30th December 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Over the past two weeks the weather has been sunshine and hot days with a very rare drop of rain resulting in 7.5mm. No sign of the monsoonal trough coming our way yet. The minimum temperature over the two weeks were cool for this time of year with a minimum of 16.5ºC which was slightly less than the previous two weeks. The maximum temperature was 33.4ºC, which was about 3º more than the previous two weeks. The humidity was still high, up to 92% and again extremely low for us at 41%.

Bird sightings for the first week were 96 seen plus 4 heard. The second week had slightly less sightings due mainly to the Christmas festivities taking away a couple of observation days! There was 91 seen plus 4 heard. Mammal and reptile species were 23 seen and two frog species heard.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:-

December16th-22nd and December23rd-29th

Morning walk lists can also be found on the Eremaea Birds Website.

Birding Highlights:-

Green Pygmy-goose have been seen in the McDougall Road lagoons with up to three pairs. One pair were displaying with the female doing all the work. She was swimming around the male head bobbing as she went, the male was taking no notice and continued feeding, this behaviour makes a change as it is a role reversal to what we normally see. 

Green Pygmy-goose - male and female

Both Superb and Wompoo Fruit-Dove have been seen in the Lodge grounds. Red-necked Crake have been calling and being seen with two making an appearance at the Crake Pool late one afternoon and another seen walking through the rainforest on the edge of the orchard. Congratulations to Gavin, one of our guests, for finding the Red-necked Crake after numerous attempts over many years. Both Buff-banded Rail and White-browed Crake were showing well in one of the McDougall Road lagoons late in the second week. 

White-browed Crake

Pale-vented Bush-hen have also been seen, in the neighbours garden and along Bushy Creek at the Platypus viewing area. Barking Owl have started to appear in the Lodge grounds on dusk, perching in front of the units and behind the bunkhouse before heading off for the night. A (Lesser) Sooty Owl was roosting for a day in leaves and vines along the road to the reception where Gavin found it and many more guests could see it. Some Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have actually started to dig out their nests in the termite mounds but so far only two pairs out of at least seven are digging. A Blue-winged Kookaburra was seen with a large lizard in its bill but it flew off before the prey could be identified. A Noisy Pitta was near the Crake Pool collecting moss for its nest mid-way through the second week. A Macleay's Honeyeater was also seen collecting nesting material. Leaden Flycatcher females have been active but no sign of males.

Leaden Flycatcher - female

A juvenile Pied Monarch has been foraging around the Bunkhouse area, showing dull grey plumage where the adults are white and also very brown primary wing feathers.

Pied Monarch - juvenile

Further Afield:-

Mt. Lewis has been performing over the last few weeks with one trip seeing all the 12 Wet Tropic endemic birds in four hours. A Tooth-billed Bowerbird was seen displaying 5m up in a tree, spreading its wings and calling, full list for trip. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch have been difficult as the dry weather has stunted the grass growth which has not produced much seed however they are on the mountain if you are prepared to be patient. Sightings over the last two weeks have had up to five birds with three together the most. Chook (David Crawford) from Close Up Birding Adventures reported a Little Eagle at Hunters Creek near Abattoir Swamp.

Local Area:-

McDougall Road gets a fair plug in the blog for many sightings, mainly waterbirds, so we thought a bit more explanation was required. There are two lagoons along the road, one on the left hand side a few hundred metres off the Rex Highway and a second lagoon further down the road across Bushy Creek and on the right. Both these lagoons are on private property and can and should be viewed from the road. This image shows the second lagoon.

McDougall Road Lagoon

This image shows a darter taken this past week at the second lagoon, the previous images of White-browed Crake and Green Pygmy-goose were also taken at the same time.

Australasian Darter

Between the Lodge and McDougall Road is a dam, also viewed from the road (Rex Highway) which often has some good waterbirds, however with the current dry spell it is drying out rapidly, this we call Sparky's Dam.

Sparky's Dam

Other Images:-
Continuing on from the last blog about birds on signs here are a couple more on man made structures. A Laughing Kookaburra on our front entrance light pole and a Pale-yellow Robin on a rather old tree identification sign.

Laughing Kookaburra

Pale-yellow Robin

 This Large-billed Scrubwren was showing off its "large" bill.

Large-billed Scrubwren

Reptiles and Mammals:-

A small Yellow-footed Antichinus has been a regular at the feeder taking banana as has a Major Skink. Striped Possum have been seen several times around the units and in the orchard. Platypus (3) are still showing well in Bushy Creek and Short-beaked Echidna has also been seen twice along the track from the orchard to Bushy Creek, one sighting on a night walk, second sighting was during the day. A Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko was found on a tree adjacent to the cookshed early one evening before we went out on a night walk, unusual to see one so early. Several sightings were had of Australian Scrub Python along with a 4m skin along Bushy Creek.

Guests Photo:-

Neil was in the right place at the right time for this Black-necked Stork who was flying over Mt. Molloy showing some moult in the primary feathers. Great Photo.

Black-necked Stork

Finally we would like to wish all our readers a safe and happy new year and one that brings many great birding experiences.

21st October 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Over the past two weeks we have once again had stunning weather with a couple of rainy days at the end of the two weeks, amounting to 5.5mm. The minimum temperature over the two weeks was 15.1ºC which was slightly less than the previous two weeks. The maximum temperature was 29.6ºC, which was 3ºC higher than the previous two weeks. The humidity was still high, up to 91% and again a very extreme low for us of 46%.

Bird sightings for the first week were 99 seen plus 4 heard. The second week had slightly more sightings due mainly to a greater effort in observations with 107 seen plus 7 heard. Mammal and reptile species were well up on the previous two weeks with a total number reaching 30 which must be a record number.

The last two weeks bird lists are on the Eremaea Birds Website for Week1 and Week2 plus morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds

Birding Highlights:

A Nankeen Night-Heron was seen once flying off from the Crake Pool early one morning, this is an occasional visitor.

 

 

Nankeen Night-Heron

A white phase Grey Goshawk was gliding over Mt. Kooyong Road one morning before landing in the Lodge grounds high in a Queensland Blue Gum where it sat for nearly 10 minutes before being chased off by two Blue-faced Honeyeater. This goshawk is probably the bird responsible for the three remains of Bar-shouldered Dove we have found around the grounds over the last month. Our neighbour and bird guide Andrew Iles actually saw a Red-necked Crake in a gully between his house and our Crake Pool. This was after hearing them several times over the last few weeks. Barking Owl were back in the rainforest between the Lodge and the Rex Highway one evening whilst we were on a night walk. We saw the bird calling from inside the rainforest on the edge of Geraghty Park whilst we were looking for Eastern Barn Owl and later found another (maybe the same bird) perched in a tree behind our two bedroom units preening. This bird was quite oblivious of our presence and continued preening while we all had good looks at it. The following day we found a head of a Bush Rat close to where the owl was perched which may have been one of its victims. Noisy Pitta have returned with at least two calling along with the first year bird who has been with us all year. The returning adults have made their presence felt, calling at all times of the day and night mainly from high up in trees. We have seen them anywhere from 5-10m up moving around from branch to branch establishing their territory. There were at least four Helmeted Friarbird feeding on a flowering tree in the rainforest near the Crake Pool which is quite unusual as is the Little Friarbird foraging at the entrance to the Lodge early one morning. Normal distribution for the helmeted's is along the coast and up onto the fringing ranges getting into the extreme east of Julatten.

Other sightings:

Their have been several Superb Fruit-Dove feeding in the Lodge grounds but only one sighting over the last two weeks. Pied Imperial Pigeon continue to be around cooing and feeding on rainforest fruits in the Lodge along with the occasional small flock of Topknot Pigeon who drop in. Our female Papuan Frogmouth still plays hide and seek with us but we do manage to find her on a few days, albeit with a little help from our indicator bird the Pale Yellow Robin who lets us know where the froggie is! The Australian Owlet-nightjar was only showing once at its daytime roost when we looked over the two weeks but at least we know it is still using the site. Interestingly we have only been seeing male Australasian Darter over the last few months, where have all the females gone? 

Australasian Darter - male

A single Black-necked Stork is still around the district showing up at the Barramundi Farm or McDougall Road lagoons and a White-necked Heron was seen flying into some ponding opposite Geraghty Park, not a common bird here. Numbers of Cattle Egret have decreased as some of them have been coming into their breeding colours and presumably gone off to their nest sites. Still a few Australian White Ibis around with up to six seen several times and also four Royal Spoonbill flying over, one more than the three which have been in the area for 3-4 months. Raptors have been quite good with several Pacific Baza sightings, Whistling and Black Kite scavenging in cut cane paddocks, Brahminy Kite soaring over the Barramundi Farm, two Brown Goshawk in a thermal over the Lodge one afternoon, Grey Goshawk which was previously mentioned, a Wedge-tailed Eagle soaring over the Lodge whilst on a morning walk and an Australian Hobby who whizzed into the seed feeder near the reception and took an unfortunate Red-browed Finch. A fruiting fig tree on the corner of the camp ground was attracting a few birds including Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, Great Bowerbird, Barred Cuckoo-shrike, Australasian Figbird and Metallic Starling. 
 

Australasian Figbird - male calling

A female Eastern (Common) Koel was foraging high in a rainforest tree near the Crake Pool and a male was seen flying over Mt. Kooyong Road near the Lodge entrance, both sightings on morning walks. Channel-billed Cuckoo have quietened down and maybe preparing to raid Torresian Crow nests in the area. A Laughing Kookaburra was seen on the seat at the Crake Pool bashing a Cane Toad for at least five minutes before eating it – hope it survived the toads toxin which it should have removed when smashing it onto the seat. Dollarbird are about the area but not calling. Fifteen species of honeyeater were seen over the two weeks including a late staying Lewin's Honeyeater, many Bridled Honeyeater in a tree in the orchard and White-cheeked Honeyeater an occasional visitor. Cicadabird and Grey Whistler have been calling well but not seen often but Rufous Whistler male and female have been showing. The Rufous Whistler have been in Geraghty Park; we thought we would give the female a go rather than the usual images of the male which appear more often when talking of this species.

Rufous Whistler - female

Black Butcherbird have been sneaking around the rainforest and Spangled Drongo numbers have been fluctuating as they migrate through. At least one Rufous Fantail is still with us and a couple of Northern Fantail have been hanging out in Geraghty Park. Leaden Flycatcher are calling with both male and female birds being seen. Black-faced Monarch have been calling and chasing each other which looks like a prelude to nesting. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been regular in Geraghty Park over the last two weeks and Grey-headed Robin numbers continue to fall as birds return to high altitudes. The pair of Olive-backed Sunbird reported in previous blogs nesting in Geraghty Park failed with their second nest attempt and have not been back to the nest for nearly two weeks.

Further Afield:-

Banded Honeyeater have been seen around Mt. Molloy and further north around Station Creek, these honeyeaters are highly nomadic. This Tawny Frogmouth has a nest in the Rifle Creek camping area at Mt. Molloy which is quite substantial for a frogmouth!

Tawny Frogmouth

Carol Iles, the other half of our bird guiding neighbours, reported Australian Pratincole at East Mary Road (north of Mt. Molloy) and 100+ White-throated Needletail over McLeod River (north of Mt. Carbine). The needletail were flying in a corridor southwards before circling over the river. Carol also had two Blue-faced Parrot-Finch near Abattoir Swamp and another one on Mt.Lewis. Another two were reported from Mt. Lewis late on the second week. The Parrot-Finch are a few weeks early up on the mountain and with no sightings near Abattoir Swamp this last week may signal their movement to higher altitudes. Mt. Lewis continues to turn up the “Wet Tropic” endemics apart from male Golden Bowerbird which are being seen outside Atherton at Mt. Hypipamee (The Crater). Several of our guests had a Barking Owl at Abattoir Swamp during the day.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Highlight for mammals was a rare visitor to the Lodge, a Musky Rat-kangaroo who shot across the path from the orchard to Bushy Creek whilst we were on a morning walk. This is only the second record we can remember at the Lodge. Another good record was a Red-legged Pademelon in the orchard one night. Both Green Ringtail and Striped Possum were seen in the second week, the stripy at night and the green roosting during the day. A Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko was seen one night and was the first for several weeks, they are difficult to find as this image shows with their great camouflage. 

Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko

Frogs were scarce with only one or two of each species seen of the five species recorded. At least two Boyd's Forest Dragon and three Major Skink were active and showing well. An Australian Scrub Python (Amethystine Python) and a Green Tree Snake were both seen in the Lodge grounds.

Other Happenings:-

Not quite happened yet but the total eclipse of the sun will be happening on the morning of the 14^th November right over the Lodge grounds at 6.38am, lets hope it is a clear morning with no rain or cloud. We still have a few camp sites and accommodation available, get in quick. We have eclipse glasses for sale which will allow viewing of the event and also the next event on May 10th, which is annular eclipse (partial) covering most of Australia, in particular Cape York Peninsula. Cost $4.00 each.

Attracting Birds:-

There are many ways to attract birds to your garden including putting out a bird bath, a shallow one is quite adequate. We have several around the Lodge and they are always busy with birds coming and going including the ones show below.

Large-billed Scrubwren

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

White-throated Honeyeater

Pale-yellow Robin

If you are really lucky you could even get a Noisy Pitta calling in!

Noisy Pitta

Mystery Bird:-

Last blogs mystery bird was a Yellow-tinted Honeyeater. This bird was photographed at Kaban on the western edge of the Atherton Tableland and can be confused with Fuscous Honeyeater. The nearest population of Fuscous Honeyeater to here are around Cardwell and Broadwater Park further south. The birds in the Wondecla/Kaban area of the western Atherton Tableland build nests like Yellow-tinted Honeyeater and are not bulkier nests like the Fuscous. The young of these birds have bi-couloured bills adding to id confusion but the adults have black bills. All very confusing. (thanks to Lloyd Neilsen for information on this bird).
 
So if you come across these birds in these areas make sure you have a good look at them.

 Yellow-tinted Honeyeater

29th July 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

The first week had 3 rain days amounting to 11mm, which was just enough to keep the ground soft, the second week was dry with sunshine and a little cloud cover. The top temperature was a pleasant 22.1ºC and the minimum was 13.1ºC. The humidity was high up to 97% and down to 71%.

Bird sightings for the first week were 96 seen plus 3 heard. The second week had slightly more sightings due mainly to the great weather but also more birds calling, 105 seen plus 5 heard. Mammal and reptile species were slightly more than the last two weeks – 23 species were seen over the two weeks. The last two weeks bird lists are on the Eremaea Birds Website for Week1 and Week2 plus morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds

Birding Highlights:

The return of Metallic Starling to their nest tree in Geraghty Park on the 27^th July, one day later than last year. Whether these are over-wintering birds from the coastal areas between Daintree and Cairns or migrants returning from Papua New Guinea we don't know but we would like to think they are returning migrants – welcome back. 

Metallic Starling

One female Cotton Pygmy-goose was on one of the McDougall Road lagoons late in the second week and Superb Fruit-Dove returned to the Lodge grounds foraging high in the rainforest canopy near the Crake Pool. A Swamp Harrier was along McDougalls Road one day and is an uncommon visitor for us. A Pale-vented Bush-hen was heard near the local Barramundi Farm which confirms their presence in the area but no sign of them showing at this time of year. Little Kingfisher was still making appearances on the Crake Pool and Bushy Creek over the two weeks and a White-cheeked Honeyeater was foraging at the back of the local nursing home. A common bird out towards Abattoir Swamp 6km away but uncommon around the Lodge. 

White-cheeked Honeyeater

Several Black-chinned Honeyeater (Golden-backed form) were taking advantage of the flowering Queensland Blue Gum in Geraghty Park whilst on a morning walk. The same walk also produced a male Satin Flycatcher, again in Geraghty Park, showing its iridescent black plumage.

Other sightings:

Several Orange-footed Scrubfowl (one of the megapodes) pairs have started to get aggressive towards each other with some quite ferocious fights going on around the grounds with them making more noise than usual - if that is possible! This one is showing off its punk hairdo.

Orange-footed Scrubfowl

Wompoo Fruit-Dove have been calling and taking advantage of some of the fruiting rainforest trees which are becoming available now around the Lodge grounds. A few Topknot Pigeon are coming back but not in the numbers we had earlier in the year when when we had hundreds flying over. Australian Swiftlet are taking advantage of recently cut cane paddocks to feast on the disturbed insects along with the Fairy Martin who have been in flocks of over 100. A few egret have been showing, mainly at the local Barramundi Farm, with Eastern Great, Intermediate, Cattle and Little mingling with the Australian White Ibis and a few Royal Spoonbill. Pacific Baza have been making an appearance once or twice each week and an Australian Hobby swooped down onto a pile of mulch in the camping area to grab a small unfortunate mammal, which looked like a Fawn-footed Melomys. A juvenile Scaly-breasted Lorikeet has taken up residence in one of our grevillea's and has been foraging in it for the last 5-6 days, it appears to be on its own with no sign of the parents. As you can see from this photo the bird has hardly any tail.

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet - juvenile

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were feeding in a fruiting fig tree behind the local nursing home with at least 10 seen whilst on a morning walk. Despite fruit still in the tree they have not been back for nearly a week. The same tree was also attracting mobs of Australian Figbird (surprise!) and a few Barred Cuckoo-shrike. A Fan-tailed Cuckoo which was calling in Geraghty Park was the first record for here this year but they have been heard in the district for about a month. The pair of Barking Owl reported in previous blogs are still with us and made an early evening appearance in the camping area, much to the delight of several of our guests, calling and showing well for a few minutes before heading off for their night-time foray for food. The two pairs of Eastern Barn Owl nearby appear to have chicks in their nests as we saw one brief appearance of a small bird with fluffy down and another more mature bird in the second nest. Unfortunately we found one injured E. Barn Owl under one of the nests and another bird which looked like a non-flying juvenile on the ground during the day. This bird was quite lively spreading its wings in defence and bill snapping upon approach but there was a couple of Sulphur-crested Cockatoo above it in a tree squawking drawing attention to it. So the owl was coerced into moving a short distance into the rainforest edge for shelter where hopefully the parents would find it.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Azure Kingfisher have been along Bushy Creek and the Noisy Pitta mentioned in the last blog is still coming to the feeder for a bit of banana occasionally. Spotted Catbird are also coming to the feeder for banana and calling a lot whilst lurking around in the rainforest. Thirteen species of honeyeater were seen over the two weeks which is a good number; they have plenty of flowering plants to choose from at the moment. A pair of Yellow Honeyeater have started using one of our bird baths and this one was enjoying a bit of a preen and a shakedown in the sun.

Yellow Honeyeater

Olive-backed Oriole have been around and showing well which is unusual for them as they are more often heard than seen. An adult Black Butcherbird has been around in the rainforest and on one occasion flushed from under the raised boards of the tour group eating area in front of the units, probably looking for a Bush Rat. We still have both Grey and Rufous Fantail foraging around the grounds and quite often they are following each other around. Spectacled Monarch have started chasing and calling a lot, maybe prelude to breeding.

Spectacled Monarch

Pied Monarch are showing well with four foraging on the same tree on the edge of the orchard. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been coming down low, perching on fences and pouncing onto the ground for insects. This behaviour makes a change from having strain ones neck looking skywards for birds perched on tree branches which is more normal, we think you can all relate to “birdwatchers neck”! The Olive-backed Sunbird who were mentioned in the last blog started to use their nest in Geraghty Park but the female found herself locked in the library room (next to her nest) one night and was not rescued until Lindsay went over with a key the next morning to release her. She was soon back on the nest and later in the week she was sitting, hopefully for a good outcome but it would be surprising if that clutch of eggs survived.

Olive-backed Sunbird

  
Further Afield:-

Our roving bird guide Carol Iles reported Varied Sittella opposite Lake Mitchell (between Mareeba and Mt. Molloy), Black-breasted Buzzard at Biboora near Mareeba and at Maryfarms to our north on the way to Mt. Carbine Sacred and Red-backed Kingfisher, a flock of White-winged Triller (adult females), Black-faced Woodswallow and Diamond Dove still along West and East Maryfarms Roads. Cotton Pygmy-goose were on Lake Mitchell, two male and four female/juvenile male Golden Bowerbird were on Mt. Lewis one morning along with another nine of the twelve “wet tropic” endemic birds Fernwren, Atherton Scrubwren, Mountain Thornbill, Macleay's Honeyeater, Grey-headed Robin, Chowchilla, Bower's Shrike-thrush, Victoria's Riflebird and Tooth-billed Bowerbird. Not bad getting ten out of the twelve endemics in one morning. Up to six Blue-faced Parrot-finch have been seen near Abattoir Swamp but they have been difficult to find. Squatter Pigeon have been seen in Mt Molloy near the school (visit after 4.00pm).

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The cooler drier weather has restricted sightings of some of the frogs and reptiles resulting in a lower than previous weeks reptile and mammal count of 23 species. Highlight here was the sighting of three Platypus in Bushy Creek, two adults and one juvenile which is great confirmation that they have been breeding. Both Striped and Green Ringtail Possum

were seen but only once or twice during the last two weeks. Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko have again been reliable on night walks, whilst two Boyd's Forest Dragon have been around the reception area until the last couple of days when the temperatures have dropped.

Other Happenings:-

We attended the Birdlife North Queensland meeting at the Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas on 28^th July with about 50 members and guests. The entertainment for the evening started off with an entertaining bird quiz prepared and hosted by Murray Hunt (Daintree Boatman). Our team finished up in a draw for first place which required a tie breaking question to decided the outcome, luckily for us we answered this question to take the spoils! All good fun. This was followed by Andrew Forsyth from Red Mill House in the Daintree Village presenting an overview of birdwatching in the far north Wet Tropic area. Andrew illustrated the reasons for birders to come to our region which has over 350 species of birds occurring in a very diverse range of habitats along with specialist birding accommodation and tour guides to give visitors a complete birding experience. This was followed by one of the wildlife keepers at the Wildlife Habitat giving a talk about the breeding success of their pair of Black-necked Stork, which was very informative. The birds are currently sitting on three eggs which are due to hatch around the beginning of August. The evening was a great success and is the start of of monthly meetings to be held by the group. More information can be found on the Birdlife North Queensland website. 

BirdLife Meeting at Wildlife Habitat

 

22nd January 2012 Report

A week with lots of rain after a week with none, we had 93mm for the week spread over the 7 days. The majority fell overnight with a few showers during the day but still allowed birding time in the dry.

The temperatures were pretty consistent throughout the week with the minimums ranging from 22.0ºc to 22.7ºc and during the day were up to 32.3ºc at the beginning of the week but for the rest they were between 26.3ºc to 28.7ºc which was quite pleasant. Humidity was high with all the rain from 78% to 87% minimum and between 92% to 96% for the maximum.

There were actually more birds recorded this week than last despite the rain. Waterbirds numbers were down but a few more raptors were around with five species seen; totals were 100 seen, 8 heard. 18 mammal and reptile species were seen, 3 heard and one found dead. 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 lone Black-necked Stork was in the first lagoon along McDougall Road late one afternoon. Red-necked Crake was foraging before having a bath in a pool beside the orchard for over 10 minutes and two Pale-vented Bush-hen chasing each other around on our neighbours lawn. A neighbour across the Rex Highway reported a lone Australian Bustard in their front paddock; we get several reports of a lone bustard around the Julatten area every year. 34 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo flying over late in the week must be the most we have seen in the Lodge area and a Northern Fantail surprised us when it was heard calling in Geraghty Park late in the week. This is the first record for 11 weeks. 

Northern Fantail

A single Horsfield's Bushlark seen along McDougall Road is an uncommon bird in the area with only two previous records in the last six years.

Other sightings:

Brown Quail were calling along McDougall Road and two flew out of long grass beside the road for good views. A few waterbirds were still present in the McDougall Road lagoons but only one or two of each species such as Hardhead, Australasian Grebe, Australasian Darter, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorant, Eastern Great Egret and Comb-crested Jacana. The second swamp has been taken over by frogs and dragonfly's! The female Papuan Frogmouth made two appearances in the orchard during the week and was heard calling during a rain storm one evening. Raptors were again hard to find but a few made a showing in the area, Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling and Black Kite plus a Brown Falcon. A pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were in a Queensland Blue Gum tree in the camping area. A male Pheasant Coucal was perched on a fence post along Mt. Kooyong Road calling for over 30 minutes for no apparent reason – no other coucals in the vicinity. Eastern Koel fired up with the rain and started calling for most of the week and at least two Channel-billed Cuckoo were around. We should start to see these cuckoos passing through on northward migration soon. Brush Cuckoo were also calling and dropping in a few “referee whistle” calls. Sooty Owl were only heard this week on several occasions and Eastern Barn Owl were seen hunting along the Rex Highway one night.

The good news is that at least four of our Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher nests have chicks in, we found eggshells outside of them and heard the chicks calling from inside. One nest had three eggshells outside the others had two. There are at least four other nests with adults sitting but no sign of hatching as yet. We have at least 45 termite mounds in the Lodge grounds and at least 8 have nests in them. Late News! One more nest had two chicks hatch Saturday night with two eggshells found Sunday morning, that is five with chicks so far.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - entering nest to feed chicks

No more sightings of Rainbow Bee-eater over the lodge his week but a few are still along McDougall Road. Dollarbird numbers seem to be less at the moment with only a couple sighted and our Noisy Pitta have been not so noisy this week and only showing a couple of times. They are probably sitting on eggs by now as they appear to have finished nest building. Spotted Catbird have been having a feast in our orchard as they are getting stuck into the fruit of a Soursop tree. This is a large fruit which can weigh over 6kg's but they rarely get that big here as the Spectacled Fly-fox get into them at night and the catbird cleans up during the day. We are quite happy for them to have the fruit as it is not to our tastes. Lovely Fairy-wren were again heard late afternoon in some bamboo along Bushy Creek where we suspect they go to roost. Large-billed Gerygone continue to attend a nest hanging over Bushy Creek near the Platypus viewing area and should be feeding chicks by now. 

Large-billed Gerygone

Ten species of honeyeater were recorded with the rainy weather hindering their attempts to get nectar from the trees they have started coming back to the feeders. Yellow-spotted, Graceful, Yellow, Blue-faced and Macleay's Honeyeater were all seen at feeders. The rain has also started the Macleay's Honeyeater to come under the veranda to roost in the dry, this one was perched on a chair by the mammal feeding area beside the reception.

Macleay's Honeyeater

A sub-adult Black Butcherbird has been around and has started to change out of it's juvenile brown plumage into it's black adult plumage. At least two pairs of Spangled Drongo have juveniles in tow who have been constantly begging for food. The Black-faced Monarch we have been chasing on the edge of the orchard for the last few weeks is still sitting on its nest and calling like a few others we have found in the area. One was even calling in the middle of the night on two different occasions. A pair of Spectacled Monarch are sitting on a nest precariously close to Bushy Creek, hope the creek does not flood and wash the nest away as happened a few years ago. Both Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and showing well after hiding for a few weeks. Olive-backed Sunbird at our neighbours house now have two chicks in their nest while ours are investigating their nest and sitting in it, not sure if they have laid yet. 

Olive-backed Sunbird - Female

Large flocks of Chestnut-breasted Mannikin have been around the local paddocks including those along McDougall Road which also had at least 12 Australian Pipit perching on fence posts. The mannikin flocks had a lot of juveniles mixed in with the adults but quite often we have seen juveniles form flocks of their own.

Chestnut-breasted Mannikin

Further Afield:-

A search for Buff-breasted Button-quail this week only turned up Painted Button-quail near Mt. Molloy. The Brady Road lagoon 4km north of Mareeba has now filled to overflowing and only had three Australian Grebe on it with 80+ Plumed Whistling-Duck flying in to land in an adjacent cow paddock whilst we were there mid-week. Another nearby lagoon had 2000+ Magpie Goose in it with a few Straw-necked Ibis but no other waterbirds. This is just a small section of them.

Magpie Goose

There was also a surprising number of Black Kite between Mt. Molloy and Mareeba at a time when most of these kites have gone further inland to breed, we must have seen close on 30 birds. One of the local Japanese tour guides, Ota, showed us an image taken on his mobile phone of a Peaceful Dove nest which was built on the rear windscreen wiper of a car parked at the Cairns Airport. Don't hold out much hope of this nest being successful. One white-tailed Needletail swooped down and was nearly collected by our car in Mt Molloy on Saturday morning. Mt. Lewis is still good for Blue-faced Parrot-Finch with 20+ seen this week however with the rain we have had it is best to check the road conditions if going up to the 10km clearing.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Frogs got excited with the rain and started calling, those heard but not seen were Striped marsh Frog, Roth's Frog and Dainty Green Tree Frog. Those seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad. Boyd's Forest Dragon are still around as are the Eastern Water Dragon. A Keelback snake was found run over along Mt. Kooyong Road near Bushy Creek. Only one Striped Possum sighting which was in our neighbours garden. A Giant White-tailed Rat was back at the feeder this week and a Red-legged Pademelon was in a gully between the Lodge and our neighbours garden. Regulars at the seed feeder include Bush Rat

Bush Rat

and Northern Brown Bandicoot.

Northern Brown Bandicoot

Hey no fungus this week!