Birding Tin Can Bay, Queensland

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Tara

Tin Can Bay, Queensland is the gateway to Fraser Island (which is an adventure unto itself) but you don’t need to leave the mainland to find some good birding. It’s a 3 hour drive from Brisbane so you should spend at least 1 night here to maximize birding time either in a holiday park/campground, hotel or backpacker lodge.

We started the morning looking for Shorebirds at Cooloola Foreshores arriving around 7:30am. We were greeted by a Whistling Kite in the car park at Mullen’s Creek.

I’m the first to admit that Shorebirds are not my area of expertise but it was still interesting to look for them. Some of them make huge journeys from Asia & North America to spend winter (Aussie summer) in the warmer climates. More information can be found on Birds Queensland & Birdlife Australia. My photos aren’t good enough to represent the individual species as the tide was out pretty far and I wasn’t up to wading out there. We did get a repsectable bird list for the area with sightings of: White-faced Heron (that’s the one near the boat), Whistling Kite, White-belied Sea-Eagle, Godwit, Pacific Golden Plover, Red-capped Plover, Greater & Lesser Sand Plover, Whimberel, Eastern Curlew, Red-necked Stint, Gull-bill Tern, Little Tern, Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Leeuwin’s Honey-eater, Golden Whistler & Peaceful Dove.

Next we moved on to the Tin Can Bay Foreshore Bird Walk. It was getting hotter by now so I only visited a couple areas but still managed to see two lifers – Mangrove Honey-eater & Collared Kingfisher via a fellow birder’s scope. There were also some more common species such as a Pelican being chased by a Whistling Kite, Masked Lapwings, Noisy Friarbirds. Closer to the picnic area we found Galahs, Rainbow Lorikeets, Magpies and a very handsome Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike.

Lodge Review: Rainbow Waters Holiday Park

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Tara

Rainbow Waters Holiday Park is typical of most Australian holiday parks in offering all kinds of accommodation options from campsites for a tent to furnished cabins so there is something for everyone. It’s located a couple km from the small town of Rainbow Beach next to the boat ramp in the the Great Sandy Straits.

This is the cheapest option to get a roof over our head if you don’t have a caravan – a park cabin. They have a mini-kitchen, a double bed and 2 bunks and use the common bath/toilet facilities in the yellow building you can see just behind it.

This lovely little Crested Pigeon has some kind of injury. He was hanging around one of the other cabins for our birding group. I hope he’s OK, I always feel protective of birds like this.

We walked down to the boat ramp area to see if there were any shorebirds about. The restaurant wasn’t open so a good thing we brought our own food to BBQ!

Sacred Kingfisher – I love the flash of blue when they fly!

Masked Lapwings were everywhere.

Woodswallows.

Look closely to see the chicks of this Masked Lapwing.

Walking back, here is the other side of the common building that houses the bathrooms & laundry room.

The camp kitchen has 2 gas BBQs with flat cooking areas, not grills, a fridge, a pizza oven and a couple burners.

Bush Stone-Curlews hanging around the tent area.

Parent Magpie teaches youngster how to steal chips from visitors!

A bush turkey, confident with Thanksgiving being over forages very close to the kitchen.

Showing the bush setting of the camp. We also saw some Galahs, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and a few birds I didn’t see clearly enough to id.

If you stay here, bring heavy duty mosquito repellent such as Bushman Plus 20% deet as the midges are a huge problem here. They aren’t so active when there is a breeze about but the minute it dies down, they attack! I advise bringing your own food – stock up in Gympie if you have to or better yet, Brisbane. They don’t have wifi but you can get a reasonable cell phone signal, otherwise you have to drive to Rainbow Beach and visit a cafe. It’s a good location if you want to bird in the general area of Cooloola Cove & Tin Can Bay.

Using Singapore Krisflyer Miles

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Tara

Singapore Airlines (one of my recommended programs) has prepared some nice how-to videos on how to book a flight with Krisflyer miles. There are 2 options – redeeming an award or using miles + cash. If you want to use Krisflyer for partner awards, you have to call them as these aren’t bookable online.

REDEEMING AN AWARD

Keep an eye on the taxes & surcharges. Business class is a better value if you have to pay taxes anyway.

MILES PLUS CASH

If I didn’t have enough to book the award, I would have only used the 20k that were expiring as this isn’t the best use of miles.

Birding North Of The Sunshine Coast, Australia

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Tara

This last weekend I joined a Birds Queensland weekend camp to Rainbow Beach which is located just north of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. It’s an easy 3 hour drive north of Brisbane. I recommend refueling in Gympie as prices are cheaper there.

We birded 3 main areas each with different specialty birds which I will be going into detail in separate posts. They are marked in red on the map below.

Rainbow Waters Caravan Park (nice variety of birds in the grounds but beware of midges)!
Tin Can Bay Foreshore (good for waders & shore birds)
Noosa Plains ( Ground Parrot area near Cooloola Cove)
Inskip Point (another shore bird area with some forest species)

I chose to join this camp because of the Eastern Ground Parrots. Even though they are difficult to see unless you flush one out, you can still hear them calling at dusk and dawn. Stand by for detailed posts on all these areas with photos!

How Eco-tourism Benefits Indigenous People In Peru

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Tara

Just a little reminder of why eco-tourism is so important to the indigenous people really anywhere we travel. This article originally published by Peru For Less shows how the Ese Eja people in the Tambopata area of Peru have been exploited and cheated by large companies but how they are benefit by eco-lodges such as Refugio Amazonas. I was lucky enough to visit there in 2007 and hope to go back someday.

Holiday Gifts That Help Conservation

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Tara

Looking for that perfect gift for someone who loves birds and wants to help conserve them in the wild? Here’s a few options that have beautiful bird themed gifts online!

Orange-bellied Parrot T-Shirts

New book: Parrots of the Wild

World Parrot Trust Calendar

Birdlife Australia Calendar

Virtual Adoption of a Kakapo

If you happen to be out in the field birding, keep an eye out for handicrafts made by local people. Sometimes you find them in lodges, sometimes in markets or souvenir shops. Make sure they are made in the local area to maximize the profit to the local community. These Kuna women are making molas and selling them at the craft market in Panama.

In Peru, you can buy arpilleras at the craft shop in the Puerto Maldonado airport. But don’t worry if you can’t make it to Peru, the World Parrot Trust also has some for sale!

Me – A Typical Female Airline Miles User?

Posted on December 5, 2015 by Tara

I had to laugh at this article. Men may be from Mars but they have very definite attitudes on how to use – or should I say NOT use airline miles. According to the article (written by a man), men don’t like to spend their miles, they value the status more than the redeemable miles and they take big pride in having a huge number of miles in their accounts.

Women, on the other hand, adopt a smarter, more pragmatic approach, which usually involves setting a mileage goal for a future free trip, and cashing in the instant it’s reached. These behaviors, he told me, are so entrenched that the airlines’ programs all but rely on them for viability: were men to adopt the same tactic and flood the system with those gigantic unspent balances, many programs would implode.

Well that’s me in a nutshell. I do save for specific goals, I track my progress on a spreadsheet and once I get enough miles (and enough cash for non-miles/points expenses) I cash them in and start all over again!

You can’t take them with you, they depreciate over time so use your miles wisely and enjoy your travels!

See full article on Conde Nast Traveler.

Birding Competition In Israel

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Tara

There seems to be a lot of birding competitions springing up around the world. I have previously posted about one in Peru. This one in Israel is in its second year and is drawing contestants from all over the world. I was especially pleased to see the funds raised by the competition go to support conservation!

James Currie (who has the best job in the world) hosts the Birding Adventure series.

They also have a more traditional birding excursion video for those who are not so competitive!

Over A MIllion Birds Counted – 2015 Aussie Backyard Bird Count

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Tara

Just a few weeks ago, I was one of the participants in the 2015 Aussie Backyard Bird Count. The results are in and they are amazing!

I got 7 out of the Top Ten birds Australia wide and all of the 1st three!

Rainbow Lorikeet
Noisy Miner
Australian Magpie Find out who made the list on the Aussie Backyard Bird Count site and see if your favourites are there!

Mark your calendars for next year – 17-23 October 2016.

You can download the 2015 results here

You can download species list for Australia here

Convert Your Points To Etihad & Get 25% Bonus Guest Miles

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Tara

From now until the end of December, Etihad is offering a 25% bonus when you convert points from partners such as credit cards, hotels and shopping programs to Etihad Guest Miles.

That’s 25% more towards that upgrade, free flight or a special something from their Reward Shop. To convert your points, call your bank, hotel or loyalty program’s customer service centre or visit their website. Click here to see the full list of programmes and more details on how to convert your points.

Aussies will be especially pleased that Flybuys is listed under the Retail tab so for this next month you will get 5000 Etihad for every block of 10,000 Flybuys.

Complete T&C’s

I recently did a complete review of the Etihad Guest Program but I do want to remind you that Etihad has a hard expiration date 2 years after miles are earned. You CANNOT extend the expiration by any means so don’t transfer your partner points unless you are sure you will be using them before Dec 2017. This means that I can’t participate this time as I don’t have a use for them within these 2 years but it’s a great deal otherwise so I hope they offer this deal at least once a year!

Miles To The Wild

Create unforgettable eco-tourism and birding adventures using miles & points!

Monthly Archives: December 2015