Mangrove Honeyeater (photo by Gail Bryant)
In May we had planned to travel, with some local cricketers, to Sri Lanka but in late April a major bombing incident occurred which gave us a lot of concern. In the end we withdrew from the trip. Our disappointment in not travelling to Sri Lanka was replaced by a birding trip with the aim of finding four species that we needed to video and photograph. Gail required photographs of Rose Robin, Mangrove Honeyeater, Mangrove Gerygone and Brown Gerygone. I needed more video of the first three and Brown Gerygone would have been a new species for me.
We started at Dorrigo, where Gail was able to take photos of
Brown Gerygone
but they were just too quick for me to obtain any useful video. Dorrigo is not that far from home so I am hopeful that one day I will be lucky enough. Perseverance required!
Our next stop was Alstonville where I was able to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mum. After a couple of days we travelled to the Wynnum area of Brisbane where I had seen Mangrove Gerygone a few years earlier. We were luck enough to photograph and video
Mangrove Gerygone
Mangrove Honeyeater
at the Wynnum Wetland birdhide.
Our next stop was Clear Mountain north-west of the centre of Brisbane. Here we looked for
Rose Robin
at various locations. Gail was successful but my biggest disappointment of the trip occurred when a colourful male sat on a branch for a considerable time but my camera refused to focus well enough to obtain any more useful video. It could have been the user I guess but I’m blaming the camera and poor lighting conditions.
We then travelled to Gatton where Gail’s brother lives and then we made our way home. So Gail finished with four out of four of our targets and I improved on two species.