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 (?)

30th November 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Plenty of threatening clouds but only 1mm of rain managed to find our rain gauge. Humidity dropped down to 43% and up to 95% with lots of sunshine and temperatures reaching 31.3ºc but generally lower with the cloud cover.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 16th – 22nd November and 23rd - 29th November The first week had 106 species recorded and the second week 107.

Birding Highlights:-

The main contingent of Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher arrived overnight on the 20^th of November (one had arrived on 31st October) which is two days after the previous late arrival record. Since then they have been pairing up and calling a lot as they sort out their territories. Most guests have been seeing them. A Pale-vented Bush-hen turned up in our neighbours garden on 23^rd November, this photo is from earlier this year of an adult feeding one of its six chicks. Hope they breed around here again this season.

Pale-vented Bush-hen - Adult and chick

A big surprise was six Brolga flying from the coast in a westerly direction over the Lodge grounds on the 26^th November. Not sure where they would have come from but this is only the second record we have had in 9½ years. A Glossy Ibis turned up at one of the McDougall Road lagoons at the end of the second week, this is a rare bird in our immediate area. Other waterbirds have been around in small numbers, Magpie Goose, Wandering Whistling-Duck, Green Pygmy-goose, Grey Teal were seen and a Black Bittern was heard. An adult Nankeen Night Heron was along Bushy Creek one morning whilst we were conducting a morning walk. Raptors have been scarce with only Black, Whistling and Brahminy Kite plus White-bellied Sea-Eagle seen over the last two weeks. Red-necked Crake has been appearing at the Crake Pool most late evenings and once at 8.00am. One spent 45 minutes one evening foraging around the pool. One of the McDougall Lagoons had a Comb-crested Jacana swimming around which was quite unusual as they are mainly seen walking over the water lilies. Pigeons and doves have once again been showing well with Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Emerald, Peaceful and Bar-shouldered Dove, Wompoo and Superb Fruit-Dove, Torresian Imperial-Pigeon and Topknot Pigeon all seen. Little Bronze-Cuckoo have again been around in a small flock of 6-8 birds. All have been of the race gouldi, this one was foraging in the orchard.

Little Bronze-Cuckoo - male

Other cuckoos that have been seen were Australian Koel, Channel-billed Cuckoo and Pheasant Coucal. Night birds have been a bit elusive with Lesser Sooty, Barn, and Barking Owl seen plus Australian Owlet-nightjar heard. Also seen was Papuan Frogmouth who were either roosting in our orchard or sitting on their nest. This one was sitting on a recently hatched chick.

Papuan Frogmouth - male

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo have also been nesting with two large chicks seen peering out of a nest hollow. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have also been nesting and as reported in the last blog feeding young. We thought the young had fledged but after not seeing the adults at the nest for 1½ weeks they were back and little voices were heard from inside the nest. Noisy Pitta have continued to be noisy but have retreated into the rainforest within the last few days which may mean they are going to nest. Lovely Fairy-wren were heard on the edge of the orchard but not seen but Red-backed Fairy-wren were seen on a fence along the highway near Geraghty Park. 13 honeyeater species were seen and one heard, 11 of these were seen in one red flowering Callistemon (Bottlebrush) whilst we were on a morning walk. The most impressive was a male Scarlet Honeyeater who came down out of the tall trees to give everyone fantastic views. Blue-faced Honeyeater were seen feeding juveniles, the males blue face is really bright in breeding condition.

Blue-faced Honeyeater

Also a Helmeted Friarbird was heard for one day, this species does not usually come to our western side of the Great Dividing Range. Several pairs of Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and seen. One pair of White-breasted Woodswallow were seen building a nest and a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike was seen sitting in a nest. Both Barred Cuckoo-shrike and Common Cicadabird have been calling and seen. A female Australasian Figbird was seen sitting in a nest in a Queensland Blue Gum tree. Torresian Crow were seen chasing a Channel-billed Cuckoo, which may have left their nest unattended for the female channel-billed to lay her eggs in it. A Pale-yellow Robin was another bird seen sitting on a nest. These nesting birds must think the rain is coming along with an influx of insects as at the moment insects are very few and far between. Metallic Starling are also powering ahead with their nests and their colony is looking a bit better with at least 80-100 birds present.

Further Afield:-

A Baillon’s Crake was seen along the edge of the bund wall at Lake Mitchell by Ota Yu, one of the local Japanese birdguides. Also at Lake Mitchell, Carol Iles (our local bird guide) reported six Cotton Pygmy-goose, which are becoming a difficult species to find in our area. Several Yellow Wagtail were reported from Tinnaburra waters boatramp area on Tinaroo Dam, near Yungaburra. Mt. Lewis was a good as ever with most endemics being seen again, also a Shining Bronze-Cuckoo was reported by several people being fed by a Mountain Thornbill at the clearing 10km up the road. One Blue-faced Parrot-Finch was seen at the end of the 2nd week. Further north of Mt. Carbine Black-throated Finch and Squatter Pigeon were along the Kondaparinga Road to Hurricane Station. Maryfarms between Mt. Carbine and Mount Molloy had Banded and Rufous-throated Honeyeater (uncommon) as well as Australian Bustard who are still displaying.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Two Australian Scrub Python were seen whilst on a night walk, the first for several weeks. A Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko was out during the day behind the cookshed, which is unusual. This one has an original tail.

Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko

Frogs have been anticipating rain and calling a lot, those seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Dessert Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog. Also Cane Toad was seen and Roth's (Laughing) Tree frog was heard. A Striped Possum was seen on a night walk high up feeding on the flowers of a Black Bean (Castanospermum australe) tree, this was a first for nearly three weeks. Northern Broad-nosed Bat decided to invade our bedroom with three finding there way past the fly screens. After a midnight chase we managed to get two out, the third was found in the morning and removed. Also in the office was our local Yellow-footed Antechinus who pays regular visits but just has a look around and leaves. Fawn-footed Melomys (small rodent) was seen foraging in a Sugar Apple tree in the orchard one night. At least four Red-legged Pademelon are around the Lodge grounds as well as several Agile Wallaby.

Insects:-

A few Longicorn Beetle have been appearing, this one was on the wall of the units before being re-located to the rainforest.

Longicorn Beetle sp.

A few Katydid have also been seen.

Wader ID:-
The mystery wader from the last blog is a Pectoral Sandpiper. This species differs from the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper with it's more upright stance showing a longer neck, slightly downcurved bill which is slightly longer than the head. Its breast pattern is a distinctly demarcated from the whiter lower breast , weaker supercillium, legs are yellowish, and the bill is olive with a darker tip, whiter more distinct eyering and greyer crown. These are some of the distinguishing features.
Photo, Doug Herrington

Pectoral Sandpiper

 

10th August 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The first week had 9mm of rain which fell over three days, the second week had 17mm of rain over six days. Temperatures ranged from a cool low of 16.1ºC up to 23.6ºC which is about average for this time of year. Despite the drizzly rain there were plenty of opportunities to get some good birding in both during the day and night walks.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 27thJuly - 2nd August and 3rd- 9th August The first week had 94 sightings and the second week 97 .

Morning and Evening Guided Walks:-

Morning walks were very productive with numbers of species seen ranging from 51-55 apart from one day where the rain cut it short and only 43 species were seen. We had some good sightings including three Little Bronze-Cuckoo, Papuan Frogmouth, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot – one female was digging out a nest hollow in a tree, Noisy Pitta, Spotted Catbird, 11 species of honeyeater, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, male Cicadabird, Pied Monarch, Victoria's Riflebird and Lemon-bellied Flycatcher.

Night walks were also very good up to 11 Barn Owl seen as there are at least 3 nests around the Lodge area with juveniles. Other good bird sightings were a Brown Falcon flying over and calling, Barking Owl, Papuan Frogmouth and a pair of Blue-winged Kookaburra – one was calling. 

 

Papuan Frogmouth - female

Mammals seen were Giant White-tailed Rat which is a native tree rat,

Giant White-tailed Rat - male

Fawn-footed Melomys and Tree Mouse (prehensile-tailed Rat) both of whom were feeding in oranges as these two images show – quite amazing! 
 

Fawn-footed Melomys - tail

Tree Mouse

Others seen were Red-legged Pademelon, Striped and Green Ringtail Possum, Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot, plus Spectacled Flying-fox. This one was getting nectar from the blossom of a South American Sapote fruit tree.

 

Spectacled Flying-fox

Frogs seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Red Tree Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad, plus Platypus. Reptiles seen were Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko, Asian House Gecko and Australian Scrub Python high up in a tree.

Other Birding Highlights:-

A pair of Green Pygmy-goose were along McDougall Road along with White-faced and White-necked Heron. At least two juvenile Black-shouldered Kite were perched near Geraghty Park and a Swamp Harrier was over a paddock behind the nursing home. A Brown Goshawk came swooping into the reception area feeder scattering the Bar-shouldered Dove and Red-browed Finch, but it left empty handed after failing to catch anything. Black and Whistling Kite are mopping up road kills along the Rex Highway and a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagle have been seen heading for the local fish farm. Red-necked Crake was heard, but not seen; they have not been easy lately. Up to 21 Topknot Pigeon have been seen flying over and landing in the Blue Quandong trees looking for the fruit which is still green and not the bright blue ripe fruit. Lesser Sooty Owl was heard once and Australian Owlet-nightjar was also heard, but neither species were seen. Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet were both seen nesting in tree hollows. The male Yellow-throated Scrubwren previously reported in still being seen around the Lodge grounds and a brown Black Butcherbird has also been around. A couple of Bower's Shrike-thrush are still in the Lodge grounds along with a male Golden Whistler. Olive-backed Oriole have returned and are calling, not sure where they disappear to. A White-eared Monarch has been calling over the last two week, but was only seen on the 9^th August high in a tree beside Bushy Creek at the Platypus viewing area. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have both been calling well and being seen. 

Yellow-breasted Boatbill - female

The female and immature male Victoria's Riflebird previously reported are still with us and being seen in various parts of the grounds. A Golden-headed Cisticola was reported by our neighbours and bird guides Carol and Andrew Iles along Bushy Creek, this is a first sighting for many months. Up to five Blue-faced Parrot-Finch have been found near Abattoir Swamp.

Further Afield:-

Banded Honeyeater was reported by Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours on 30^th July just north of Mt. Carbine, which is about two months earlier than previous years. A Wedge-tailed Eagle was soaring over Euluma Creek Road in Julatten, not common in our area. Just outside our 1.5km Lodge reporting area on the way to Mt. Molloy a Crested Pigeon was perched on a power line across the Rex Highway, this is the closest to the Lodge that we have seen this species. Mt. Lewis has been performing as usual with all 13 “Wet Tropic” endemics seen including male and female Golden Bowerbird. A trip to the Atherton Tableland allowed us to catch up with a few birds including these two, an Eastern Whipbird and a male Victoria's Riflebird.

 

Eastern Whipbird

Victoria's Riflebird - male

 

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Apart from the mammals reported on the night walks we have recorded Agile Wallaby, Eastern Horseshoe Bat, Large-footed Myotis (fish eating bat), Northern Broad-nosed Bat and Little Bent-wing Bat. Other reptiles seen were Boyd's Forest Dragon after a month long absence, Eastern Water Dragon and Green Tree Snake. 

Thanks to Carol and Andrew Iles for helping to compile the weekly bird lists, contact them if you need any bird guiding. 

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15th February 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The first week from 2^nd to 8^th February saw the monsoonal trough come down and deposit 303.5mm of rain, which saw some minor flooding lasting a couple of days. One day we had 143mm. The second week from 9^th to15^th was not quite as wet, it started off with a day of 142mm then slowed down over the week ending up with two sunny days and a total of 162mm of rain. So the two weeks produced 467mm (approx 18.5 inches). Temperatures we quite cool with the overcast rainy days getting up to 25ºC but climbing up to 30ºC on the two sunny days. Minimum temperatures were around 21ºC. The monsoonal trough is forecast to return next week so we can look forward to some more rain. Further north on the west side of Cape York Peninsula the town of Kowanyama has had over 1200mm for the week! Serious rain.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 2nd - 8th February and 9^th - 15^th February.

Birding Highlights:-

An adult Pacific Black Duck was seen whizzing down the swollen Bushy Creek with eight ducklings in tow, they were in one big blob hanging on to each other until they managed to get out of the main current and pull off into calmer water at the rear of our neighbours property. The nesting Pacific Baza also reported in the last blog have now fledged two chicks as of five days ago. The juveniles are now in the Lodge grounds constantly begging food from the adults. A pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagle have started to call and fly over the Lodge after keeping a low profile for the last few months, maybe they are looking at nesting. Our pair of Red-necked Crake have been seen several times walking through the rainforest but no sign of the three chicks they had. 

Red-necked Crake

The two Pale-vented Bush-hen adults reported in the last blog with six chicks now have five chicks who survived the rain and flooding. Lets hope they all survive. Two Australian Bustard were found near the Julatten school just inside our 1.5km radius for the Lodge list which is quite unusual. We have had three records in the past, one in 2011 and two in 2012. This image is a male displaying at Maryfarms north of Mt. Molloy.

Australian Bustard

Channel-billed Cuckoo have been flying over heading north in small groups of up to six birds. An Eastern Koel is still with us and has just started to call again. A Lesser Sooty Owl was heard one night but not seen. Noisy Pitta have also fired up with at least four calling around the orchard one day and another couple calling from across Bushy Creek near the nursing home, who reported one presumably feeding on mangoes, it may also have been feeding on insects attracted to the fruit. A pair of Great Bowerbird were foraging in Geraghty Park, where they are not common but they are to be found nearby, usually along McDougall Road. Honeyeater numbers were down but that could be due to the lesser effort put in over the two weeks due to the rain but we did still manage nine species. Spangled Drongo appear to be heading north with an increase in numbers for at least two days, now there are just one or two hanging around. Black-faced Monarch are still with us but should be heading north soon. A pair of Spectacled Monarch are sitting on a nest in front of our accommodation units in a tree they used a few years ago but in October. A Brown Victoria's Riflebird (immature male or female) turned up in our neighbours garden to investigate their Paw Paw tree but left disappointing as there was no fruit on it. A pair of nesting Olive-backed Sunbird seem to have lost the nestlings, Black Butcherbird are the main suspects. After the rain the clouds cleared and the mountain ranges at the back of the Lodge once more came into view.

Mountain Ranges looking towards Mt. Lewis

Further Afield:-

Four Spotted Whistling-Duck turned up at Barrett's Lagoon near Cooktown on 2nd February making this the first record of this species in the Cooktown area. Thanks to Kath and Dave for this record. Their were at least 35 Great-crested Grebe at Lake Barrine on the Atherton Tableland on 4^th February. This location often has 100+ Great-crested Grebe present, full list for visit is on Eremaea eBird. 

Lake Evan (Brady Road Swamp)

Two Yellow-billed Spoonbill, a Pale-headed Rosella and two Red-winged Parrot were among birds seen at Lake Evan (Brady Road Swamp) 4km north of Mareeba. Full list can be found on Eremaea eBird. 

Red-winged Parrot

Little Lorikeet were along McLean Bridge Road in Julatten, this is about the furthermost east their distribution occurs. Also along here and at Abattoir Swamp were Black-chinned Honeyeater, Golden-backed form. Bridled Honeyeater were also in Julatten along Perseverance Road, the main population are still on Mt. Lewis.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

As you can imagine with all the rain the frogs were out in force and extremely vocal. Those seen were Striped Marsh Frog, Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf tree Frog, Dessert Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad, plus Green Tree Frog, Peron's Tree Frog and Roth's Tree Frog were heard. 


 

Striped Marsh Frog

 
Boyd's Forest Dragon, Eastern Water Dragon and Major Skink were around as they have been for the last few months. This male Boyd's Forest Dragon was coming to the feeder for banana during the rain.

Boyd's forest Dragon

A Brown Tree Snake was curled up on a tree branch in the camping area much to the annoyance of the birds who were scalding it but the snake took no notice and kept sleeping. Mammals were not very active during the rain along with the spotters so not much was seen in the first week but the dryer weather in the second week was more productive. Those seen were Fawn-footed Melomys, Yellow-footed Antichinus, Red-legged Pademelon (adult and youngster), Agile Wallaby, Eastern Horseshoe Bat, Large-footed Myotis, Northern Broad-nosed Bat, Giant White-tailed Rat, several Striped Possum, both Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot plus Spectacled Flying Fox making 12 species.

Insects:-

A selection of insects which have appeared since the rain has started, prior to the rain insects were pretty much non existent.

Cairns Birdwing

Grasshopper Sp.

Longicorn Beetle

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2nd February 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The past few weeks has seen variable weather with a Cyclone threat which luckily for us went further south and caused very little damage. We did not get much rain, our January total rainfall was 217mm on 16 rain days, which was at least 50% less than our normal rains for this time of year. Temperatures had been around 21ºC -28ºC but after the cyclone passed by at the end of January we got west to northerly winds and an increase in temperatures up to 34ºC which is abnormally hot.

Past Three Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Sightings have now been transferred from Eremaea Birds to Eremaea ebird. The link to the Australian portal is Here . Here you can find all the information to allow you to input or retrieve data. It is early days with the new system so it will take a while to become familiar with it and work out how to retrieve data for Kingfisher Park BL.

Trip Report:-
Finally finished putting together our last years trip report for our visit to South Australia. You can find it at this link on our website. 


Birding Highlights:-

We can't top the Yellow-billed Kingfisher reported in the last blog seen along Bushy Creek. We heard the kingfisher calling in the rainforest adjacent to Bushy Creek the morning after it was seen but were unable to see it. Since then there has been no other reports of Yellow-billed Kingfisher in the area. Another new bird for our 1.5km area Lodge bird list was Plumed Whistling-Duck, 22 were seen standing beside a dam behind Geraghty Park on our Birdlife Australia Day weekend, this puts our list up to 225 species. Two groups of Papuan Frogmouth have been seen in the Lodge and along the nearby Bushy Creek, the three along Bushy Creek are two adults and a juvenile from last years nest in the local nursing home. The two in the Lodge grounds are a male and female which did not nest last year, they have been moving around each day and have been difficult to find. A Superb Fruit-Dove was actually seen in a fruiting tree on the edge of the Lodge one morning, this represented the third sighting in six months during which they have been heard most days. Should be called Superb Hiding-Dove! Pied Imperial Pigeon have been increasing in numbers with at least 200 seen feasting on fruiting trees in the Lodge grounds and surrounds. These birds are probably coming from Low Isles off the coast of Port Douglas. It was only four years ago that the first Pied Imperial Pigeon arrived at the Lodge. Nesting Pacific Baza has two very large chicks standing up in their nest waiting to be fed by the busy adults. Red-necked Crake also have three chicks in tow and have been seen several times. The adult birds have been coming regularly to the Crake Pool in the morning and evening for a bathe. Our neighbours saw a pair of Pale-vented Bush-hen come to their bird bath with six chicks several times, how lucky are they. 

Pale-vented Bushen - chick in birdbath

Pale-vented Bushen - adult with three chicks

Other pairs of bushen have been glimpsed in the grassy edges of the roads around the Lodge and also along Bushy Creek but they are very secretive. All the nesting Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are now feeding young in their nests, there are at least seven nests with another possible one within the Lodge grounds. Several pairs of Noisy Pitta have been around the Lodge and adjacent area with at least four juvenile birds seen foraging and being fed by adults. At least 12 species of honeyeater have been seen including White-throated Honeyeater and Black-chinned Honeyeater heard. 

 

White-throated Honeyeater

An Olive-backed Oriole nest successfully fledged one bird from a nest only about 2m off the ground in a neighbours Raintree. Pied Monarch are calling and being seen and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have just started to call after being quiet for a few months.

Further Afield:-

At least 50Fork-tailed (Pacific) Swift were over Cattana Wetlands, Cairns on the 20^th January at 8.30am. Two Yellow Wagtail were reported from Lake Evan (Brady Road Swamp) 4km north of Mareeba on 24^th January. Two Pink-eared Duck were also at this location a week earlier. On 31^st January one of our guests reported a Freckled Duck at Daves Dam 25km north of Mt. Carbine, believed to be the first record from here. Four birders from Townsville sighted a Nankeen Night Heron roosting on Mt. Lewis at 950m on 21st January, very unusual, record can be found on Eremaea Birdline. Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours had a Dusky Honeyeater from the same location, this was a first for him so it must be very unusual.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

A few snakes have been around the grounds, a Green Tree Snake was in the orchard and a small Australian Scrub Python was curled up on a tree at the end of the units veranda, giving the birds something to shout at. A Yellow-footed Antichinus is living in a tree hollow beside our camp kitchen and often seen running along the rafters. Red-legged Pademelon are around in the rainforest during the day and come out into the grassy orchard at night. At least 50 Red-legged Pademelon were seen in a 10km stretch of the Mt. Lewis one night which is an extraordinary number. Striped Possum was seen on a couple of occasions but are proving very elusive at the moment. No sign of Green Ringtail Possum since last September which is a worry. Frogs seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Desert Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, Coggers Frog and Cane Toad plus Northern Dwarf tree Frog was heard. Boyd's Forest Dragon, Eastern Water Dragon and Major Skink have all been regulars.

Spider:-

This Giant Silverback spider (Genus Idiommata, family Barychelidae) was found at the rear of our units, it was a first for us. It was relocated to the rainforest after we took a few images of it. It was quite aggressive rearing up and showing its fangs. These spiders are venomous but not deadly. They build a burrow in the ground which is short, open, often with a collar of leaves; a short horizontal flask down the burrow is sealed by a thick door. Thanks to Graham Anderson and Dr. Robert Raven (Queensland Museum) for identifying the spider.

Giant Silverback

2014 Australia Day Weekend at Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge, Julatten:-

BirdLife Northern Queensland held its 14^th annual Australia Day long weekend get-together at Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge, Julatten, hosted by Keith & Lindsay. It was well attended with over 30 people coming to enjoy, field trips, guided walks, talks and a movie night. As usual these weekends are very social with lots of interesting food and a relaxed atmosphere.

Saturday morning saw the group going up onto Mt. Lewis to look for some of the Wet Tropic endemics, all 13 occur on the mountain. The main attraction here was Blue-faced Parrot-Finch, which occur here from November to April. We were not disappointed as there were at least eight feeding alongside the road. Other good sightings were white phase Grey Goshawk, male Golden Bowerbird, two families of Chowchilla having a territorial dispute, Victoria's Riflebird and a Barred Cuckoo-shrike feeding young in a nest, in all we saw 27 species. Late afternoon we went to Wessel Road in Julatten to look at open woodland and Melaleuca swamp country, here we found 29 species including Buff-banded Rail plus Lovely and Red-backed Fairy-wren. The evening was spent eating a communal dinner followed by a talk from Lloyd Nielsen. Lloyd is a well known ornithologist who lives in the area and has been studying local bird fauna for many years. His talk was about the status of Fuscous and Yellow-tinted Honeyeater in our region. His preliminary studies suggest that there is the possibility that there are no Fuscous Honeyeater in our region but several forms of Yellow-tinted Honeyeater or even a new species. Several populations on the Atherton Tableland and Lakefield National Park occur in distinctly different habitats and have different calls to each other. Two distinct populations occur either side of a 700m woodland barrier in one area of the Atherton Tableland. It would appear that it is a very complicated identification problem that needs further investigation requiring DNA testing to sort it out – sounds like a good project for a Ph.D. Student. This is an image from one of the populations on the Atherton Tableland of what maybe another form of the Yellow-tinted Honeyeater.

Yellow-tinted Honeyeater?

Sunday morning was spent at a private property along Rifle Creek in Mt. Molloy where we saw 35 species including Black Bittern, Pacific Baza, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, Shining Flycatcher and Eastern Yellow-Robin. Also seen here were hundreds of Sapphire Flutterer dragonflies. 
 

Sapphire Flutterer

Early afternoon we had a talk by Kath Shurcliff, Birdlife North Queensland Convener, about the list and atlas entry of the Eremaea Birds online database for birds, which has now moved to a new site called Eremaea ebird which is a real-time, online checklist program. eBird has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. Kath introduced us to the differences between the two databases and how to use ebird for entering and retrieving data. The aim is to get everyone using ebird and making their records, many of which are hidden away in notebooks, available for everyone to access.The evening was spent watching a DVD, filmed at the Lodge, about the breeding cycle of the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher which migrate from Papua New Guinea to breed in North Queensland rainforest each year during the “Wet Season. They nest in low terrestrial termite mounds before heading back to PNG in April.

Monday morning was spent in and around the Lodge for two hours during which time we recorded 52 species including Plumed Whistling-Duck, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, 30+ Red-tailed Black Cockatoo were the first for this season,(they usually are present in January - February) and a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike nest with two very large chicks in it. 

White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike

We experienced a few showers of rain but luckily they did not interfere with a very successful weekend in which we saw 113 species and heard a further 11 species.

Thanks to all those that made the weekend a success especially Del Richards, Lloyd Nielsen, Kath Shurcliff and Doug Herrington Birdlife North Queensland Activities Officer.

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