2nd November 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Rainfall over the last two weeks was 2mm one day and the next day 1mm, hardly touched the ground! Humidity dropped down to 44% with lots of sunshine and temperatures reaching 32ºc which it has been doing for the last three weeks.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 19th – 25th October and 26thOctober - 1st November The first week had 116 species recorded, which was the most for a very long time and the second week 104.

Birding Highlights:-

The much anticipated return of the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher from Papua New Guinea happened on the 31^st October when one bird was heard and briefly seen high in the rainforest canopy flying away. One was also heard calling on the following day. Hopefully the main party of birds will be joining this one very soon.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

The pair of Lesser Sooty Owl reported last blog were around for about 10 days but have gone quiet over the last week. Whilst they were calling and flying around they were perching low down for their picture to be taken and were not in the least bothered by us. The were preening and calling to each other before they took off to chase each other.

Lesser Sooty Owl

Apart from these great sightings there were a few waterbirds in the nearby wetlands including six Wandering Whistling-Duck, Australian Wood Duck, one Hardhead, a female Black-necked Stork, one Australian Pelican, one White-necked Heron, both Australian White and Straw-necked Ibis plus three Royal Spoonbill. A flock of Magpie Goose flew over the Lodge one night honking as they went. A lone Comb-crested Jacana was on the lilies in one of the lagoons along McDougall Road. A few raptors were around, mainly Black Kite with a few Whistling Kite but also seen were a pair of Black-shouldered Kite and Pacific Baza, Brown and Grey Goshawk plus White-bellied Sea-Eagle. Red-necked Crake was heard and seen several times at the Crake Pool, and along Bushy Creek. Carol Iles our neighboring bird guide had a Red-backed Button-quail in one of the adjacent cane paddocks, not often seen. Fruiting Blue Quandong trees have been attracting many fruit pigeons, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Superb Fruit-Dove, Torresian Imperial-Pigeon and flocks of Topknot Pigeon, including this one which had a very enlarged crop, looks more like a displaying Australian Bustard! (excuse the poor cropped image but it was high in the canopy).

 

Topknot Pigeon

Also around were Brown Cuckoo-Dove and the regular Emerald, Peaceful and Bar-shouldered Dove. This Brown Cuckoo-Dove was on the ground with a full crop.

Brown Cuckoo-Dove

Brush Cuckoo have returned and are calling along with Little Bronze-Cuckoo, Australian Koel and Channel-billed Cuckoo. Barn and Barking Owl are also around as are Australian Owlet-nightjar but these have only been heard. Papuan Frogmouth are sitting on nests at the moment and not easy to find. This one was sitting on a nest in the full sun which is what they do in our area, they incubate for upt o 40 days which is a very long period to be in the sun. 

Papuan Frogmouth - male on nest

 

Six Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo flew over the Lodge grounds one morning calling, this is only the second time they have been seen in October for at least nine years. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot continue to feed in a fruiting Cluster Fig and are attending a nearby nest.

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - male

This male Double-eyed Fig-Parrot flew into a car and was rescued, we kept it in a box for a few hours before it had enough strength to climb onto a branch in the shade for a while. It sat for nearly an hour before it gave a few chirps to say thank you and flew off to hopefully survive.

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - male

Our single Noisy Pitta continues to show well in and around the orchard area, early morning and late afternoon. It has been calling occasionally but has not been joined by any others yet.

Noisy Pitta

14 species of honeyeater have been seen plus one heard. Bridled and Lewin's are still in the area when normally at this time of year they have gone back up into the mountains. The Eastern Whipbird which arrived a month ago is still going around in circles calling for a mate. It was seen in the rainforest near the Crake Pool about 5m up a tree. Barred Cuckoo-shrike and at leas three male Common Cicadabird have been feeding on fruiting figs. A pair of Leaden Flycatcher were seen at the entrance to the Lodge whilst on a morning walk, they have been very scarce this year. The Lemon-bellied Flycatcher shown on its tiny nest last blog is still on it, not sure if it has a nestling yet. Pale-yellow Robin seem to have finished nesting duties for the time being and are being cute posing on branches in the orchard.

Pale-yellow Robin

Metallic Starling are still busy building nests and have been joined by a few immature birds, whilst the reported Mistletoebird at its nest appears to have fledged one young.

Further Afield:-

Oriental Plover, Australian Pratincole and Banded Honeyeater have been seen in the Maryfarms area, (between Mt. Molloy and Mt. Carbine on the Mulligan Highway/ Peninsular Road). Lovely Fairy-wren were found in Julatten at Mowbray National Park and along Euluma Creek Road. Large-tailed Nightjar were also heard along Euluma Creek Road and Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo plus Oriental Cuckoo were seen at the Mowbray National Park. Freckled Duck have become a fixture at Hasties Swamp near Atherton over the past two years with numbers fluctuating, up to 30 birds present this week. Mt. Lewis has been good as usual with all the 13 “Wet Tropic” endemics seen there over the past two weeks, no sign of Blue-faced Parrot-Finch yet.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Fawn-footed Melomys have been active around the Lodge, they have been seen at the reception area feeder eating seed and banana, in the compost bin, eating an orange and a Sugar Apple in the orchard. Yellow-footed Antechinus have been chased out of the kitchen and feeding on banana at the feeder. 

Yellow-footed Antechinus

 

At least four Red-legged Pademelon have been in the rainforest and browsing in the orchard at night along with one Agile Wallaby, lean pickings on the browning grass. The pair of Platypus in Bushy Creek have again been performing at the viewing area on most evenings and early mornings. A few species of frog have started calling at the end of the second week and must think that some rain is coming, hope they are right! Those calling were White-lipped Green Tree Frog and Dainty Green Tree Frog along with Cane Toad. A few Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko have been seen as have Boyd's Forest Dragon and Eastern Water Dragon. Major Skink have been active with at least six different ones spotted around the Lodge grounds. 

Visitors:-
A couple of well known visitors called by during the week, Sean Dooley and Stephen Moss.
Sean is well known for his adventures trying to see as many Australian birds in a year as possible. The year of birding is documented in his book "The Big Twitch". Sean is now the editor of the Birdlife Australia magazine and in the past has been a comedy writer for several TV shows. Stephen Moss, who lives in the UK, is well known as an award winning TV producer of Natural History series, an author of many books and birder

Sean (L) and Stephen (R)

Sean and Stephen were up in Far North Queensland as guest speakers at the presentation of the John Hobbs Medal to Far North Queensland local Lloyd Nielsen for a life time of outstanding studies by an amateur ornithologist. Congratulations to Lloyd on a much deserved award, it could not have gone to a more dedicated and great bloke. We are lucky having such great talents in our area.


 

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. 

 

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.

Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge Business and Property For Sale
Click here for more sale details

12th August 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

We just celebrated seven years of running Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge which has been most enjoyable with lots of hard work but has been worth the effort. We would like to say a big thank you to all our fantastic guests who have shared the area with us and hopefully catch up with those of you who have not visited yet.

Now what has been happening over the past two weeks? No rain apart from a brief bit of drizzle one morning which did not even register in the rain gauge, the rest of the two weeks was fantastic weather with sunshine and cool mornings. The top temperature was a pleasant 20.9ºC and the minimum was 11.2ºC. The humidity was high, up to 95% and a very low for us of 53%.

Bird sightings for the first week were 96 seen plus 7 heard. The second week had slightly more sightings due mainly to the great weather but also more birdos looking, 112 seen plus 2 heard. Mammal and reptile species were slightly less than the last two weeks due to the dry cooler weather with 23 species seen. The last two weeks bird lists are on the Eremaea Birds Website for Week1 and Week2 plus morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds

Birding Highlights:

A White-necked Heron was foraging in ponding in the adjacent cane paddock late one afternoon, not a common bird in our area, also here were two Purple Swamphen another uncommon bird in this area. A Red-necked Crake was heard calling from the rainforest patch adjacent to Geraghty Park whilst we were on a nightwalk – at least they are still around and hopefully they will start showing themselves soon. A reminder of what they look like!

 

 

Red-necked Crake

 

Also still around is the (Lesser) Sooty Owl which called once at 5.20am as it was flying over, however still no sightings. A pair of Yellow-throated Scrubwren were seen in the rainforest adjacent to the orchard which was only the second sighting this year, the previous sighting was of a single bird. A White-eared Monarch we had heard calling for over a month decided to show itself on two consecutive days in the orchard flitting around the tops of the trees as they do, thanks to Murray for finding the bird.

Other sightings:

Waterbirds continue to come and go especially Magpie Goose, Hardhead and Australasian Grebe. Brown Cuckoo-Dove are appearing again and even a Superb Fruit-Dove has been showing in the orchard on the odd occasion but more often has been heard. A couple of Topknot Pigeon have been flying over occasionally and our Papuan Frogmouth returned to its usual daytime roosting site in the orchard at the end of the second week after not being able to be found for a month but promptly vanished the next day. An Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard on several nights calling near the accommodation units but not seen. Raptors have been showing well in the area with nine species seen, Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling, Brahminy and Black Kite, Brown Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, Swamp Harrier and Wedge-tailed Eagle. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were only seen once flying over and the juvenile Scaly-breasted Lorikeet reported in the last blog is still in the grevilleas and surviving well despite falling out of the tree several times, it just gets up and climbs back along the trunk. It is now starting to develop its primary feathers and tail so hopefully should fly off soon.

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet - on Grevillea

A Fan-tailed Cuckoo was foraging along McDougall Road which is one of very few sightings this year. The pair of Barking Owl are still with us and are calling most evenings and early morning; they were seen calling in a Poinciana tree at the entrance to the Lodge one evening. At least one pair of Eastern Barn Owl have three fledglings out of the nest begging for food, hopefully they will make it. The Noisy Pitta reported in last blog was with us for most of the last two weeks but had disappeared for the last three days. Our neighbours had which was presumably the same bird appear in their garden, so maybe the pitta is widening its feeding area in the search for something other than banana! Whilst it was here it put on a show one sunny afternoon and sat out sunning itself. 

Noisy Pitta

Lovely Fairy-Wren were again seen in our neighbours garden one afternoon when a male and two females appeared. 12 species of honeyeater again for the last two weeks making the most of the flowering trees and rarely coming into the nectar feeders. A White-cheeked Honeyeater was foraging along the edge of the rainforest behind the units one morning which was nice as they don't visit us often and Graceful Honeyeater are singing well. This one was twisting its head and distorting the yellow ear patch.

Graceful Honeyeater

 
At least two Barred Cuckoo-shrike were heard behind the units in the rainforest but only one morning before they disappeared. A single male Golden Whistler, which is a winter visitor from the mountains behind the Lodge, has been around the grounds. The Golden Whistler has not been calling unlike the Grey Whistler who are in full song. A female Bowers Shrike-thrush was looking for insects on the veranda in front of the units one morning; this is another winter visitor from higher altitudes. The Yellow Oriole which have been around since the beginning of April seem to have left the area to be replaced by the Olive-backed Oriole which are calling well. A pair of Black Butcherbird are still lurking around the rainforest and catching the occasional frog, usually White-lipped Tree Frog. Our Spangled Drongo is still making noisy appearances at the nectar feeder and both Rufous and Grey Fantail, including a few of the race keasti from higher altitudes are around the Lodge grounds. 

Grey Fantail - race keasti

Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill are calling and needing a bit of persistence to see them. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been in Geraghty Park and both Pale Yellow and Grey-headed Robin have been foraging out in the open orchard. One morning there were three grey-headed foraging together along with several others scattered around the orchard, they will probably stay with us until late October/early November before heading back up into the mountains at higher altitudes. This Pale-yellow Robin was very interested in this leaf and kept coming back to it.

Pale-yellow Robin

Metallic Starling are busy trying to build nests but have been distracted by having to chase off marauding Australasian Figbird who have been stealing their nest material. This female was heading up to one of the nests.

Australasian Figbird

These Metallic Starling were trying to build their nest with one working the nest and another on lookout duties.

Metallic Starling

It appears that the Olive-backed Sunbird reported last blog nesting in Geraghty Park have failed with their nest, probably due to an overnight period off the nest because the female was locked into the adjacent library room. They will try again, hopefully with a better outcome.

Further Afield:-

A Spotted Harrier was seen chasing off a Wedge-tailed Eagle along Euluma Creek Road, Julatten, before it landed on the ground to eat a small prey item. Whilst it was on the ground a Nankeen Kestrel buzzed it. The Wedge-tailed Eagle flew off to be harassed by a pair of Whistling Kite. Also along Euluma Creek Road a Large-tailed Nightjar was calling on dusk. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch are still being found near Abattoir Swamp but in small numbers of less than six. Black-throated Finch were reported from Hurricane Station Road north of Mt. Carbine and Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours reported a Latham's Snipe at Lake Mitchell which is the first we have heard of them this season.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

One spotlighting walk produced both Striped and Green Ringtail Possum which was something we had not done for at least a month, only finding one of the species at a time. Platypus have been showing in the evening, night and early morning with an adult and immature one morning at 7.00am. Our neighbour and bird guide Carol saw an Echidna along the banks of Bushy Creek near the nursing home which was the first for several months, she also had an Australian Scrub Python under her house. 

Short-beaked Echidna

A Long-nosed Bandicoot ran into the feeding station near the office one night which is unusual as they normally keep to the rainforest and orchard. Frog species sighting have become less frequent with the cooler weather as have the sightings of Eastern Water Dragon in Bushy Creek with only one seen over the two weeks.

Photography:-

One of the joys of photography in the “Wet Tropics” is trying to look after your equipment. Our camera gear is kept in a de-humidified cabinet which is in a de-humidified room but despite this the dreaded fungus gets into the camera gear. Using the lenses and having light passed through them helps impair fungal growth but does not completely stop it. In our days of running a camera shop we regularly had customers with lenses which were solid fungus from one end to another and wondered why they were getting soft focus pictures! Invariably they were kept in the dark with lens caps on which helps promote fungal growth in our humid conditions. There was a time when silica gel was recommended as a drying agent but in our climate they absorb the moisture in no time and you end up carrying a wet bag of gel which helps fungal growth!

The upshot of all this is that our gear has had to go away to get cleaned/repaired, our main camera, EOS 7D, has growth on the focusing screen which probably means a new screen, a job that could be done at home if the focusing screens were able to be purchased. This is not the case, Canon don't sell them as an accessory, so Canon camera technician only. One lens, 300mm F2.8 has a small blob of fungus in the front element and judging by past repairs on other lenses, the front lens elements are constructed as a group of lenses and cannot be replaced individually, so be prepared for an expensive bill! Currently I'm are using the backup EOS 40D and 100-400mm zoom. Using this combination I find quite a few limitations against the regular equipment. As good as the 40D is it is no match for the 7D, in particular the shutter button is not as sensitive resulting in having to press hard on the button resulting in camera shake. Previously I got used to rolling my finger across the button to trigger it so I'm having to learn this technique again. The 100-400mm zoom lens is a slow lens to use in the rainforest and obviously not as sharp as the 300mm (even when it has a 1.4x converter on it) and it is difficult to get the push pull zoom to operate smoothly. Most people we see coming through the Lodge use this lens at the 400mm setting for bird photography and if I had to choosing another lens I'd go for the 400mm F5.6 which is a good choice for bird photography at a reasonable price, Its light, sharp and has good fast auto focus.(of course a 500mm or 600mm 800mm would be better but we'll have to win the lottery first!).  The 100-400mm zoom has its place, it's definitely lighter than the 300mm! It is useful to be able to switch from bird photography to insect photography at times and zoom back to macro mode and of course it has image stabilisation which the fixed 400mm does not have. I'd be interested to see how the 200-400mm telephoto zoom with a built-in 1.4x focal length extender goes when it is released, probably be very expensive.

Normally the 40D is used for macro photography with the 100mm F2.8 macro lens and this works well as most shots are taken on a tripod with the shutter release. Looking forward to getting our gear back and a more usable images per shutter click. PS. We also have an EOS 20D with fungus on the sensor which costs as much to replace as buying a new camera body, so that goes with the old film cameras as boat anchors! Oh for an EOS 1.

Birdwatchers Lodge in Far North Queensland 12th February 2012

68mm of rain fell from Tuesday to Friday, 31mm fell in one big storm which also cut the power for five hours. Most rain fell late afternoon and overnight so the days were mainly dry and sunny, not the typical “Wet Season” weather. The minimum temperatures were again much the same as last week down to 22.2ºc but the maximum was a few degrees warmer at 34.8ºc. This was the hottest day we have had in the 6½ years we have been running the Lodge. Humidity was between 55% and 95%.

Birds recorded were 95 seen and 9 heard. 19 mammal and reptile species were seen and two frogs heard. The weeks bird list is on the Eremaea Birds website and morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds

Highlights:

A small group of Varied Sittella, which we rarely record, were along McDougall Road in an area we had first seen them on 2^nd January 2004, near the first lagoon on left. They are birds of the woodland so we would not expect them in the Lodge but the habitat along McDougall Road (within our 1.5km observation area) is ideal if a little sparse due to clearing. They are more common back towards Mt. Molloy at Abattoir Swamp and nearby Wessels Road. Northern Fantail was around in our neighbours garden for a second week, not a species you would associate with the rainforest but they have appeared in and around this habitat during the last 18 months. Must be a reflection of the relatively dry period over this time frame which makes it feel like their normal woodland habitat. 

Northern Fantail

A mammal highlight was a Musky Rat Kangaroo which shot through the rainforest one morning. This is the first sighting of this mammal since we have been here and possibly a first for the Lodge, hope it stays around and brings a few mates.

Other sightings:

Wandering Whistling-Duck flew over the Lodge ground calling late one afternoon heading towards the wetlands along McDougall Road. Low numbers of waterbird are still along this road, they include Magpie Goose, Pacific Black Duck, Hardhead, Australasian Grebe, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorant and a pair of Comb-crested Jacana with at least two chicks. Brown Cuckoo-Dove were back after a few weeks away and a pair of Pied Imperial Pigeon were making a nest high up in a Queensland Blue Gum in Geraghty Park. This is quite late in the season to be nesting, last year a pair had young in the nest at the beginning of February before Cyclone Yasi blew it away. Small flocks of up to 14 Topknot Pigeon are still around the orchard and Bushy Creek. Our female Papuan Frogmouth continues to hide from us and only make one appearance this week. Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard calling early one morning from the direction of its daytime roost but by the time we got to check it out it started to rain and the bird retreated back into its hollow. A Black Bittern was flushed from a small wet season lagoon near the Bushy Creek bridge along McDougall Road and was the first seen for nine weeks along here. A few Cattle Egret were also along here for the second week since returning. We even had three raptors this week, a pair of Black-shouldered and a Whistling Kite again along McDougall Road plus two White-bellied Sea-Eagle flew over Geraghty Park just after nightfall as we were spotlighting our way to a residents meeting in the hall (also saw a pair of Easter Barn Owl ). 

Whistling Kite

Red-necked Crake have also been showing well this week, a pair with their three juveniles were foraging in a water run off drain behind the units one afternoon, an adult was seen from our bedroom window one morning calling and making its way through the rainforest, also in this same area an adult called at exactly 3.00am and woke us up, spooky. If you want to see some photos of the crakes and chicks check out Ian Montgomery's excellent web site as he has photos taken at the Lodge last week. A Pale-vented Bush-hen was seen along Bushy Creek near the Platypus viewing area where it flew across the creek and walked through the rainforest giving glimpses as it moved along the bank calling. An Australian Bustard was displaying in a paddock alongside the Rex Highway and seen in the same location the next day, probably the same bird that has been reported over at least the past six months around Julatten. A few Scaly-breasted Lorikeet are still in the area along with a few Double-eyed Fig-Parrot. Four cuckoos were recorded with Pheasant Coucal, Eastern Koel and Little Bronze-Cuckoo heard and Brush Cuckoo seen, including a juvenile.

Brush Cuckoo - juvenile

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are calling in the vicinity of their nests with at least one nest having fledged, another five have birds almost ready to fledge and one has only just hatched chicks. This pair of birds were late last year, about two weeks after the rest had fledged. When the chicks are first out of the nest they tend to go high into the rainforest canopy to be fed making them difficult to spot but after a while when they are flying well they come down lower and easily seen as they perch waiting for the next meal. Forest Kingfisher were seen feeding two juveniles along Mt. Kooyong Road down towards the nursing home from the Lodge. A few Rainbow Bee-Eaters flew over the Lodge and only one juvenile Dollarbird was seen, no sign of any adults. Also no sign of Noisy Pitta not even a call, so we can assume that their nest was unsuccessful for the second time, would like to be proved wrong! Spotted Catbird (Clements has this as a sub-species of Green Catbird now) have been very vocal in the dawn chorus but quiet for the rest of the day. Scarlet Honeyeater were back around with one heard in the Lodge grounds and a pair seen in Geraghty Park, they were one of 11 species of honeyeater recorded. This Graceful Honeyeater was foraging along Bushy Creek.

Graceful Honeyeater

A Cicadabird male was seen feeding a juvenile at the entrance to the Lodge, the juvenile has a very spotted breast unlike the female who has barring on the breast. The first image has the juvenile just taken an insect from the male who had smashed it against the branch to make sure it was dead and the second image shows the breast patterning of the juvenile.
 

Cicadabird -  black/grey male and juvenile

  

Cicadabird - juvenile

Grey Whistler have been around the grounds but have stopped calling making them even more difficult to track down. Australasian Figbird have been sharing a fig tree in Geraghty Park with Metallic Starlings, this one is having a break from mouthfuls of red figs.

Australasian Figbird - male

Black Butcherbird, mainly an immature bird, has been around calling and catching frogs. A Rufous Fantail was at the bottom end of McDougall Road and has probably come down off the nearby mountains, a bit too early for southern migrants? A pair of Leaden Flycatcher have been feeding at least two, possibly three chicks in a nest in Geraghty Park, this image shows the female bringing in food to the nest which is about 15m from the ground.

Leaden Flycatcher - female

 A Magpie-larks nest previously reported, also in Geraghty Park, has a very large chick just about to fledge as this image shows, the bird is perched on the rim of the nest which is also about15m from the ground.

Magpie-lark - chick

Lemon-bellied Flycatcher numbers have increased with sightings along Mt. Kooyong Road and Geraghty Park. A Horsfield's Bushlark was once again seen along McDougall Road, an uncommon sighting in our area. Metallic Starling numbers have decreased but they are still nesting and building new nests. We did observe several small flocks of starlings heading north one morning whilst along Euluma Creek Road in Julatten. Our nesting Olive-backed Sunbird have left their nest but we have not seen any juvenile birds unlike our neighbours pair who still have juveniles with the after about a month.

Further Afield:-

Still plenty of Black Kite along the road from Mt. Molloy to Mareeba. The Brady Road lagoon north of Mareeba has dried back a little and now has more birds on it, four species of egret – Eastern Great, Intermediate, Little and Cattle in breeding plumage.

Little, Intermediate and Cattle Egret

There were also both Straw-necked and Australian White Ibis, Hardhead, Pacific Black Duck, Magpie Goose and an Australian Hobby swooping overhead.A full list can be found on the Eremaea Birds website

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The Fawn-footed Melomys have been down at our neighbours house getting stuck into the seeds collected from the Metallic Starling nests in Geraghty Park, better that than chewing our car electrics! Yellow-footed Antichinus has been around this week climbing up onto the feeder near the reception to feast on banana. Striped Possum was again in our neighbours garden and only one Northern Brown Bandicoot has regularly been coming to the feeder at night. A Long-nosed Bandicoot was seen in Geraghty Park. Frogs have been surprisingly quiet this week despite the rain with only Roth's and Cogger's Frog showing plus Dainty Green Tree Frog and Northern Dwarf Tree Frog heard. Tube-nosed Bat were heard and seen as were Boyd's Forest Dragon, Eastern Water Dragon shown loafing on a log in Bushy Creek and several Major Skink.

Eastern Water Dragon

Other happenings:-

Work on the bunkhouse has progressed with some structural timber and internal paneling replaced. The roof has been relaid outside and awnings fitted to the windows to keep any rain out. New curtains are also being fitted. This work should be finished by the end of February, then we have a student group using it for the whole of March. It should be open for bookings at the beginning of April, weather permitting.