Australian Good Birding Guide: Northern Queensland. Ted Wnorowski

the Eungella Dam is Squatter Pigeon. These are often found foraging by the roadside in the dry, grassy woodland about 2-3km before the dam. GPS coordinates to a likely place are 21^o12’26’’S and 148^o26’03’’E. Other birds here include White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Rufous Whistler and Noisy Friarbird.

      A good selection of waterbirds can be found around the dam. Some, such as Eurasian Coots and Hardheads, congregate here in their thousands. The dam is the stronghold of Great Crested Grebes and Cotton Pygmy-geese; they gather here in large numbers. Other waterbirds on the lake include Magpie Goose, Glossy Ibis, Caspian Tern, Yellow-billed Spoonbill and Comb-crested Jacana.

      Bush birds around the camping area include Yellow-throated Miner, Forest Kingfisher, Wonga Pigeon, Great Bowerbird and Varied Triller.

Finch Hatton Gorge

      Finch Hatton Gorge is part of the Eungella National Park. It sits at the base of Eungella Plateau. To get there, from Mackay-Eungella Rd (64) just past Finch Hatton turn into Owens Creek Rd, go over Owens Creek and then turn west into Gorge Rd that will take you to the Park 11km away. At the end of the road, you’ll find Finch Hatton Picnic Area and the start of the Finch Hatton Gorge Track running along Rawson’s Creek and Finch Hatton Creek to Araluen Cascades (2.8km return) and Wheel of Fire (4.2km return). Dense rainforest regrowth dominates the area.

      Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfishers are regularly found here. Pale-vented Bush-hens can occasionally be encountered near the creeks. Australian Swiftlets breed in the gorge and are often seen flying over the forest at dusk.

      Three species of monarch can be found here. The most numerous is Spectacled Monarch but you may also come across White-eared Monarch and Black-faced Monarch. Seven species of fruit-eating pigeons occur in the area. The most numerous are Superb Fruit-Doves and Brown Cuckoo-Doves.

      Small flocks of Metallic Starlings are occasionally spotted wandering through the rainforest. Other species found in Finch Hatton Gorge include Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Eastern Spinebill, Rufous Fantail, Brown Gerygone, Restless Flycatcher, Fork-tailed Swift and Pacific Baza.

      Restless Flycatcher

      Just before reaching the gorge, you’ll pass the Platypus Bushcamp, an interesting accommodation option with campsites and tree houses without walls, set in a lowland forest. There is a Platypus viewing pool and a rock swimming pool here. There are plenty of birds here, an easy way to see the same birds that are expected to live in the gorge. As an added bonus, same of them are quite tame and can be observed at close quarters. There are plenty of fruit-eating pigeons here and plenty of Azure Kingfishers. Australian Swiftlets are nearly guaranteed.

Finch Hatton

      Finch Hatton is a small village near the Cattle Creek in Pioneer Valley. It is a good place to stay while exploring the plateau. We holidayed a few days in February in the Pioneer Valley Showgrounds, a large, grassy camping area located near Cattle Creek. Large fig trees are scattered throughout the grounds.

      The main attraction were flocks of Torresian Imperial-Pigeons coming to roost in trees in the camping area. Every evening, Australian Swiftlets were darting for insects over the grounds. Fruiting fig trees were filled with Topknot Pigeons, Superb Fruit-Doves, Australasian Figbirds and very noisy Channel-billed Cuckoos. The latter congregated in the village in large numbers, they were everywhere.

      About 50 Black Kites were roosting overnight near Cattle Creek. The creek was lined with casuarinas and paperbarks, mostly covered with climbers. The birds there included Black Butcherbird, Restless Flycatcher, White-browed Scrubwren, Red-browed Finch and three gerygone species (Fairy, Brown and White-throated Gerygone).

      We also enjoyed good birding in the village, particularly in streets south of Anzac Pde (64) where about the third of the houses were abandoned and already overgrown with bushes and trees, mostly lilly-pillies and fig trees. At the time of our visit they were fruiting. We observed about 40 Channel-billed Cuckoos that seemed to have divided the territory between themselves and in small groups were energetically chasing away all potential competition to the fruit. The biggest brawls were with Pied Currawongs which seemed to lose every time. Once we observed a large (50 strong) flock of Torresian Imperial-Pigeons which landed taking no notice of the cuckoos and for a time being calmly took over the area. In spite of the fighting, there was enough food to share and other diners that managed to sneak in included Bared Cuckoo-shrikes, Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves, Superb Fruit-Doves, Australian King-Parrots and, on the ground, Brown-capped Emerald-Doves and Peaceful Doves.

      Families of Bush Stone-curlews were wandering among the houses and in the parkland areas. In the row of flowering bottlebrushes along Anzac Pde we found a variety of honeyeaters including Bar-breasted Honeyeater, Yellow Honeyeater, Dusky Honeyeater and White-throated Honeyeater.

      In front of the local pub, in a line of decorative coloured light bulbs, one bulb was broken and a pair of Willie Wagtails built a nest in the socket and had a chick in it.

      Willie Wagtail’s nest in a light bulb socket

      About 2.5km west of Finch Hatton, at the corner of Mackay-Eungella Rd (64) and Thornes Rd, we found four Squatter Pigeons feeding on the side of the road. GPS coordinates for this spot are 21^o08’27’’S and 148^o35’03’’E.

Cape Hillsborough National Park

      This raggedly beautiful, 1,000ha National Park is situated in the stunning location on the Central Queensland coast 50km north of Mackay and 1,000km north of Brisbane. The Park features a wide range of habitats including coastal islands, mangroves, open eucalypt forest, dunes and beaches. Lowland rainforest and vine thickets are found along the creeks and hillside gullies.

      To get there:

       from Mackay travel 20km in the northerly direction on Bruce Hwy (A1), then turn east into Seaforth Rd (Yakapari-Seaforth Rd on some maps). After another 20km turn right into Cape Hillsborough Rd. The main entrance to the Park is about 10km away.

       Coming from the north, from Bruce Hwy (A1) in Mount Ossa turn left into Mount Ossa-Seaforth Rd (partially unsealed). After 15km turn right into Seaforth Rd at the T-junction, then quickly left into Cape Hillsborough Rd which will take you to the Park.

      There is only one small camping area in the Park at Smalley’s Beach. There is also the Cape Hillsborough Tourist Park at the end of Cape Hillsborough Rd. More camping areas are provided in the neighbouring coastal villages of Seaforth and Ball Bay. The Park has a large day-use area stretched along the foreshore in front of the tourist park, with good facilities and plenty of space. There are several walking tracks in the Park including Diversity Boardwalk (1.2km return), Beachcomber Cove Track (2.2km return), Hidden Valley Track (2km return) and Yuibera Plant Trail (1.2km return).

      Over 160 species are on the Cape Hillsborough National Park’s birdlist. Key species are Australian Yellow White-eye, Mangrove Golden Whistler, White-eared Monarch, Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher, Black Butcherbird and Large-tailed Nightjar. Other birds of interest include Metallic Starling, Broad-billed Flycatcher, Collared Kingfisher, Mangrove, Gerygone, Spectacled Monarch, Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Torresian Imperial-Pigeon, Orange-footed Scrubfowl and Olive-backed Sunbird. Among the rarities are Red-browed Pardalote, Satin Flycatcher, Shining Flycatcher, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher, Great Bowerbird, White-browed Robin and White-gaped Honeyeater.

Smalley’s Beach

      The small, shady camping area along the Smalley’s Beach is located 11km off Cape Hillsborough Rd. At low tide, the mudflats in front of the beach are good for the waders such as Red-capped Plover (nesting there), Whimbrel, Australian Pied Oystercatcher and Sooty Oystercatcher. A pair of Beach Stone-curlews is resident on the beach.