22nd April 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

75.5mm of rain fell over the last two weeks on six days, in between the rain were some great sunny and very pleasant days. The minimum temperature was down to 18.8ºc and the maximum up at 26.6ºc. The humidity varied between 66% and 96%.

Bird species were for the week before last 94 seen and 9 heard, this week 85 seen and 5 heard. 18 mammal and reptile species were seen including six frog species over two weeks. The last two weeks bird lists are on the Eremaea Birds website and morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds

Highlights:

Over the last two weeks an unusual visitor was seen on the Lodge grounds, a Pallid Cuckoo, this was the first sighting since May 2011 and only the third in seven years. A Magpie Goose was sitting on a nest on one of the McDougall Road swamps and an Australasian Grebe made an appearance at the Barramundi Gardens fish farm.

Other sightings:

Brown Cuckoo-Dove have returned to be regularly seen in the orchard and both Wompoo Fruit-Dove plus Superb Fruit-Dove were heard but not seen around the Lodge. A flock of at least 20+ Topknot Pigeon were flying over the nearby nursing home one morning after being absent for a few weeks. A Black-necked Stork was seen flying over McDougall Road one afternoon and Cattle Egret numbers have been increasing each week with just about every paddock with cattle in having at least one individual by its side. Raptor sightings have been slow but some species are returning with the regulars Whistling Kite, Black Kite and White-bellied Sea-Eagle being joined by a Brown and a Grey Goshawk, a pair of Australian Hobby and two Black-shouldered Kite. 
 

Black-shouldered Kite

Red-necked Crake have been calling intermittently in the evenings at dusk but not seen however Pale-vented Bush-hen have been seen in our neighbours backyard. A pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were foraging in a flowering eucalypt in Geraghty Park one morning along with many Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet. A juvenile Pheasant Coucal was on the ground alongside the cane paddock whilst we were out on a morning walk and at least two Channel-billed Cuckoo were seen flying over the adjacent cane paddock; this is getting late in the season for them to be still with us. Eastern Barn Owl are being seen and calling well at the moment unlike Sooty Owl who are not calling. An Azure Kingfisher has been around the edge of our orchard in the rainforest foraging in wet season ponding whilst fewer Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are around with sightings of three or four individuals. Blue-winged Kookaburra have become noisier than normal and were spotlighted one evening perched in Geraghty Park calling in the dark. Rainbow Bee-eater are around in small flocks but Dollarbird have nearly all left apart from one or two juveniles being sighted in the area. 

Dollarbird - juvenile

Noisy Pitta continue to be noisy, calling mainly in the morning and evening with the occasional squawk during the day but proving elusive with no sightings. A Great Bowerbird showed up in our neighbours garden one day much to their surprise as they don't normally venture this far along Mt. Kooyong Road but the Lovely Fairy-wren do and have been seen in their garden regularly, usually late afternoon.

Striated Pardalote were seen on a morning walk behaving in an unusual manner. Four birds were foraging on the ground in a drain at the side of the road along with a Lemon-bellied Flycatcher who was on the road and a party of Silvereye. Pardalotes and the flycatcher are normally high up in the trees foraging so being low down was a great opportunity to get great views of them. We looked to see if they were foraging on anything but could not find any obvious food item.

Honeyeaters have been good over the last few weeks with at least 14 species being seen, this is due mainly to the flowering eucalypts in Geraghty Park attracting some of the less frequent visitors such as Bridled Honeyeater, White-cheeked Honeyeater and Noisy Friarbird. A rare opportunity arouse to take a few images of this White-throated Honeyeater who came down from the tops of the eucalypts to get some nectar from this grevillea at eye level. 
 

White-throated Honeyeater

Also in the same grevillea, a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike was seen to eat part of the flower.

White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike

Cicadabird are still calling but hard to see however Grey Whistler have become easier to see as they are calling well, mainly in the morning. Yellow Oriole which is an infrequent visitor from the coast have been around for a few weeks but only one or two birds, however the more normal oriole species here which is the Olive-backed have become more scarce with only a juvenile bird being seen. Rufous Fantail numbers have increased and a few Northern Fantail are continuing to hang around in and around the rainforest whereas they should be out in the open woodland! The odd Leaden Flycatcher and Black-faced Monarch are still around the area although they have not been seen in the Lodge grounds. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been heard and seen regularly. Grey-headed Robin are calling well in the rainforest but have been difficult to observe on occasions. Metallic Starling have been flying around in flocks of up to 40+ birds with about two thirds of them juveniles. A male Red-browed Finch was seen displaying with a feather in its mouth hopping around on the ground trying to impress a mate, other red-brow's have been observed building several nests around the Lodge grounds and Geraghty Park.

Red-browed Finch

Further Afield:-

Of note was a Spotted Pardalote photographed by one of our guests at Maryfarms, north of Mt. Molloy on the way to Mt. Carbine in dry open woodland. In our region this species is usually found in wetter open eucalypt forests at higher altitudes on the Atherton Tableland further south from this sighting.

Mt Lewis has been good over the last few weeks with most of the endemics being seen; Fernwren, Atherton Scrubwren, Mountain Thornbill, Bridled Honeyeater, Grey-headed Robin, Chowchilla, Bower's Shrike-thrush, Pied Monarch, Victoria's Riflebird, Tooth-billed Bowerbird and a couple of male Golden Bowerbird sightings. Macleay's Honeyeater was the only one of the endemics not seen on the mountain but you don't have to go there to see them as we have them all over the Lodge grounds! 
 

Macleay's Honeyeater

Other interesting birds reported on Mt. Lewis included Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, Barred Cuckoo-shrike, Blue-faced Parrot-Finch and unusually a Yellow-faced Honeyeater, a species usually found at lower altitudes here.

On Monday 6^th April six White-throated Needletail were seen heading north over Mt. Molloy late afternoon. Also in Mt. Molloy six Grey-crowned Babbler were seen squeezing into a night-time roost (they build their own roosts which some people mistake for nests) after being harassed by Blue-faced Honeyeater .

Not a local but we thought you might like to enjoy this Mallefowl we saw on our recent trip to Victoria.

Mallefowl

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The best sighting over the last two weeks was a Feather-tail Glider in a Coconut Palm (the only one in the Lodge grounds), it was briefly seen disappearing into one of the fronds stems. Both Striped and Green Ringtail Possum have been hard to find unlike the Boyd's Forest Dragon with at least four individuals seen. This one has been brave enough to come to the feeder for banana and avoid the attentions of the Macleay's Honeyeater.

Boyd's Forest Dragon - at the dinner table!

Frogs have been calling but not showing well but we have managed to see six species plus heard Striped Marsh Frog. Our next door neighbour, Carol (our local bird guide), had an interesting observation when she saw a Water Rat dead on the Mt. Lewis Road about eight kilometres up from Bushy Creek. It was complete with no obvious marks on it, no idea how it got there.

Other Wildlife:-

A female Hercules Moth was found roosting during the day on a vine next to a tree trunk in the camping ground one morning. It was only discovered because the birds were going crazy, squarking and giving alarm calls which alerted us. This species of moth has round markings on its wings which look like eyes and probably fooled the birds into thinking it was something a bit more sinister! As usual the Pale Yellow Robin was orchestrating the harassing with Yellow-spottted Honeyeater and Large-billed Scrubwren amongst the other birds joining in. The noise went on for more than 30 minutes before they all gave up and left the moth in piece. Just in case you have forgotten what fungi looks like here is a reminder!

Fungi sp.

What Else Has Been Happening:-

We had a visit from three journalists this week as part of a promotion for Bird Trails Tropical Queensland and a new App. which you can download for free and put onto your Iphone, iPod touch and iPad.as long as you have iOS 3.2 or later installed. App.download

As the blurb says “Get your hands on the latest information, bird descriptions, GPS enabled directions to the regions’ bird sites, recommended birding lodges, local birding tour guides, cruises and tours. You will also find locations, images and calls of many of the regions birds, including the 12 endemics.

The app has been developed to assist you to travel through the Tropical North Queensland region from South of Townsville through the Cairns, Daintree and Atherton Tablelands (Cairns Highlands) regions. It will guide you to the best birding locations, the nearest sites where your targeted species can be found and a host of bird specialist accommodation and tours.”

Members of our Birding Cluster (local bird specialist accommodations, bird guides and bird tour operators) hosted the journalists, Ed who writes for the Australian Birdlife magazine, Mike from the UK who is Assistant Editor of Bird Watching magazine and Hugh from the USA who is Science Editor at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and is writing for Cornell's quarterly magazine Living Bird. They had a great time visiting us all, in Kuranda, Daintree Village, Julatten, Mt. Molloy, Mareeba and the Atherton Tableland, to be shown that our region is the best birdwatching destination in Australia.

13th December 2009 Report

16mm of rain during the week over 2 days with temperatures ranging from 18ºC to 29ºC, slightly cooler than the previous week. Bird numbers were slightly up on last week, 85 bird species seen and 9 heard - mammals and reptiles were 17 seen and 2 heard.

Highlights for the week included an Oriental Cuckoo seen near Bushy Creek by Jack and Bill Moorhead, who some of you might know. An Oriental Cuckoo was also seen later that same morning when it was found on the ground outside the office after having flown into a window and stunned itself. A few hours in the dark inside a box allowed it to recover and then fly off strongly with just a headache! There has been 4 previous records of Oriental Cuckoo’s at the Lodge; end of December, January and April with the last sighting in 2007. A Yellow Wagtail was seen at Lake Mitchell by Alistair and Gary, two guests from England who are very familiar with this species. It was in the drainage ditch alongside the causeway.

The Pacific Baza chicks continue to grow at a rapid rate with their fluffy white plumage changing into more adult like plumage with barring occurring across the breast and their crest appearing on the back of the head. The adults have been kept busy bringing in food, mainly frogs and as the photo below shows they are looking a bit worse for wear! Here the adult was taking a rest from feeding duties.

Pacific Baza

Striated Pardalote was seen for the first time since 13^th September, prior to that they have been seen in every month this year. Interestingly in previous years they have been absent around this period. In 2005 they were absent from 16^th October until 29^th January 2006, then absent from 22^nd October 2006 until 18^th February 2007 with one sighting on 24^th December, again absent from 7^th October until 21^st January 2008. In 2008/09 they were present throughout this period. So do they migrate away from here between October-February or do they stop calling and get overlooked? The sub-species which occurs here is melanocephalus and according to the handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds they are resident or present throughout the year but there is evidence of local movements around Paluma (north of Townsville) with only one record in December from 50 visits over 6 years. So much more to learn about our birds.

What else happened over the week?

A Northern Fantail was heard calling from Geraghty Park before being seen, this species is more common in the drier country from Abattoir Swamp to Mt. Molloy than around here – we have 6 previous records from 2003 onwards. A few Topknot Pigeon appeared for a day as in the previous week and 2 different Papuan Frogmouth were seen during the week.

Another frogmouth was calling nearly every night and when tracked down it was a very small looking bird with hardly any tail. We checked the eye shine which looked dark red (not yellow to orange as in Tawny Frogmouth) and the plumage looked like a Papuan Frogmouth. The main bird with which it could be confused is the rufous-morph of the Tawny Frogmouth, but the two sightings of this bird we have had here showed a distinct orange eye however this was during the day and not by spotlight. We will try and track it down to confirm ID.

A single Glossy Ibis was found in nearby McDougall Road Swamp. Red-necked Crake was again heard on several occasions giving a single call which maybe a sign that they have chicks with them. Channel-billed Cuckoo numbers have dropped during the week with little calling towards the end. Sooty Owl was heard on several nights, but despite searching not seen. The local family of Blue-winged Kookaburra moved to the edge of the Lodge grounds one morning and this upset the local Laughing Kookaburra family who tried to see them off, eventually succeeding in moving them back to Geraghty Park after a noisy interchange. The Noisy Pitta has been noisy mainly early morning moving around its territory both on the ground and 20m+ up in the tree canopy with most guests seeing it eventually. A few Barred Cuckoo-shrike are still around and the female Cicadabird continues to sit on her nest (only females incubate), the male is not far away calling and defending the nest. A pair of Spangled Drongo continues to build a nest and defend it from a third bird who insists on hanging around.

Spangled Drongo

Black-faced Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have started to become more vocal during the week.

Yellow-breasted Boatbill (male)

Further afield a White-headed Pigeon was seen on Mt. Lewis and both Barn Swallow and Red-rumped Swallow was reported from Somerset Drive, just north of Newell Beach on the way to Daintree Village from Mossman, by one of our guests. A couple of our guests had seen two Asian Dowitcher on the Cairns Esplanade which is good as they appeared to disappear for several weeks. Up to 10 Oriental Cuckoo was present in the Cairns Central Swamp next to the Cairns Cemetery alongside Anderson Road.

Spotlighting turned up the afore mentioned frogmouth, a brief look at a Feathertail Glider, one Long-nosed Bandicoot after a few weeks without sighting one, Striped Possum was heard but not seen. Reptiles and amphibians were fairly quiet apart from two Boyd’s Forest Dragon who were squaring up to each other – probably the same two who were at it the previous week. Several Easter Water Dragon were along Bushy Creek.

29th November 2009 Report.

98.5mm of rain fell on two days during the week which was most welcome but it is now dry and sunny again. The temperatures ranged from 18ºC to 28ºC. 89 bird species were seen and 7 heard, mammals and reptiles were 21 seen and 3 heard.

Probably the highlight of the week was spotlighting a male Superb Fruit-Dove, a first for us and a lifer for several guests on the tour. We had a brief look without disturbing the sleeping bird. 11 Glossy Ibis turned up at a swamp in the nearby McDougall Road (within our 1.5km lodge list) which is unusual for so many as previous records have been of one or two birds.

A pair of Eastern Barn Owls were seen copulating so hopefully they will nest for the second time this year. A pair of (Lesser) Sooty Owls were seen two nights running which is a record for this year! At least 4 termite mounds have already been dug out by the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfishers with possibly more but we need to check all the 40+ termite mounds on the property for any activity, hopefully in the coming week. A nesting Pacific Baza has two rapidly growing chicks in the nest and a pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot also has chicks in a nest in the Lodge grounds. A Red-necked Crake was calling from the rainforest near the crake pool one evening at 5.35 before eventually walking out and doing a lap of the small pool. It then climbed onto the rock wall, walked along the rainforest edge and disappeared into the rainforest on the opposite side and again began calling.

Yellow Honeyeater - The Loser

A pair of Yellow Honeyeater spent a few minutes one morning trying to catch a butterfly before a Leaden Flycatcher swooped down and caught the butterfly to show the honeyeaters how it was done. The two honeyeaters retreated to a nearby tree wondering where their breakfast had gone and the flycatcher sat triumphantly in a nearby tree showing off his catch!

The winner - Leaden Flycatcher

Cuckoos are still in evidence with Pheasant Coucal, Eastern Koel, Little Bronze-Cuckoo and Brush Cuckoo heard plus Channel-billed Cuckoo and Shining Bronze-Cuckoo seen. A Cicadabird was found sitting on a nest and Yellow-spotted Honeyeater was busy building their nest.

Further afield Oriental Cuckoo is being seen around the area, especially near the Cairns central cemetery and along the Daintree River, also one of our guests reported one at Big Mitchell Creek on the way to Mareeba. The Asian Dowitcher has not been reported for some time along the Cairns Esplanade and appears to have moved on. Carol and Andrew Iles, who are currently house sitting Red Mill House in the Daintree Village reported an adult and a scruffy juvenile Barn Swallow at Newell Beach. Plenty of Black Bittern reported on the Daintree River. Carol and Andrew also reported one of their guests had seen a Male Cassowary with two chicks along the Jindalba Boardwalk, near the Discovery Centre on the way up to Cape Tribulation across the Daintree River.

Spotlighting during the week was good with the already mentioned Superb Fruit-Dove as well as a roosting Forest Kingfisher and a Papuan Frogmouth sitting on a branch calling. Unlike other Papuan Frogmouths in the district it would appear that ours are not nesting yet, it's possible we only have a single bird at the moment. A Green Ringtail Possum was seen and several Striped Possum heard. The rain had stirred up Bushy Creek which was quite murky and all we saw of a Platypus was a dark shadow swimming by. We did hear the whistling call of several Eastern Tube-nosed Bat Nyctimene robinsoni one night, which was the first time we can recall hearing this call. The rain bought out 8 species of frog including several Green Tree Frog which we heard calling from high in the canopy.

Sean Dooley (“The Big Twitch”) called in during the week for a night as part of a project to promote the Bird Trails of the Cairns region which includes the Daintree, Cairns Highlands (Tablelands) and Mission Beach. The brochure for the Bird Trails is an initiative of several birding accommodations and tour guides from the area who co-operated to produce and fund the brochure. Copies can be downloaded from www.birdingtropicalaustralia.com.au