14th December Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

14th December 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

At last some rain to report, a big storm dumped 61mm on one day plus a further 16mm on 4 days. A few more storms have been in the area but seemed to miss us. Humidity was up to 95% with lots of sunshine and temperatures reached 33ºc on one day but generally lower with the cloud cover and passing storms.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 30th November - 6th December and 7th- 13th December The first week had 107 species recorded  and the second week 99.

Birding Highlights:-

A first for our 1.5km reporting area was a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper reported by Carol Iles our roaming bird guide. Carol saw it in one of the McDougall Road lagoons. The McDougall Road lagoons are on private properties and viewed from the road, they have had quite a few good waterbirds on them over the past two weeks. These were, 38 Magpie Goose, 8 Wandering Whistling-Duck, Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, 2 Australasian Grebe, Little Black and Pied Cormorant, Australasian Darter, 2 Australian Pelican, Great, Intermediate and Cattle Egret, 1 White-faced Heron, 1 Glossy Ibis, Australian White Ibis, Royal Spoonbill, 1 White-browed Crake and 1 Comb-crested Jacana. Good selection of waterbirds. A few more raptors have been around these past two weeks with Spotted Harrier, Collared Sparrow Hawk, Black and Whistling Kite plus 2 White-bellied Sea-Eagle. Red-necked Crake are continuing to appear at the Crake Pool in the afternoon, usually between 5.30 and 6.30, where It has been bathing. We say it as we have only seen one at a time. Pale-vented Bush-hen has only been heard over the last week a few times and that was in the distance down stream from the Lodge along Bushy Creek. One pair of Bush Stone-curlew have one off spring and have been keeping quiet over the last month. 

Bush Stone-curlew - adult and juvenile

 

At least six Wompoo Fruit-Dove have been around as has a similar number of Superb Fruit-Dove but they are much more difficult to see than the wompoo. 

Superb Fruit-Dove - male

Topknot Pigeon have disappeared over the last week and the numbers of Pied Imperial-Pigeon have also dropped. Brush Cuckoo are in full song, triggered by the oncoming rain showers and both the Australian Koel and Pheasant Coucal have been calling.

Lesser Sooty Owl have again been around but not every night but when they have been here they are calling and showing well. There is a pair which hopefully will stay around and breed in the area next year. Also Barn Owl and Barking Owl have been heard and seen. Our pair of Papuan Frogmouth who have been sitting on a nest since 10^th October have abandoned it about a week ago with not sign of any egg having been hatched. It is the first time that this pair have tried to nest in the Lodge grounds so maybe inexperienced, certainly judging by their unconventional nest which had some very large branches in it. Normally their nests are made of not many small twigs, similar to a pigeons nest. The good news is that another pair in the area now have a quite sizable chick. They started sitting on the 4^th October, incubation time is 40 days and the time up to the 14^th December must make the chick about 25 days old. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have started to dig out their nests in the termite mounds on the rainforest floor and have been showing well, perching for the photographers. We have not checked out all the 40+ termite mounds on the property yet but at least 4 mounds have been dug. Last year we had 8 pairs nesting, hopefully we have at least this number this year. 

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

Now that the Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have finished nesting they have become hard to see with only a few observed flying over. At least one pair of Noisy Pitta are in the Lodge grounds and are being seen usually early morning. One bird was seen carrying nesting material. Lovely Fairy-wren visited our neighbours bird bath one day, lucky them. 13 species of honeyeater were recorded with a Helmeted Friarbird being the most unusual. Brown-backed Honeyeater were seen nesting in Geraghty Park. Yellow-breasted Boatbill and Pied Monarch have been calling and seen but the monarch has been proving more elusive than the boatbill. Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been calling and a few have been nest building. Common Cicadabird have also been vocal and Australasian Figbird have been sitting in nests. No sightings of Black-faced Monarch nests yet but they have been calling a lot, probably waiting for more rain to fall. Pale-yellow Robin are still nesting and posing for photographs. This one was taken to see how good the Canon EOS 7D MKII is at handling high ISO and was taken at 3200 ISO, not to bad for noise at this size and crop. It is certainly way ahead of the original 7D which showed lots of noise about 800 -1000 ISO.

Pale-yellow Robin

Metallic Starling are also continuing to add to their colonial nests with more adults and juvenile birds joining in at their colony. Olive-backed Sunbird are also nesting, hope this nest is successful after their last one failed.

Further Afield:-

A very strange sighting of an Australian Brush-turkey with a purple collar was had on Mt. Lewis, the report is on the Eremaea Birds site  with a very fuzzy image.

http://www.eremaea.com/BirdlineRecentSightings.aspx?Birdline=5 . It is possibly the Cape York race 'purpureicollis' which only occur as far south as Shiptons Flat (just south of Cooktown). There is some conjecture as to how this bird arrived this far south, it has been suggested that it was released here or walked across the mountain ranges as they are not good fliers. I guess we will never know. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch is on most guests wants list at this time of year and usually they are not too much of a problem, however, this year has been very dry and grass growth has been retarded with no seeding as yet. Mt. Lewis is the favourite place to look but so far this season the little finches have been hard to find. Four is the most seen at any one time but 1-2 has been the normal when they are present. There has been few sightings over the last month with only one seen occasionally except on the 13^th December when two were seen early in the morning (before 7.00am) at the 10km clearing on Mt. Lewis. Hopefully the start of some rain will encourage the grasses to grow and start seeding. Also at the 10km clearing a pair of Barred Cuckoo-shrike were building a nest. Spotted Whistling-Duck have been in the news for our region lately with sightings at Wongaling Beach, near Mission Beach south of Cairns, Keatings Lagoon near Cooktown, 10 at Cattana Wetlands in Cairns and at least 6 reported by Murray Hunt, who runs Daintree Boatman Nature Tours, at a lagoon alongside the Daintree River. 

 

Spotted Whistling-Duck

A Wedge-tailed Eagle was seen at Abattoir Swamp, an uncommon visitor.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

A Short-beaked Echidna was seen in the Lodge grounds one night, the first for about six months. They have not been seen much this year with only 3-4 sightings. Frogs have been out enjoying the humid conditions with Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog Roth's (Laughing)Tree Frog, Desert (Red or Naked)Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog all seen plus Green Tree Frog heard. Our Platypus have been performing in Bushy Creek even when the level rose and it became muddy for a while after the 61mm of rain we had. An Australian Scrub Python was seen a couple of times but no other snakes were seen.

Spiders:-

Spiders seem to like the warmer weather with many species out and about. Plenty of Wolf Spider and Huntsman, including Grey Huntsman and this unidentified huntsman which was on the ceiling near our kitchen one night, another one of this species was spotlighted on a log beside Bushy Creek whilst we were on a night walk.

Huntsman sp.

Huntsman sp. - showing two rows of four eyes

Also seen was a Giant Silverback, one of the trap door spiders which has previously featured in our blog.

Fish:-

Bushy Creek has many fish species beside the Platypus in it, this Coal Grunter is just one of them.

Coal Grunter

Abattoir Swamp update:-

Many of you would have visited Abattoir Swamp over the last few years and found the boardwalk to the hide in a state of disrepair. It got to the stage where it was closed off due to safety concerns. We sent a four page submission to our local council asking them to repair it but they said they had insufficient funds to do the remedial work. So we asked our local Julatten and Mt. Molloy Association of Residents and Ratepayers (JAMARR) to look into it. The outcome was that the council approved JAMARR to repair the bridge using volunteers. This has now been done and is awaiting the council engineers to sign off on it and re-open it. Thanks to all those involved in repairing this important part of the birding communities infrastructure in our area.

Abattoir Swamp Hide and Boardwalk

This will be the last blog for 2014. We would like to wish everyone a great and safe Christmas and New Year. Also thanks to the many wonderful guests we have had over the past year and for all the positive comments about the blog - Keith & Lindsay.

 

19th October 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

One day we had 6.5mm in a short shower, this was the total rain fall for the last two weeks. With the humidity dipping down to 34% and lots of sunshine and temperatures reaching 32ºc which is unheard of for this time of year, the rain did little to settle the dust.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 5th- 11th October and 12th- 18th October The first week had 104 species recorded and the second week 110.

Morning and Evening Guided Walks:-

Morning bird walks produced between 54 and 66 species which was very good for 2½hrs. Highlights were two male Superb Fruit-Dove in a tree beside Bushy Creek, male Common Koel, male and female Double-eyed Fig-Parrot feeding in Cluster Fig and nesting nearby.

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - female at nest

A Noisy Pitta was seen most mornings and two Great Bowerbird were attending a very well constructed bower. 

 

Great Bowerbird Bower

White-throated Honeyeater were building a nest and mating plus a Lemon-bellied Flycatcher was sitting on its tiny nest, the smallest of any bird in Australia. This one is about 10m off the ground.

Lemon-bellied Flycatcher - on nest

(The full morning walk species lists can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. Click on Explore Data then Hotspots and type in Kingfisher Park – you will then see the Lodge in the drop down menu. Click this on and a map will appear with two markers, click these and you can have access to all our records. It sounds long winded, but it is really easy. Alternatively you can click this link which will take you directly to Hotspots http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspots).

One highlight on a night walk was the eclipse of the moon, we watched it as we went spotlighting and ended up in Geraghty Park to have great views of the event as we listened to two Australian Owlet-nightjar calling to each other. 

Eclipse Of The Moon

Other good sightings were a very brief glimpse of a Lesser Sooty Owl as it flew over and away from us, Giant White Tree Rat, Green Ringtail Possum, Water Rat and three Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko on one night.

Other Birding Highlights:-

One Female Black-necked Stork in a lagoon behind Geraghty Park as well as two Latham's Snipe along the edge, both species not seen for many months. One Australian Pelican flew over the Lodge on the 17^th October, probably heading for one of the lagoons along McDougall Road. A Grey Goshawk was seen to fly into a tree, adjacent to the Lodge orchard, carrying an Eastern Water Dragon and luckily the camera was at hand to whiz off a couple of shots before it moved off clutching its meal.

Grey Goshawk with Eastern Water Dragon

Pacific Baza have been around but not regularly and a pair of Brown Goshawk were circling over the Lodge one morning. Red-necked Crake was seen briefly late one afternoon as it was getting dark at the Crake Pool, it was also heard on several occasions. Pigeons and doves have been around to take advantage of fruiting trees and vines; those seen were Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Superb Fruit-Dove, Torresian Imperial Pigeon and Topknot Pigeon plus the regular Emerald Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove and Peaceful Dove. Lesser Sooty Owl was seen about 4.00am perched in a tree near our bunkhouse and heard on numerous other occasions. Barking Owl have been vocal with one roosting high up in a eucalypt tree near the bunkhouse one afternoon. A pair of Papuan Frogmouth have made a nest in a fern on a tree branch at a nearby private property, they laid on the 10^th October and usually take about 40 days to incubate.

Papuan Frogmouth - female on nest

Dollarbird returned on 16^th October along with Brush Cuckoo. Also on this day the Cicadabird started calling. Lovely Fairy-Wren were seen by our neighbours Carol and Andrew Iles (our local bird guides) in their garden, they also saw a Red-necked Crake run under their veranda. Spotted Catbird have been coming to the feeder to gather fruit and head off with it so they maybe feeding young. 13 species of honeyeater were seen and Black-chinned heard. The Eastern Whipbird mentioned in the last blog is still hanging around the area calling whilst it visits all the adjoining rainforest habitats as well as the Lodge grounds. Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been visiting the fruiting trees in and around the Lodge, mainly Blue Quandong. Groups of Spangled Drongo have been passing through the area on their southern migration with up to 50+ seen at a time. Black-faced Monarch are around in increasing numbers and calling and a single female Leaden Flycatcher was heard and seen, the first for seven weeks. A few Pale-Yellow Robin have been seen feeding fledged young whilst others are still sitting on nests. A Bassian Thrush was still around the grounds in the first week but was not sighted in the second.

Further Afield:-

Mt. Lewis is still producing all the 12 “Wet Tropic” endemics but not all at once! One Blue-faced Parrot-Finch was seen near Abattoir Swamp but no reports of them up on Mt. Lewis yet. Maryfarms between Mt. Molloy and Mt. Carbine has displaying Australian Bustard, still at least eight Australian Pratincole and Carol Iles saw an injured Oriental Plover with the pratincole. Photo courtesy of Carol Iles.

Oriental Plover- broken wing

Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo were seen around the Mowbray National Park in Julatten on several occasions. Abattoir Swamp has been good for honeyeaters and White-browed Crake. Up to 12 Spotted Whistling-Duck have been reported at Keatings Lagoon near Cooktown, 2 hours north from the Lodge.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The Water Rat seen in Bushy Creek whilst on a night walk was the most exciting mammal over the two weeks followed by the elusive Green Ringtail Possum seen once. Three Giant White-tail Rat were seen one night; they have not been seen much lately so must have woken up. Platypus have been very cooperative appearing in the morning and late afternoon with up to two. Boyd's Forest Dragon and Major Skink have also been appearing with the warmer weather. Several snakes have also woken up with sightings of Australian Scrub Python, Slaty Grey and Green Tree Snake – one in our downstairs toilet was a surprise. Just having a look around in the first photo before it retreated back inside. It eventually left by the window with a bit of encouragement and headed for the rainforest.

Green Tree Snake

Green Tree Snake

 

Thanks to Carol and Andrew Iles our roving bird guides for helping with the bird lists and area sightings. If you need any guiding in our local area contact us and we can put you in touch with them, contact through our secure bookings and enquiries web page. 

 

7^th September 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

What can we say about the weather? Well we have had no rain over the last two weeks, just wall to wall sunshine, cool temperatures down to 10.5ºC (stop laughing you southern Australian people) and up to 23.6ºC, perfect conditions. Temperatures have been about 6ºC below the average for this time of year.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 24th August - 30th August and 30th August - 6th September The first weeks sightings had 99 seen and 4 heard, the second week 99 seen and 5 heard.

Morning and Evening Guided Walks:-

Morning walks had between 44 and 59 species. Some of the birds seen included Pacific Baza who was flying over Geraghty Park displaying and calling,

 

Pacific Baza

 

plus we had Buff-banded Rail, Peaceful Dove building a nest, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Topknot Pigeon, Papuan Frogmouth, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot digging a nest, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Barred Cuckoo-shrike, Pied Monarch, Victoria's Riflebird and Metallic Starling also nest building. The full species lists can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. Click on Explore Data then Hotspots and type in Kingfisher Park – you will then see the Lodge in the drop down menu. Click this on and a map will appear with two markers, click these and you can have access to all our records. It sounds long winded but it is really easy. Alternatively you can click this link which will take you directly to Hotspots http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspots.

Night walks were productive despite it being quite cool and dry which restricted the number of frogs and reptiles which were out. Despite this we managed to see Leaf-tailed Gecko, Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Red Tree Frog (Desert Tree Frog) and Dainty Green Tree Frog. Mammals seen were Striped Possum, Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot, Fawn-footed Melomys and Bush Rat. Australian Owlet-nightjar were heard but not seen and a Papuan Frogmouth was seen in camp ground. A pair of Barking Owl were seen perched in a tree beside Bushy Creek calling softly. As we watched them, they mated and the male flew off.

Other Birding Highlights:-

With the change of season from winter to spring there is also a change in some bird species which are in our area. Grey Fantail have left to go back south, we had our first Torresian Imperial-Pigeon, Australian Koel and Channel-billed Cuckoo for the season arrive from the north.

Wetland birds were scarce with only one or two of most seen which included Magpie Goose, Green and Cotton Pygmy-goose, Pacific Black Duck, Hardhead, Grey Teal, Australasian Grebe, Little Pied Cormorant, Australasian Darter, Australian Pelican, White-necked and White-faced Heron plus Intermediate, Great and Cattle Egret.

Plenty of raptors were around to scavenge off the cut cane paddocks, mainly Black Kite which were around in groups of up to about 100, here are some which were hanging around in the trees.

Black Kite

Black Kite

Also here were a few Whistling Kite, a White-bellied Sea-Eagle shown here perched in a Blue Quandong tree

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

and Australian Hobby (not a great image as it is a severe crop,but it gives an idea of what the bird looks like).

Australian Hobby

 
Red-necked Crake were again heard but not seen as was a Spotless Crake along McDougall Road.

Some very young Emerald Dove have appeared and a pair of Wompoo Fruit-Dove have come to investigate a few fruit trees which have just started to have ripe fruit on them. The nesting pairs of Barn Owl have now chased off their offspring from the area and we have only been seeing a few adults. Barking Owl have also quietened down but were seen roosting during the day. Azure Kingfisher have been along Bushy Creek and there has been a few sightings of Little Kingfisher in the Crake Pool on the edge of our orchard.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo have been seen sitting in their nest hollow in a big Queensland Blue Gum tree and a few Scaly-breasted Lorikeet are still around feeding on the few remaining flowering gum trees. Noisy Pitta has started to call and has been seen in the orchard area, mainly early morning. Spotted Catbird are still coming to the reception area feeder to grab mouthfuls of banana. Red-backed Fairy-wren have been seen perched on the fences along McDougall Road. Twelve species of honeyeater were seen and one, Black-chinned heard. A few Lewin's Honeyeater are still around but the majority of them seem to have left for the higher altitudes of the mountains behind the Lodge. Macleay's Honeyeater is an ever present “Wet Tropic” endemic around the Lodge who have been taking advantage of the flowering grevilleas.

Macleay's Honeyeater

The one male Golden Whistler, that has been with us for a few months, is still around the Lodge grounds and has been joined by a pair of Rufous Whistler who have been present on the edge of the Lodge grounds in the tall Queensland Blue Gum trees. They don't normally hang around for weeks, mainly confining themselves to the nearby Geraghty Park. Northern Fantail have moved back into the Lodge grounds in the last week to take the place of the departing Grey Fantail. A pair of Torresian Crow have also been flying over and calling after being absent for a few months, getting ready to play host to Channel-billed Cuckoo no doubt. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have joined the Rainbow Bee-eater (who was being blown around in the wind) to perch and forage from the Geraghty Park oval fence.

Lemon-bellied Flycatcher

Rainbow Bee-eater (female - short tail streamer)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golden-headed Cisticola have been calling from the remaining uncut cane but are in fewer numbers than previous years. This one was hanging on a seed stalk on the cane singing

Golden-headed Cisticola

 

Further Afield:-

Blue-faced Parrot-Finch are still being seen infrequently near Abattoir Swamp with up to five birds seen. Abattoir Swamp itself has been good for honeyeaters and has had a Grey Shrike-thrush nesting on the edge of the car park.Rufous Owl is still being reported along the Cairns Esplanade.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

In addition to those seen on night walks we saw Red-legged Pademelon, Agile Wallaby, a few bats – Eastern Horseshoe Bat, Large-footed Myotis, Northern Broad-nosed and Little Bent-winged bat, Giant White-tailed Tree Rat, Green Ringtail Possum, Spectacled Flying-fox and Eastern Water Dragon. A few snakes were seen, Green Tree Snake, Brown Tree Snake and the highlight a pair of Australian Scrub Python mating on the edge of the orchard whilst stretched out on a log.

 Thanks to our roving bird guides Carol and Andrew Iles who helped compile the bird list and are available for any bird guiding in the area. Contact them directly or through the Lodge.

1st June 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Mixed weather over the last two weeks, mainly drizzle with a few sunny days but temperatures were kept low only getting up to 24ºC. The first week we had 29mm of rain and the second week some rain fell with 10mm on four rainy days, again as in the previous two weeks just enough to be annoying.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-
The first week had 84 species and second week 94 species.

Species lists can be found on the Eremaea eBird site.  18th - 24th May and 25th - 31st May

Birding Highlights:-

A single Australasian Grebe was along McDougall Road, a first for two months. Also along here were over 300 Cattle Egret who roost in the trees around the lagoon. A Black-breasted Buzzard was seen by one of our guests over Geraghty Park, this was the second time in a few weeks one has been seen in the area. Red-necked Crake have only been heard and not seen, the area they were frequenting has now dried up and they have gone further into the rainforest. Fan-tailed Cuckoo arrived back from southern parts of Australia on 27^th May with at least three birds calling around the Lodge. Lesser Sooty Owl was heard but not seen, probably due to the pair of Barking Owl who were around the Lodge grounds every night keeping it away. One Barn Owl was seen in a nest tree which may mean they are getting ready to breed again as it is the right time of year. At least four Papuan Frogmouth have been seen in the area and an Australian Owlet-nightjar heard calling one night. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen digging out a nest hole in a tree but the branch it was in broke off and they have not been back since. A pair of Red-winged Parrot were seen near the Julatten school (just in our 1.5km Lodge area) by Carol Iles our neighbouring bird guide. This is about the closest they come to the Lodge apart from a couple of sightings in Geraghty Park. Spotted Catbird are still coming to the feeder in the morning and also feeding on the fruit of a Soursop tree in our orchard. Red-backed Fairy-wren have been seen along McDougall Road, usually sitting on the fences. 12 species of honeyeater over the two weeks, including Scarlet, White-cheeked and Macleay's. The Macleay's Honeyeater have been hogging the bird feeder and chasing off the Lewin, Yellow-spotted and Graceful Honeyeater. 
 

Macleay's Honeyeater

Yellow-breasted Boatbill continue to call and be very active so they are being seen regularly. Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been calling and around in small numbers as have Varied Triller.

Little (Rufous) Shrike-thrush have been very active and calling a lot, they are common residents around the Lodge and are not to be confused with the Bower's Shrike-thrush. The Bower's are normally resident up on the mountains behind us and can be seen usually above 600m on Mt. Lewis, we are only 430m which is within the range of the Little who can be found up to 600m. Bower's do come down in the winter months but we only see one or two. Bower's has more obvious striations on throat and breast, also their bill is black (adult male and older immature males) or grey/black (adult and immature females as well as immature males) whereas Little have a pinkish-brown/grey bill and a light coloured eye-ring. Bower's have dark grey back and head, the little have olive-brown, although we have seen a few little with quite grey back and rumps. There are seven sub-species of Little Shrike-thrush in Australia, the one found here is giseata. All these sub-species have plumage variation with the sexes being similar.

Little (Rufous) Shrike-thrush

Bower's Shrike-thrush

At least one male Golden Whistler is still around the Lodge and has been joined by a Yellow Oriole which is more a species of the coast in our region but has been creeping into our area over the last few years. A few Spangled Drongo are still around but the majority of them have gone further north. Pied Monarch have become more active and are calling as have at least two female Victoria's Riflebird who have been getting around the Lodge together.

Further Afield:-

A Spotted Harrier was seen over the adjacent cane paddock by our neighbour Carol Iles and was probably the same one we saw a few weeks earlier at the same location. A (Common) Cicadabird was calling along Euluma Creek Road in Julatten, unusual for this time of year. On 28^th May Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours reported a Brown Songlark (female) at Maryfarms, north of Mt. Molloy. It was perched on a fence with a female White-winged Triller and Black-faced Woodswallow. This was a first sighting for him since the 2002 drought. Both Brown Songlark and Black-faced Woodswallow are uncommon at this location.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

At least three Red-legged Pademelon are still around the Lodge grounds after one was taken by an Australian Scrub Python. Two species of bat recorded for this period, they were Large-footed Myotis (fish eating bat) and Northern Broad-nosed Bat. Striped Possum were seen, one was in our neighbours garden, another was seen late in the second week jumping around the trees near the Lodge reception. The persistent drizzle was to the frogs liking with Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Desert (Red) Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cane Toad.

Cogger's Frog

An adult Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko was spotlighted on a tree in the rainforest and an immature one, only 60mm in length, was rescued from the amenities block and released back into the rainforest. This is the first time we had seen an immature Leaf-tailed Gecko, which as you can see from the photos is very cute and very well camouflaged.

Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko - immature

This tree-dwelling nocturnal species relies on its camouflaged appearance to avoid discovery by predators. They are found in rainforests, wet sclerophyll forests, rocks and on the forest floor at night. We have found them on the floor where they run with their tail up in the air. During the day they are hiding behind loose bark or tree crevices. At night they come out and perch head down on large trees in the rainforest or on our orchard trees, we usually find them between 1-3m from the ground. They mainly eat large invertebrates such as Katydid, Cricket, Cockroach and Spider. Breeding season is usually just before the "Wet Season" in October or November when the females lay one or two soft-shelled eggs in moist soil or leaf litter. After about three months the young hatch and have to start catching insects straight away. They don't reach adulthood until two years and go on to live for about nine years.

Australian Scrub Python were seen in our neighbours garden, this one had just had a meal and was looking to rest up somewhere. Judging by the bulge in it's body it must have eaten something at least as big as a White-tailed Rat. This close up of it's head has a mosquito on it, they are not fussy who they get their blood from!

Australian Scrub Python

Finally whilst our neighbour Carol was guiding one of our guests on Mt. Lewis recently they came across this Queensland Blue Earthworm Terriswalkeris terraereginae an invertebrate which can grow up to 2 meters. We've only seen one which is not surprising as they only come to the surface after heavy rains when they are disturbed from their burrows. This image was taken by Ross Monks -thanks Ross.

 

Queensland Blue Earthworm

Thanks to Carol and Andrew Iles our neighbouring bird guides for helping compile the weekly species list.

Abattoir Swamp:-
Abattoir Swamp is about 6km from the Lodge and is a good birding area but unfortunately the boardwalk to the bird hide has collapsed and the local Mareeba Shire Council have told us that they have no money to repair it at the moment. We had sent them a summary of birds and the importance of this facility to birdwatchers and local businesses but this did not make any difference to their decision to close the boardwalk apart from making them aware. They did say they would look at it in the future. The car park is a good birding spot so it is still worth stopping here.

Abattoir Swamp Boardwalk

Abattoir Swamp Boardwalk - damage

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2nd February 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The past few weeks has seen variable weather with a Cyclone threat which luckily for us went further south and caused very little damage. We did not get much rain, our January total rainfall was 217mm on 16 rain days, which was at least 50% less than our normal rains for this time of year. Temperatures had been around 21ºC -28ºC but after the cyclone passed by at the end of January we got west to northerly winds and an increase in temperatures up to 34ºC which is abnormally hot.

Past Three Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Sightings have now been transferred from Eremaea Birds to Eremaea ebird. The link to the Australian portal is Here . Here you can find all the information to allow you to input or retrieve data. It is early days with the new system so it will take a while to become familiar with it and work out how to retrieve data for Kingfisher Park BL.

Trip Report:-
Finally finished putting together our last years trip report for our visit to South Australia. You can find it at this link on our website. 


Birding Highlights:-

We can't top the Yellow-billed Kingfisher reported in the last blog seen along Bushy Creek. We heard the kingfisher calling in the rainforest adjacent to Bushy Creek the morning after it was seen but were unable to see it. Since then there has been no other reports of Yellow-billed Kingfisher in the area. Another new bird for our 1.5km area Lodge bird list was Plumed Whistling-Duck, 22 were seen standing beside a dam behind Geraghty Park on our Birdlife Australia Day weekend, this puts our list up to 225 species. Two groups of Papuan Frogmouth have been seen in the Lodge and along the nearby Bushy Creek, the three along Bushy Creek are two adults and a juvenile from last years nest in the local nursing home. The two in the Lodge grounds are a male and female which did not nest last year, they have been moving around each day and have been difficult to find. A Superb Fruit-Dove was actually seen in a fruiting tree on the edge of the Lodge one morning, this represented the third sighting in six months during which they have been heard most days. Should be called Superb Hiding-Dove! Pied Imperial Pigeon have been increasing in numbers with at least 200 seen feasting on fruiting trees in the Lodge grounds and surrounds. These birds are probably coming from Low Isles off the coast of Port Douglas. It was only four years ago that the first Pied Imperial Pigeon arrived at the Lodge. Nesting Pacific Baza has two very large chicks standing up in their nest waiting to be fed by the busy adults. Red-necked Crake also have three chicks in tow and have been seen several times. The adult birds have been coming regularly to the Crake Pool in the morning and evening for a bathe. Our neighbours saw a pair of Pale-vented Bush-hen come to their bird bath with six chicks several times, how lucky are they. 

Pale-vented Bushen - chick in birdbath

Pale-vented Bushen - adult with three chicks

Other pairs of bushen have been glimpsed in the grassy edges of the roads around the Lodge and also along Bushy Creek but they are very secretive. All the nesting Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are now feeding young in their nests, there are at least seven nests with another possible one within the Lodge grounds. Several pairs of Noisy Pitta have been around the Lodge and adjacent area with at least four juvenile birds seen foraging and being fed by adults. At least 12 species of honeyeater have been seen including White-throated Honeyeater and Black-chinned Honeyeater heard. 

 

White-throated Honeyeater

An Olive-backed Oriole nest successfully fledged one bird from a nest only about 2m off the ground in a neighbours Raintree. Pied Monarch are calling and being seen and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have just started to call after being quiet for a few months.

Further Afield:-

At least 50Fork-tailed (Pacific) Swift were over Cattana Wetlands, Cairns on the 20^th January at 8.30am. Two Yellow Wagtail were reported from Lake Evan (Brady Road Swamp) 4km north of Mareeba on 24^th January. Two Pink-eared Duck were also at this location a week earlier. On 31^st January one of our guests reported a Freckled Duck at Daves Dam 25km north of Mt. Carbine, believed to be the first record from here. Four birders from Townsville sighted a Nankeen Night Heron roosting on Mt. Lewis at 950m on 21st January, very unusual, record can be found on Eremaea Birdline. Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours had a Dusky Honeyeater from the same location, this was a first for him so it must be very unusual.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

A few snakes have been around the grounds, a Green Tree Snake was in the orchard and a small Australian Scrub Python was curled up on a tree at the end of the units veranda, giving the birds something to shout at. A Yellow-footed Antichinus is living in a tree hollow beside our camp kitchen and often seen running along the rafters. Red-legged Pademelon are around in the rainforest during the day and come out into the grassy orchard at night. At least 50 Red-legged Pademelon were seen in a 10km stretch of the Mt. Lewis one night which is an extraordinary number. Striped Possum was seen on a couple of occasions but are proving very elusive at the moment. No sign of Green Ringtail Possum since last September which is a worry. Frogs seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Desert Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, Coggers Frog and Cane Toad plus Northern Dwarf tree Frog was heard. Boyd's Forest Dragon, Eastern Water Dragon and Major Skink have all been regulars.

Spider:-

This Giant Silverback spider (Genus Idiommata, family Barychelidae) was found at the rear of our units, it was a first for us. It was relocated to the rainforest after we took a few images of it. It was quite aggressive rearing up and showing its fangs. These spiders are venomous but not deadly. They build a burrow in the ground which is short, open, often with a collar of leaves; a short horizontal flask down the burrow is sealed by a thick door. Thanks to Graham Anderson and Dr. Robert Raven (Queensland Museum) for identifying the spider.

Giant Silverback

2014 Australia Day Weekend at Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge, Julatten:-

BirdLife Northern Queensland held its 14^th annual Australia Day long weekend get-together at Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge, Julatten, hosted by Keith & Lindsay. It was well attended with over 30 people coming to enjoy, field trips, guided walks, talks and a movie night. As usual these weekends are very social with lots of interesting food and a relaxed atmosphere.

Saturday morning saw the group going up onto Mt. Lewis to look for some of the Wet Tropic endemics, all 13 occur on the mountain. The main attraction here was Blue-faced Parrot-Finch, which occur here from November to April. We were not disappointed as there were at least eight feeding alongside the road. Other good sightings were white phase Grey Goshawk, male Golden Bowerbird, two families of Chowchilla having a territorial dispute, Victoria's Riflebird and a Barred Cuckoo-shrike feeding young in a nest, in all we saw 27 species. Late afternoon we went to Wessel Road in Julatten to look at open woodland and Melaleuca swamp country, here we found 29 species including Buff-banded Rail plus Lovely and Red-backed Fairy-wren. The evening was spent eating a communal dinner followed by a talk from Lloyd Nielsen. Lloyd is a well known ornithologist who lives in the area and has been studying local bird fauna for many years. His talk was about the status of Fuscous and Yellow-tinted Honeyeater in our region. His preliminary studies suggest that there is the possibility that there are no Fuscous Honeyeater in our region but several forms of Yellow-tinted Honeyeater or even a new species. Several populations on the Atherton Tableland and Lakefield National Park occur in distinctly different habitats and have different calls to each other. Two distinct populations occur either side of a 700m woodland barrier in one area of the Atherton Tableland. It would appear that it is a very complicated identification problem that needs further investigation requiring DNA testing to sort it out – sounds like a good project for a Ph.D. Student. This is an image from one of the populations on the Atherton Tableland of what maybe another form of the Yellow-tinted Honeyeater.

Yellow-tinted Honeyeater?

Sunday morning was spent at a private property along Rifle Creek in Mt. Molloy where we saw 35 species including Black Bittern, Pacific Baza, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, Shining Flycatcher and Eastern Yellow-Robin. Also seen here were hundreds of Sapphire Flutterer dragonflies. 
 

Sapphire Flutterer

Early afternoon we had a talk by Kath Shurcliff, Birdlife North Queensland Convener, about the list and atlas entry of the Eremaea Birds online database for birds, which has now moved to a new site called Eremaea ebird which is a real-time, online checklist program. eBird has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. Kath introduced us to the differences between the two databases and how to use ebird for entering and retrieving data. The aim is to get everyone using ebird and making their records, many of which are hidden away in notebooks, available for everyone to access.The evening was spent watching a DVD, filmed at the Lodge, about the breeding cycle of the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher which migrate from Papua New Guinea to breed in North Queensland rainforest each year during the “Wet Season. They nest in low terrestrial termite mounds before heading back to PNG in April.

Monday morning was spent in and around the Lodge for two hours during which time we recorded 52 species including Plumed Whistling-Duck, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, 30+ Red-tailed Black Cockatoo were the first for this season,(they usually are present in January - February) and a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike nest with two very large chicks in it. 

White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike

We experienced a few showers of rain but luckily they did not interfere with a very successful weekend in which we saw 113 species and heard a further 11 species.

Thanks to all those that made the weekend a success especially Del Richards, Lloyd Nielsen, Kath Shurcliff and Doug Herrington Birdlife North Queensland Activities Officer.

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