About Bundamba  l Mar 2010 l Feb 2010 l Jan 2010 l Dec 2009 l Nov 2009  

From March 2005, BASQ has been doing monthly surveys to monitor the birdlife of the lagoon. Contact Margaret Cameron , 07 3282 9151 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , if you would like to join the surveyors on the first Saturday of the month. (She has an email list if you would like to hear news about the Bundamba Wetland.)

March 6 & 8

March 6 was our scheduled survey day for Daly's Lagoon; despite a somewhat gloomy weather forecast we decided to give it a try if possible and 5 of us turned up. For some of the time it was pretty good and we actually went to our first count point, but by the time we had got ourselves organized with our telescopes and clipboard it started to rain again. So we could not count and just did some normal birdwatching - enjoyable if rather damp.
 
The water level is very high, there is no exposed mud, and there are very few water birds. We spent a very long time identifying our first bird (not a water bird) which was moving actively in foliage; it took 5 people 2 telescopes and a camera to identify a wet juvenile Horsfield Bronze Cuckoo; very educational, the breast bars were not just what Pizzey calls "shadowy" but invisible. (The caterpillars it was actively catching and greedily gobbling were a good clue.) There were actually 2 of them, perhaps the offspring of some of the group we saw in November. Both White-bellied Sea-Eagles were there, at least one Pelican, Shovelers, 2 Blue-billed Ducks, and 3 Great Crested Grebes. The water level in Bayliss's Swamp is also high; there were 16 Plumed Whistling-Ducks, some Shovelers, and a pair of Swans with a new nest. We saw no Stilts anywhere!
 
Thanks to Meg Gordon, Lindsay Rankin, Peter Johnson, and Garth Kelly for coming out.

As only "one or two showers" were forecast for Monday morning 8 March, but rain returning later in the week, we did the survey on Monday. It did not rain until we had just finished the second count (and not much then).
 
The water level is very high - running over the weir - so it was a deep wade between count points - the shallow-wading detour to avoid this is so overgrown with long grass that we could not find it!
 
There were very few ducks; with all this rain in western Queensland many have probably gone there. However it was exciting to see 3 families of Plumed Whistling-ducks (11, 6, and 8 ducklings). Even better were the Blue-billed Ducks, a beautiful male and 2 brown birds, one markedly smaller than the other; I believe we are now safe in saying that they have bred here. Other ducks were Wood Ducks 4, Black Ducks 29, Grey teal 36, and Hardheads 2. Only 7 Australasian grebes but 3 Great Crested. Lots of Cormorants (12 Little Pied, 20 Little Black) 8 Darters and 2 Pelicans still there. 6 Moorhens, 3 Coots, (and one swamphen off survey). No muddy margins at all; the only wader was a flyover Masked Lapwing though there were others further away. No Sea-eagles (a Wedgetail perched in a dead tree); no Swans - the local pair has a new nest at Bayliss's Swamp nearby. During the first count we heard a Little Grassbird calling strongly (and answering imitations of its call) but we did not have time to go and try for a sighting.
 
Thanks to Meg Gordon, Jim Butler and Des King for a wet walk at short notice!  Margaret Cameron

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February 6

Despite gloomy weather forecasts (I did not expect us to be able to survey at all because of forecast rain) Saturday 6 February was a perfect morning for our survey - not too hot and for most of the survey, the lagoon was like glass, really beautiful. We had a number of last minute dropouts - most of our experienced counters! - but Kim Herbert did a great job scribing for both counters. Because of recent rain, I had expected to have to wade to the second count point but the water had receded enough to drive.
 
We had a very good morning: 108 Pacific Black Ducks (+ 21 outside the count), 158 Grey Teal (+10), one Wood Duck, 2 Shovelers, 4 Hardhead and 2 Blue-billed Ducks. There were 80 Australasian Grebe (+7); only one was immature. We had hoped to see the 3 Great Crested Grebe that were there a fortnight ago, but there was only one. 13 Darters (+1), 8 Little Pied and 23 Little Black Cormorants, and 2 Pelicans (which have been there for at least 3 weeks) suggest there are now enough fish. There were 8 White-faced Herons (+1) and 7 Great Egrets (+1). We saw only one Buff-banded Rail (2 more outside the count), 12 Dusky Moorhens including 3 downy chicks, and 5 Swamphens. These were all almost-full-grown immatures; I suspect they hatched at Bayliss's Swamp just up the road as I saw at least 2 there last week and we saw none there on Saturday, and we have not been seeing adult or juvenile Swamphens at Daly's. It was a great day for Latham's Snipe as we saw 16 on the survey (+7 off); also 19 Black-winged Stilts, 13 Masked Lapwings and a pale immature Jacana.
 
There's always something that makes you feel extremely cross - this time it was the 2 Black Swans; they were swimming around when we got there, we did not see them fly away, but they vanished and turned up in the small dam off the far end (Margaret's Fruitless Walk, indeed!) thus avoiding the survey. (The only Coots (2) were also there, outside the survey.) And one of the Sea-eagles flew in shortly after we had finished counting.  A Hobby had greeted us when we arrived, presumably one of the pair feeding young in the nest at Bayliss's Swamp. A Whistling Kite, a Brown Goshawk and a pair of Kestrels made it a pretty good day for raptors.
 
After the survey we visited Bayliss's Swamp where the highlight was a family of White-necked Herons - we have been seeing one for some time but had failed to realise the other one must be at a nest; now they have 2 young ones.
 
Thanks to Jim Butler and Kim Herbert; special thanks to counters of extras Brent and Rosalie Smith (who had never been there before) and Garth Kelly (on his second visit), they did a great job; welcome to Rebecca and Peter Ryan who I hope will join us for future surveys.
 
The March survey will be on Saturday 6 March, meeting at 6.30.            Margaret

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January 2.

We did the first survey of the year on January 2; despite slightly worrying forecasts it was a nice day. The water level was higher than in December, leaving very little mud for waders. To celebrate the holiday, 10 people arrived - a record!  This means that while the 4 person team does the formal survey, the people looking for the extra birds have lots of time and can enjoy their birdwatching. It would have been a good day for visitors and beginners.

During the survey we saw 6 Plumed Whistling-Ducks, only 5 Wood Ducks (by the time we are counting they are usually away from the water), 62 Pacific Black Ducks, 113 Grey Teal, 20 Hardheads and one Bluebill. Very few ducks were counted outside the survey except at least one other Bluebill and 2 Shovelers. There were 87 Australasian Grebes. Darters and Cormorants were quite numerous, both high in the trees and on the posts, and a few swimming - 18 Darters, 36 Little Pied Cormorants (which are quite scarce elsewhere in the area) and 3 Little Blacks (with 9 more Little Blacks out of sight of the survey). Other birds were less numerous - 2 Great Egrets, 4 White-faced Herons, 1 Royal and 2 Yellow-billed Spoonbills, 7 Moorhens and no Swamphens or Coots. On recent surveys there have been several Buff-banded Rails but this time we saw only one and that was outside the survey. Not surprisingly, given the higher water levels, most waders had departed and we had only 3 Latham's Snipe, 42 Black-winged Stilts, and 11 Masked Lapwings.

The highlight of the day was the presence of the White-bellied Sea-Eagles; one was feeding on prey which appeared to be a black-feathered bird. After the survey a Whistling Kite flew around, and was then seen feeding on its prey.

After the survey we looked at the small swamp further down Ripley road ( Bayliss's Swamp), which is always fascinatingly different; the water level was rather low and large bits of the swamp are drying out.  (This land is still on the market.) Birds here included at least 1 (probably 2) Shoveler, another Yellow-billed Spoonbill, at least 1 (probably 2) Swamphen, 6 adult Black-winged Stilts with 8 large young, and at least 4 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. Early on there were also 2 White-necked Herons.

Thank you Sarah Beavis, Jim Butler, Wendy Dunn, Meg Gordon, Peter Horler, Des King, Kim Herbert, and Lindsay Rankin; welcome first-timer Garth Kelly.

Our next survey will be on Saturday 6 February meeting at 6am. Please let me know in advance if you will be coming. Happy New Year to all!
Margaret

December 5.

Today we did the November survey of Daly's Lagoon - a beautiful day, in fact so pleasant that some of us had difficulty leaving our shady tree, cool breeze and beautiful view to come home!

The water level has dropped a bit, leaving muddy edges so there were quite few waders - 15 Sharptailed Sandpipers (+ 2 outside the survey area), 74 Black-winged Stilts, including one on a nest (+ 15 more outside), 5 Latham's Snipe (+8), 2 Black-fronted Dotterels (+ 7) and 10 Red-knees (+7).

We counted 348 Australasian Grebes (+11), still a long way to go to our record of 990 but the sixth highest ever! There were 56 Wood Ducks including 2 families of 6 young and 8 immatures, 93 Pacific Black Duck (11), 274 Grey Teal (+59 including 1 duckling), 5 Chestnut Teal, 51 Hardheads (+2) ... and one brown (female or immature) Blue-billed Duck. Outside the survey we saw (annoyingly) 4 Pink-ears, 3 Plumed Whistling-Ducks the first since March when we had one left after our family of ducklings had grown up and gone, and (even more annoyingly) 3 male Blue-bills and another brown one - I am coming to the view they are late risers and don't get up in time to be counted in the survey - Lindsay who is an early riser had tried hard to find them before we started.

We also had 7 Darters (+6 including a couple of immatures), 2 Great Cormorants (+4), 8 Little Black Cormorants (+1), and a Little Pied (+1), good signs of fish. There was a Glossy Ibis, a White-faced Heron, a Great Egret and a couple of Buff-banded Rails. 5 Dusky Moorhens but the only Swamphen we saw was run over on the road. Sadly no Eagles; but a Kestrel, a Brown Falcon, and a Swamp Harrier.

Thank you very much to counters Kim Herbert, Wendy Dunn, Peter Johnson, and Lindsay Rankin.

Some of you may wonder why there are so many birds outside the survey area. The survey protocols require that counting is done for a fixed time (30 minutes) by 2 counters from each of 2 survey points, one at each end of the lagoon. When we started the survey, in 2005, this meant that we could see the whole of the lagoon, and we were always counting pretty well all the birds present. We are still counting the same area of water, so all the data from all surveys are pretty well comparable - except that some water and a bit of shoreline is hidden by the new islands, and some bits of shoreline are no longer visible.

When the lagoon refilled after the drought, the water rose into new areas we can not see. We had failed to predict this at the beginning (because we thought the lagoon was full then but it actually wasn't), and also a new weir has been built which has raised the water level. Also, after the drought broke, the grass grew tall and many regrowth (and planted) saplings have grown up, hiding some areas from the set survey points.

So as well as producing survey totals comparable with previous monthly surveys, we also attempt to count the extra "invisible" birds to arrive at a total for the wetland. It is only honest to say that, especially because of the new islands, we will never get a complete and perfect count.

As part of this "extra bird" exercise, we also count birds on a small dam upstream a bit from the eastern end, as it is an integral part of the system and birds especially ducks fly to and fro - there are never many birds there - it was only after I had delegated people on several survey days to do this count that I discovered it was now known as "Margaret's fruitless walk". But we can't stop doing it as it isn't always fruitless.

We also add in birds which arrive or appear before or after the survey times.

All the data (survey plus "extra") goes into the wetland database maintained by the Wader Study Group. (Covering the whole time involved, not just the survey hour.)

And now for something - well not really completely different. The small swamp south of our lagoon - Bayliss Swamp - is on the market. It is an integral part of the Bundamba wetlands complex and must be managed for its conservation values. I have a bird list of almost 100 species recorded there. I can send this to anyone who would like it, and a bit of background information.

Our first survey for 2010 will be at 6am on 2 January. Plenty of time to recover from New Year's Eve!

Happy Christmas everyone!
Margaret

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November 7.

We did our survey on Saturday 7 November; rain was forecast and it rained during the night but after telephoning to and fro we decided to give it a go. Both Kim and Wendy drove through heavy rain on the way, Wendy arriving with a fantastic story of closely following a rainbow for some kilometres; a pity she did not stop to collect the pot of gold at the end of it as the land with the small swamp south of Daly's (Bayliss's swamp) is for sale and if we had $600,000 or so we could buy it and have it managed for conservation as an integral part of the wetland system.

Anyhow we started counting at 6.15 and the weather held out for our surveys. The water level is so much lower that we could drive all the way to our second count point. It was a very enjoyable count with families of Wood Duck, Pacific Black Duck and Grey Teal ducklings; other ducks were Hardheads and a couple of Pink-eared Ducks. We did pretty well for waders: 7 Latham's Snipe, 13 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, 9 Black-fronted Dotterels, 11 Red-kneed Dotterels, and 62 Black-winged Stilts including 2 juveniles (and more Snipe, Red-knees and Stilts outside the count area). Other waterbirds included 5 Darters, 4 Great Cormorants, 3 Little Pied and 1 Little Black - there must be some fish for them; and 6 Buff-banded Rails. Both White-bellied Sea-Eagles were there, doing their clanking duet, so let's hope they are planning to nest! A surprising addition to our survey list was 4 Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoos. We also recorded Chestnut-breasted Mannikins outside the survey area - only the second time we have seen them.

After the survey, as usual we had cups of coffee and completed the survey sheets; Lindsay did not take part it this relaxation but relentlessly and systematically scanned every nook and cranny of the lagoon looking for the Blue-billed Ducks and his persistence was rewarded: a beautiful male and 2 pale brown birds. We were very excited as this looked like evidence of breeding. Sadly however when I got home I looked in HANZAB etc and I don't think we can safely claim a history-making event; at that distance I don't think we could be sure whether we were seeing females, eclipse males, or juveniles.

Thanks to Kim Herbert, Wendy Dunn, Peter Horler, Jim Butler and Lindsay Rankin.