Eungella Trip 2020

22/11/2020

Uneventful start to our journey passing through Mareeba and on to Tolga. Decided to go to Malanda via Curtain Fig for morning coffee and look for the leucistic Pale Yellow Robin. We had missed this bird on four previous occasions. Drove into the Car Park and parked at the far end as the main area was full of cars. Organised our morning coffee and had just sat down when Lindsay spotted the leucistic robin hiding and laughing at us! Then posed in front of us for the camera and took a few photos as it hung around for at least 10 minutes.

 Pale-yellow Robin - leucistic

 Pale-yellow Robin - leucistic

After our celebratory coffee and cake we headed off to Malanda where we encountered a few showers of rain, nothing unusual about that!  Through Millaa Millaa and down the Palmerston Highway, where we encountered roadworks just before Henrietta Creek camp ground. We normally stop here but we already had morning coffee and it was not lunch time yet so we kept going. Took the South Johnston Road towards Paronella Park to avoid going into Innisfail. Turned off at South Johnston and joined the Bruce Highway south of Innisfail, a much quicker route. Stopped at the Bilyana Rest Area, just north of Cardwell, for lunch. Next stop was Ingham where we booked into a cabin at the Ingham  Tourist Park. Later in the afternoon headed off to Tyto Wetlands on the edge of town where we spent a great 2 hours wandering around the tracks.

Water levels were down due to the dry weather we have been having, but there was still enough water to attract a variety of birds.

Tyto Wetlands

Highlights were Australian Little Bittern, White-browed and Spotless Crake plus lots of Crimson Finch, Comb-crested Jacana plus plenty of other birds adding up to 49 species.

Spotless Crake

White-browed Crake

Comb-crested Jacana

 

 Crimson Finch

 

23/11/2020
 

Did an early morning survey around the Caravan Park, plenty of Masked Lapwing, Australasian Figbird (northern) and a few more Crimson Finch. 

 

Australasian Figbird

 

After breakfast we set off about 8.00am for the next leg of the journey to Bowen. Only on the road for about 10 minutes when a truck traveling in the opposite direction flicked up a stone and chipped the windscreen, which had only just been replaced a few weeks ago. That changed our plans to by-pass Townsville. So we had to go into town and find O’Briens Glass to see if they could repair it. They said that it could be done straight away so 45 minutes later we were back on the road heading south, great service. We were heading for a break at Horseshoe Lagoon bird hide near Giru, but not before we encountered more major roadworks to upgrade the Bruce Highway. The hide is marked on the left of the Bruce Highway after the Houghton River.

 

 Horseshoe Lagoon Bird Hide

Horseshoe Lagoon

 

Eventually made it to the bird hide and logged down a few waterbirds, which were sharing the lagoon with huge amounts of the introduced Water Hyacinth. We noted that the Magpie Goose were eating the flowers from the hyacinth.

 

 Magpie Goose - in the Water Hyacinth

 

Back on the road we reached Ayr at lunchtime so looked for a spot to stop, found Anzac Park, which has a table and chairs under a tree and within sight of a fig tree. This was attracting a few birds including  Australasian Figbird and Crested Pigeon on the ground looking for seeds.

 

 Crested Pigeon

 After Ayr and before Home Hill we drove over the Burdekin River via this bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop was Bowen, where we booked into our cabin at the Tropical Beach Caravan Park alongside Queens Beach and the golf course. Checked out the beach, but as it was high tide nothing of note here so we headed into town to check out Mullers Lagoon. We had been here many years ago and remembered the number of birds present, we were not disappointed this time either. Lots of birds including Black Swan, Radjah Shelduck, Little Egret, Whistling Kite, Common Moorhen, Marsh Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Silver Gull. Also lots of cormorants and a few Australian Darter. Great photo opportunities as well as the selection below shows.

 Black Swan - immature

 

Radjah Shelduck

Little Egret

 

Australasian Swamphen

 

Whistling Kite

 

Common Moorhen

 

Marsh Sandpiper

 

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

 

 Silver Gull

 

By now it was time for an evening meal so we headed off to the wharf area and Bird’s Fish Bar, operated by the Bowen Fishermans Seafood Company Pty Ltd. We had been told was very good and it was, excellent, fish, chips and calamari. The location has a great outlook over the boats in the harbour as well as a posse of Silver Gull looking for the chips that they never got!

 

Bowen Wharf - Birds Fish Bar

 

24/11/2020
 

Had an early morning walk along the beach and around the golf course, which was good for birds. Had one lone Apostlebird, a pair of Great Bowerbird with a bower and a few Galah. This pair getting close-up and personal.

 

Galah

Set off after breakfast with a stop to replenish supplies before travelling down the Bruce Highway to Proserpine for morning coffee in Pioneer Park. Continued south on the highway avoiding speeding cars, tailgating trucks and slow caravans. Pulled off the highway to take a short cut – distance not time – took us around the rural areas and ended up at Gargett on the Pioneer Valley road, amongst the cane fields. Turned right and headed towards the range where we encountered the steep drive up to Eungella. The road was a bit shorter than we remember, but our first trip up this way was in 1976 in a split window VW Kombie Van , which made everything seem a long way! Wish we still had it as they are commanding ridiculous prices now. That trip in the Kombie had us encountering logging trucks along the narrow road. 

 

Found our accommodation at the Green House behind the  Eungella Chalet in town and settled in.

 

 Green House

 

After lunch we drove out of town to the Sky Walk Circuit in the Eungella National Park for great views down the Pioneer Valley.

 

 Pioneer Valley from Sky Walk Lookout

 

A bonus here was a Grey Goshawk plus a few other birds - White-browed  Scrubwren and Eastern Yellow Robin, new for our trip list.

 

 Grey Goshawk

 

Eastern Yellow Robin

 

Stopped off along Diggings Road on the way back to check out a Birdlife Mackay survey site, but not much happening apart from strong winds. In the town was a large colony of Little Red and Black Flying-Fox had a visit from a Grey Goshawk, probably the same one we had seen earlier.

 

 Flying-Fox Colony

 

25/11/2020
 

Civilised start to the day with scrambled egg breakfast before we headed  out of the village along the Dalrymple Road stopping at Peases Lookout. Great views and a 20 minute bird survey. Continued along the road with stops at a couple of small wetlands, viewed from the road. Few waterbirds including Australian Wood Duck.

 

 Australian Wood Duck - male

Further along the road we turned off onto Chelmans Road, just past Snake Road, and continued on to the end past a goat farm. This is the boundary of the Eungella National Park and one of the places to see the Eungella Honeyeater. Had a chat with the goat farm owner, Andrew, who told us there were lots of Eungella Honeyeater along the road. Had a coffee before heading onto the National Park track, which passes through a patch of rainforest. Lindsay briefly saw a Eungella Honeyeater plus there were a couple of sightings of Regent Bowerbird and a Crimson Rosella feeding on the ground.

 

 Crimson Rosella

On the edge of the rainforest we saw a couple of White-throated Needletail fly over with a group of Australian Swiftlet. Back to base for lunch then back to Diggins Road again where it was still blowing a gale. Decided to keep going along this road and eventually ended up at The Diggings Campground in the Crediton State Forest.

 

This looked like a great place to camp, but also looked like it could get busy at weekends and public holidays. Drove across the Broken River to a second campground to check it out.

 

 Broken River Crossing

Campground Across The River

 

Our map showed the road continuing on to Broken River, but we could not find the right track so turned around and retraced our steps back to Eungella. In the evening we went to the Chalet for dinner and was served with a very underwhelming meal, any thoughts of returning the next day were quickly dispelled.
 

26/11/2020
 

Awoke to thick cloud blanketing Eungella – locals tell us that’s nothing unusual. Did a 20 minute survey based on calls. After breakfast drove out towards Lake Eungella Dam. Along the way we took a couple of detours to survey a couple of Birdlife Mackay regular survey sites, one on Freegards Road, the other on Cockie Creek Road. Not much happening at these sites, this immature Blue-faced Honeyeater came to check us out along Cockies Creek Road.

 Blue-faced Honeyeater - immature

 

Then onto the campsite alongside Lake Eungella Dam. This did not look very exciting as most of the sites were on the sloping banks of the dam plus it was very worn out with little grass showing.

 

Lake Eungella Dam Campground

 

It is more of a recreation lake for the locals to use their boats and jet skis. A new amenities block was a plus. Found some shade under a tree and got the scope out to survey the waterbirds. Large numbers for a few species such as 79 Australian Wood Duck, 282 Little Black Cormorant and 315 Hardhead. A couple of immature Australian Magpie checked us out to see if we had any food – they learn quick, however they left disappointed, as did the adult scroungers.

 

 Australian Magpie - immature

 

Australian Magpie - Adult

 Australian Magpie - Adult

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then returned along the Eungella Dam Road and turned off to travel along the Crediton Loop Road back to Eungella National Park - Broken River section. We had our packed lunch beside Broken River in an area opposite the cafe. After lunch we crossed the road into the main day use area, which we remembered was the old camping ground we had used back in 1991. Here walked 2.3km along parts of the Granite Bend Circuit and Rainforest Discovery Circuit Track, which go alongside the river and back through the rainforest. Had a Dusky Moorhen in the river and good views of Black-faced Monarch, which is one of our backyard birds, but not always easy to see.

 

 Black-faced Monarch

 

Also along the river bank was an Eastern Water Dragon and in the forest on the track a large Lace Monitor.

 

Lace Monitor

Lace Monitor

 

Returned to Eungella where we had an amazing sunset.

27/11/2020

Once again we had a white-out to greet us in the morning as cloud swirled around our cabin. Despite the cloud we decided to go back to the Diggins Road site and encountered a road gang who had just started to get organised to run a grader along the road. Birding in the cloud (the real cloud!) has it challenges and brings the ears into action. 

 

 

Did manage to hear a few birds and actually see some including Eastern Yellow Robin. This is what birding and photography looks like in the fog!

 

 Eastern Yellow Robin

 

Back to our cabin for breakfast and to pack up as we had to transfer to another cabin due to only getting 3 nights of the 4 we wanted at the Green House. We managed to book a night at Mountain Edge Escape for our final night. As it was our last full day in Eungella we decided to go back to Chelmans Road to look for the Eungella Honeyeater again. By now the cloud had lifted and we could see where we were going! Parked up at the end of the road by the national park sign and walked along the track into the rainforest.

 

Chelmans Road - Eungella National Park

 

Chelmans Road - Eungella National Park Track

 

This time we choose to walk a bit further along the track and were rewarded with two Eungella Honeyeater, spotted by Lindsay. One flew off immediately, but the other hung around for a few seconds, just enough to get one grab shot of it and a good view.

 

 Eungella Honeyeater

 

We had a few more White-throated Needltail than the last visit with at least 10 flying around with Australian Swiftlet. Eastern Whipbird were very vocal with at least six heard, but not seen. Golden Whistler were the most numerous in the rainforest with at least 12 seen and heard. Several small flocks of Topknot Pigeon flew over with a couple alighting high up on the edge of the rainforest canopy.

 

 Topknot Pigeon

Drove back to the Eungella National Park - Broken River section as we had decided to go to the cafe for lunch. Walked the full Rainforest Discovery Circuit (780m) and were impressed with the innovative track markers.

 

Track Marker

 

The most numerous bird along this track was Golden Whistler.

 

Golden Whistler - male

 

From here we returned to the cafe on the opposite side of the road. Had a good lunch and very good coffee. We noticed a nest box in a tree beside the outdoor eating area. The cafe owner said it was provided by Birdlife Mackay and nobody had taken residence in it yet. Looked like a project for us in the future for our garden.

It was now time to book into our cabin at Mountain Edge Escape.

 

 Mountain Edge Escape Cabin

 

The cabins are situated in a great location overlooking the Pioneer Valley. 

 

View overlooking the Pioneer Valley

 

Later we visited Marion and Kevin, who are avid birdos and long time residents of Eungella. A very pleasant afternoon with coffee and sponge cake, yum. Very civilised in the evening sitting on our balcony having a few drinks and watching the night close in before dinner.
 

28/11/2020
 

Well what a surprise another morning in the clouds, but it cleared away very quickly so we could have breakfast overlooking the valley. Time to say goodbye to Eungella after a very enjoyable few days reacquainting ourselves with the area. Cruised down the range road passing through Finch Hatton and Pinnacle with cane fields on either side of the road, some of which was still being harvested. Continued on through Mirani and onto Miriam where we turned left to join up with the Bruce Highway north. More roadworks on this section to Proserpine, where we stopped for morning coffee and pick up a couple of sandwiches from the local bakery. Continuing north we by-passed Bowen and arrived in Ayr for lunch at Plantation Park, where they have tables and seats as well as toilet facilities. More scroungers here, this time Australian White-Ibis, otherwise known as bin chickens for good reason!

 

Bin Chicken!

 

Then our final leg of our journey to Townsville, which took us past Collisons Lagoon, where we saw a pair of Black-necked Stork as we sped past. Actually had a few showers as we approached Townsville, which is in desperate need of water, but not much rain in these showers.

 

29-31/11/2020
 

Spent three days in Townsville socialising with a bit of birding thrown in. As usual we visited the Townsville Common, which was very dry, but had a few small water holes. Melaleuca viewing area had a few interesting species including a couple of Black-necked Stork, 39 Masked Lapwing and two Brolga sticking their heads above the grass. The Jacana hide had more birds including 65 Pacific Black Duck, 21 Grey Teal, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit and an Australian Pipit – these last three birds were new for our trip list. 

 

A few of the Townsville Common birds below. The adult Masked Lapwing shows some black on the neck as in the Spp novaehallandiae of southern Australia and this one is a hybrid with the northern Ssp. miles. Its offspring showed no sign of this black on the neck.

 

 Intermediate (Plumed) Egret

 

Cattle Egret - breeding plumage

 

 Masked Lapwing

 

 Masked Lapwing - immature

 

How often does this happen? The bird flies off just as you are about to get that great shot!

 

 White-bellied Sea-Eagle

 

We also heard the regular pair of Barking Owl around Belgian Gardens as well as saw Varied Honeyeater, two more for the trip list.

1/12/2020
 

Left Townsville and travelled to Tyto Wetlands, where we stopped for an hours break birding. Much the same species as on our way down a week ago, but did add a White-necked Heron to our trip list. Our sighting of Spotless Crake and Australian Little Bittern the previous week stirred a few Townsville birdos into action to look for them. Most were successful finding the crake, but not the bittern. A pair of Black-fronted Dotterel had one of the lagoons to themselves.

 

Black-fronted Dotterel

 

 Brown Honeyeater were the most numerous species in the bush areas.

 

 Brown Honeyeater

 

At the entrance to the wetlands a fearless Willie Wagtail was giving a Blue-winged Kookaburra a hard time - the kookaburra took no notice!

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop north was Cardwell, where we had lunch beside the sea. After lunch we joined the steady stream of traffic travelling north with a lot being trucks. By-passed Innisfail and joined the Palmerston Highway to the Atherton Tableland. Slow journey along this section due to a burnt out car, which was being attended to by police and fire brigade. Further along roadworks near Henrietta Creek caused more delays. We took a coffee break at Henrietta Creek and lost most of the traffic and a straight forward journey home.