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.

30th August 2009 Report

Another dry week with no rain and mild overnight temperatures, down to 15ºC with plenty of great sunny days of up to 25º - another great week just like last week. It was another good week for bird numbers with 85 species seen and 5 heard. Numbers of mammal/reptile/amphibian species were 18 with a few more reptiles becoming active as the weather starts to heat up.

Highlights for the week were our first Satin Flycatcher for the season, a male foraging in eucalypts in bright sunshine for good looks at the iridescent black colouring on its head, upper breast and back differentiating it from the Leaden Flycatcher which is steely grey. The last Satin Flycatcher seen here was 5th October 2008. Previous years records show they pass through our area between August and November, the only other record out of this period was one in March. A flock of Australian Wood Duck showed up alongside a recently cut cane paddock across the Rex Highway, they were the first seen since 21st July 2008. Most of our records for here are between July and November with a few outside of this period.

Australian Wood Duck - male

A Tawny Grassbird was heard calling from long grass beside Bushy Creek but not seen, this is the first record this year. All our records from Kingfisher Park are between late July to early October. A pair of Red-necked Crake were seen by our neighbour in his garden heading towards our crake pool early one evening about 6.30pm, just before dark. Must stake out the pool this week to see if they come in.

Around the Lodge grounds two golden-backed form of the Black-chinned Honeyeater were seen on several occasions feeding on eucalypt blossom and Lewin's Honeyeater appear to have disappeared towards the end of the week which is normal. Previous records show a marked decline in numbers during August with just a few birds hanging around until about the beginning of December and then an increase from late March/April. We presume they return to higher grounds like Mt. Lewis where birds can be found all year around but this is not backed up with any scientific study but personal observations, they could also return south to the southern Atherton Tableland. There is still a lot to learn about our tropical bird movements. Fruiting Blue Quandong (Eleocarpus grandis) mentioned last week attracting Spectacled Fly-Fox are now bringing in Topknot Pigeon and Wompoo Fruit-Dove but no sign of Superb Fruit-Dove yet.

Further afield a small flock of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were foraging beside Rifle Creek out the back of Julatten and one of our guests reported at least 20 Olive-backed Sunbird in a tree at Kuranda railway station, which is pretty amazing. The Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds (HANZAB) states “Usually occur singularly, in two's or small groups of up to four” which is what we have found.

Olive-backed Sunbird - male

Several Squatter Pigeon were seen around Mt. Molloy early in the week. Alan Gillanders reported Channel-billed Cuckoo and Black-faced Monarch arriving around Yungaburra on the Atherton Tableland (south of us by 1hour), late in the week but neither species has shown up here yet. A business trip to Cairns allowed a quick visit to the Cairns Esplanade where a few returning waders were present. Red-necked Stint, Common Greenshank, Great Knot, Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, Lesser Sandplover, Bar-tailed Godwit and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. A Striated Heron was fishing before a Brahminy Kite flew in and distracted it. The heron took up the bittern pose to look up and keep an eye on the kite. It wasn't very good for photography as it was blowing a gale but I did manage this very average shot of the heron.

Striated Heron

I was surprised by the unusual amount of Intermediate Egret foraging on the mud flats, at least 40+ along with Little Egret and a few Eastern Great Egret. No sign of the Laughing Gull amongst the Silver Gulls but I did not try too hard as I was short on time. There was also plenty of Australian Pelican (only recently returned – so I was told by John Crowhurst) and many Royal Spoonbill. Always worth a visit to the Esplanade if you get the right tide.

On the reptile front a pair of Green Tree Snake were mating outside the office before untangling and heading off in separate directions and a Boyd's Forest Dragon obligingly posed for photos, both events happening at the same time. Spotlighting on a couple of nights had different outcomes with Papuan Frogmouth seen both times but Striped and Green Ringtail Possum only seen once as was a Platypus. There has been two Platypus swimming past the viewing area of Bushy Creek, mainly in the morning and active later than normal with a couple of sightings between 10 and 11am (normally asleep by 6.45 at this time of year). It maybe that the breeding season has caused them to be active longer during the day. The Striped Possum seen during spotlighting was one of two calling loudly to each other and chasing through the canopy – more mating?

19th April Report

Finally the drizzly rain stopped at the end of the week after some rain on every day to make a total of 47mm for the week. This overcast weather made for a quiet week of birding with 62 species seen and another 7 heard. The reptile/mammal species were down, mainly due to lack of frogs, with 12 species seen. The highlights for us were the Fan-tailed Cuckoo reported last week which turned out to be a Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, a much rarer species, which occurs in our area in a small isolated population - around Mt. Lewis, Mowbray National Park and Black Mountain Road towards Kuranda with very rare sightings on the Atherton Tableland. The main distribution of this species is Papua New Guinea and Cape York Peninsula south to about Cooktown. The bird has been calling almost non-stop throughout the week but we have yet to see it, thanks to Del Richards for identifying it on call which is very similar to the Fan-tailed Cuckoo but with subtle differences. The White-throated Treecreeper were around all week and I managed to get a photo of one on Saturday morning using my trusty 300mm F2.8 lens with 1.4x teleconverter, this is my favourite lens.

White-throated Treecreeper

Australian King-Parrot turned up for a day and was calling loudly from a eucalypt tree, usually the odd sighting in February in our area. The (lesser) Sooty Owl called a couple of times in the week but was not seen. The Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher numbers are dwindling with only an adult and one juvenile seen in the lodge grounds plus a couple of juveniles and an adult in our neighbours garden. One Channel-billed Cuckoo called in the week as did one Black-faced Monarch. A Noisy Pitta was seen hopping along the road to the office and looked like a first year bird. Further afield Blue-faced Parrot-Finches both adult and juveniles were seen at four different places on Mt. Lewis. A pair of Fawn-footed Melomy’s has been coming around the office in the evening

Fawn-footed Melomys

and a stunned Amethystine Python was found near the office after falling out of a tree when the branches it was on broke off. After a short rest the python recovered and headed back into the rainforest, it was probably trying to catch a bird as there was a commotion in the trees before it fell out with many birds scalding it.