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.

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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17th November 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Over the last two weeks rainfall has been patchy and light with falls of 7mm, 2.5mm and 0.5mm, again it has been dry and hot with temperatures up to 30ºC. Overnight temperatures were only dropping down to 19ºC. Humidity dropped to 51% but went up into the low 90's.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 108, 94 seen and a high number of 14 heard, second week sightings were 119 , 110 seen and 9 heard, this was a great week. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 3rd - 9th November and 10th- 16th November.

Morning walks turned up between 51 and 61 species.

Birding Highlights:-

The stand out has to be a Lesser Sooty Owl seen perched at eye level whilst on a guided nightwalk on 12^th November. This is only the second sighting in six months; both these sightings have been in the last three weeks, which hopefully means were have a resident Lesser Sooty Owl again. The main contingent of Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher arrived over the nights of 8^th and 9^thNovember when they were heard calling in all parts of the Lodge grounds. Since then they continue to be heard but are proving difficult to see, one was seen swooping a Noisy Pitta in the orchard. A Square-tailed Kite was seen soaring over cane paddocks within the 1.5km radius birding area around the Lodge, quite uncommon these days. Another good sighting was from our neighbour, Andrew, who found a Common Greenshank in a nearby small wetland to add to the Lodge birdlist, which now stands at an impressive 225 species. 

 

Common Greenshank

Red-necked Crake have been seen regularly with at least four heard calling at one time. They have usually been seen around the Bushy Creek/Crake Pool area. Red-winged Parrot was another unusual visitor to our bird list area, seen near the Julatten school; they are usually further west towards Abattoir Swamp and the drier areas of Mt. Molloy. A few stragglers are still with us, a Lewin's Honeyeater, a Rufous Fantail and a Grey-headed Robin. These species have usually moved up to higher altitudes and left the Lodge grounds by now. Superb Fruit-Dove have again been around the Lodge grounds but have only been seen flying away! Pied Imperial-Pigeon have been cooing and displaying with what appears to be two males wooing a single female. A Black-breasted Buzzard was seen over McDougall Road one afternoon, very uncommon here and a Grey Goshawk was circling over the Lodge grounds one morning putting the Rainbow Lorikeet, Pied Imperial-Pigeon and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo to flight. Two adult and one immature White-bellied Sea-Eagle have been seen flying over and perched along Bushy Creek. An Australian Hobby was seen whizzing over the Lodge and was the first seen for a few months. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have been seen occasionally feeding in a Cluster Fig on the edge of Mt. Kooyong Road. A good number of cuckoos are around the area with Channel-billed, Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo and Brush seen with Pheasant Coucal and Eastern Koel heard. Barking Owl are still around but have not been seen, only heard at a distance. Spotted Catbird have been calling as this one was, whilst perched in the Lodge orchard.

Spotted Catbird

Honeyeaters have again been good with 15 species seen and one heard, that only leaves four not recorded from our list. A pair of White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike have been around the Lodge for the past week.

White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike

Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been foraging in the Lodge grounds over the past week as have Cicadabird. Little Shrike-thrush have been seen making a nest in the Lodge grounds. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have also been calling and showing well. Olive-backed Sunbird have been attending to a nest on the edge of the Lodge grounds as well as trying to chase off their reflections in guests car wing mirrors!

Further Afield:-

Lake Mitchell between Mount Molloy and Mareeba has been good for waterbirds with a male Cotton Pygmy-goose seen and a Wood Sandpiper reported by our guide Carol Iles. Carol also reported a pair of Horsfield's Bushlark (uncommon in area) at Rasmussen Road, Julatten and Banded Honeyeater in Fraser Road, Mount Molloy. Big Mitchell Creek, near Lake Mitchell, has been turning up White-browed Robin despite the area being extensively burnt recently. White-gaped Honeyeater have been seen at McLeod River north of Mt. Carbine as well as Banded Honeyeater who have been seen from here back south to Mount Molloy. Lloyd Nielsen reported White-throated Nightjar nesting in the Rifle Creek Reserve in Mount Molloy, this would be a rare sighting. Mt. Lewis has been good as usual with all the 13 “Wet Tropic” endemics seen including Golden Bowerbird (only brown female/immatures), Tooth-billed Bowerbird, Atherton Scrubwren, Chowchilla (proving difficult for some people) and Fernwren. No sign of Blue-faced Parrot-Finch up at the 10km clearing yet, they must be down at lower altitudes on the mountain. 

Late News:- A Grey Wagtail was reported from Lake Evan (Brady Road Swamp) 4km north of Mareeba by Doug Herrington from Birdwatching Tropical Australia on 16th November, must try and check it out. 

Daintree River Trip:-

Was lucky enough to find a spare morning to travel down to the Daintree River and go on a morning trip with Ian “Sauce” Worcester and a couple of our guests. Sauce operates Daintree River Wildwatch and goes out on the river for early morning and sunset river trips looking at the birds and other wildlife on the river. The morning was a bit cloudy with short intermittent showers which did not dampen anyone’s enthusiasm over the 2 hours we were on the river. The list of the 47 bird species we saw can be viewed here on the Eremaea Birds website. Highlights were Cotton Pygmy-goose, Great Cormorant, Great-billed Heron (juvenile) and Latham's Snipe, also a Salt Water Crocodile showed its head alongside the boat when it yawned showing its formidable set of teeth. Below is a selection of birds seen. 

Wompoo Fruit-Dove - on nest

Papuan Frogmouth - male, who incubate during the day

Great-billed Heron

 

Little Pied Cormorant

Great Cormorant

Great Egret (Note gape extending beyond eye, ID feature)

White-faced Heron

Latham's Snipe

Reptiles and Mammals:-

24 reptile and mammals were seen and two heard over the last two weeks. Fawn-footed Melomys and Yellow-footed Antichinus were seen. Two Red-legged Pademelon with a joey were seen in the orchard whilst on a night walk and later in the week the female was seen in the rainforest with the joey looking out of her pouch, great to see they are breeding successfully. A Large Agile Wallaby (male) has also been hanging around in the orchard at night. Both Bush Rat and Giant White-tailed Rat have been seen on night walks as well as raiding the reception area feeder. Striped Possum have been hard to find but there was a couple of sighting over the two weeks. An Echidna was seen on several occasions near Bushy Creek, once when it walked past guests at the Platypus viewing area and stopped for all to get great views.

Short-beaked Echidna

Frogs have been hiding despite a few rain showers but a few individuals have ventured out, Jungguy, White-lipped Tree Frog and Dainty Green Tree Frog have been the ones seen. A Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko was seen one night but not again but Boyd's Forest Dragon have been co-operating and showing regularly. A 2m Scrub Python was seen one night along the road to the reception area and a Green Tree Snake was in the camping area one day. 

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8th January 2012 Report

The first day of the year saw us doing a fun Big Day, there is a separate account at the end of this weeks report.

The weeks rainfall was only 10mm falling on three days of the week, mainly at night. The rest of the week was glorious sunshine providing great birding weather. Maximum temperatures were slightly down on last week, getting up to 30.8ºc and the minimum was down to a pleasant 19.0ºc, again lower than last week. Humidity ranged from a low of 60% to a high of 94%.

There were more birds recorded this week than last due to a greater effort resulting in 112 seen and 5 heard. 21 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: Could you call a House Sparrow a highlight? Well two male birds seen at the Barramundi Farm were the first records for our 1.5km list, probably were truck assisted. They are in all the major towns around the Atherton Tableland and also on the coast, hope no female birds make it here! Square-tailed Kite was a good addition to the weeks list when one soared over the tree tops in the camping area at the end of the week.

Other sightings:

Cotton Pygmy-goose were again along McDougall Road with two present mid-week. Pied Imperial Pigeon were around with more seen than in previous weeks with at least four calling whilst perched in the Lodge grounds. A few Topknot Pigeon are still around but most of the local birds seem to have gone to higher rainforest areas in the mountains such as Mt. Lewis. Our Papuan Frogmouth proved difficult to find again this week but it was located on the edge of the orchard one day and another day was further into the rainforest in amongst a clump of leaves. 

 

Papuan Frogmouth

Australian Owlet-nightjar was perched at the entrance to its daytime roost at least once early morning enjoying the sun. A few White-throated Needletail were overhead the Lodge grounds late on our Big Day, probably less than six. A Black-necked Stork was flying west over McDougall Road late on Saturday afternoon.

It was a good week for raptors with eight species seen. Apart from the previously mentioned Square-tailed Kite we had a pair of Black-shouldered Kite along McDougall Road, Pacific Baza circling high over the grounds calling with a Wedge-tailed Eagle below it, Whistling and Black Kite over Geraghty Park. Red-necked Crake showed at the Crake Pool both in the evening and morning most days and a Buff-banded Rail shot across a grassy path into the adjacent cane field (not “Katie” who we did not see this week). Pale-vented Bush-hen were again heard but not seen, calling all over the place! Three Red-tailed Black Cockatoo flew over the Lodge at the end of the week calling, this is the normal time we expect to see a few birds in the January-February period. Last year there were many sightings throughout the year which was unusual. This Sulphur-crested Cockatoo was looking for a nest site in this Queensland Blue Gum.
 

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

A single Double-eyed Fig-Parrot was seen in our neighbours garden foraging in a Tobacco Bush. (Lesser) Sooty Owl was seen one morning as guests were leaving at 5.00am to go on a Daintree river trip, it flew past calling before going to roost. Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher are still calling a lot, mainly from higher up in the mid canopy and are probably in nests by now – still need to check them out. This time last year they were feeding young – they must have know about the deluge that came at the end of January. Blue-winged Kookaburra are spending more time in Geraghty Park, calling early morning and late evening even after dark. Rainbow Bee-eater sightings for the last few weeks have been confined to McDougall Road which seems to have an invisible barrier preventing them from coming over the Lodge! Dollarbird have still been going to their nest and feeding their nestlings. Noisy Pitta have been noisy this week with the pair who lost their nestlings doing most of the calling. One morning one of the pair was up in a tree calling for over an hour, no sign of the other pairs juveniles this week. Several pairs of Red-backed Fairy-wren were along McDougall Road perched on the fence wires. Striated Pardalote were seen in several locations around the edges of the Lodge. Twelve species of honeyeater this week with both Bridled and Scarlet seen along McDougall Road. Brown-backed Honeyeater are building their third nest in the same tree in Geraghty Park, they are very persistent. White-bellied and Barred Cuckoo-shrike have both been around the edge of the Lodge grounds and into Geraghty Park.

White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike

A pair of Spangled Drongo with a nest on the edge of the orchard have managed to produce at least one offspring, quite surprising as when on the nest the adult bird called loudly for long periods. The two adults were seen near the nest with a juvenile bird half their size. Four Torresian Crow went over the grounds heading towards the Barramundi Farm which is the most we have seen together for sometime.

The Black-faced Monarch we tried to turn into a Black-winged Monarch last week was back around again and obligingly came down low for a few more images. From the second image you could be forgiven for thinking it was a Black-winged Monarch, Jeff Davies commented "that  none of the greater coverts are black, normally a third to half are black". Jeff also said "I am concerned that the primaries and secondaries are a dark grey with narrow silver fringe this is also not what I would expect for a Black-winged Monarch which typically has solid black here normally and never a silver edge". If this is worn plumage we would have expected birds further south to have been reported with black wings, maybe they have? Thanks for your comments Jeff.

 Black-faced Monarch

 Black-faced Monarch

Magpie Lark were sitting on a nest in Geraghty Park and a Pied Monarch was seen in the Lodge grounds for the first time in several weeks. Yellow-breasted Boatbill started to call at the end of the week also for the first time in several weeks. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher were seen for a day before disappearing again. At last a pair of Olive-backed Sunbird have started to build a nest in the Lodge grounds, the first we know of in six years. They are always around but no nests found. At least six Australian Pipit have been around the area including several juveniles.

Further Afield:-

Most of the reports can be found in the Big Day below. Additions include 20-30 Blue-faced Parrot-Finch at the “clearing” on Mt. Lewis, this is the highest number reported this season. A Boobook Owl of the Lurida sub-species was flushed from on the ground at the edge of the road about 3-4km up from the Bushy Creek crossing by one of our guests in the morning. The bird flew into a tree and perched for good views, lucky guests as this is the first sighting for a long time (over a year?). Other guests spotlighted on Mt. Lewis and found a (Lesser) Sooty Owl feeding a juvenile bird.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Both Green Ringtail and Striped Possum were seen in the grounds along with a Tree Mouse (Prehensile-tailed Rat). Fawn-footed Melomys and Northern Broad-nosed Bat were in our neighbours property. Bush Rat and Northern Brown Bandicoot along with Giant White-tailed Rat were around the feeder by reception most nights. Boyd's Forest Dragon are continuing to inhabit the area in front of the units.

Boyd's Forest Dragon

Platypus was seen several times in Bushy Creek, late in the week two were seen. Eastern Water Dragon were ever present in Bushy Creek. Frogs were conspicuously absent with only three species plus Cane Toad seen. Both Green and Brown Tree Snake were seen, the green in the orchard and the Brown in our neighbours garden.

Other Interesting Sightings:

Yes more fungi!

Fungi sp.

Fungi sp.

Fungi sp.

Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge 
Big Day 1^st January 2012

 Once again it was the first day of another year and to start off our year list we were doing a Big Day for fun. No mad charging around the countryside, just a laid back day of birdwatching, eating and relaxing. A 6.30am start saw Keith, Lindsay and our two neighbours Carol and Andrew (who used to be the guides at the Lodge 10 years ago but are now independent bird guides) searching the Lodge grounds. Our first surprise was a White-headed Pigeon flying over the adjacent cane field towards the hills, Pale-vented Bush-hen were also calling here but not showing. Other good birds included Buff-banded Rail, Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher and Black-faced Monarch. Lindsay had to leave us as guests had to be attended to. So the three of us headed out to Geraghty Park where we found Pied Imperial Pigeon, Black Kite (a rarity of late) Barred Cuckoo-shrike, Striated Pardalote and Rufous Whistler. The weather looked threatening so we decided to go up Mt. Lewis before it closed in. As we passed the Barramundi Farm a cry went out to stop as Carol though she was hearing things – a House Sparrow! Sure enough a House Sparrow was perched on top of a shed alongside the road, must have been truck assisted to get here! A first for the area for a species which is on the coast but not normally up our part of the tablelands. After this shock it was onto the lower slopes of Mt. Lewis, which produced Superb Fruit-Dove, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot and a heard Black Butcherbird. The 10km area of the Mt. Lewis Road was very productive as usual with Blue-faced Parrot-Finch the first bird we saw when getting out of the car. Some other species encountered included Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Emerald Dove, Topknot Pigeon, Tooth-billed Bowerbird, Fernwren building a nest, Yellow-throated and Atherton Scrubwren, Mountain Thornbill, Eastern Spinebill, Bridled Honeyeater, Chowchilla, Eastern Whipbird, Golden Whistler, Bower's Shrike-thrush, Grey-headed Robin and both Rufous and Grey Fantail. It was time to come down off the mountain as a few spots of rain started to come down. We had a half hour before the allotted lunch break so we headed back past the Lodge to McDougall Road, as always it put on a good show for us with plenty of waterbirds including Magpie Goose, Hardhead and Black-fronted Dotterel. Further down the road in the wooded area there were good views of Scarlet Honeyeater, Grey Whistler and Leaden Flycatcher before the rain started to pour down on cue for the lunch break.

 Leaden Flycatcher - male

After an hours break we set off again stopping at Abattoir Swamp hoping to see the reliable Northern Fantail in the car park but they were not showing only calling, however we did add Lemon-bellied Flycatcher. Next stop was a small lagoon near Mareeba, here there were many waterbirds allowing us to add Plumed Whistling-Duck, Grey Teal, Australasian Grebe, Eastern Great and Little Egret plus all three Ibis – Australian White, Straw-necked and Glossy. Overhead we had good views of Blue-winged Kookaburra. Time to turn around and head back towards Mt. Molloy with a few stops along the way. Several Purple Swamphen were in a small lagoon alongside the road and a White-faced Heron was beside the road just before we turned into Pickford Road at Biboorah. Quite a productive road with Pacific Baza feeding a juvenile, Brown Goshawk, Nankeen Kestrel, Red-winged Parrot, Pale-headed Rosella and Yellow Honeyeater. More waterbirds to add to the tally were found on Lake Mitchell, Black Swan, three Black-necked Stork, one Brolga and Comb-crested Jacana. Overhead were Eastern Osprey, Whistling Kite and Gull-billed Tern. Mt. Molloy was good to us as usual with Squatter Pigeon, Bush Stone-curlew, Eastern Koel, Great Bowerbird, Grey-crowned Babbler and Double-barred Finch. This babbler was trying to wheedle out some insects behind the bark.

Grey-crowned Babbler

We decided to return to the Lodge via the back road through Wetherby Station and found Lovely Fairy-wren at the “Green Gate”, a couple more Squatter Pigeon walking along the edge of the road and a Wompoo Fruit-Dove at the Rifle Creek crossing.

Squatter Pigeon

 
Another look down McDougall Road found a Black-shouldered Kite which was a much better view than one we had seen soaring way off in the distance in the morning, there were also several Australian Pipit perched on fence posts. Back at the Lodge Lindsay joined us to add White-throated Needletail soaring overhead with Australian Swiftlet and finally as it was getting dark a Red-neck Crake appeared for a bathe. After dark we found an Eastern Barn Owl in Geraghty Park and it was then time to call it a day.

We ended up with 132 seen plus 14 heard making a total of 146 species. Interestingly 85 of these were seen/heard within 1.5km of the Lodge grounds. Best bird – so many, Most surprising sighting – House Sparrow, Biggest dips – Noisy Pitta who decided to have a day off after being seen everyday for the last few months, Papuan Frogmouth and Channel-billed Cuckoo who have been showing more often than not, Crested Pigeon and Pied Butcherbird had a day off in the dry country. However despite these dips it was a very good start to the year.

Species List

Australian Brush-turkey Black-fronted Dotterel Macleay's Honeyeater Orange-footed Scrubfowl Masked Lapwing Grey-crowned Babbler Brown Quail Comb-crested Jacana Chowchilla Magpie Goose Gull-billed Tern Eastern Whipbird Plumed Whistling-Duck Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike Wandering Whistling-Duck Rainbow Lorikeet White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike Black Swan Scaly-breasted Lorikeet Barred Cuckoo-shrike Green Pygmy-goose Double-eyed Fig-Parrot Cicadabird* Grey Teal Red-winged Parrot Varied Triller Pacific Black Duck Pale-headed Rosella Golden Whistler Hardhead Pheasant Coucal Grey Whistler Australasian Grebe Eastern Koel Rufous Whistler White-headed Pigeon Little Bronze-Cuckoo* Little Shrike-thrush Brown Cuckoo-Dove Brush Cuckoo* Bower's Shrike-thrush Emerald Dove Eastern Barn Owl Australasian Figbird Squatter Pigeon Buff-br. Paradise-Kingfisher Olive-backed Oriole Peaceful Dove Laughing Kookaburra White-breasted Woodswallow Bar-shouldered Dove Blue-winged Kookaburra Black Butcherbird* Wompoo Fruit-Dove Forest Kingfisher Australian Magpie Superb Fruit-Dove Rainbow Bee-eater Spangled Drongo Pied Imperial-Pigeon Dollarbird Rufous Fantail Topknot Pigeon Noisy Pitta* Grey Fantail Australian Swiftlet White-throated Treecreeper* Northern Fantail* White-throated Needletail Spotted Catbird* Willie Wagtail Darter Tooth-billed Bowerbird Leaden Flycatcher Little Pied Cormorant Great Bowerbird Black-faced Monarch Little Black Cormorant Red-backed Fairy-wren Spectacled Monarch Black-necked Stork Lovely Fairy-wren Magpie-lark Great Egret Fernwren Pied Monarch* Intermediate Egret Yellow-throated Scrubwren Yellow-breasted Boatbill* White-faced Heron Atherton Scrubwren Victoria's Riflebird* Little Egret Large-billed Scrubwren Lemon-bellied Flycatcher Glossy Ibis Brown Gerygone* Pale-yellow Robin Australian White Ibis Large-billed Gerygone* Grey-headed Robin Straw-necked Ibis Mountain Thornbill Golden-headed Cisticola Royal Spoonbill Striated Pardalote Silvereye Eastern Osprey Eastern Spinebill Welcome Swallow Black-shouldered Kite Lewin's Honeyeater Fairy Martin Pacific Baza Yellow-spotted Honeyeater Metallic Starling Whistling Kite Graceful Honeyeater Common Myna Black Kite Bridled Honeyeater Mistletoebird Brown Goshawk Yellow-faced Honeyeater Olive-backed Sunbird Nankeen Kestrel Yellow Honeyeater Double-barred Finch Brolga Brown-backed Honeyeater Red-browed Finch Purple Swamphen Dusky Honeyeater Blue-faced Parrot-Finch Red-necked Crake Scarlet Honeyeater Chestnut-breasted Mannikin Buff-banded Rail Brown Honeyeater House Sparrow Pale-vented Bush-hen* White-throated Honeyeater Australasian Pipit Bush Stone-curlew Blue-faced Honeyeater

* = Heard

132 Seen + 14 Heard