30th November 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Plenty of threatening clouds but only 1mm of rain managed to find our rain gauge. Humidity dropped down to 43% and up to 95% with lots of sunshine and temperatures reaching 31.3ºc but generally lower with the cloud cover.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 16th – 22nd November and 23rd - 29th November The first week had 106 species recorded and the second week 107.

Birding Highlights:-

The main contingent of Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher arrived overnight on the 20^th of November (one had arrived on 31st October) which is two days after the previous late arrival record. Since then they have been pairing up and calling a lot as they sort out their territories. Most guests have been seeing them. A Pale-vented Bush-hen turned up in our neighbours garden on 23^rd November, this photo is from earlier this year of an adult feeding one of its six chicks. Hope they breed around here again this season.

Pale-vented Bush-hen - Adult and chick

A big surprise was six Brolga flying from the coast in a westerly direction over the Lodge grounds on the 26^th November. Not sure where they would have come from but this is only the second record we have had in 9½ years. A Glossy Ibis turned up at one of the McDougall Road lagoons at the end of the second week, this is a rare bird in our immediate area. Other waterbirds have been around in small numbers, Magpie Goose, Wandering Whistling-Duck, Green Pygmy-goose, Grey Teal were seen and a Black Bittern was heard. An adult Nankeen Night Heron was along Bushy Creek one morning whilst we were conducting a morning walk. Raptors have been scarce with only Black, Whistling and Brahminy Kite plus White-bellied Sea-Eagle seen over the last two weeks. Red-necked Crake has been appearing at the Crake Pool most late evenings and once at 8.00am. One spent 45 minutes one evening foraging around the pool. One of the McDougall Lagoons had a Comb-crested Jacana swimming around which was quite unusual as they are mainly seen walking over the water lilies. Pigeons and doves have once again been showing well with Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Emerald, Peaceful and Bar-shouldered Dove, Wompoo and Superb Fruit-Dove, Torresian Imperial-Pigeon and Topknot Pigeon all seen. Little Bronze-Cuckoo have again been around in a small flock of 6-8 birds. All have been of the race gouldi, this one was foraging in the orchard.

Little Bronze-Cuckoo - male

Other cuckoos that have been seen were Australian Koel, Channel-billed Cuckoo and Pheasant Coucal. Night birds have been a bit elusive with Lesser Sooty, Barn, and Barking Owl seen plus Australian Owlet-nightjar heard. Also seen was Papuan Frogmouth who were either roosting in our orchard or sitting on their nest. This one was sitting on a recently hatched chick.

Papuan Frogmouth - male

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo have also been nesting with two large chicks seen peering out of a nest hollow. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have also been nesting and as reported in the last blog feeding young. We thought the young had fledged but after not seeing the adults at the nest for 1½ weeks they were back and little voices were heard from inside the nest. Noisy Pitta have continued to be noisy but have retreated into the rainforest within the last few days which may mean they are going to nest. Lovely Fairy-wren were heard on the edge of the orchard but not seen but Red-backed Fairy-wren were seen on a fence along the highway near Geraghty Park. 13 honeyeater species were seen and one heard, 11 of these were seen in one red flowering Callistemon (Bottlebrush) whilst we were on a morning walk. The most impressive was a male Scarlet Honeyeater who came down out of the tall trees to give everyone fantastic views. Blue-faced Honeyeater were seen feeding juveniles, the males blue face is really bright in breeding condition.

Blue-faced Honeyeater

Also a Helmeted Friarbird was heard for one day, this species does not usually come to our western side of the Great Dividing Range. Several pairs of Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and seen. One pair of White-breasted Woodswallow were seen building a nest and a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike was seen sitting in a nest. Both Barred Cuckoo-shrike and Common Cicadabird have been calling and seen. A female Australasian Figbird was seen sitting in a nest in a Queensland Blue Gum tree. Torresian Crow were seen chasing a Channel-billed Cuckoo, which may have left their nest unattended for the female channel-billed to lay her eggs in it. A Pale-yellow Robin was another bird seen sitting on a nest. These nesting birds must think the rain is coming along with an influx of insects as at the moment insects are very few and far between. Metallic Starling are also powering ahead with their nests and their colony is looking a bit better with at least 80-100 birds present.

Further Afield:-

A Baillon’s Crake was seen along the edge of the bund wall at Lake Mitchell by Ota Yu, one of the local Japanese birdguides. Also at Lake Mitchell, Carol Iles (our local bird guide) reported six Cotton Pygmy-goose, which are becoming a difficult species to find in our area. Several Yellow Wagtail were reported from Tinnaburra waters boatramp area on Tinaroo Dam, near Yungaburra. Mt. Lewis was a good as ever with most endemics being seen again, also a Shining Bronze-Cuckoo was reported by several people being fed by a Mountain Thornbill at the clearing 10km up the road. One Blue-faced Parrot-Finch was seen at the end of the 2nd week. Further north of Mt. Carbine Black-throated Finch and Squatter Pigeon were along the Kondaparinga Road to Hurricane Station. Maryfarms between Mt. Carbine and Mount Molloy had Banded and Rufous-throated Honeyeater (uncommon) as well as Australian Bustard who are still displaying.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Two Australian Scrub Python were seen whilst on a night walk, the first for several weeks. A Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko was out during the day behind the cookshed, which is unusual. This one has an original tail.

Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko

Frogs have been anticipating rain and calling a lot, those seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Dessert Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog. Also Cane Toad was seen and Roth's (Laughing) Tree frog was heard. A Striped Possum was seen on a night walk high up feeding on the flowers of a Black Bean (Castanospermum australe) tree, this was a first for nearly three weeks. Northern Broad-nosed Bat decided to invade our bedroom with three finding there way past the fly screens. After a midnight chase we managed to get two out, the third was found in the morning and removed. Also in the office was our local Yellow-footed Antechinus who pays regular visits but just has a look around and leaves. Fawn-footed Melomys (small rodent) was seen foraging in a Sugar Apple tree in the orchard one night. At least four Red-legged Pademelon are around the Lodge grounds as well as several Agile Wallaby.

Insects:-

A few Longicorn Beetle have been appearing, this one was on the wall of the units before being re-located to the rainforest.

Longicorn Beetle sp.

A few Katydid have also been seen.

Wader ID:-
The mystery wader from the last blog is a Pectoral Sandpiper. This species differs from the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper with it's more upright stance showing a longer neck, slightly downcurved bill which is slightly longer than the head. Its breast pattern is a distinctly demarcated from the whiter lower breast , weaker supercillium, legs are yellowish, and the bill is olive with a darker tip, whiter more distinct eyering and greyer crown. These are some of the distinguishing features.
Photo, Doug Herrington

Pectoral Sandpiper

 

30th March 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

We are back online after being away since the beginning of the month, our friends Kath and Dave looked after the Lodge for us and kept the bird records for the three weeks while we were on holiday, thanks to them for doing such a great job. Their records plus the last weeks are summarised below.

Weather Report

Rainfall over the period we were away amounted to 172mm which we know from our travels to SE Queensland, Northern New South Wales and Lord Howe Island would be most welcome there as it was very dry when we were visiting. Hopefully this last week has put some useful rainfalls in those areas. In addition the last weeks rainfall was 59.5mm on six rainy days. For the year so far we have recorded almost 1100mm. Temperatures ranged from 19ºC to 29ºC.

Bird Sightings:-

The past four weeks sighting were around 100 species per week.

Birding Highlights:-

Three Cotton Pygmy-goose in one of the McDougall Road wetlands in the first week of March. Wompoo and Superb Fruit-Dove were both seen and heard, in addition a pair of Superb Fruit-Dove were spotlighted roosting on 29/3 in the rainforest. No sightings of Papuan Frogmouth in the Lodge grounds, but three were roosting nearby in the last week of March. Two Black-necked Stork have been around most weeks. Pacific Baza showed up in the first week and both Brown Goshawk and Collared Sparrowhawk have been in the area. Red-necked Crake have been seen over the last three weeks, including three recently fledged juveniles with two adults, pottering around in the rainforest. This sighting means that this pair have bred a second time this season. Pale-vented Bush-hen have been showing each week with at least nine seen in the last week of March. This juvenile bird is about two months old and is one of five survivors from a clutch of six.

Pale-vented Bush-hen - juvenile

Both Buff-banded Rail and White-browed Crake were seen along McDougall Road. Red-tailed Black Cockatoo were around for the first two weeks of March, but have not been seen or heard since. Cuckoos have been quite obvious with the highlight a flock of 30+ Channel-billed Cuckoo, which usually gather in groups of immatures at this time of year to fly north. Other cuckoos seen or heard were Pheasant Coucal, Eastern Koel and Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo. A pair of Barking Owl returned for a couple of weeks, but moved off when they realised they had cleaned the area out of food when they were here before for 18 months! 

 

Barking Owl

Lesser Sooty Owl has been heard most weeks, but not seen. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher numbers appear to have decreased since we were away as we have not seen or heard many, but we have seen a few adults and a few juvenile birds so they are still around to be observed. 

 Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - juvenile

13 species of honeyeater were seen including Lewin's Honeyeater who have returned from higher altitudes where they breed. A White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike was seen feeding a juvenile and both Barred Cuckoo-shrike and Cicadabird have been seen. A Grey Whistler was seen feeding a recently fledged young; would like to know where they nest as we have never found one in nearly nine years. 

 

Grey Whistler

Little (Rufous) Shrike-thrush, Leaden Flycatcher, Black-faced Monarch and Lemon-bellied Flycatcher were also seen feeding juveniles. Grey-headed Robin have returned from the mountains behind the Lodge and both Fairy and Tree Martin were seen along McDougall Road. Metallic Starling are still with us, but will be leaving soon to head north or maybe just go down to the coast where they are all year now. Red-browed Finch were seen breeding which seems to be an all year event! Australian Pipit have also returned to the area.

Further Afield:-

Australian King-Parrot and White-eared Monarch were both seen along Pinnacle Road, Julatten. 

 

Australian King-Parrot - male

There were up to four Yellow-billed Spoonbill at Lake Evan (Brady Road Swamp), 4km north of Mareeba in the last week of March, not a common bird in our region. Two Latham's Snipe were seen at Ferraro Road, Port Douglas. Eastern Yellow Wagtail were being seen at Tinaburra Boat Ramp, Lake Tinaroo (Atherton Tableland) and adjacent areas until about mid-March with up to 14 bird present. Little Kingfisher were reported from Centenary Lakes and Kewarra Beach, both sites in Cairns.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Sightings have been a little patchy with occasional Fawn-footed Melomys, Yellow-footed Antichinus, Red-legged Pademelon and Striped Possum. Regulars include Boyd's Forest Dragon, Eastern Water Dragon, Spectacled Flying Fox, Jungguy Frog and White-lipped Tree Frog. Eastern Tube-nosed Bat has also been seen regularly. A Platypus was spotlighted in Bushy Creek on 29/3 and was the first seen for about five weeks. Our neighbours reported a Macleay's Water Snake on Mt. Kooyong Road also on the 29th; it was having difficulty moving on dry land.

Bird Trails Tropical Queensland Brochure:-

A new brochure for 2014-2015 has just been released with updated information on the best birding sites, birding guides and places to stay in the Daintree, Cairns Highlands (Tablelands), Julatten and Mission Beach areas. It can be downloaded from here.

We hope to have the camp ground and bunk house opened again by next weekend, 5-6th April, weather permitting!

2nd March 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Not quite as much rain over the last two weeks as the previous two weeks but still a healthy 249.5mm (10 inches). This was enough to flood the road from Mt. Molloy for a few days.

 Bushy Creek - about 600mm over the main road

The wet weather softened up the ground and a few trees fell down including this one along the path from the orchard to Bushy Creek, which took down three other trees. Quite a mess and a lot of clearing required to open the path again.

Path from Orchard to Bushy Creek

The overcast and rainy weather kept the temperatures down highs around 28ºC and down to 22ºC. The second week saw most of the rain clear away and sunny days re-appear to help dry out the soggy grounds.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

The first week was quite wet and restricted birding with only 86 species heard and seen but the second week was much better with 102 seen and heard.The complete lists can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 16th - 22nd February and 23rdFebruary - 1st March

Birding Highlights:-

The pair of Pacific Baza nesting on the edge of the Lodge grounds have successfully fledged two youngsters who have been around begging for food but have now left the Lodge after being harassed by a gang of Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. The family of Pale-vented Bush-hen previously reported still have five surviving juveniles who are growing rapidly, this image shows one about 22 days old.

Pale-vented Bush-hen - 22 days old

This image shows one of the adults.
 

Pale-vented Bush-hen - Adult

Waterbirds have been few and far between with all the rain providing plenty of alternative habitats, there was one White-faced Heron seen flying over the Lodge which was a first sighting for this year. Late in the second week a few more waterbirds showed up including two Black Bittern, Great, Intermediate and Little Egret, Spotless Crake, White-browed Crake, plus a single Comb-crested Jacana. All these sightings were along McDougall Road in and around the wetlands. Black-shouldered Kite also nested along McDougall Road. Other raptors around were White-bellied Sea-Eagle (2), Whistling and Black Kite, plus Brown Falcon. Red-tailed Black Cockatoo continue to fly over the Lodge every few days as do Double-eyed Fig-Parrot. Cuckoo's are calling well with Pheasant Coucal, Eastern Koel (male & female), Channel-billed Cuckoo, both Little and Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo plus Brush Cuckoo. Barn Owl are around and calling as was a Lesser Sooty Owl on one occasion. The adult Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are still flying around and perching for photos. The juveniles are becoming more obvious and are coming down to lower levels from high in the canopy. Three juveniles were seen in the same area together but it was not known if they were all from the same nest. Other juveniles seen have mainly been on their own apart from two perched on the clothes line! This Juvenile Forest Kingfisher took advantage of an old chair in Geraghty Park for where it pounced onto the ground for worms. 

 

Forest Kingfisher - juvenile

Dollarbird are still around with adults and juveniles seen. Noisy Pitta have been difficult to see as they are keeping to the rainforest and quite often high in the trees. A pair of Great Bowerbird were in a neighbours garden one morning polishing off some palm tree fruits. Thirteen species of honeyeater over the two weeks with Scarlet Honeyeater returning after being away for at least two months. Black Butcherbird have two well grown brown juveniles hunting around the grounds, Australasian Figbird are feeding young as are Leaden Flycatcher. A female Victoria's Riflebird has been coming to our neighbours feeder and was seen in the Lodge grounds on the edge of the orchard. Red-browed Finch are constantly building nests for  most of the year but we have never seen one like this, a hanging one. Normally they are supported by tree branches and quite well hidden in the foliage.

Red-browed Finch Nest

Further Afield:-

An estimated 300 Black Kite were circling over the Mulligan Highway north of Mareeba on the 26^th February, which is very unusual to have such a high number at this time of year. A Spotted Harrier was along Wetherby Road, Julatten as was a Black Bittern and a Horsfield's Bushlark. Mt. Lewis is still performing with most of the endemic species seen apart from Golden Bowerbird and Lesser Sooty Owl. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch are still up on the mountain but two were lower down at the end of McDougall Road late in the second week. The road has been closed on several occasions by falling trees but the local Mareeba Shire Council have been quick in responding to our reports and have cleared the road, thanks to them. Carol Iles our out and about bird guide reported a Grey Shrike-thrush at Abattoir Swamp, which is not common. They are regularly at nearby Wessel Road but don't come across to the swamp very often. Lloyd Nielsen reported a Shining Flycatcher on a nest along Bushy Creek between Julatten and Mt. Molloy which is one of a very few recorded in this area. A Torresian Crow was flying eastward towards the coast, over the Great Diving Range in Julatten late one afternoon, unusual as not many have been seen this year.
 

Reptiles and Mammals:-

24 reptiles and mammals were seen over the past two weeks. A yellow-footed Antichinus was hiding under one of our chair covers along the veranda one morning, luckily nobody sat on it! Red-legged Pademelon have been out the front of our units as well as in the orchard area rainforest. Striped Possum have been seen a few times but no sign of any Green Ringtail Possum. Platypus was seen, when Bushy Creek was in flood, swimming along the rock wall by the viewing area. Seven species of frog were seen and Roth's (Laughing) Tree Frog heard. An Australian Scrub Python was on our neighbours veranda one night and this Brown Tree Snake decided to curl up in the peg basket in the camp laundry. It was removed and put outside where it climbed a tree which was much more like its natural habitat! 

 

Brown Tree Snake

Insects:-

A few moths have been around including this unusual one which we have never seen here before.

Moth sp.

Butterflies have also been around, this Blue-Triangle found something of interest on the yard broom.

 Blue Triangle Butterfly

Fungi:-  
The wet weather has also triggered off lots of different species of fungi like this one growing at the foot of a Queensland Blue Gum (Forest Red Gum) Eucalyptus tereticornis.

Fungi sp.

Could be Panellus ligulatus ?

We will be having a break from the blog until the end of March, we might be posting a few snippets so keep looking!

15th December 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Over the last two weeks rainfall has again been patchy and light with falls of 3mm on three occasions but towards the end of the second week a front came through just after midnight, which dumped 30mm in 45 minutes along with a thunder and lightning show, then the next night was even more spectacular. A thunderstorm was right overhead and was very noisy but the rain was not as heavy as the day before with only 23mm. This added up to 62mm for the two weeks. Temperatures were again up to 30ºC. Overnight temperatures were only dropping down to 21ºC. Humidity dropped to low 60% but went up into the low 90%.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 93, 87 seen and 6 heard, second week sightings were 99, 94 seen and 5 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 1st- 7th December and 8th- 14th December.

Birding Highlights:-

Not much to report on the waterbird front as showers in the area created many temporary waterholes which attracted the birds away from our area. A Peaceful Dove was nesting high up in a tree (20m) on the edge of Geraghty Park, the nest was unusually large and stable in a fork on a branch, quite unusual for a dove!
 

Peaceful Dove

Our neighbour Carol (bird guide) reported 10 White-throated Needletail heading over her house and the Lodge grounds on 8^th December. A single Black-necked Stork appeared for a day along McDougall Road and most of the Cattle Egret have coloured up into breeding condition and left the area with just a few still hanging around. One highlight was a Black-breasted Buzzard flying over Geraghty Park and the Lodge on the afternoon of the 4th but it has not been seen since. Pacific Baza have been building a nest in the area, hopefully it will be successful. White-bellied Sea-Eagle have been calling after keeping quiet for several months, not sure what that is about. Red-necked Crake have been calling and seen; on the morning of the 5^th one foraged around the Crake Pool for more than 30 minutes giving everyone good views and photo opportunities. Pale-vented Bush-hen have been calling all around the Lodge with at least six pairs but as usual have been difficult to see. One was seen flying across the top of grass alongside Mt. Kooyong Road and another late one afternoon foraging along the edge of the same road and the Lodge grounds. Scaly-breasted Lorikeet were seen at a nest hollow feeding nestlings in Geraghty Park and Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were also flying around the park and Lodge grounds. 

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet - at nest

Barn Owl have been the only owl seen over the two weeks, even the Barking Owl have gone quiet or moved away. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are continuing to dig out their nests with some completed. We have counted at least seven with a possible two more nests which may have been started but not continued on with. Rainbow Bee-eater have returned after an absence of nearly two months when a group was seen flying over McDougall Road. Noisy Pitta are still keeping quiet around the Lodge grounds but have been heard calling across Bushy Creek and near the local nursing home. We suspect our two pairs are nesting somewhere within the grounds as they have occasionally been seen foraging on the edge of the orchard. Red-backed Fairy-Wren have been along McDougall Road and Lovely Fairy-wren have been heard around the Lodge grounds but not seen. Striated Pardalote have been heard calling for the first time in a month and may have been nesting. Honeyeater species have been a bit less with only 11 seen over the past two weeks. Graceful and Macleay's Honeyeater have been feeding recently fledged young with banana. White-winged Triller is a rarity in our area so it was a surprise to see a female in a flock of Bee-eaters along McDougall Road! This scrawny looking bird was walking around on Mt. Kooyong Road just down from the Lodge, it is an Australasian Figbird. It was obviously out of the nest too early as it could not fly, only hop and flutter its wings. After moving it off the road the adult birds came down to feed it, hopefully it survived. 

Australasian Figbird - fledgeling

A pair of Spangled Drongo was seen building a nest about 5m up in a eucalypt tree in Geraghty Park. Northern Fantail has been in Geraghty Park and Lodge grounds as has been Leaden Flycatcher. Black-faced Monarch has been building a nest in our neighbours garden and Spectacled Monarch are sitting on nests in the Lodge grounds. Pied Monarch have been calling and showing well most days unlike the Yellow-breasted Boatbill who have been calling spasmodically and showing occasionally. Pale-yellow Robin are sitting on nests and feeding juveniles who are hanging onto the adults like limpets! Metallic Starling are as busy as ever, building nests and feeding nestlings. Olive-backed Sunbird are having fun chasing off their reflections in the guests car windows and mirrors, this one has both a window and a wing mirror to chase!

Further Afield:-

Ian “Sauce” Worcester from Daintree River Wildwatch reported 5 Spotted Whistling-Duck on a couple of his early morning birding trips on the Daintree River, he sent this image of the ducks.

Spotted Whistling-Duck

On 5^th December a group of Japanese guests were lucky to encounter an adult Southern Cassowary along the Mt. Lewis road at about 600m. The bird moved directly towards them before turning into the rainforest and disappearing, they managed to get images and video of the event. Cassowaries are not common on Mt. Lewis but are occasionally seen a few times each year. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch sightings have been patchy with only a few birds seen. Lake Evan (Brady Road Swamp), on private property but can be viewed from the road, about 4km north of Mareeba has had a few interesting birds over the last two weeks,. We saw a Common Sandpiper, 5 Glossy Ibis, a Yellow-billed Spoonbill with 5 Royal Spoonbill and over 500 Magpie Goose, full list can be found here. Ferrero Road Wetland, Port Douglas, also on private property can be viewed from the road, also had a few interesting birds on it. There was 40 Wandering Whistling-Duck, an Australasian Grebe sitting on a nest near the island in the centre and 5 Pied Heron, full list can be found here.

Wandering Whistling-Duck

Australasian Grebe

Cattana Wetlands, Cairns, was also visited but it was only a very quick visit due to time constraints, full list can be found here.

Abattoir Swamp:-

Just a note about this site which is only 6km from the Lodge. There is a path from the car park onto a boardwalk which leads to a hide, unfortunately the wooden boardwalk is in a bad state of repair and is quite dangerous. Our local council repaired some damaged boards and supports last year with what appeared to be untreated timber. They were very quick to respond to our complaint and had it repaired and inspected within a week but this year is a different situation. Our current council is being de-amalgamated so have put any works that need doing which fall into the new councils responsibility on hold. We will have a new council on 1^st January but they are already saying they have no money so if/when the boardwalk will be repaired we don't know. We will certainly be asking that it is repaired as it is an important part of the local birding infrastructure. We just had to remove a dumped washing machine from the car park as we have had no response from the council to remove it. Hopefully something can be done to get the hide access fixed and we can once again enjoy looking out for crakes and other waterbirds. Currently the hide is home to a Brown Tree Snake and an Australian Scrub Python. This image shows the boardwalk and hide in better times.

Abattoir Swamp Boardwalk and Hide

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Red-legged Pademelon continue to occupy the rainforest during the day and venture out into the orchard at night where they are usually seen. Northern Broad-nosed and Little Bent-wing Bat have been taking shelter under the windows of the office block at night, especially during the storms. Frogs have woken up and have been calling prior to and during the rain storms, mainly White-lipped Green Tree Frog and Dainty Green Tree Frog. Our regular male and female Boyd's Forest Dragon have been in the rainforest area in front of the units most days. One day they were very close to each other so maybe some baby dragons might appear!

Fungi:-

The wetter weather has encourage fungi to start appearing, these are just a couple of them.

Fungi sp.

Fungi sp.

Insect:-

Also a few beetles have also started to come around which is something that has declined over the years we have been visiting and running the Lodge. This one was out during the day. Not experts on beetles but this one looks like one of the Chaffer beetles (?).

Beetle sp.

This will be the last blog before Christmas so we would like to wish all our followers, past and future guests and anyone else who happens upon this blog a safe and happy Christmas and New Year. We have had a great year and have met some fantastic people. We have also enjoyed showing our birds and wildlife to all our guests and to those of you who cannot make it showing what we have through the blog. This is one of our favourite Christmas birds from the past.

14th July 2013 Kingfisher Park Birwatchers Lodge

Weather Report:-

In a word yeuk! Well it did start out great for the beginning of the first week but deteriorated into drizzle for most of the remaining week and all the second week. There were a few breaks which allowed some good birding but the high pressure zone south-west of Australia in the Tasman Sea remained pretty static sending high winds and rain onto the tropical north Queensland coast. Despite this the rainfall was pretty low with only 7mm for the first week and 20.5mm for the second week. Temperatures were down to 10ºC and only up to18ºC on some days. The highest temperature was 25ºC on one day.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 103, 101 seen and 2 heard, second week sightings were 102, 99 seen and 3 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 30th June - 6th July and 7th July - 13th July

Birding Highlights:-

A very juvenile Emerald Dove decided to visit us in the office and landed on the computer screen before moving to the shelf and checking out the hole punch!

Emerald Dove-juvenile

A Great-billed Heron was a nice surprise on a morning walk, it was standing on the bank of Bushy Creek by the Mt. Kooyong Road bridge before it flew off downstream. We do see the odd one along Bushy Creek but not usually until August through to December with one exception in 2011 when we had one along McDougall Road creek on 8^th July. A single Straw-necked Ibis was foraging in a paddock opposite Geraghty Park one morning which was one of very few sightings this year. Yellow-billed Spoonbill are not very common in our area but one was seen flying over Geraghty Park on a morning walk which was a first for the walk. It was seen several days later perched in a dead tree opposite Geraghty Park by some ponding. Pacific Baza sightings have been scarce this year so two calling and seen on a morning walk both perched and flying over was a great sighting. A Wedge-tailed Eagle moved into the area, probable to check out the cut cane paddocks, and was seen soaring over McDougall Road whilst an Australian Hobby was perched in a tree below. Just after dark on several nights a Brown Falcon has been flying over the Lodge grounds calling and heading towards McDougall Road where we think it is roosting. We have seen this behaviour before, usually when we have been looking for owls. Red-necked Crake are still being heard but not seen – grrrr. A pair of Sulphur-crested Cockatoo have been doing the rounds of the orchard chewing off branches and generally pruning trees! They are not called chainsaws of the sky for nothing! This is one of the culprits who looks very innocent.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

The fruiting fig mention in the last blog at the end of Mt. Kooyong Road still has some fruit on it and attracting many birds including Barred Cuckoo-Shrike and Double-eyed Fig Parrot which have all been juveniles or females, no males spotted with them – interesting. 
 

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - female

Barking Owl are still calling through the night as well as 3.00 o'clock in the afternoon one day. They have been seen sitting on our entrance sign quite often and in this area some birds legs were found and identified as a Pale-vented Bush-hen, also here was a dead Red-browed Finch; both likely victims of the Barking Owl. The bush-hen was of interest as there has not been any sightings for a few months and we assumed they had all left the area, maybe not. Rainbow Bee-eater have been foraging low down and taking advantage of the railing around the Geraghty Park oval to perch on.

Rainbow Bee-eater

Eleven honeyeater sightings over the two weeks plus Black-chinned Honeyeater (Golden-backed) was heard but not seen. A male Golden Whistler turned up at the water bowl opposite the units one afternoon and has subsequently been seen and heard around the grounds. We get the occasional one coming down off the mountains behind us in the winter months and they usually stay until about August/September. This is also the case for Bower's Shrike-thrush which also come down occasionally and one was seen on a morning walk on the 13^th foraging in the Lodge grounds. Both Black (adult) and Brown (juvenile) Black Butcherbird have been around the grounds calling and skulking through the rainforest. 

Black Butcherbird - juvenile

All the fantails have been seen over the two weeks, Rufous, Grey and Northern plus Willie Wagtail. Pied Monarch are still coming to Bushy Creek for an afternoon bath and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been very vocal and showing well. An Australian Reed-warbler was calling from an adjacent cane paddock and after a lot of perseverance was seen flitting around. Chestnut-breasted Mannikin have been making the most of the seeding cane paddocks and forming quite large flocks.

Further Afield:-

Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo was seen at the base of Mt. Lewis along the road and further up the mountain a brown Golden Bowerbird was seen. West and East Maryfarms Roads south of Mt. Carbine are still turning up Diamond Dove with over 200 present late on the afternoon of 7^th July, also here was a Rufous Songlark and on the 3^rd was a Spotted Harrier plus Red-backed Kingfisher on the 13th. Wetherby Station lagoon between Julatten and Mt. Molloy had a good variety of waterbird including Pink-eared Duck on the 6^th , a first for this location, full list on Eremaea Birds site. Pink-eared Duck were also on Brady Road Swamp north of Mareeba on the 4^th, full list on Eremaea Birds site. Pink-eared Duck are on just about all the regions wetlands and Hasties Swamp is no exception, here they are sharing a quiet corner with a row of Plumed Whistling-Duck.

Plumed Whistling-Duck and Pink-eared Duck

Reptiles and Mammals:

A total of 19 mammal and reptile species were seen over the two week which is about average for the winter months. Several sightings were had of Striped Possum around the Lodge grounds and a Green Ringtail Possum was seen roosting during the day high in a tree behind our bunkhouse. Both Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot were seen but only a few times as numbers are still down. A few frogs ventured out with the highlight being a Green Tree Frog in an adjacent cane field; this species is quite uncommon here unlike the White-lipped Green Tree Frog which we see most weeks. Platypus was seen late in the afternoon when almost dark at the viewing area on Busy Creek. Red-legged Pademelon are appearing in the orchard and Agile Wallaby are foraging around in cut cane paddocks. A Green Tree Snake was in vegetation along Bushy Creek and an 2m Australian Scrub Python was in our neighbours garden and almost got hit by a brush-cutter (whipper snipper or strimmer) as it lay in the grass. Late in the evening of the 13^th a White-tailed Rat came to the reception area feeder, which was the first one we have seen for nearly two weeks.

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