Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis)

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Tara

The Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis) is an Australasian robin of coastal and sub-coastal eastern Australia.

They are readily seen in a wide range of habitats: heaths, mallee, acacia scrub, woodlands and sclerophyll forests, but is most often found in damper places or near water within a large range across Eastern Australia. The rainforest canopy walkway at O’Reilly’s is a great place to find them close enough to photograph.

LEARN MORE ABOUT EASTERN YELLOW ROBINS

Sunshine Coast Council

VIDEOS

What a beautiful song!

And they like to stay clean too!

Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis)

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Tara

The Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis) is endemic to eastern Australia found in humid and heavily forested upland regions of the eastern portion of the continent, including eucalyptus wooded areas in and directly adjacent to subtropical and temperate rainforest. They feed on fruits and seeds gathered from trees or on the ground.

The male has a bright red head and breast wheras the female is mostly green. Although this female has a leg band, she is actually one of the wild parrots that hang around O’Reilly’s for a free meal.

King Parrots are easily found within their range as the males are very bright and conspicuous and the females stay close to their mates. You are pretty much guaranteed to see them at O’Reilly’s and the small cafe near Jolly’s Lookout near Brisbane.

LEARN MORE ABOUT AUSTRALIAN KING PARROTS

VIDEOS

There’s no shortage of King Parrot videos online. This one is good for the close ups of the birds foraging and you can clearly see the difference between the male and female.

This little guy from the Blue Mountains in NSW has no trouble with accepting hand outs (literally)!

And here is a whole flock (mostly juveniles) that visit someone’s back yard. Notice the pleasant sound they make!

O’Reilly’s, Lamington Park

Posted on November 22, 2015 by Tara

O’Reilly’s is a great place to practice your bird photography skills as you can see several species very close and they are predictable. If you start early, you can make this a day trip from Brisbane with a 2.5 hour drive. It’s not really far but the road to the top of the mountain is very twisty. Exact directions are on their website. They also have some lovely eco-villas overlooking the rainforest and some good deals can be found mid-week outside of school holidays. Every year, they have a Bird Week in November.

Bird feeding is touristy but fun. The area is open daily from 10:00am – 4:00pm (weather dependent) and costs $4.00 per tray (suits 2 people). Get up close and personal with some of Lamington’s iconic birds, such as King Parrots, Crimson Rosellas, or you might be lucky enough to see our ‘mascot’, the Regent Bowerbird.

I’ve been there a few times, usually to take friends up or to practice photography. Here’s a few scenes from the bird feeding. They gather in the trees and come down when someone offers a tray of seed or drops seed on the ground.

They also have a canopy walkway in the rainforest – get here early enough and you can have it all to yourself before the tourists arrive!

They have a nice gift shop and restaurant with seats overlooking the spectacular view. You can also see birds out here. There are signs telling you not to feed the birds but the birds have discovered that sometimes they can beat the waiters to the leftovers before the scraps can be cleaned up.