15th June 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The first week was drizzle and overcast with 8.5mm of rain over 4 days, the other three days were overcast with misty rain which did not even register in the rain gauge. The second week was raining every day with a total of 107.5mm making it very wet and boggy underfoot. Not the sort of weather we expect at this time of year, luckily the sun did appear for a few hours at the end of the second week. So after five weeks of this drizzle and rain we have had enough!

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 1st - 7th June and 8th - 14th June

Birding Highlights:-

Waterfowl have been scarce around the Lodge with only the usual Pacific Black Duck and a few Wandering Whistling-Duck plus a couple of Australasian Grebe. Carol Iles our resident neighbouring bird guide reported two Australian Pelican flying over McDougall Road, which is quite unusual. Other waterbirds included Great, Intermediate and Cattle Egret, White-faced Heron, Australian White and Straw-necked Ibis and Royal Spoonbill. A few raptors have been around in small numbers, those seen were Black-shouldered Kite, Brown Goshawk, Black and Whistling Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Brown Falcon. 

 

Black Kite

Cuckoos seen were Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Shining Bronze-Cuckoo which was the first around here for the year and Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo. Night birds seen were Barn Owl, Barking Owl and Papuan Frogmouth. Scaly-breasted Lorikeet numbers increased as the Queensland Blue Gum started to flower and a pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen at a nest site, the female doing all the excavations in the tree branch. Spotted Catbird has been a regular at the banana feeder along with Lewin's, Yellow-spotted and Macleay's Honeyeater who have all been finding it hard to find food in the rainy conditions. Other interesting honeyeaters seen in the 14 species recorded were Bridled, Black-chinned and Noisy Friarbird. Large-billed Scrubwren are resident at the Lodge and can be found in small family groups foraging in the rainforests, often hopping up vines. This one was taking advantage of a fallen tree, which had a hollow filled with water in it, to have a bath. 

Large-billed Scrubwren

Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and seen usually high up in the rainforest canopy with occasional sightings lower down. The only Black Butcherbird we saw was a brown immature bird in Geraghty Park foraging on the ground. A few Barred Cuckoo-shrike were around the first week but disappeared in the second, they are very nomadic. Australasian Figbird have been finding plenty to eat around the Lodge grounds with over 100 in the orchard one morning. Northern Fantail have joined the Rufous and Grey Fantails flitting around the Lodge in search of insects. Both Spectacled and Pied Monarch have been active, calling and foraging. A male Leaden Flycatcher seen in Geraghty Park was the only one seen over the two weeks, no sign of any females. The pair of female Victoria's Riflebird reported in the last blog are still getting around the Lodge together and also calling. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been foraging in Geraghty Park with three seen on one morning walk, they come and go quite regularly from our area. 

 

Lemon-bellied Flycatcher

Mistletoebird have been very active especially the males, we saw one consuming a mistletoe fruit in Geraghty Park, another foraging near the Lodge entrance and two in our neighbours garden. Australasian Pipit have been foraging around the very wet and soggy cane paddocks.

Further Afield:-

Several Lesser Sootyowl have been seen on Mt. Lewis over the past two weeks. Golden Bowerbird has also been seen here but only juveniles of females, no males sighted. Lake Mitchell between Mt. Molloy and Mareeba has been good for Cotton Pygmy-goose with a few sightings in amongst the Green Pygmy-goose. Squatter Pigeon have been seen in the township of Mt. Molloy, not far from the main street.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

We did manage a night walk on the only dry night of the past week which was well worth the effort. We saw Two Barn Owl, two Red-legged Pademelon, two Bush Rat, three Leaf-tailed Gecko, all in new locations, two Striped Possum – both heard, but only one seen, several Spectacled Flying-fox, Giant White-tailed Rat, five species of frog – Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Desert (Red) Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog. They liked the wet weather. 

 

Dainty Green Tree Frog

Other mammals seen included Fawn-footed Melomys and Agile Wallaby, other reptiles recorded included Boyd's Forest Dragon and Eastern Water Dragon.

One of our guests photographed this bat which we think is a Little Bentwing Bat but cannot be sure. The other common microbat around here is a Northern Broad-nosed Bat. Maybe there is someone more experience with bats has a better idea? If so please leave a comment.

Unknown Bat

Thanks to Carol and Andrew Iles for their sightings contributions. If you need any bird guiding contact Carol and Andrew.

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Canon EOS 7D body + EF 100-400mm Lens. All in excellent condition with original boxes, Instruction manual. Great bird photography outfit - have upgraded. Only $1600.00 plus P & P. Email interest

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