22nd September 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge Report.

Weather Report

Very dry weather with just a slight hint of rain, which did not even register in the rain gauge. Some cool nights down to 12.3ºC and warm days up to 27ºc but still 4ºc cooler than the coast from Cairns to Daintree

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 104, 98 seen and 6 heard, second week sightings were 106, 98 seen and 8 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 8th September - 14th September and 15th September - 21st September.

Morning walks were good with between 46 and 62 species seen and heard. Total species seen over four walks was 80.

Birding Highlights:-

The signs that birds are changing at this time of year were the return and departure of some species. Arrivals were a single Pied Imperial-Pigeon on the 12^th September. Pied Imperial-Pigeon first appeared here on 13^th September 2009 and since then have arrived back on 12^th September 2010, 28^th August 2011 and 9^th September 2012. The bird which was seen first this year was a bit odd as it has a grey head instead of pure white. We managed an image of it when it was first seen perched in a Queensland Blue Gum calling. This shows the grey head which is not a shadow as we have seen the presumed same bird several times since showing this aberrant plumage. The odd pose is because the bird is calling.

Pied Imperial-Pigeon

Others to have returned were Noisy Pitta back on the 8^th September with at least three heard and seen since then. Channel-billed Cuckoo were seen on the 15^th and Black-faced Monarch were heard calling near the Crake Pool on the 18^th. Grey Fantail appear to have left, whilst most Lewin's Honeyeater, Spangled Drongo and Rufous Fantail have also gone as there has only been one or two sightings of these species which were quite common 3-4 weeks ago. Emerald Dove have started to call over the last few weeks, usually whilst perched in the rainforest as this one is doing.

Emerald Dove - male

Wompoo Fruit-Dove and Superb Fruit-Dove have only been heard most days as they are staying high in the rainforest canopy. Papuan Frogmouth have been seen in the area and heard calling in the Lodge grounds.This is the adult female with last seasons immature bird hiding behind the tree branch.

Papuan Frogmouth

A single Australian Pelican is still around and was seen swimming in one of the McDougall Road lagoons. Female Black-necked Stork has been flying over and seen in local wetlands and at the local fish farm for most of the last two weeks. Black-shouldered Kite have been seen flying over, hovering and displaying as well as tail wagging most days. A Grey Goshawk has been around the Lodge and was seen one afternoon being escorted off the premises by a flock of noisy Blue-faced Honeyeater. Spotted Harrier are still around but in fewer numbers; only one sighting this last two weeks. A light phase Brown Falcon was seen one morning roosting on a power pole alongside the Rex Highway before flying off, very distinctive deep V shape flight as this silhouette shows.

Brown Falcon

Several Red-necked Crake have been heard but not seen, at least three were calling one evening. Barking Owl have been calling and seen perched around the Lodge, one crashed into a bedroom window one night and a patch of blood was found nearby. The guests in the unit did hear a squeal so the owl may have taken a Bush Rat or Fawn-footed Melomys. Probably a Bush Rat as their numbers have declined quite markedly recently. Barn Owl have been seen in the area mainly adults but a couple of juvenile birds were seen perched and calling out to be fed. Forest Kingfisher have been busy displaying and calling which maybe a precursor to breeding. 

Forest Kingfisher - female

Rainbow Bee-eater numbers have declined and Spotted Catbird have been around the feeder with a recently fledged young. 16 species of honeyeater have been attracted to flowering trees and the smaller flowering Grevillea. This hybrid grevillea was particularly popular with 11 species of honeyeater in it one morning; they were Yellow-spotted, Graceful, Bridled, Yellow-faced, Yellow, Brown-backed, Dusky, Scarlet, Brown, Blue-faced and Macleay's, quite spectacular. Here are just two of them.

Graceful Honeyeater

Graceful Honeyeater

Yellow Honeyeater

White-throated Honeyeater have been seen feeding with juvenile birds on Queensland Blue Gum flowers. Plenty of Bridled Honeyeater have been around making the most of the nectar supply before they go back up to higher altitudes later in the year. Barred Cuckoo-shrike are being heard more often than seen but they are being tracked down for views if you are patient. Grey Whistler have really fired up and are the most obvious species in the dawn chorus at the moment. Both Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been active and calling around the Lodge grounds. A few Grey-headed Robin are still with us and hopefully will stay until early November when they return to the mountains and higher altitudes. Metallic Starling are still busy building nests and not looking interested in returning to their main colony on the opposite side of Geraghty Park where they were for the last 6-7 years.

Further Afield:-

Mt. Lewis has been good as usual with a sighting of a juvenile Southern Cassowary which ran across the road in front of one of our guests. Good to know they are breeding on the mountain. There was at least six Tooth-billed Bowerbird feeding in one fruiting tree and several parties of Chowchilla on the ground often accompanied with Fernwren. A Black-necked Stork (female) was seen in Bushy Creek at the bottom of the Mt. Lewis Road with a snake in it's bill which it dropped. One Diamond Dove was reported from the Mt. Carbine Caravan Park; probably part of the flock which has been in the Maryfarm area for most of this year, at least 100 were reported there in the last two weeks. A Sacred Kingfisher was at Mt. Molloy which is uncommon here. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch were reported near Abattoir Swamp with at least two and possibly six bird present. One was also reported again in our neighbours garden but did not make it to the Lodge grounds. Silvereye were busy foraging on flowering blossom in a couple of Mango Trees and also on this popular Grevillea. 

A friend in Cairns sent this image of a giant juvenile Black-necked Stork which was taken at Yorkeys Knob in Cairns. At first we thought it was the perspective playing tricks on us but he assures us that the two birds were in the same plane beside one another. The juvenile certainly looks considerably larger than the other immature bird. Any comments?

Black-necked Stork

Reptiles and Mammals:-

A Slaty Grey snake was seen in the Lodge grounds, which is not common here and a Leaf-tailed Gecko was seen in the orchard. Boyd's Forest Dragon re-appeared at the end of the second week along with a couple of Eastern Water Dragon as the temperatures started to rise. Frogs were quiet as it was so dry with only one White-lipped Tree Frog spotted in the mens shower and one Cane Toad seen in the orchard with a few others calling over three nights. Striped Possum was seen in our neighbours garden heading into the Lodge grounds and a Green Ringtail Possum was seen in the rainforest in front of our self-contained Units. Both Northern Brown and Long-nosed Bandicoot have been coming to the reception area feeder in the evening before heading out to dig up our lawn and orchard!

Shop News:-

Pizzey & Knight Regional Field Guide to Birds are now in stock. Each regional guide includes every bird found within the region, organised by the environments they are most likely to be seen in, and all are illustrated by Frank Knight. Concise text highlights the key features of every species and an illustrated index helps to find your bird quickly.

Accompanied by an introduction to the region's habitats with a map of the region these guides are handy pocket sized and lightweight. There are the four guides available so far.

South East Coast & Ranges - Greater Sydney to Greater Melbourne from the Great Dividing Range to the coast, and Tasmania, including adjacent seas and islands.

Mallee to Limestone Coast - All of Western Victoria west to Greater Adelaide, and north to Broken Hill in NSW.

Central East Coast and Ranges - From Newcastle (NSW) in the south to Gladstone (Qld) in the north.

Red Centre to the Top End - All of the Northern Territory and adjacent seas. (The book is also relevant to areas immediately adjacent to NT in Western Australia such as the Kununurra region which is a key visitor destination, and national parks along the border in Qld).

Cost of each is $25.00. + P & P.

7th April 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report:-

Weather over the last two weeks has been mainly sunny with some cloud and a little rain. The monsoonal trough has gone north to Papua New Guinea with little prospect of it coming south again according to the weather bureau. So the rain we have been getting is the normal drier season showers coming from the south-east and onto the coast.

In the first week rain amounted to 74.5mm with 57mm of that falling on the first day, the second week only 8mm fell . The humidity was high for most of the period 60-92% with most lows around the low 60's and into the low 70's.Temperatures ranged from a low of 18.2ºC to a high of 27.0ºC which was very pleasant.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 114, 107 seen and 7 heard, second week sightings were 108, 103 seen and 5 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- March 24th – March 30th and March 31tst - April 6th

Birding Highlights:-

A Eurasian Coot was seen in one of the lagoons along McDougall Road for several days and was a new species for our 1.5km bird list.  Surprising one has not shown before as they have been recorded in all the local wetlands quite regularly. No sign of the possible Red Goshawk mentioned in the last blog. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are again in the news with several juvenile birds being spotted in the rainforest including this one who fledged on the 10^th March. This image was taken on the 5^th April making it just over 3 weeks old.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - juvenile

This female Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher showing its tail cocked, short and much blue at the base is a female. It was the parent of the youngster shown in the last blog which had come out of the nest in pin feathers and did not survive.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - adult female

Wompoo Fruit-Dove along with Superb Fruit-Dove have been seen around the Lodge grounds with the superb making regular visits to some fruiting palms in front of the accommodation units much to the delight of the guests who have been getting great views of this difficult to see bird.

Superb Fruit-Dove - male

A single Pied Imperial Pigeon has been around for most of the last two weeks at a time when most of the other pied's have headed north to Papua New Guinea. Papuan Frogmouth sightings have been patchy with one seen roosting in the orchard some days or up near the reception area but most days hiding somewhere else. Australian Owlet-nightjar has been heard calling during the day but not tracked down as it is in a patch of dense rainforest, not in its home in the tree hollow for the last few years out on the edge of the forest. On 2^nd April 16 White-throated Needletail were seen flying over the Lodge in a one hour period, most were single sightings with one of four birds together. Also at the same time four Dollarbird were hawking insects with White-breasted Woodswallow and a Spangled Drongo. The Dollarbird were probably on their way north along with small groups of juvenile Channel-billed Cuckoo that have been seen moving over the last three weeks. A pair of Black-necked Stork have been seen in a lagoon between the Lodge and McDougall Road with Black Bittern seen along McDougall Road. The local Barramundi Farm has been turning up a few good birds which can be seen from the road, these include Pacific Black Duck, Hardhead, Australasian Darter, Little Black Cormorant, White-necked Heron, Eastern, Intermediate and Little Egret, White-faced Heron, Australian White Ibis and Royal Spoonbill. Good raptor sightings over the last two weeks: Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling, Brahminy and Black Kite, Brown and Grey Goshawk,Spotted Harrier, Brown Falcon and Australian Hobby. Both Red-necked Crake and Pale-vented Bush-hen have been seen in our neighbours garden but only heard at the Lodge. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have only been seen flying over and either Chestnut-breasted or Fan-tailed Cuckoo have been calling. Because their calls are very similar we have not been able to determine what species is calling. Barking and Eastern Barn Owl have been seen and Sooty Owl only heard. Laughing Kookaburra have been around in ever increasing numbers and are taking an unnaturally large amount of prey items including, nestlings, small birds (even Metallic Starling), insects, small reptiles and mammals. They look very cute as this one does perch on a tree stump looking out for anything that moves and is small enough for a meal.

Laughing Kookaburra

A White-throated Treecreeper was along McDougall Road on the 6^th April and would have moved down from the mountains behind us where they normally reside. Thirteen species of honeyeater were recorded including a first at the feeder when a Bridled Honeyeater came for banana. Barred Cuckoo-shrike and Cicadabird have been around and quite vocal as have been Grey Whistler. Black-faced Monarch are also still around and should be heading north very soon. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill are around but not calling much so are difficult to see. It would appear that only one Grey-headed Robin has come down off the mountains behind us so far this season as we have only seen one occasionally.

Further Afield:-

A vagrant Black-tailed Gull (Japanese Gull) was seen on the Cairns Esplanade on April 1^st (no not an April Fools Joke!) an image and more information can be found on the Eremaea Birds site. We looked on the 5^th April but no sign of it or even any Silver Gull. We had seen this gull in Darwin back in the early 1980's and again more recently in Townsville. Two Crimson Finch were along Walkers Road in Cairns, (south of the Yorkeys Knob roundabout on highway), this is a fairly reliable place for this species. At least 30 Glossy Ibis were present at Brady Road Swamp 4km north of Mareeba at the beginning of April. Three Blue-faced Parrot-Finch were seen about 5km up the Mt. Lewis Road and another couple reported from Sweetwater Lodge in Julatten. It would appear that they are moving down the mountain as only one bird has been reported from the 10km “clearing” on Mt. Lewis in the last week. White-headed Pigeon have been in the local area but not around the Lodge grounds, this one was in a group of eight which landed in a tree for a rest.

White-headed Pigeon

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The banana feeder has proved a good place to be with Boyd's Forest Dragon, Major Skink and Yellow-footed Antichinus all making use of this food source. The antichinus was also seen grabbing a centipede which was longer than itself! These two images show the antichinus at the banana feeder and the Boyd's Forest Dragon who was nearby puffing up his throat pouch towards the antichinus who was eating “his” banana – none to pleased!

Yellow-footed Antichinus

Boyd's Forest Dragon

Our neighbours had a Striped Possum in a bunch of bananas outside their upstairs front room window one night. They also has a Slaty-grey Snake in their yard along with a couple of bat species, Large-footed Myotis (fish eating bat) and Northern Broad-nosed Bat. A single Northern Brown Bandicoot continues to come to the seed feeder most nights but the Long-nosed Bandicoot are keeping to the rainforest. A Red-legged Pademelon (small rainforest kangaroo) has been foraging in the orchard most days in the early morning of late evening.

Insects and Fungi:-

A few butterflies are around including this Large Green-banded Blue.

Large Green-banded Blue

Also a few moths including this one which was attracted to the mosquito trap.

Moth sp.

Fungi are still appearing with the most obvious being the Crinoline Fungi which have popped up in the mulch and are pollinated by flies which are attracted by their rotting smell as the fly in this image is doing.

Crinoline Fungi

This other fungi is less obvious.

Fungi sp.

10th March 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Well we are back at the lodge after a very pleasant break from work. We will put together a trip report when time permits but briefly it was very hot and not an ideal time to be visiting South Australia. Birding was restricted to early mornings and late afternoon and it was hard work finding birds. We had a couple of lifers and many state “ticks” plus plenty of dips but managed to see some great country along the way. One bird which was particularly common around wetlands was the Australian Spotted Crake, one wetland we saw 50+, always good to see crakes.

Australian Spotted Crake

Anyway back to Far North Queensland! The blog is late this week due to our internet supplier having a problem at their exchange which caused us to be without a connection from Saturday until late Wednesday night – the joys of modern technology!

Weather Report:-

Weather over the last two weeks has been pleasant, up to 31.8ºC and down to 19.8ºC. Humidity ranged from a low of 64%, up to 94%. Rainfall has been very low and not typical for this time of year 47.5mm for the first week and 61mm for the second week, usually we are getting well over 100mm a week at this time of year. The “wet season” has still not happened but there is still time for it too happen. Most of the rainfall has been in the south-east of Queensland.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 105, 92 seen and 13 heard, second week sightings were 100, 89 seen and 11 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:-

March24th– February 2nd and March 3rd– March 9th

Birding Highlights:-

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have ended up with six active nests, one was started and bird sitting but somewhere along the way it was abandoned. So far only one nest has fledged young with two juveniles emerging from one nest after 27 days incubation. The other five nests have loudly calling chicks inside who should be emerging any day. The adult birds have been busy bringing food to the nests but the lack of insects has seen them bringing in smaller than usual prey, mainly small beetles with the occasional worms. Normal fledging period is 26-29 days.This image below shows how tight a fit it is to get into the nest to feed the young.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - feeding chicks at nest

This image shows the proud dad from the nest which has fledged two chicks.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

A pair of Red-necked Crake have been running around with at least one fluffy black chick, they put on a performance outside the reception area one night running backwards and forwards with chick in tow before disappearing into the forest. They have been seen several other times and three adults were heard calling near the Crake Pool late one evening. Pale-vented Bush-hen have been visiting our neighbours garden and an adult with a juvenile was there late in the week. A Papuan Frogmouth has been roosting around the reception and bunkhouse areas spasmodically over the last two weeks. Another one was seen near the nursing home along Mt. Kooyong Road late one afternoon being harassed by other birds. A second year Spotted Harrier has been around the McDougall Road area as have a few Varied Sitella, not normally this close to the lodge.

Spotted Harrier

Cattle Egret have returned with 15 seen still in breeding plumage. A Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo was calling outside the reception area late one afternoon, an uncommon visitor. Channel-billed Cuckoo have been gathering in the area, before they continue north to Papua New Guinea and often seen flying towards McDougall Road late evening with up to 22 seen at one time. Both Barking Owl and Sooty Owl have been heard but not sighted. Two Noisy Pitta were heard calling near the Crake Pool in the orchard near where they had a nest 5-6 weeks ago. No reports as to whether the nest was successful or not. A Yellow-spotted Honeyeater has been sitting on a nest located under the eves of the unit accommodation for the past week, at least it is a dry location. An immature Eastern Whipbird turned up one day which is a very uncommon visitor from the mountains behind the lodge. There has been 11 records from 1996 between March and November with 8 of those records between May and July. 
 

Eastern Whipbird

Another uncommon visitor was a Yellow Oriole who had a dependant juvenile with it, surprising as there are no records of breeding near the lodge that we know about. A Grey-headed Robin arrived back at the lodge at the beginning of the second week (3^rd March).

Further Afield:-

A small flotilla of 24 Australasian Grebe were swimming around in Brady Swamp at Mareeba along with other waterfowl such as two Pink-eared Duck, both Plumed and Wandering Whistling-Duck, Pacific Black Duck and Hardhead. 

Australasian Grebe

 

Also present were Spotted Harrier and an Australian Hobby. In the Port Douglas area were at least seven Pied Heron and a Pink-eared Duck on a small seasonal wetland, reported by David “Chook” Crawford from http://www.closeupbirding.com.au, he also said that the previously reported Freckled Duck at Hasties Swamp near Atherton were still present during the week (3-9^th March) . Mt. Lewis has been accessible over the last week and all 12 Wet Tropic endemics have been seen there. Other birds seen in the Julatten area of interest were one Australian Bustard, two Singing Bushlark, four Black shouldered Kite and a Leaden Flycatcher feeding a dependant young. A Wandering Tattler was reported, on the Eremaea Birds site, at Machans Beach in Cairns along with an excellent image of it.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The most surprising sighting was whilst we were away when a Spotted Quoll ran across the lawn in front of the accommodation units, this is the first record that we know about here. We have seen them up on the mountains behind us on Mt. Lewis but even there they are rare. Lets hope we see it again before it cleans up all our small mammals! Over the last few weeks there have been a few more sightings of snakes including Amethystine and Carpet Python, Slaty-grey Snake and Macleay's Water Snake. Frog have been surprisingly quiet despite the damp conditions only Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog were seen. A Striped Possum was seen in our neighbours garden when it was tap-dancing along the banana leaves outside the back door. 

Hopefully we will be back on track for the next blog!

 

12th August 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

We just celebrated seven years of running Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge which has been most enjoyable with lots of hard work but has been worth the effort. We would like to say a big thank you to all our fantastic guests who have shared the area with us and hopefully catch up with those of you who have not visited yet.

Now what has been happening over the past two weeks? No rain apart from a brief bit of drizzle one morning which did not even register in the rain gauge, the rest of the two weeks was fantastic weather with sunshine and cool mornings. The top temperature was a pleasant 20.9ºC and the minimum was 11.2ºC. The humidity was high, up to 95% and a very low for us of 53%.

Bird sightings for the first week were 96 seen plus 7 heard. The second week had slightly more sightings due mainly to the great weather but also more birdos looking, 112 seen plus 2 heard. Mammal and reptile species were slightly less than the last two weeks due to the dry cooler weather with 23 species seen. 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 White-necked Heron was foraging in ponding in the adjacent cane paddock late one afternoon, not a common bird in our area, also here were two Purple Swamphen another uncommon bird in this area. A Red-necked Crake was heard calling from the rainforest patch adjacent to Geraghty Park whilst we were on a nightwalk – at least they are still around and hopefully they will start showing themselves soon. A reminder of what they look like!

 

 

Red-necked Crake

 

Also still around is the (Lesser) Sooty Owl which called once at 5.20am as it was flying over, however still no sightings. A pair of Yellow-throated Scrubwren were seen in the rainforest adjacent to the orchard which was only the second sighting this year, the previous sighting was of a single bird. A White-eared Monarch we had heard calling for over a month decided to show itself on two consecutive days in the orchard flitting around the tops of the trees as they do, thanks to Murray for finding the bird.

Other sightings:

Waterbirds continue to come and go especially Magpie Goose, Hardhead and Australasian Grebe. Brown Cuckoo-Dove are appearing again and even a Superb Fruit-Dove has been showing in the orchard on the odd occasion but more often has been heard. A couple of Topknot Pigeon have been flying over occasionally and our Papuan Frogmouth returned to its usual daytime roosting site in the orchard at the end of the second week after not being able to be found for a month but promptly vanished the next day. An Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard on several nights calling near the accommodation units but not seen. Raptors have been showing well in the area with nine species seen, Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling, Brahminy and Black Kite, Brown Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, Swamp Harrier and Wedge-tailed Eagle. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were only seen once flying over and the juvenile Scaly-breasted Lorikeet reported in the last blog is still in the grevilleas and surviving well despite falling out of the tree several times, it just gets up and climbs back along the trunk. It is now starting to develop its primary feathers and tail so hopefully should fly off soon.

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet - on Grevillea

A Fan-tailed Cuckoo was foraging along McDougall Road which is one of very few sightings this year. The pair of Barking Owl are still with us and are calling most evenings and early morning; they were seen calling in a Poinciana tree at the entrance to the Lodge one evening. At least one pair of Eastern Barn Owl have three fledglings out of the nest begging for food, hopefully they will make it. The Noisy Pitta reported in last blog was with us for most of the last two weeks but had disappeared for the last three days. Our neighbours had which was presumably the same bird appear in their garden, so maybe the pitta is widening its feeding area in the search for something other than banana! Whilst it was here it put on a show one sunny afternoon and sat out sunning itself. 

Noisy Pitta

Lovely Fairy-Wren were again seen in our neighbours garden one afternoon when a male and two females appeared. 12 species of honeyeater again for the last two weeks making the most of the flowering trees and rarely coming into the nectar feeders. A White-cheeked Honeyeater was foraging along the edge of the rainforest behind the units one morning which was nice as they don't visit us often and Graceful Honeyeater are singing well. This one was twisting its head and distorting the yellow ear patch.

Graceful Honeyeater

 
At least two Barred Cuckoo-shrike were heard behind the units in the rainforest but only one morning before they disappeared. A single male Golden Whistler, which is a winter visitor from the mountains behind the Lodge, has been around the grounds. The Golden Whistler has not been calling unlike the Grey Whistler who are in full song. A female Bowers Shrike-thrush was looking for insects on the veranda in front of the units one morning; this is another winter visitor from higher altitudes. The Yellow Oriole which have been around since the beginning of April seem to have left the area to be replaced by the Olive-backed Oriole which are calling well. A pair of Black Butcherbird are still lurking around the rainforest and catching the occasional frog, usually White-lipped Tree Frog. Our Spangled Drongo is still making noisy appearances at the nectar feeder and both Rufous and Grey Fantail, including a few of the race keasti from higher altitudes are around the Lodge grounds. 

Grey Fantail - race keasti

Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill are calling and needing a bit of persistence to see them. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been in Geraghty Park and both Pale Yellow and Grey-headed Robin have been foraging out in the open orchard. One morning there were three grey-headed foraging together along with several others scattered around the orchard, they will probably stay with us until late October/early November before heading back up into the mountains at higher altitudes. This Pale-yellow Robin was very interested in this leaf and kept coming back to it.

Pale-yellow Robin

Metallic Starling are busy trying to build nests but have been distracted by having to chase off marauding Australasian Figbird who have been stealing their nest material. This female was heading up to one of the nests.

Australasian Figbird

These Metallic Starling were trying to build their nest with one working the nest and another on lookout duties.

Metallic Starling

It appears that the Olive-backed Sunbird reported last blog nesting in Geraghty Park have failed with their nest, probably due to an overnight period off the nest because the female was locked into the adjacent library room. They will try again, hopefully with a better outcome.

Further Afield:-

A Spotted Harrier was seen chasing off a Wedge-tailed Eagle along Euluma Creek Road, Julatten, before it landed on the ground to eat a small prey item. Whilst it was on the ground a Nankeen Kestrel buzzed it. The Wedge-tailed Eagle flew off to be harassed by a pair of Whistling Kite. Also along Euluma Creek Road a Large-tailed Nightjar was calling on dusk. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch are still being found near Abattoir Swamp but in small numbers of less than six. Black-throated Finch were reported from Hurricane Station Road north of Mt. Carbine and Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours reported a Latham's Snipe at Lake Mitchell which is the first we have heard of them this season.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

One spotlighting walk produced both Striped and Green Ringtail Possum which was something we had not done for at least a month, only finding one of the species at a time. Platypus have been showing in the evening, night and early morning with an adult and immature one morning at 7.00am. Our neighbour and bird guide Carol saw an Echidna along the banks of Bushy Creek near the nursing home which was the first for several months, she also had an Australian Scrub Python under her house. 

Short-beaked Echidna

A Long-nosed Bandicoot ran into the feeding station near the office one night which is unusual as they normally keep to the rainforest and orchard. Frog species sighting have become less frequent with the cooler weather as have the sightings of Eastern Water Dragon in Bushy Creek with only one seen over the two weeks.

Photography:-

One of the joys of photography in the “Wet Tropics” is trying to look after your equipment. Our camera gear is kept in a de-humidified cabinet which is in a de-humidified room but despite this the dreaded fungus gets into the camera gear. Using the lenses and having light passed through them helps impair fungal growth but does not completely stop it. In our days of running a camera shop we regularly had customers with lenses which were solid fungus from one end to another and wondered why they were getting soft focus pictures! Invariably they were kept in the dark with lens caps on which helps promote fungal growth in our humid conditions. There was a time when silica gel was recommended as a drying agent but in our climate they absorb the moisture in no time and you end up carrying a wet bag of gel which helps fungal growth!

The upshot of all this is that our gear has had to go away to get cleaned/repaired, our main camera, EOS 7D, has growth on the focusing screen which probably means a new screen, a job that could be done at home if the focusing screens were able to be purchased. This is not the case, Canon don't sell them as an accessory, so Canon camera technician only. One lens, 300mm F2.8 has a small blob of fungus in the front element and judging by past repairs on other lenses, the front lens elements are constructed as a group of lenses and cannot be replaced individually, so be prepared for an expensive bill! Currently I'm are using the backup EOS 40D and 100-400mm zoom. Using this combination I find quite a few limitations against the regular equipment. As good as the 40D is it is no match for the 7D, in particular the shutter button is not as sensitive resulting in having to press hard on the button resulting in camera shake. Previously I got used to rolling my finger across the button to trigger it so I'm having to learn this technique again. The 100-400mm zoom lens is a slow lens to use in the rainforest and obviously not as sharp as the 300mm (even when it has a 1.4x converter on it) and it is difficult to get the push pull zoom to operate smoothly. Most people we see coming through the Lodge use this lens at the 400mm setting for bird photography and if I had to choosing another lens I'd go for the 400mm F5.6 which is a good choice for bird photography at a reasonable price, Its light, sharp and has good fast auto focus.(of course a 500mm or 600mm 800mm would be better but we'll have to win the lottery first!).  The 100-400mm zoom has its place, it's definitely lighter than the 300mm! It is useful to be able to switch from bird photography to insect photography at times and zoom back to macro mode and of course it has image stabilisation which the fixed 400mm does not have. I'd be interested to see how the 200-400mm telephoto zoom with a built-in 1.4x focal length extender goes when it is released, probably be very expensive.

Normally the 40D is used for macro photography with the 100mm F2.8 macro lens and this works well as most shots are taken on a tripod with the shutter release. Looking forward to getting our gear back and a more usable images per shutter click. PS. We also have an EOS 20D with fungus on the sensor which costs as much to replace as buying a new camera body, so that goes with the old film cameras as boat anchors! Oh for an EOS 1.