6th October 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge Report

Weather Report

Very dry weather again with just a slight hint of rain which did not even register in the rain gauge one day and a brief shower which produced 2mm just after dawn on another day. There were some storms in the area one afternoon but we managed to miss them. Some nights down to 15ºC and warm days up to 27ºc but still cooler than the coast from Cairns to Daintree.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 99 seen and 6 heard, second week sightings were 92 seen and 6 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 22nd September - 28th September and 29th September - 5th October.

Morning walks were very variable with between 41 and 55 species seen and heard. Total species seen over seven walks was 79.

Birding Highlights:-

Main highlights were seeing a Superb Fruit-Dove after hearing them calling for three weeks, Red-necked Crake running through our neighbours carport, Lesser Sooty Owl calling after an absence of several months, Noisy Pitta 20m up a tree calling non-stop one morning for several hours as well as making regular appearances in the orchard. This is just a reminder as to what the Lesser Sooty Owl looks like!

 

Lesser Sooty Owl

Eight species of pigeon and dove were seen including Wompoo Fruit-Dove foraging low down on the edge of the orchard and a lone Topknot Pigeon on the top of a Blue Quandong tree also on the edge of the orchard. Papuan Frogmouth have been seen regularly on morning walks and also on night walks. The one we have been seeing at night is calling and appears to be a juvenile bird, probably a first year bird moved on by parents who are getting ready to breed this season. White-faced and White-necked Heron have re-appeared with single individuals seen in the McDougall Road lagoons. Black-shouldered Kite have been around and Pacific Baza were around for three days after being absent for several months. At least two Buff-banded Rail have been visiting our neighbours garden but we don't know if one of them is Katie, the resident rail from two years ago. One pair of Bush Stone-curlew have two very small stripy chicks which they are guarding as good parents do. A Sulphur-crested Cockatoo has taken up residence in hollow of a Queensland Blue Gum and is probably nesting. This same hollow has been used by Nankeen Kestrel in the past. Red-backed Fairy-wren have been posing on the fences along McDougall Road most days.

 

Red-backed Fairy-wren - male

It would appear that the last of the Lewin's Honeyeater and Bridled Honeyeater have left our area and moved up to the mountains behind us as they have not been seen for at least 10 days. Graceful Honeyeater obliged for a photo, which shows a few ID features. 

Graceful Honeyeater

You can just see a diffuse yellow belly stripe which the Yellow-spotted Honeyeater does not have, other features are decurved lower mandible (straight in Y-S Honeyeater), clean and tidy underparts (no streaking like Y-S Honeyeater), the feathered extension of the gape is curved under the eye (Y-S tend to be fairly straight).

Two Little Friarbird turned up in the orchard for a day and a Noisy Friarbird was heard once, both these species are occasional visitors. Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been around in small numbers but appear to be passing through in the search for better pickings. At least one Spangled Drongo is still around but Rufous Fantail may have left as they have not been see for a week. Northern Fantail have been heard around the Lodge and Leaden Flycatcher have also been around calling. The returning Black-faced Monarch have been calling a lot but not seen much, when they have been seen it has usually been bathing in Bushy Creek late in the afternoon. Pied monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been active calling and showing well. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been in the nearby eucalypt woodlands and several pairs of Pale-yellow Robin are sitting on nests. Metallic Starling continue to build up their colony with an increasing amount of nests each day and Olive-backed Sunbird are still sitting in a nest.

Further Afield:-

Maryfarms north of Mt. Molloy has been good over the past two weeks with displaying Australian Bustard, a Black-breasted Buzzard, up to 30 Diamond Dove and a flock of Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. 

 

Australian Bustard - male

Closer to home a fruiting fig tree at the back of Julatten has been attracting flocks of Barred Cuckoo-shrike, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Australian Figbird and Double-eyed Fig-Parrot. Black-chinned Honeyeater were at Wessels Road near Abattoir Swamp and at least four Blue-faced Parrot-Finch were in another area near the swamp. At Abattoir Swamp a Spotless Crake was seen – the hide is still closed due to broken walkway. 

Just north of Mareeba is a small wetland we have been calling Brady Road Swamp which is on private property. Our neighbour and bird guide Andrew recently met the owner of the property the wetland is on, Fay. She is happy to have birders checking out the wetland, which can be viewed from the main road or along a power line corridor between the highway and the wetland. As usual please don't encroach onto private property. Fay named the wetland Lake Evan after her husband (bit grandiose to call it a lake!), so we suggest this name is adopted. Brady Road is named after their grandson who lives at the end of the road.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

27 mammals and reptiles over the last two weeks, which is the most we have seen for several months. A brief shower of rain late one afternoon tempted a few frogs out of hiding, Stoney Creek Frog, Cogger's Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Desert Tree Frog and Cane Toad were the ones sighted. We found a Striped Possum on one of our nightwalks, which was the first for several months, it was a large male. Let hope he can avoid the attentions of the Barking Owl! Two Carpet Python were disturbed at the nearby nursing home by builders doing renovations, they were relocated to a more peaceful area. A welcome visitor to the Lodge was a 1m Lace Monitor who was seen going up a tree behind the bunkhouse, this is the first sighting for well over a year, it was seen later in the week walking across the camping area before heading up another tree. Hope it stays around. Our neighbours had Northern Broad-nosed Bat mating underneath their house and an Eastern Tube-nosed Bat was seen whilst on a nightwalk feeding on a Guava Fruit in the orchard. Thanks to one of our guests Phil Kelly for letting us use his excellent image of this bat.

 

Eastern Tube-nosed Bat

Insect:-

This interesting ant was running around on the veranda outside the units, would not stop still for a photo but eventually managed a reasonable shot of it. Not into ants so don't know the species!

Ant sp.

Recent Books:-

Gary Oliver called by to drop off his recently published book Birdshoot Australia.

This is a result of a 12 month challenge to break the record for photographing the most Australian species in a single year. Gary and his wife Glenda travelled over 55,000kms visiting every state in Australia. Its a fascinating read especially the bit about the Lodge! If you want a copy of the book you can phone Gary 0419 511 501.

Another recently released book is Sue Taylor's Best 100 Birdwatching Sites in Australia.

This is Sue’s personal list of her favorite places to bird. It is a well laid out book with lots of photos and information spread over two pages for each location, once again the Lodge features (at number 8). This is a very useful book to help you plan your trips to good birding locations and to target species on your “wants” list.

Thanks to Gary and Sue for the time and effort in producing two excellent books.

Birdwatchers Lodge in Far North Queensland, Australia.

Well we had 208.5mm of rain this week and it was not even as a result of the Monsoonal Trough, which is still north of us hovering over Papua New Guinea and the top of Cape York Peninsula. Our rain came from the south-east and headed our way from off shore. It did flood the road to Mount Molloy for a day and flooded access to our water pump beside Bushy Creek. The overcast days kept the temperatures to a maximum 28.1ºc and the minimum up slightly on the previous week to a low of 22.3ºc.

The wet weather allowed fewer bird watching opportunities hence the lower than normal species number of 83 seen and 9 heard. 26 mammal and reptile species were seen. 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:

An Eastern Spinebill turned up in one of our Grevillea's along Mt. Kooyong Road which is an unusual event. They are normally found up on Mt. Lewis more often than down around the Lodge. At last our Papuan Frogmouth was back in a Mango Tree in the orchard, roosting during the day, will she stay around? Red-necked Crake are still around with their 3 juveniles and calling infrequently.

Other sightings:

Orange-footed Scrubfowl have been active scrapping up debris and moving it across the road to the reception and onto their mound beside the road. Most of the debris has ended up on the road! This one was having a break from nest building duties to sit out in the sun in front of the cookshed.

Orange-footed Scrubfowl

The wet weather sent the waterbirds in all directions with few in the wetlands along McDougall Road. A few Magpie Goose were found perched in a tree with several Little Black Cormorant and an Intermediate Egret. Superb Fruit-Dove were heard but both Pied Imperial and Topknot Pigeon were seen. These Pied Imperial Pigeon were perched high in a Blue Quondong tree.

Pied Imperial Pigeon

A few Cattle Egret still in breeding plumage were accompanying cattle in a paddock along McDougall Road. Raptors were again absent with only one Whistling Kite seen and White-bellied Sea-Eagle heard. Pale-vented Bush-hen were again see in in the gully behind our neighbours house and heard calling from several other areas around the Lodge. Three Bush Stone-curlew were resting up for the day under some trees near the local nursing home and a pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen flying over in the same area.

Bush Stone-curlew

Channel-billed Cuckoo are still around but less than five seen and heard. Other cuckoos around were Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo and Brush Cuckoo. Eastern Barn Owl were again in Geraghty Park but no records of Sooty Owl this week. Still one Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher nest with chicks in but juveniles from other nests are growing fast and calling for food all day long. The parent birds are very obvious as they search for food, surprisingly some are still in very good condition with long straight tail streamers at a time when they are unusually damaged or bent from going in and out of the nest chamber for at least 6 weeks. Noisy Pitta was heard but not seen but Spotted Catbird have been seen. Red-backed Fairy-wren were again along McDougall Road while Lovely Fairy-wren were in our neighbours garden near Bushy Creek. Twelve honeyeater species for the week including the previously mentioned Eastern Spinebill and several views of the spectacular Scarlet Honeyeater. This Graceful Honeyeater was sitting on the ground for no apparent reason; it soon moved and flew up when approached.

Graceful Honeyeater

A pair of Cicadabird were on the edge of the orchard late on Saturday afternoon flying around and calling as they enjoyed the sunny conditions.

Cicadabird - male

Black Butcherbird have been around in the rainforest and a pair of Willie Wagtail were taking advantage of the newly mowed orchard to search for insects. Black-faced Monarch are still calling and spending most of their time foraging in the rainforest canopy unlike the Spectacled Monarch who are foraging down to ground level. A pair of Pied Monarch were bathing in Bushy Creek early in the week before it flooded and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been very active and calling a lot in the rainforest. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been calling also and foraging in and around the Queensland Blue Gum in Geraghty Park and the edge of the Lodge grounds. Metallic Starling are still with us but numbers are still dwindling as some head north to Papua New Guinea.

Further Afield:-

Wet weather has caused the temporary closure of the Mt. Lewis road (beyond the gate). This will not effect our guests as this part of the road is a permit only area and they only need to go to the clearing at the 10km mark, the gate is a few hundred metres beyond here. The area around the clearing and the walk to the miners dam has been producing many of the higher altitude endemic species such as Fernwren, Atherton Scrubwren, Mountain Thornbill, Macleay's Honeyeater, Bridled Honeyeater, Grey-headed Robin, Chowchilla, Bower's Shrike-thrush, Victoria's Riflebird, Tooth-billed Bowerbird and a female Golden Bowerbird plus Blue-faced Parrot-Finch at the clearing.

Blue-faced Parrot-Finch

Also on Mt. Lewis was Rufous and Grey Fantail plus sub-species Keasti. With the rain of the last week this part of the road may well become impassable as well but in any case four-wheel drive will be required. The small wetland at Brady Road, Mareeba had quite a few waterbirds plus juvenile White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike and Dollarbird. Also here was a displaying Horsfield's Bushlark which was high above the wetland. There are still plenty of Black Kite along the road from Mount Molloy to Mareeba, which is still surprising as normally most of them have gone inland however quite a lot of the inland is also very wet.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The wet weather has certainly enticed a few more reptiles and mammals to come out of hiding with 26 seen this week which is more than we have had for most of the year. A nice 2.5m Australian Scrub Python (used to be called Amethystine Python) was crossing the road near our two bedroom units and a Brown Tree Snake was found by the birds coiled up on a callistemon outside the cookshed. A Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko was found during a nightwalk early in the week; the first for several months. Five frog species were found plus cane toads which were collected for disposal, humanely. Striped Possum were seen on three occasions which was the best sightings around the Lodge grounds for over a month. Fawn-footed Melomys, Yellow-footed Antichinus, Bush Rat, Giant White-tailed Rat and Northern Brown Bandicoot were all visitors to the seed feeder near the reception area in the evening. This is a Fawn-footed Melomys at the feeder, they look very cute but don't be fooled, as they love getting into vehicles and chewing the plastic wiring and hose pipes!

Fawn-footed Melomys

Must have been a good week for pythons as we found two more on a property along Euluma Creek Road, one was at least 3m long and quite thick the other one which was nearby was only about 2m and quite thin, great to see them around.

Birdwatchers Lodge in Far North Queensland 12th February 2012

68mm of rain fell from Tuesday to Friday, 31mm fell in one big storm which also cut the power for five hours. Most rain fell late afternoon and overnight so the days were mainly dry and sunny, not the typical “Wet Season” weather. The minimum temperatures were again much the same as last week down to 22.2ºc but the maximum was a few degrees warmer at 34.8ºc. This was the hottest day we have had in the 6½ years we have been running the Lodge. Humidity was between 55% and 95%.

Birds recorded were 95 seen and 9 heard. 19 mammal and reptile species were seen and two frogs 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:

A small group of Varied Sittella, which we rarely record, were along McDougall Road in an area we had first seen them on 2^nd January 2004, near the first lagoon on left. They are birds of the woodland so we would not expect them in the Lodge but the habitat along McDougall Road (within our 1.5km observation area) is ideal if a little sparse due to clearing. They are more common back towards Mt. Molloy at Abattoir Swamp and nearby Wessels Road. Northern Fantail was around in our neighbours garden for a second week, not a species you would associate with the rainforest but they have appeared in and around this habitat during the last 18 months. Must be a reflection of the relatively dry period over this time frame which makes it feel like their normal woodland habitat. 

Northern Fantail

A mammal highlight was a Musky Rat Kangaroo which shot through the rainforest one morning. This is the first sighting of this mammal since we have been here and possibly a first for the Lodge, hope it stays around and brings a few mates.

Other sightings:

Wandering Whistling-Duck flew over the Lodge ground calling late one afternoon heading towards the wetlands along McDougall Road. Low numbers of waterbird are still along this road, they include Magpie Goose, Pacific Black Duck, Hardhead, Australasian Grebe, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorant and a pair of Comb-crested Jacana with at least two chicks. Brown Cuckoo-Dove were back after a few weeks away and a pair of Pied Imperial Pigeon were making a nest high up in a Queensland Blue Gum in Geraghty Park. This is quite late in the season to be nesting, last year a pair had young in the nest at the beginning of February before Cyclone Yasi blew it away. Small flocks of up to 14 Topknot Pigeon are still around the orchard and Bushy Creek. Our female Papuan Frogmouth continues to hide from us and only make one appearance this week. Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard calling early one morning from the direction of its daytime roost but by the time we got to check it out it started to rain and the bird retreated back into its hollow. A Black Bittern was flushed from a small wet season lagoon near the Bushy Creek bridge along McDougall Road and was the first seen for nine weeks along here. A few Cattle Egret were also along here for the second week since returning. We even had three raptors this week, a pair of Black-shouldered and a Whistling Kite again along McDougall Road plus two White-bellied Sea-Eagle flew over Geraghty Park just after nightfall as we were spotlighting our way to a residents meeting in the hall (also saw a pair of Easter Barn Owl ). 

Whistling Kite

Red-necked Crake have also been showing well this week, a pair with their three juveniles were foraging in a water run off drain behind the units one afternoon, an adult was seen from our bedroom window one morning calling and making its way through the rainforest, also in this same area an adult called at exactly 3.00am and woke us up, spooky. If you want to see some photos of the crakes and chicks check out Ian Montgomery's excellent web site as he has photos taken at the Lodge last week. A Pale-vented Bush-hen was seen along Bushy Creek near the Platypus viewing area where it flew across the creek and walked through the rainforest giving glimpses as it moved along the bank calling. An Australian Bustard was displaying in a paddock alongside the Rex Highway and seen in the same location the next day, probably the same bird that has been reported over at least the past six months around Julatten. A few Scaly-breasted Lorikeet are still in the area along with a few Double-eyed Fig-Parrot. Four cuckoos were recorded with Pheasant Coucal, Eastern Koel and Little Bronze-Cuckoo heard and Brush Cuckoo seen, including a juvenile.

Brush Cuckoo - juvenile

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are calling in the vicinity of their nests with at least one nest having fledged, another five have birds almost ready to fledge and one has only just hatched chicks. This pair of birds were late last year, about two weeks after the rest had fledged. When the chicks are first out of the nest they tend to go high into the rainforest canopy to be fed making them difficult to spot but after a while when they are flying well they come down lower and easily seen as they perch waiting for the next meal. Forest Kingfisher were seen feeding two juveniles along Mt. Kooyong Road down towards the nursing home from the Lodge. A few Rainbow Bee-Eaters flew over the Lodge and only one juvenile Dollarbird was seen, no sign of any adults. Also no sign of Noisy Pitta not even a call, so we can assume that their nest was unsuccessful for the second time, would like to be proved wrong! Spotted Catbird (Clements has this as a sub-species of Green Catbird now) have been very vocal in the dawn chorus but quiet for the rest of the day. Scarlet Honeyeater were back around with one heard in the Lodge grounds and a pair seen in Geraghty Park, they were one of 11 species of honeyeater recorded. This Graceful Honeyeater was foraging along Bushy Creek.

Graceful Honeyeater

A Cicadabird male was seen feeding a juvenile at the entrance to the Lodge, the juvenile has a very spotted breast unlike the female who has barring on the breast. The first image has the juvenile just taken an insect from the male who had smashed it against the branch to make sure it was dead and the second image shows the breast patterning of the juvenile.
 

Cicadabird -  black/grey male and juvenile

  

Cicadabird - juvenile

Grey Whistler have been around the grounds but have stopped calling making them even more difficult to track down. Australasian Figbird have been sharing a fig tree in Geraghty Park with Metallic Starlings, this one is having a break from mouthfuls of red figs.

Australasian Figbird - male

Black Butcherbird, mainly an immature bird, has been around calling and catching frogs. A Rufous Fantail was at the bottom end of McDougall Road and has probably come down off the nearby mountains, a bit too early for southern migrants? A pair of Leaden Flycatcher have been feeding at least two, possibly three chicks in a nest in Geraghty Park, this image shows the female bringing in food to the nest which is about 15m from the ground.

Leaden Flycatcher - female

 A Magpie-larks nest previously reported, also in Geraghty Park, has a very large chick just about to fledge as this image shows, the bird is perched on the rim of the nest which is also about15m from the ground.

Magpie-lark - chick

Lemon-bellied Flycatcher numbers have increased with sightings along Mt. Kooyong Road and Geraghty Park. A Horsfield's Bushlark was once again seen along McDougall Road, an uncommon sighting in our area. Metallic Starling numbers have decreased but they are still nesting and building new nests. We did observe several small flocks of starlings heading north one morning whilst along Euluma Creek Road in Julatten. Our nesting Olive-backed Sunbird have left their nest but we have not seen any juvenile birds unlike our neighbours pair who still have juveniles with the after about a month.

Further Afield:-

Still plenty of Black Kite along the road from Mt. Molloy to Mareeba. The Brady Road lagoon north of Mareeba has dried back a little and now has more birds on it, four species of egret – Eastern Great, Intermediate, Little and Cattle in breeding plumage.

Little, Intermediate and Cattle Egret

There were also both Straw-necked and Australian White Ibis, Hardhead, Pacific Black Duck, Magpie Goose and an Australian Hobby swooping overhead.A full list can be found on the Eremaea Birds website

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The Fawn-footed Melomys have been down at our neighbours house getting stuck into the seeds collected from the Metallic Starling nests in Geraghty Park, better that than chewing our car electrics! Yellow-footed Antichinus has been around this week climbing up onto the feeder near the reception to feast on banana. Striped Possum was again in our neighbours garden and only one Northern Brown Bandicoot has regularly been coming to the feeder at night. A Long-nosed Bandicoot was seen in Geraghty Park. Frogs have been surprisingly quiet this week despite the rain with only Roth's and Cogger's Frog showing plus Dainty Green Tree Frog and Northern Dwarf Tree Frog heard. Tube-nosed Bat were heard and seen as were Boyd's Forest Dragon, Eastern Water Dragon shown loafing on a log in Bushy Creek and several Major Skink.

Eastern Water Dragon

Other happenings:-

Work on the bunkhouse has progressed with some structural timber and internal paneling replaced. The roof has been relaid outside and awnings fitted to the windows to keep any rain out. New curtains are also being fitted. This work should be finished by the end of February, then we have a student group using it for the whole of March. It should be open for bookings at the beginning of April, weather permitting.

29th January 2012 Report

A shortened week due to having to go into Cairns for a knee operation for two days. Knee appears to be coming along OK but it will curtail most birding activity for a few more days.

70mm of rain over the week and a big thunderstorm, which we missed being in Cairns, knocked the power out for six hours one night. Temperatures were much the same as last week 22.5ºc to 29.4ºc with the humidity 77% to 95%.

Birds recorded were less due to the reduced effort on our part, but our neighbours Carol and Andrew were out and about recording the birds in our area which kept the numbers up to a respectable 84 seen and a high 14 heard. 21 mammal and reptile species were seen and one heard, thanks to James Cook University (JCU) students who were camped here for boosting this number. 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:

Two Red-necked Crake with three chicks bathing in a pool beside the orchard, they were very flighty and took cover at the slightest movement. Great to see three chicks again this year, hope they all survive. Olive-backed Sunbird at our neighbours fledged two chicks at the end of the week and they seem to have survived longer than the last two they tried raising. Our sunbirds are still sitting on their nest.

Other sightings:

Waterbird numbers were again down this week with birds spread out over the permanent and temporary wetlands formed by the “wet season” rains. Only a few Magpie Goose, Pacific black Duck, Hardhead, an Australasian Darter, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorant, Eastern Great, Intermediate and Little Egret plus a White-faced Heron and a couple of Australian White Ibis. 

Pacific Black Duck

Topknot Pigeon were back with at least 50 foraging around the edge of the orchard at the end of the week. A few Pied Imperial-Pigeon were seen and both Wompoo and Superb Fruit-Dove heard. No sighting of our female Papuan Frogmouth for the week, she had been roosting in one of our fruit trees as this image shows, trying to look like one of the dead leaves.  
 

Papuan Frogmouth

and only one raptor sighting, a Whistling Kite. Several Buff-banded Rail were seen but not “Katie” who seems to have found new pastures. Spotless Crake was heard along McDougall Road where a dead one was found on a barbed wire fence a few weeks ago. Pale-vented Bush-hen are certainly getting excited with the rain and are calling a lot and even showing themselves along Mt. Kooyong Road on rare occasions. Pheasant Coucal have also been calling and sitting on fence posts but all the other cuckoos have only been heard, Eastern Koel, Channel-billed, Little (Gould's)-Bronze and Brush Cuckoo. 

Pheasant Coucal

Azure Kingfisher was along Bushy Creek and our Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher now have six confirmed nests with chicks in. Another nest with chicks is in our neighbours garden. Several Rainbow Bee-eater passed over the Lodge late in the week and Dollarbird have started to call again. Noisy Pitta have been seen in the orchard collecting food and flying into the rainforest, so it would appear they are feeding chicks in a nest. Unfortunately we found a dead Noisy Pitta outside one of our two bedroom units. It had been picked clean with only a few primary feathers showing the green edging and white wing marking plus a few loose turquoise feathers allowing the skeleton to be identified. It was probably one of the juveniles from this year. Spotted Catbird have been perching in the rainforest and calling intensely, mainly early morning but often throughout the day, they really put a lot of effort into their calls. They have also been coming to the water bowls as this one is.

Spotted Catbird

Fairy Gerygone are calling and flitting around high up in the trees but this female came down low before fleeing to the higher rainforest canopy.

Fairy Gerygone - female

Scarlet Honeyeater were heard for the first time in three weeks and Blue-faced plus Macleay's Honeyeater have returned to the nectar feeders. 

Blue-faced Honeyeater

Also coming to the water bowls are Yellow-faced Honeyeater. It really is worth putting out a few water bowls as birds will come in even if it is pouring with rain!

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Male Cicadabird has been calling and flying around the Lodge grounds for brief glimpses. White-breasted Woodswallow are still perching on fences along McDougall Road along with Australian Pipit and a few Metallic Starling, all appear to be feeding on the road but could not see anything resembling suitable food. Black-faced Monarch are still calling from several locations around the grounds and must be sitting on nests as they have been calling from the same spot for several weeks. The Spectacled Monarch reported last week nesting alongside Bushy Creek is still sitting but has chicks in the nest now. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have both been showing and calling. Metallic Starling are still collecting nesting material and building more nests as they have been doing since early August last year. There are more starlings around this year than any of the previous six years and they show no sign of letting up with their breeding; probably trying to make up for last year when Cyclone Yasi cut short their breeding season. Still plenty of Blue-faced Parrot-Finch on Mt Lewis.

Further Afield:-

We managed to fit in some birding during our trip to Cairns and visited Yorkey's Knob Lagoon, Cattana Wetlands, Centenary Lakes (Cairns Botanic Gardens) and of course the Cairns Esplanade. Yorkey's Knob Lagoon was full to almost overflowing with very few birds in the area, the highlight was a Crimson Finch who came to investigate us and sat outside our car looking in. The only waterbird was an Australasian Darter.

Australasian Darter

Cattana Wetlands was a bit more productive with a few more waterbirds and some bush birds. Green Pygmy-goose, Magpie Goose, Little Pied Cormorant and Australian Grebe were on the water whilst the most prominent bush bird was Black Butcherbird lurking around in the mangroves along the board walk. The presence of so many butcherbirds was probably the reason we saw fewer numbers of smaller birds. Cattana Wetland is well worth a visit whilst in Cairns, a brochure with species list can be downloaded from the BirdLife Australia NQ website http://www.birdsaustralianq.org/pdfs/Cattana_Wetlands_No_33.pdf. Centenary Lakes was as good as ever with Black Bittern, Rajah Shelduck, Comb-crested Jacana and Bush Stone-curlew amongst the 27 species we saw in just over an hour. The visit to the Cairns Esplanade was cut short by a rain storm but it made little difference as the tide was extremely high (highest for the year) with few birds visible. Another visit had the tide way out which also did not help finding waders. We did manage to see Eastern Reef Egret, Lesser Sand Plover, Masked Lapwing, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew, Grey-tailed Tattler, Great Knot and Red-necked Stint. 

Great Knot

There were many more birds we could have seen but we did not have the scope. On land there was the reliable Varied Honeyeater, lots of Pied Imperial Pigeon plus Rainbow Lorriket and Metallic Starling coming in to roost in trees along the Esplanade. The complete species list from our visits can be viewed on the Eremaea Birds site. Another search for Buff-breasted Button-quail south of Mt. Molloy, by one of our guests, failed to find any birds; the habitat here is becoming unsuitable with the grass becoming taller with the rains.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

A few interesting reptiles and mammals this week, JCU students heard Marbled Frog Limnodynastes convexiusculus a species we have not knowingly heard before, certainly not recorded one here in six years. Maybe we have been overlooking them as they have been recorded in the past. Queensland Tube-nosed Bat with their distinctive whistling call were heard by our neighbours, not one we have heard very often. Yellow-footed Antichinus have been active during the day with one coming to the feeder to enjoy some mango. Striped Possum was heard and seen once and a Platypus was seen whizzing along under the Bushy Creek bridge on the Mt. Kooyong Road. On nearby Mt. Lewis the JCU students spotlighted a Daintree River Ringtail  possum which usually occurs at higher altitudes than the Lodge. They are said to come down to 420m (we are 450m) but normally they are found on Mt. Lewis above 800m and are found in greater densities at higher altitudes (above 1000m). Information from "The Mammals of Australia" 3rd Edition. Steve Van Dyck and Ronald Strahan.

Daintree River Ringtail

22nd January 2012 Report

A week with lots of rain after a week with none, we had 93mm for the week spread over the 7 days. The majority fell overnight with a few showers during the day but still allowed birding time in the dry.

The temperatures were pretty consistent throughout the week with the minimums ranging from 22.0ºc to 22.7ºc and during the day were up to 32.3ºc at the beginning of the week but for the rest they were between 26.3ºc to 28.7ºc which was quite pleasant. Humidity was high with all the rain from 78% to 87% minimum and between 92% to 96% for the maximum.

There were actually more birds recorded this week than last despite the rain. Waterbirds numbers were down but a few more raptors were around with five species seen; totals were 100 seen, 8 heard. 18 mammal and reptile species were seen, 3 heard and one found dead. 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:

A lone Black-necked Stork was in the first lagoon along McDougall Road late one afternoon. Red-necked Crake was foraging before having a bath in a pool beside the orchard for over 10 minutes and two Pale-vented Bush-hen chasing each other around on our neighbours lawn. A neighbour across the Rex Highway reported a lone Australian Bustard in their front paddock; we get several reports of a lone bustard around the Julatten area every year. 34 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo flying over late in the week must be the most we have seen in the Lodge area and a Northern Fantail surprised us when it was heard calling in Geraghty Park late in the week. This is the first record for 11 weeks. 

Northern Fantail

A single Horsfield's Bushlark seen along McDougall Road is an uncommon bird in the area with only two previous records in the last six years.

Other sightings:

Brown Quail were calling along McDougall Road and two flew out of long grass beside the road for good views. A few waterbirds were still present in the McDougall Road lagoons but only one or two of each species such as Hardhead, Australasian Grebe, Australasian Darter, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorant, Eastern Great Egret and Comb-crested Jacana. The second swamp has been taken over by frogs and dragonfly's! The female Papuan Frogmouth made two appearances in the orchard during the week and was heard calling during a rain storm one evening. Raptors were again hard to find but a few made a showing in the area, Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling and Black Kite plus a Brown Falcon. A pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were in a Queensland Blue Gum tree in the camping area. A male Pheasant Coucal was perched on a fence post along Mt. Kooyong Road calling for over 30 minutes for no apparent reason – no other coucals in the vicinity. Eastern Koel fired up with the rain and started calling for most of the week and at least two Channel-billed Cuckoo were around. We should start to see these cuckoos passing through on northward migration soon. Brush Cuckoo were also calling and dropping in a few “referee whistle” calls. Sooty Owl were only heard this week on several occasions and Eastern Barn Owl were seen hunting along the Rex Highway one night.

The good news is that at least four of our Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher nests have chicks in, we found eggshells outside of them and heard the chicks calling from inside. One nest had three eggshells outside the others had two. There are at least four other nests with adults sitting but no sign of hatching as yet. We have at least 45 termite mounds in the Lodge grounds and at least 8 have nests in them. Late News! One more nest had two chicks hatch Saturday night with two eggshells found Sunday morning, that is five with chicks so far.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - entering nest to feed chicks

No more sightings of Rainbow Bee-eater over the lodge his week but a few are still along McDougall Road. Dollarbird numbers seem to be less at the moment with only a couple sighted and our Noisy Pitta have been not so noisy this week and only showing a couple of times. They are probably sitting on eggs by now as they appear to have finished nest building. Spotted Catbird have been having a feast in our orchard as they are getting stuck into the fruit of a Soursop tree. This is a large fruit which can weigh over 6kg's but they rarely get that big here as the Spectacled Fly-fox get into them at night and the catbird cleans up during the day. We are quite happy for them to have the fruit as it is not to our tastes. Lovely Fairy-wren were again heard late afternoon in some bamboo along Bushy Creek where we suspect they go to roost. Large-billed Gerygone continue to attend a nest hanging over Bushy Creek near the Platypus viewing area and should be feeding chicks by now. 

Large-billed Gerygone

Ten species of honeyeater were recorded with the rainy weather hindering their attempts to get nectar from the trees they have started coming back to the feeders. Yellow-spotted, Graceful, Yellow, Blue-faced and Macleay's Honeyeater were all seen at feeders. The rain has also started the Macleay's Honeyeater to come under the veranda to roost in the dry, this one was perched on a chair by the mammal feeding area beside the reception.

Macleay's Honeyeater

A sub-adult Black Butcherbird has been around and has started to change out of it's juvenile brown plumage into it's black adult plumage. At least two pairs of Spangled Drongo have juveniles in tow who have been constantly begging for food. The Black-faced Monarch we have been chasing on the edge of the orchard for the last few weeks is still sitting on its nest and calling like a few others we have found in the area. One was even calling in the middle of the night on two different occasions. A pair of Spectacled Monarch are sitting on a nest precariously close to Bushy Creek, hope the creek does not flood and wash the nest away as happened a few years ago. Both Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and showing well after hiding for a few weeks. Olive-backed Sunbird at our neighbours house now have two chicks in their nest while ours are investigating their nest and sitting in it, not sure if they have laid yet. 

Olive-backed Sunbird - Female

Large flocks of Chestnut-breasted Mannikin have been around the local paddocks including those along McDougall Road which also had at least 12 Australian Pipit perching on fence posts. The mannikin flocks had a lot of juveniles mixed in with the adults but quite often we have seen juveniles form flocks of their own.

Chestnut-breasted Mannikin

Further Afield:-

A search for Buff-breasted Button-quail this week only turned up Painted Button-quail near Mt. Molloy. The Brady Road lagoon 4km north of Mareeba has now filled to overflowing and only had three Australian Grebe on it with 80+ Plumed Whistling-Duck flying in to land in an adjacent cow paddock whilst we were there mid-week. Another nearby lagoon had 2000+ Magpie Goose in it with a few Straw-necked Ibis but no other waterbirds. This is just a small section of them.

Magpie Goose

There was also a surprising number of Black Kite between Mt. Molloy and Mareeba at a time when most of these kites have gone further inland to breed, we must have seen close on 30 birds. One of the local Japanese tour guides, Ota, showed us an image taken on his mobile phone of a Peaceful Dove nest which was built on the rear windscreen wiper of a car parked at the Cairns Airport. Don't hold out much hope of this nest being successful. One white-tailed Needletail swooped down and was nearly collected by our car in Mt Molloy on Saturday morning. Mt. Lewis is still good for Blue-faced Parrot-Finch with 20+ seen this week however with the rain we have had it is best to check the road conditions if going up to the 10km clearing.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Frogs got excited with the rain and started calling, those heard but not seen were Striped marsh Frog, Roth's Frog and Dainty Green Tree Frog. Those seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad. Boyd's Forest Dragon are still around as are the Eastern Water Dragon. A Keelback snake was found run over along Mt. Kooyong Road near Bushy Creek. Only one Striped Possum sighting which was in our neighbours garden. A Giant White-tailed Rat was back at the feeder this week and a Red-legged Pademelon was in a gully between the Lodge and our neighbours garden. Regulars at the seed feeder include Bush Rat

Bush Rat

and Northern Brown Bandicoot.

Northern Brown Bandicoot

Hey no fungus this week!