13th July 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The first week was dry apart from 5mm of rain which fell over two days, the second week was dry and sunny. Temperatures ranged from a cold low of 9ºC up to 22ºC, very pleasant and great birding weather.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 29th June - 5th July and 6th - 12th July

The first week has 95 sightings and the second week 104.

Birding Highlights:-

McDougall Road lagoons produced a few waterbirds; Wandering Whistling-Duck, Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, Hardhead, Australasian Grebe, Little Black and Little-Pied Cormorant plus Intermediate and Great Egret plus Royal Spoonbill. Waterbirds flying over included White-necked and White-faced Heron along with Australian Pelican. One of the best sightings for the week was a Great-billed Heron along Bushy Creek at the Platypus viewing area seen mid-morning whilst a group was on a morning walk. There are some Great-billed Heron nesting along Rifle Creek which is where Bushy Creek flows into. We usually get a few sightings from this time of year through to October/November. Two immature Black-shouldered Kite were in the area and must have nested nearby. A Wedge-tailed Eagle was seen both weeks and must have been drawn in by the large number of road kills we are experiencing at the moment. Our two regular White-bellied Sea-Eagles have been getting excited and are calling a lot and flying around as well as being seen perched together in a dead tree. A Red-necked Crake was heard once but again not seen unlike a Buff-banded Rail which was seen near the Mt. Kooyong Nursing Home. 

 

Buff-banded Rail

The only sighting of Topknot Pigeon was made by our neighbouring bird guide Carol Iles when she saw ten flying over Mt. Kooyong Road and the Lodge. There has been a shortage of this species so far this year. Fan-tailed Cuckoo was around for the first week calling but not heard or seen during the second week. Nightbirds seen have been two Barn Owl who have at least two young in a nest, two Barking Owl who were being chased off by a Spangled Drongo one evening and three Papuan Frogmouth plus a Lesser Sooty Owl called about one o'clock but has not been seen. Little Kingfisher was another highlight over the two weeks when it made at least two visits to the Crake Pool on the edge of the orchard. Since we have managed to get into the orchard to mow the grass, now that it has dried out, a Noisy Pitta has said thank you very much! It has been out everyday hopping around the orchard foraging for everyone to see and photograph. One morning we stood in the orchard and watched the pitta foraging with a Grey-headed Robin on the ground whilst a Spotted Catbird and adult female Victoria's Riflebird were foraging on the fruit of a Spondias. How good was that? 

Spotted Catbird

Fourteen species of honeyeater were seen with three Black-chinned Honeyeater (Golden-backed form) seen on the 8^th during a morning walk being the highlight. Macleay's Honeyeater have not been coming to the feeder so often since a South American Sapote tree in our orchard has started to flower and attract them. 

 

Macleay's Honeyeater

Large-billed Scrubwren have been involved in a few feeding party's in the rainforest which have also included Little (Rufous) Shrike-thrush, Grey Whistler, Rufous Fantail and Spectacled Monarch. 

 

Large-billed Scrubwren

At least two Bower's Shrike-thrush were foraging high in the rainforest on the edge of the orchard one morning. This one is a female, note bi-colour bill as mentioned in our blog of a few weeks ago. Not a particularly good image but the bird would not come down, however it does show the bill.

 

Bower's Shrike-thrush

Their  are still a few Spangled Drongo around, one who we think always comes back to our feeder each year, hard to be sure as they all look the same!

Spangled Drongo

Lemon-bellied Flycatcher are still around Geraghty Park adjacent to the Lodge with at least four seen and heard. A surprise whilst on a morning walk was to see two Chestnut-breasted Mannikin perched on the rail around the Geraghty Park oval with five Rainbow Bee-eater.

Further Afield:-

Blue-faced Parrot-finch have been seen irregularly near Abattoir Swamp with only one or two birds. Black-throated Finch have been further north along the Kondaparinga Road towards Hurricane Station. Mt. Lewis has been running hot and cold but is still turning up most of the Wet Tropic endemics including Tooth-billed Bowerbird, female Golden Bowerbird, Fernwren, Atherton Scrubwren, Mountain Thornbill, Bridled Honeyeater, Chowchilla, Bower's Shrike-thrush, Victoria;s Riflebird and Grey-headed Robin. Lower down the mountain Pied Monarch and Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo were seen. A Green-eyed Frog Litoria serrata was also seen by one of our guests, this is one species we don't get on the Lodge grounds.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Fawn-footed Melomy's, Yellow-footed Antichinus and Bush Rat have been around the Lodge and at the feeder near reception along with two Northern Brown Bandicoot. Two Agile Wallaby were in the orchard one night in place of the Red-legged Pdemelon which had retreated to the rainforest. A Giant White-tailed Rat was seen on a night walk climbing up and down some vines beside Bushy Creek. A few more Northern Brown Bandicoot are being seen with at least four whilst we were on a nightwalk. A Striped Possum was feeding in the orchard along with a second one on the edge of the orchard chewing into a dead tree. The second photo (a male!) shows the elongated 4th finger they use to extract wood boring grubs out of dead wood after they have chewed a hole with their lower incisors; the only other animal species is known to find food like this is the Aye-aye from Madagascar.

 

Striped Possum

 

Striped Possum - showing elongated 4th finger

Frogs have retreated with the dry cooler weather with only Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Desert (Red/Naked) Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cane Toad. Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko have been found on our nightwalks in several places and our neighbours Carol and Andrew Iles had a large Carpet Python at their place which was one of the few snakes we have seen in a while.

 Insects:-

 This Australian House Centipede Allothereua maculata was found on the rainforest floor and although they are supposed to be common this is the first we have seen in the Lodge grounds. They have 15 pairs of legs and run extremely quickly, this one was put into a container to get a photo before being released.

Australian House Centipede

Thanks to our guests for reporting sightings and to Carol and Andrew Iles our roving bird guides.

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1st June 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Mixed weather over the last two weeks, mainly drizzle with a few sunny days but temperatures were kept low only getting up to 24ºC. The first week we had 29mm of rain and the second week some rain fell with 10mm on four rainy days, again as in the previous two weeks just enough to be annoying.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-
The first week had 84 species and second week 94 species.

Species lists can be found on the Eremaea eBird site.  18th - 24th May and 25th - 31st May

Birding Highlights:-

A single Australasian Grebe was along McDougall Road, a first for two months. Also along here were over 300 Cattle Egret who roost in the trees around the lagoon. A Black-breasted Buzzard was seen by one of our guests over Geraghty Park, this was the second time in a few weeks one has been seen in the area. Red-necked Crake have only been heard and not seen, the area they were frequenting has now dried up and they have gone further into the rainforest. Fan-tailed Cuckoo arrived back from southern parts of Australia on 27^th May with at least three birds calling around the Lodge. Lesser Sooty Owl was heard but not seen, probably due to the pair of Barking Owl who were around the Lodge grounds every night keeping it away. One Barn Owl was seen in a nest tree which may mean they are getting ready to breed again as it is the right time of year. At least four Papuan Frogmouth have been seen in the area and an Australian Owlet-nightjar heard calling one night. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen digging out a nest hole in a tree but the branch it was in broke off and they have not been back since. A pair of Red-winged Parrot were seen near the Julatten school (just in our 1.5km Lodge area) by Carol Iles our neighbouring bird guide. This is about the closest they come to the Lodge apart from a couple of sightings in Geraghty Park. Spotted Catbird are still coming to the feeder in the morning and also feeding on the fruit of a Soursop tree in our orchard. Red-backed Fairy-wren have been seen along McDougall Road, usually sitting on the fences. 12 species of honeyeater over the two weeks, including Scarlet, White-cheeked and Macleay's. The Macleay's Honeyeater have been hogging the bird feeder and chasing off the Lewin, Yellow-spotted and Graceful Honeyeater. 
 

Macleay's Honeyeater

Yellow-breasted Boatbill continue to call and be very active so they are being seen regularly. Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been calling and around in small numbers as have Varied Triller.

Little (Rufous) Shrike-thrush have been very active and calling a lot, they are common residents around the Lodge and are not to be confused with the Bower's Shrike-thrush. The Bower's are normally resident up on the mountains behind us and can be seen usually above 600m on Mt. Lewis, we are only 430m which is within the range of the Little who can be found up to 600m. Bower's do come down in the winter months but we only see one or two. Bower's has more obvious striations on throat and breast, also their bill is black (adult male and older immature males) or grey/black (adult and immature females as well as immature males) whereas Little have a pinkish-brown/grey bill and a light coloured eye-ring. Bower's have dark grey back and head, the little have olive-brown, although we have seen a few little with quite grey back and rumps. There are seven sub-species of Little Shrike-thrush in Australia, the one found here is giseata. All these sub-species have plumage variation with the sexes being similar.

Little (Rufous) Shrike-thrush

Bower's Shrike-thrush

At least one male Golden Whistler is still around the Lodge and has been joined by a Yellow Oriole which is more a species of the coast in our region but has been creeping into our area over the last few years. A few Spangled Drongo are still around but the majority of them have gone further north. Pied Monarch have become more active and are calling as have at least two female Victoria's Riflebird who have been getting around the Lodge together.

Further Afield:-

A Spotted Harrier was seen over the adjacent cane paddock by our neighbour Carol Iles and was probably the same one we saw a few weeks earlier at the same location. A (Common) Cicadabird was calling along Euluma Creek Road in Julatten, unusual for this time of year. On 28^th May Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours reported a Brown Songlark (female) at Maryfarms, north of Mt. Molloy. It was perched on a fence with a female White-winged Triller and Black-faced Woodswallow. This was a first sighting for him since the 2002 drought. Both Brown Songlark and Black-faced Woodswallow are uncommon at this location.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

At least three Red-legged Pademelon are still around the Lodge grounds after one was taken by an Australian Scrub Python. Two species of bat recorded for this period, they were Large-footed Myotis (fish eating bat) and Northern Broad-nosed Bat. Striped Possum were seen, one was in our neighbours garden, another was seen late in the second week jumping around the trees near the Lodge reception. The persistent drizzle was to the frogs liking with Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Desert (Red) Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cane Toad.

Cogger's Frog

An adult Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko was spotlighted on a tree in the rainforest and an immature one, only 60mm in length, was rescued from the amenities block and released back into the rainforest. This is the first time we had seen an immature Leaf-tailed Gecko, which as you can see from the photos is very cute and very well camouflaged.

Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko - immature

This tree-dwelling nocturnal species relies on its camouflaged appearance to avoid discovery by predators. They are found in rainforests, wet sclerophyll forests, rocks and on the forest floor at night. We have found them on the floor where they run with their tail up in the air. During the day they are hiding behind loose bark or tree crevices. At night they come out and perch head down on large trees in the rainforest or on our orchard trees, we usually find them between 1-3m from the ground. They mainly eat large invertebrates such as Katydid, Cricket, Cockroach and Spider. Breeding season is usually just before the "Wet Season" in October or November when the females lay one or two soft-shelled eggs in moist soil or leaf litter. After about three months the young hatch and have to start catching insects straight away. They don't reach adulthood until two years and go on to live for about nine years.

Australian Scrub Python were seen in our neighbours garden, this one had just had a meal and was looking to rest up somewhere. Judging by the bulge in it's body it must have eaten something at least as big as a White-tailed Rat. This close up of it's head has a mosquito on it, they are not fussy who they get their blood from!

Australian Scrub Python

Finally whilst our neighbour Carol was guiding one of our guests on Mt. Lewis recently they came across this Queensland Blue Earthworm Terriswalkeris terraereginae an invertebrate which can grow up to 2 meters. We've only seen one which is not surprising as they only come to the surface after heavy rains when they are disturbed from their burrows. This image was taken by Ross Monks -thanks Ross.

 

Queensland Blue Earthworm

Thanks to Carol and Andrew Iles our neighbouring bird guides for helping compile the weekly species list.

Abattoir Swamp:-
Abattoir Swamp is about 6km from the Lodge and is a good birding area but unfortunately the boardwalk to the bird hide has collapsed and the local Mareeba Shire Council have told us that they have no money to repair it at the moment. We had sent them a summary of birds and the importance of this facility to birdwatchers and local businesses but this did not make any difference to their decision to close the boardwalk apart from making them aware. They did say they would look at it in the future. The car park is a good birding spot so it is still worth stopping here.

Abattoir Swamp Boardwalk

Abattoir Swamp Boardwalk - damage

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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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28th July 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

The weather did improve over the last two weeks with cooler nights, sunny days and some great birding as the sun bought out the flowers and birds. Rainfall was 11.5mm for the first week and no rain recorded during the second week although we did have a trace. Temperatures were down to 13.7ºC and up to 24ºC with some days failing to make 20ºC.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 117, 112 seen and 5 heard, second week sightings were 114, 110 seen and 4 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 14th July - 20th July and 21^st July - 27^th July. Morning walks were good with between 53 and 60 species seen and heard.

Birding Highlights:-

Two species were added to our 1.5km area bird list both waterbirds along McDougall Road. The first was Black Swan, two were heard flying over the Lodge in the dark around 5.50am and located in one of the lagoons later that day, then three days later a Pink-eared Duck was seen in the same location. This brings the total bird species seen in a radius of 1.5km from the Lodge to 223. A few Topknot Pigeons have been flying over in pairs, usually in the morning and a Wompoo Fruit-Dove has been around the Lodge grounds over the second week. Papuan Frogmouth has been calling regularly behind the units in the rainforest and three were located near the Lodge on a morning walk. 
 

Papuan Frogmouth - mum, dad and juvenile

A pair of Black-necked Stork have been in a lagoon at the rear of Geraghty Park on several occasions and one was seen flying low over Geraghty Park whilst on a morning walk, spectacular bird. Both White-necked and White-faced Heron have been seen along McDougall Road, White-necked is not very common here. Raptors have been good with Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling and Black Kite, Brown Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, Grey Goshawk (2), Spotted and Swamp Harrier, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Nankeen Kestrel, Brown Falcon and Australian Hobby making an impressive 13 species. Red-necked Crake was again heard but not seen but the noisy Bush Stone-curlew were seen. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were only seen during the first week but not in the second week due to the fruiting fig, mentioned in the last blog, being stripped of fruit by a whole posse of birds. A group of four Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo were in the camping area high in the eucalypts calling and displaying one morning; they were chasing each other around fanning their tails and outstretching their wings whilst rocking from side to side in what we call their aeroplane display. Barking Owl continue to call and be seen as do the Barn Owl, one pair of which have a nest and were seen bringing a rat in whilst we were on a night walk. An Azure Kingfisher was seen along Bushy Creek before heading into the Crake Pool on the edge of the orchard, this was a first sighting for many weeks. Blue-winged Kookaburra have been very vocal and foraging around in Geraghty Park where we have seen them on morning walks, one was perched low down on a rail around the oval for great views. Spotted Catbird has been coming into the feeder from time to time but not regularly and a juvenile/female Satin Bowerbird was hanging around our neighbours house defending a fruiting Alexander Palm for nearly a week. Red-backed Fairy-wren was to be found along McDougall Road most days. 14 honeyeater species were seen plus one, Black-chinned was heard, the most unusual sighting was a Helmeted Friarbird feeding in the introduced African Tulip Tree in Geraghty Park, this is a common species along the coastal areas but rare in our area. Macleay's Honeyeater were taking advantage of a flowering banana tree along with other honeyeaters including Blue-faced Honeyeater.

Macleay's Honeyeater

A few Barred Cuckoo-Shrike lingered on in the area once the aforementioned fruiting fig tree ran out of fruit with at least one in our orchard at the end of the second week. The Golden Whistler, male, mentioned in previous blogs is still with us and is heard calling most days if not seen. At least one Bower's Shrike-thrush has been seen around the Lodge grounds but they are only winter visitors from the mountains behind us and will leave any time in the next few months. Both Yellow and Olive-backed Oriole have been around calling as has Black Butcherbird. Rufous Fantail are around in low numbers but Grey Fantail numbers have increased in the last week, maybe on their way south? 
 

Rufous Fantail

A male Shining Flycatcher was heard along Bushy Creek and seen flying away, this is an occasional visitor for us. Pied Monarch are still regular at Bushy Creek having a bathe in the afternoon and have been active in the Lodge grounds calling. The female Victoria's Riflebird which has been with us for several months has been making a few trips to the reception area feeder to get some banana to supplement the food it has been getting around the Lodge grounds. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been calling and foraging on the edge of the Lodge grounds as well as in Geraghty Park where up to eight have been seen. A Blue-faced Parrot-Finch was heard calling from the edge of Bushy Creek from the Mt. Kooyong Road early one morning but not located.

Further Afield:-

The odd Blue-faced Parrot-Finch has been seen in the area but only 1-2 at a time so they are not easy at the moment. A few guests were lucky enough to see a Golden Bowerbird on Mt. Lewis when one flew in front of them. Square-tailed Kite and Varied Sittella were reported from Mt. Molloy. A Radjah Shelduck was seen along Mt. Perseverance Road (just outside our 1.5km Lodge area), on a dam at an old fish farm by Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours. Budgerigar were still along the Hurricane Station Road (1hr. North of the Lodge) and a flock of 2000 was reported on Cape York Peninsula near Hann River. Red-backed Kingfisher, Diamond Dove and displaying Australian Bustard were at Maryfarms between Mt. Molloy and Mt. Carbine. 

Australian Bustard

A trip to Cairns and the Esplanade to look for reported Spotted Redshank and Laughing Gull failed to find either. Nobody has confirmed these sightings and the original observers have failed to supply any further requested information so both these sightings are doubtful as there was no supporting evidence. The Cairns Esplanade is always good for viewing waders (Shorebirds) and rarely disappoints, of note were seven Black-fronted Dotterel on the mudflats. The full list of species we saw is available on the Eremaea Birds website. We also called into the Cattana Wetlands but were met with strong winds which kept most of the small birds hidden away but there were plenty of Comb-crested Jacana and Green Pygmy-goose close into the banks for excellent views. Again the full list is on the Eremaea Birds website.

Comb-crested Jacana

Reptiles and Mammals:

Some good sightings over the past two weeks with 22 species of reptiles and mammals. A Leaf-tailed Gecko on a night walk was the first seen for some months. 

 

Leaf-tailed Gecko

 
Good views were had of Northern Blossom Bat feasting on a flowering South American Sapote in our orchard. A Striped Possum was seen in the same tree and a Green Ringtail Possum was seen on a night walk. Red-legged Pademelon have been around the Lodge grounds with several sightings of at least two and Agile Wallaby have been around the edges of cut cane paddocks. A male Yellow-footed Antichinus has been coming to the feeder for banana and also checking out our accommodation in the units! A Boyd's Forest Dragon was seen on two consecutive days and then disappeared, this was the first for a month. Frogs are hiding with the cooler weather but we did see Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and a Cane Toad. Only one snake was seen and this was in our neighbours garden, an Australian Scrub Python.