24th August 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The first week had 32.5mm of rain which fell over six days, the second week had no rain just sunshine. Temperatures ranged from a cool low of 13.2ºC up to 23.8ºC which is about average for this time of year.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 10th - 16th August and 17th - 23th August The first week we had 106 sightings and the second week 112, pretty good numbers!

Morning and Evening Guided Walks:-

Morning walks (2½ hours) produced between 43-55 species, the lower count was due to rain disrupting the walk. The 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/hotspotshttp://ebird.org/ebird/hotspots.

Again we saw up to 11 Barn Owl on night walks and one Barking Owl. Mammal sightings were good with two Tree Mouse (Prehensile-tailed Rat) on one night, Fawn-footed Melomys, Eastern Horseshoe Bat and Northern Blossom Bat, two Striped Possum and both Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot. Frogs seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Red Tree Frog, Roth's (Laughing)Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad. Several Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko were also found.

Other Birding Highlights:-

Both Green and Cotton Pygmy-goose have been along McDougall Road as well as up to three Australian Pelican and White-necked Heron. Pacific Black Duck have been along McDougall including these two who were loafing, thought we would put in an image of these birds as some of the more common birds tend to get overlooked.

 

Pacific Black Duck

At least 32 Straw-necked Ibis were foraging in a cut cane paddock adjacent to the Lodge; straw-necks are not as common as Australian White Ibis around Julatten. Black-shouldered Kite have been regulars with one adult and two juveniles seen. A Pacific Baza was seen one day at the front entrance to the Lodge but not seen since. Also flying over the Lodge were a pair of Grey Goshawk being chased by a pack of Blue-faced Honeyeater. Another blue-face was seen chasing a Whistling Kite over Geraghty Park, this time it was hanging onto the tail of the kite! Other raptors seen were Wedge-tailed Eagle, White-bellied Sea-Eagle and over 50 Black Kite foraging in and around cut cane paddocks including this immature bird. 

 

Black Kite - juvenile

Red-necked Crake have started to call so we know they are around but only one sighting over the last two weeks. Wompoo Fruit-Dove have also been calling and being seen as a few more trees start fruit. Topknot Pigeon are still flying over in small flocks and very occasionally dropping into the Lodge grounds. An Australian Owlet-nightjar has been heard calling around the Lodge grounds and also in the vicinity of a previous daytime roost site but has not been seen. The two Papuan Frogmouth continue to roost in the Lodge grounds with four more seen roosting nearby. This is the male with the female hidden by the leaves in one of the Lodge mango trees about 6-7m up which is higher than they normally roost which is more like 4-5m.

 

Papuan Frogmouth

Two Azure Kingfisher have been seen along Bushy Creek flying along and perching near the Platypus viewing area, which has a nice new seat after the previous one was washed away in the flood caused by Cyclone Ita in March. Both Nankeen Kestrel and Australian Hobby have been seen around the Lodge. Scaly-breasted Lorikeet numbers have dropped off as the Queensland Blue Gum are finishing flowering but at least one pair are nesting in these trees and Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have been seen flying over since they, and the Australasian Figbird, have finished off the fruiting figs. Barn Owl have juveniles who have been sitting up in their nests dozing during the day like these ones were. 

 

Barn Owl - juvenile

Barn Owl - juvenile

Noisy Pitta have started to call and have been seen around the Lodge grounds, we still think we only have one bird present. There has been a couple of sightings of Lovely Fairy-wren in the grounds, one along Bushy Creek and another at the Crake Pool. Fourteen species of honeyeater were seen and one heard, which was only four less than the total recorded at the Lodge. Again Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have both been calling well and being seen. Barred Cuckoo-shrike have made a few appearances but have not been regular. Golden, Grey and Rufous Whistler have all been seen in and around the Lodge as have Northern, Rufous and Grey Fantail. Only a couple of sightings of Leaden Flycatcher over the two weeks but Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been around with up to six seen at a time. Victoria's Riflebird were seen in the first week but not in the second so they might have left. A Tawny Grassbird was briefly seen in an adjacent cane paddock where it was calling. Metallic Starling returned on the 10^th August from Papua New Guinea with numbers continuing to increase along with the nesting activity at their colony in Geraghty Park.

Further Afield:-

Blue-faced Parrot-Finch are being seen infrequently near Abattoir Swamp with only a couple of birds seen. Australian Bustard are displaying at Maryfarms between Mt. Molloy and Mt. Carbine and a single Australian Pratincole is still present at this location after about 3 weeks. Mt. Lewis is as good as ever with bird guide Doug Herrington from Birdwatching Tropical Australia reporting five male Golden Bowerbird seen in one visit! All other “Wet Tropic” endemics were found here in the last two weeks, even more reason to stay at Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge! Our roving bird guides Carol and Andrew Iles reported Tawny Grassbird, White-eared Monarch, Shining Flycatcher and Red-winged Parrot from Julatten as well as an Australian Hobby whizzing down Mt. Molloy main street. Freckled Duck are still at Hasties Swamp near Atherton and have been almost continuously for the past two years, they were joined by an estimated 2000 Magpie Goose this week.

 

Identification of odd Looking Lewin's Honeyeater:-

The first two images of a meliphagous honeyeater were photographed at Malanda on the Atherton Tableland at about 900m, the third more typical Lewin's  was photographed at the Lodge, they are all ssp. mab, which occurs in Far North Queensland.

After some discussion with a few local and interstate experts it was agreed that this bird is an odd looking Lewin's, it certainly had the Lewin's call. It has an odd shaped ear patch, which is a lot smaller than a normal Lewin's of the ssp mab. The ear patch looks more like a Graceful. The lower mandible is slightly curved like a Graceful and not straight like Lewin's  the length of the bill looks slightly longer in these comparison images than Lewin's. The underparts don't have as much streaking as Lewin's and the face is less grey than a Lewin's. It is possible this could be a Lewin's/Graceful hybrid as there altitudinal range does overlap (Graceful usually occur below 600m). Note:- Lewin's Honeyeater ssp. mab does not have the distinct crescent shape to the ear patch of southern birds but a slightly less shaped crescent as shown in the 3rd image.Thanks to the experts for their comments. 

 

Lewin's Honeyeater ssp. mab

Lewin's Honeyeater ssp. mab

Lewin's Honeyeater ssp. mab - typical

Reptiles and Mammals

In addition to the mammals and reptiles mention on night walks we had other interesting sightings including Red-legged Pademelon, Agile Wallaby, Platypus with two regularly showing, Water Rat, Green Tree Snake and Australian Scrub Python. Over the two week we had 17 mammal species and 12 amphibian/reptiles.

Insect:-

This interesting beetle turned up at the reception area feeder one evening, it is a Carion Beetle Diamesus osculans. In Australia there are only three species in two genera mainly found in forested areas within 300km of coastal areas in eastern and northern Australia. This species is also found in Papua New Guinea and in Asia. (info. From “A Guide to the Beetles of Australia” George Hangay and Paul Zborowski). This is the first one we have seen in the Lodge grounds.

Carion Beetle

Thanks to our bird guide neighbours Carol and Andrew Iles for helping to compile the weekly bird lists, don't forget to contact them if you need any bird guiding.

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13th March 2011 Report

Thanks to Kath & Dave for keeping the bird and weather records for most of the week whilst we went exploring. 235mm of rain this week which was quite wet but not as wet as some places on the coast south of Cairns who had nearly 800mm! Just what they did not need as they recover from Cyclone Yasi. We have just about cleaned up but are a little soggy underfoot. Temperatures ranged from 21.7ºC to a cooler 26.6ºC due to the cloud cover. Bird species recorded were 106 seen and 3 heard, reptiles and mammals were 21 seen. The increase in bird numbers this week was due to increased effort and numbers of observers.

This weeks bird list is here.

Highlight for the week was probably a pair of Lovely Fairy-wren seen high up in the canopy near our water pump along Bushy Creek. This part of the canopy is quite open since the cyclone went through and is easier to see birds and also easier for the birds to forage around in. This is only the third sighting within the Lodge grounds over the last five years. Also a Great Bowerbird was foraging around on the edge of the grounds which is a first as they normally keep to the more open woodland around Geraghty Park although we have seen them in our neighbours garden across Mt. Kooyong Road. 

Great Bowerbird  - inspecting bower

  
Another highlight was seeing two Papuan Frogmouth together in the orchard at the end of the week. This is the first time they have been in the orchard for several months and the first we have seen two together since before Christmas. Lets hope they pair up and breed this year after two years in which they have not bred in the Lodge grounds.

Pacific Black Duck were in a seasonal wetland opposite the Geraghty Park tennis courts with three ducklings. Both Wompoo and Superb Fruit-Dove were seen during the week. Australian Swiftlet were in a mixed flock with Tree Martin and Welcome Swallow hawking for insects over the Lodge grounds. A Great-billed Heron was seen flying over the fields opposite Geraghty Park. The Pacific Baza seen last week was still around along with a few other raptors – White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling Kite and Brown Falcon. An adult Red-necked Crake was seen crossing the bridge near the units and was the only sighting despite extensive searches. Buff-banded Rail and Pale-vented Bush-hen were along McDougall Road which has been turning up some good sightings over the last few weeks. Three Bush Stone-curlew have been regularly seen at the back of the Mt. Kooyong Road Nursing Home. 

Bush Stone-curlew

  
Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were around after an absence of five weeks and both male and female Eastern Koel continue to hang around the fruiting palm seeds. A juvenile Fan-tailed Cuckoo was seen foraging with a Little Bronze-Cuckoo but not interacting with it, this is a first sighting this year for a fan-tail. A Oriental Cuckoo was reported from McDougall Road by our neighbours Carol and Andrew. Sooty Owl was again heard and an Eastern Barn Owl seen. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are progressing well with the juveniles fending for themselves, one even picked up a centipede and flew onto one of the outdoor tables by the units where it proceeded to eat it, table trained already! One sighting of a Dollarbird perched on the powerlines along the Rex Highway, we are definitely getting fewer each week. Noisy Pitta has started to call again but has not been seen and Spotted Catbird are also calling and coming into the feeder. A Brown Gerygone was seen down by our water pump which is unusual as they are seen very rarely around the Lodge. 13 species of honeyeater this week being attracted to the flowering eucalypts with Bridled and Noisy Friarbird seen along McDougall Road. 

Bridled Honeyeater

At least two Barred Cuckoo-shrike were along the edge of the Lodge grounds calling and seen as were a pair of Cicadabird. Grey Whistler has burst into frequent calling throughout the day. Both Yellow and Olive-backed Oriole have been around and calling - Yellow is the more uncommon one here. Two Rufous Fantail have been around but no Grey Fantail yet. Other good sightings were Pied Monarch, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Victoria's Riflebird (Female), Golden-headed Cisticola carrying nesting material, Olive-backed Sunbird, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin carrying nesting material and Australian Pipit which was along McDougall Road.

Snakes appear to be more active this week with Amethystine Python, Green Tree Snake and Brown Tree Snake all seen. The Brown Tree Snake was pursuing a frog along the driveway into the Lodge before the frog took to the trees with the snake hot on it's heels, the outcome of this encounter was not known. Boyd's Forest Dragon have been around outside the units again, this time seen chasing off an Australian Brush-turkey. Seven species of frog were still enjoying the wet weather, including Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Green Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog.

Further afield our travels took us onto the southern Atherton Tableland into the Malanda area . We called into see Terry (Eyebrowed Thrush fame) to thank him for letting all the birdos onto his flower farm property to see the thrush. The last sighting was on 20th February by Glen Holmes who was also the last one to see the Isabelline Wheatear at Mt. Carbine a few years ago  - Hmm something going on there! 

We had good sightings of Victoria's Riflebird on the tablelands including this sub-adult male shown resting as it digested a full crop. 

Victoria's Riflebird

Also in this area we found a party of Silvereye feeding on the purple fruit of Callicarpa pedunculata which is a small shrub or tree 3-4m tall.

Silvereye

 

Eastern Spinebill were also seen at the higher altitudes around Malanda and Atherton, we rarely get them at the Lodge but they are nearby on Mt. Lewis.

Eastern Spinebill

  
A dragonfly was seen which looked like a female Painted Grasshawk but had no colouring in the wings, not sure if the ID is correct.

Painted Grasshawk - female (?)

The rain halted some of our birding plans but we did manage a walk around the Wongabel State Forest which is situated 8 kilometres south of Atherton on the Kennedy Highway. Here two walking tracks wind through a remnant forest, known as mabi forest. The tracks have been cleared since Cyclone Yasi and allow easy walking with a few wet and muddy patches to negotiate. The birding was pretty quiet but we did manage 18 species including a male Victoria's Riflebird, White-headed Pigeon and a trio of Scrubwrens, Large-billed, Atherton and Yellow-throated.

Victoria's Riflebird -  adult male

 
Bird species for visit can be found here . Also seen was this mass of hairy caterpillar on the underside of a leaf.

Hairy Caterpillar

A quick check of the Cairns Esplanade revealed a range of wader species in small numbers. The most numerous were Great Knot with lesser numbers of Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Tattler, Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel and a few Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Red-necked Stint plus only three Terek Sandpiper. There were also some Little, Crested and Gull-billed Tern on the mudflats. Bird list for visit here

Bar-tailed Godwit

 

5th March 2011 Report

 

This weeks blog is a little earlier than normal as we are taking a few days off! The sun is shining and it has been dry for 48hours. 124mm of rain this week which is quite dry  by recent standards. Temperatures ranged from 21.8ºC to 28ºC. Bird species recorded were 78 seen and 8 heard, reptiles and mammals were 19 seen.

Weekly bird list can be found on the Eremaea Birds site

The Australian Brush-turkey are getting bolder by the day, this week one came through the reception and into the office to have a look around before it was chased back outside, this particular one was a juvenile so he needs to be shown who is the boss around here! 

Australian Brush-turkey, juvenile

Wompoo Fruit-Dove was heard calling and a female Superb Fruit-Dove was seen foraging in the Lodge grounds. Papuan Frogmouth continues to roost in front of the reception area but was moved on by the Pale Yellow Robin one day by the constant harassment. A single Little Black Cormorant was flying over towards the Barramundi Farm from the direction of the McDougall Road wetlands. Cattle Egret numbers have been building up during the week with at least 18 perched in a dead tree across the Rex Highway from the Lodge and a single juvenile Nankeen Night-Heron was along McDougall Road. A wet looking Pacific Baza was perched behind buildings in Geraghty Park one morning, this is the first one for quite a while. 

Pacific Baza

A White-bellied Sea-Eagle soared over the Lodge grounds at treetop level putting up a flock of Sulphur-crested Cockatoo who escorted it off the premises! Two Brown Falcon were near the McDougall Road wetlands and these are the first seen in weeks. Red-necked Crake, (adults) were again seen this week with two foraging along the seasonal creek which crosses the path to the orchard. A White-browed Crake was flying over McDougall Road one morning and a Comb-crested Jacana was in the wetland along the road. With the flowering eucalypts blossoming flocks of Scaly-breasted Lorikeet have returned. Eastern Koel and Channel-billed Cuckoo are still around with the koel spending more time in the Golden Cane Palm behind our units. (Lesser) Sooty Owl has been calling during the week, especially in the evening but one day it was still calling after 5.30am. Eastern Barn Owl are up to their old tricks of trying to confuse us again, one was in the daytime roost tree and reluctant to come out due to it raining. A second bird flew in and landed at the entrance to the nest hollow where it stayed for about five minutes peering in before the first bird flew in and took over, also peering into the hollow. This behaviour would seem to indicate that they have chicks in the nest but we cannot be sure as they were not carrying any food.

Some of the juvenile Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are starting to colour up with their bills getting some red on them. Rainbow Bee-eater numbers have increased this week and Dollarbird numbers have reduced with only the odd sighting. 

Rainbow Bee-eater

Spotted Catbird are continuing to visit the feeder outside the reception. With the flowering of the eucalypts honeyeater numbers have increased with Yellow-faced returning after not being seen or heard for several weeks and Scarlet Honeyeater numbers increasing. Blue-faced Honeyeater put on a show one afternoon after they discovered an Amethystine Python in a tree trying to slough its skin, they were making a lot of noise and jumping around in the tree attracting many other birds. Bar-shouldered Dove, Yellow-spotted Honeyeater, and  Olive-backed Sunbird were some of the species attracted to the tree. The Bar-shouldered Dove stayed long after the other birds gave up and seemed fascinated by the snake, they perched in front of it and as the snake moved so did the doves keeping about a metre away from it and always in front.

Bar-shouldered Dove

Olive-backed Sunbird - male

One sighting of a Rufous Fantail this week when one came to investigate the commotion the Pale Yellow Robin was making at the Papuan Frogmouth. Black-faced Monarch are still here and calling but no sign of any breeding this year. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill were both very vocal this week as were several pairs of Lemon-bellied Flycatcher in Geraghty Park. A species which has become less common over the past five years is the Tree Martin, several were seen along McDougall Road this week – they are more common along the coast. A few Metallic Starling were around at the beginning of the week but had disappeared by the end. Chestnut-breasted Mannikin were seen carrying nesting material behind the buildings in Geraghty Park.

The most interesting reptile sighting was the previously mentioned Amethystine Python which was a good 3m long. 

Amethystine Python

Amethystine Python - head shot sloughing skin

Boyd's Forest Dragon has been around again and has taken a liking to the birds banana and has even started running up to the kitchen door looking for more. One Major Skink has been around the reception area feeder and appears to be the only one active at the moment. Unfortunately one of our Long-nosed Bandicoot was found dead on the road one morning, this was the first one seen for a few weeks. Frogs are still in their element with mainly Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog calling all night.

Further afield, no reports of Eyebrowed Thrush at Malanda so it may have moved on. A single juvenile Great Frigatebird was reported over over Lake Tinaroo, on the Atherton Tableland, at Tinnaburra by Peter Kyne from Darwin, previously Lesser Frigatebird had also been reported from here.

Thanks to our roving neighbours Carol  and Andrew for some of the sightings.

20th February 2011 Report

This week was relatively dry with only 16.5mm of rain which was good for the continuing clean up. There were plenty of storms in the area but we managed to miss them for a change. Temperatures ranged from 21.2ºC to 29.8ºC with plenty of sunshine. Bird species recorded were 72 seen and 9 heard, reptiles and mammals were 16 seen.

The weeks bird species list is here

Brown Quail were calling from a paddock opposite Geraghty Park but not seen, not unusual with this species. Wompoo Fruit-Dove was again in the Golden Cane Palm behind the units and Superb Fruit-Dove were back calling after being absent since the cyclone. Papuan Frogmouth continues to roost in front of the reception area and the Pale Yellow Robin has not given up harassing it. An Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard calling from a Queensland Blue Gum in Geraghty Park at 7.30 one morning but not located. At least 10 Fork-tail Swift were soaring over the Lodge ahead of a storm front on the 18^th. One Little Black Cormorant was fishing in Bushy Creek near the Mt. Kooyong Road bridge but no sign of any others. Whistling Kite, Black Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Nankeen Kestrel were raptors seen this week plus another unidentified small falcon like raptor was seen being chased off by two Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. One Red-necked Crake was seen foraging around on the edge of the rainforest near the rock wall along the path to the orchard early one morning. Rainbow Lorikeet have been see going in and out of a hollow in a Queensland Blue Gum and possibly nesting. 
 

Rainbow Lorikeet

Both male and female Eastern Koel have been in the Golden Cane and several Channel-billed Cuckoo have been flying around, probably getting ready for their migratory journey north. (Lesser) Sooty Owl and Eastern Barn Owl were both heard calling in the evening and early morning but not seen. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher continue to fly around, the adults finding food for their youngster and some of the youngsters starting to feed for themselves. They juveniles are at various stages of development as this image shows, this one is more advanced than the one in last weeks blog (noticeably the longer tail).

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - juv

Blue-winged Kookaburra have been in Geraghty Park all week along with a pair of Forest Kingfisher seen going into a termite mound high up on a Queensland Blue Gum. Lets hope they are nesting. A few Dollarbird have been see this week after disappearing after the cyclone, they are probably getting ready to return north on migration. The Noisy Pitta adult was around with the two youngsters at the beginning of the week but became less conspicuous later on with only the odd sighting of the adult. Spotted Catbird continue to call and have been visiting the feeder near reception as well as our neighbours feeder. Cicadabirds are still calling and a male was seen foraging on the edge of Geraghty Park. A Rufous Fantail was foraging in the Lodge grounds which is the first for 11 weeks and Leaden Flycatcher are still feeding juveniles. Black-faced Monarch are still around and calling but will probably start migrating north soon with reports they have turned up north of us at Cooktown during the week. Probably the same female Victoria's Riflebird, we have previously reported flying into the neighbours windows, turned up in the Lodge grounds. A Grey-headed Robin was seen mid-week and heard calling, this is the first to return this year. Last year the first bird did not return until the 17^th March and the only other year (in the last six) they returned in February was 2009 about the same time as this one. We presume the birds come down off the mountain range behind us, this includes Mt. Lewis. A few Metallic Starling including juveniles are still around and feeding in our Golden Cane Palm. Mistletoebird has been busy in his patch of mistletoe feeding and preening.

Mistletoebird - male

Reptiles and mammals were fairly quiet with sighting mainly confined to the area around the units. At least two Boyd's Forest Dragon have taken up residence in front of the units and one was seen taking some of the birds banana. One of the dragons chased a Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher when it pounced down too close in grabbing an insect; the kingfisher had its revenge when it bombed the dragon a short time later. Also a Major Skink has been making forays out from under the decking of the eating area to pick up any banana dropped by birds. A family of Bush Rat was at the feeder with two adults and at least three juveniles. An unidentified small snake was disturbed whilst cutting up a log and shot out from under the bark and disappeared very quickly.

Further afield the Eyebrowed Thrush returned after a few days absence to the flower farm in Malanda. We took the opportunity to head over and look for it and were rewarded with excellent views within two minutes of arriving. We spent 1½hrs watching it as it pounced down onto the ground in search of worms for which it was very successful. It spent its time resting in the orchard trees before spending about 10 minutes foraging on the grassy understory. The bird was wary of movement so we stayed at a distance and waited for it to approach us but it did not come any closer than 8-10m but that was good enough to get a few images. 
 

Eyebrowed Thrush

Eyebrowed Thrush

Also here was a few Pied Currawong availing themselves of the Persimmon fruit.

Pied Currawong

A full list of the species seen at the flower farm can be found here .

The nearby Hasties Swamp turned up two adult and one juvenile Cotton Pygmy-goose, this species has been declining on the Atherton Tableland over the past few years and is becoming increasingly difficult to find. A full species list for this visit can be found here. The road up to Mt. Lewis has been cleared and is accessible to 4WD vehicles as far as the 10km “clearing” where the track to the dam is located. However the track is covered in fallen trees, some quite large so this walk is probably not an option at the moment.

This interesting wasp was foraging around on a dead log.

Wasp sp.

Also in the same area as the wasp were a few dragonfly.

Pale Hunter - mating

Pygmy Wisp

Common Bluetail

If anyone is thinking of  moving up this way to Julatten the property opposite the lodge is for sale, details are on this link 

 

7th November 2010 Report

The big news this week was that we were presented with a Wet Tropics Management Authority Cassowary Award for Nature Based Tourism! Hence the late appearance of the blog as we had a day off to receive the award which was presented at Wildlife Habitat at Port Douglas. The awards recognise individuals and groups who have made outstanding contributions to the conservation and presentation of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

The only Cassowary you are likely to see at the Lodge!

The weather was not quite as good as last week as we had 4mm of rain, but most of the week was dry and sunny with similar temperatures to last week 19.2ºC – 29.2ºC. Bird sightings were good with 78 seen and 4 heard, mammals and reptiles were 18 seen.

A full species list for the week can be found Here

Highlight for the week was a Noisy Pitta feeding a juvenile bird which is very early in the season to have young. Last season they were still feeding young in the nest in January and fledglings in February, so fledglings in November is very early. The pittas are searching for food in the orchard and showing well with everyone getting good views. Spectacled Monarch were feeding fledglings in February and now there have been some seen being fed last week which is very early, so maybe they will nest a second time. Pacific Baza have started feeding their young in the nest and also bringing in new nest material to spruce up their untidy nest. 

 Pacific Baza with nest material

The baza's are having to run the gauntlet of up to six White-breasted Woodswallow which are harassing them and keeping them away from the nest for long periods.

A flock of Magpie Goose were heard flying over one night honking away. Brown Cuckoo-Dove are feeding in Tobacco Bush with at least five birds present one morning. Papuan Frogmouth have only been at their usual roost twice this week with both the male and female birds sitting within 2m of each other. They are still calling most nights and no sign of any nesting activity has been seen. Cattle Egret numbers have increased with at least 300 gathering in a paddock opposite KFP one evening, most in breeding plumage. White-bellied Sea-Eagle have been active, soaring overhead and calling a lot. Red-necked Crake was briefly seen hurrying through the rainforest near the track to Bushy Creek from the orchard late one afternoon and has also been heard calling every night. 


Scaly-breasted Lorikeet numbers have been building up as more trees are starting to flower and Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen at least once. An Eastern Koel, female, was showing well one morning perched high up in a tree behind the accommodation units, but no sign of the males despite hearing them calling. Channel-billed Cuckoo have started to call more frequently after keeping quiet for a few weeks, maybe they have laid their eggs. Azure Kingfisher has been zipping up and down Bushy Creek most days and perching well for good looks. Dollarbird has been calling and displaying in Geraghty Park with at least six individuals soaring around. Also in the park were three adult male Rufous Whistler displaying to one female. The males were chasing each other around, perching then head bobbing and arching with their tails cocked up. Needless to say the female was taking no obvious notice. 

Rufous Whistler - female

Spotted Catbird was seen feeding a very recently fledged bird who was having trouble maintaining balance on a branch. Lewin's Honeyeaters are still hanging around and a few Bridled Honeyeaters have been calling and showing on the grevillea flowers. White-throated Honeyeater are more visible, calling and feeding on flowering eucalypts as well as looking for lerps (small sugary insects).

 White-throated Honeyeater

A male Cicadabird has been calling and spending a lot of time chasing off Australasian Figbird, not sure if they are nesting yet. 

 Australasian Figbird - male

A single Rufous Fantail was foraging high in the rainforest canopy and was the first sighting for several weeks. An Olive-backed Oriole showed itself after many weeks of calling and hiding from us, it was mimicking several other bird species calls as it went about feeding on some small fruits. Golden-headed Cisticola have been calling and showing in the neighboring cane fields and Mistletoebird has been tending his mistletoe which is now coming into full flower and attracting the honeyeaters as well.

Fawn-footed Melomys are coming to the feeder more often lately, better they eat our seed than our car radiator hoses! 

 Fawn-footed Melomys

A Green Ringtail Possum was seen roosting in a tree over the bunkhouse one afternoon but not located since. Northern Brown Bandicoot females are carrying very large babies in their pouches 

 Northern Brown Bandicoot

Two juvenile Platypus have been swimming past the viewing area as well as two adults most mornings and afternoons. They are bad time keepers and are not turning up at any set time in the evening and early morning, you just have to be patient to see them. Spectacled Flying-Fox numbers have increased in the orchard at night feeding on a few fruits including the Blue Quondong. Several Boyd's Forest Dragon are still showing well around the grounds and an Amethystine Python was on the ground beside the track to Bushy Creek from the orchard one evening.

Further afield a Great-billed Heron was reported from Bushy Creek at the beginning of the Mt. Lewis Road; we have records of them along Bushy Creek in August and October. A male Golden Bowerbird was seen flying across the track beyond the tin miners dam on Mt. Lewis. Squatter Pigeon was along the Emerald Creek Falls Road east of Mareeba, also at Emerald Creek was a Rufous Owl and the White-browed Robin that was reported from here a few weeks ago is still feeding a juvenile. A pair of Spotted Harrier were along the Malanda to Atherton Road and can be expected in this area at this time of year.