Day 2, Maroochydore to Airlie Beach
Photo: Passing Rainbow Beach
The Narrows - patterns in the mudflats near Curtis Island north of Gladstone
Survey details
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Date
Wednesday 30 September 2026
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Author
John Porter
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Project
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Observers
John Porter (NSW DCCEEW), Heath Dunstan
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Pilot
Thomas Clark
Arriving at Maroochydore Airport, we found the sky was overcast, and showers threatened our visibility in the North.
Despite this, we set our sights on some reservoirs west of Maroochydore before heading back to the coast to count on Lake Weyba and the Noosa River.
The reservoirs had low to moderate numbers of Black Ducks, Coots, Cormorants, Egrets and Darters.
As anticipated, there were low numbers of waterbirds on Lake Weyba and the heavily urbanised Noosa River – mainly Silver Gulls, Terns, Cormorants and Pelicans.
Mouth of Littabella Creek
Continuing over the Great Sandy Straight and north past Fraser Island our next survey sites included Littabella and Baffle creeks.
We counted mainly Pelicans, Egrets, Cormorants and Terns in low numbers.
After refuelling at Gladstone we had a short delay while we waited for approval to enter restricted airspace and survey our sites west of Shoalwater Bay. These include floodplain wetlands along Herbert Creek and the Styx River which can sometimes support large numbers of waterbirds and high species diversity. Our approval given we headed out and found moderate numbers of waterbirds – mostly Black Duck, Grey Teal, Egrets, Stilts, Black Swans, Ibis, Herons and Darters, with lower numbers of Hardhead, Wood Duck and a few Burdekin Ducks and Black-necked Storks (Jabirus)
The narrows mudflats
Our last destination for the day was some reservoirs and floodplain wetlands south of Proserpine (Goorganga plains). We found plenty of action on these wetlands, with thousands of Black Ducks, Magpie Geese, Grey Teal, Hardheads and Cormorants and hundreds of Pygmy Geese, Darters, Cormorants, Glossy Ibis, Stilts, Ibis, Herons, Coots and Spoonbills. It’s always spectacular to see large flocks of waterbirds wheeling through the air over these stunning wetlands and a great way to finish the days counting.
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