The final day of the Birds Queensland Camp was a visit to Mosquito Creek Road & Lake Coolmunda including a private property near the lake.  I was really hoping to get a good look at Bluebonnets and hopefully some photos this time.  The nice thing about birding with a group is that you have a lot more eyeballs at work and one of the group did spot a pair of Bluebonnets that I probably wouldn’t have found as they were well camouflaged and being very quiet.  Once they were pointed out to me, I was able to follow them with my 400mm lens and grab a few shots – none of which came out well other than to prove we saw Bluebonnets!  I’ve included some untouched shots and some cropped ones to show just how far away the birds were and how difficult they are to see.

Another highly sought after bird was the White-winged Fairy-wrens bustling around in bushes.  They weren’t too keen on being photographed either!

Luckily a few birds were happy to pose for photos.  First up is a Pale-headed Rosella who looks to have some hybrid blood in him.  Oddly enough Pale-headed Rosellas often breed with Eastern Rosellas around here though there is no reason they couldn’t find a partner of their own species.

Sacred Kingfishers also put in an appearance.

Here’s a few more random shots.

We had a nice spot to have a picnic lunch by the lake and watch some Little Corellas play in the trees.  After lunch, Ina & I took off as I wanted to make it back to Brisbane before dark and also have a quick look-in at the Durikai Watering Hole enroute.  Traffic back to the city does build up in the afternoon on a Sunday so bear this in mind when planning your journey.

Mosquito Creek Road is one of the top birding sites near Lake Coolmunda and less than 4 hours drive from Brisbane.

It’s signposted from both directions and there is an Olive Farm at the beginning of the road.

You’ll be driving down a well-maintained gravel road.  The properties on both sides are fenced and for private use so you have to do your birding from the roadside.  It’s a great place to bird though as the wide open grassy areas and sparser trees make it easier to find the birds.  You can drive past a small pond a few km to a more densely forested area but I found the birdlife decreased from entering that area so we went back to the grassy area near the pond.

We made a couple trips to Mosquito Road with just Ina & me, then returned a couple days later with the Birds Queensland group which I will cover in a separate post.

Plenty of kangaroos so drive slowly, don’t add to the road kill!

We saw lots of Little Corellas & Galahs.

There was a tree that had a lot of Zebra Finches who sometimes came out to the wire fence to pose for photos.

Willie Wagtails are found here and basically all over Australia.

For me, the highlight was seeing wild Cockatiels.  Cockatiels are very special to me, they are the first bird I had as a pet which ultimately led to my interest in birding and conservation.

Horsfield’s Bushlark

Very tempting!

Australasian Darter

Apostlebird

Pale-headed Rosella