19th October 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

One day we had 6.5mm in a short shower, this was the total rain fall for the last two weeks. With the humidity dipping down to 34% and lots of sunshine and temperatures reaching 32ºc which is unheard of for this time of year, the rain did little to settle the dust.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 5th- 11th October and 12th- 18th October The first week had 104 species recorded and the second week 110.

Morning and Evening Guided Walks:-

Morning bird walks produced between 54 and 66 species which was very good for 2½hrs. Highlights were two male Superb Fruit-Dove in a tree beside Bushy Creek, male Common Koel, male and female Double-eyed Fig-Parrot feeding in Cluster Fig and nesting nearby.

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - female at nest

A Noisy Pitta was seen most mornings and two Great Bowerbird were attending a very well constructed bower. 

 

Great Bowerbird Bower

White-throated Honeyeater were building a nest and mating plus a Lemon-bellied Flycatcher was sitting on its tiny nest, the smallest of any bird in Australia. This one is about 10m off the ground.

Lemon-bellied Flycatcher - on nest

(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).

One highlight on a night walk was the eclipse of the moon, we watched it as we went spotlighting and ended up in Geraghty Park to have great views of the event as we listened to two Australian Owlet-nightjar calling to each other. 

Eclipse Of The Moon

Other good sightings were a very brief glimpse of a Lesser Sooty Owl as it flew over and away from us, Giant White Tree Rat, Green Ringtail Possum, Water Rat and three Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko on one night.

Other Birding Highlights:-

One Female Black-necked Stork in a lagoon behind Geraghty Park as well as two Latham's Snipe along the edge, both species not seen for many months. One Australian Pelican flew over the Lodge on the 17^th October, probably heading for one of the lagoons along McDougall Road. A Grey Goshawk was seen to fly into a tree, adjacent to the Lodge orchard, carrying an Eastern Water Dragon and luckily the camera was at hand to whiz off a couple of shots before it moved off clutching its meal.

Grey Goshawk with Eastern Water Dragon

Pacific Baza have been around but not regularly and a pair of Brown Goshawk were circling over the Lodge one morning. Red-necked Crake was seen briefly late one afternoon as it was getting dark at the Crake Pool, it was also heard on several occasions. Pigeons and doves have been around to take advantage of fruiting trees and vines; those seen were Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Superb Fruit-Dove, Torresian Imperial Pigeon and Topknot Pigeon plus the regular Emerald Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove and Peaceful Dove. Lesser Sooty Owl was seen about 4.00am perched in a tree near our bunkhouse and heard on numerous other occasions. Barking Owl have been vocal with one roosting high up in a eucalypt tree near the bunkhouse one afternoon. A pair of Papuan Frogmouth have made a nest in a fern on a tree branch at a nearby private property, they laid on the 10^th October and usually take about 40 days to incubate.

Papuan Frogmouth - female on nest

Dollarbird returned on 16^th October along with Brush Cuckoo. Also on this day the Cicadabird started calling. Lovely Fairy-Wren were seen by our neighbours Carol and Andrew Iles (our local bird guides) in their garden, they also saw a Red-necked Crake run under their veranda. Spotted Catbird have been coming to the feeder to gather fruit and head off with it so they maybe feeding young. 13 species of honeyeater were seen and Black-chinned heard. The Eastern Whipbird mentioned in the last blog is still hanging around the area calling whilst it visits all the adjoining rainforest habitats as well as the Lodge grounds. Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been visiting the fruiting trees in and around the Lodge, mainly Blue Quandong. Groups of Spangled Drongo have been passing through the area on their southern migration with up to 50+ seen at a time. Black-faced Monarch are around in increasing numbers and calling and a single female Leaden Flycatcher was heard and seen, the first for seven weeks. A few Pale-Yellow Robin have been seen feeding fledged young whilst others are still sitting on nests. A Bassian Thrush was still around the grounds in the first week but was not sighted in the second.

Further Afield:-

Mt. Lewis is still producing all the 12 “Wet Tropic” endemics but not all at once! One Blue-faced Parrot-Finch was seen near Abattoir Swamp but no reports of them up on Mt. Lewis yet. Maryfarms between Mt. Molloy and Mt. Carbine has displaying Australian Bustard, still at least eight Australian Pratincole and Carol Iles saw an injured Oriental Plover with the pratincole. Photo courtesy of Carol Iles.

Oriental Plover- broken wing

Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo were seen around the Mowbray National Park in Julatten on several occasions. Abattoir Swamp has been good for honeyeaters and White-browed Crake. Up to 12 Spotted Whistling-Duck have been reported at Keatings Lagoon near Cooktown, 2 hours north from the Lodge.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The Water Rat seen in Bushy Creek whilst on a night walk was the most exciting mammal over the two weeks followed by the elusive Green Ringtail Possum seen once. Three Giant White-tail Rat were seen one night; they have not been seen much lately so must have woken up. Platypus have been very cooperative appearing in the morning and late afternoon with up to two. Boyd's Forest Dragon and Major Skink have also been appearing with the warmer weather. Several snakes have also woken up with sightings of Australian Scrub Python, Slaty Grey and Green Tree Snake – one in our downstairs toilet was a surprise. Just having a look around in the first photo before it retreated back inside. It eventually left by the window with a bit of encouragement and headed for the rainforest.

Green Tree Snake

Green Tree Snake

 

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. 

 

Kingfisher Birdwatchers Lodge 21st September Report

21^st September 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

What can we say about the weather? Well we have had no rain over the last two weeks again, just wall to wall sunshine, cool temperatures down to 11.1ºC and much warmer than previous months, up to 27.3ºC, great conditions. Temperatures in the morning have been about 4ºC below the average for this time of year.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 7th - 13th September and 14th- 20th September The first week had 105 species recorded and the second week 103.

Morning and Evening Guided Walks:-

Morning walks produced between 44 and 55 species, some of the highlights were Pacific Baza foraging in the camp ground, two Blue-winged Kookaburra, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, Noisy Pitta in the orchard hopping around us for over 10 minutes whilst we were watching a pair of roosting Papuan Frogmouth, Great Bowerbird performing at its bower, a pair of Yellow-faced Honeyeater on a nest, a male Fairy Gerygone foraging on the ground (usually high up in the rainforest) and a pair of Pale Yellow Robin attending a nest. Also a Platypus was seen twice on one morning walk at two different locations and once on a night walk. The full 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, Papuan Frogmouth, Red-legged Pademelon, Striped Possum, Platypus, four different frog species, despite the dry weather, Boyd's Forest Dragon which had re-appeared with the warmer weather, Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko and two Australian Scrub Python. A surprise one night was a roosting Pacific Baza high up in a rainforest tree, a first for a night walk.

Other Birding Highlights:-

An immature Orange-footed Scrubfowl has been around the edge of the orchard foraging in the rainforest and trying to get out of the way of the adults who harass it at every opportunity. Here it is intently looking for food as it scratches away.

 

Orange-footed Scrubfowl

 

Red-necked Crake have been regularly coming to the Crake Pool late evenings with one or two seen, one was also seen in the garden in front of the units. A Comb-crested Jacana was in one of the McDougall Road lagoons, this was a first for many months. A pair of Wompoo Fruit-Dove were in the trees around the Crake Pool on the edge of the orchard and a pair of Torresian Imperial-Pigeon flew over Geraghty Park. The Torresian Imperial-Pigeon are recent arrivals to our part of the inland only having been around for the last four years. Small flocks of Topknot Pigeon are still flying over, nine being the most at any one time. Channel-billed Cuckoo have been scarce with only one seen over the last two weeks and several other calling. Papuan Frogmouth have been roosting in the area including these three.

 

Papuan Frogmouth

 

Again Australian Owlet-nightjar has been heard, but not seen, very frustrating. Rainbow Lorikeet have been seen nesting as have Double-eyed Fig-Parrot. Bridled Honeyeater have moved into the area and two uncommon Black-chinned Honeyeater were seen in Geraghty Park. The Blue-faced Honeyeater which occurs around the Lodge is in a zone integration between the nominate race Entomyon cyanotis cyanotis from eastern Australia and Entomyon cyanotis griseigularis, the sub-species from Cape York. The one pictured here is an immature bird foraging on a Grevillea in a neighbours garden adjacent to Geraghty Park.

 

Blue-faced Honeyeater - immature

Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been active and calling as well as showing well. A few Barred Cuckoo-shrike are around the lodge grounds, but proving difficult to see. Northern Fantail have also returned to the fringes of the Lodge grounds and have been heard calling well. Pied Monarch are also around,

Pied Monarch

as is at least one immature male Victoria's Riflebird. 

 

Victoria's Riflebird - immature male

 

Metallic Starling are slowly making nests, but quite a few have fallen to the ground which is not good for their breeding season. Male Mistletoebird have been calling and showing well, but no sign of nesting yet.

Further Afield:-

An unconfirmed report of vagrant Northern Pintail at Hasties Swamp, only seen once and not relocated again despite several visits to look for them. More information can be found on Eremaea Birds website. Mt. Lewis continues to be the place to see the “Wet Tropic” endemics with all but the Lesser Sooty Owl seen over the last two weeks, even a couple of male Golden Bowerbird were found by our roving bird guides Carol and Andrew Iles, can't beat local knowledge! Carol also reported Spotted Harrier, Dusky Moorhen, Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, Blue-faced Parrot-Finch, White-eared Monarch and the first reported Black-faced Monarch for the season around the Julatten area plus she had up to eight Australian Pratincole along West Maryfarms Road between Mt. Molloy and Mt. Carbine off the Peninsula Road. The first Large-tailed Nightjar for the season was heard calling in Julatten (by us) on the 21st September, at the same time a Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo was calling! Flowering Grass Tree spikes in Julatten have been attracting many honeyeaters including, Brown, Scarlet and Dusky. This Dusky was on a flower spike and the Brown Honeyeater was waiting his turn.

Dusky Honeyeater

Brown Honeyeater

Rufous Owl is still being reported along the Cairns Esplanade.

Barn Owl Display, Julatten, Far North Queensland

Geraghty Park, Julatten is home to two pairs of Barn Owl which have bred here every year since at least 1995. The nests of these two pairs and a third pair across the adjacent Rex Highway are within 300m of each other. Most years these three pairs have had three young each. In 2014 the two pairs in Geraghty Park had a brood of three and the third nest had four, all of which left their nests and the area by the end of August. On the 3^rd September 2014 a visit to one nest site in Geraghty Park was rewarded by a very unusual display by the adult male towards the adult female of the pair. The male was first seen with just its head peering out of a hollow in a Queensland Blue Gum Eucalyptus tereticornis which is its daytime roost/nest tree. After about 5 minutes the adult female appeared at a different tree hollow approximately 2m below the one the male was in, here it perched. Shortly after this the male moved out of its hollow onto an adjacent branch where it was seen to adopt a hunched posture looking down at the female, it then outstretched its wings and began crouching down and raising itself several times before rocking from side to side (wing waving) with its tail raised. It continued this display for approximately 1 minute. The female meanwhile was looking away and taking no notice of the male. The male then folded its wings but continued in the hunched position looking down for approximately 30 seconds before again outstretching its wings and beginning the rocking motion again, this time the female looked up and watched the display. The male continued for another minute, at which time the female flew to a nearby branch. The male continued to stay in a hunched position looking down until it flew to join the female after 2 minutes. Both birds were perched next to each other facing different directions for about three minutes before the male turned around. Both birds then moved close to each other and started allopreening for at least two minutes. This behaviour of allopreening often precedes mating which takes place in the nest (Debus 2009). During the whole period of the display both birds remained silent. We then considered that the birds had been disturbed enough by our presence and we left. It was not know whether the birds did return to the nest to mate. A short video of part of the display taken by Mr. Ota Yu, Japanese tour guide based in Cairns can be found on You Tube . The background noise is excited Japanese taking plenty of photos!

Stephen Debus says that this behaviour has been recorded in Masked Owl but as far as he is aware not in Barn Owl. Thanks for your input Stephen.

The following night we had another look at what the owls were doing but they did not put on a display like they did the previous night. The adult male and female came out of their daytime roost to perch on the branches.

 

Barn Owl - male on right female on left

 

After they sat on the branch for a while the male started to outstretch his wings and did a brief wing waving display. The female was not interested as you can see!

 

Barn Owl - male on right female on left

 

Both birds flew to different perches and the female started to take notice of the male but he had given up by now and was just perching quietly.

 

Barn Owl

Reptiles and Mammals:- 

Fawn-footed Melomys and Bush Rat have been coming to the reception area feeder at night along with up to six Northern Brown Bandicoot which is the most we have seen all year. A Yellow-footed Antichinus was heard scratching in a dead tree before it came out to run up and down the outside and disappear into the tree before coming out of a different hole, this activity continued for well over five minutes. Here it is seen peering out of one of the holes.

Yellow-footed Antichinus

 

At least two Platypus have been showing well in Bushy Creek in the late evening and early morning  much to the delight of our guests. One of our guests observed an Eastern Water Dragon along Bushy Creek catch a Little Shrike-thrush and eat it; we've seen them raiding nests, but not take an adult bird. The Australian Scrub Python we have living in a large log can often be seen coiled up inside it, this is what you see.

Australian Scrub Python

10th August 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The first week had 9mm of rain which fell over three days, the second week had 17mm of rain over six days. Temperatures ranged from a cool low of 16.1ºC up to 23.6ºC which is about average for this time of year. Despite the drizzly rain there were plenty of opportunities to get some good birding in both during the day and night walks.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 27thJuly - 2nd August and 3rd- 9th August The first week had 94 sightings and the second week 97 .

Morning and Evening Guided Walks:-

Morning walks were very productive with numbers of species seen ranging from 51-55 apart from one day where the rain cut it short and only 43 species were seen. We had some good sightings including three Little Bronze-Cuckoo, Papuan Frogmouth, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot – one female was digging out a nest hollow in a tree, Noisy Pitta, Spotted Catbird, 11 species of honeyeater, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, male Cicadabird, Pied Monarch, Victoria's Riflebird and Lemon-bellied Flycatcher.

Night walks were also very good up to 11 Barn Owl seen as there are at least 3 nests around the Lodge area with juveniles. Other good bird sightings were a Brown Falcon flying over and calling, Barking Owl, Papuan Frogmouth and a pair of Blue-winged Kookaburra – one was calling. 

 

Papuan Frogmouth - female

Mammals seen were Giant White-tailed Rat which is a native tree rat,

Giant White-tailed Rat - male

Fawn-footed Melomys and Tree Mouse (prehensile-tailed Rat) both of whom were feeding in oranges as these two images show – quite amazing! 
 

Fawn-footed Melomys - tail

Tree Mouse

Others seen were Red-legged Pademelon, Striped and Green Ringtail Possum, Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot, plus Spectacled Flying-fox. This one was getting nectar from the blossom of a South American Sapote fruit tree.

 

Spectacled Flying-fox

Frogs seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Red Tree Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad, plus Platypus. Reptiles seen were Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko, Asian House Gecko and Australian Scrub Python high up in a tree.

Other Birding Highlights:-

A pair of Green Pygmy-goose were along McDougall Road along with White-faced and White-necked Heron. At least two juvenile Black-shouldered Kite were perched near Geraghty Park and a Swamp Harrier was over a paddock behind the nursing home. A Brown Goshawk came swooping into the reception area feeder scattering the Bar-shouldered Dove and Red-browed Finch, but it left empty handed after failing to catch anything. Black and Whistling Kite are mopping up road kills along the Rex Highway and a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagle have been seen heading for the local fish farm. Red-necked Crake was heard, but not seen; they have not been easy lately. Up to 21 Topknot Pigeon have been seen flying over and landing in the Blue Quandong trees looking for the fruit which is still green and not the bright blue ripe fruit. Lesser Sooty Owl was heard once and Australian Owlet-nightjar was also heard, but neither species were seen. Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet were both seen nesting in tree hollows. The male Yellow-throated Scrubwren previously reported in still being seen around the Lodge grounds and a brown Black Butcherbird has also been around. A couple of Bower's Shrike-thrush are still in the Lodge grounds along with a male Golden Whistler. Olive-backed Oriole have returned and are calling, not sure where they disappear to. A White-eared Monarch has been calling over the last two week, but was only seen on the 9^th August high in a tree beside Bushy Creek at the Platypus viewing area. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have both been calling well and being seen. 

Yellow-breasted Boatbill - female

The female and immature male Victoria's Riflebird previously reported are still with us and being seen in various parts of the grounds. A Golden-headed Cisticola was reported by our neighbours and bird guides Carol and Andrew Iles along Bushy Creek, this is a first sighting for many months. Up to five Blue-faced Parrot-Finch have been found near Abattoir Swamp.

Further Afield:-

Banded Honeyeater was reported by Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours on 30^th July just north of Mt. Carbine, which is about two months earlier than previous years. A Wedge-tailed Eagle was soaring over Euluma Creek Road in Julatten, not common in our area. Just outside our 1.5km Lodge reporting area on the way to Mt. Molloy a Crested Pigeon was perched on a power line across the Rex Highway, this is the closest to the Lodge that we have seen this species. Mt. Lewis has been performing as usual with all 13 “Wet Tropic” endemics seen including male and female Golden Bowerbird. A trip to the Atherton Tableland allowed us to catch up with a few birds including these two, an Eastern Whipbird and a male Victoria's Riflebird.

 

Eastern Whipbird

Victoria's Riflebird - male

 

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Apart from the mammals reported on the night walks we have recorded Agile Wallaby, Eastern Horseshoe Bat, Large-footed Myotis (fish eating bat), Northern Broad-nosed Bat and Little Bent-wing Bat. Other reptiles seen were Boyd's Forest Dragon after a month long absence, Eastern Water Dragon and Green Tree Snake. 

Thanks to Carol and Andrew Iles for helping to compile the weekly bird lists, contact them if you need any bird guiding. 

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29th June 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The first week was rainy and overcast with 16.5mm of rain over 4 days, but by the end of the week it had improved with the second week being dry and sunny, fantastic weather! At last the Lodge was starting to dry out. Temperatures ranged from a low of 14.8ºC up to 23ºC, very pleasant, perfect birding weather.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-
The first week we recorded 98 species and the second week 101, these can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 15th - 21st June and 22nd - 28th June

Birding Highlights:-

Wandering Whistling-Duck, Green Pygmy-goose, Pacific Black Duck, Australasian Grebe, Little Black and Little-Pied Cormorant and Great Egret were reported along McDougall Road in the lagoons. An Australian Pelican was flying over the Lodge one afternoon and a White-necked Heron was in a swampy patch of the adjacent cane paddock, this is an occasional visitor. Black-shouldered Kite, Swamp Harrier, Grey and Brown Goshawk, Black and Whistling Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Nankeen Kestrel and Brown Falcon were the raptors seen. Red-necked Crake were heard, but not seen. Brown Cuckoo-Dove have been calling and feeding on fruiting trees in the rainforest. Fan-tailed Cuckoo have been calling every day along with the Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo and our bird guide neighbours Carol and Andrew had a Shining Bronze-Cuckoo in their garden, this is a winter visitor. Barn Owl are calling, but not always seen as they have changed their normal routine due to the start of the breeding season. The pair of Barking Owls have been around most nights calling incessantly and waking everyone up! A Lesser Sooty Owl was heard giving a single call on one night and that was all for the two weeks. Again four Papuan Frogmouth have been seen, one was perched over the road to reception whilst on a night walk. Rainbow Bee-eater are still with us, but their numbers appear to be decreasing so they may be moving off. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo have whinging youngsters with them and must be driving the parents crazy as the go all day. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have only been seen as fly overs and Red-wing Parrot were seen near the Julatten School, just in our 1.5km radius Lodge bird list area. Noisy Pitta is still being seen, usually in the orchard or adjacent rainforest, but are not easy. Spotted Catbird are still coming to the feeder and also seen feeding with Victoria's Riflebird on the fallen fruit of a Spondias tree in the orchard.

Victoria's Riflebird - immature male

14 species of honeyeater were seen over the two weeks, the highlight was a Helmeted Friarbird which normally are common along the coast and up onto the great divide so to see one this far inland was very unusual. Graceful Honeyeater have also been calling and feeding on rainforest flowers as the one below is doing. This bird is stretching itself to get to the nectar and in doing so it is distorting the yellow ear patch so it does not look like the field guides show. The shape of the ear patch is naturally variable in Yellow-spotted and Graceful and the Lewin's Honeyeater this area have an ear patch which is not quite the defined crescent shape of the southern birds, which leads to more confusion in identification. Best bet is to learn the calls before you visit this region. 

Graceful Honeyeater

Graceful Honeyeater - close up of head and ear patch

We had the first sighting for the year of a Yellow-throated Scrubwren (male) in the Lodge grounds on the 27^th June. We usually get one or two birds coming off the higher mountains to visit us in the winter months which is good as they can cross the broken corridor between us and the mountain rainforest unlike some other species like Chowchilla. Yellow-breasted Boatbill have again been calling and showing well as have Pied Monarch.

Pied Monarch

A female Bower's Shrike-thrush has been around the Lodge grounds late in the second week, again this is a winter visitor from higher grounds. Female Bower's have a bone bi-colour bill unlike the adult male who have an all dark bill. At least one male Golden Whistler (another winter visitor) is still around the grounds and has been calling well. A Yellow Oriole has been lurking around in the Lodge grounds, whilst they are common on the coast they have only started to appear here in the last 3-4 years.

Yellow Oriole

Willie Wagtail are interesting and a common bird, but not at the Lodge all year around. Whilst they are reported to be resident in many areas of Australia they also migrate out of some parts of Australia. Amazing how little we know about the movements of such a common bird. 

Willie Wagtail

A Tawny Grassbird was around the nearby cane paddock, a species we have not seen since September 2013. Chestnut-breasted Mannikin were foraging around the edge of the adjacent cane paddock one morning along with the regular Red-browed Finch.

Further Afield:-

Black-breasted Buzzard was seen at the Mt. Carbine Cemetery, Collared Sparrowhawk and Satin Flycatcher were at McLeod River north of Mt. Carbine. Pacific Baza was at the Mowbray National Park in Julatten, thanks to Jan England for these sightings. Little Kingfisher are being seen on the Daintree River and Australian Praticole were found on the Atherton Tableland behind the Shalee Strawberry Farm on the Gillies Highway (Yungaburra to Atherton Road) at the junction of Marks Lane. A female Double-eyed Fig-Parrot stunned itself on a window of our house in Julatten and after it was calmed down it was put on a tree branch in the shade where it sat until it recovered and flew away. It was looking rather sad when this photo was taken.

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - female

Thanks to Carol and Andrew Iles for their sightings contributions. If you need any bird guiding contact Carol and Andrew.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Top of the list this week goes to the Tree Mouse Pogonomys sp.(previously known as Prehensile-tailed Rat) which was running around on the edge of the rainforest near the reception area one evening. Two other Pogonomys species occur in New Guinea but the Australian one is thought to be an unnamed species as no taxonomic study has shown a definite link with the other two species. The Australian species was first recorded in 1974 at Lake Eacham on the Atherton Tableland when a cat bought one into the Lake Eacham Teahouse. This one stopped in the same position for over 10 minutes whilst it was photographed contrary to published reports that it runs around in a confused manner back and forth along tree branches when spotlighted. 

Tree Mouse

Other mammals seen were Fawn-footed Melomys, Yellow-footed Antichinus, Red-legged Pademelon, Agile Wallaby, Eastern Horseshoe Bat, Northern Tube-nosed Bat, Bush Rat, Giant White-tailed Rat, Striped Possum, Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot plus Spectacled Flying Fox. Once again we found several Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko, several of which were showing different colour variations depending on the tree bark colour they were on, great camouflage

Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko

Frogs were good for the first week when it was wet but only a couple of species ventured out in the second week, we recorded seven species including Striped Marsh Frog, Jungguy Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog. No Boyd's Forest Dragon and only one snake, an Australian Scrub Python, over the two weeks which probably means they have gone into hibernation or are less active in the cooler weather.

Fungi:-

This Bridal Veil fungi Phallus indusiatus popped up along the rainforest track to the orchard. It is pollinated by flies which are attracted to it by the smell, which is like rotting meat. The cap has a brown spore containing slime which is eaten by the flies who then disperse the spores. It is an edible fungus and is used in Chinese cooking as well as in medicines. If you want to find out more about this fungi follow this link.

Bridal Veil Fungi

New Books:-

Two new books were added to our shop this week, Finding Australian birds: a field guide to birding locations by Tim Dolby and Rohan Clarke. Had a quick browse through this book and it looks like the definitive guide to get you onto great birding locations and the birds you want to see. It is over 600 pages with plenty of maps. A bargain at $49.95.

The other book is A Guide To The Cockroaches of Australia by David Rentz who is well known to us as he lives nearby at Kuranda. This book describes comprehensively most of the 550 described species found in Australia, excellent descriptions, photos and maps. It is only when you see this field guide that you can appreciate the diversity of cockroaches in Australia, $49.95. 

 

Well done to Tim, Rohan and David for the work and dedication needed to bring such great books to us.

Finally:-
After months of roadworks along the Mt. Molloy to Mossman road near the Bushy Creek Bridge where we were delayed by traffic lights which took for ever to change, it has been finished. This is what it looks like now. Not sure about the speed limit!

Mt. Molloy to Mossman Road.

For Sale:-

Canon EOS 7D body + EF 100-400mm Lens. All in excellent condition with original boxes, Instruction manual. Great bird photography outfit - have upgraded. Only $1600.00 plus P & P. Email interest.

Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge Business and Property For Sale
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