Lamington NP
Wednesday, October 28, 2009:
The sun comes up early here, and several of us had time to sit on our balconies early and watch the Red-necked Pademelons (a type of small kangaroo (macropod)), Crimson Rosellas, Australian King-Parrots, Superb Fairywrens, Satin Bowerbirds and other fauna visible downslope from the lodge. The pademelons are particularly cute when they hop about.
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| Australian King-Parrot | Satin Bowerbird |
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| Crimson Rosella | Superb Fairywren |
The easiest new bird of the day was Regent Bowerbird, which is right at the lodge. We then took the Booyang Walk, quickly finding a couple of Australian Logrunners. The logrunner forages in the leaves in an unusual way, scratching with its legs held out sideways.
A bit further along we found Wonga Pigeon, then Paradise Riflebird. We caught up with Rose Robin along the Tree Top Walk. We then went 2-3 km toward Binna Burra along the Border Track, adding Green Catbird. We were hoping for lyrebird, but had no luck. By the time we returned it was raining heavily, and we took an extended lunch break. We had planned to resume at 2:30, but delayed an hour because of the rain.
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| Crimson Rosella | Eastern Yellow Robin |
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| Australian King-Parrots | Regent Bowerbird |
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| Gray Shrike-thrush | Australian King-Parrot |
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| Large-billed Scrubwren | Australian Brush-Turkey |
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| Satin Bowerbird | Crimson Rosella |
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| Lewin's Honeyeater | |
Conditions were better at 3:30, and we headed down the road to the Phython Rock Track. We kept searching for lyrebird and other new birds, but had to content ourselves with enjoying the rainforest. Eventually, the trail comes to a drier area with Grass Trees (Xanthorrhoea sp.) before reaching the overlook. We got to look down at the area we will travel tomorrow.
It was getting late, so we quickly returned along the trail, coming to an abrupt stop at the road. Why did we stop so abruptly? A Bassian Thursh was foraging on the side of the road. We watched and waited for the tail group to rejoin us. The thrush was still there. We started back up the road with the thrush continuing to work ahead of us. Pretty soon there were 2 of them!.
Trip total—294 species including 266 lifers.
O'Reilly's Rainforest Guesthouse, Lamington National Park