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Monday, 14 October, 2013

 

I was up by about 5:15 and took care of my morning things, including packing up all my gear.  Megan kindly cooked me some eggs again, even though she was in the middle of getting ready to go to work and getting things organized for the day.  Ken and Megan have three kids, who go to the local school, and they are both teachers, in other nearby schools.  After a flurry of activity, they were all off, and I set off on a rainforest walk, in one last attempt to get the elusive Logrunner.  On my way to the trail, I got this picture of a Spangled Drongo, a bird I had seen on my big day Saturday.

 

I think they are fairly common, but I had only seen them a couple of times before, and I had never gotten a picture of one.

 

I walked in the rainforest for half an hour or so, and I played the calls of the Logrunner.  At one point I thought I might have heard a distant response, but I never heard one close by, and I never saw one.  Too bad.  I won’t get another chance now, on this trip, as they don’t live north of here.

 

So, I got the car loaded and headed out.  My first stop was Cooroy Sewage Treatment Plant, where we had gone the day before and couldn’t get in.  I went back to where the guy yesterday had said to go and the gate was closed this time, but there was an intercom with a button to push.  I told the guy who answered what I wanted, and it was obvious that they didn’t get a lot of requests, but he arranged to meet me at a gate on the other side of the plant in a few minutes.

 

He showed up there and went through his induction routine, which consisted mainly of having me print and sign my name on a form (the only other name on the form was from September 13, another indication that they don’t get a lot of birders there).  He also checked to see that I had closed-toe shoes (not sandals) and long pants, and he told me not to get too close to the water or fall in.  He also warned me that there were a lot of snakes around.  With that, he opened the gate, and I told him I would be gone in less than two hours, so he could come back to close it after I left.

 

The birding turned out to be total crap.  There were several ponds, but most of them either had too much water in them or were completely dry.  There were 2 or 3 that had low levels of water with some muddy edges, which is what I wanted for the birds I was looking for (crakes and rails).  But, there was no cover near the edge of the water, and I can’t really picture crakes or rails coming out to look for food in the mud, out in the open.  There were a lot of reeds and bushes in the ponds with water in them, and I imagine that any crakes or rails would forage in the cover of the reeds or bushes.  Anyway, I drove around and got out and walked around one pond, but saw noting of any interest.  Here is a picture of what was probably the best pond.

 

So, I bailed out of there fairly quickly and headed on my way.  On the way out of Cooroy, I stopped at a bakery and got a nice hot chicken and veg pie, which I ate while I drove.  That was either my second brekkie or an early installment on lunch.

 

I only had a couple of hours of driving, and as I approached my destination, I stopped at the Woolworths at Cooloola Cove and stocked up on groceries for the next few days.  I also got a beef, bacon, and cheese pie for the road, at the bakery next door, and ate it at my next stop.  Before that next stop, I checked out the first kilometer or so of Cooloola Way, an unpaved road that people look for birds on.  It was too hot for me, though, and I moved on to the Seary Creek day use area.  At a picnic table in the shade, I ate my second pie, the beef, bacon, and cheese one.  It was about 90 degrees F by then, and fairly humid.

 

After I didn’t get the Logrunner or anything else in the rainforest, I was thinking that this might very well be the day when I would get skunked for the first time, and not see a new bird for my trip list.  I had seen so many over the weekend, not to mention in my first couple of weeks, that there wasn’t much left for me to look for.  According to my notes, there was one species I had not seen yet that has been reported at the Seary Creek day use area, though, which is why I was stopping there.  There is a boardwalk down to the creek, and people swim in the creek.  Here is a picture of Seary Creek.

 

It was hot, and it was the middle of the day, which is the worst possible time of day for birding.  I thought, what the hell, though, and played the call of the bird I was hoping to see.  Almost right away, two WHITE-CHEEKED HONEYEATERS flew in to check me out.  I was amazed, and I had my bird for the day.  They even posed for pictures.

 

 

With the pressure off, I drove on into the little beach resort town of Rainbow Beach.  I stayed here in 2002 and 2008, and for some reason I don’t understand, I particularly like the town.  Here is a picture of the beach there.

 

The point in the distance is Inskip Point, where I intend to look for birds, one species in particular.

 

Here is the main street of Rainbow Beach.

 

I found my new lodgings and checked in.  It is an interesting place, called simply Debbie’s Place.  I had booked a motel type room with a microwave and small fridge, but I guess I got upgraded to what I would call a one-bedroom unit, maybe.  It appears to be quite new, nicely decorated, very clean and very fresh smelling.  It has good air conditioning and ceiling fans in both rooms.  Free internet, a microwave, lots of dishes, and the little fridge has a freezer compartment.  It also has a king-size bed that is quite comfortable.  It will certainly be one of the nicest places I will stay on the trip.  They mention a guest laundry on their web page, so when I checked in, I asked about it.  Debbie gave me a basket and said to just put my laundry outside my door, and they would do it.  I don’t think I have ever had that service before.  I’m assuming there isn’t a charge for it.  I told her I had both white things and colored things, and she said no worries, they have seven washing machines.  Obviously they do all their own laundry and don’t send it out.

 

Here is a picture of the main room.

 

And this is the entry room, where I have eaten my meals and set up my computer on the table.  The door on the right leads to the main room, and the entry door is where I’m standing.

 

The cost is $99 a night, which about the average of what I am spending on lodging on this trip.

 

By the time I got all my stuff moved in, I was sweating, so I turned on the a/c, filled my ice trays and put them in the freezer, set up the computer and did a little stuff, and when I cooled down, I took a nice long shower and got clean and cool, as I ended it with the water on pure “cold”, which isn’t really all that cold here in the subtropics.

 

I could have gone out birding again, but I had my bird for the day, and I had computer stuff to catch up on, so I just stayed in the rest of the day.  The only problem I had was the freezer didn’t freeze my ice cubes in time for my drinkie, but I roughed it and had it without ice.  I have since adjusted the temperature of the fridge, and it seems to be making ice now.

 

I updated my spreadsheet, to reflect the birds I had seen since the last time I updated it, and I had done so well over the weekend that it is now indicating 335 species for the trip.  When I started, it indicated I would see about 300, so I am obviously doing much better than I had expected to do.  While updating it, I found two mistakes in my records for Saturday, my big day.  I had counted Bar-tailed Godwit, but that was a mistake, as I had seen them in Sydney way back at the start of my trip.  The other mistake was that I had neglected to put Pied Oystercatcher in my notebook, so it hadn’t been counted in my total for the day.  One subtraction and one addition.  It came out even, so there was no change to the totals I had reported.  I still saw 50 new trip birds on Saturday.

 

So, that was it for Monday.  A walk in the rainforest, a stop at Coorory STP, and one bird at Seary Creek day use area.  Not much birding, and not really very much driving, but it was an enjoyable, relaxing day for me, after a week of fairly intense birding.

 

My one species on Monday brought me to 258 species, of which 17 are lifers.