30th March 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

We are back online after being away since the beginning of the month, our friends Kath and Dave looked after the Lodge for us and kept the bird records for the three weeks while we were on holiday, thanks to them for doing such a great job. Their records plus the last weeks are summarised below.

Weather Report

Rainfall over the period we were away amounted to 172mm which we know from our travels to SE Queensland, Northern New South Wales and Lord Howe Island would be most welcome there as it was very dry when we were visiting. Hopefully this last week has put some useful rainfalls in those areas. In addition the last weeks rainfall was 59.5mm on six rainy days. For the year so far we have recorded almost 1100mm. Temperatures ranged from 19ºC to 29ºC.

Bird Sightings:-

The past four weeks sighting were around 100 species per week.

Birding Highlights:-

Three Cotton Pygmy-goose in one of the McDougall Road wetlands in the first week of March. Wompoo and Superb Fruit-Dove were both seen and heard, in addition a pair of Superb Fruit-Dove were spotlighted roosting on 29/3 in the rainforest. No sightings of Papuan Frogmouth in the Lodge grounds, but three were roosting nearby in the last week of March. Two Black-necked Stork have been around most weeks. Pacific Baza showed up in the first week and both Brown Goshawk and Collared Sparrowhawk have been in the area. Red-necked Crake have been seen over the last three weeks, including three recently fledged juveniles with two adults, pottering around in the rainforest. This sighting means that this pair have bred a second time this season. Pale-vented Bush-hen have been showing each week with at least nine seen in the last week of March. This juvenile bird is about two months old and is one of five survivors from a clutch of six.

Pale-vented Bush-hen - juvenile

Both Buff-banded Rail and White-browed Crake were seen along McDougall Road. Red-tailed Black Cockatoo were around for the first two weeks of March, but have not been seen or heard since. Cuckoos have been quite obvious with the highlight a flock of 30+ Channel-billed Cuckoo, which usually gather in groups of immatures at this time of year to fly north. Other cuckoos seen or heard were Pheasant Coucal, Eastern Koel and Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo. A pair of Barking Owl returned for a couple of weeks, but moved off when they realised they had cleaned the area out of food when they were here before for 18 months! 

 

Barking Owl

Lesser Sooty Owl has been heard most weeks, but not seen. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher numbers appear to have decreased since we were away as we have not seen or heard many, but we have seen a few adults and a few juvenile birds so they are still around to be observed. 

 Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - juvenile

13 species of honeyeater were seen including Lewin's Honeyeater who have returned from higher altitudes where they breed. A White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike was seen feeding a juvenile and both Barred Cuckoo-shrike and Cicadabird have been seen. A Grey Whistler was seen feeding a recently fledged young; would like to know where they nest as we have never found one in nearly nine years. 

 

Grey Whistler

Little (Rufous) Shrike-thrush, Leaden Flycatcher, Black-faced Monarch and Lemon-bellied Flycatcher were also seen feeding juveniles. Grey-headed Robin have returned from the mountains behind the Lodge and both Fairy and Tree Martin were seen along McDougall Road. Metallic Starling are still with us, but will be leaving soon to head north or maybe just go down to the coast where they are all year now. Red-browed Finch were seen breeding which seems to be an all year event! Australian Pipit have also returned to the area.

Further Afield:-

Australian King-Parrot and White-eared Monarch were both seen along Pinnacle Road, Julatten. 

 

Australian King-Parrot - male

There were up to four Yellow-billed Spoonbill at Lake Evan (Brady Road Swamp), 4km north of Mareeba in the last week of March, not a common bird in our region. Two Latham's Snipe were seen at Ferraro Road, Port Douglas. Eastern Yellow Wagtail were being seen at Tinaburra Boat Ramp, Lake Tinaroo (Atherton Tableland) and adjacent areas until about mid-March with up to 14 bird present. Little Kingfisher were reported from Centenary Lakes and Kewarra Beach, both sites in Cairns.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Sightings have been a little patchy with occasional Fawn-footed Melomys, Yellow-footed Antichinus, Red-legged Pademelon and Striped Possum. Regulars include Boyd's Forest Dragon, Eastern Water Dragon, Spectacled Flying Fox, Jungguy Frog and White-lipped Tree Frog. Eastern Tube-nosed Bat has also been seen regularly. A Platypus was spotlighted in Bushy Creek on 29/3 and was the first seen for about five weeks. Our neighbours reported a Macleay's Water Snake on Mt. Kooyong Road also on the 29th; it was having difficulty moving on dry land.

Bird Trails Tropical Queensland Brochure:-

A new brochure for 2014-2015 has just been released with updated information on the best birding sites, birding guides and places to stay in the Daintree, Cairns Highlands (Tablelands), Julatten and Mission Beach areas. It can be downloaded from here.

We hope to have the camp ground and bunk house opened again by next weekend, 5-6th April, weather permitting!

12th January 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Welcome to 2014 and hope you all enjoyed Christmas/New Year celebrations. Since the last blog the weather has been a mixed bag, extremely hot for here - up to 35ºc, but elsewhere in Queensland almost 50ºC! It did get down to 18ºc overnight on a couple of occasions. Rain has been very patchy with only 33mm over the last four weeks when we should be getting more as it is our “Wet Season”. The monsoonal trough is over the far north of Australia, across Cape York Peninsula and is forecast to come further south in the next two weeks so we should expect some good rainfalls. The total rainfall for the last year was 1473mm which is well below our average. In 1992 Julatten had 2148mm in January alone!

Past Four Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were , seen and a high number of heard, second week sightings were , seen and heard. The last four weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 15th - 21st December , 22nd - 28th December , 29th December - 4th January, 5th - 11th January

Birding Highlights:-

The absolute highlight over the last month was a female Yellow-billed Kingfisher seen by three of our guests perched along Bushy Creek near the Platypus viewing area on the 28^th December. Luckily two of the guests had a camera on hand and took a few images, two of which they sent us to put into the blog, shown below. 
 

Yellow-billed Kingfisher - female

Yellow-billed Kingfisher - female

Yellow-billed Kingfisher is a Cape York Peninsula speciality occurring as far south as about Coen, which is over 500km north of the Lodge. There have been a few records in our area including a previous one in Julatten, but none have been written up (as far as we know) or photographed. We heard it calling in the rainforest the next morning, but did not see it. That was the last record of it so we presume it moved on. That was exciting!

Papuan Frogmouth have been playing hide and seek by not staying in the same location two days running, this pair was seen one day on the edge of the orchard.

 

Papuan Frogmouth

Lesser Sooty Owl has been heard a few times and hopefully has moved back into the Lodge grounds since the Barking Owl appear to have left the area. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are nesting and hopefully sitting on eggs, we have at least eight nests around the Lodge with several others in our neighbours garden and adjacent rainforest. Other birds seen nesting include, Australian Brush-turkey, Peaceful Dove, Pacific Baza, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Dollarbird, Australasian Figbird, Olive-backed Oriole, Spangled Drongo, Black-faced Monarch, Spectacled Monarch, Magpie Lark, Pale-yellow Robin, Metallic Starling, Olive-backed Sunbird, Red-browed Finch (nothing new here as they build nests all year around) and Chestnut-breasted Mannikin.

A few interesting observations regarding nesting birds were; a Spangled Drongo building a nest seen placing sticks and wriggling around in the nest to shape it then a week later the nest was occupied by an Australian Figbird who is still in it! The pair of Spangled Drongo are now in another nest in the same tree, but on the other side. Not sure whether the drongo was trying to take over the figbirds nest or the figbird stole the drongos nest. Also of interest was a Pale-yellow Robin nest which had at least one nestling in it. There were four adults attending this nest and feeding the young. When I passed the nest the adults started flying around my head to chase me off before dropping to the ground. Here they started doing a broken wing display, then as I backed away the birds headed to the nearby leaf litter and started to move around with both wings outstretched and flapping. 

 

Pale-yellow Robin - broken wing display

Pale-yellow Robin - disturbing insects on the ground

Presumably they were trying to disturb insects as they were turning over leaves at the same time. Not seen this behaviour before. Noisy Pitta have bred and have at least one juvenile which has been seen in the vicinity of the Crake Pool. Varied Sittella were seen along McDougall Road, this is an uncommon species in the vicinity of the Lodge, but over the last couple of years sightings have become more frequent. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and seen around the Lodge grounds most days. 

Pied Monarch

 

Further Afield:-

Euluma Creek Road, Julatten has been turning up some uncommon birds in the district including Tawny Grassbird and Horsfield's Bushlark. Abattoir Swamp has had Black-chinned Honeyeater (Golden-backed form) and Northern Fantail. Five Squatter Pigeon and six Grey-crowned Babbler were at Mt. Molloy. Lake Mitchell had at least 45 Whiskered Tern, two Brolga and two Black-necked Stork. A dam on the Kondaparinga Road north of Mt. Carbine had a Bar-breasted Honeyeater building a nest on a Rubber Vine, an unusual record. The isolated population of White-gaped Honeyeater were seen at the regular location of the McLeod River along with a nesting Black Bittern. Hasties Swamp near Atherton has been getting good numbers of birds, we counted 247 Pink-eared Duck, at least 400 Grey Teal plus 10 Freckled Duck and at least 150 Eurasian Coot on 17^th December but Alan Gillanders from Alan's Wildlife Tours had 269 Pink-eared Duck, 500+ Plumed Whistling-Duck and 28 Freckled Duck on the 8^th January. There were plenty of other species present, but not in high numbers, Latham's Snipe have also been seen here recently. Our full list from Hasties can be found on the e-bird site. Lake Evan (Brady Road Swamp) 4km north of Mareeba has been getting up to 1200 Magpie Goose as well as a variety of other species such as Plumed Whistling-Duck, Red-kneeded Dotterel and a single Pink-eared Duck. 

Magpie Goose - part of the flock of 1200

Red-rumped Swallow and immature Barn Swallow were reported from Somerset Drive north of Mossman. We went down to have a look, but only found Fairy Martin and Tree Martin on the powerlines. Next to the powerlines was this very appropriate sign which says it all!

Whilst we were down that way we called into Newell Beach Boat Ramp at the mouth of the Mossman River which flows into the ocean here and forms a sandbar which is often good for shorebirds. A few Bar-tailed Godwit were about the most exciting birds present as it was high tide and most of the sandbar was under water.

Newell Beach at mouth of Mossman River

A trip to Cairns on the 9^th January actually coincided with a favourable tide for a change. Plenty of shorebirds including a Sanderling on the mudflats with Red-necked Stint. Sanderling are not very common at the Esplanade. Other shorebirds included both Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwit, Terek and Curlew and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Lesser and Greater Sandplover, Grey-tailed Tattler, Great Knot, Eastern Curlew and Whimbrel. Full list can be found on the Eremaea Birds site. Mt. Lewis is again proving to be the spot to go to with numbers of Blue-faced Parrot-Finch climbing up to at least 40 which is the most seen for many years.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

A few snakes have come active with the warmer weather including a Red-bellied Black seen on the track to Bushy Creek, a Green Tree Snake eating a poor unfortunate White-lipped Tree Frog and an Australian Scrub Python has been in our neighbours garden. 

Green Tree Snake with White-lipped Tree Frog

Boyd's Forest Dragon, Eastern Water Dragon and Major Skink have all been showing well. Platypus has been around with three being seen one late afternoon. Bats have been active with 6 species seen, Eastern Horseshoe Bat, Large-footed Myotis, Northern Broad-nosed Bat, Little Bentwing Bat and Diadem Leaf-nosed Bat plus Spectacled Flying-Fox. Red-legged Pademelon have been seen scurrying around the rainforest and in the orchard. A Yellow-footed Antichinus (small rat like species) was seen hurrying across the reception area feeder one morning, the first for several weeks.

30th June 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Two weeks without any rain with some cloudy days, but mostly great weather with cool nights and warm sunny days – ideal! Temperatures ranged from 13ºC to 27ºC.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 102, 98 seen and 4 heard, second week sightings were 103 seen and 2  heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- 16th June - 22nd June and 23rd June - 29th June

Birding Highlights:-

Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard and then seen at the entrance to a roost hollow on the edge of Geraghty Park whilst on a guided morning walk and presumably the same bird was spotlighted the same evening in the vicinity of the day roost. White-faced and White-necked Heron returned to the lagoons along McDougall Road and up to three Eurasian Coot are still present here as well. Raptors have been good with sightings of Black-shouldered Kite, Pacific Baza, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling, Brahminy and Black Kite, Grey Goshawk, Spotted and Swamp Harrier, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Nankeen Kestrel, Brown Falcon and Australian Hobby. This image shows the distinctive "W" pattern on the wings and rounded tail of the Whistling Kite.

Whistling Kite

A Red-necked Crake was seen walking along path to Bushy Creek from the orchard at 5.45 one afternoon but no other sightings. At least 20 Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have been feasting on a fruiting fig tree at the end of Mt. Kooyong Road along with many honeyeaters, Barred Cuckoo-Shrike, Australian Figbird and Silvereye. Barking Owl have been calling and seen several times, mainly at the entrance to the Lodge and often on our Lodge sign, but not when we had the camera with us! Eastern Barn Owl have been seen in their nest hollow and are possibly starting to nest as it is the right time of year. Little Kingfisher has been fishing in the Crake Pool on several occasions late in the afternoon. Spotted Catbird has started to come to the feeder by reception and a Great Bowerbird was foraging on fruits in Geraghty Park. Lovely Fairy-wren have been seen along McDougall and Mt. Kooyong Roads. Large-billed Scrubwren do not appear to have returned to the nest reported in the last blog, but they maybe sitting. Plenty of honeyeaters around including three Black-chinned (Golden-backed form) foraging and calling in a Queensland Blue Gum at the entrance to the Lodge grounds. A pair of Macleay's Honeyeater were found on the ground locked together having a fight for over 20 minutes, they ended up exhausting each other and lay prone on the ground recovering, still locked together. One was playing dead in the first image but soon came alive when disturbed and flew off looking none the worse for the ordeal!

Macleay's Honeyeater

Macleay's Honeyeater

Both Yellow and Olive-backed Oriole have been calling and seen in the area. A Northern Fantail was foraging around the Bushy Creek bridge one morning whilst on a guided morning walk. Pied Monarch have been seen around the grounds and at Bushy Creek late afternoon bathing. Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and see around the Lodge grounds along with a female Victoria's Riflebird who came into the reception area feeder one morning. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher were taking advantage of freshly mown grass in Geraghty Park with six of them pouncing onto the ground to pick up exposed insects. 

Lemon-bellied Flycatcher

Tawny Grassbird have been heard in the adjacent cane paddocks but are likely to get moved on soon as the cane is being harvested.

Further Afield:-

A trip to Cairns afforded us the opportunity to call into the Cattana Wetlands to look for the reported Cotton Pygmy-goose which we did not see.

Cattana Wetland

There were plenty of other birds found here in a great little wetland area, the full list can be found here: http://www.eremaea.com/Lists.aspx?List=183541

 

Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo seen near Bushy Creek at the bottom of the Mt. Lewis Road, Blue-faced Parrot-Finch was heard at the same location. Fan-tailed Cuckoo were along Sides Road, Julatten, a Pacific Baza showed at the Mt. Lewis clearing 10km up from Bushy Creek and a Red-backed Kingfisher was at Maryfarms, south of Mt. Carbine. Flocks of several hundred Budgerigar were along the Kondaparinga Road north of Mt. Carbine. The budgies were resting in the heat of the day in the shade.

Budgerigar

Also here were at least eight Black-throated Finch. These ones were preening after having a bathe in the dam.

Black-throated Finch

In the same trees were Diamond Dove and many Brown Treecreeper. The Brown Treecreeper occurring here is in a broad intergrade zone between the Cape York sub-species melanotus and the nominotypical picumnus, which occurs in much of Queensland (except South-East), inland New South Wales and Victoria west of the Great Divide. This intergrade zone extends across the Burdekin-Lynd divide from about Cooktown and Croydon further north - west and about Hughenden and Townsville further south.

Brown Treecreeper

Also in the dam were these water lillies.

Water Lillies

Four Australian Shoveller were reported at Hasties Swamp by several observers. A Diamond Dove was seen in Mt. Molloy, another unusual sighting. A Radjah Shelduck was standing beside the Mulligan Highway (Peninsula Road) opposite Lake Mitchell between Mareeba and Mt. Molloy on the afternoon of the 29^th, which was not the place we expect to see one. Also on the 29^th at Port Douglas on a cut cane paddock there was a Peregrine Falcon and an Australian Hobby standing on the ground 5m apart before they took off and went their separate ways. It was a good opportunity to view these two species and compare the obvious differences, don't think we'll see that again! Researchers on Mt. Lewis came across a Southern Boobook owl race lurida which is not often seen. Thanks to Eridani Mulder who kindly let us use her image of the S. Boobook.

Southern Boobook -  Race lurida

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Quite a few sightings of Platypus, especially in the second week. One sighting at about 7.45am had the Platypus swimming to the bank of Bushy Creek and climbing up onto a log where it started to preen and scratch itself. A Tree Mouse Pygonomys sp. was another good sighting as this elusive mammal is not often seen, it was only first recorded in Australia in 1974. Striped Possum have been seen infrequently and both Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot have been in short supply with only one or two of each species seen. A Water Rat was seen whilst on a night walk poking its head out of the rock wall at the Platypus viewing area along Bushy Creek. Frog sightings were well down with only one sighting of a Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Desert Tree Frog and a couple of Cane Toad.

2nd June 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

FYI: The latest version of the Bird Trails Tropical Queensland brochure for the Cairns region has just been released. It covers Cairns, Daintree, Cairns Highland (Atherton Tableland) and Mission Beach areas. It has a map of the area showing all the best birding sites, bird guides and places to stay along with contact details and the various suggested trails around the area. The website shown on the brochure is not completed yet so has not gone live. You can download a copy from our website, just click on the brochure below.

Weather Report:-

Frustrating couple of weeks with lots of drizzle which did not produce much rain. Most of the drizzle came from the coast as the south-easterly winds were quite strong bringing the rain onshore. However there were a few breaks with sunshine and clear conditions temperatures ranging from 18ºC to 28ºC. Rainfall for the two weeks was 15.5mm. .

The cloudy weather did bring some good photo opportunities of the mountain range behind the Lodge. This one was taken with a 300mm F2.8 lens early morning.

Mt. Lewis Range in Cloud

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 86 seen and 11 heard, second week sightings were, 96 seen and 8 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- May 19th – May 25th and May 26th - June 1st

Birding Highlights:-

Magpie Goose were heard honking as they flew over the Lodge one night and were seen along McDougall Road the next day in one of the wetlands. Emerald Dove started to re-appear after their numbers dropped for about a month, they even started calling which might be a sign that the breeding season is not far off. Small flocks of Topknot Pigeon have been seen flying over from the mountains which hopefully signals their return to far north Queensland. A male Superb Fruit-Dove was caught helping itself to some palm tree fruit in front of the accommodation units late one afternoon and Wompoo Fruit-Dove also visited this food resource several times. Papuan Frogmouth was seen at the nursing home during the first week but disappeared during the second only to re-appear at the end of the week. A White-necked Heron, an uncommon visitor, was foraging in some ponding amongst a cane field behind the nursing home late one afternoon. A Nankeen Night Heron, occasional visitor, was along Bushy Creek one afternoon and at least five Royal Spoonbill were seen heading for the local Barramundi Farm. Raptors were around in low numbers with sightings of one Black-shouldered Kite, Spotted Harrier, Brown Falcon and Nankeen Kestrel plus a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagle, two Whistling Kite and up to eight Black Kite. Red-necked Crake was heard quite frequently in the evening calling from the patch of rainforest between the Lodge and the Rex Highway but not sighted. Two Pale-vented Bush-hen were heard along Bushy Creek when a neighbour drove past in a tractor; noise quite often triggers them to call especially noisy cars, motorbikes and aeroplanes. Bush Stone-curlew have been very vocal at night up and down the road adjacent to the Lodge. These two, caught checking out the irrigation pipes of the nearby nursing home garden, could be the culprits.

Bush Stone-curlew

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen flying over and were probably checking out a local fig tree which has fruits that are almost ripe - expect it to be ready in a week or two. Little Bronze-cuckoo have been around calling quite a lot and been seen, most are the nominate species not the usual Gould's sub-species that we get here; one Gould's was seen at the end of week two. 

 

Little Bronze-Cuckoo (Gould's)

Barking Owl have been heard calling in the evening and early morning with one spotted on the edge of the Lodge grounds early one morning and another one perched in front of the accommodation units at the end of a night spotlighting tour, great views. At least four Eastern Barn Owl have been around, one was seen clutching a small mice/rat. An Azure Kingfisher was at the Crake Pool perching on a vine and diving in to collect some small fish late one afternoon. Blue-winged Kookaburra have been calling and seen in Geraghty Park most times we have looked. Spotted Catbird have been calling mainly early morning as they skulk around in the rainforest. Honeyeaters were about in small numbers with 12 species seen and another two heard. A single Barred Cuckoo-shrike was perched high in the orchard one morning preening on top of a Blue Quandong tree and not seen again over the two weeks. A Bower's Shrike-thrush was a surprise in the camping area as it foraged in a fig tree, it showed its distinctive black bill (adult male), grey upper parts and streaked deep rufous upper breast. We do get one or two coming down from their more usual haunts up above 600m in the mountains during the cooler months. It was only seen once before disappearing. An adult Yellow Oriole continues to move around the Lodge and our neighbours garden calling as it goes. Northern Fantail has been around spasmodically as have Leaden Flycatcher. A territorial dispute erupted in Geraghty Park between four Magpie-lark which became quite violent as this image shows with three of the birds getting stuck into each other with a blur of wings, the fourth bird joined in for a brief period before the intruders were sent packing! Not a particularly good photo but it does show the ferocity of the encounter.

Magpie-lark

Pied Monarch has been around the Lodge grounds as well as coming down to Bushy Creek late afternoon for a bathe. A pair of Yellow-breasted Boatbill were dueting to each other one morning in the rainforest, they kept going for over 15 minutes and were still going when we left. Not heard this calling to each other before and it was hard to know which bird was responding, male or female. Still only a few Grey-headed Robin have come down off the mountains with only two or three heard and seen; quite a contrast to last year when there were three or four times as many. Tawny Grassbird are still around with a couple heard in an adjacent cane field.

Further Afield:-

The strangest sighting was of a Budgerigar on Mt. Lewis, yes it was green and no it was not an escapee! An image and information is on the Eremaea Birds site. Budgerigar were also reported from Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park by Doug Herrington and the BirdLife Northern Queensland Group. It is certainly a year for Budgerigar on the east coast with flocks of up to 900 reported from Townsville and district. Diamond Dove are still being found at Maryfarms (between Mount Molloy and Mt. Carbine) with others reported from around Mareeba. An adult Spotted Harrier was soaring over paddocks along Euluma Creek Road, in Julatten at the end of the second week, before landing in a cut cane paddock. Such a majestic bird with its contrasting grey upper wings and deep rufous breast.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

We had a student at the Lodge for just over a week who put out remote cameras for an experiment with mammals and it was very interesting to see what came to the feeding station by the reception area. At least two Long-nosed Bandicoot (one pregnant) came during the night, a species we don't see often earlier in the evening and a Black Rat turned up. One was reported a few weeks ago but not seen since, so the footage was confirmation of the sighting. We have only seen one previously at the feeder a few years ago and certainly would not encourage it to bring its mates along! A 4m+ Scrub (Amethystine) Python was seen crossing the road to reception one night, it had a large bulge in it so must have had a recent meal, possibly a White-tailed Rat. This would possibly be the largest python to be seen in the Lodge, its definitely the largest in our eight years. A Leaf-tailed Gecko was a great find on a night spotlighting tour – the first for several months. Boyd's Forest Dragon have been hiding most of the time but the odd one has been showing now and again. One around the reception area feeder came in for banana and another one was standing on the road near the entrance to the Lodge. This one did not want to move even when an Orange-footed Scrub Fowl almost walked on it! It needed some encouragement to get off the road and back into the rainforest. 

Boyd's Forest Dragon

Not many frogs around despite the drizzle, a White-lipped Tree Frog decided to set up home on a guest car between the cab and the back canopy, it did quite a few kilometres before it was coaxed out and relocated.

Other Criters:-
This rainforest Preying Mantis sp. turned up one evening and stayed long enough to get a photo.

19th May 2013 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report:-

Mixed weather over the past two weeks with a few wet rainy days, some drizzly cool days and some lovely sunny weather with temperatures ranging from 18ºC to 28ºC. Rainfall for the two weeks was 56mm.

Past Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Bird sightings for the first week were 95 seen and 6 heard, second week sightings were 98 seen and 7 heard. The last two weeks bird lists can be found on the Eremaea Birds Website:- May 5th – May 11th and May 12th - May 18th

Birding Highlights:-

Our last Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher left on the 8^th May setting a record for latest departure by one day. Always sad to see them go as they are such an iconic and beautiful bird to have around the Lodge. Two species, Varied Triller and Black-faced Monarch, have bred very late this year with a pair of trillers feeding a youngster near the nursing home and an adult monarch feeding a begging juvenile. Both these species are about 6-8 weeks beyond normal breeding season. Waterbird numbers have been increasing at the nearby Barramundi Farm with mainly Pacific Black Duck and Hardhead with up to five Royal Spoonbill, eight Australian White Ibis, several Intermediate Egret and one Eastern Great Egret. Little Black Cormorant turn up but are quickly chased off! Cattle Egret numbers are still increasing with an estimated 2000 along McDougall Road one evening as they came into roost. A bit different to the lone Eastern Great Egret that has been hanging around with them. This bird has been around the area since last year and has a damaged leg which dangles down when flying but seems to be ok when it is walking.

Eastern Great Egret with Cattle Egret

 

Eastern Great Egret

At least one Wompoo Fruit-Dove has been coming into bunches of palm fruits outside the accommodation units usually early morning or late afternoon and a single Topknot Pigeon was in our neighbours garden for one day. Papuan Frogmouth have not been seen in the Lodge grounds for several weeks but they have been found near the local nursing home but they are not our ones, they are a pair with a first year juvenile. Raptors have been around with a Collared Sparrowhawk being seen along McDougall Road several times and Pacific Baza have been around the Lodge. An Australian Hobby was around the back of the nursing home along with a Black-shouldered Kite who were eyeing each other off from adjacent perches. Red-necked Crake have been heard around the Lodge grounds and seen in our neighbours bird bath! A juvenile Pale-vented Bush-hen was seen at the beginning of the first week in our neighbours garden but not since, so they have probably left the area. A Black-fronted Dotterel was at the Barramundi Farm for a few days. A female Double-eyed Fig-Parrot at the front entrance to the Lodge on a guided morning walk was a great sighting as it clung to the side of a dead tree branch in the sun. Barking Owl were heard during the early part of the second week but not for the last four days but Sooty Owl was heard during the Barking Owl absence. Blue-winged Kookaburra continue to show well in Geraghty Park as do several pairs of Forest Kingfisher. Rainbow Bee-eater have been around the Lodge in big numbers with several hundred passing over on northward migration, they have been in the area for the last two weeks. 

 

Rainbow Bee-eater

A Noisy Pitta has been heard but not seen unlike Spotted Catbird who are very vocal and have been seen. Lovely Fairy-wren have been seen several times in our neighbours garden, usually late afternoon as they move to roost in bamboo along Bushy Creek. Eleven honeyeater species were seen and one, Black-chinned Honeyeater heard. The odd Barred Cuckoo-shrike has been seen but no Cicadabird over the last two weeks. At least one Yellow Oriole has been around the Lodge grounds calling but only one, of the usually more common, Olive-backed Oriole was heard. A Black Butcherbird caught and ate a Cogger's Frog along our main driveway about the same time that we heard a White-lipped Tree Frog crying out as it had been caught by something, probably a Green Tree Snake – hard life being a frog. A few Rufous Fantail are still here and are being joined by Grey Fantail (sub-species alisteri) who have migrated from southern parts. Pied Monarch are coming down to bathe late afternoon in Bushy Creek and one was foraging at the back of the accommodation units one morning with a female Victoria's Riflebird. 

Victoria's Riflebird -  female

At least 12 Golden-headed Cisticola were calling and foraging in a grassy paddock behind the nursing home with two Tawny Grassbird whilst on a guided morning walk. The cisticolas were in breeding plumage and the two grassbirds were sitting up on the grass stems showing well for over five minutes which is quite unusual as they are usually skulking around in the dense lower stems. A Bassian Thrush was seen along McDougall Road which might mean that a few are coming down the mountains to lower altitudes. A few usually make it to the Lodge grounds each year. Australasian Pipit have been seen in the fields behind the nursing home and at the local Barramundi Farm.

Australasian Pipit

Further Afield:-

Two White-browed Woodswallow were perched on power lines at West Mary Road, Maryfarms (between Mount Molloy and Mt. Carbine), not often reported this far east. At least two Black-throated Finch were seen nesting along the Hurricane Station Road north of McLeod River. Red-backed Kingfisher was seen at Mt. Carbine by our bird guide Carol Iles . 

Red-backed Kingfisher

An Azure Kingfisher was at Brady Road Swamp just north of Mareeba, not a normal place for this species out in the dry open woodland but they do turn up in odd places, we had one in the rainforest at 950m on Mt. Lewis! Speaking of Mt. Lewis it proved good for one couple who saw a male Golden Bowerbird fly across the road, always a difficult bird to see. Two Pacific Baza have been around Euluma Creek Road, Julatten circling and calling over the past two week, maybe going to nest in the area? A Square-tailed kite was circling over the Peninsular Highway on the northern outskirts of Mount Molloy on Saturday 18^th before gliding on upswept wings over the treetops adjacent to the highway. Here it encountered a flock of Sulphur-crested Cockatoo who noisily escorted it out of their territory.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

17 species of reptiles and mammals were seen, which was again down on previous weeks due to a lesser effort in looking, especially at night due to unfavourable weather. A few frogs were tempted out of hiding by the drizzly weather with Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Green Tree Frog and Cane Toad seen, Cogger's Frog was heard. 

Jungguy Frog

A Green Tree Snake took up residence in our neighbours property when it made a home in a flowerpot. The pot was disturbed and the snake leapt out much to the surprise of our neighbour! The fishing bat, Large-footed Myotis also made its roost under the same neighbours house. A Striped Possum was coming to a flowering banana tree each night to get the nectar and a Northern Brown Bandicoot made occasional visits to the seed feeder by the reception area.