Summary: Terrific high-diversity birding hotspot well located on the Sunshine Coast
Dates of visits: May 16 2021, Nov 4 2022, Aug 20 2023, Dec 3 2023
Finland Road in the suburb of Paradise Waters is a pretty weird spot to be the Sunshine Coast’s #1 eBird hot spot. It brings to mind Cairns Esplanade, another top-tier site that happens to have… not much forest.
Yes, folks, it’s an awesome place to find birds and there’s not many trees!
As the name suggests, you drive up Finland Road (via incredibly easy access from the Sunshine Motorway and David Low Way), and then… scratch your head. There are no signposts or any indication of where the site is. This was pretty confusing at first for me.
Check the photos below. Basically there is a tree-lined dirt road just after the Maintenance Facility (big green shed) on the left (as you drive north) – the dirt road is called Ernst Rd in Google Maps (and note it is further north than the “Finland Rd” eBird hotspot icon). Park not far off the sealed road here and wander in. You’ll likely not be the only birder here!
As you walk in there is a line of trees on the left, where I’ve seen Noisy Friarbirds and Figbirds, to name a couple of species. On the right what looks like just a boring old paddock is actually an ephemeral grassy swamp. Here is where some rarer and skulking water birds are often found, with astonishing likelihood of Latham’s Snipe (except over the winter months), and good chance of Plumed and Wandering Whistling-Ducks, as well as various Ibis, Herons, Egrets and Spoonbills.
Walking to the west, deeper into the site, one finds a canal-like waterway which borders the golf course to the west. Here is where you’re likely to find plenty of water birds, including Pelicans, Cormorants, Grebes, Swamphens and many more. With the morning sun behind and the lack of any obstructions to cast shade, the light here is usually fantastic for photography.
On my Aug 20 2023 visit, I happened across some Comb-Crested Jacanas on the lily pads on the edge of this waterway. The jacanas were still present for my Dec 3 2023 visit, and on closer inspection one of the birds had young ones hiding out under its wings – you can just see the claws poking out!
The corner where the fence curls around to the north is where you get a good sense of the site, and it is well worth lingering all along the fence line, even if it seems unexciting at first. Keep looking up too because there are plenty of opportunities to spot birds flying over – Black Cockatoos being a notable example – and raptors too.
Speaking of raptors, finding a Black-Shouldered Kite is almost a given here, and there are very good chances of Black Kite, Whistling Kite, Swamp Harrier and Spotted Harrier.
On my Dec 3 2023 visit I was graced by a Black-Shouldered Kite who landed on some of the rusty farm equipment. The bird let me creep close to nab some photos and a video. It was one of those moments when you fall in love with a species all over again (oh! those red eyes!)
If the Ernst Rd paddock/fence line site isn’t serving up raptors, you can also try further up Finland Road.
Looking across the water at the edge of the golf course can be quite productive for bird spotting, if somewhat frustrating that there’s no possibility of getting closer to whatever you might find. I suppose you could always do a round of golf and work in some sneaky birding on the side…
One of the very obvious species of smaller bird near the fence line area are Fairy Martins. It is not unusual to see many dozens of them swarming around, landing on the fence or the reeds, or harvesting mud for nests from wherever is muddy enough to do so.
This is one of the best and most reliable sites I know of to find and photograph Fairy Martins – though note there are often a few Tree Martins mixed in too. I think they may build their nests under the eaves of the pagoda across the water on the golf course.
I made a specific visit to Finland Rd in August 2023 to try and video the Fairy Martins as a new species to add to the growing roster of Australian bird videos on the Bird Spots YouTube channel. Oh boy did the birds show up for the party that day!
Other small and charming birds around the fence line include Golden-Headed Cisticola (expected with all the grass around), and Reed Warblers (also expected due to the reeds lining the canal). In fact this is a great site for photographing the sometimes-difficult Reed Warbler; I am not the only one to get nice clear shots of this bird from this location (did I also mention the amazing morning light?!?)
Cuckoo species are also well represented at Finland Rd, with notable chance of Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo (in summer) and Pallid Cuckoo (also summer); there are even a few records of Oriental Cuckoos. My Pallid Cuckoo encounter here was spotting one on the power line running along Finland Road on Dec 3 2023. Talk about being out in the open!
You can walk the entire perimeter (around a kilometre in total) of the main site (shaded in yellow in the map above), though parts might be boggy after rain.
Further up Finland Rd (as you drive north) there are plenty of open fields to the left, and on the right just before the small Finnish Memorial Park, a side road that leads to the local wastewater plant. Along here are dense stands of stringybarks and a short track near the end. It is hard to generalise about what you might see here (Eastern Yellow Robin does come to mind…) but it certainly will be a different experience to the more open areas.
There is more opportunity for birding as you go further north but it all tends to be of the roadside variety.
Summary
The main Finland Rd site described here, despite its unassuming (some might say, downright obscure) nature, is an exceptional location for birding and a must-visit when in the Sunshine Coast. Due to its openness and hence photography/birding-friendly morning light it makes a great spot for a very early stop before other more forested sites become light enough. Diversity here is great with your attention taken up by water birds, raptors, bush birds and grass birds. There was even a quite active “Friends of Finland Road” Facebook group but that seems to have disappeared now. You’ll likely be drawn into a bird-focused conversation with an expert local as I was a few times; it is certainly nice that some folks know and appreciate this site and its birds deeply.
eBird:
Hotspot: Finland Rd, Paradise Waters (220 species)
Checklists for these visits: Nov 4 2022 (25 species)
Bird Spots videos from this location: Black-Shouldered Kite, Pallid Cuckoo
Pluses and Minuses:
+ Large diversity of birds with water birds, bush birds and raptors all well represented
+ Open area with fantastic early morning light
+ Stunning bird encounters are very possible
+/- Compact site
– Can get muddy
– No facilities or signs
AUTHOR: ANDY GEE
BIRDERS: ANDY GEE, K-A
Bird Spots 
Look at all of those beauties. Great post, Andy.
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