bundaberg in Queensland.

Little Red Flying Fox (Pteropus scapulatus)

Little Red Flying Fox are nectar feeders, their movements determined by food supply.

Little Red Flying Fox (typical roosting behaviour)

Part of the Flying Fox colony. With the Little Reds in residence the numbers can be up to and above 300,000. Some colonies to the north of us can reach up to 2 million.

Mary in Flood

With all the rain we have been having it was only a matter of time before the Mary River started to rise and spread out. At 9am today it was at 13.10m and 3.20m above Kidd Bridge.

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The Australian White Ibis were happy to just walk and feed in front of the rising water.

The local BMX track goes under, luckily they held a very large meeting the week before with people camped at the grounds.

Water heading towards the park behind the swimming pool. Shops start to move out when the river reaches 15m.

Looking across the Mary River to the Southside

Bruce Highway Inglewood Bridge Deep Creek main road out of Gympie heading south.

Looking towards Normanby Bridge overpass from the Southside I have seen the river almost to the top of the overpass.