2nd November 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Rainfall over the last two weeks was 2mm one day and the next day 1mm, hardly touched the ground! Humidity dropped down to 44% with lots of sunshine and temperatures reaching 32ºc which it has been doing for the last three weeks.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 19th – 25th October and 26thOctober - 1st November The first week had 116 species recorded, which was the most for a very long time and the second week 104.

Birding Highlights:-

The much anticipated return of the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher from Papua New Guinea happened on the 31^st October when one bird was heard and briefly seen high in the rainforest canopy flying away. One was also heard calling on the following day. Hopefully the main party of birds will be joining this one very soon.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

The pair of Lesser Sooty Owl reported last blog were around for about 10 days but have gone quiet over the last week. Whilst they were calling and flying around they were perching low down for their picture to be taken and were not in the least bothered by us. The were preening and calling to each other before they took off to chase each other.

Lesser Sooty Owl

Apart from these great sightings there were a few waterbirds in the nearby wetlands including six Wandering Whistling-Duck, Australian Wood Duck, one Hardhead, a female Black-necked Stork, one Australian Pelican, one White-necked Heron, both Australian White and Straw-necked Ibis plus three Royal Spoonbill. A flock of Magpie Goose flew over the Lodge one night honking as they went. A lone Comb-crested Jacana was on the lilies in one of the lagoons along McDougall Road. A few raptors were around, mainly Black Kite with a few Whistling Kite but also seen were a pair of Black-shouldered Kite and Pacific Baza, Brown and Grey Goshawk plus White-bellied Sea-Eagle. Red-necked Crake was heard and seen several times at the Crake Pool, and along Bushy Creek. Carol Iles our neighboring bird guide had a Red-backed Button-quail in one of the adjacent cane paddocks, not often seen. Fruiting Blue Quandong trees have been attracting many fruit pigeons, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Superb Fruit-Dove, Torresian Imperial-Pigeon and flocks of Topknot Pigeon, including this one which had a very enlarged crop, looks more like a displaying Australian Bustard! (excuse the poor cropped image but it was high in the canopy).

 

Topknot Pigeon

Also around were Brown Cuckoo-Dove and the regular Emerald, Peaceful and Bar-shouldered Dove. This Brown Cuckoo-Dove was on the ground with a full crop.

Brown Cuckoo-Dove

Brush Cuckoo have returned and are calling along with Little Bronze-Cuckoo, Australian Koel and Channel-billed Cuckoo. Barn and Barking Owl are also around as are Australian Owlet-nightjar but these have only been heard. Papuan Frogmouth are sitting on nests at the moment and not easy to find. This one was sitting on a nest in the full sun which is what they do in our area, they incubate for upt o 40 days which is a very long period to be in the sun. 

Papuan Frogmouth - male on nest

 

Six Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo flew over the Lodge grounds one morning calling, this is only the second time they have been seen in October for at least nine years. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot continue to feed in a fruiting Cluster Fig and are attending a nearby nest.

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - male

This male Double-eyed Fig-Parrot flew into a car and was rescued, we kept it in a box for a few hours before it had enough strength to climb onto a branch in the shade for a while. It sat for nearly an hour before it gave a few chirps to say thank you and flew off to hopefully survive.

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - male

Our single Noisy Pitta continues to show well in and around the orchard area, early morning and late afternoon. It has been calling occasionally but has not been joined by any others yet.

Noisy Pitta

14 species of honeyeater have been seen plus one heard. Bridled and Lewin's are still in the area when normally at this time of year they have gone back up into the mountains. The Eastern Whipbird which arrived a month ago is still going around in circles calling for a mate. It was seen in the rainforest near the Crake Pool about 5m up a tree. Barred Cuckoo-shrike and at leas three male Common Cicadabird have been feeding on fruiting figs. A pair of Leaden Flycatcher were seen at the entrance to the Lodge whilst on a morning walk, they have been very scarce this year. The Lemon-bellied Flycatcher shown on its tiny nest last blog is still on it, not sure if it has a nestling yet. Pale-yellow Robin seem to have finished nesting duties for the time being and are being cute posing on branches in the orchard.

Pale-yellow Robin

Metallic Starling are still busy building nests and have been joined by a few immature birds, whilst the reported Mistletoebird at its nest appears to have fledged one young.

Further Afield:-

Oriental Plover, Australian Pratincole and Banded Honeyeater have been seen in the Maryfarms area, (between Mt. Molloy and Mt. Carbine on the Mulligan Highway/ Peninsular Road). Lovely Fairy-wren were found in Julatten at Mowbray National Park and along Euluma Creek Road. Large-tailed Nightjar were also heard along Euluma Creek Road and Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo plus Oriental Cuckoo were seen at the Mowbray National Park. Freckled Duck have become a fixture at Hasties Swamp near Atherton over the past two years with numbers fluctuating, up to 30 birds present this week. Mt. Lewis has been good as usual with all the 13 “Wet Tropic” endemics seen there over the past two weeks, no sign of Blue-faced Parrot-Finch yet.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Fawn-footed Melomys have been active around the Lodge, they have been seen at the reception area feeder eating seed and banana, in the compost bin, eating an orange and a Sugar Apple in the orchard. Yellow-footed Antechinus have been chased out of the kitchen and feeding on banana at the feeder. 

Yellow-footed Antechinus

 

At least four Red-legged Pademelon have been in the rainforest and browsing in the orchard at night along with one Agile Wallaby, lean pickings on the browning grass. The pair of Platypus in Bushy Creek have again been performing at the viewing area on most evenings and early mornings. A few species of frog have started calling at the end of the second week and must think that some rain is coming, hope they are right! Those calling were White-lipped Green Tree Frog and Dainty Green Tree Frog along with Cane Toad. A few Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko have been seen as have Boyd's Forest Dragon and Eastern Water Dragon. Major Skink have been active with at least six different ones spotted around the Lodge grounds. 

Visitors:-
A couple of well known visitors called by during the week, Sean Dooley and Stephen Moss.
Sean is well known for his adventures trying to see as many Australian birds in a year as possible. The year of birding is documented in his book "The Big Twitch". Sean is now the editor of the Birdlife Australia magazine and in the past has been a comedy writer for several TV shows. Stephen Moss, who lives in the UK, is well known as an award winning TV producer of Natural History series, an author of many books and birder

Sean (L) and Stephen (R)

Sean and Stephen were up in Far North Queensland as guest speakers at the presentation of the John Hobbs Medal to Far North Queensland local Lloyd Nielsen for a life time of outstanding studies by an amateur ornithologist. Congratulations to Lloyd on a much deserved award, it could not have gone to a more dedicated and great bloke. We are lucky having such great talents in our area.


 

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. 

 

11th August 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Fantastic weather over the last two weeks with cool nights and mild days, clear skies and little cloud. Temperatures were down to 11ºC (yes we know this is the top temperature in some southern areas!), which is cool for us and up to the low 20ºc's. With this cooler weather many eucalypts have started flowering and a few fig trees have been fruiting which have attracted many more birds to the area.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 111, 108 seen and 3 heard, second week sightings were 118, 112 seen and 6 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 28th July - 3rd August and 4th August - 10th August. Morning walks were good with between 51 and 65 species seen and heard.

Birding Highlights:-

Metallic Starling returned from Papua New Guinea on the 4^th August when five were seen flying over the orchard, this was about a week later than 2012. Our neighbours had two Blue-faced Parrot-Finch in their garden at the end of the second week and said they were heading towards the Lodge grounds but so far have not been sighted here. Orange-footed Scrubfowl have been more noisy than normal (if that is possible) and one has been regularly seen roosting in a tree about five metres off the ground whilst on our night walks. 

Orange-footed Scrubfowl

 

Australian Pelican are still around with numbers getting up to five, which is pretty good seeing as it was only a few weeks ago that we saw our first two in the 1.5km area around the Lodge. We did see three circling overhead whilst on a morning walk. Two Black-necked Stork have been using a small swamp between Geraghty Park and McDougall Road frequently, one was seen flying over Geraghty Park one morning heading to the local Barramundi Fish farm, where it no doubt was chased off. Ibis numbers have dropped off over the last week with the Australian White Ibis no longer roosting across the Rex Highway from Geraghty Park. With cane harvesting starting up again during the second week greater numbers of Black and Whistling Kite were attracted along with a Wedge-tailed Eagle. Our two resident White-bellied Sea-Eagle were also keeping an eye on the harvesting and were perching along the edge of the cane paddock and our rainforest. Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet were feasting on the blossom from the Queensland Blue Gum (Forest Red Gum) Eucalyptus tereticornis and also the flowers of the introduced African Tulip trees in Geraghty Park. Our Barking Owl pair seem to be only one now as we have only been hearing one bird calling, almost incessantly every night. It often perches on the cookshed roof as it is doing in this image. 

 

Barking Owl

Barn Owl have been showing on night walks but no sign of any youngsters yet. Sadly one adult Barn Owl was found with a head wound lying on the ground one day, unfortunately it did not survive. The Satin Bowerbird previously reported coming in to our neighbours garden is still making appearances and seems to be a loner with no others reported. Honeyeaters have also been feeding on the flowering eucalypts with 14 species seen and one heard over the two weeks. There has been one Helmeted Friarbird and one Noisy Friarbird present, both occasional visitors to our immediate area. A few Callistemon (Bottlebrush) have also been flowering and this one had a Dusky Honeyeater doing acrobatics to get at the nectar.

Dusky Honeyeater

Blue-faced Honeyeater were in flowering Grevillea's with this one taking time out to preen itself.

 

Blue-faced Honeyeater

Barred Cuckoo Shrike are still around, some feeding on a fruiting fig tree along Bushy Creek. At least one male Golden Whistler has been around the Lodge grounds and showing well on a few morning walks. A single Bowers Shrike-thrush has also been around the grounds and seen a few times; this is a species normally found at higher altitudes above 600m, the Lodge is 450m. A few Spangled Drongo are still around but most have moved on from the area. Rufous and Grey Fantail are also still around and have been joined by at least one Northern Fantail who has been on the edge of the rainforest. A pair of Torresian Crow have been very vocal across the Rex Highway from Geraghty Park and being chased off by a variety of birds. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill are still being seen regularly around the Lodge grounds as has at least two female Victoria's Riflebird. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been active in Geraghty Park and often perch on the railing around the oval for good views. Olive-backed Sunbird have been coming down to feed in flowering Bromeliads at the entrance to the reception area as this female was doing.

 

Olive-backed Sunbird - female

Further Afield:-

Another trip to Cairns allowed us to check out the Cattana Wetlands whilst we had breakfast. Australian Grebe and Comb-crested Jacana were obliging enough to come within range for their picture to be taken, although the jacana was in a hurry to move away.

Australasian Grebe

Comb-crested Jacana

An immature Black-faced Monarch was seen by our local bird guide Carol Iles near Abattoir Swamp, this is very unusual to see an immature at this time of year. The adult birds have not returned from Papua New Guinea yet and don't start breeding until about December and into the new year. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch are being seen in the area away from the Lodge but often require a lot of patience. Red-backed Kingfisher have been seen around Maryfarms between Mount Molloy and Mt.Carbine where Diamond Doves are still present after about six months. Hasties Swamp still has Freckled Duck present, two have been there for about six months, also two Australasian Shoveler are still there after about two months.

Reptiles and Mammals:

23 reptile and mammal species seen over the two weeks which is pretty good considering the cooler weather has slowed down the reptiles. We saw a Tree Mouse Pognomys sp. feeding in a fruit tree in our orchard whilst on a night walk, a species we only see a few times a year. Our Yellow-footed Antichinus has been coming to our feeder to get banana much to the annoyance of the birds.

Yellow-footed Antichinus

Red-legged Pademelon (small rainforest kangaroo) have been in the orchard grazing at night and Agile Wallaby have been along the edges of cut cane paddocks. Giant White-tailed Rat have been a bit more obvious than usual with at least five seen one evening – these are native tree rats with very sharp teeth! A Fawn-footed Melomys was feeding in a five corner fruit tree one night and ran off to hide behind the bark of the tree and as the image shows not very successfully!

 

Fawn-footed Melomys

Platypus have been seen in Bushy Creek but not every day, we suspect they maybe breeding at this time of year as it is not until later in the year we start seeing three Platypus. Frogs have been quiet due to the dry cool weather but a few individuals have been showing occasionally, including this Peter's Frog Litoria inermis which appeared one evening on one of the louver’s of a window in the reception area. 

 

Peter's Frog

Also this Dainty Green Tree Frog Litoria gracilenta made a home in the mens shower for a few days, it looked like a piece of green soap!

 

Dainty Green Tree Frog

 

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30th October Report 2011

This weeks rainfall was a complete contrast to last weeks with only 2.5mm falling on the first two days of the week. Maximum and minimum temperatures were about the same as last week getting up to 30.2ºc and down to 19ºc. Humidity was high, getting up to 94% and slightly lower than last week going down to 58%.

There were a few more birds recorded this week than last with 106 seen and 11 heard. The weeks bird list is on the Eremaea Birds website and morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds.

Highlights around the Lodge grounds were the return of Noisy Pitta on the 23rd after being away since mid-May, at least two have been seen and are calling throughout the day. Welcome back.
 

Noisy Pitta

An Eastern Osprey was flying over the Rex Highway heading towards the Barramundi Farm, this was the 14^th record in six years, so they are not very common here. The first year Bassian Thrush returned and stayed all week showing well around the grounds. A Great-billed Heron was seen one afternoon walking along Bushy Creek and presumably the same bird was seen later in the week along the same creek at McDougall Road. At least two Superb Fruit-Dove were seen and many more were calling.

Other sightings: Waterbird numbers were again down with only one Green Pygmy-goose seen and fewer Hardhead around. Pigeons and doves were again in evidence with 8 species seen and one heard. The Superb Fruit-Dove have been calling for at least six weeks but it has only been this week that we have seen more than one when two males were foraging high in the rainforest canopy. The rufous morph of the Tawny Frogmouth was around for a second week, it was seen roosting and spotlighted one night. The Papuan Frogmouth female was roosting on the edge of the orchard apart from the last two days of the week and was calling most nights. A single Fork-tailed Swift was seen on the 29^th late evening flying over an adjacent cane field. Two White-necked Heron, an adult and an immature, were seen on a morning walk flying over Geraghty Park, not a common species in our area. The previously reported Juvenile Nankeen Night-Heron was still along Bushy Creek. The Pacific Baza continue to be in the area and have been seen soaring overhead but still no action at the nest they started building a month ago. Both a juvenile and two adult White-bellied Sea-Eagle were seen, the two adults were on the ground at the Barramundi Farm and the juvenile soaring over the Lodge grounds. A Wedge-tailed Eagle was over the cane fields one evening and Nankeen Kestrel were perched on the power poles along the highway most days. A snipe sp. was in a small lagoon in the cane field near the nursing home and presumed to be a Latham's. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were only seen flying over despite several suitable fig trees being in fruit around the Lodge. An immature Eastern Koel was foraging in the orchard showing patchy black feathers through the juvenile brown plumage. Azure Kingfisher was again flying up and down Bushy Creek after a period of several week without being seen. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are still proving difficult to see but most guests have seen them by being patient and putting in the time.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

Forest Kingfisher are still fiddling around with their nest in the rainforest and Dollarbird are flying around Geraghty Park checking out suitable nest hollows. Spotted Catbird has been spotted carrying nesting material and appearing at the feeder to grab some fruit. 13 species of honeyeater were taking advantage of the numerous flowering trees in the Lodge grounds with a few Lewin's still around and an increasing number of Noisy Friarbird appearing. Yellow Honeyeater has started to come back into the Lodge grounds over the last few weeks after ignoring us for at least 18months. They have been in the area but out in the more open woodland habitat of Geraghty Park and surrounds. 

Yellow Honeyeater

 
White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike are sitting on a nest in the fork of a tree and both Barred Cuckoo-shrike and Cicadabird have been very vocal and seen. Yellow Oriole have returned with at least one calling and a juvenile Olive-backed Oriole has been seen in the orchard. Black-faced Monarch are extremely vocal calling for most of the day and showing well but always out of reach of the camera lens! Yellow-breasted Boatbill are all very vocal, mainly early morning and there is still a female Victoria's Riflebird getting around the grounds. Pale-yellow Robin are at various stages of nesting with some birds sitting whilst others are feeding recently fledged birds. A few Grey-headed Robin are lingering on reluctant to head to the higher ground of the nearby mountains. Metallic Starling are nearing completion of their nests and providing seeds for the local tree planting group who have a catcher under their colony to collect regurgitated seeds. This one is eying off its next meal to help the tree planting group.
 

Metallic Starling

Further afield at Mt. Molloy the Noisy Friarbird has been chasing off the Blue-faced Honeyeater gangs from flowering grevilleas, which is no mean feat. 

Blue-faced Honeyeater

 
Also feeding in the grevilleas was this immature Olive-backed Oriole; note the dark tear drop streaks on the breast which are different to the female Australasian Figbird streaking, which is more parallel and more brown in colour.

Olive-backed Oriole

Mammals and reptile numbers were again good this week with a few unusual sightings; A 1m Lace Monitor was seen heading up a tree near the reception area and was the first seen since December 2010. A Rough-scaled Snake, which are venomous, was seen in the rainforest near the Crake Pool and serves as a warning to wear sensible shoes and clothing when wandering around and that it is possible to come across snakes anywhere in the forest. In general snakes are rarely encountered on the property and if they are they are relatively harmless Green Tree Snake or Amethystine Python. Agile Wallaby have been on and around the Lodge grounds and are the only kangaroo we have on the property.

Agile Wallaby

Giant White-tailed Rat have been actively chasing each other around and making a lot of noise which probably indicates breeding season. A Striped Possum was heard on a night walk calling and tracked down in a dead tree for all the guests to get good views. Long-nosed Bandicoot have been coming out of the rainforest to forage in the orchard where three were seen one evening. 

Long-nosed Bandicoot

 

The Platypus have also been showing well with most guests seeing them in Bushy Creek where there is at least two. A film crew were filming their underwater activities whilst above water a friend of ours from our Darwin days was trying to photograph bats in flight. Seven species of frog this week, they got excited at last weeks rain but most had disappeared by the end of the week. Boyd's Forest Dragon and Eastern Water Dragon were showing most days whilst the Major Skink were playing hide and seek!

The rain of the previous week triggered off a flurry of activity with the fungi, this one is growing out of a crack in a tree trunk.

Fungi sp.

27th September Report

Another very dry week with temperatures down to 15ºC and up to 28ºC during the day. The humidity dropped down during the day to 41% which is unheard of here. We also had the edge of the dust storm which went across the east of Australia - it passed through here towards the end of the week and went out to sea. Then south-easterly winds blew the dust back again and it is still with us. It was another good week for bird numbers with 85 species seen and 7 heard. 20 mammal/reptile/amphibian species were recorded.

Highlights of the week look a bit flat after last weeks Mangrove Robin which will be talked about for a while yet! We followed up some published inland records but discovered that they were in fact seen along the coast in mangroves. There are a few records of Mangrove Robins coming inland up river courses with one at the Tyto Wetlands in Ingham which is not far from the Herbert River – thanks to Tyto Tony (http://tytotony.blogspot.com) for this record and a few comments. So far we have no records of birds at altitude (450m here).

Some of the migrants arrived last week including a male Eastern Koel feeding in a fig tree and a Black-faced Monarch was heard calling in the rainforest on two days but not seen. A Red-necked Crake was seen around 7.30 in the morning, once on the edge of the orchard then 10 minutes later along Bushy Creek on a sandbar. Up to 4 Superb Fruit-Dove have been calling in the Lodge grounds and eventually seen several times after searching for the last two weeks. Pied Imperial Pigeon was again heard and several Wompoo Fruit-Dove seen. A pair of Brown Goshawk were soaring over the orchard displaying and a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagle were making their quacking call whilst perched in a tree along the edge of the Lodge grounds. A fruiting fig on the corner of the lodge grounds attracted 50+ Barred Cuckoo-shrike, several pairs of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, lots of Australasian Figbird, 100+ Metallic Starling and a Channel-billed Cuckoo. Papuan Frogmouth have started calling with one laying prostrate on a tree branch over the restaurant area in front of the units seen calling. Still only the female and last years young around.

Papuan Frogmouth

Occasional visitors included a pair of Pale-headed Rosella at the adjacent Geraghty Park, White-cheeked Honeyeater in the Lodge grounds - one of 14 species of honeyeaters seen during the week and a Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike perched in a Blue Quandong tree.

Further afield a trip to Cairns allowed a quick visit to the Esplanade in search of the reported Asian Dowitcher (2) and the long term Laughing Gull, neither was seen, they were present the day before. Other waders present included Pacific Golden Plover (one still in partial breeding plumage), Lesser and Greater Sandplover, Masked Lapwing, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew, Terek Sandpiper, Grey-tailed Tattler, Great Knot, Rd-necked Stint and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. Also present were Australian Pelican, Eastern Great Egret, Intermediate Egret, Striated Heron, White-faced Heron, Little Egret, Australian White Ibis, Royal Spoonbill, Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern and Silver Gull. In the trees behind the Esplanade were Varied Honeyeater. In the local area Blue-faced Parrot-Finch were still being seen as was Lovely Fairy-wren. A Square-tailed Kite was also reported nearby.

Mammals and reptiles were much the same as seen over the last few weeks with up to 3 Platypus being seen at one time in Bushy Creek. A Green Ringtail Possum and a Striped Possum were seen on a couple of occasions. A pair of Agile Wallaby have been seen on several nights in the orchard helping to keep the remaining grass down.

Agile Wallaby

An ever increasing population of bandicoot are coming to the feeder at night as the ground dries out and becoming difficult to dig, up to six Northern Brown Bandicoot and a Long-nosed Bandicoot are regulars.