16th October 2011 Report

Minimum temperatures at the beginning of the week were down to 16.6ºc but for the rest of the week they were quite high around the 17-22ºc mark, which was higher than last week. The maximum temperature was 34.2ºc mid-week, which was the highest we can remember in six years; the rest of the week had temperatures of over 30ºc. Quite unusually high for this time of year. The lowest humidity was 39% and highest 90%. No rain to record for the week but a big storm arrived on Saturday afternoon and dumped 25mm of rain onto us which will get recorded in next weeks statistics.

A great week for numbers of bird species with 112 seen, and 6 heard. Reptiles and mammals were up on last week with 25 seen which equaled our previous highest week.

Highlights around the Lodge grounds were the first records of Little Friarbird since 6^th August 2009 and Brush Cuckoo which was last seen at the beginning of February 2011.

Brush Cuckoo - juvenile

The weeks bird list is on the Eremaea Birds website and morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds.

Most surprising record for the week was a Bassian Thrush foraging out in the open in a recently cut cane field along Bushy Creek. It was foraging with a flock of 16 Masked Lapwing.

Most surprising behavior for the week was a Pale-yellow Robin who pounced onto the ground to grab a Northern Dwarf Tree Frog Litoria bicolor. The robin proceeded to smash the frog onto a log before it swallowed it. The Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds lists the diet of Pale-yellow Robin as Arthropods; mainly insects; sometimes seeds. We have so far not found any reference to them eating vertebrates such as tree frogs. If you have any records of this behaviour we would like to hear from you.

Breaking News: Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher arrived overnight 15-16^th October, were heard calling on the morning of 16^th.

Other sightings:

Cotton Pygmy-goose are still along McDougall Road as are many other waterbirds. Wompoo Fruit-Dove have been seen in the Lodge grounds but the Superb Fruit-Dove have only been heard calling all week, such elusive birds. At least six Pied Imperial Pigeon have been getting around together and Topknot Pigeon numbers have decreased over the week but some are still feeding in the grounds on the Blue Quandong fruits. Our female Papuan Frogmouth disappeared during the week and has not been seen for four days or heard calling at night so hopefully she might have found a mate and gone off to breed. A Large-tailed Nightjar was heard one evening but not a murmur or any sightings of Australian Owlet-nightjar. One of the McDougall Road lagoons had a Black-necked Stork trying to swallow a large snake and six Royal Spoonbill were seen flying over the lodge in the direction of the lagoons. A juvenile Nankeen Night-Heron was roosting on its own in a large fig tree alongside Bushy Creek.

Pacific Baza are still around calling and seen carrying nesting material. A juvenile Brown Goshawk was flying over the adjacent cane field carrying a prey item whilst we were on a morning walk. “Katie” our Buff-banded Rail has continued entertaining our guests but was quite bemused when we has some rain at the end of the week. She has not seen heavy rain before and was quite spooked by the thunder and lightning, hiding under one of our tables on the veranda. She also met up with another rail and chased it away one morning. This is the most recent image of her, now almost six months old.

"Katie" Buff-banded Rail

Two Little Lorikeet were mixed in with the flocks of Scaly-breasted Lorikeet so it is worth checking the flocks of scaly's. Again Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen flying over at breakneck speed but not stopping. Pheasant Coucal was along Bushy Creek near a fruiting fig tree which was attracting both male and female Eastern Koel, Channel-billed Cuckoo, Barred Cuckoo-shrike plus large flocks of Australian Figbird and Metallic Starling. Several pairs of Dollarbird were actively looking for nest hollows in the Queensland Blue Gum (Forest Red Gum).

A (Lesser) Sooty Owl put on a show for our guests mid-week when we inadvertently disturbed it from the ground behind our units. It flew into a nearby tree and perched about 3m off the ground. So we got all our guests out, some in night attire, who we thrilled to see this owl who behaved and sat in the tree preening, not taking any notice of us. We managed a few images which showed blood around the mouth, so it was probably feeding when we disturbed it off the ground. Sorry yet another Sooty Owl Image! 

(Lesser) Sooty Owl

 

A Lewin's Honeyeater was seen for the first time in several weeks which was a surprise as we had though they had all gone up onto the mountains behind us to breed. The Brown-backed Honeyeater nest we have been keeping an eye on had a bird sitting one night when we passed it during a spotlighting trip. The following day we saw adults carrying insects to the nest and feeding young. Noisy Friarbird were seen within our 1.5km radius of the Lodge and were the first seen since the beginning of March this year. White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike were seen building a nest in the fork of a tree and Cicadabird were heard every day but not seen. Leaden Flycatcher arrived back this week after being away for several months, both male and females were seen. Black-faced Monarch numbers increased again with much calling and displaying so they might be about to start nesting. Good views of Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill were had most days around the grounds. Grey-headed Robin are still with us with no noticeable drop in numbers, which would signal their return to the higher grounds of the mountains where they breed. Golden-headed Cisticola were along Bushy Creek foraging in the remaining grass clumps. Welcome Swallow had been breeding in a road underpass with at least two nests active. There were two juvenile birds perched on the nests mid-week who fledged the next day after this image was taken. Interestingly one of the mud nests was decorated with Guinea Fowl feathers.

Welcome Swallow - juvenile

Further afield Wedge-tailed Eagle was reported from the Mt Molloy area. A quick trip up to the Mt. Carbine area found 21 Glossy Ibis and 85+ Green Pygmy-goose, full list can be found on the Eremaea Birds site. Also on a small dam near Mt. Carbine was a Snipe sp. , probably Latham's Snipe but cannot rule out Swinhoe's as they also pass through the area. They are very difficult to separate in the field, this cropped hand held shot is inconclusive.

Snipe sp.

Mammals and reptile numbers were good this week mainly due to an increase in frog species towards the end of the week as they anticipated the coming rains. Frog species were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Dessert Tree Frog, Peter's Frog and Cane Toad. Five bat species were identified, Eastern Horseshoe Bat, Diadem Leaf-nosed Bat, Northern Broad-nosed Bat, Little Bent-winged Bat and Large Footed Myotis. Boyd's Rainforest Dragon were around with at least two seen, an Amethystine Python was seen hunting in the campers amenities block and several Eastern Water Dragon were along Bushy Creek.

Finally some interesting insects were in the crack of a tree trunk, this one is from the Order Hemiptera, the True Bugs. Unknown species at the moment.

9th October 2011 Report

Minimum temperatures at the beginning of the week were down to 15.3ºc but for the rest of the week they were around 17-18ºc mark. The maximum temperature was 31.4ºc at the beginning of the week with one overcast and cloudy day only getting up to 24.8ºc, it even tried raining this day but the sprinkle was dry before it hit the ground. The lowest humidity was 52% and highest 90%.

Another good week for numbers of bird species with 107 seen, and 11 heard. Reptiles and mammals were down on last week but still good with 22 seen and one 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 around the Lodge grounds were the first Dollarbird for the season at the end of the week, several Wompoo Fruit-Dove showing well foraging on Blue Quondong fruits plus a male and female Lovely Fairy-Wren along Bushy Creek at the Platypus viewing area.

Other sightings:

The Lagoons along McDougall Road were once again producing good numbers of waterbird species including Grey Teal which is a species we have not seen in the Lodge area since the beginning of December 2009. The Cotton Pygmy-goose were still present with a maximum of five, also present were Green Pygmy-goose This image was taken late in the afternoon with the sun reflecting off the ripples caused by the wind.

Green Pygmy-goose - female

Pigeons and doves were again good this week with Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Emerald, Peaceful and Bar-shouldered Dove, Wompoo Fruit-Dove plus Pied Imperial and Topknot Pigeon. Superb Fruit-Dove was only heard. Our female Papuan Frogmouth was visible all week roosting and also heard calling at night but still not able to attract a mate. Australian Owlet-nightjar was seen once at its daytime roost tree and heard on several nights

Australian Swiftlet were around for a couple of days in big numbers with hundreds hawking low over the Lodge and adjacent areas.

The two Pacific Baza reported last week were again near last years nest site calling and seen carrying some small twigs for their nest. This one was spooked by a dive bombing Forest Kingfisher.

Pacific Baza

A single Nankeen Kestrel was again seen once perched on a power pole alongside the Rex Highway.

“Katie” the Buff-banded Rail continues meeting the guests and cleaning up the spiders in the rooms, tents and caravans and seems settled at the moment. No doubt the wander lust will kick in and she will be off again. We did see an adult Buff-banded Rail along Bushy Creek foraging at the edge which might tempt “Katie” to head down there. Both Australian Spotted Crake and White-browed Crake were heard in the McDougall Road lagoons but not seen. Black-fronted Dotterel were seen at the Barramundi Farm and also at one of the McDougall Road Lagoons.

Eastern Koel have been calling but not showing but at least three Channel-billed Cuckoo have been seen flying around together. (Lesser) Sooty Owl was not seen this week, only heard and only two Eastern Barn Owl were seen although several others were heard. Blue-winged Kookaburra were heard only and don't appear to be crossing the Rex Highway into Geraghty Park at the moment so they may possibly be nesting. A pair of Forest Kingfisher have been taking an interest in a termite mound high up in the rainforest canopy on a bare tree. They have been calling and making lots of clicking sounds around the mound. One day whilst the Forest Kingfishers were calling a Large-billed Scrubwren fired up and began mimicking the kingfishers call, it was a near perfect rendition. 

Forest Kingfisher - male & female

  
Brown Gerygone was heard on the edge of the rainforest on the border with our neighbours which was the first time for several weeks. Not so many honeyeaters this week with only eleven species. At least five Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been around the area, more often heard than seen. Cicadabird was also heard but not seen unlike the normally secretive Olive-backed Oriole which were seen on several occasions foraging in a fruiting fig tree along with a flock of Australasian Figbird. Several Spangled Drongo appeared on the scene mid-week and at least one Rufous Fantail is still around. Black-faced Monarch have been vocal again this week and seen bathing in Bushy Creek. This male Mistletoebird was active collecting nectar from a flowering Bottlebrush (Calistemon). 
 

Mistletoebird - male

An Australian Pipit was foraging at the nearby Barramundi Farm which is a location they are not seen at very often.

Further afield a small flock of White-headed Pigeon were foraging just off the highway from Julatten to Mt.Molloy near Abattoir Swamp in a patch of rainforest, White-winged Triller have been seen at Mowbray National Park, an unusual location and also at Lake Mitchell a more usual location. Mt. Lewis has been regularly turning up ten out of twelve of the Wet Tropics endemic species with Tooth-billed and Golden Bowerbird (M & F), Fernwren, Atherton Scrubwren, Mountain Thornbill, Bridled Honeyeater, Chowchilla, Bower's Shrike-thrush, Victoria's Riflebird and Grey-headed Robin. 

Chowchilla - male

 
Hundreds of Spangled Drongo were seen migrating southwards along the coast at Newell Beach, just north of Mossman and two Grey Fantail were in Churchill Creek Road off the Mt. Lewis Road. These are the first seen for several weeks and one of few sightings this year. Also along Churchill Creek Road, on a private property, a large flock of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen to come into roost on dusk, probably about 80 birds. We used to get about 120 roosting opposite our house in Cairns about 10 years ago.

 

Mammals were good with a positive identification of a bat species we regularly see along Bushy Creek, Large-footed Myotis. A Giant White-tailed Rat was spotted in a coconut palm biting its way into a coconut husk. Striped Possum was heard several times but not located as it fed high up in the canopy on a Pink Mahogany tree. Platypus was regularly seen in Bushy Creek throughout the week and a Water Rat was also seen here once. Frog numbers were well down with only four species seen, Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Roth's Tree Frog and Dessert Tree Frog. This White-lipped Tree Frog is doing what frogs do best and that is to sleep!

White-lipped Tree Frog

Talking of frogs we now have the latest revised edition of the “ Field Guide to the Frogs of Australia” available in our shop for $49.95 plus postage. This revised edition contains four more new species, which have been described, one name change and one more (Neobratrachus centralis) has been suppressed. Two recently described frog species, which are not in the book, have been found near Lockhart River on Cape York, you can read about them on the Cairns Post website .

Boyd's Forest Dragon were around at the beginning of the week but hiding towards the end and several Eastern Water Dragon have been regulars along Bushy Creek. An Amethystine Python was checking out the amenities block in the camping area one evening late in the week.

2nd October 2011 Report

Can you believe another month has flown past! The last week has seen quite a change in the weather with minimum temperatures at the beginning of the week down to 14.3ºc but by the end of the week they were up to 20.4ºc. The maximum temperature was 31.9ºc which is about as hot as it gets here. The humidity fell to an unprecedented 33% but by the end of the week was back up to 90%. All this heat and low humidity was not good for bush fires which are in the area but not near us.

Another good week for numbers of bird species with 101 seen, and 7 heard. Reptiles and mammals were 25 which was two more than last week an probably one of the best weeks for a long time.

The weeks bird list is on the Eremaea Birds website and morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds.

Highlight around the Lodge had to be seeing two (Lesser) Sooty Owl, one called outside the reception area on Saturday night and had us running to have a look. We found the owl perching about 4m off the ground and preening, not at all concerned about us. Another bird was calling some distance away and about an hour later was found perched about 1m away from the first bird who was still on the same branch. Wow first time we have seen two birds together since 2005 when they were seen at a nest site. Now all we have to do is ask them to come here every night!

(Lesser) Sooty Owl

    

(Lesser) Sooty Owl - preening

Another highlight was the return of several Black-faced Monarch who were calling towards the end of the week.

Other sightings:

The Lagoons along McDougall Road were again producing good numbers of waterbird species including some different ones to last week, Australian Wood Duck, Eastern Great Egret, Royal Spoonbill and a Black-necked Stork. The Cotton Pygmy-goose were still present with a maximum of five. Pigeons and doves were good this week with Emerald, Peaceful and Bar-shouldered Dove plus Pied Imperial and Topknot Pigeon. Brown Cuckoo-Dove and Wompoo Fruit-Dove were only heard. Our female Papuan Frogmouth was visible for most of the week with only two days when we could not find her and Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard on several nights but not seen. Two White-faced Heron were seen circling over the Lodge grounds one afternoon as were two Pacific Baza. The baza were also seen near last years nest site calling and making contact calls to each other, so hopefully another breeding even might be taking place. A single Nankeen Kestrel was seen once perched on a power pole alongside the Rex Highway, this was the first for several weeks.

The saga of “Katie” the Buff-banded Rail continues as she was found making a nuisance of herself at the local nursing home, just as her brother had done and was returned to us mid-week. She has now settled back into her routine of meeting the guests and cleaning up the spiders in the rooms. This image shows her doing one of her favourite pastimes, bathing.

"Katie" Buff-banded Rail

Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet are around in large numbers taking advantage of the ever increasing blossom appearing on the rainforest trees as well as the eucalypts. Eastern Koel has been vocal and at least two Channel-billed Cuckoo have been chasing each other around. Eastern Barn Owl was found on a spotlighting trip and several others were heard calling. Spotted Catbird have been making infrequent visits to the feeder by reception and both Great Bowerbird and Red-backed Fairy-wren were along McDougall Road. 15 species of honeyeater were also taking advantage of the flowering trees, several of these are not regulars around the Lodge such as Bridled, White-cheeked and Black-chinned Honeyeater. Both male and female Rufous Whistler have been calling and chasing each other around in Geraghty Park, another sign of breeding about to happen?

Rufous Whistler - Male

  

Rufous Whistler - Female

Olive-backed Oriole were also in the flowering trees and being seen as opposed to skulking around in the foliage. A brown Black Butcherbird was the only one seen and Rufous Fantail are becoming harder to find especially towards the end of the week, so they maybe moving on. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have again been very vocal but not always easy to find. A female Victoria's Riflebird was seen foraging in our neighbours garden and is probably the one seen at our feeder last week. Pale-yellow Robin continue to build nests with at least one bird seen sitting on the nest. Grey-headed Robin are still around and making a living out of the lawns which are now like concrete and cracking up due to the prolonged dry spell. The Bassian Thrush was seen only once when it was foraging in the orchard early in the week. Metallic Starling have returned to their nest tree but not making any nests yet, instead they are busy making lots of noise and squabbling amongst themselves. Probably trying to establish pair bonds but it all looks very chaotic!

Further afield the Wonga Beach Spotted Whistling Duck were absent from the lagoon but returned later in the week. We visited on Tuesday and were dismayed to see someone had driven onto the block of land and around the outside of the lagoon. From a conversation with another birdo this had happen early on the same day and an email from a neighbour confirmed this. Whilst we like to think it was not a birdo or photographer the chances are it was. One of the neighbours is really concerned at the number of people coming to see these birds and is worried that they might cause the birds to leave the area.

It would seem that the birds prefer to shelter in the shade of the overhanging bank closest to the road so a direct approach to the lagoon will scare them off, which happened on our first visit as we were unaware of where they were. They flew a short distance onto the lagoon and swam around, however if everyone does this they will soon get spooked and leave. We think the best approach is to park on the road and make a wide berth on the northern side (left when looking at lagoon) and approach from the seaward side.

If you are going to visit the area please be aware that this is a suburban area and we don't want the neighbours upset especially as they are taking an interest in the birds presence. So be responsible as it is the local birding businesses that get the complaints whether the irresponsible people (very small minority but it only takes one to do the wrong thing) are staying with these businesses or not. If the birds stay here there is a good chance they might breed here as well, which is what the more established Wandering Whistling-Duck do.

What else happened in the area? Well, three Large-tailed Nightjar were seen circling around at dusk at Mowbray National Park, several Golden Bowerbird were seen on Mt. Lewis flying across the road or track to the tin miners dam and Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo were also in Mowbray National Park. No sign of Blue-faced Parrot-Finch for the second week running so we must presume they are heading back into the hills and onto Mt. Lewis where they usually do not appear until November.

Mammal and reptile numbers were excellent with 25 seen. A flowering Pink Mahogany Dysoxylum oppositifolium attracted a Striped Possum and a Tree Mouse (Prehensile-tailed Rat) at the end of the week. This image shows the flowers emerging from the trunk, this is known as being cauliflorous.

Pink Mahogany Dysoxylum oppositifolium

A Green Ringtail Possum was seen in the same species of tree in the orchard, which is also flowering, earlier in the week. A Yellow-footed Antichinus was seen scurrying around the cookshed along with a Fawn-footed Melomys who appears to have taken up residence at the back of the fridge. Bush Rat have also been active around the feeder but with the Sooty Owl not far away they  might be a bit more wary now!

Bush Rat

Boyd's Forest Dragon was seen most days clinging to the side of a tree and posing well for photos. This one is a juvenile.

Boyd's Forest Dragon

Major Skink were around again and a very large Eastern Water Dragon was lounging around on rocks at the edge of Bushy Creek. Although six species of frog were seen they are still not very active, several sightings were of one frog once. The mating Jungguy Frog from last week did not bring any rain as forecast! Platypus are still being obliging and seen most days but irregular with their timing so you need to be patient and spend time waiting for them.

25th September 2011 Report

Again a very dry week with just a trace of rain when a few drops came out of a big black cloud early one morning. Overnight temperatures were warmer than last week, between 14.5ºc and 19.2ºc. The afternoon temperatures were between 24.5ºc and 27.4ºc, which signaled a change in the weather from cool to warmer conditions.

Another good week for numbers of bird species with 99 seen, and 8 heard. Reptiles and mammals were 23 which was seven more than last week, another sign that the weather is warming up.

The weeks bird list is on the Eremaea Birds website and morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds.

The main highlight for the week was not at the Lodge but down on the coast at Wonga Beach where Spotted Whistling-Duck were found. 

Spotted Whistling-Duck

This is a range extension south from previously known locations on Cape York Peninsula. Spotted Whistling-Duck were first seen in Australia in 1995 at Weipa on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, where they were also found to be breeding. Since that time more records have been coming in from other locations on the cape such as Aurukun, south of Weipa, Lockhart River (on the east coast) and further south and inland at Coen and Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park. Richard Nowotny put together an interesting conversation he had with a few locals regarding their presence in Wonga Beach which can be found on this Birding-Aus link. This suggests that the Spotted Whistling-Duck have been at this location for at least a year and maybe two which is surprising.

Spotted Whistling-Duck

Highlights around the Lodge for the week were an appearance of a female Satin Bowerbird at the feeder, this is the first sighting in the Lodge grounds since 2006. Earlier this year in April they were seen feeding on a palm fruit in our neighbours garden and briefly in the Lodge grounds. A female Victoria's Riflebird made several visits to the feeder and was seen foraging in the rainforest. Five Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo dropped into the Lodge grounds one morning to sample the blossom on a flowering eucalypt but only stayed five minutes before flying off. A pair of Pacific Baza were showing well at the end of the week whilst they perched and foraged in the grounds before ending up mating near the entrance road to reception. 

Pacific Baza

 
This was a great sighting for our guests, here they are peering into the sky at 6.50 in the morning.

Where is the Baza

Other sightings:

The Lagoons along McDougall Road were still producing good numbers of waterbird species including the Cotton Pygmy-goose but only three were found this week. Both Pied Imperial Pigeon and Topknot Pigeon were again in the Lodge grounds feeding on the Blue Quondong fruits, Superb Fruit-Dove was again heard but not seen. Our female Papuan Frogmouth started to call again this week and was seen roosting most days and an Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard but not seen. With the resumption of cane harvesting at the end of the week a flock of at least 50 Cattle Egret appeared following the harvester looking for insects and both Whistling and Black Kite were circling above searching for any unfortunate animals to get caught in the harvester.

“Katie” our Buff-banded Rail was around at the beginning of the week but disappeared mid week. She was seen along Mt. Kooyong Road and turned up at our neighbours house where she was raised and stayed a couple of days and then disappeared again. Hope she has found a mate and not her maker!

A male Eastern Koel was seen flying over Bushy Creek, whilst we were on a morning walk, being pursued by a Channel-billed Cuckoo. (Lesser) Sooty Owl was heard several times but not seen and the Eastern Barn Owl are still being seen on night walks. 

Eastern Barn Owl

Great Bowerbird and Red-backed Fairy-wren were both along McDougall Road. 13 species of honeyeater were seen which was the same as last week, a White-cheeked Honeyeater in our neighbours garden was the stand out as we don't see them very often in our part of Julatten. Barred Cuckoo-shrike are still around but not easy to see and a Cicadabird was heard calling, not sure if this is over wintering or an early returning one. Black Butcherbird have been very active calling and skulking around in the rainforest whilst our noisy Spangled Drongo seems to have left as we have not seen it at the feeder for most of the week. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and tracked down with a little persistence. Several pairs of Pale-yellow Robin have been seen building nests and the winter visiting Grey-headed Robin are still with us. A Bassian Thrush was flushed in our neighbours garden by “Katie” one morning but not seen in the Lodge grounds. Olive-backed Sunbird have also been busy and at least one pair have refurbished an old nest and started nesting with the female sitting in it.

Olive-backed Sunbird

Further afield, apart from the Spotted Whistling-Duck, a Black Bittern was seen in the Cairns Botanic Gardens at the Centenary Lakes and a Bassian Thrush was seen in an unusual location between Mt. Molloy and Wetherby Station along the back road into Julatten by Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours. Cotton Pygmy-goose have been seen on Lake Mitchell alongside the Peninsula Development Road between Mt. Molloy and Mareeba, maybe a few from McDougall Road. Still a few reports of Golden Bowerbirds on Mt. Lewis but again chance sightings and Fernwren are being seen regularly along the walk to the tin miners dam from the 10km clearing.

Mammals and reptile numbers were the best for a long while (23) due to the warmer weather which bought out the Boyd's Forest Dragon and Major Skink plus an Amethystine Python. Bats were also in evidence with Eastern Horseshoe, Diadem Leaf-nosed, Northern Broad-nosed, Little bent-winged and Spectacled Flying-fox. A Green Ringtail Possum was seen high up in the trees looking very pregnant so hopefully we will have a few babies soon. Jungguy Frogs have also been mating so they must think that some rain is coming soon, hope they are right. Northern Brown Bandicoot were also in the mood for breeding with one amorous pair repeatedly mating at the feeder and chasing away all other bandicoots.  

Northern Brown Bandicoot

18th September 2011 Report

No rain this week and very dry. Overnight temperatures were again slightly cooler than last week going down to 12.7ºc at the beginning of the week which was 2ºc cooler than last week. The afternoon temperatures were up to 25.7ºc which was about a degree cooler than last week.

Another good week for numbers of bird species with 105 seen, and 5 heard. Reptiles and mammals were 16 which was one less than last week.

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 for the week were an increase to three pairs of Cotton Pygmy-goose along McDougall Road, a pair of Pacific Baza starting to nest, Grey Goshawk carrying a prey item across Bushy Creek, Red-tailed Black Cockatoo flying over one afternoon, first Fan-tailed Cuckoo since 17^th April 2011, this one was seen along McDougall Road. A female Eastern Koel was perched in our orchard one morning calling and Brown-backed Honeyeater was building a nest in Geraghty Park.

Brown-backed Honeyeater

Other sightings:

Still plenty of waterbird species in the McDougall Road lagoons including Green Pygmy-goose, Australasian Grebe and six Comb-crested Jacana. Wompoo and Superb Fruit-Dove have been heard only but there were four Pied Imperial Pigeon and at least ten Topknot Pigeon feeding in a Blue Quondong Eleocarpus grandis tree on the edge of the Lodge grounds. Our female Papuan Frogmouth has been showing all week but not heard calling as in previous weeks. Large flocks of Australian Swiftlet have been around in the latter part of the week but Cattle Egret numbers have declined, maybe some have moved off to their nesting areas as a few were starting to colour up into breeding plumage.

Raptor numbers were down this week but we did manage eight species including Brown Goshawk, Brown Falcon and Australian Hobby. “Katie” our Buff-banded Rail continues to clean up around the place and has just learnt to chase off one of our Major Skink (180mm+ in length), which appeared on the veranda by our units. We saw a pair of Rainbow Lorikeet entering a nest hollow in a tree one morning, shortly afterwards a pair of Scaly-breasted Lorikeet flew in to investigate the same tree hollow and tried to go in. The Rainbow Lorikeet looked out in surprise and the Scaly-breasted Lorikeet retreated to a nearby branch looking equally surprised, the pair of rainbows then flew out. Both pairs sat nearby looking at the hollow whist we tried to make out who actually owned it – we did not find out as both pairs flew off! 

Rainbow Lorikeet

(Lesser) Sooty Owl was heard several times during the week but not located unlike Eastern Barn Owl who were calling and at least two seen. Four species of Kingfisher were seen, Azure, Laughing and Blue-winged Kookaburra plus Forest Kingfisher. Spotted Catbird has been around the Lodge grounds and Great Bowerbird and Red-backed Fairy-wren were along McDougall Road. 13 species of honeyeater were seen including Lewin's, Yellow-spotted, Graceful, Bridled, Scarlet (M & F) and Macleay's. Barred Cuckoo-shrike showed well at the end of the week feeding in a fig tree along Mt. Kooyong Road and a juvenile brown Black Butcherbird has been skulking around the orchard. 

Black Butcherbird - juvenile

 
Northern Fantail continue to hang around our neighbours garden but no sign of Grey Fantail who have rarely been seen around the Lodge grounds this year which is unusual. The overwintering Black-faced Monarch has been foraging in the orchard area and probably looking forward to meeting his mates who should be returning from Papua New Guinea soon. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been seen most days, often late afternoon around the Platypus viewing area on Bushy Creek. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been active in Geraghty Park whilst the Pale-yellow Robin have at least two nests under construction in the Lodge grounds. Bassian Thrush was around at the beginning of the week but not at the end, which seems to becoming a pattern as this is the third week in a row that this has happened. Metallic Starlings seem to have stalled with their nest building efforts in Geraghty Park during the week, but are still around as they have been coming into our water bowls to bathe. Still three Chestnut-breasted Mannikin coming into the seed feeder along with 50+ Red-browed Finch.

Further afield a Painted Snipe was reported from Mareeba and two male Golden Bowerbird were seen on Mt. Lewis, these are chance sightings with birds flying across the road. 

Painted Snipe

  
Also on Mt. Lewis two pair of Fernwren were seen building nests. North of Mt. Carbine Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours reported Black-throated Finch and Banded Honeyeater both adults and juveniles. He also reported six Australian Pelican on Hasties Swamp near Atherton which is unusual. We have seen them here before when one was present on 26/6/2002 and again on 17/9/2008. Striated Pardalote are nesting near Abattoir Swamp, this appears to be a second nesting as they were using the same nest two months ago. 

Striated Pardalote

Blue-faced parrot-Finch are still in the area but are becoming harder to find and maybe starting to retreat back into the mountains.

Mammals and Reptiles this week were a bit quiet but we did see a Green Ringtail Possum, Spectacled Flying-fox, Platypus, Long-nosed and Brown Bandicoot on a night walk. A native Giant White-tailed Rat has started to appear at the feeder for the first time in several months, this is a tree rat who nest in tree hollows.

Giant White-tailed Rat

 
A few Major Skink are still coming out to enjoy the warmer weather and a few Eastern Water Dragon are along Bushy Creek. Only White-lipped Tree Frog and Roth's Tree Frog seen which reflects the extremely dry weather.

Giant White-lipped Tree Frog

Some people say rainforests are dull and different shades of green but this is not true as this image of rainforest leaves proves.

Rainforest leaves

11th September 2011 Report

3mm of rain this week but still very dry. Overnight temperatures were slightly cooler than last week going down to 14.8ºc in the middle of the week which was 2ºc cooler than last week. The afternoon temperatures were up to 26.9ºc which was about a degree warmer than last week.

Another good week for numbers of bird species with 102 seen, and 8 heard. Reptiles and mammals were 17 which was one more than last week.

The weeks bird list is on the Eremaea Birds website and morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds.

Main highlights for the week were great views of a preening (Lesser) Sooty Owl perched behind our cook shed at the end of an evening walk. It spent at least 10 minutes perched and calling in between its preening. A Little Kingfisher made an appearance at the Crake Pool late one afternoon and both Eastern Koel and Channel-billed Cuckoo were heard on the morning of the 9^th, first returns here for the year.

Channel-billed Cuckoo

Magpie Goose were heard flying over one evening, probably heading to the lagoons along McDougall Road. Once again these two wetlands retained a good collection of waterbirds including two pairs of Cotton Pygmy-goose and a few Comb-crested Jacana. 

Comb-crested Jacana

Superb Fruit-Dove were heard on several days but not seen and some of the hundreds of overflying Topknot Pigeon landed in the rainforest adjacent to the orchard for good views. Again the female Papuan Frogmouth has been calling every night and seen most days roosting on the edge of the orchard. Black Bittern was seen along McDougall Road which is the first time for 10 weeks. White-bellied Sea-Eagle were seen flying past the entrance to the Lodge grounds several times carrying fish and also seen displaying overhead. A Grey Goshawk was heard and both Nankeen Kestrel and Australian Hobby were seen. Katie our Buff-banded Rail continues to entertain our guests cleaning up spiders and crumbs in their rooms or inside their caravans, she is very efficient!

Bush Stone-curlew have been very vocal during the week calling all night, sometimes quite close to the buildings or along Mt. Kooyong Road. We have also been hearing them fly over making a different call to the ones they do on the ground. 

Bush Stone-curlew

A pair of Rainbow Lorikeet have been coming around with two whinging juvenile birds who are constantly begging food and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet have been seen again entering a hole in one of the Queensland Blue Gums. An adult male Little Bronze-Cuckoo (Gould's sub-species) has been foraging around the entrance to the Lodge grounds, calling and giving good views. Eastern Barn Owl numbers still seem to be low with only two seen during a spotlighting trip on one night. A pair of Spotted Catbird have been around with one adult feeding another adult at the feeder one day and another day they were seen in the orchard with one bird chasing the other with a small Candlenut fruit in its bill. We presume this is the male chasing the female and giving her presents before copulating.

Lovely Fairy-wren were in some bamboo alongside Bushy Creek near the nursing home at the end of the week. A good week for honeyeaters with 13 seen, which was one more than last week, plenty of flowering trees and shrubs to attract them. Scarlet Honeyeater were coming down low to feed on the flowers of the Macadamia which is a member of the family Proteaceae, (the same as grevilleas which are known for their bird attracting flowers). Macadamia's are native to Australia and among only a handful of commercially cultivated endemic Australian plants; it is grown for its edible nuts. The White-tailed Rats get most of our nuts! Graceful Honeyeater is a resident in the Lodge grounds and this one was calling as it was photographed making identification easy (if you know the call). It is twisting its head, distorting the yellow ear patch and making it look more like the crescent shape of the Lewin's Honeyeater, adding to the difficulty in identifying it. Graceful Honeyeater are much smaller than Yellow-spotted and Lewin's Honeyeater but in an image you don't get to see the relative size or the more nervous wing flicks that the Graceful tend to do. These three meliphagas honeyeaters with the yellow ear patches prove to be the most difficult honeyeaters for visitors to identify. The best identification article for these birds was written by David James in the September 1995 edition of the Birds Australia magazine Wingspan.

Graceful Honeyeater

Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been around calling and at least five seen perched beside Bushy Creek high up in a Blue Quandong tree. Black Butcherbird have been calling and seen with both the black plumaged adult and juvenile plumaged brown bird sneaking around in the rainforest. The brown bird was seen attacking an Olive-backed Sunbird.

Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Sunbird have both been calling and seen throughout the week. A female Victoria's Riflebird was seen once at the bird feeder by the reception area. Two Bassian Thrush were seen at the beginning of the week but had disappeared by the end, same behaviour as last week.

Further afield a male Golden Bowerbird was seen on Mount Lewis along with good views of Superb Fruit-Dove. Three White-headed Pigeon were a few kilometres away in a patch of rainforest off the Rex Highway. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch have not been seen in the area for most of the week and the habitat is looking unsuitable as there is very little seed and it is very dry. A Barking Owl was seen roosting in a patch of rainforest near Abattoir Swamp and is the closest we have had one to the Lodge this year.

Barking Owl

The best mammal for the week was a Short-beaked Echidna seen by our neighbour, Carol the local bird guide, at the back of the Mt. Kooyong Nursing Home, which first one seen for about 3 years. They used to be resident around the Lodge an seen fairly regularly, lets hope they are making a come back. You can just see the black bill at the front of this Echidna digging into the ground.

Short-beaked Echidna

A Green Ringtail Possum was seen opposite the platypus viewing area across Bushy Creek whilst on a nightwalk, not a place we would expect to see one as it is low down and very sparse vegetation alongside a cane paddock. Platypus have been regularly seen in Bushy Creek with at least two performing; one was seen about 7.30am whilst on a morning walk and swam up and down for over five minutes putting on a good show.