9th September 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Over the past two weeks we have had virtually no rain apart from a slight sprinkle on one day which left 1mm in the rain gauge. Great, less rain means less mowing the grass! The minimum temperature over the two weeks was 14.6ºC which was slightly less than double the previous two weeks minimum. The maximum temperature was 25.9ºC.The humidity was still high, up to 94% and again a very low for us of 62%.

Bird sightings for the first week were 101 seen plus 9 heard. The second week had slightly more sightings due mainly to the continuing great weather, 106 seen plus 6 heard. Mammal and reptile species were slightly more than the previous two weeks due to the warmer weather with 26 species seen. The last two weeks bird lists are on the Eremaea Birds Website for Week1 and Week2 plus morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds

Birding Highlights:

Little Kingfisher has been making regular visits to the Crake Pool as has the Noisy Pitta and on one evening a Yellow-throated Scrubwren joined in. Again we had a Grey Goshawk swoop into the feeding area at the reception but made off empty handed, however we found a pile of Bar-shouldered Dove feathers along the road to reception so maybe the goshawk did get a feed. A Red-necked Crake called one night near the cookshed just to prove they are still around and a pair of Pacific Baza returned noisily displaying to each other – pre-nesting behaviour? The Olive-backed Sunbird, reported in previous blogs, who spent a night locked in the Geraghty Park library, is back sitting on a fresh set of eggs, lets hope once again they are successful. This image shows the female on her second attempt.

Olive-backed Sunbird - female

 

Other sightings:

Wompoo Fruit-Dove was around for a day and Superb Fruit-Dove have been calling and only seen once. Topknot Pigeon numbers continue to increase but they are still only flying over and our female Papuan Frogmouth is still playing hide and seek, appearing spasmodically and staying for 1-3 days before disappearing again. Australian Owlet-nightjar has only been heard over the last two weeks. Black-necked Stork are still around with an adult and an immature seen along McDougall Road lagoons. Black Kite have been around due to cane cutting with over 20 seen soaring overhead or on the ground, also several Whistling Kite, a scruffy looking Wedge-tailed Eagle (in heavy moult) and three White-bellied Sea-Eagle ( two adult + 1 immature). An Australian Hobby has also been hanging around and seen once being mobbed by a flock of Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. The cockatoos have also been taking advantage of the introduced African Tulip trees in Geraghty Park, which have long seed pods on them. This one is getting stuck into a pod holding it in it's left foot as they always do.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Rainbow Lorikeet and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet numbers have been exceeding 200 as they feast on the nectar from the flowering Queensland Blue Gum Eucalyptus tereticornis. A Fan-tailed Cuckoo was seen and heard once which is an uncommon sighting near the lodge. The Barking Owls reported over the last few months have gone quiet over the last two weeks but were heard in the distance at the end of the second week, so they are still around looking for suitable real estate. Eastern Barn Owl numbers have dropped off which might indicate the juvenile birds have been shunted off out of the parents territory. Lovely Fairy-wren were again seen over the last two weeks, this time in bamboo along Bushy Creek near the Mt. Kooyong Road bridge. 14 species of honeyeater were seen plus another heard which is only four short of all recorded for the Lodge area. The Yellow-faced Honeyeater reported in the last blog is still sitting on the nest and has been joined by a pair of Varied Triller who have built their very small nest nearby. There has been odd sightings of Bowers Shrike-thrush around but quite a few people are trying to turn Little Shrike-thrush into a bower's. We have discussed this ID in previous blogs and Little Shrike-thrush can be quite variable in their plumages as the two images in different lighting conditions show.

 

Little Shrike-thrush

 

Little Shrike-thrush

The migratory lighter colour Grey Fantail have not been seen for nearly two weeks so they may have left to head south, only the local higher altitude race keasti are still around with two seen hawking insects over Bushy Creek late in the second week. No sign of returning Black-faced Monarch from further north in Papua New Guinea yet. A male Satin Flycatcher was still in Geraghty Park at the end of the second week showing well as it foraged around low whilst we were on a morning walk. Pied Monarch have been showing well and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and appearing occasionally. A first for the feeder adjacent to the reception area was a Metallic Starling who came in to take some banana, interesting to see if it brings any of it's mates back - not sure if we could afford to feed banana to 20+ starlings! A single Chestnut-breasted Mannikin turned up at the seed feeder in the Lodge which was a first for several months. Australasian Pipit have been absent from the area over the last two weeks and may have moved on (famous last words!).

Further Afield:-

The small lagoon at Brady Road, Mareeba nearly always turns up interesting birds and this week it had  two Yellow-billed Spoonbill, which is an unusual bird for our area, also there was a Glossy Ibis another bird which is seen in low numbers around here. Lake Mitchell (between Mareeba and Mt Molloy) has an Eastern Osprey nest with two quite large chicks in it, also here were at least four Australian Pelican. There were up to twelve Blue-faced Parrot-Finch near Abattoir Swamp which is the largest number recorded this season. It will not be long before they leave to head back into the foothills of the mountains and on to higher altitudes where they breed. A single Australian Wood Duck was at the Yorkeys Knob Golf Course lagoon in northern Cairns, quite unusual on the coast (previously reported a this location earlier in the year). We have previous records from this location in 1999 when birds were present from June-September and other sightings at nearby Cattana Wetlands in August 2002.

Australian Wood Duck - female

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Highlight over the last two weeks has to be the sighting of two Short-beaked Echidna (does this one look like it has a short beak!) in the Lodge grounds, one on a spotlighting trip and another which was unusually active in the middle of the day in the camping area. Previous sightings of this egg laying mammal have only been made around the Lodge at night. Our neighbours also had one in their garden and Chook (David Crawford) from Close-up Birding said he had seen three in the district that had been run over by vehicles. So all of a sudden they have appeared after being dormant for quite a while, in fact our sightings were as many as we have seen in seven years.

Short-beaked Echidna

Agile Wallaby have been coming into the Lodge orchard since the sugar cane has been cut with two seen one morning and several sightings of one at night. Striped Possum are regularly seen on night walks at the moment but the Green Ringtail Possum remains elusive. Platypus have been around in the late afternoon and early morning with one seen whilst we were on a night walk. One lucky group saw the platypus walking over a sandbar on the edge of the creek. Frogs have been around but in low numbers with just the one or two from each species seen. Those seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Green Tree Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Desert (or Red) Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad. Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko was seen on a night walk on the first week but disappeared after that. A 2.5m Australian Scrub (Amethystine) Python was seen crossing the orchard whilst we were on a night walk and a Carpet Python was rescued from a room at the nearby nursing home.

Carpet Python

If you want to see what happens when you leave foodstuffs out at night in our cook shed have a look at this video of a Fawn-footed Melomys in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJn9ahgHSgs. Thanks to our guests, Alex, Asha and Brenna, for posting this clip.

Other Interests:-

We have featured this plant, Balanophora Balanophora fungosa ssp. fungosa, previously but not for a while. Balanophora means bearing an acorn (shape of the female inflorescence). We get asked lots of questions about it and the most common one is that people want to know what type of fungus it is. Well it is not a fungus, it is a parasitic flowering plant commonly found on the rainforest floor. It attaches to the roots of rain forest plants and emerges for a few months at this time of year. The Flowering plant emits an odor resembling that of mice/rats (maybe for pollination?) and attracts honeyeaters to the minute flowers. Both male and female flowers occur on the same inflorescence with female flowers forming a densely packed apical cone and male flowers clustered below. It is most common along the path from the orchard to Bushy Creek but also occurs in other parts of the rainforest. This species is found in India, East Malaysia, Taiwan, the Pacific Islands as well as north-eastern Australia.

Balanophora

Birdwatchers Lodge in Far North Queensland, Australia.

56.5mm of rain fell during the week with one 24hour fall of 33mm being the best. This time last year we had over 1300mm, so far this year we have had 335mm so we have had a massive 1m less rain! Most rain fell in the late afternoon and into the night so once again sunny warm days with the minimum temperature slightly less than last week at 21.2ºc and the maximum also slightly cooler at 30.3ºc.

Birds recorded were 95 seen and 7 heard. 16 mammal and reptile species were seen and three frog species 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:

Rufous Owl has to be top of the list this week, thanks to our neighbour Carol who found one roosting alongside Bushy Creek one afternoon. It was a light coloured bird and probably a juvenile. This is the first one we have seen around the Lodge since 21^st August 2011; this record might account for the lack of Striped Possum sightings recently as they are favourite food for these owls. 

 

Rufous Owl - adult

The three Red-necked Crake juveniles are still foraging with the parents and are starting to get a bit of red on their necks which is another good sign that they might all make it to adults. Only one nest of the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have chicks in as one of the two nests left with chicks in fledged at the beginning of the week. As they get a little older they start to come down to the ground to supplement the adults offerings.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

Plenty of juveniles around being fed by the parents making it one of the most successful years over the last six.

Other sightings:

Brown Quail were along McDougall Road with a few more waterbird seen in the wetlands along here as well, nothing out of the ordinary though. Again plenty of Superb Fruit-Dove calling from the rainforest surrounding the orchard but only one glimpse of a bird flying off. Still have at least six Pied Imperial Pigeon and 20+ Topknot Pigeon around the Lodge grounds. No sign of our Papuan Frogmouth this week and heard Australian Owlet-nightjar on three occasions but could not find it in its usual daytime roost hollow. A Black-necked Stork was near the Julatten School and the first for a few months. Five Cattle Egret flew over the grounds but none seen on the ground. Only two raptors this week, White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Whistling Kite very disappointing. White-browed Crake was again heard along McDougall Road but failed to show but Pale-vented Bush-hen did show several times in a gully between the Lodge grounds and our neighbours garden. A few Red-tailed Black Cockatoo flew over the Lodge mid week and a pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen in McDougall Road. 

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - female

A female Eastern Koel was feeding in a tree alongside Bushy Creek just in the Lodge grounds and a few Channel-billed Cuckoo were flying about, still no sign of any build up of numbers. Two Eastern Barn Owl were seen in Geraghty Park and an Azure Kingfisher flew along Busy Creek, first one for a few weeks. Juvenile Forest Kingfisher are still whinging for food but are increasingly being left to fend for themselves. A small group of Rainbow Bee-Eater (5-6) were over the Lodge on Saturday afternoon and a single adult Dollarbird was in the grounds for two days calling. Spotted Catbird have quietened down but still lurking around in the rainforest. Lovely Fairy-wren have been along Bushy Creek near our neighbours garden and have been seen several times whilst Red-backed Fairy-wren are regularly seen on the fence posts of McDougall Road. Ten species of honeyeater plus one heard and Macleay's Honeyeater was seen feeding a juvenile, still not found one of their nests. Brown-backed Honeyeater have started to come into the orchard are which is quite uncommon, they prefer paperbark swamps such as Abattoir Swamp normally. 

Brown-backed Honeyeater

Cicadabird are still around but only heard and Grey Whistler are still very vocal. A Little Shrike-thrush, juvenile, was caught flapping its wings and begging for food from the parent birds who were higher up in the tree searching out food.

Little Shrike-thrush - juvenile

An adult Black Butcherbird was around all week calling and skulking through the rainforest. Black-faced Monarch are still with us and calling well and trying to fool us with black primary wings. Pied Monarch are around but difficult to see but Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been out and about calling and being seen. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher are still around in good numbers as are Australian Pipit with at least ten seen on the edge of the cane field near the Mt. Kooyong nursing home.

Further Afield:-

A Brown Falcon was perched on powerlines between Mareeba and Mt. Molloy, this is the first we have seen this year along here. A Pale-vented Bush-hen with three chicks was seen, after much hanging around to see them scurry across the driveway, on a private property along Euluma Creek Road in Julatten. Also here five White-headed Pigeon flew low over the house heading towards the coast, not a common bird around here and two Sooty Owl called out just before dusk and continued for at least 30 minutes.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

One of our Boyd's Forest Dragon has found out how to steal the birds banana by climbing up the feeder and grabbing more than a mouthful as this image shows. 

Boyd's Forest Dragon - stealing banana

Frogs were the most obvious this week with Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree-Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad seen, Striped Marsh Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog and Dainty Green Tree Frog heard. A Green Ringtail Possum was seen on the edge of the orchard late in the week and was a first for six weeks.

28th December Report

31mm of rain fell during the week with 20mm falling in one storm with plenty of lightning and thunder. With Christmas intervening birding time was shorter than normal but we still managed 78 species of birds seen and another 8 heard. Reptiles and mammals were 17 seen and 1 heard. One new reptile was recorded during the week by one of our guests, a Grey-tailed Skink Glaphyomorphus fuscicaudis which we will add to our species list.

At last the juvenile Papuan Frogmouth has seen sense and started to roost higher up with its mum about 8m off the ground. The male has been roosting about 20m away from the old nest.

Papuan Frogmouth - adult and juvenile

Wandering Whistling-Ducks were heard flying over at night whilst we were watching two Masked Owls. Plenty of Topknot Pigeons around, previous records from the lodge show only one record in December up until 2006 but from then we have had more records going into January and even one in February. Sulphur-crested Cockatoos have been feeding on the seeds of the Orange Tamarind Toechima pterocarpum.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo on Orange Tamarind

Nesting is in full swing at the moment; the Pacific Baza chicks continue to grow and look like they are near fledging, at least one pair of Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are sitting in their nest - we will check other sites to see what stage they are at. A Spangled Drongo was found sitting in its nest singing, why do birds do this? We have also found a Black-faced Monarch singing in its nest which proved not to be a good survival strategy as a Black Butcherbird was alerted and stole the eggs. A pair of Australasian Figbirds are also sitting on a nest as is a Spectacled Monarch and a pair of Forest Kingfisher were seen carrying food into their nest in a termite mound.

Whilst eating Christmas dinner with friends a pair of Spectacled Monarchs started to build a nest beside us and nearby a pair Fairy Gerygone were carrying food into a nest.

Further a field Red-rumped and Barn Swallows are still being seen on the coast north of Mossman. A Boxing Day trip up Mt Lewis provided most of the higher altitude species such as Atherton Scrubwren, Victoria's Riflebird, Mountain Thornbill, Bowers Shrike-thrush and Chowchilla. We were surprised to see a pair of Fernwren 3m up in a tree which we can find no reference to. We did not see Blue-faced Parrot-Finch but they had been seen before we arrived in the afternoon, there was not any Golden Bowerbirds either.