3rd May 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The first week was quite wet with 71.5mm of rain falling, just to keep the ground sodden. However the second week was absolutely glorious, no rain, cooler temperatures down to18ºC and up to 27ºC. The humidity also dropped from the mid 90% to 62%

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site for  20th - 26th April and 27th - 3rd May

Birding Highlights:-

An uncommon visitor was a Pied Currawong seen by our neighbour and local bird guide Carol Iles flying past her house and heading for the Mt. Lewis Range. We only get one or two sightings, but not every year. Looks like most of the summer migratory species have left as we have not seen Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher since the 21^st April or Black-faced Monarch since 27^th April. Dollarbird have also not been seen for a week, but flocks of up to 80+ immature Metallic Starling are still with us. Waterbirds have been scarce with the highlight a Nankeen Night Heron along McDougall Road. Australian White Ibis have been hanging around the Barramundi Farm along with a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagle. Other raptors seen were Whistling and Black Kite, Brown Goshawk and Collared Sparrowhawk. Red-necked Crake have not been so obvious over the last week with no sightings, only heard, also Pale-vented Bush-hen have gone quiet and not been seen for nearly a week. This one is about 3 months old.

Pale-vented Bush-hen

Bush Stone-curlew are around the area which has some good bush but these three choose to roost during the day in amongst junk at the rear of the local nursing home. 
 

Bush Stone-curlew

Ocassionally they do go to more pleasant surrounds as below.

Bush Stone-curlew

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have been feeding in a couple of fruiting fig trees, mainly female and juveniles. Barking Owl have been around for most of the last two weeks, calling and seen a few times. Azure Kingfisher have been zipping up and down Bushy Creek or fishing in the Crake Pool. Rainbow Bee-eater have been around in groups and roosting in nearby trees. Spotted Catbird have started to come back to the feeder for banana as have the honeyeaters, mainly Yellow-spotted, Graceful, Blue-faced and Macleay's. Grey Fantail arrived back at the beginning of May with at least two calling. Pied Monarch have been around, but not calling much whereas Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been very vocal. Victoria's Riflebird (female) has been seen in the Lodge grounds and in Geraghty Park picking off bark looking for insects. Pale-yellow Robin are always favorites with our guests as they are so confiding and cute (and easy to photograph!)

Pale-yellow Robin

Olive-backed Sunbird have been busy feeding on some of the flowering gingers.

Olive-backed Sunbird

Chestnut-breasted Mannikin where seen collecting nesting material along Mt. Kooyong Road.

Further Afield:-

Mt. Lewis still had a few Blue-faced Parrot-Finch in the 10km clearing at the beginning of May, but more were seen further down the mountain about 1-2 km from the bottom of the road. Other birds reported from the lower slopes of Mt. Lewis included Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, White-eared Monarch and a male Victoria's Riflebird. Carol and Andrew Iles reported some good birds along Quaid's Road opposite Lake Mitchell (between Mareeba and Mt. Molloy), they included Banded Honeyeater, Noisy Miner who only occur in a few isolated areas in Far North Queensland, and flocks of Striated Pardalote. They also heard Grey Butcherbird, Pied Currawong and Northern Fantail. Euluma Creek Road in Julatten had an Australian Hobby and Brown Falcon plus White-headed Pigeon and Wompoo Fruit-Dove. Ferrero Road, near Port Douglas, had 28 adult Magpie Goose plus one juvenile with them. A 55 minute visit to Cattana Wetlands in Cairns turned up 32 species including an adult Wandering Whistling-Duck with five ducklings, three Australian Pelican soaring overhead, good views of at least 10 Double-eyed Fig-Parrot and a rather scruffy Little Pied Cormorant. Yorkey's Knob Lagoon at the golf course has been progressively modified over the years with the island being joined to the mainland and trees removed and this  has caused a drop in species using it. We did see an Australasian Darter carrying nesting material into one of the remaining trees, and a Buff-banded Rail heading into mangroves. The area along the back of the Yorkey's Knob Beach has some good vegetation with many species using it including Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove (thanks to Tony Neilson for supplying the photo below), 
 

Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove

Lovely Fairy-wren, Black Butcherbird and several pairs of Olive-backed Sunbird. This immature Helmeted Friarbird was interesting for the amount of bare skin around the eye which extended to the bill, unfortunately the sun cast a shadow from the branch over the birds face.

Helmeted Friarbird

Reptiles and Mammals:-

A Bush Rat appeared at our feeder after an absence of about 2 months, hopefully more have survived the two Barking Owl which have been hanging around the area. Frogs have been around in small numbers with Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Green Tree Frog, Roth's (Laughing) Frog, Desert (Red) Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cane Toad being seen plus Striped Marsh frog only heard. Boyd's Forest Dragon have been hiding with only one or two appearances, Eastern Water Dragon have been regularly along Bushy Creek and Major Skink have also been showing.Bats have been roosting under our neighbours Carol and Andrew's house, we have seen Northern Broad-nosed Bat, Little Bent-winged Bat and Large-footed Myotis here. We think these ones are Northern Broad-nosed Bat.

Northern Broad-nosed Bat?

22nd September 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge Report.

Weather Report

Very dry weather with just a slight hint of rain, which did not even register in the rain gauge. Some cool nights down to 12.3ºC and warm days up to 27ºc but still 4ºc cooler than the coast from Cairns to Daintree

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 104, 98 seen and 6 heard, second week sightings were 106, 98 seen and 8 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 8th September - 14th September and 15th September - 21st September.

Morning walks were good with between 46 and 62 species seen and heard. Total species seen over four walks was 80.

Birding Highlights:-

The signs that birds are changing at this time of year were the return and departure of some species. Arrivals were a single Pied Imperial-Pigeon on the 12^th September. Pied Imperial-Pigeon first appeared here on 13^th September 2009 and since then have arrived back on 12^th September 2010, 28^th August 2011 and 9^th September 2012. The bird which was seen first this year was a bit odd as it has a grey head instead of pure white. We managed an image of it when it was first seen perched in a Queensland Blue Gum calling. This shows the grey head which is not a shadow as we have seen the presumed same bird several times since showing this aberrant plumage. The odd pose is because the bird is calling.

Pied Imperial-Pigeon

Others to have returned were Noisy Pitta back on the 8^th September with at least three heard and seen since then. Channel-billed Cuckoo were seen on the 15^th and Black-faced Monarch were heard calling near the Crake Pool on the 18^th. Grey Fantail appear to have left, whilst most Lewin's Honeyeater, Spangled Drongo and Rufous Fantail have also gone as there has only been one or two sightings of these species which were quite common 3-4 weeks ago. Emerald Dove have started to call over the last few weeks, usually whilst perched in the rainforest as this one is doing.

Emerald Dove - male

Wompoo Fruit-Dove and Superb Fruit-Dove have only been heard most days as they are staying high in the rainforest canopy. Papuan Frogmouth have been seen in the area and heard calling in the Lodge grounds.This is the adult female with last seasons immature bird hiding behind the tree branch.

Papuan Frogmouth

A single Australian Pelican is still around and was seen swimming in one of the McDougall Road lagoons. Female Black-necked Stork has been flying over and seen in local wetlands and at the local fish farm for most of the last two weeks. Black-shouldered Kite have been seen flying over, hovering and displaying as well as tail wagging most days. A Grey Goshawk has been around the Lodge and was seen one afternoon being escorted off the premises by a flock of noisy Blue-faced Honeyeater. Spotted Harrier are still around but in fewer numbers; only one sighting this last two weeks. A light phase Brown Falcon was seen one morning roosting on a power pole alongside the Rex Highway before flying off, very distinctive deep V shape flight as this silhouette shows.

Brown Falcon

Several Red-necked Crake have been heard but not seen, at least three were calling one evening. Barking Owl have been calling and seen perched around the Lodge, one crashed into a bedroom window one night and a patch of blood was found nearby. The guests in the unit did hear a squeal so the owl may have taken a Bush Rat or Fawn-footed Melomys. Probably a Bush Rat as their numbers have declined quite markedly recently. Barn Owl have been seen in the area mainly adults but a couple of juvenile birds were seen perched and calling out to be fed. Forest Kingfisher have been busy displaying and calling which maybe a precursor to breeding. 

Forest Kingfisher - female

Rainbow Bee-eater numbers have declined and Spotted Catbird have been around the feeder with a recently fledged young. 16 species of honeyeater have been attracted to flowering trees and the smaller flowering Grevillea. This hybrid grevillea was particularly popular with 11 species of honeyeater in it one morning; they were Yellow-spotted, Graceful, Bridled, Yellow-faced, Yellow, Brown-backed, Dusky, Scarlet, Brown, Blue-faced and Macleay's, quite spectacular. Here are just two of them.

Graceful Honeyeater

Graceful Honeyeater

Yellow Honeyeater

White-throated Honeyeater have been seen feeding with juvenile birds on Queensland Blue Gum flowers. Plenty of Bridled Honeyeater have been around making the most of the nectar supply before they go back up to higher altitudes later in the year. Barred Cuckoo-shrike are being heard more often than seen but they are being tracked down for views if you are patient. Grey Whistler have really fired up and are the most obvious species in the dawn chorus at the moment. Both Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been active and calling around the Lodge grounds. A few Grey-headed Robin are still with us and hopefully will stay until early November when they return to the mountains and higher altitudes. Metallic Starling are still busy building nests and not looking interested in returning to their main colony on the opposite side of Geraghty Park where they were for the last 6-7 years.

Further Afield:-

Mt. Lewis has been good as usual with a sighting of a juvenile Southern Cassowary which ran across the road in front of one of our guests. Good to know they are breeding on the mountain. There was at least six Tooth-billed Bowerbird feeding in one fruiting tree and several parties of Chowchilla on the ground often accompanied with Fernwren. A Black-necked Stork (female) was seen in Bushy Creek at the bottom of the Mt. Lewis Road with a snake in it's bill which it dropped. One Diamond Dove was reported from the Mt. Carbine Caravan Park; probably part of the flock which has been in the Maryfarm area for most of this year, at least 100 were reported there in the last two weeks. A Sacred Kingfisher was at Mt. Molloy which is uncommon here. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch were reported near Abattoir Swamp with at least two and possibly six bird present. One was also reported again in our neighbours garden but did not make it to the Lodge grounds. Silvereye were busy foraging on flowering blossom in a couple of Mango Trees and also on this popular Grevillea. 

A friend in Cairns sent this image of a giant juvenile Black-necked Stork which was taken at Yorkeys Knob in Cairns. At first we thought it was the perspective playing tricks on us but he assures us that the two birds were in the same plane beside one another. The juvenile certainly looks considerably larger than the other immature bird. Any comments?

Black-necked Stork

Reptiles and Mammals:-

A Slaty Grey snake was seen in the Lodge grounds, which is not common here and a Leaf-tailed Gecko was seen in the orchard. Boyd's Forest Dragon re-appeared at the end of the second week along with a couple of Eastern Water Dragon as the temperatures started to rise. Frogs were quiet as it was so dry with only one White-lipped Tree Frog spotted in the mens shower and one Cane Toad seen in the orchard with a few others calling over three nights. Striped Possum was seen in our neighbours garden heading into the Lodge grounds and a Green Ringtail Possum was seen in the rainforest in front of our self-contained Units. Both Northern Brown and Long-nosed Bandicoot have been coming to the reception area feeder in the evening before heading out to dig up our lawn and orchard!

Shop News:-

Pizzey & Knight Regional Field Guide to Birds are now in stock. Each regional guide includes every bird found within the region, organised by the environments they are most likely to be seen in, and all are illustrated by Frank Knight. Concise text highlights the key features of every species and an illustrated index helps to find your bird quickly.

Accompanied by an introduction to the region's habitats with a map of the region these guides are handy pocket sized and lightweight. There are the four guides available so far.

South East Coast & Ranges - Greater Sydney to Greater Melbourne from the Great Dividing Range to the coast, and Tasmania, including adjacent seas and islands.

Mallee to Limestone Coast - All of Western Victoria west to Greater Adelaide, and north to Broken Hill in NSW.

Central East Coast and Ranges - From Newcastle (NSW) in the south to Gladstone (Qld) in the north.

Red Centre to the Top End - All of the Northern Territory and adjacent seas. (The book is also relevant to areas immediately adjacent to NT in Western Australia such as the Kununurra region which is a key visitor destination, and national parks along the border in Qld).

Cost of each is $25.00. + P & P.

18th November 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Over the past two weeks the weather has been a bit more cloudy with a few drizzly days in between plenty of sunshine. We had a few light showers, which did not last long resulting in only 14.5mm over the two weeks.

The minimum temperature over the two weeks were cool for this time of year with a minimum of 18.5ºC which was slightly more than the previous two weeks. The maximum temperature was 29.2ºC, which was slightly lower than the previous two weeks. The humidity was still high, up to 93% and again very low for us at 52%.

Bird sightings for the first week were 92 seen plus 6 heard. The second week had more sightings due mainly to a greater observation effort, 110 seen plus 7 heard. Mammal and reptile species were a very respectable 27.

.

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

Eclipse:-

The last few weeks have been pre-occupied with the total solar eclipse which occurred in our area on the morning of the 14^th. Unfortunately we had cloud cover for the actual total eclipse at the Lodges front entrance, but the cloud did clear moments after to reveal the second half of the event as this image shows. Not a total but still a great experience.

 

Solar Eclipse 2012

Waiting for the event

Waiting for the event with the clouds

Our guests went off in all directions to find suitable viewing spots but a few stayed and a few moved 10 minutes down the road when faced with the cloud. They made the right decision and got a full total eclipse. Despite the cloud it was a spectacular event. It was estimated that up to 60,000 visited the Cairns region to view the Eclipse  including 10,000 that attended a week-long Eclipse Music Festival at Palmer River just over an hours drive from the Lodge on the Peninsular road. We had a number of astronomers staying at the Lodge some of whom were also birdwatchers.

The half dozen Cattle Egret in the paddock opposite the Lodge took off to roost and sat in a tree until it started getting light again after 2 minutes of darkness. A Yellow-spotted Honeyeater was calling as it got dark and continued on for about 30 seconds then went quiet but once the light started to come back the birds fired up and continued as normal. Heavy storms in the wet season create a similar effect of darkening and birds continue as normal then.

Birding Highlights:-

An Eastern Osprey flying over the orchard late one afternoon was probably the best, this is a first for us. They are infrequently seen in the area, mainly in the vicinity of the local Barramundi Fish Farm. A single Great Cormorant was following a Little Black Cormorant towards the Barramundi Farm whilst we were waiting for the eclipse. Great Cormorant is not a common visitor to our immediate area with only three other sightings in March 2007, January 2010 and March 2012. A Red-necked Crake was again seen in our neighbours gully between our Crake Pool and their house but no sightings in the Lodge grounds despite hearing at least three on several occasions. A further two have been calling from the grassy edge along Mt. Kooyong Road opposite the Lodge. A Pale-vented Bush-hen was briefly seen foraging along the edge of Bushy Creek late in the afternoon by one of our guests looking for the Platypus at the viewing area. Later in the week two bush-hen were seen along the edge of the adjacent cane paddock and the next morning one was seen to fly across Bushy Creek into the Lodge grounds. Lets hope they are here to stay.

Other Sightings:-

Magpie Goose, Wandering Whistling-Duck and Australian Wood Duck have all been heard flying over at night. Magpie Goose also have a few juveniles with them at one of the McDougall Road lagoons. Peaceful Doves have started to appear again around the Lodge and in Geraghty Park after a noticeable decline in numbers. This one looks like a juvenile bird.

Peaceful Dove

Judith, one of our guests, was rewarded for an early morning start when a Superb Fruit-Dove showed near the Crake Pool before it flew down for a drink giving “superb” views! Another sighting of the same species was had in the late afternoon on the same day at the same location. Papuan Frogmouth showed once, on the 4^th November, at its daytime roost spot on the edge of the orchard and was seen later in the second week at night along the edge of the Lodge grounds and adjacent cane paddock. It has also been heard calling on several evenings and nights. Seven White-throated Needletail were seen over the cane paddock opposite Geraghty Park on the 16th November by our neighbours. A Black-necked Stork flew across the Rex Highway towards the Barramundi Farm whilst we were waiting for the eclipse and an Eastern Great Egret was in Bushy Creek near the Platypus viewing area one afternoon. A Nankeen Night Heron was disturbed early one morning in the Crake Pool at the edge of our orchard. A single Straw-necked Ibis has spent the last two weeks foraging in a cattle paddock opposite Geraghty Park whilst up to eight Australian White Ibis have been flying over, only once did a white ibis land next to the straw-necked and begin feeding. 

A White-bellied Sea-Eagle was attracted to our water tank one afternoon when it started to overflow. The eagle swooped down low over the tank several times before it spent a few minutes circling overhead. Not sure what it expected to find, we don't keep fish in our water tank! Later in the week three immature White-belied Sea-Eagle were seen together over the nearby nursing home, possibly two first/second year birds and one third year. A Black-shouldered Kite was flying over the adjacent cane paddock as were 17 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo one evening late in the week heading inland. A pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot who were nesting in our neighbours garden fledged at two youngsters, they were lucky to see one fledge. Cuckoos have again been out in force with Pheasant Coucal, Eastern Koel, Channel-billed Cuckoo, Little Bronze-Cuckoo and Brush Cuckoo all heard and seen. Barking Owl was seen early evening perched in a tree at the front entrance to the Lodge and also flying over the orchard late one afternoon being harassed by other birds. The last two days of the week saw a bird perched in the Lodge grounds, once right outside the reception area and the next night behind the bunkhouse.

Barking Owl

Up to four Eastern Barn Owl have been seen around the Lodge and (Lesser) Sooty Owl called next to us in the rainforest whilst we were on a night walk but we could not track it down. Azure Kingfisher showed at the Crake Pool one morning perched on a tree stump for over 10 minutes. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have been perching out in the open on trees around the orchard, sometimes quite low down below 2m.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

Laughing Kookaburra have taken up sentry duty at our front entrance, one of their favourite perches.

Laughing Kookaburra

Noisy Pitta show no sign of becoming silent as they continue to call day and night, perching high in trees and occasionally on the ground. Lovely Fairy-wren are around our neighbours back paddock calling late afternoon but not showing. The Large-billed Gerygone who had a nest over Bushy Creek appear to have fledged their young as no activity has been reported at the nest for over four days. Honeyeaters have once again excelled with 17 species seen over the two weeks. Helmeted and Noisy Friarbird made an appearance for a few days before leaving, these two species are occasional visitors. Other occasional visitors were White-cheeked and Black-chinned (Golden-backed form) Honeyeater. 

White-cheeked Honeyeater

Cicadabird numbers increased with at least six different birds calling and several males showing well. A few Olive-backed Oriole have also been calling and mixing with Australasian Figbird flocks. Black-faced Monarch have been active, calling and chasing. Several of these birds have had black primaries in the wing giving the impression of Black-winged Monarch but they lack the really pearly-grey upper head, back and upper breast of the Black-winged Monarch. These birds identity is a work in progress for birders in our region. Pied Monarch have been showing at Bushy Creek in the afternoons to bathe but have been difficult in the rainforest as they have stopped calling. Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling but still hard to find in the upper rainforest canopy however there have been a few sightings. At least one Pale-yellow Robin is sitting on a nest, this one is in a Wait-a-While vine about 1.5m off the ground. Golden-headed Cisticola have established themselves in the areas around the cane paddocks and along McDougall Road. Olive-backed Sunbird are taking advantage of the flowering gingers and spend quite a lot of their day here.

Olive-backed Sunbird - female

Further Afield:-

The Pectoral Sandpiper reported on 17^th October on the Eremaea Birds site was still present on the 14^th November. Bakers Road (road to the cemetery) in Mt. Molloy was still playing host to Banded Honeyeater, also in Mt. Molloy were two Little Eagle, Black-faced Woodswallow (2) were at Maryfarms and a pair of Cotton Pygmy-goose were on the Daintree River, one Little Curlew was along the Yorkeys Knob Road, Cairns, opposite the horse paddocks (thanks to our neighbour and bird guide Carol IIes, carol.iles@hotmail.com.au for these sightings). Nearly 40 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo were at Yorkeys Knob, Cairns and another smaller flock were further north at Wonga Beach, feeding on Beach Almond Terminalia catappa. Mt. Lewis had the usual Wet Tropic endemics apart from male Golden Bowerbird (which has been seen at Mt. Hypipamee,  south-east of Herberton on the Atherton Tableland). Night spotlighting revealed a (Lesser) Sooty Owl and Papuan Frogmouth on the mountain.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Fawn-footed Melomys were up to their old tricks of chewing the wiring in our car and still had the hide to come to the feeder for a free feed!

Fawn-footed Melomy's

Yellow-footed Antichinus is still coming to the feeder for banana during the day. A Musky-Rat Kangaroo was seen several times in the rainforest near the Crake Pool and might have moved in as it has been seen over the last month. Eastern Tube-nosed Bat was heard several times on nightwalks and Northern Broad-nosed Bat was roosting under our neighbours house. A juvenile White-tailed Rat has been coming to the feeder at night and a record six were seen along the road to the reception one night. A Green Ringtail Possum was located on the edge of the orchard in a Black Bean tree in the afternoon late in week two and later seen in an orchard tree at night, this is the first sighting for just over a month. Striped Possum has been seen several times with one sighting giving excellent views of one stationary facing down on a dead tree trunk. Platypus continue to be regular in Bushy Creek with sightings most days and a Short-beaked Echidna showed in our neighbours garden late in the week one afternoon. Spectacled Flying Fox numbers have reduced as the availability of fruit declines. Frogs have been scarce with few sightings but with the small amounts of drizzle we have had it has triggered some species to start calling, most notably Dainty Green Tree Frog. Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko were starting to appear with one on our main road to reception, which was regenerating a new tail, another was found on a night walk on the ground near the Crake Pool, a third one was found crossing the road from the bunkhouse to the amenities block, and a forth found on a Mango Tree on the edge of the Lodge grounds, great that there is a few around. At least two and possibly three Boyd's Forest Dragon have been showing regularly as have the Eastern Water Dragon along Bushy Creek. A Major Skink has discovered the banana at the feeder and climbs up the trunk to get its reward on the top, mainly in the afternoon.

Major Skink

Australian Scrub Python have been seen several times, crossing the road to reception and near the feeder where one was on a tree before disappearing under the eating area walkway where the Bush Rat hang out. Other snakes around have been Keelback and Carpet Python.

Mystery Bird:-

No clues for this one! Answer in 2^nd December blog. Scary December approaching already.

Mystery Bird

Fauna:-

We discovered that we had a Leichardt Tree on the edge of our orchard when we noticed some flowering  -  only taken us seven years! Not surprising really as the flowers are not often seen as they only last a few days. These trees are found in rainforest and open forest up to an altitude of 440m which is our altitude so it is at is highest elevation here.

Leichardt Tree - flowers

9th September 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Over the past two weeks we have had virtually no rain apart from a slight sprinkle on one day which left 1mm in the rain gauge. Great, less rain means less mowing the grass! The minimum temperature over the two weeks was 14.6ºC which was slightly less than double the previous two weeks minimum. The maximum temperature was 25.9ºC.The humidity was still high, up to 94% and again a very low for us of 62%.

Bird sightings for the first week were 101 seen plus 9 heard. The second week had slightly more sightings due mainly to the continuing great weather, 106 seen plus 6 heard. Mammal and reptile species were slightly more than the previous two weeks due to the warmer weather with 26 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:

Little Kingfisher has been making regular visits to the Crake Pool as has the Noisy Pitta and on one evening a Yellow-throated Scrubwren joined in. Again we had a Grey Goshawk swoop into the feeding area at the reception but made off empty handed, however we found a pile of Bar-shouldered Dove feathers along the road to reception so maybe the goshawk did get a feed. A Red-necked Crake called one night near the cookshed just to prove they are still around and a pair of Pacific Baza returned noisily displaying to each other – pre-nesting behaviour? The Olive-backed Sunbird, reported in previous blogs, who spent a night locked in the Geraghty Park library, is back sitting on a fresh set of eggs, lets hope once again they are successful. This image shows the female on her second attempt.

Olive-backed Sunbird - female

 

Other sightings:

Wompoo Fruit-Dove was around for a day and Superb Fruit-Dove have been calling and only seen once. Topknot Pigeon numbers continue to increase but they are still only flying over and our female Papuan Frogmouth is still playing hide and seek, appearing spasmodically and staying for 1-3 days before disappearing again. Australian Owlet-nightjar has only been heard over the last two weeks. Black-necked Stork are still around with an adult and an immature seen along McDougall Road lagoons. Black Kite have been around due to cane cutting with over 20 seen soaring overhead or on the ground, also several Whistling Kite, a scruffy looking Wedge-tailed Eagle (in heavy moult) and three White-bellied Sea-Eagle ( two adult + 1 immature). An Australian Hobby has also been hanging around and seen once being mobbed by a flock of Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. The cockatoos have also been taking advantage of the introduced African Tulip trees in Geraghty Park, which have long seed pods on them. This one is getting stuck into a pod holding it in it's left foot as they always do.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Rainbow Lorikeet and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet numbers have been exceeding 200 as they feast on the nectar from the flowering Queensland Blue Gum Eucalyptus tereticornis. A Fan-tailed Cuckoo was seen and heard once which is an uncommon sighting near the lodge. The Barking Owls reported over the last few months have gone quiet over the last two weeks but were heard in the distance at the end of the second week, so they are still around looking for suitable real estate. Eastern Barn Owl numbers have dropped off which might indicate the juvenile birds have been shunted off out of the parents territory. Lovely Fairy-wren were again seen over the last two weeks, this time in bamboo along Bushy Creek near the Mt. Kooyong Road bridge. 14 species of honeyeater were seen plus another heard which is only four short of all recorded for the Lodge area. The Yellow-faced Honeyeater reported in the last blog is still sitting on the nest and has been joined by a pair of Varied Triller who have built their very small nest nearby. There has been odd sightings of Bowers Shrike-thrush around but quite a few people are trying to turn Little Shrike-thrush into a bower's. We have discussed this ID in previous blogs and Little Shrike-thrush can be quite variable in their plumages as the two images in different lighting conditions show.

 

Little Shrike-thrush

 

Little Shrike-thrush

The migratory lighter colour Grey Fantail have not been seen for nearly two weeks so they may have left to head south, only the local higher altitude race keasti are still around with two seen hawking insects over Bushy Creek late in the second week. No sign of returning Black-faced Monarch from further north in Papua New Guinea yet. A male Satin Flycatcher was still in Geraghty Park at the end of the second week showing well as it foraged around low whilst we were on a morning walk. Pied Monarch have been showing well and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and appearing occasionally. A first for the feeder adjacent to the reception area was a Metallic Starling who came in to take some banana, interesting to see if it brings any of it's mates back - not sure if we could afford to feed banana to 20+ starlings! A single Chestnut-breasted Mannikin turned up at the seed feeder in the Lodge which was a first for several months. Australasian Pipit have been absent from the area over the last two weeks and may have moved on (famous last words!).

Further Afield:-

The small lagoon at Brady Road, Mareeba nearly always turns up interesting birds and this week it had  two Yellow-billed Spoonbill, which is an unusual bird for our area, also there was a Glossy Ibis another bird which is seen in low numbers around here. Lake Mitchell (between Mareeba and Mt Molloy) has an Eastern Osprey nest with two quite large chicks in it, also here were at least four Australian Pelican. There were up to twelve Blue-faced Parrot-Finch near Abattoir Swamp which is the largest number recorded this season. It will not be long before they leave to head back into the foothills of the mountains and on to higher altitudes where they breed. A single Australian Wood Duck was at the Yorkeys Knob Golf Course lagoon in northern Cairns, quite unusual on the coast (previously reported a this location earlier in the year). We have previous records from this location in 1999 when birds were present from June-September and other sightings at nearby Cattana Wetlands in August 2002.

Australian Wood Duck - female

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Highlight over the last two weeks has to be the sighting of two Short-beaked Echidna (does this one look like it has a short beak!) in the Lodge grounds, one on a spotlighting trip and another which was unusually active in the middle of the day in the camping area. Previous sightings of this egg laying mammal have only been made around the Lodge at night. Our neighbours also had one in their garden and Chook (David Crawford) from Close-up Birding said he had seen three in the district that had been run over by vehicles. So all of a sudden they have appeared after being dormant for quite a while, in fact our sightings were as many as we have seen in seven years.

Short-beaked Echidna

Agile Wallaby have been coming into the Lodge orchard since the sugar cane has been cut with two seen one morning and several sightings of one at night. Striped Possum are regularly seen on night walks at the moment but the Green Ringtail Possum remains elusive. Platypus have been around in the late afternoon and early morning with one seen whilst we were on a night walk. One lucky group saw the platypus walking over a sandbar on the edge of the creek. Frogs have been around but in low numbers with just the one or two from each species seen. Those seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Green Tree Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Desert (or Red) Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad. Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko was seen on a night walk on the first week but disappeared after that. A 2.5m Australian Scrub (Amethystine) Python was seen crossing the orchard whilst we were on a night walk and a Carpet Python was rescued from a room at the nearby nursing home.

Carpet Python

If you want to see what happens when you leave foodstuffs out at night in our cook shed have a look at this video of a Fawn-footed Melomys in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJn9ahgHSgs. Thanks to our guests, Alex, Asha and Brenna, for posting this clip.

Other Interests:-

We have featured this plant, Balanophora Balanophora fungosa ssp. fungosa, previously but not for a while. Balanophora means bearing an acorn (shape of the female inflorescence). We get asked lots of questions about it and the most common one is that people want to know what type of fungus it is. Well it is not a fungus, it is a parasitic flowering plant commonly found on the rainforest floor. It attaches to the roots of rain forest plants and emerges for a few months at this time of year. The Flowering plant emits an odor resembling that of mice/rats (maybe for pollination?) and attracts honeyeaters to the minute flowers. Both male and female flowers occur on the same inflorescence with female flowers forming a densely packed apical cone and male flowers clustered below. It is most common along the path from the orchard to Bushy Creek but also occurs in other parts of the rainforest. This species is found in India, East Malaysia, Taiwan, the Pacific Islands as well as north-eastern Australia.

Balanophora