Koalas, Kangaroos, and Kookaburras

I think that sounds better than "Ticks and Leaches." More on this disgusting part later...

It's been three weeks in the land down under, and it been a real enjoyable trip all around. The first five days in Brisbane were a nice change from Maine and New York. Ocean breezes, River views. And lots of parklands nearby to go leisure birdng. Oh, and the 85 degree weather is nice too.

Two of the crew were already there when I arrived. We met up the morning I flew in, and I managed to survive most of that day...but I collapsed sometime in the afternoon after a brief birding excursion. The next day we were all rip roaring ready to go, and went out, you guessed it, birding again.

Even the common birds are nice and exotic! Those first few days had a quite a few new birds for me (I am much farther south than my last trip here). I also saw some familiar friends, like the rainbow lorikeets and the Laughing Kookaburra (you did know that was a bird, right?). I never get tired of their call.

By the 13th of October, 5 of the 6 of us had met up in Brisbane, so we had a last hurrah and did a day trip to birdwatch and koala watch. And yes, I have seen a wild koala! We also managed to see a Tawny Frogmouth, as well as the Variegated Fairy Wren, among other new birds. It was a great way to spend our last day in Brisbane. This day ended with us all going out to eat dinner and ice cream too, knowing it would be our last chance till near Christmas (Chrissy, here). Then it was off to Wallaby Creek on the 14th...

Our two weeks up here have had lots of fun things, and some not so thrilling things. Ticks, for one. Leeches, for two. At least the both of these itch...so one finds them soon enough. Removal is another thing.

The Bowerbirds, Kangaroos, and Joeys make up for that, though. I pass a mob of Kangaroos twice a day on my bower route. And it's always fun to see the unusual things some of these birds collect for their bowers. I have found a cow ear tag, legos, clothespins, candy wrappers, pens, and other man made objects, in addition to the natural objects like feathers, snail shells, and flowers.

The other advantage of my route walk is getting very fit and well prepared for future backpacking (tramping) in New Zealand. Carrying an 8 kg (17 pound) battery (sometimes 2) up a hill nearly every day sure helps build leg muscles rapidly. yesterday was the first day I noticed a difference in fitness...I felt like I was flying up the hills without the batteries.

Not much else new to report. No pictures to be posted anytime soon - our connection is slow, and I am one of seven needing to use this thing today. I have plenty of photos though, including the aforementioned Koalas, Kangaroos and Joeys, and Kookaburras. And today I got good shots of the wedge-tailed eagle.

The best things so far? It's a toss up, but the Fairy-wrens on our front porch rank up there. And the Rosellas (parrots) seem more vivid and colorful than anything I saw in Costa Rica or Ecuador - including the Scarlet Macaws. Though they don't quite match the hummingbirds.

World bird list update. I have seen about 40 new species of bird so far this trip. There are plenty more "common" birds I haven't gotten yet...I expect once I start some bird blind watches, I should see them. I should not have a problem reaching the goal of 1200 for this trip. The best life birds are the two fairy wren species, and the rosellas.