11th January 2015 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

11th January 2015 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The last month has seen some good rains with plenty of sunny days, hot cool and humid with temperatures in the range from 21.2ºC minimum to a maximum on one day of a hot 35ºC but generally around 28-32ºC for top temperatures. Rainfall was 81.5mm.

Last Four Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 14th - 20th December 2014, 21st - 27th December 2014, 28th December 2014 - 3rd January 2015, and 4th - 10th January 2015 Species numbers were down due to a reduced effort over the Christmas/New Year period when we were very busy with guests.

Birding Highlights:-

Due to the rain managing to fill up a few low lying areas there was plenty of opportunities for waterfowl to spread out to the detriment of the local lagoons which were very quiet with only a few Magpie Goose, Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, a single Australasian Grebe, Great and Intermediate Egret, one Little Pied Cormorant, one Australasian Pelican plus a few Cattle Egret who disappeared before Christmas back to their breeding grounds. Raptors were also scarce as the local cane harvest wound down, the hoards of Black Kite left and only the odd one or two were left, the pair of local Whistling Kite stayed as did a couple of White-bellied Sea-Eagle. A single Grey Goshawk was seen one week being chased off by a few Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. Good news is that our pair of Red-necked Crake continue to be seen around the Lodge grounds, mainly at the Crake Pool in the orchard. There has been a big influx of Pale-vented Bush-hen this season with at least 7-8 pairs around the lodge area. Trying to see them is another matter as they rarely venture out from the grassy areas along Bushy Creek and the local roads.

Pale-vented Bush-hen

The odd Buff-banded Rail does make an appearance, usually alongside the cane fields or Bushy Creek. A White-browed Crake was seen in one of the McDougall Road Lagoons. The local pair of Bush Stone-curlew continue to look after their youngster (featured in the last blog), who is now almost as big as his parents as this updated photo shows, he is the one on the far right.

Bush Stone-Curlew

Plenty of pigeons and doves around with the usual Bar-shouldered Dove, Peaceful Dove, and Emerald Dove, these being the most common. Wompoo and Superb Fruit-Dove are around but hard to see and Torresian Imperial-Pigeon have mainly left with the occasional flock passing through. Brush Cuckoo have become noisy and displaying as the rain increases but the Australian Koel have become quiet along with the Channel-billed Cuckoo. Lesser Sooty Owl have only been heard occasionally as have Barking Owl, the Barn Owl are regularly around but not calling much at this time of year. We seem to be down to one Papuan Frogmouth in the Lodge grounds now that our pair failed with their nest attempt but another nearby nest, which was successful still have their youngster with them as this photo shows.

Papuan Frogmouth - female with immature

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have dug out their nest in the termite mounds but don't appear to be sitting yet. One pair was seen mating a few days ago so it should not be long until they lay, they are about a month behind their usual breeding period due to the dry weather we have been having. Yes another Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher photo! You can't help taking photos of them as they are so photogenic.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo were seen flying over at the end of December which is the normal pattern each year, they are usually in the area until about the end of February. It looks like we only have one pair of Noisy Pitta this year instead of the normal two pairs as only two have been seen at a time. Hopefully they are nesting now. Yellow-breasted Boatbill are in full song and Pied Monarch have also started to call again. A few Barred Cuckoo-shrike and Cicadabird are around and calling. Australasian Figbird have been nesting as have Willie Wagtail. This one was in our orchard sitting on its minimalist nest.

Willie Wagtail

Still no sign of Black-faced Monarch nesting but Spectacled Monarch have had a few nests around the Lodge. Metallic Starling are still attending nests and into their second breeding cycle along with adding more nesting material to the communal nests. A couple of Double-barred Finch were seen by our neighbours Carol and Andrew Iles (bird guides), these are uncommon around the Lodge with one or two sightings a year. They are more common around Mt. Molloy. Chestnut-breasted Mannikin have been seen carrying nesting material as well as displaying as this one is doing.

Chestnut-breasted Mannikin

Further Afield:-

Most of the sightings from further afield are from Mt. Lewis where all the 13 “Wet Tropic” endemics have been seen over the last month. A few Lesser Sooty Owl have been seen and a possible Masked Owl was heard. Male Golden Bowerbird have been seen but are not easy to find. The other endemics, Fernwren, Atherton Scrubwren, Mountain Thornbill, Macleay's Honeyeater, Bridled Honeyeater, Grey-headed Robin, Chowchilla, Bower's Shrike-thrush, Pied Monarch and Tooth-billed Bowerbird have been reasonably easy to find. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch have been scarce with up to four birds seen at any one time around the 10km clearing on Mt. Lewis. Tinaburra Peninsula, near Yungaburra on the Atherton Tableland has had an influx of Red-rumped Swallow with up to 38 seen by Alan Gillanders from Alan's Wildlife Tours, Also in the same area at Harper Road, Lake Tinaroo there was a Ruff.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Green Tree Snake have been active with three seen in one week eating White-lipped Tree Frog. One 3.5m Australian Scrub Python was seen coiled up on the edge of the orchard, whilst we were on a night walk, before it moved off into the rainforest. The wetter weather got the frogs going with Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Desert Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, and Cogger's Frog seen plus Green Tree Frog and Roth's (Laughing) Tree Fog heard. 

Jungguy Frog - male in breeding colours

Cogger's Frog

A few Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko were seen but they are difficult to find at this time of year. Boyd's Forest Dragon and Easter Water Dragon have been easier to find. Three Platypus were seen in Bushy Creek, two adults and a juvenile which was great. Also seen in Bushy Creek was a Water Rat, which have not been seen lately. Both Green Ringtail and Striped Possum have been seen but again they have been difficult to find. Fawn-footed Melomys and Yellow-footed Antechinus have been around, the antechinus coming to take banana from the reception area feeder. Northern Broad-nosed Bat have been roosting under our neighbours house which is where this one was found.

Northern Broad-nosed Bat

Spiders:-

Quite a few spiders around including many Wolf Spiders which appear to all be the same species (over 150 species in Australia). These two pictures show the whole spider and a close up of the head and body showing the eyes in a 4-2-2 configuration (sounds like a soccer match!). 

Wolf Spider

Wolf Spider - Head and body

This jumping spider was no bigger than a 5c piece and shows the amazing patterning in such a small creature. It is possibly Jacksonoides queenslandicus, thanks to Robert Whyte for the information.

Jumping Spider

Jumping Spider - head

Insects:-

These two insects were around the lodge buildings. Thanks to David Renz for the Robberfly ID.
 

Robberfly, family Asilidae

Jewel Bug (?)

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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15th June 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The first week was drizzle and overcast with 8.5mm of rain over 4 days, the other three days were overcast with misty rain which did not even register in the rain gauge. The second week was raining every day with a total of 107.5mm making it very wet and boggy underfoot. Not the sort of weather we expect at this time of year, luckily the sun did appear for a few hours at the end of the second week. So after five weeks of this drizzle and rain we have had enough!

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 1st - 7th June and 8th - 14th June

Birding Highlights:-

Waterfowl have been scarce around the Lodge with only the usual Pacific Black Duck and a few Wandering Whistling-Duck plus a couple of Australasian Grebe. Carol Iles our resident neighbouring bird guide reported two Australian Pelican flying over McDougall Road, which is quite unusual. Other waterbirds included Great, Intermediate and Cattle Egret, White-faced Heron, Australian White and Straw-necked Ibis and Royal Spoonbill. A few raptors have been around in small numbers, those seen were Black-shouldered Kite, Brown Goshawk, Black and Whistling Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Brown Falcon. 

 

Black Kite

Cuckoos seen were Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Shining Bronze-Cuckoo which was the first around here for the year and Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo. Night birds seen were Barn Owl, Barking Owl and Papuan Frogmouth. Scaly-breasted Lorikeet numbers increased as the Queensland Blue Gum started to flower and a pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen at a nest site, the female doing all the excavations in the tree branch. Spotted Catbird has been a regular at the banana feeder along with Lewin's, Yellow-spotted and Macleay's Honeyeater who have all been finding it hard to find food in the rainy conditions. Other interesting honeyeaters seen in the 14 species recorded were Bridled, Black-chinned and Noisy Friarbird. Large-billed Scrubwren are resident at the Lodge and can be found in small family groups foraging in the rainforests, often hopping up vines. This one was taking advantage of a fallen tree, which had a hollow filled with water in it, to have a bath. 

Large-billed Scrubwren

Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and seen usually high up in the rainforest canopy with occasional sightings lower down. The only Black Butcherbird we saw was a brown immature bird in Geraghty Park foraging on the ground. A few Barred Cuckoo-shrike were around the first week but disappeared in the second, they are very nomadic. Australasian Figbird have been finding plenty to eat around the Lodge grounds with over 100 in the orchard one morning. Northern Fantail have joined the Rufous and Grey Fantails flitting around the Lodge in search of insects. Both Spectacled and Pied Monarch have been active, calling and foraging. A male Leaden Flycatcher seen in Geraghty Park was the only one seen over the two weeks, no sign of any females. The pair of female Victoria's Riflebird reported in the last blog are still getting around the Lodge together and also calling. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been foraging in Geraghty Park with three seen on one morning walk, they come and go quite regularly from our area. 

 

Lemon-bellied Flycatcher

Mistletoebird have been very active especially the males, we saw one consuming a mistletoe fruit in Geraghty Park, another foraging near the Lodge entrance and two in our neighbours garden. Australasian Pipit have been foraging around the very wet and soggy cane paddocks.

Further Afield:-

Several Lesser Sootyowl have been seen on Mt. Lewis over the past two weeks. Golden Bowerbird has also been seen here but only juveniles of females, no males sighted. Lake Mitchell between Mt. Molloy and Mareeba has been good for Cotton Pygmy-goose with a few sightings in amongst the Green Pygmy-goose. Squatter Pigeon have been seen in the township of Mt. Molloy, not far from the main street.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

We did manage a night walk on the only dry night of the past week which was well worth the effort. We saw Two Barn Owl, two Red-legged Pademelon, two Bush Rat, three Leaf-tailed Gecko, all in new locations, two Striped Possum – both heard, but only one seen, several Spectacled Flying-fox, Giant White-tailed Rat, five species of frog – Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Desert (Red) Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog. They liked the wet weather. 

 

Dainty Green Tree Frog

Other mammals seen included Fawn-footed Melomys and Agile Wallaby, other reptiles recorded included Boyd's Forest Dragon and Eastern Water Dragon.

One of our guests photographed this bat which we think is a Little Bentwing Bat but cannot be sure. The other common microbat around here is a Northern Broad-nosed Bat. Maybe there is someone more experience with bats has a better idea? If so please leave a comment.

Unknown Bat

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

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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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6th October 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge Report

Weather Report

Very dry weather again with just a slight hint of rain which did not even register in the rain gauge one day and a brief shower which produced 2mm just after dawn on another day. There were some storms in the area one afternoon but we managed to miss them. Some nights down to 15ºC and warm days up to 27ºc but still cooler than the coast from Cairns to Daintree.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 99 seen and 6 heard, second week sightings were 92 seen and 6 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 22nd September - 28th September and 29th September - 5th October.

Morning walks were very variable with between 41 and 55 species seen and heard. Total species seen over seven walks was 79.

Birding Highlights:-

Main highlights were seeing a Superb Fruit-Dove after hearing them calling for three weeks, Red-necked Crake running through our neighbours carport, Lesser Sooty Owl calling after an absence of several months, Noisy Pitta 20m up a tree calling non-stop one morning for several hours as well as making regular appearances in the orchard. This is just a reminder as to what the Lesser Sooty Owl looks like!

 

Lesser Sooty Owl

Eight species of pigeon and dove were seen including Wompoo Fruit-Dove foraging low down on the edge of the orchard and a lone Topknot Pigeon on the top of a Blue Quandong tree also on the edge of the orchard. Papuan Frogmouth have been seen regularly on morning walks and also on night walks. The one we have been seeing at night is calling and appears to be a juvenile bird, probably a first year bird moved on by parents who are getting ready to breed this season. White-faced and White-necked Heron have re-appeared with single individuals seen in the McDougall Road lagoons. Black-shouldered Kite have been around and Pacific Baza were around for three days after being absent for several months. At least two Buff-banded Rail have been visiting our neighbours garden but we don't know if one of them is Katie, the resident rail from two years ago. One pair of Bush Stone-curlew have two very small stripy chicks which they are guarding as good parents do. A Sulphur-crested Cockatoo has taken up residence in hollow of a Queensland Blue Gum and is probably nesting. This same hollow has been used by Nankeen Kestrel in the past. Red-backed Fairy-wren have been posing on the fences along McDougall Road most days.

 

Red-backed Fairy-wren - male

It would appear that the last of the Lewin's Honeyeater and Bridled Honeyeater have left our area and moved up to the mountains behind us as they have not been seen for at least 10 days. Graceful Honeyeater obliged for a photo, which shows a few ID features. 

Graceful Honeyeater

You can just see a diffuse yellow belly stripe which the Yellow-spotted Honeyeater does not have, other features are decurved lower mandible (straight in Y-S Honeyeater), clean and tidy underparts (no streaking like Y-S Honeyeater), the feathered extension of the gape is curved under the eye (Y-S tend to be fairly straight).

Two Little Friarbird turned up in the orchard for a day and a Noisy Friarbird was heard once, both these species are occasional visitors. Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been around in small numbers but appear to be passing through in the search for better pickings. At least one Spangled Drongo is still around but Rufous Fantail may have left as they have not been see for a week. Northern Fantail have been heard around the Lodge and Leaden Flycatcher have also been around calling. The returning Black-faced Monarch have been calling a lot but not seen much, when they have been seen it has usually been bathing in Bushy Creek late in the afternoon. Pied monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been active calling and showing well. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been in the nearby eucalypt woodlands and several pairs of Pale-yellow Robin are sitting on nests. Metallic Starling continue to build up their colony with an increasing amount of nests each day and Olive-backed Sunbird are still sitting in a nest.

Further Afield:-

Maryfarms north of Mt. Molloy has been good over the past two weeks with displaying Australian Bustard, a Black-breasted Buzzard, up to 30 Diamond Dove and a flock of Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. 

 

Australian Bustard - male

Closer to home a fruiting fig tree at the back of Julatten has been attracting flocks of Barred Cuckoo-shrike, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Australian Figbird and Double-eyed Fig-Parrot. Black-chinned Honeyeater were at Wessels Road near Abattoir Swamp and at least four Blue-faced Parrot-Finch were in another area near the swamp. At Abattoir Swamp a Spotless Crake was seen – the hide is still closed due to broken walkway. 

Just north of Mareeba is a small wetland we have been calling Brady Road Swamp which is on private property. Our neighbour and bird guide Andrew recently met the owner of the property the wetland is on, Fay. She is happy to have birders checking out the wetland, which can be viewed from the main road or along a power line corridor between the highway and the wetland. As usual please don't encroach onto private property. Fay named the wetland Lake Evan after her husband (bit grandiose to call it a lake!), so we suggest this name is adopted. Brady Road is named after their grandson who lives at the end of the road.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

27 mammals and reptiles over the last two weeks, which is the most we have seen for several months. A brief shower of rain late one afternoon tempted a few frogs out of hiding, Stoney Creek Frog, Cogger's Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Desert Tree Frog and Cane Toad were the ones sighted. We found a Striped Possum on one of our nightwalks, which was the first for several months, it was a large male. Let hope he can avoid the attentions of the Barking Owl! Two Carpet Python were disturbed at the nearby nursing home by builders doing renovations, they were relocated to a more peaceful area. A welcome visitor to the Lodge was a 1m Lace Monitor who was seen going up a tree behind the bunkhouse, this is the first sighting for well over a year, it was seen later in the week walking across the camping area before heading up another tree. Hope it stays around. Our neighbours had Northern Broad-nosed Bat mating underneath their house and an Eastern Tube-nosed Bat was seen whilst on a nightwalk feeding on a Guava Fruit in the orchard. Thanks to one of our guests Phil Kelly for letting us use his excellent image of this bat.

 

Eastern Tube-nosed Bat

Insect:-

This interesting ant was running around on the veranda outside the units, would not stop still for a photo but eventually managed a reasonable shot of it. Not into ants so don't know the species!

Ant sp.

Recent Books:-

Gary Oliver called by to drop off his recently published book Birdshoot Australia.

This is a result of a 12 month challenge to break the record for photographing the most Australian species in a single year. Gary and his wife Glenda travelled over 55,000kms visiting every state in Australia. Its a fascinating read especially the bit about the Lodge! If you want a copy of the book you can phone Gary 0419 511 501.

Another recently released book is Sue Taylor's Best 100 Birdwatching Sites in Australia.

This is Sue’s personal list of her favorite places to bird. It is a well laid out book with lots of photos and information spread over two pages for each location, once again the Lodge features (at number 8). This is a very useful book to help you plan your trips to good birding locations and to target species on your “wants” list.

Thanks to Gary and Sue for the time and effort in producing two excellent books.