Pacific Baza at Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve

On any day a walk through the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve at Highfields is an enjoyable one for those interested in native birds and animals.  On this occasion I witnessed the panicked sound of alarm from the birds which is a tell-tale sign of a bird of prey in the area.  Sure enough before I knew it, I saw a Pacific Baza (aka Crested Hawk) flying low through the thick trees of the reserve - it was a spectacular sight.  Unfortunately I couldn't focus enough on the baza when it was flying as it was too quick (or I was too slow) but I managed a partly obscured picture of it when perched.  The Pacific Baza's favourite food is large insects, however it will eat fruits also, so it really wasn't a threat to the smaller birds in the reserve!

A Pacific Baza was also recently seen during the visit of Pat and Kath from the Toowoomba Bird Observers when they compiled a bird list for the reserve in January.

Along with the Pacific Baza, many other birds were witnessed during the short walk through the reserve and some of the ones seen are captured in these photos below including a juvenile Laughing Kookaburra and a Juvenile Pheasant Coucal and some cheeky Rainbow Lorikeets checking out a hollow in a large gum tree.

I would like to encourage any birders to submit their bird sightings and observations from their visits to the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve to the Eremaea eBird website for recording.  This site is managed by Birdlife Australia and can be found at: http://ebird.org/content/australia/ and is a great resource for collecting data on what birds live in the area.

Pacific Baza (Crested Hawk) at Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve, Highfields.

This super-cute juvenile Laughing Kookaburra was witnessed high in a gum tree at the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve practicing his laugh.  He would make his little attempt at the laugh, then his parents who were perched close by would show him how it was done.. it was a lovely sight and sound.

Rainbow Lorikeets checking out a hollow in a large gum tree at the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve

White-browed Scrub Wren camouflaging well at the Charles and Motee Rogers Bushland Reserve

A very scruffy looking juvenile Pheasant Coucal playing hard to photograph at the Reserve

UPDATE:  There are less than 6 days left to save this bushland reserve please help by finding out more here: What can we do to help?

PROUDLY PARTICIPATING IN WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY