5th October 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

This weeks blog features some of the other wildlife we have in the Lodge grounds in addition to the birds. It highlights the amazing diversity to be found in even a small area such as our 5ha's if you are prepared to look closer.

Weather Report

After almost having a dry month a few showers arrived on the 29^th giving us 9 mm of rain . Before this event we had more sun, temperatures slightly warmer than previous weeks, down to 15.5ºC and up to 28.0ºC, excellent birding weather. Humidity was 70%+.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 21st - 27th September and 28thSeptember - 4th October The first week had 108 species recorded and the second week 101.

Morning and Evening Guided Walks:-

Morning walks produced between 46 (photography morning) and 63 species, some of the highlights were:- Nankeen Night-Heron was seen foraging along Bushy Creek carrying a prey item. Grey Goshawk soaring above, Azure Kingfisher perched, Great Bowerbird at his bower, 

 

Great Bowerbird - at his bower

 

also Barred Cuckoo-shrike feasting on small figs, Bassian Thrush (uncommon) along Bushy Creek and a Platypus performing in Bushy Creek for great views on several occasions.

 

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

Evening walk highlights were Barn Owl, Fawn-footed Melomys eating banana from a bunch growing near the units, Red-legged Pademelon, Giant White-tailed Tree Rat, Striped Possum, Platypus, five different frog species, Northern Leaf-tail Gecko – one on the ground and another on the side of a tree and Boyd's Forest Dragon. Also this interesting Centipede which is 150mm (6”) long was seen on the edge of the rainforest. Centipedes are mainly nocturnal and are predatory feeding on a range of prey items such as worms, reptiles, amphibians, small mammals, bats and birds. 

 

Centipede sp.

 
Other Birding Highlights:

Two Cotton Pygmy-goose have been intermittently showing along McDougall Road in one of the lagoons (within our 1.5km reporting area). An Osprey was a surprise flying over Mt. Kooyong Road one afternoon - not many records from adjacent to the Lodge. Pacific Baza have been around infrequently and were seen displaying over the Lodge one day when they locked feet and spiraled down to tree top level before breaking off. A Wedge-tailed Eagle was seen over the Lodge on at least two occasions, also around have been both Grey and Brown Goshawk, often pursued by Blue-faced Honeyeater. Red-necked Crake have been making more appearances at the Crake Pool with one or two birds arriving just before it gets dark around 6.15pm but not every night. This juvenile Emerald Dove has been coming to the reception area feeder for at least the last two months and has been chasing away the adult doves.

Emerald Dove - juvenile

Wompoo Fruit-dove are starting to come into fruiting Blue Quandong trees which are just getting ripe, up to three have been seen so far. Superb Fruit-dove was heard calling on the 29^th September in the Lodge grounds but not seen, first one heard for 4-5 months. At least one male and one female Australian Koel have been around the Lodge and our neighbours garden. Lesser Sooty Owl was around for a few nights, first heard calling on 25^th September, but not seen. A large Peregrine Falcon (as opposed to the smaller superficially similar looking Australian Hobby, which is fairly regular in our area) was seen twice when it flew over our neighbours garden early one morning before being seen over the Lodge grounds later the same morning. Not many records of Peregrine Falcon in our area. Our single Noisy Pitta is still around on it's own with no sign of our usual two adult pairs which normally return in September - November to breed. Plenty of honeyeaters around 12 seen and one heard. 

This shot is of a Graceful Honeyeater showing an unusually curved bill (they are normally slightly down-curved), slight diffuse yellow stripe on the belly and the blue/grey eye, some of the features to help separate it from Yellow-spotted Honeyeater which has straighter lower mandible and a brown eye. Very distinctive calls between graceful and yellow-spotted honeyeaters which visitors would be well advised to learn before they visit.

 

Graceful Honeyeater

An Eastern Whipbird was heard calling on the 26^th September from a patch of rainforest between the Lodge and the Rex Highway. This species rarely comes into our immediate area and in nine years we have only had one or two birds in the Lodge grounds. Black-faced Monarch were heard calling for the first time this season on the 29^th September.

Further Afield:-

A Spotless Crake was seen at Abattoir Swamp by Doug Herrington from Birdwatching Tropical Tours. Up to seven Australian Pratincole have been reported along West Maryfarm Road north of Mt. Molloy along with displaying Australian Bustard. Birds found nesting in and around Julatten include Graceful Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Fairy Gerygone, Pale-Yellow Robin, Metallic Starling and Mistletoebird. 

 

Graceful Honeyeater Nest

Mistletoebird Nest - female still building

Up to three Blue-faced Parrot-Finch have been found near Abattoir Swamp but they should start moving off and up into the mountains very soon. Mt. Lewis continues to show most of the 12 "Wet Tropic" endemics including Golden Bowerbird, but roadworks and some rain has made the road only suitable for four wheel drive vehicles at the moment. As this is being written (4th Oct.) there is still a grader working on the road with a water truck. Rufous Owl is still being reported from Cairns Esplanade.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Yellow-footed Antichinus have been seen in various parts of the Lodge grounds during the day darting around on the ground. Agile Wallaby have joined the Red-legged Pademelon at night to browse in the orchard with at least three seen. Striped Possum is not visiting our South American Sapote tree any more as the flowers have nearly finished, but one was seen in a nearby tree which has just started to blossom, another was seen in a tree above the campground cookshed. The Platypus have been showing well both in the evening and early morning with up to two swimming up and down Bushy Creek at the viewing area. Up to six Northern Brown Bandicoot have been visiting the reception area feeder, good to see increased numbers over the last few weeks. Frogs got excited when we had a few millimeters of rain with up to six species seen – Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Green Tree Frog, Roth's (Laughing) Frog, Desert (Red) Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and a large Cane Toad. Northern Leaf-tail Gecko have re-appeared as mention in the night walk report as have Major Skink who have been anticipating warmer weather. The Australian Scrub Python mentioned last blog left it's tree trunk home at the end of the second week and has not been relocated.

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.

Insects:-

A clicking sound was heard in the office one morning which was traced to a Click Beetle. It was relocated outside and continued clicking as it bounced into the air. This clicking and bouncing into the air is mainly used to avoid predation, but as this one was doing trying to right itself after in fell onto its back. The violent "click" that bounced the beetle into the air is caused by a spine which is snapped into a corresponding notch on the beetle. A further more explicit explanation of how this works can be found on the Wikipedia site. 

 

Click Beetle sp. - on its back

Click Beetle sp. - right side up

A Mango tree which is covered in flowers at the moment is attracting hoards of bees to the pollen. Not sure of the species of bee but have been told previously that we have Italian Honey Bees here. This species of bee was introduced into Brisbane in 1880.

Bee sp. (?)

Butterflies are not easy to photograph as they fold their wings when landing unlike moths which generally hold them open. We have a good variety of butterfly and moth in the Lodge grounds but many of them are confined to the canopy of the rainforest which also makes it difficult to photograph them let alone see them. However this Common Aeroplane (White-banded Plane) Phaedyma shepherdi was very co-operative. A full list of species recorded at the Lodge can be found on our website.

Common Aeroplane (White-banded Plane)

Arachnid:-

The Giant Silverback spider or Brush-footed trapdoor spider(Genus Idiommata, family Barychelidae) has featured in the blog before, at the beginning of 2014. It is only the second one we have found here, this one was smaller than the previous one, but still very impressive. They are not aggressive but can inflict a nasty bite so best to steer clear of them!

Giant Silverback spider

 

Giant Silverback spider

Plant:-

The Northern Pencil Orchid – Dockrillia calamiformis was formerly known as Dendrobium calamiforme and Dendrobium teretifolium var. fasciculatum is an epiphytic or lithophytic (A plant that grows on rock and derives its nourishment chiefly from the atmosphere), orchid which occurs in rainforest and humid open forest in Cape York and North eastern Queensland. In our area it is mainly seen hanging off the trunks or branches of trees, this one was on a Mango fruit tree. The flowers, which appear in August through to November, are fragrant and pollinated by small bees.

 

 

Northern Pencil Orchid

1st December 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Over the last two weeks rainfall has been quite heavy as the monsoonal trough arrived about a month earlier than normal dumping 239mm over the two weeks. Temperatures went up to an extremely hot 33.1ºC one day but this was an exception. Overnight temperatures were only dropping down to low 20's. Humidity was high into the 85-95% range.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 106, 102 seen and 4 heard, second week sightings were restricted by the rain which cut down on observation time with 89 recorded, 78 seen and 11 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 17th - 23rd November and 24th - 30th November.

A morning walk turned up 55 species.

Birding Highlights:-

Papuan Frogmouth have been found in the area sitting on a nest with a fluffy white chick and Pacific Baza have been seen carrying sticks into a Blue Quandong tree, hopefully they will successfully build a nest. One Papuan Frogmouth, female, was spotlighted one evening whilst on an organised walk.

Papuan Frogmouth - mum and fluffy white baby

Pale-vented Bush-hen returned over the last few days of the second week when we heard them calling but have not seen any yet. Red-necked Crake are still calling and making a few appearances, this one was running across our neighbours garden.

Red-necked Crake

The local pair of Bush Stone-curlew continue to care for their two growing chicks who are now about ¾ adult size and Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have been making appearances in a couple of local fruiting fig trees. Cuckoos have been particularly vocal with the onset of the wet weather, Pheasant Coucal, Eastern Koel, Channel-billed, Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo and most vocal are the Brush Cuckoo. 

Brush Cuckoo

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo are still in their nest hollow and this one, which looks like a scruffy juvenile, was checking us out.

 

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Barking Owl are still around but not being heard every night and not seen for over a week but the Barn Owl are calling and being seen. Azure Kingfisher have been along Bushy Creek and the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are flying around all over the lodge grounds and calling a lot with a few starting to build their nests in the termite mounds. We will not know how many pairs we have until they all start building when we can look at how many of our nearly 50 termite mounds are occupied. Blue-winged Kookaburra have been quiet and not showing so we think they are nesting. Noisy Pitta have also gone quiet so they may also be nesting, they are still showing in the orchard as they search for food. Lovely Fairy-wren were seen one afternoon along the edge of our orchard and heard again the next day in the same area but they are not regular here although our neighbours hear them frequently moving through the back of their garden. Some honeyeaters have been seen feeding recently fledged birds, mainly Graceful and Macleay's Honeyeater. In all 11 species were seen and Black-chinned Honeyeater heard over the last two weeks. Barred Cuckoo-shrike and Cicadabird have been around most days as have Spangled Drongo whose numbers have increased over the past weeks. Yellow-breasted Boatbill and Pied Monarch have again been vocal and showing. Metallic Starling are also continuing to build nests and fledge chicks at a rapid rate. Olive-backed Sunbird are also building nests, one pair on their second nest for the season. We also had the return of a few Chestnut-breasted Mannikin to the area after being absent for several months.

Further Afield:-

A small wetland on the edge of Port Douglas has been turning up some good birds over the past few months and a recent visit found interesting birds such as this Pink-eared Duck which had almost finished preening and showing the pink ear very well.

Pink-eared Duck

This Pied Heron (heavily cropped image below) was also at the wetland. A full list can be found on the Eremaea Birds site.

Pied Heron

Also on the same day a morning visit to the Cattana Wetlands at Cairns in less than favourable weather conditions found a White-browed Crake walking out on the water lilies

White-browed Crake

along with this nice adult Comb-crested Jacana, which you would expect on the lilies. A full list can be found on the Eremaea Birds site.

Comb-crested Jacana

An Elegant Imperial Pigeon was reported from Thornton Beach, Cape Tribulation, Daintree on the 19^th November. This species can be overlooked in amongst the Pied Imperial Pigeon so be aware and keep looking. Murray Hunt from Daintree Boatman Nature Tours had a Spotted Whistling-Duck on his early morning Daintree River birding tour on the 27^th November. This was the first sighting since January 2013. The Rufous Owl in Cairns on the corner of Florence and Abbott street in the mango trees was still there on the 27^th November as it has been for several weeks now. Mt. Lewis has had up to six Blue-faced-Parrot Finch at the clearing with several sightings, mainly early morning.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The welcome rain has got the frogs calling with at least eight species calling, most of which were seen. The most vocal have been White-lipped Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog. A Slaty-grey Snake appeared in our neighbours garden which is a very uncommon species around the Lodge. A guided nightwalk had a Short-beaked Echidna climbing on a log by the Crake Pool, in our orchard, before dropping into the water and climbing up the bank and into the rainforest. This was followed a few minutes later by a Duck-billed Platypus in Bushy Creek, two monotremes within five minutes, this has only happened once before for us. Red-legged Pademelon with a joey has been seen in the orchard on several nights as has been a large male Agile Wallaby.

Other Wildlife:-

The rain has also drawn out many butterflies including Ulysses, Cairns Birdwing and this wet season form female Orange Bush-brown.

 

Orange Bush-brown - female

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27th January 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Adverse weather conditions, computer problems, power blackouts, complete communications failure for 24hrs in northern Queensland (mobile phones and internet) and hosting the BirdLife Northern Queensland bird group over the long weekend for Australia Day on 26^th have conspired to the lateness of this blog.

Over the past two weeks the weather has changed from sunshine and very hot days to lots of rain, cooler days then hot and humid again. Most rainfall fell in the second week as the monsoonal trough, with the remains of Tropical Cyclone Oswald embedded in, it headed south over us dumping 391mm. The first week we only had 34mm. We got off lightly unlike some of our friends further south in the Bundaberg area and other parts of south-east Queensland who were flooded, especially Bill, Jack and family. We are thinking of you.

The minimum temperature over the two weeks went down to 17.6ºC with one overnight temperature of 26.0ºC, which was extremely warm for us. The maximum temperature was 32.6ºC, which was almost the same as the previous two weeks, but that was again an exception with the majority of days getting into the mid-high 20's and low 30's. The humidity was very high, up to 94% and a low of only 51%.

As well as the rain and high temperatures there was also plenty of wind which was every bit as strong as a full blown cyclone. We had trees down along with limbs and branches. The ground was covered in green leaves and the rainforest canopy is now very sparse. The first photo is of the Crake pool which, up until the photo was taken, was nearly empty and we had to pump water into it.

Crake Pool

This photo shows a Candlenut tree which was blown down in the orchard. We did not hear any noise of it falling probably because the orchard was under a metre of water at the time! The tree was quite rotten at the base and being chewed by Striped Possum and Fawn-footed Melomys.

Candlenut Tree

Nearby Mt. Lewis was hit quite badly with the road currently closed due to numerous trees blocking it.

Bird sightings for the first week were 104, 96 seen and 8 heard, slightly down on the previous week, second week sightings were 98 seen and 6 heard.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:-

January 13^th - January 19^th and January 20^th – 26^th

Morning walk lists can also be found on the Eremaea Birds Website.

Birding Highlights:-

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have four nests with eggs in, three with three eggs and one with two eggs. The other four pairs have not laid yet.

Bar-shouldered Dove were quick to take advantage of the sunshine after the heavy rain and started sunning on the lawn with up to eight sunbathing at any one time.

Bar-shouldered Dove - sunning

A Papuan Frogmouth turned up outside the reception area one day much to the annoyance of the other birds who harassed it for most of the day. It was a small bird with a short tail but it had the red eyes of a Papuan so it probably was a juvenile bird. An adult Papuan Frogmouth was seen late on the second week perched in a tree behind the bunkhouse. This one is just keeping an eye on us!

Papuan Frogmouth

About 40 White-throated Needletail were over the lodge on 25/1/2013. A Little Black Cormorant spent a few days fishing in Bushy Creek along with a Black Bittern which was seen on at least two occasions. Several White-necked Heron were seen around the Lodge area at the Barramundi Farm and along McDougall Road. Cattle Egret were present for the first week but all had disappeared by the second week, probably left for unknown breeding areas. A Black Bittern was seen along Bushy Creek for a couple of days. Raptor sighting have decreased with only Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling Kite Grey Goshawk (once) and a Spotted Harrier (once). Red-necked Crake were being seen regularly but went into hiding when the rains arrived, hopefully to breed. Pale-vented Bush-hen are around calling with a few sightings along Bushy Creek and edge of cane fields. Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo are coming by once or twice a week but not stopping for long. Channel-billed Cuckoo numbers have been down this year with very few sightings but there are still one or two being seen and heard. The opposite is occurring with Brush Cuckoo with more around the area this year. An Oriental Cuckoo, which is unusual, was seen over two days in the orchard and our neighbours garden. A Sooty Owl was also seen in our neighbours garden one night. Honeyeaters have again been good with 15 seen and one heard; the highlight was an Eastern Spinebill along Mt. Kooyong Road which is uncommon around the lodge area. White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike were sitting on a nest along McDougall Road during the first week but had left by the second, hopefully fledged successfully. Even with the wet weather birds still came to the bird bath, Spectacled monarch and Spangled Drongo were two of them.

Spectacled Monarch

Spangled Drongo

 
Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill are around but difficult to see at the moment. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher are quite active in and around the eucalypts in Geraghty Park and Metallic Starling also in the park lost a lot of nests in the winds and rains but are busy re-building. Our neighbours have a pair of Olive-backed Sunbird have two recently fledged juveniles with them and one of our sunbirds actually came to our nectar feeder for the first time ever.

Further Afield:-

A Square-tailed Kite was over the Mulligan Highway south of Mount Molloy one morning. Two separate sightings of Barn Swallow in Port Douglas were of one and four birds. Lake Mitchell, between Mt. Molloy and Mareeba, produced a few good sightings; two Cotton Pygmy-goose, Glossy Ibis, Whiskered Tern, Eastern Koel, five Banded Honeyeater were a highlight, Grey-crowned Babbler building roosts and two Leaden Flycatcher on nests. A surprise was a Diamond Dove with Peaceful Dove on Euluma Creek Road, Julatten. Also along Euluma Creek Road was this juvenile Rufous Whistler being fed by its parents.

 

 

Rufous Whistler  - juvenile

The lower slopes of Mt. Lewis had a male Victoria's Riflebird picking at bark over the road and Rifle Creek Reserve at Mount Molloy had a flock of at least 50 Fork-tailed Swift overhead (26/1/2013). Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours reported a flock of 16 Spotted Pardalote at Mt. Carbine which is very unusual to see them at this location but also more unusual to see 16 together.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Another good few weeks for reptiles and mammals with 27 species seen and two frog species heard. The wet weather certainly got the frogs calling and moving around, Dainty Green Tree Frog were all over the windows of the reception area along with a few Northern Dwarf Tree Frog. Brown Striped Marsh Frog were heard along the edge of the orchard and Green Tree Frog were heard calling from across the Rex Highway from Geraghty Park. A Leaf-tailed Gecko was seen on a nightwalk for the BirdLife North Queensland group over the Australia Day weekend and was a first for many weeks. Eastern Water Dragon have been seen in the rainforest along Bushy Creek, this one was hurrying back to the creek.

Eastern Water Dragon

 A Yellow-footed Antichinus also entertained the BirdLife group as it scurried around the roof of the cookshed, probably seeking out a few trapped flying ants from an invasion that was happening at the time. This invasion attracted some micro bats as well, probably Little Bentwing Bat and Northern Broad-nosed Bat. A couple of Red-legged Pademelon were seen regularly over the two weeks so hopefully they have taken up residence.

Butterflies and Dragonflies:-
The wet weather triggered plenty of butterflies and dragonflies around the area, two of the most common butterflies around the lodge were the Union Jack (Red-banded Jezebel) Delias mysis

Union Jack

and the Dingy Bushbrown  Mycalesis perseus, these two were mating.
 

Dingy  Bushbrown

The BirdLife Northern Queensland bird group went out to Lake Mitchell and encountered hundreds of Graphic Flutterer dragonflies as well as a few Palemouth and Common Bluetail

Graphic Flutterer

Palemouth - male

Common Bluetail

There will be a break in the blogs for a while as we are going off for a holiday! The
Lodge will remain open in the very capable hands of our friends Kath & Dave from Cooktown.