Australia, Brisbane, and birds

I left Hawaii on Monday morning at around 2 am to travel to Brisbane via Nadi, Fiji on Air Pacific. The flight was fine on the first leg since I had a bulkhead seat with plenty of leg room. The layover in Fiji was about 6 hours, which meant going through immigration and customs and having to gather up my bags and recheck them for the next flight. That was a bit of a hassle, but manageable.

The airport terminal had plenty of windows giving views of the surrounding area. It rained a lot, which didn't make Fiji seem all that attractive to me. I talked to some of the tourists leaving the islands after an extended time and they said it had rained the entire time during their visit. I was just passing through, thanks . . .

Theo Haralampou met me at the Brisbane airport and brought me to his family's home. Theo and Stella and their daughters, Lauren and Melissa are lovely people and have made me feel very welcome in their home. I had an afternoon and full day before having to head over to the Turnfest 2007 site so I took advantage of the time to go do some birding. I took a short walk around the neighborhood on Wednesday morning and saw about six species new to me. After breakfast, Theo took me all around Brisbane to see some wetland areas and the shore of Moreton Bay. It made for some excellent birding and I scored 36 species for my life list on Wednesday, March 28th. Here are some photos of some of those species:





Australian Magpie














Noisy Miner

















Rainbow Lorikeet
















Magpie Lark (male)











Pied Butcherbird













Masked Lapwing











Pacific Black Duck











A view of one in flight














Darter



















Torresian Crow













Straw-necked Ibis











Buff-banded rail












Great Egret















Purple Swamphen
















Royal Spoonbill and Little Black Cormorant

















Australian White Ibis













Welcome Swallow












Crested Pigeon












Dusky Moorhen and chick











Australasian Grebe













Comb-crested Jacana











Silver Eye











Superb Fairy Wren













Grey Butcherbird










Little Pied Cormorant












Australian Pelican















Darter















Australian Wood Duck (female)











Australian Wood Duck (male)















Forest Kingfisher














Little Black Cormorant

















This is on Moreton Bay










We had lunch right at shoreline. The white ibis and noisy miners were pretty bold, just waiting for tables to be abandoned. This is a good example of a face that only a mother could love.








Silver Gull











Little Pied Cormorant














Grey-tailed tattler












Eastern Reef Egret












Black-faced cuckoo shrike















Brown Falcon














Rufous Whistler















Moreton Bay Fig - at the appropriate location













White-faced Heron