Weather
Report
The
first week was dry apart from 5mm of rain which fell over two days,
the second week was dry and sunny. Temperatures ranged from a cold
low of 9ºC up to 22ºC, very pleasant and great birding weather.
Last
Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-
These
can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 29th
June - 5th July
and 6th
- 12th July
The first week has 95 sightings and the second week 104.
Birding
Highlights:-
McDougall
Road lagoons produced a few waterbirds; Wandering Whistling-Duck,
Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, Hardhead, Australasian
Grebe, Little Black and Little-Pied Cormorant plus Intermediate and
Great Egret plus Royal Spoonbill. Waterbirds flying over included
White-necked and White-faced Heron along with Australian Pelican. One
of the best sightings for the week was a Great-billed Heron along
Bushy Creek at the Platypus viewing area seen mid-morning whilst a
group was on a morning walk. There are some Great-billed Heron
nesting along Rifle Creek which is where Bushy Creek flows into. We
usually get a few sightings from this time of year through to
October/November. Two immature Black-shouldered Kite were in the area
and must have nested nearby. A Wedge-tailed Eagle was seen both weeks
and must have been drawn in by the large number of road kills we are
experiencing at the moment. Our two regular White-bellied Sea-Eagles
have been getting excited and are calling a lot and flying around as
well as being seen perched together in a dead tree. A Red-necked
Crake was heard once but again not seen unlike a Buff-banded Rail
which was seen near the Mt. Kooyong Nursing Home.
 |
| Buff-banded Rail |
The only sighting
of Topknot Pigeon was made by our neighbouring bird guide Carol
Iles when she saw ten flying over Mt. Kooyong Road and the Lodge.
There has been a shortage of this species so far this year.
Fan-tailed Cuckoo was around for the first week calling but not heard
or seen during the second week. Nightbirds seen have been two Barn
Owl who have at least two young in a nest, two Barking Owl who were
being chased off by a Spangled Drongo one evening and three Papuan
Frogmouth plus a Lesser Sooty Owl called about one o'clock but has
not been seen. Little Kingfisher was another highlight over the two
weeks when it made at least two visits to the Crake Pool on the edge
of the orchard. Since we have managed to get into the orchard to mow
the grass, now that it has dried out, a Noisy Pitta has said thank
you very much! It has been out everyday hopping around the orchard
foraging for everyone to see and photograph. One morning we stood in
the orchard and watched the pitta foraging with a Grey-headed Robin
on the ground whilst a Spotted Catbird and adult female Victoria's
Riflebird were foraging on the fruit of a Spondias. How good was
that?
 |
| Spotted Catbird |
Fourteen species of honeyeater were seen with three
Black-chinned Honeyeater (Golden-backed form) seen on the 8th
during a morning walk being the highlight. Macleay's Honeyeater have
not been coming to the feeder so often since a South American Sapote
tree in our orchard has started to flower and attract them.
 |
| Macleay's Honeyeater |
Large-billed Scrubwren have been involved in a few feeding party's in
the rainforest which have also included Little (Rufous)
Shrike-thrush, Grey Whistler, Rufous Fantail and Spectacled Monarch.
 |
| Large-billed Scrubwren |
At least two Bower's Shrike-thrush were foraging high in the rainforest on the edge of the orchard one morning. This one is a female, note bi-colour bill as mentioned in our blog of a few weeks ago. Not a particularly good image but the bird would not come down, however it does show the bill.
 |
| Bower's Shrike-thrush |
Their are still a few Spangled Drongo around, one who we think always comes back to our feeder each year, hard to be sure as they all look the same!
 |
| Spangled Drongo |
Lemon-bellied
Flycatcher are still around Geraghty Park adjacent to the Lodge with
at least four seen and heard. A surprise whilst on a morning walk was
to see two Chestnut-breasted Mannikin perched on the rail around the
Geraghty Park oval with five Rainbow Bee-eater.
Further
Afield:-
Blue-faced Parrot-finch have been seen irregularly near Abattoir Swamp with only one or two birds. Black-throated Finch have been further north along the Kondaparinga Road towards Hurricane Station. Mt. Lewis has been running hot and cold but is still turning up most of the Wet Tropic endemics including Tooth-billed Bowerbird, female Golden Bowerbird, Fernwren, Atherton Scrubwren, Mountain Thornbill, Bridled Honeyeater, Chowchilla, Bower's Shrike-thrush, Victoria;s Riflebird and Grey-headed Robin. Lower down the mountain Pied Monarch and Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo were seen. A Green-eyed Frog Litoria serrata was also seen by one of our guests, this is one species we don't get on the Lodge grounds.
Reptiles
and Mammals:-
Fawn-footed
Melomy's, Yellow-footed Antichinus and Bush Rat have been around the
Lodge and at the feeder near reception along with two Northern Brown
Bandicoot. Two Agile Wallaby were in the orchard one night in place
of the Red-legged Pdemelon which had retreated to the rainforest. A
Giant White-tailed Rat was seen on a night walk climbing up and down
some vines beside Bushy Creek. A few more Northern Brown Bandicoot
are being seen with at least four whilst we were on a nightwalk. A
Striped Possum was feeding in the orchard along with a second one on
the edge of the orchard chewing into a dead tree. The second photo (a male!) shows the elongated 4th finger they use to extract wood boring grubs out of dead wood after they have chewed a hole with their lower incisors; the only other animal species is known to find food like this is the Aye-aye from Madagascar.
 |
| Striped Possum |
 |
| Striped Possum - showing elongated 4th finger |
Frogs have
retreated with the dry cooler weather with only Jungguy Frog,
White-lipped Tree Frog, Desert (Red/Naked) Tree Frog, Dainty Green
Tree Frog and Cane Toad. Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko have been found
on our nightwalks in several places and our neighbours Carol and
Andrew Iles had a large Carpet Python at their place which was one of
the few snakes we have seen in a while.
Insects:-
This Australian House Centipede Allothereua maculata was found on the rainforest floor and although they are supposed to be common this is the first we have seen in the Lodge grounds. They have 15 pairs of legs and run extremely quickly, this one was put into a container to get a photo before being released.
 |
| Australian House Centipede |
Thanks
to our guests for reporting sightings and to Carol
and Andrew Iles our roving bird guides.
For
Sale:-
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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