15th January 2012 Report

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

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

There were less birds recorded this week than last due mainly to the lack of waterbirds and raptors, totals were 99 seen, 6 heard and one found dead. 19 mammal and reptile species were seen, 4 heard. The weeks bird list is on the Eremaea Birds website and morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds.

Highlights:

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

(Lesser) Sooty Owl

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

Other sightings:

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

Spotless Crake

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

Large-billed Gerygone

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

Large-billed Gerygone - nest

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

Lewin's Honeyeater

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

 

Pale-yellow Robin - Adult and Juvenile

 

Pale-yellow Robin - Juvenile calling for food

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

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

Further Afield:-

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

Rufous Owl

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

Reptiles and Mammals:-

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

Cogger's Frog

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

Other Interesting Sightings:

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

Coprinellus disseminatus. ?

Slim Mould Ceratiomyxa fruiticulosa

2nd October 2011 Report

Can you believe another month has flown past! The last week has seen quite a change in the weather with minimum temperatures at the beginning of the week down to 14.3ºc but by the end of the week they were up to 20.4ºc. The maximum temperature was 31.9ºc which is about as hot as it gets here. The humidity fell to an unprecedented 33% but by the end of the week was back up to 90%. All this heat and low humidity was not good for bush fires which are in the area but not near us.

Another good week for numbers of bird species with 101 seen, and 7 heard. Reptiles and mammals were 25 which was two more than last week an probably one of the best weeks for a long time.

The weeks bird list is on the Eremaea Birds website and morning walk lists can also be found at this link on Eremaea Birds.

Highlight around the Lodge had to be seeing two (Lesser) Sooty Owl, one called outside the reception area on Saturday night and had us running to have a look. We found the owl perching about 4m off the ground and preening, not at all concerned about us. Another bird was calling some distance away and about an hour later was found perched about 1m away from the first bird who was still on the same branch. Wow first time we have seen two birds together since 2005 when they were seen at a nest site. Now all we have to do is ask them to come here every night!

(Lesser) Sooty Owl

    

(Lesser) Sooty Owl - preening

Another highlight was the return of several Black-faced Monarch who were calling towards the end of the week.

Other sightings:

The Lagoons along McDougall Road were again producing good numbers of waterbird species including some different ones to last week, Australian Wood Duck, Eastern Great Egret, Royal Spoonbill and a Black-necked Stork. The Cotton Pygmy-goose were still present with a maximum of five. Pigeons and doves were good this week with Emerald, Peaceful and Bar-shouldered Dove plus Pied Imperial and Topknot Pigeon. Brown Cuckoo-Dove and Wompoo Fruit-Dove were only heard. Our female Papuan Frogmouth was visible for most of the week with only two days when we could not find her and Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard on several nights but not seen. Two White-faced Heron were seen circling over the Lodge grounds one afternoon as were two Pacific Baza. The baza were also seen near last years nest site calling and making contact calls to each other, so hopefully another breeding even might be taking place. A single Nankeen Kestrel was seen once perched on a power pole alongside the Rex Highway, this was the first for several weeks.

The saga of “Katie” the Buff-banded Rail continues as she was found making a nuisance of herself at the local nursing home, just as her brother had done and was returned to us mid-week. She has now settled back into her routine of meeting the guests and cleaning up the spiders in the rooms. This image shows her doing one of her favourite pastimes, bathing.

"Katie" Buff-banded Rail

Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet are around in large numbers taking advantage of the ever increasing blossom appearing on the rainforest trees as well as the eucalypts. Eastern Koel has been vocal and at least two Channel-billed Cuckoo have been chasing each other around. Eastern Barn Owl was found on a spotlighting trip and several others were heard calling. Spotted Catbird have been making infrequent visits to the feeder by reception and both Great Bowerbird and Red-backed Fairy-wren were along McDougall Road. 15 species of honeyeater were also taking advantage of the flowering trees, several of these are not regulars around the Lodge such as Bridled, White-cheeked and Black-chinned Honeyeater. Both male and female Rufous Whistler have been calling and chasing each other around in Geraghty Park, another sign of breeding about to happen?

Rufous Whistler - Male

  

Rufous Whistler - Female

Olive-backed Oriole were also in the flowering trees and being seen as opposed to skulking around in the foliage. A brown Black Butcherbird was the only one seen and Rufous Fantail are becoming harder to find especially towards the end of the week, so they maybe moving on. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have again been very vocal but not always easy to find. A female Victoria's Riflebird was seen foraging in our neighbours garden and is probably the one seen at our feeder last week. Pale-yellow Robin continue to build nests with at least one bird seen sitting on the nest. Grey-headed Robin are still around and making a living out of the lawns which are now like concrete and cracking up due to the prolonged dry spell. The Bassian Thrush was seen only once when it was foraging in the orchard early in the week. Metallic Starling have returned to their nest tree but not making any nests yet, instead they are busy making lots of noise and squabbling amongst themselves. Probably trying to establish pair bonds but it all looks very chaotic!

Further afield the Wonga Beach Spotted Whistling Duck were absent from the lagoon but returned later in the week. We visited on Tuesday and were dismayed to see someone had driven onto the block of land and around the outside of the lagoon. From a conversation with another birdo this had happen early on the same day and an email from a neighbour confirmed this. Whilst we like to think it was not a birdo or photographer the chances are it was. One of the neighbours is really concerned at the number of people coming to see these birds and is worried that they might cause the birds to leave the area.

It would seem that the birds prefer to shelter in the shade of the overhanging bank closest to the road so a direct approach to the lagoon will scare them off, which happened on our first visit as we were unaware of where they were. They flew a short distance onto the lagoon and swam around, however if everyone does this they will soon get spooked and leave. We think the best approach is to park on the road and make a wide berth on the northern side (left when looking at lagoon) and approach from the seaward side.

If you are going to visit the area please be aware that this is a suburban area and we don't want the neighbours upset especially as they are taking an interest in the birds presence. So be responsible as it is the local birding businesses that get the complaints whether the irresponsible people (very small minority but it only takes one to do the wrong thing) are staying with these businesses or not. If the birds stay here there is a good chance they might breed here as well, which is what the more established Wandering Whistling-Duck do.

What else happened in the area? Well, three Large-tailed Nightjar were seen circling around at dusk at Mowbray National Park, several Golden Bowerbird were seen on Mt. Lewis flying across the road or track to the tin miners dam and Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo were also in Mowbray National Park. No sign of Blue-faced Parrot-Finch for the second week running so we must presume they are heading back into the hills and onto Mt. Lewis where they usually do not appear until November.

Mammal and reptile numbers were excellent with 25 seen. A flowering Pink Mahogany Dysoxylum oppositifolium attracted a Striped Possum and a Tree Mouse (Prehensile-tailed Rat) at the end of the week. This image shows the flowers emerging from the trunk, this is known as being cauliflorous.

Pink Mahogany Dysoxylum oppositifolium

A Green Ringtail Possum was seen in the same species of tree in the orchard, which is also flowering, earlier in the week. A Yellow-footed Antichinus was seen scurrying around the cookshed along with a Fawn-footed Melomys who appears to have taken up residence at the back of the fridge. Bush Rat have also been active around the feeder but with the Sooty Owl not far away they  might be a bit more wary now!

Bush Rat

Boyd's Forest Dragon was seen most days clinging to the side of a tree and posing well for photos. This one is a juvenile.

Boyd's Forest Dragon

Major Skink were around again and a very large Eastern Water Dragon was lounging around on rocks at the edge of Bushy Creek. Although six species of frog were seen they are still not very active, several sightings were of one frog once. The mating Jungguy Frog from last week did not bring any rain as forecast! Platypus are still being obliging and seen most days but irregular with their timing so you need to be patient and spend time waiting for them.

17th October 2010 Report

Temperatures this week were slightly cooler than last week 20.0-27.2ºC, with most of the week overcast and dull apart from one sunny dry day. Rainfall was 28.5mm spread over 6 days. Bird sightings were slightly up on last week, which was very good considering the weather conditions, 84 were seen and 6 heard. Mammals and reptiles were 19 species seen, one less than last week.

 

There was only one major highlight this week and that was the return of the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher from Papua New Guinea. Welcome home!

 

 Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

 

After a report of one seen at Mission Beach, 1½hrs south of Cairns on Thursday 14th and another report of one across the Daintree River on the way to Cape Tribulation on Friday 15th at least three were calling in the dawn chorus on Saturday 16th  here. Red Mill House also reported them calling at the Daintree Village on the 16th. This makes them two to three days earlier than any other record we have since 1994. Does this mean a very wet ”Wet Season”?

Also on Saturday morning the first Dollarbird for the season was calling and seen well here, they have been in other areas further south for a few weeks. What other exiting things have been happening here? A Collared Sparrowhawk was seen chasing a honeyeater which it caught before flying up into a tree where it was dismembered and eaten, not so exciting for the poor honeyeater. Australian Owlet-nightjar was seen on several occasions peering out of its daytime roost and also spotlighted in Geraghty Park one night. During the dry periods the dragonflies have been emerging in quite large numbers, the Sapphire Flutterer below was one of them, don't dragonflies have much more imaginative names than most birds? 

 Sapphire Flutterer

Other comings and goings over the week included plenty of pigeon and dove activity with Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Emerald Dove, Peaceful Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove, Superb Fruit-Dove, Pied Imperial-Pigeon and Topknot Pigeon all calling and seen. The Superb Fruit-Dove was especially good to see as it perched out in the open on top of a broken branch calling for superb views! The Nankeen Night Heron-Heron juvenile reported two weeks ago was back at the Crake Pool during the week after being away for a week. Pacific Baza continue to sit in their nest with only the tail usually visible. Nankeen Kestrel were checking out their nest hollow but no signs of a second nesting event this year. Red-necked Crake continue to call throughout the week but despite two pairs in the grounds none were seen. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo have been feeding on the seeds of the African Tulip (native to sub-tropical west Africa and readily invades disturbed rainforests) in Geraghty Park and as can be seen in this image they always feed holding their food with the left foot.

 Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Australian King-Parrot were around at the beginning of the week but disappeared for the rest of it. Eastern Koel and Brush Cuckoo have also been calling loudly during the day and night but seeing them has proved elusive yet again. Noisy Pitta have again been noisy and have been seen regularly. Spotted Catbird has been coming in and grabbing big chunks of banana off the feeder and flying off with it so they maybe feeding young. Lewin's Honeyeater have re-appeared with at least three coming to the feeder at a time of year they are normally absent. Graceful Honeyeater are usually seen feeding on the grevillea or eucalypt flowers at this time of year but occasionally doing something out of the ordinary like this one on a road sign, probably looking for spiders.

 Graceful Honeyeater

A single Bridled Honeyeater was in the orchard at the end of the week and a Noisy Friarbird was also heard along the edge of the orchard, both these species are not common at this time of year. White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Barred Cuckoo-shrike and Cicadabird have been active in Geraghty Park, across from the Lodge.

Also active in the same area and calling a lot have been a pair of Rufous Whistler.

 Rufous Whistler - male

 Rufous Whistler - female

White-breasted Woodswallow numbers have been building up as have Spangled Drongo. A couple of Rufous Fantail continue to stay in the Lodge grounds and have been joined by a pair of Willie Wagtail who have taken a liking to the rainforest edges. Black-faced Monarchs are not calling much but are coming down to Bushy Creek to bathe in the afternoons. Again Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill are calling and being seen regularly. Olive-backed Sunbird are feeding young in between admiring themselves in car wing mirrors and windows.

A full species list for the week can be found here

Spotlighting was held on a couple of dry evenings with good results, E. Barn Owl, A. Owlet-nightjar, Bush Stone-curlew, Fawn-footed Melomys, Bush Rat, a Diadem Leaf-nosed Bat hanging on a vine showing off its rufous fur with white spots, Striped Possum, Northern Brown Bandicoot, Spectacled Flying Fox and a few frogs, Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Dessert tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad. Also a Boyd's Forest Dragon was on the side of a small tree asleep.

Further afield at Mowbray National Park a Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo was seen and a Large-billed Scrubwren was feeding a Little-bronze Cuckoo. Flying Fish Point near Innisfail (1¼ south of Cairns) turned up an Asian House Crow which was presumed to be a ship assisted arrival off a ship at the nearby sugar terminal at Mourilyan. Red-backed Fairy-wren have been at Abattoir Swamp 

 Red-backed Fairy-Wren - female

whilst appearing nearby have been White-headed Pigeon and Lovely Fairy-wren. Cairns Esplanade has been turning up Asian Dowitcher, Broad-billed Sandpiper and Red Knot amongst the many other waders (shorebirds) enjoying the mudflats. Yorkeys Knob Lagoon, (Cairns northern suburb) has at least four Australasian Darter nests on the island but not much else at the moment, however it is worth a look for a chance of Radjah Shelduck which are in the area. List for visit here.

1st August 2010 Report

Temperature range this week was a much warmer than the previous few weeks, 19ºC to 24ºC. Drizzle at the beginning of the week produced 5.5mm in the rain gauge before dry weather for the rest of the week. Bird numbers were well up on last week due to the dry weather and a few more morning walks which produced 91 bird species seen and 2 heard. Mammals and reptiles were 19 species seen which was down on last week, but it included some good ones.

Highlight for the week has to be two Red-necked Crake which were calling to each other between the Crake Pool and our neighbours garden about 6.45 one evening. Lets hope this is an omen of things to come and these elusive birds start showing themselves again. A lone Metallic Starling was seen mid-week associating with Australasian Figbird and at the end of the week there were four birds in the orchard which probably signals their return from Papua New Guinea. 

Waterbirds are still appearing in small numbers in the local wetlands around the Lodge with Wandering Whistling-Duck, Australian Wood Duck, Green Pygmy-goose,

 Green Pygmy-goose

Pacific Black Duck, Australasian Grebe, Australasian Darter, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorant, Eastern Great, Intermediate and Cattle Egret, Australian White Ibis and Royal Spoonbill all recorded. Several Wompoo Fruit-Dove have been calling and one was seen low down in the rainforest. Australian Swiftlet were foraging low down over cut cane paddocks early in the week when the cloud was down.

Raptors around the Lodge were also up in numbers with Black-shouldered Kite, Pacific Baza, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling Kite, Black Kite, Brown Goshawk, Grey Goshawk and Nankeen Kestrel which was sitting in it's nest hollow. A few small parties of Scaly-breasted Lorikeet continue to fly over, but not stopping as the eucalypts have not started flowering yet. Also flying over have been Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, but with a few local fig trees showing signs of ripening fruit they should be tempted to stop over. Several Little Bronze-Cuckoo (Gould's form) were calling throughout the week and seen well on a morning walk. Little and Gould's are currently lumped in the latest Australian taxonomic revision by Christidis and Boles 2008, but they stated that further work was needed on the bronze-cuckoo complex. So keep Gould's as a banker in case they get split again in the future!

 Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo

Also either a Chestnut-breasted or Fan-tailed Cuckoo was calling across the Rex Highway from the Lodge late one afternoon. The call was a long way away and as they are very similar we could not determine exact species.

The Eastern Barn Owl juveniles were seen again during the week flying back to the nest tree so they must be roosting elsewhere now. At the end of the week only two juveniles were seen, lets hope the third was around and not seen. A Great Bowerbird was seen in Geraghty Park foraging in a low bush in fruit before flying up onto a light pole. The male Yellow-throated Scrubwren is still with us along with a couple of Brown Gerygone in our neighbours garden (reported last week). The pair of Large-billed Gerygone with a nest over Bushy Creek (also reported last week) are continuing building it despite attention from the pair of Striated Pardalote which continue to feed young in a nearby nest.

11 species of honeyeater were recorded during the week including Yellow. Several pairs of Yellow Honeyeater are around the edge of the Lodge grounds and neighbours gardens, but rarely venture into the main grounds unlike a few years ago when they regularly came to the feeder near the reception area. 

 Yellow Honeyeater

They are quite noisy and can be aggressive to other birds and themselves as these images below show. Two birds locked onto each other and rolled around on the ground for at least five minutes before a third bird appeared to watch the fight. 

 

 Original two Yellow Honeyeater locked in battle

Third bird arrives to watch

 
After a few more minutes it got too much for the third bird and it had to join in, so there were three birds hanging onto each other. 

 Three birds fighting

Eventually one bird broke off and flew away leaving the other two to continue rolling around on the ground. After a while the third bird returned to join in before they broke off the fight, which had lasted about 15 minutes, and flew away. We were none the wiser as to who the victor was and we suspect neither were the birds!

Barred Cuckoo-shrike was at last seen at the end of the week after hearing them calling over the previous 2-3 weeks and Grey Whistler has been calling well and occasionally showing itself. After having small flocks of Australasian Figbird last week their numbers have increase this week with quite large vocal gatherings around the Lodge and surrounds. Both adult black and juvenile brown Black Butcherbird were around all week visiting the Lodge and surrounding properties. Pied Monarch have been performing for the guests as they regularly appear for a bath at Bushy Creek in the afternoon. They have not been the only birds seen here with the creek becoming a regular afternoon bathing spot for nearly 20 species. At least one pair of Pale-yellow Robin have finished building their nest which is a few weeks earlier than normal.

A full list of the weeks birds can be found on the Eremaea Birds website using this link

http://www.eremaea.com/Lists.aspx?List=65787

Spotlighting has again been good throughout the week with Striped Possum still being seen feeding on the South American Sapote in the orchard and another high up in the rainforest canopy. The Red-legged Pademelon was still foraging in the orchard along with a large number of Northern Brown and Long-nosed Bandicoot who are digging up the newly mown parts of the orchard. Platypus have been seen almost every evening this week swimming down Bushy Creek or foraging along the rocks at the viewing point off from the orchard which is good as they have been absent for a few months.

Further afield Southern Cassowary was seen along the road into Mossman Gorge which is not a place we have heard of many sightings. At least four Blue-faced Parrot-Finch have turned up locally after proving to be very difficult to find. Our neighbour reported a Black-breasted Buzzard around Julatten being pursued by another bird; buzzards are very uncommon in our area with less than one sighting per year. A Little Eagle was seen in the Mt. Molloy area, again another uncommon species to our district. Mount Lewis has been turning up most of the “Wet Tropic “ endemics – Fernwren, Atherton Scrubwren, Mountain Thornbill, Macleay's Honeyeater, Bridled Honeyeater, 

Bridled Honeyeater

Grey-headed Robin, Chowchilla, Bower's Shrike-thrush, Pied Monarch, Victoria's Riflebird, Tooth-billed Bowerbird and female Golden Bowerbird (the males are still scarce). In addition Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo has also been seen here and at Mowbray National Park nearby.

23rd May 2010 Report

A very dry week with only 1mm in the rain gauge and plenty of sunny days with some overcast ones. Temperatures were down to 17ºC and a top of 25ºC. Bird numbers were 75 bird species seen and 2 heard - mammals and reptiles were 12 seen which was down on the previous weeks mainly due to the lack of frogs with the dry weather.

The previous weeks Wompoo Fruit-Dove again hung around a fruiting palm tree all week and also again one sighting of a Papuan Frogmouth which was perched on a pipe vent behind our laundry one night. Intermediate Egret numbers increased in the area and a single White-faced Heron flew over the Lodge. Grey Goshawk was seen several times perched in its favourite tree beside Bushy Creek and a pair of Nankeen Kestrel were back around last years nest site. A couple of Buff-banded Rail were foraging along the edge of Bushy Creek before darting into the undergrowth. A pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were seen flying around before briefly landing in a eucalypt and flying off again. Two Eastern Barn Owl were seen in Geraghty Park and a pair of Azure Kingfisher have been around the Crake Pool beside our orchard. Noisy Pitta was seen on several occasions along the edges of the rainforest but generally they are staying within the forest. A pair of Striated Pardolote were calling and foraging along Bushy Creek in an area they have nested in before. They excavate a tunnel and nest chamber in the mud wall of the creek.

Striated Pardolote

An intermittent visitor, the Yellow Oriole, appeared briefly late in the week for good looks. Black Butcherbird, both adult black and a juvenile brown bird, were around all week and a single Spangled Drongo was still around, after returning the previous week, making an appearance at one of the feeders. Yellow-breasted Boatbill were very vocal as were Pied Monarch. A female Victoria's Riflebird was around again this week and one was heard to call several times but no sign of any males yet.

Once again we managed to find interesting insects including the Mallotus Harlequin Bug Cantao parentum (order Hemiptera) shown below. As can be seen the bugs were clustering together on both sides of several leaves about 4m off the ground.

Mallotus Harlequin Bugs

This jewel bug is approximately 20mm long and one of the insect world's more interesting bugs. The adults stay and protect their young for several weeks after hatching, which is unusual for insects. They also produce a chemical pheromone known as spiroketals which was a first from any of the insects in the order Hemiptera . (Schulz, Stefan. 2004. The Chemistry of Pheromones and Other Semiochemicals I, Springer. Berlin, Heidelberg).

We managed a few hours away from the Lodge to check out Mowbray National Park where we walked the first part of the Bump Track from the Julatten end off Black Mountain Road. Directions from Mt. Molloy, head to Julatten and take the Euluma Creek Road turn-off (on right) by Julatten School. After 6.3km turn right onto Black Mountain Road and after 5.5km you will see a sign on left “Bump Track”, park on right of road. The Bump Track is part of a historical route from the Hodgkinson Goldfields (west of Atherton Tableland) to Port Douglas which was first constructed in 1877. The walk from the Julatten end of the track passes through rainforest with pioneer wattles either side in places. These wattles (Acacia spp.) have grown on the edges of the track which was originally up to 100m wide in places. This has made it good diverse habitat for birds. We walked as far as Robbins Creek which is about 2km; a further 4km takes you down the Macalister Range to the coastal lowlands NW of Port Douglas.

 

 

 Robbins Creek - Bump Track, Mowbray National Park

We recorded 33 species, including some specialities such as Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, Spotted Catbird, Pied Monarch and Victoria's Riflebird. A complete list can be found here

 Wompoo Fruit-Dove

3rd May Report

Another dry cool week of sunny weather (17ºC overnight, 30ºC during the day). 68 bird species seen plus another 6 heard and there was 13 mammal/reptile species seen. This time of year is one of change in the "Wet Tropics" of North Queensland with migrant species departing and arriving. Our last sighting around Kingfisher Park of a Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher was of a juvenile on 28th April, the adult birds had left about 10 days before.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - Juvenile ready to leave

Highlight of the week was the appearance of a White-headed Pigeon above the Crake Pool on the morning of the 30^th. There has been 11 records since 2006 between February and November with only a couple of records in August prior to that. They are more commonly seen on the Atherton Tablelands around the Yungaburra district but have become more common in our area around Julatten over the last few years.

Winter visitors which have arrived over the last week were Grey Fantail and Bassian Thrush. Summer (Wet Season) visitors still present include Black - faced Monarch and Cicadabird which is still calling, both these species have usually left by now and Cicadabirds have usually stopped calling. Raptors have built up in species numbers with Brown Falcon, Pacific Baza and Brahminy Kite turning up during the week to add to breeding Whistling Kite and increased Black Kite numbers. The Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo reported last week disappeared for a week before returning for a few days and it has not been heard for the last two days. (Lesser) Sooty Owl called on two nights during the week but was not seen. Pied Monarchs have become vocal over the last week and were seen several times. A pair of Yellow Honeyeater were seen feeding a juvenile bird

Yellow Honeyeater

and a Little Shrike-thrush was also being fed by its parents. Further afield a Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo was seen on the lower slopes of Mt. Lewis (2km away) on 25th April, might have been our one! There is a small population in the Julatten area (normally found further north on Cape York and into Papua New Guinea) which is found on the lower slopes of Mt. Lewis across to Mowbray National Park, there has also been occasional unconfirmed reports from further south on the Atherton Tableland. A Square-tailed Kite was also reported near the local waste transfer station. A few Blue-faced Parrot-Finches are still at altitude (950m) on Mt. Lewis but there have been several reports from local areas in Julatten at lower altitudes (450m). The Laughing Gull is still being reported from the Cairns Esplanade (29-4-09).

Several Feather-tail Glider were seen during the week foraging in a Coconut Palm, Striped Possum was seen and heard several times, both Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot were seen and a Boyd’s Forest Dragon was observed clinging to a tree.