15th July 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

The first week was dry, no rainfall to record and the second week was wet with annoying drizzle and some heavier falls resulting in 34.5mm. The top temperature was 24.0ºC and the minimum was 11.3ºC but most mornings had higher minimums of up to 21ºC. The humidity was high up to 98% and down to 73%.

Bird sightings for the first week were a high 100 seen plus 6 heard only. The second week had slightly less sightings due mainly to the inclement weather, 96 seen plus 5 heard. Mammal and reptile species were slightly more than the last two weeks – 28 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:

A Pacific Baza eating a White-lipped Green Tree Frog (not a highlight for the poor old frog!) outside the rear of the reception area, this was the first baza we have seen for a month. 

 

Pacific Baza - eating frog

A Little Kingfisher was along Bushy Creek Saturday afternoon of the second week which was a good sighting for one of our guests. At least four Barred Cuckoo-shrike were feeding in a fruiting fig tree beside the Rex Highway whilst on a morning walk. The morning walk was also a highlight with 61 species, the most recorded this year for a walk. An Australian Reed-Warbler was heard in a cane paddock, near our neighbours house, before being seen foraging amongst the cane. Not a common species here with only a few sightings each year.

Other sightings:

Waterbird numbers and species continue to fluctuate with Magpie Goose, Wandering Whistling-Duck, Hardhead and Royal Spoonbill being the most un-predictable in the area. A few juvenile Emerald Dove are around with this one coming to the feeder and chasing off the adults, in between times it stops to have a drink but not before walking around the bowl! 

Emerald Dove - juvenile

Wompoo Fruit-Dove were heard and a few Topknot Pigeon have been seen flying over. The female Papuan Frogmouth continues to play hide and seek but was in its usual on a few occasions, once after overnight rain it was very bedraggled and hardly recognisable as a bird! Australian Owlet-nightjar appeared at its daytime roost a couple of times and heard calling from the edge of the Lodge grounds mid-morning one day from a different area to the daytime roost. Australian Swiftlet have been aerial foraging low over cut cane paddocks along with Fairy Martin. Black-necked Stork are still around making appearances at Barramundi Gardens fish farm and along McDougall Road. Both Whistling and Black Kite have been foraging on the cut cane paddocks with up to 18 sighted at one time. A pair of Whistling Kite have been aerial displaying over the cane paddocks and maybe the pair which regularly nest near the Lodge getting ready for this years nesting cycle. Both Brown Goshawk and Collared Sparrowhawk have been in the area, usually along McDougall Road. One Nankeen Kestrel was on a power pole along the Rex Highway one day and an Australian Hobby was sitting at the top of a dead tree along Mt. Kooyong Road opposite the Lodge one afternoon. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot continue to fly over in ones and twos but not stopping as only one of the fig trees in the immediate area have ripe fruit on them at the moment with no sign of fig-parrots on it. A Pheasant Coucal was disturbed at the side of the Rex Highway whilst on a morning walk and a first for five weeks. The pair of Barking Owl reported previously are still with us and can be heard most evenings and early mornings calling. Noisy Pitta was around the feeder during the dry days but went back into the rainforest when the rain came. The feeder with the banana was still an attraction for the pitta as this photo shows.

Noisy Pitta - at feeder

 
Two Spotted Catbird were also coming in for banana and up to four Great Bowerbird were at the lone fruiting fig tree along with 50+ Australasian Figbird, a few White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike and the previously mentioned Barred Cuckoo-shrike. Lovely Fairy-wren were again heard in our neighbours garden late afternoon and appear to be roosting in a patch of bamboo alongside Bushy Creek. 12 honeyeater species around which are the same ones for the last month. Pied Monarch have been busy with one showing up one morning in a patch of rainforest next to the units foraging low down for good views. Grey-headed Robin have been regulars in the orchard and in the rainforest but this one has taken up residence in front of the units and around the feeder, very cute!

Grey-headed Robin

A pair of Olive-backed Sunbird have a nest in Geraghty Park which was constructed in a week by the female, male was supervising! They have not started using it yet.

Further Afield:-

Previous reports of 40+ Diamond Dove at Maryfarms near Mt. Carbine were eclipsed this week with 135 reported from the same location by Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours. Where and why are they coming in such large numbers this far east? A White-necked Heron was foraging at the side of the Rex Highway about 2km from Mount Molloy towards Julatten, an uncommon bird in the area. Also along this road on the same day were two Wedge-tailed Eagle soaring near Abattoir Swamp, another uncommon bird which was probably attracted by the cane harvesting. A pair of Fernwren collecting nesting material at Mowbray National Park (about 450m), Julatten, was an unusual record. They are normally found above 600m although they come down to almost sea level in Mossman Gorge National Park and normally nest around October - February but have been found breeding in July-August. A few sightings have been made of Blue-faced Parrot-Finch near Abattoir Swamp but only small numbers of less than five.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

It has been a few good weeks for mammal and reptile sightings with a couple of night walks being exceptional, even in the drizzly rain. One night walk produced Fawn-footed Melomys, Diadem Leaf-nosed Bat, Bush Rat, Giant White-tailed Rat, Green Ringtail Possum, Striped Possum, Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot, Spectacled Flying Fox, Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Desert Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog, Cane Toad, two Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko including one on the ground with its tail in the air and Boyd's Rainforest Dragon. Wish all night walks were like that one! 

Jungguy Frog

Platypus was seen in Bushy Creek one evening and a Yellow-footed Antichinus was coming to the feeder for banana when the pitta wasn't there.

Yellow-footed Antichinus

 

Yellow-footed Antichinus

A 3m Australian Scrub Python was seen crossing the road near our two bed-roomed units one evening. Late in the week three Red-legged Pademelon were seen in the orchard, which is great as we have only been seeing the occasional one. 10 - 20 years ago they were common in the orchard but disappeared for many years.

Birdwatchers Lodge in Far North Queensland 19th February 2012

Only 9mm of rain fell at the end of the week continuing this very strange dry “Wet Season” weather. So once again sunny warm days with the minimum temperature again much the same as last week, down to 22.0ºc and the maximum was a few degrees cooler, down to 31.6ºc.

Birds recorded were 96 seen and 8 heard. 15 mammal and reptile species were seen and two frogs 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:

Continued sightings of Red-necked Crakes, two adults and three half grown juveniles who have been seen in the rainforest behind the units and out front of the units heading across the road by the reception area. Five of the seven confirmed Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher nests have fledged with youngsters seen and heard in the rainforest. The other two nests with chicks in are not far off from fledging, judging by the noise coming from them and the parents perched nearby trilling.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - juvenile

Three Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo flew over Mt. Kooyong Road which were the first for a few weeks. One Lewin's Honeyeater was seen at the entrance to the Lodge grounds and was the first since one was heard at the beginning of January.

Other sightings:

Wetlands along McDougall Road continue to hold low numbers of waterbirds with only Magpie Goose, two Wandering Whistling-Duck, about 12 Pacific Black Duck, Hardhead, two Little Black Cormorant and two Masked Lapwing. Emerald Doves started calling this week which maybe a sign that they are interested in breeding.

Emerald Dove - male

Two Pied Imperial Pigeon in Geraghty Park are still behaving like they are going to nest but no sign of nesting material yet. No sightings of Papuan Frogmouth in the orchard this week or any calling at night but we did hear an Australian Owlet-nightjar calling one evening. About 12 White-throated Needletail flew over the adjacent cane paddock on Friday 17^th and One Fork-tailed Swift was flying over the same paddock paddock late on Wednesday 15^th. Several Black Bittern sightings were along McDougall road in seasonal ponding beyond the Bushy Creek bridge, one took off and followed the creek towards the Lodge. Four raptor species this week, Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle plus Whistling and Black Kite. One Buff-banded Rail scooted across Mt. Kooyong Road and into the Lodge grounds whist on a morning walk, did not stop to let us know if it was “Katie” or not! A White-browed Crake was in one of the lagoons along McDougall Road and was seen rather than has been the case, only heard. Pale-vented Bush-hen have again been vocal but shy on showing themselves, not enough rain to draw them out of the long grass. A Pheasant Coucal was seen along Mt. Kooyong Road and a male Eastern Koel was in our neighbours garden. 
 

Eastern Koel - male

A few Channel-billed Cuckoo have been calling as they have flown over but not it's not like previous years when flocks of birds passed through heading north on migration at this time of year. We have had up to 60 juvenile birds stop over for 2-3 weeks in February to feast on fruiting figs in the past, maybe they are just late this year. Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo and Brush Cuckoo are still around and calling. Several Forest Kingfisher pairs have a few juveniles/immatures they are feeding including this one in Geraghty Park. Some of our guests unfamiliar with Australian Kingfishers have mistaken them for Sacred Kingfisher because of the juveniles buffy parts, but of course sacred are green on the upper body parts and forest are blue. 
 

Forest Kingfisher - juvenile

A few Rainbow Bee-Eater were feeding in Geraghty Park and one adult Dollarbird was calling at the beginning of the week after we said that we thought they had left, fatal making those statements! Noisy Pitta made a few calls over the week but did not show, maybe because the grass in the orchard is long and needs mowing again after only a week, it is growing faster than Bamboo. A female Lovely Fairy-wren was seen in two different places, once in Geraghty Park and another time alongside the adjacent cane paddock at the end of Mt. Kooyong Road. Thirteen honeyeater species seen during the week with both Macleay's and Blue-faced Honeyeater coming to the sugar water feeder. Our neighbours have started to get Dusky Honeyeater come to their feeder which is something they never do at our feeder. Also a Bridled Honeyeater was down McDougall Road. Cicadabird are still with us and calling well as are Grey Whistler who have been quiet for a few months. Black Butcherbird has been seen regularly on most days, lurking around in the rainforest. The Leaden Flycatcher nest in Geraghty Park has three chicks in it and they are growing well with the parents bringing a constant stream of insects to them. The Magpie-lark chick, mentioned last week in a nest in Geraghty Park, successfully fledged. Both Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and seen. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have again been along Mt. Kooyong Road and in Geraghty Park with at least four pairs seen. 
 

Lemon-bellied Flycatcher

Horsfield's Bushlark is still along McDougall Road which is the only location they have been seen this year in our area. Egg shells are still appearing under the Metallic Starling nests in Geraghty Park but there is definitely less birds present than has been in previous weeks. Our pair of Olive-backed Sunbird who were nesting have been seen with two juvenile birds which is good news as they have a high predation rate.

Further Afield:-

Another trip to Cairns allowed us to spend a pleasant hour eating lunch and watching the shorebirds in action as the tide came in. Nothing spectacular here but good to have a refresher course on the waders. A pair of Australian Pied Oystercatcher were loafing on their own whilst the other birds were either feeding on the decreasing mud or running along with the tide. 
 

Australian Pied Oystercatcher

Smaller birds were Red-necked Stint, Lesser Sand Plover and Greater Sand Plover, medium size birds were Great Knot, Terek Sandpiper, Grey-tailed Tattler and Masked Lapwing whilst the larger birds were Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit. There was also one Crested Tern and many Silver Gull. Along the area between the shoreline and the road were Varied Honeyeater, Magpie-lark, Willie Wagtail, House Sparrow and Common Myna. Notably absent were Pied Imperial Pigeon who were very obvious a few week previously, maybe they have headed north. Full list on Eremaea Birds site.

On the way back from Cairns we called into to see Sue at Cassowary House in Kuranda and afterwards returned to Julatten via the alternative route along the unsealed Black Mountain Road. It is a four wheel drive/high clearance vehicle road as there are some high whooboys (high piles of dirt across the road to direct water flows to the side) and is quite narrow once it enters the Mowbray National Park section. It is an interesting alternative route with good opportunities to stop for birding. We did not stop as it was getting late in the afternoon but we did see a mixed flock of Sulphur-crested and Black-tailed Cockatoo in one of the pine plantations before we got back into the rainforest. It took us an hour and twenty minutes to get back to the Lodge this way, which is probably around 20 minutes longer in time but a shorter distance in kilometres than the sealed route via Mareeba. Normally this road would be impassable at this time of year if we had been having a “normal” wet season.

Two juvenile Great Bowerbirds were accidentally disturbed on a property along Euluma Creek Road, Julatten, whilst they were roosting 2m off the ground on a vine overhanging a driveway. Also spotlighted here was a roosting Azure Kingfisher and a 2.5-3m Amethystine Python who was hanging around a small lagoon what for one of the many frogs calling to hop past.

Other Wildlife:-

This bee was walking around on the ground in the rainforest and looks like similar ones we have had before which were identified as Italian Honey Bee, not sure if this is the same.

Bee sp.

Also at the beginning of last year (2011) we had a cluster of pupae on a tree which were identified as a species of Oil Beetle, we have revisited this ID and had a beetle expert look at the images and have now found out they are not Oil Beetles but Acerogria oriuda from the big beetle family Tenebrionidae, sorry no common name. Here are two images to remind you of what they looked like.

Acerogria oriuda -  pupae

 

Acerogria oriuda -  Hatching beetles

15th January 2012 Report

A week with no rain, which must be a record for January, and plenty of sunshine providing great birding weather once again..

The sunny days kept the maximum temperatures up on previous weeks, getting up to 32.4ºc and the minimum was down to 20.3ºc for one day, the rest of the week was 1-3ºc higher. Humidity ranged from a low of 59% to a high of 92%.

There were less birds recorded this week than last due mainly to the lack of waterbirds and raptors, totals were 99 seen, 6 heard and one found dead. 19 mammal and reptile species were seen, 4 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:

Seeing Red-necked Crake three times in one day, 11 Red-tailed Black Cockatoo flying over mid-day and two (Lesser) Sooty Owl flying around one night, one perched. 

(Lesser) Sooty Owl

Three Papuan Frogmouth, two in our neighbours garden whilst the third was calling in the Lodge grounds.

Other sightings:

A juvenile Orange-footed Scrubfowl was hiding in vegetation around the reception area trying to avoid the attention of adult birds who were intent on chasing it away. Waterbird species were down in the McDougall Road lagoons but still a few Magpie Goose, Wandering Whistling Duck, Pacific Black Duck, Hardhead, Australasian Darter, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorant. A Wompoo Fruit-Dove was heard but not seen but a female Superb Fruit-Dove was perched out in the open for good views. A few Pied Imperial Pigeon and Topknot Pigeon are still around. Australian Owlet-nightjar was seen in its daytime roost and also flying through the Lodge grounds one night. A Nankeen Night-Heron was foraging at the Crake Pool one afternoon and a scruffy looking Royal Spoonbill was hanging around the Barramundi Farm. As previously mentioned raptors were scarce this week with only Black-shouldered Kite and Whistling Kite with a late addition, a Grey Goshawk late Saturday evening, which was disappointing after last week when we had eight species. The one sighting of a dead bird was by reported on Birding-Aus by Phil Gregory from Cassowary House who found a Spotless Crake caught on a barbed wire fence along McDougall Road. We have been hearing them call along here quite often but this is the first sighting for well over a year. 

Spotless Crake

Pale-vented Bush-hen was seen along Bushy Creek from the Platypus viewing area late one afternoon, this was the only sighting despite many pairs calling around the area. Bush Stone-curlew were in Geraghty Park calling at night but they did not venture into the Lodge grounds as they had been doing. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen several times in the Lodge grounds, once in a eucalypt tree and calling whilst flying over on several occasions. Cuckoo were again calling and most showing well, good views of Pheasant Coucal, Channel-billed Cuckoo, Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo and Brush Cuckoo. Eastern Koel was heard only. Eastern Barn Owl were around calling and at least three were seen. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are still showing well and calling nearly all day. Several have been seen coming out of their termite nests and are probably sitting on eggs. Laughing Kookaburra have also been noisy this week as they are feeding recently fledged birds, one was seen devouring a Jungguy Frog Litoria jungguy. Blue-winged Kookaburra have also been calling in Geraghty Park but don't appear to have any youngsters. Rainbow Bee-eater actually made it to the Lodge with a small flock flying over, they have been in the area for over a month but not recorded at the Lodge. Dollarbird are getting around with at least one juvenile and Noisy Pitta have retired into the rainforest, hopefully on their second nest attempt. Lovely Fairy-wren have been heard in bamboo along Bushy Creek in the late afternoon and maybe roosting here. 

Large-billed Gerygone

 
Large-billed Gerygone have built a nest over Bushy Creek at the Platypus viewing area and probably have eggs at the moment. The nest below is made to look like flood debris.

Large-billed Gerygone - nest

Lewin's Honeyeater has also been heard in the grounds which is unusual for this time of year. 

Lewin's Honeyeater

Brown-backed Honeyeater continue to attend a nest in Geraghty Park. A few Barred Cuckoo-shrike are still around and showing well when tracked down from their calls. Cicadabird is also still calling and flying around the grounds. White-breasted Woodswallow have appeared in greater numbers this week with 34 perched on a fence along McDougall Road. One pair of Spangled Drongo are flying around with a juvenile whilst another pair are still sitting on their nest. Leaden Flycatcher were seen feeding a juvenile and that odd Black-faced Monarch (previously mentioned) was found sitting on a nest about 20m up in the rainforest. At the moment we are trying to see its mate the check out the plumage to see if there is any differences. Pied Monarch has started to call and be seen more often this week, two were bathing in Bushy Creek one late afternoon. Yellow-breasted Boatbill is also calling and being seen more often as well. Pale-yellow Robin are also feeding juveniles, this one was awaiting its next feed while the parent was having a rest.

 

Pale-yellow Robin - Adult and Juvenile

 

Pale-yellow Robin - Juvenile calling for food

 
The Olive-backed Sunbird have finished building their nest which is hanging from a safety chain around a gas bottle.

Red-browed Finch are still churning out many juveniles who are coming to the feeder by the reception.

Further Afield:-

The track opposite Sides Road has not had Blue-faced Parrot-Finch there for at least three months but it is still turning up interesting birds. At the end of last week a Barking Owl was found dead along the track and this week the culprit was found, a Rufous Owl which was seen clutching a Striped Possum. Rufous Owl are known for killing other owls so there is a good chance that it did kill the Barking Owl, they also put Striped Possum high on their menu. One reason we are glad we don't have a resident Rufous Owl although we have sightings of birds most years as they pass through. 

Rufous Owl

Mowbray National Park at Julatten is always an interesting area and worth visiting; this week it turned up 100+ Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo and an egg shell outside a Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher nest. This kingfisher is more advanced than ours. Mt. Lewis continues to host good numbers of Blue-faced Parrot-Finch with 20+ reported at the “clearing”, also an Azure Kingfisher was at the miners dam which is at 950m.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Our neighbours reported a Slaty Grey snake under their house early in the week, not a snake we see very often. A Green Tree Snake was also seen in the orchard, harmless to us but not to the frogs! Only one Striped Possum sighting, again in our neighbours garden in a Banana plant. A Red-legged Pademelon (small rainforest kangaroo) was sitting by the Crake Pool one afternoon, good that this one is staying around. It has been around for a few months now but usually only seen at night. Two Platypus were seen in Bushy Creek late one afternoon and a single one seen most days. Frogs have not been showing but have been calling when they think rain is coming but it did not come this week. Jungguy Frog and Cogger's Frog were the only two species seen. 

Cogger's Frog

Boyd's Forest Dragon have been active and obliging as they have been running around and perching on the side of trees for great views. Major Skink have also been showing but being quite shy and not staying around for prolonged views.

Other Interesting Sightings:

Fungi and Slime Mould, not too many around at the moment with the dry weather. The slim mould looks like the one pictured in Bruce Fuhrer's book A field guide to Australian Fungi P344.

Coprinellus disseminatus. ?

Slim Mould Ceratiomyxa fruiticulosa

1st January 2012 Report

Christmas came and went and now it is another year, hope 2012 is good for everyone.

The weeks rainfall was 63mm falling on the last three days of the week, 47mm fell in one period.

Maximum temperatures were slightly up on last week, getting up to 33.0ºc which is about as hot as it gets here, the minimum was down to 21.1ºc, slightly higher than last week. Humidity ranged from a low of 64% to a high of 95%.

There were more birds recorded this week than last with 99 seen and 10 heard. 19 mammal and reptile species were seen. 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:

This weeks highlight has to be a possible Black-winged Monarch, which was first seen on 26th December but not confirmed. Our friend Kath was first alerted by the call, which to us was very difficult to separate from Black-faced Monarch but Kath has had more experience with the Black-winged Monarch than us and thought there was a subtle difference from Black-faced. Sound recordings were taken and an analysis of the sonogram might note any difference in the two calls.

The following day in the early morning the monarch was found again and after some persistence a few images were taken in the gloom of the rainforest. This resulted in some noisy pictures. The black around the face did not extend over the eye and onto the forehead, the overall grey of the upper body was a lighter grey than typical Black-faced and there was a definite contrast in the wing between the blackish primaries and the grey wing coverts. There have been a few records on the Atherton Tableland including ones at nearby Abattoir Swamp and earlier this year one at Mt. Lewis on the lower slopes. The Black-winged Monarch normally has a distribution on Cape York as far south as Shiptons Flat (90km north of Julatten) but in recent years they have been very rare here. The most reliable location for the southern distribution is now McIvor River which is about 165km north of Julatten. So it is very exciting to see this bird, if confirmed, so far south of its "normal" range. At the moment it looks like this bird is actually a Black-faced Monarch, a young adult in moult.

Monarch (?)

Monarch (?)

Pale-vented Bush-hen have been heard in several places and were seen at long last by one of our guests Matthew, he saw one along Mt. Kooyong Road not long after he had seen Red-necked Crake at the Crake Pool – he gets the guest of the week title for seeing two of the most sought after and difficult birds to find around the Lodge.

Other sightings:

The two reported Cotton Pygmy-goose continue to be on a lagoon along McDougall Road along with a single Green Pygmy-goose, 20+ Hardhead, Australasian Grebe and three Comb-crested Jacana. Another lagoon along the same road had 50+ Magpie Geese, Wandering Whistling-Duck, a male Australian Darter in breeding plumage and a Black-fronted Dotterel. A few Emerald Dove continue to be around the lodge grounds and a Superb Fruit-Dove was seen flying over one afternoon. A single Pied Imperial Pigeon was perched at the top of a Blue Quondong tree along with two Topknot Pigeon who seem to be moving on from our area as sightings are becoming rarer each week. 

Pied Imperial Pigeon

Our female Papuan Frogmouth was seen roosting near its previous roost tree on the edge of the orchard on one occasion during the day and once at night also on the edge of the orchard. Australian Owlet-nightjar was seen in Geraghty Park perched on the railing around the oval when it was pouring down with rain one night. Eastern Great Egret was at the nearby Barramundi Farm along with Intermediate Egret and a flock of Pacific Black Duck. Raptors are again in short supply this week with only single sightings of Whistling Kite, Brahminy Kite and Brown Falcon. At the end of the week on Saturday morning a pair of Pacific Baza flew over the orchard calling before doing a U turn and flying over the units, first reported sighting in five weeks. Red-necked Crake has been see several times making their way through the rainforest and “Katie” the Buff-banded Rail returned once more during the week before disappearing again. Two Bush Stone-curlew were running around the Geraghty Park oval whilst we were watching the Australian Owlet-nightjar in the rain. 

A few Scaly-breasted Lorikeet were around after being absent for a few weeks. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were heard but not seen and a search of the area failed to find any fruiting figs. A male Pheasant Coucal was climbing up a Macadamia tree on the edge of the Lodge grounds before flying off in a big loop over the adjacent cane paddock, it actually maintained altitude before disappearing into the edge of the rainforest. Don't think we have ever seen a Coucal fly so far without loosing altitude! At least two Channel-billed Cuckoo were around as were Brush Cuckoo. (Lesser) Sooty Owl was in the area but again heard only most nights. One Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher has been seen coming out of a nest in their termite mound but three others checked had no sign of birds, most are sitting calling above their mounds. Forest Kingfisher have also been seen coming out of their termite mounds as well as displaying. Dollarbird was another species seen at a nest, it was feeding chicks in a tree hollow. The second pair of Noisy Pitta have been more successful than the first pair with an adult seen feeding a juvenile bird in the orchard whilst another was calling in the rainforest.

Noisy Pitta - Juvenile

Meanwhile the first unsuccessful pair are continuing to build another nest and calling a lot. Spotted Catbird are still trying to keep the population of the smaller birds down as they skulk through the rainforest but are being chased off by the smaller birds. Honeyeaters have been a bit quiet this week with only nine species seen but both Graceful and Macleay's have returned to the juice feeders. A pair of Brown-backed Honeyeater have started to build their third nest this season in Geraghty Park. One male Cicadabird was seen flying over the Lodge grounds but Barred Cuckoo-shrike were only heard. The Willie Wagtail nesting in Geraghty Park were feeding chicks at the beginning of the week and nearby in the same tree a pair of Magpie-lark were building their mud nest. A male Leaden Flycatcher has been very vocal around the camping area, no sign of any females. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher was at Geraghty Park early in the week and then promptly disappeared for the rest of it. Olive-backed Sunbird have started to use the second nest constructed around our neighbours house but there was also a juvenile being fed at the same time, not sure whether there is one or two pairs present or maybe one male with two females! Australian Pipit was again seen at the Barramundi Farm.

Further Afield:-

We had a trip up to Mt. Lewis just after Christmas to check out the Blue-faced Parrot-Finch at the 10km “clearing”, we were not disappointed as at least 12 birds were present. 

Blue-faced Parrot-Finch

The area the birds are in is on Brooklyn Station owned by the Australian Wildlife Conservatory. The manager here conducted a controlled burn in the area back in October to allow new grass growth to occur. Old dead matted grass was smothering the area inhibiting new growth. The area now has a dense new growth of grass which is attracting the finches, not only the Blue-faces but Chestnut-breasted Mannikin and Red-browed Finch as well. 

Chestnut-breasted Mannikin

 
Atherton Scrubwren were foraging in several places

Atherton Scrubwren

as were Fernwren, Tooth-billed Bowerbird, Bower's Shrike-thrush and the dark montane form of Grey Fantail - race Keasti.

Grey Fantail - keasti

In the rainforest adjacent to one of the many creeks which tumble off Mt. Lewis we found two species of Damselfly, Giant Rockmaster Diphlebia hybrioides and Tropical Flatwing Austroargiolestes aureus both new species to us. More information can be found on the Wildiaries site. Dragonflies/Damselflies have much more imaginative names than birds!

     

Giant Rockmaster

 

Tropical Flatwing

Also along the road was this unidentified snail which has a soft shell and was crossing the road at a snails pace!

Snail sp.

In the area of the Damselflies was this Robber Fly (?), 

Robber Fly

so many interesting animals and plants to check out in this spectacular part of Australia only 35 minutes away from the Lodge.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The wet weather restricted spotlighting this week but we still saw 19 mammals and reptiles. Our neighbours heard an Eastern Tube-nosed Bat flying over making its distinctive whistling sound. Giant White-tailed Rat has been around the feeder along with Northern Brown Bandicoot and Bush Rat. A few frogs ventured out into the rain including lots of the very small Northern Dwarf Tree Frog. Boyd's Forest Dragon continue to perform for the guests and Eastern Water Dragon were along Bushy Creek. An Amethystine Python was again in the orchard, this time during the day but it soon took refuge in the buttress roots of a rainforest tree.

Other Interesting Sightings:

In case you are not fed up with seeing fungi every week we have a few more to show you. Never ceases to amaze us the variety, must run out of photos soon! We can't find he first one in any of  our fungi books, the closest we can get is Scutellinia scutelata.

Fungi sp.

Vascellum pratense (?)

This fruit of a Syzygium wilsonii ssp.Cryptophlebium was hanging from a tree in front of the units.

Syzygium wilsonii ssp. Cryptophlebium