Me and my dad made a trip up to Brisbane in search of the elusive Black-backed Bittern, and although we didn’t see it, we saw some other special birds.

We arrived at Sandy Camp Road Wetlands at around 5:30 am after leaving at 4:00am in the morning. We walked down the first track and almost immediately spotted the first waterbird.

A spectacular male Australasian Darter sat on a tree in the first pond and, although the light was not great, I managed to get an okay result.

A family of cute Comb-crested Jacanas ran across the lilypads. There was 1 adult and 4 chicks.

Another 5 or so birders had gathered around a bunch of reeds, where the bittern had been sighted with its chicks. We were happy with the Plumed Egrets, baby Swamphens and Spotless Crakes.

After around half an hour with no luck on the bittern, we wandered off to explore the other trails.

We spotted a few Sacred Kingfishers flying between trees, and some beautiful Chestnut-breasted Mannikins in the grass.

Tawny Grassbirds were abundant, as were Australian Reed Warblers.

Little Egrets ran around in the shallow water and Variegated Fairywrens did the same in trees.

An Olive-backed Oriole sat on his nest and a group of Rainbow Bee-eaters hawked over the water.

Although I was disappointed to miss the bittern, I had had a very good morning and had seen tons of birds.

We then went to Lytton Claypan, a good spot for Mangrove Honeyeater. We didn’t have any luck, but did manage to spot Pied Stilts and Mangrove Gerygones.

We then went up to Malany to see my grandpa on my dad’s side, and stayed for lunch. A White-headed Pigeon ate fruit in there backyard.

On the way back to Byron, we stopped at Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk (see another recent post), to try and see an Australian Owlet-nightjar that was living in a hollow in a tree. Although we were pointed out the hollow by another birder, no Nightjar came out. We were happy with the common Torresian Kingfoshers and a raucous Grey-crowned Babbler, which I was surprised about.

I would definitely recommend Brisbane for a day trip to do some birding. You don’t have to rush and there are a few birding spots to choose from.