Birdwatchers Lodge in Far North Queensland, Australia.

56.5mm of rain fell during the week with one 24hour fall of 33mm being the best. This time last year we had over 1300mm, so far this year we have had 335mm so we have had a massive 1m less rain! Most rain fell in the late afternoon and into the night so once again sunny warm days with the minimum temperature slightly less than last week at 21.2ºc and the maximum also slightly cooler at 30.3ºc.

Birds recorded were 95 seen and 7 heard. 16 mammal and reptile species were seen and three frog species 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:

Rufous Owl has to be top of the list this week, thanks to our neighbour Carol who found one roosting alongside Bushy Creek one afternoon. It was a light coloured bird and probably a juvenile. This is the first one we have seen around the Lodge since 21^st August 2011; this record might account for the lack of Striped Possum sightings recently as they are favourite food for these owls. 

 

Rufous Owl - adult

The three Red-necked Crake juveniles are still foraging with the parents and are starting to get a bit of red on their necks which is another good sign that they might all make it to adults. Only one nest of the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have chicks in as one of the two nests left with chicks in fledged at the beginning of the week. As they get a little older they start to come down to the ground to supplement the adults offerings.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

Plenty of juveniles around being fed by the parents making it one of the most successful years over the last six.

Other sightings:

Brown Quail were along McDougall Road with a few more waterbird seen in the wetlands along here as well, nothing out of the ordinary though. Again plenty of Superb Fruit-Dove calling from the rainforest surrounding the orchard but only one glimpse of a bird flying off. Still have at least six Pied Imperial Pigeon and 20+ Topknot Pigeon around the Lodge grounds. No sign of our Papuan Frogmouth this week and heard Australian Owlet-nightjar on three occasions but could not find it in its usual daytime roost hollow. A Black-necked Stork was near the Julatten School and the first for a few months. Five Cattle Egret flew over the grounds but none seen on the ground. Only two raptors this week, White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Whistling Kite very disappointing. White-browed Crake was again heard along McDougall Road but failed to show but Pale-vented Bush-hen did show several times in a gully between the Lodge grounds and our neighbours garden. A few Red-tailed Black Cockatoo flew over the Lodge mid week and a pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen in McDougall Road. 

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - female

A female Eastern Koel was feeding in a tree alongside Bushy Creek just in the Lodge grounds and a few Channel-billed Cuckoo were flying about, still no sign of any build up of numbers. Two Eastern Barn Owl were seen in Geraghty Park and an Azure Kingfisher flew along Busy Creek, first one for a few weeks. Juvenile Forest Kingfisher are still whinging for food but are increasingly being left to fend for themselves. A small group of Rainbow Bee-Eater (5-6) were over the Lodge on Saturday afternoon and a single adult Dollarbird was in the grounds for two days calling. Spotted Catbird have quietened down but still lurking around in the rainforest. Lovely Fairy-wren have been along Bushy Creek near our neighbours garden and have been seen several times whilst Red-backed Fairy-wren are regularly seen on the fence posts of McDougall Road. Ten species of honeyeater plus one heard and Macleay's Honeyeater was seen feeding a juvenile, still not found one of their nests. Brown-backed Honeyeater have started to come into the orchard are which is quite uncommon, they prefer paperbark swamps such as Abattoir Swamp normally. 

Brown-backed Honeyeater

Cicadabird are still around but only heard and Grey Whistler are still very vocal. A Little Shrike-thrush, juvenile, was caught flapping its wings and begging for food from the parent birds who were higher up in the tree searching out food.

Little Shrike-thrush - juvenile

An adult Black Butcherbird was around all week calling and skulking through the rainforest. Black-faced Monarch are still with us and calling well and trying to fool us with black primary wings. Pied Monarch are around but difficult to see but Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been out and about calling and being seen. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher are still around in good numbers as are Australian Pipit with at least ten seen on the edge of the cane field near the Mt. Kooyong nursing home.

Further Afield:-

A Brown Falcon was perched on powerlines between Mareeba and Mt. Molloy, this is the first we have seen this year along here. A Pale-vented Bush-hen with three chicks was seen, after much hanging around to see them scurry across the driveway, on a private property along Euluma Creek Road in Julatten. Also here five White-headed Pigeon flew low over the house heading towards the coast, not a common bird around here and two Sooty Owl called out just before dusk and continued for at least 30 minutes.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

One of our Boyd's Forest Dragon has found out how to steal the birds banana by climbing up the feeder and grabbing more than a mouthful as this image shows. 

Boyd's Forest Dragon - stealing banana

Frogs were the most obvious this week with Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree-Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad seen, Striped Marsh Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog and Dainty Green Tree Frog heard. A Green Ringtail Possum was seen on the edge of the orchard late in the week and was a first for six weeks.

Birdwatchers Lodge in Far North Queensland 5th February 2012

Quick update on knee – walking around normally now and have OK from specialist but have to reassess how it is going in three months for any further work on it.

Meanwhile we had 24mm of rain and big winds at the end of the week causing a tree to fall onto our bedroom roof, little damage and tree now sawn up into logs! The minimum temperatures were much the same as last week down to 22.9ºc but the maximum was a few degrees warmer at 32.1ºc , humidity was down to 66% and up to 95%.

Birds recorded were less, due to the inclement weather and restricted walking distance at the beginning of the week, with only 87 seen and 12 heard. 18 mammal and reptile species were seen and three (frogs) heard which was a lower than normal number due to no night walks. The weeks bird list is on the Eremaea Birds website and morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds

Highlights:

A small group of seven Cattle Egret returned and were found foraging in a paddock along McDougall Road, they had been absent for five weeks. Red-necked Crake parents are still looking after their three juvenile offspring and have been seen several times, heading across roads and bathing.

Other sightings:

Waterbirds are still scarce in the area with only Pacific Black Duck, Little and Little Black Cormorant plus Intermediate and Cattle Egret seen early in the week but right at the end Magpie Goose, Wandering Whistling-Duck, Hardhead and a Comb-crested Jacana turned up. Wompoo and Superb Fruit-Dove were only heard whilst only one Pied Imperial Pigeon was reported along with at least 50 Topknot Pigeon sitting high up in a Blue Quondong tree. 

Topknot Pigeon

Our female Papuan Frogmouth was only found once roosting in the orchard on the edge of the rainforest. Three raptors were seen, Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Whistling Kite. A lone Buff-banded Rail was foraging on the lawn out the front of the nearby Barramundi Farm and two Pale-vented Bush-hen were in our neighbours garden. A few Scaly-breasted Lorikeet were feeding on flowering Queensland Blue Gum in Geraghty Park and two Double-eyed Fig-Parrot flew over the Lodge grounds. A single Channel-billed Cuckoo was perched in a tree along Mt. Kooyong Road and probably contemplating the trip north to Papuan New Guinea/Indonesia which should be taking place very soon. Sooty Owl and Eastern Barn Owl were only heard due again to no spotlighting. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher now have seven confirmed nests with another two unsure but still with birds in the vicinity of nest mounds. A few Rainbow Bee-Eater have been foraging in Geraghty Park and a very recently fledged Dollarbird was perched in the Lodge grounds looking very bewildered, wondering what to do next. One Noisy Pitta was seen in the orchard and heard calling on two other occasions but no sign of any juveniles. There was a reported 1.5m Red-bellied Black Snake in the vicinity of the nest, lets hope it did not predate the chicks. Red-backed Fairy-wren were along McDougall Road and Lovely Fairy-wren were in our neighbours garden. 

Red-backed Fairy-wren - male

Large-billed Gerygone were again at their nest over Bushy Creek at the beginning of the week but not seen there towards the end, so we are not sure how the chicks have fared. Nine species of honeyeater were seen and one, Scarlet, heard. Macleay's and Blue-faced Honeyeater along with Graceful and Yellow-spotted Honeyeater are all now regulars at the feeder by reception. Barred Cuckoo-shrike were around at the end of the week and a pair of Cicadabird were foraging in Geraghty Park and calling around the Lodge. 

Cicadabird - female

Spangled Drongo continue to have their offspring following them around and a Willie Wagtail was foraging in the orchard, something they have not been doing for several months. Leaden Flycatcher have been calling around the grounds as have Black-faced Monarch. The Spectacled Monarch nest beside Bushy Creek, mentioned last week, had two chicks being fed by the adults on Saturday morning but by the afternoon they had fledged and were being fed near the nest. 

Magpie-lark in Geraghty Park were still sitting on a nest, this female was perched nearby as the male sat. 

Magpie-lark - female

Pied Monarch have a very recently fledged juvenile following them around and it was on hand to get its photo taken. This is the youngest Pied Monarch that we have found and a plumage stage that is little reported. 

Pied Monarch - juvenile

Several Lemon-bellied Flycatcher were on the edge of the Lodge grounds along Mt. Kooyong Road foraging in a Queensland Blue Gum; not too many around at the moment. The Metallic Starling colony in Geraghty Park lost 5-6 nests due to the high winds with at least two containing chicks. One nest had two chicks in and was upside down, we turned it over with the entrance hole upright and out popped two chicks who were almost ready to fledge. They flapped off along the ground and the parents came down to feed them. Our Olive-backed Sunbird is still sitting on its nest with the chicks near fledging, the location is quite safe from predators hanging off the safety chain in the gas bottle compound.

Olive-backed Sunbird nest

Further Afield:-

Still a surprising number of Black Kite along the road from Mt. Molloy to Mareeba. An unfortunate juvenile Pacific Baza was picked up dead along Euluma Creek Road in Julatten. It had a broken neck and will be lodged with the Queensland Museum in Townsville. A report of a nesting Satin Flycatcher in Mareeba has to be confirmed, if it is one then this will be a significant breeding record this far north in Australia.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Highlight for the week was the previously mentioned Red-bellied Black Snake which was on the path to the orchard before it shot off into the rainforest at 100kph! We rarely see this snake around the grounds. Yellow-footed Antichinus was around again this week raiding the Mango on the feeder and running along the veranda outside the units. Giant White-tailed Rat was at the feeder late in the week and Striped Possum was seen in our neighbours garden. Bandicoot numbers seem to have decreased with only one Long-nosed and a couple of Northern Brown Bandicoot seen. 

Long-nosed Bandicoot

No Platypus sightings this week in Bushy Creek, probable due to the fast flowing murky water making observing difficult. A few small Major Skink were around but no sign of the larger adults. 

Major Skink - immature

There were however several Eastern Water Dragon lounging around on a few fallen logs, no doubt resting after too much celebrating for the Chinese New Year of the Dragon!

Eastern Water Dragon

27th November 2011 Report

The weeks rainfall was 36mm, considerably more than the last few weeks, this all fell in the last three days of the week. Maximum temperatures were slightly lower than last weeks due to the rain and cloud cover getting up to 30ºc and the minimum temperature was down to 21.2ºc. Humidity was also higher, up to 96% and down to 55%.

There were slightly less birds recorded this week than last with 103 seen and 8 heard. 23 mammal and reptile species were seen which is slightly more than previous weeks. The weather played its part in these numbers with less effort put into birding and more reptiles and amphibians coming out to enjoy the wet conditions.

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 grounds has to be “Katie” our Buff-banded Rail who now has a boyfriend called Pete! They were seen mating on the lawn in front of the units in full view of the guests. “Katie” still comes around the reception/office but less frequent now but Pete is off in a flash if he spots someone. The pair of them were circling a Green Tree Snake one afternoon not knowing quite what to do whilst the snake was rearing up and looking threatening. We moved the rails out of the way and allowed the snake to seek refuge up a tree. A Dainty Tree Frog record was of a dead one that “Katie” was playing with without actually eating it. A quick grab shot with the compact camera shows the deed being done.

"Katie" with Dainty Tree Frog

Other highlights included at least two and possibly three (Lesser) Sooty Owl who showed at the end of the week, one perched along Mt. Kooyong Road for a good 20 minutes to allow guests to have good views, another was on the other side of the road calling but not showing and a little later a (Lesser) Sooty Owl called at a distance from Geraghty Park. Lovely Fairy-wren were seen foraging in the bamboo alongside Bushy Creek near the nursing home.

Other sightings: Waterbirds are still coming and going at the Lagoons along McDougall Road with the same species recorded as in previous weeks. Seven species of dove and pigeon over the week included good views of a male Superb Fruit-Dove who came down to eye level along Bushy Creek at the platypus viewing area for to thrill two guests. It sat for a while before flying along the creek for a short distance to perch again for more good views. Lucky guests! Our female Papuan Frogmouth only appeared at it roost site on the edge of the orchard once but was heard again most nights. Australian Owlet-nightjar was not seen in its daytime roost but was heard calling Saturday night when the (Lesser) Sooty Owl appeared. 

Australian Owlet-nightjar

Also on Saturday 26^th at least five Fork-tailed Swift went over ahead of storm clouds. Our neighbour Carol (of bird guide fame) saw two Black Bittern fly across McDougall Road one evening as well as seeing four Bush Stone-curlew drinking from one of the Lagoons. The immature Nankeen night-Heron reported a few weeks ago was seen again this week flying over Bushy Creek. The regular pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagle were displaying over the adjacent cane field one afternoon, one bird had a fish in its talon and flew in circles with the other following before they reversed positions and carried on until they disappeared over the Lodge grounds. A Brahminy Kite was circling over the Barramundi Farm early one morning, Grey Goshawk was along McDougall Road and Nankeen Kestrel continue to perch on the foot pegs of the power poles along the highway. Red-necked Crake have been even more vocal than last week even joining in the morning chorus however they have eluded the many pairs of binoculars trained on the direction of the calls. A Pale-vented Bush-Hen was heard calling near our neighbours house which hopefully signals their return to the area. Cuckoos were again calling this week with Pheasant Coucal, Eastern Koel and Little Bronze-Cuckoo only heard and Channel-billed Cuckoo and Brush Cuckoo seen. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have been extremely vocal, flying around chasing each other and perching out in the open for great views. Blue-winged Kookaburra were also calling and showing well in Geraghty Park where they seem to be spending more time than elsewhere. 

Blue-winged Kookaburra

Dollarbird are still going around in pairs but have not be observed doing any nesting activities. Noisy Pitta are still noisy and being seen regularly, quite often dodging the unwelcome attentions of the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher who dive bomb them. Spotted Catbird were still feeding young as were Pale-yellow Robin who are having a good breeding season this year. Always worth an image for their "cute factor".

Pale-yellow Robin

The same 12 honeyeater species as last week were seen with very few coming to the feeder. Graceful Honeyeater were coming to the feeder and taking away banana, presumably to feed their young. Barred Cuckoo-shrike and Cicadabird are both still calling and being seen infrequently. Spangled Drongo were seen building a nest in Geraghty Park and Spectacled Monarch have several nests in the Lodge grounds. One Grey-headed Robin was seen at the beginning of the week but not since, dare we say they have all gone back into the mountains behind us? Our neighbour Carol witnessed 10 Fairy Martin, along McDougall Road, twittering in to roost, they ended up all huddled along a little 1m tall sapling or weed bent over to almost touching the ground! Metallic Starling are still busy adding to their nests with both adult and immature birds collecting building material, also egg shells have been found under the nests indicating a second brood for the season. 
 

Metallic Starling - immature

Olive-backed Sunbird have been investigating a piece of string we put out by the reception area several years hoping they would choose it to build a nest on, maybe they will.

Further afield Murray Hunt from Daintree Boatman Nature Tours (ex Chris Dahlberg's River Tours), reported seven Spotted Whistling-Duck on the Daintree River Friday afternoon. These maybe the ones from Wonga Beach, which is not far away and the river is a new location for them. A check of the lagoon 4km north of Mareeba during the week failed to find the previously reported Grey Wagtail and Painted Snipe but did find at least 60 Plumed Whistling-Duck and a large flock of Magpie Goose. 

Plumed Whistling-Duck

Lovely Fairy-wren have been regularly seen in the Rifle Creek camping area at Mt. Molloy. Also near Mt. Molloy one possibly two Buff-breasted Button-quail were seen by guests who spent three days searching an area, also in the same area were Brown Quail and Painted Button-quail. Looks like it could be a good year for the BBBQ's with the habitat looking suitable at the moment.

Reptile and mammal numbers were up this week to 23. A Green Ringtail Possum was seen during the day in our neighbours garden moving through some trees, probably disturbed by too much attention from the birds. This was the first one reported for two months. This one shows how they roost during the day, curled up on an exposed branch.

Green Ringtail Possum

Striped Possum have been showing well and calling as they crash around in the rainforest giving good views, some only 4-5m off the ground. At least two Platypus are still being regularly seen in Bushy Creek along with the odd Water Rat who make infrequent appearances. The wet weather tempted a few frogs to start calling and showing, the Northern Dwarf Tree Frog were one of the frogs whose calls were triggered by the rain.  

Northern Dwarf Tree Frog

A White-lipped Tree Frog was actually spotlighted in a tree – much better than the amenities block! At least two Boyd's Forest Dragon are still around the eating area near the units. They were seen chasing each other and one ended up on one of our guests outdoor table where it sat for a while before moving to the back of a chair.

23rd October Report 2011

The start of some rain, reported in last weeks blog, continued through the week culminating in a total of 119mm, considerably less than other locations in our area. Cairns had around 400mm. Temperatures were lower than they had been due to the cloud cover but did get up to 30.7ºc at the beginning of the week however after that the top temperature was down to 24.4ºc. The lowest was 19.3ºc but most mornings were around 20ºc. Humidity was high, getting up to 96% and down to 65%. Whilst it is not officially the start of our “Wet Season” it certainly felt like it!

Not quite as many birds this week due to the wet weather causing a drop in birding effort but still a respectable 103 seen and 12 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 seeing a Superb Fruit-Dove after weeks of hearing them, also seeing a Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher during the week, a rufous morph Tawny Frogmouth of the race Podargus strigoides phalaenoides, which stayed around for 3 days and another two sightings of a (Lesser) Sooty Owl which coincided with two of our tour groups. The Tawny was first found roosting on the ground in a Ginger plant and later higher up on the edge of the rainforest.

Tawny Frogmouth - rufous morph, on ground

  

Tawny Frogmouth - rufous morph, edge of rainforest

 
Late news just in from our neighbours is that whilst taking their dog out at 10.30 Saturday night for a call of nature a Noisy Pitta was heard calling, this triggered a Red-necked Crake to call - both these species have been absent for some time, the rail not heard or seen for about six weeks and the pitta not around since 22nd May 2011, lets hope they start showing.

Other sightings:

Still a few birds in the McDougall Road lagoons but numbers are down and several species left once the rain set in. Pacific Black Duck, Hardhead, a lone Dusky Moorhen and a pair of displaying Australasian Grebe were about all that were present at the end of the week. Pigeons and doves were good this week with seven species seen and one heard, they were Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Emerald Dove, Peaceful-Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove, Superb Fruit-Dove, Pied Imperial Pigeon and Topknot Pigeon. Our female Papuan Frogmouth did not like the rain and was found perched in one of her usual spots looking like a Vulture with all her head and neck feathers soaked and flattened to her neck. She was still calling at night and was joined by another frogmouth who was also calling with a slightly different call. This was probably the aforementioned Tawny Frogmouth. Again Great, Intermediate and Cattle Egret have been around as well as a juvenile Nankeen Night-Heron which was for the second week found along Bushy Creek. Pacific Baza also continue to be around but are making slow progress on their nest with very little construction over the week. Two White-belled Sea-Eagle with a juvenile bird were around, circling over the Lodge grounds as was a Brown Goshawk. Grey Goshawk and Nankeen Kestrel were also seen.

Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet have been feasting on the prolific flowers of the Pink Mahogany and Bumpy Satinash drowning out most other bird calls.

Rainbow Lorikeet - in Bumpy Satinash

 
A pair of Rainbow Lorikeet had two juvenile birds in tow who were begging food with their wings outstretched in one of the Bumpy Satinash trees. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were again only seen flying over as were a pair of Channel-billed Cuckoo. Eastern Koel were again in a fruiting fig along Bushy Creek and a very brave Pheasant Coucal laboured to fly across the creek before flopping into a tree. They are terrible flyers and spend most of their time climbing trees so they can glide downwards rather than fly! Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo was seen and Brush Cuckoo heard. At least three individual Eastern Barn Owl were seen and an Azure Kingfisher flew into a window of our neighbours house. It was stunned and put into a box for the night to recover which it did as it flew off strongly in the morning. Great Bowerbird and Red-backed Fairy-wren were active along McDougall Road and Lovely Fairy-wren were heard along Bushy Creek near the Platypus viewing area. Lewin's Honeyeater were back in numbers with up to nine at the feeder after being away for several weeks, one of them had a damaged lower mandible with a piece missing. Note that the bird in this image has the distinctive blue-grey iris of the adult Lewin's and the normally crescent shape yellow ear patch is distorted out of shape by the bird turning it's head.

Lewin's Honeyeater

A few Bridled Honeyeater were around feeding on the flowers of the Black Bean tree and Brown-backed Honeyeater continued to feed their nestlings. Noisy Friarbird turned up in the orchard area feeding on the flowers of the Black Bean but had to contend with noisy Rainbow Lorikeet who chased them off. At least five Barred Cuckoo-shrike were around all week with plenty of calling but not showing well. A male Cicadabird was foraging 4m off the ground in one of our neighbours trees giving the occasional call and a brown juvenile Black Butcherbird was hiding in trees in front of the units being harassed by the Pale-yellow Robin. A Northern Fantail returned to our neighbours garden after nearly a months absence and Leaden Flycatcher seems to be established in the area. Black-faced Monarch are calling well and probably looking for a place to nest, they have not been too successful around the Lodge grounds previously as they have a habit of singing on the nest – not a good survival strategy! Lemon-bellied Flycatcher was heard once but not seen; they have been gone from the area for nearly a month now. A few Grey-headed Robin are still with us and finding food easier to get after the rains softened the ground. Metallic Starling are also taking advantage of the flowering trees, this image shows one in the same Bumpy Satinash as the Rainbow Lorikeet.

Metallic Starling

The rain triggered flying termites to leave their nest in huge numbers and several bird species suddenly became flycatchers including this Red-browed Finch who was feasting on the high protein food supply.

Red-browed Finch - with termite

Further afield a White-necked Heron was seen along the Peninsular Road in Lake Mitchell (between Mareeba and Mt. Molloy), they are not very common in our region. Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo was seen in the Mowbray National Park as was Lovely Fairy-wren. The Daintree River trips have been turning up some good birds for our guests including Little Kingfisher and two Black Bittern but the most unusual sighting was of a Noisy Pitta in the mangroves dismembering a crab! Geoff Jones, who some of you might know from his excellent bird images posted onto his Barra Imaging website called by one day and reported seeing some White-throated Needletail outside Kuranda.

Mammals and reptile numbers were again good this week with 26 species seen and one heard. An increase in frog species due to the rains helped this total, they were Striped Marsh Frog, Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Dessert Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog – heard, Peter's Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad. A Green Tree Snake was seen heading across the orchard before it climbed effortlessly up a trunk of a Malabar or Guyana Chestnut fruit tree. Several unidentified skink (Carlia sp.) and a Boyd's Forest Dragon appeared at the same termite mound as the Red-browed Finch to join in the feast. 

Carlia sp.

 

Boyd's Forest Dragon - at termite mound

A Striped Possum was seen three times in the same tree near the Crake Pool and a Platypus was seen several times in Bushy Creek, once at 9.30 in the morning. Several young Bush Rat have appeared at the feeder with their parents as well as a Fawn-footed Melomys. The Northern Brown and Long-nosed Bandicoot are enjoying the softened ground and have been busy celebrating by aerating our grassy areas with their deep conical holes. They have also been coming to the feeder most nights except one when it was pouring with rain and they decided to stay indoors.

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.

7th August Report 2011

The week started off with fine sunny conditions but gradually the cloud came in and by the end of the week there was rain and drizzle, not a lot with only 8.5mm spread over 3 days. The temperatures felt colder due to a wind chill factor with the lowest 13.7ºc overnight getting up to a high of 21.9ºc during the day.

Another good week for numbers of bird species with 111 seen, five more than last week and a further 3 heard. Reptiles and mammals were 20 which was pretty good, this was mainly due to the wet weather bringing out a few more frogs. The weeks bird list is on the Eremaea Birds website.
Morning birdwalk lists are also on the Eremaea Birds site.

The most surprising record for the week was 35-40 Red-tailed Black Cockatoo flying over the Rex Highway heading towards Mount Molloy on the evening of the 6th. This is only the second record in August in six years with most of the previous 23 records being in December to March.

Four Brown Quail were seen crossing the Rex Highway line astern and five over flying Magpie Goose were doing the same. The two male and one female Cotton Pygmy-goose are still along McDougall Road as are Wandering Whistling-Duck, Australian Wood Duck, Pacific Black Duck and a Hardhead. Brown Cuckoo-Dove were out in force in our neighbours garden with up to twelve foraging on green fruits on a small tree. Emerald Dove numbers are back to the level they were at before they disappeared a month ago with at least ten individuals. A Wompoo Fruit-Dove was foraging in a fruiting tree at the entrance to the Lodge grounds late in the week with at least two others heard calling. 

Wompoo Fruit-Dove

Our female Papuan Frogmouth was roosting in the orchard for most of the week but disappeared at the end and probably moved into the rainforest due to the rain. An Australian Owlet-nightjar was seen only once peering out of its daytime roost and a rarity around here at the moment, an Eastern Great Egret was seen several times along McDougall Road and overflying the Lodge. Four Australian White Ibis were flying over heading to the local Barramundi Farm and a lone Straw-necked Ibis was foraging in a paddock along Mt. Kooyong Road just across from the Lodge. A pair of Pacific Baza obligingly perched low down in trees near the entrance to the Lodge whilst on a morning walk, one flew towards Geraghty Park and perched in full sun for excellent views. A Wedge-tailed Eagle was again seen soaring over the area surrounding the Lodge and a Nankeen Kestrel was again guarding it's nesting tree. Katie and William the Buff-banded Rail who are just over three months old now are continuing to keep our guests entertained. An Australian Bustard was behind the Julatten School one morning, not common around the Lodge area with only one other sighting over the last six years.

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet were seen entering a nest hollow in a Queensland Blue Gum and Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were in a tree along McDougall Road at the beginning of the week. Eastern Barn Owl were again seen on nightwalks with up to six perched and flying around. Three Spotted Catbird were chasing and calling at the end of the week in the rainforest at the rear of our units and also visiting the feeder spasmodically. Fairy Gerygone were coming down lower in the rainforest than normal allowing a photo of this immature male (?).

Fairy Gerygone - immature male (?)

Great Bowerbird was again in Geraghty Park feeding on the small bush mentioned last week. The adjacent Callistemon was also attracting eleven species of honeyeater – Lewin's, Graceful, Yellow-faced, Yellow, Brown-backed, Dusky, Scarlet, Brown, White-throated, Blue-faced and Macleay's. Several people have asked who Macleay's Honeyeater was named after, well it was named after Sir William John Macleay (1820-1891) Scottish/Australian politician and naturalist.


The Callistemon was also attracting many insects including the bee shown below loaded down with pollen. Also couldn't resist another Scarlet Honeyeater photo as they are such stunning birds plus the Yellow-faced Honeyeater managed to stop chasing each other around long enough for a photo.

Bee sp.

Scarlet Honeyeater - male

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

In addition Spangled Drongo and Varied Triller were also feeding in the Callistemon. 

A few Barred Cuckoo-shrike are still being seen but they are still scarce in the area. Australasian Figbird were around in small flocks. We thought this bird below was an immature male figbird at first but one anonymous reader suggested it was an Olive-backed Oriole. We reviewed the image and agreed with this ID. We had looked at the plate in HANZAB which did not show the immature as in this image but upon reading the text more closely we realised it fitted the oriole. Always willing to be corrected! So it now has the correct ID.

Olive-backed Oriole - immature

Still only a few Spangled Drongo around with one coming into the feeder and making quite a noise, calling as it tries to get stuck into the nectar feeder. Northern Fantail continues to hang around the edge of the rainforest whilst there have been Grey Fantail along McDougall Road. 

Northern Fantail

The Black-faced Monarch previously mentioned overwintering around the Lodge is still with us and Pied Monarch has been showing well with one seen on a morning walk about 1m off the ground foraging on a tree trunk. An Australian Reed-Warbler was heard and seen along Bushy Creek in some of the last remaining patches of grass since the cane farmer mowed right down to the creek edge. Bassian Thrush have again been in our neighbours garden preferring it to our orchard where they had been. Metallic Starling numbers have built up over the week with a flock of at least 20 seen foraging in the Lodge. Chestnut-breasted Mannikin have started to re-appear at the seed feeder since the return of the rain with at least three visiting.

Reptiles and mammals were good this week with frog species bolstering the numbers, seven species were seen – Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Dessert Tree Frog, Juvenile Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad. A Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko was found at the end of the week after nearly three weeks absence. Northern Blossom Bat and Spectacled Flying Fox were in the orchard along with Green Ringtail and Striped Possum.

Jungguy Frog

   

Striped Possum

Water Rat was again in Bushy Creek along with several sightings of Platypus which was active during the day. This is not the normal behaviour of our Platypus in the fast flowing creek, they are usually about early morning and early evening/night but have been seen in the afternoon between 2.00-3.30, once two were seen together. It maybe coincidence but the sightings of Platypus during the day have coincided with the appearance of the Water Rat during the night who may be spooking the Platypus.

Further afield Squatter Pigeon was in Mount Molloy as were Pied Currawong who were seen at the end of the week - it is most unusual to find them at this location, they only turn up here every 3-4 years (pers. comm Lloyd Nielsen).  Flowering eucalypts were attracting White-cheeked and Bridled Honeyeater as well as a large flock (up to 100) Double-eyed Fig-Parrot along the highway towards Mount Molloy. Square-tailed Kite have been seen in the Julatten area once last week.