6th October 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Over the past two weeks we have once again had stunning weather, cool mornings and warm days with a little light drizzle falling over three days at the end of this week amounting to 14mm. The minimum temperature over the two weeks was 15.3ºC which was about the same as the previous two weeks. The maximum temperature was 27.4ºC, which was a degree higher than the previous two weeks. The humidity was still high, up to 91% and a low of 54%.

Bird sightings for the first week were only 81 seen plus 7 heard due to a lower observation effort because there was more work and not enough birding! The second week was more productive with a greater birding effort, 105 seen plus 5 heard. Mammal and reptile species were up on the previous two weeks which co-incided with a longer spell of warmer weather, 22 species were seen and one heard. 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 male Superb Fruit-Dove was actually seen perched above the road to the reception area, calling, this was after several weeks of hearing them and lots of failed searches. This male was on a nest a few years ago in the Lodge grounds.

Superb Fruit-Dove

An Australian Pelican was in one of the McDougall Road lagoons and seen a second time in another lagoon near Geraghty Park, which is very unusual. Another rare visitor was a Black-breasted Buzzard viewed from McDougall Road. Both the pelican and buzzard records are first sightings for our 1.5Km area around the Lodge in our seven years here. An adult Black-necked Stork was walking down Bushy Creek whilst guests were looking for the Platypus at viewing area late one afternoon. A single Little Friarbird was calling whilst perched on a dead tree branch at entrance to Lodge grounds one morning. This is an uncommon visitor to the Lodge, only 20th record since 2002 with 11 of those records in 2005. Nearly all records are September - December. One record in 2011 on 9th October. A female Satin Flycatcher was seen on a morning walk on the edge of Geraghty Park, another uncommon species around the Lodge.

Other sightings:

Brown Cuckoo-Dove have been feeding on fruits around the edge of the rainforest surrounding our orchard, this one was very obliging taking advantage of a nice sunny morning.

Brown Cuckoo-Dove

Our female Papuan Frogmouth was showing well for most of the last two weeks but went into hiding for the last three days. Australian Owlet-nightjar was seen in its daytime roost whilst on a morning walk which was the first sighting for a month, again we have been hearing the bird calling in the evening without any sightings. A Little Black Cormorant was fishing in Bushy Creek near the platypus viewing area, an uncommon event. Numbers of Australian White Ibis have declined over the last two weeks with only one sighting of nine birds in the second week (previously 20+ regularly), no Straw-necked Ibis recorded either. Still three Royal Spoonbill in the area with sightings at the local fish farm and along McDougall Road. Pacific Baza have been coming and going with two sighted in the rain, perched on an exposed tree branch near the reception area one morning preening. There was a couple of sightings of Brahminy Kite soaring over the Barramundi Farm. Plenty of Black Kite in the area with over 20 riding thermals over the lodge one afternoon. 

Black Kite

An Australian Hobby was perched near a White-bellied Sea-Eagle high in a tree alongside Bushy Creek whilst we were on a morning walk, neither raptor was taking any notice of the other. 

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

Channel-billed Cuckoo were being chased off by two Torresian Crow, which the cuckoos parasitise, early one morning. The pair of Barking Owl that have been around since the beginning of June are still in the area and were seen in the Poinciana trees at the entrance to the Lodge grounds one evening about 9.30. Sooty Owl was heard on several occasions in the evening and once about 5.00am at the rear of the self-contained units when it gave two shrill whistles about five minutes apart, waking us up! Not seen though. Noisy Pitta is still around being seen and calling occasionally. A pair of Large-billed Gerygone have finished building a nest over Bushy Creek and maybe using it as they have been calling nearby. 14 species of honeyeater over the last two weeks including a Lewin's Honeyeater who returned after a two week absence. White-throated Honeyeater have been coming into the Lodge grounds, from Geraghty Park, to bathe and feed on the grevilleas as this one is doing.

White-throated Honeyeater

Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been around in small mobile numbers, moving around the area in response to fruiting trees and one was collecting lichen for a nest it was building in our neighbours garden. Grey Whistlers are still keeping up their early morning wake up calls – grrrr! Black Butcherbird is being heard but not seen in the rainforest and Spangled Drongo have increased in numbers from the one to at least three around the Lodge and another nine seen heading south late one morning. A few Rufous Fantail are still around and giving guests great views as they bathe in Bushy Creek in the late afternoon, showing off their rufous fanned tail which is quite spectacular. Black-faced Monarch have been calling but staying high in the rainforest canopy with only one sighting for the last two weeks. Pied Monarch have also been regular at Bushy Creek late afternoon bathing. At least one pair of Pale-yellow Robin have finished building a nest on the edge of the rainforest but not yet started to use it. They build such lovely nests with bark and moss decorations. Grey-headed Robin numbers continue to decline with birds leaving to go higher into the mountains behind us. A few Golden-headed Cisticola have been in the cattle paddocks along McDougall Road along with Fairy Martin. No sign of Australasian Pipit for the last two weeks so they may have moved on.

Further Afield:-

A trip to Mt. Lewis was interesting for the number of White-headed Pigeon present with at least 14 present and these two were mating, spent over a minute in this pose!

 

White-headed Pigeon - mating

One brown Golden Bowerbird was seen along with other endemics, Tooth-billed Bowerbird with at least 12 calling and five showing well, Bridled Honeyeater were common, Atherton Scrubwren were foraging on the ground and 3m up in vines, Mountain Thornbill were calling high in trees but several came down to eye level, at least 3 Bowers Shrike-thrush were calling and seen, both a male and female Victoria's Riflebird were seen and Grey-headed Robin were common. Barred Cuckoo-shrike were calling and seen as were Eastern Spinebill. Full list can be found on the Eremaea Birds site. 

 

Four Little Lorikeet flew over Mt. Molloy one morning, not common at this end of the Atherton Tableland. Diamond Dove continue to be seen along the West and East Maryfarms Roads at Maryfarms (between Mt. Carbine and Mt. Molloy on the Peninsula Dev. Road, known as the Mulligan Highway). Carol Iles, our neighbour, who was guiding one of our tour groups had a female Red-backed Button Quail walking about under the breakfast tables in the Bayleaf Restaurant then in street side planting at the Bay Village Resort, Lake St, Cairns. Carol also had an adult winter plumaged Common Tern flying and sitting on a post at Hasties Swamp, with the group. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch were last seen near Abattoir Swamp on 27th September when six were present and might have moved towards the lower slopes of the Mt. Lewis area.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Of note was a 3.4m Australian Scrub Python skin shed near our two bedroom units, did not see the owner but quite a large snake and a Green Tree Snake was swimming down Bushy Creek one afternoon. A Tree Mouse (Prehensile-tailed Rat) was briefly seen running along a vine in the rainforest at the end of this week, not seen very often. Platypus have been putting on a show at the viewing point along Bushy Creek with two seen mating one evening. The male grabbed the female from behind and hung on whilst they did a series of barrel rolls right in front of us. Green Ringtail Possum have been seen several times but Striped Possum are still elusive with only a brief glimpse of one disappearing into the dense rainforest whilst we were on a night walk. A Long-nosed Bandicoot has started to appear at the feeder which is unusual as they normally stay out in the rainforest and orchard.

Long-nosed Bandicoot

Not many frog species around despite the bit of rain we have been getting with only a few species seen.

Other Happenings:-
Last blogs mystery bird was of course a Blue-faced Honeyeater which was presenting an unusual view. It did revert to a more normal view as shown in this image.

Blue-faced Honeyeater 

Here is another mystery bird.

Answer next blog.

25th December 2011 Report

Well here we are Christmas and another year nearly gone. We would like to wish all our readers a happy and safe Christmas period and a great 2012. For those who have visited us over the last year and beyond we thank you for supporting us and for those who are thinking of coming next year we welcome you. Those who are not thinking of coming why not! Thank you all for your positive comments about the blog, we hope it compliments our web site. The Noisy Pitta did not seem too pleased to be wearing the hat!

The biggest surprise on Christmas Day was the return of "Katie" our Buff-banded Rail who went off with "Pete" several weeks ago. She went straight into the office and cleaned up a few spiders. Good to see her again.

The weeks rainfall was only 11mm falling on the first three days of the week. We seemed to miss the storms which were going around the region.

Maximum temperatures were slightly down on last week, getting up to 31.9ºc and the minimum was down to 20.8ºc, again lower than last week. Humidity ranged from a low of 63% and a high of 95%.

There were less birds recorded this week than last with 94 seen and 10 heard. 21 mammal and reptile species were seen. 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:

Two Red-necked Crake appeared at the reception area feeder late one afternoon, just like a pair many years ago used to but these did not hang around and took off into the rainforest. Two Cotton Pygmy-goose have re-appeared at one of the lagoons along McDougall Road after being away for a few months.

Other sightings:

Plenty of Magpie Goose along McDougall Road, including over 200 in a grassy paddock late in the week. Also in the lagoons along the road were Wandering Whistling-Duck, a Green Pygmy-goose, Pacific Black-Duck and Hardhead. An Australian Grebe was on the pond at the front of the Barramundi Farm along with Intermediate Egret and Australian White Ibis. An Eastern Great Egret was seen walking along Bushy Creek near the Platypus viewing area. Brown Cuckoo-Dove returned to take advantage of the fruiting a Tobacco Bush in the orchard. 

Brown Cuckoo-Dove

A few Emerald Dove are walking around the Lodge grounds now with at least one male at the seed feeder by reception. Superb Fruit-Dove have been calling all over the area but only one sighting of a male in the orchard. Several Pied Imperial Pigeon have also been calling in the orchard and a few Topknot Pigeon are still visiting the grounds. Our female Papuan Frogmouth has been playing hard to see again with only one sighting at the beginning of the week perched in a Five Corner fruit tree in the orchard. A few White-throated Needletail and Fork-tailed Swift were reported one evening flying over in company with Australian Swiftlet. An adult Nankeen Night Heron was seen to fly out of the cane field behind the nursing home in the direction of the McDougall Road lagoons on evening. 

Nankeen Night-Heron

Raptors were very scarce this week with only White-bellied Sea-Eagle seen. Our neighbours again saw a Pale-vented Bush-hen in a gully behind their house whilst the rest of us have only heard numerous pairs calling all around the surrounding area adjacent to the Lodge. Red-tailed Black Cockatoo were heard flying over heading towards Geraghty Park from the mountains one afternoon. A few Scaly-breasted Lorikeet were seen this week along with at least one Double-eyed Fig-Parrot which was heard before flying out of a tree near the amenities block. Channel-billed Cuckoo continue to fly over calling whilst Brush Cuckoo were only heard. (Lesser) Sooty Owl was heard early one morning once and that was it for the week. At least three Eastern Barn Owl were seen plus several more heard calling. Azure Kingfisher was at the Crake Pool Saturday afternoon and Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are busy attending termite mounds, calling and flying around for good views and a few Dollarbirds are still calling.

Noisy Pitta

The Noisy Pitta managed to shake off the hat whilst hopping around in the orchard. They were collecting food for three hungry mouths in their nest, however on Saturday morning they were seen with nesting material for another nest. So the first one was unsuccessful, taken by Spotted Catbird, Black Butcherbird or snake?

Spotted Catbird probably also took the chicks out of a Mistletoebird nest (famous last words in last weeks blog) in our neighbours garden and have been seen being chased by other nesting birds such as Willie Wagtail and Spectacled Monarch. 

Forlorn looking Mistletoebird wondering where his offspring have gone.

Mistletoebird - male

 
Great Bowerbird and Red-backed Fairy-wren were again along McDougall Road. Brown Gerygone have been in our neighbours garden and seem to like that area in preference to the Lodge grounds where we have not seen one for at least three months. Lewin's Honeyeater was again heard whilst there was one sighting of a Scarlet Honeyeater. White-throated Honeyeater are back with many sightings in Geraghty Park and along Bushy Creek where they have been chasing each other. Macleay's Honeyeater have been raiding the feeder by reception and flying off with banana, probably to feed chicks in a nest. Barred Cuckoo-shrike are around but only heard this week. Little Shrike-thrush have built a nest in our neighbours garden but not started using it yet. Spangled Drongo continue to wake us up at around 5.00am with their loud dawn chorus calls which seem to subside when other birds awake and join in. Willie Wagtails are still on a nest in Geraghty Park and may have chicks in it judging by their behaviour. Leaden Flycatcher are calling a lot but we have seen no sign of nesting yet. Black-faced Monarch are also calling and showing more this week but both Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have gone quiet with only a single sighting of a Pied Monarch. Pale-yellow Robin have several brown juvenile birds around including one which spends a lot of the day around the feeding area by reception, foraging and bathing. Our neighbours Olive-backed Sunbird pair whose nest was predated a few weeks ago have almost completed another nest low down on their veranda, not the idea location but lets hope they are successful this time. Red-browed Finch seem to be successful as many juvenile birds, which lack the red eyebrow, have been coming to the seed feeder. An Australian Pipit was at the Barramundi Farm again and seems to have made it's home here.

Further Afield:-

After last weeks report of an unusual Pied Heron on a dam near Mareeba we checked it out during the week and managed a few images. It certainly is very mottled with a faint dark cap to the head which Pied's have and its behaviour certainly looked like Pied Heron but it did look slightly larger. There is always the possibility of it being a hybrid, we have seen Pied Heron x White-faced Heron in Darwin many years ago. We will keep an eye on it to see if it morphs into anything definite. This highly cropped image shows the heron with a Magpie Goose for size comparison.
 

Pied Heron (?)

 

This little dam was very productive with many other species present including 100+ Magpie Goose, 50+ Plumed Whistling-Duck, 20+ Grey Teal, Pacific Black-Duck, Hardhead, Australasian Grebe, Intermediate Egret, Little Egret, Glossy Straw-necked and Australian White Ibis, Royal Spoonbill and Black-winged Stilt. 

Magpie Goose

Plumed Whistling Duck

On the way back from Mareeba to Mt. Molloy we saw five Little Corella at Biboorah on a grassy area beside the road, these are presumably part of the small population in the Mareeba area. Superb Fruit-Dove were nesting alongside the Mt. Lewis Road on the lower slopes whilst higher up at the clearing Blue-faced Parrot-Finch are proving difficult with only the odd sighting of up to three birds. Abattoir Swamp produced a White-browed Crake sighting which was the first for several months. A late migrant (?) Rufous Fantail was reported from Big Mitchell Creek by a local birdo, unusual record for this time of year.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Not so many seen this week as in recent ones, probably due to a lesser effort in tracking them down. No possums this week but quite a few other interesting sightings. A Red-legged Pademelon (small Kangaroo) was spotlighted in the orchard for the second week running, hope it stays around and brings a few friends along. A few bats were identified, Eastern Horseshoe Bat, Diadem Leaf-nosed Bat seen hanging on a vine in the rainforest beside the orchard on a night walk, Northern Broad-nosed Bat roosting under our neighbours house and Spectacled Flying Fox still eating our Lychees in the orchard. The Platypus have been showing well and a few frogs were showing but needed hunting out. Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog were all seen on a night walk but only one of each. Boyd's Forest Dragon continue to entertain as the run across the forest floor and the roads before jumping onto trees and climbing up. Quite a few baby Eastern Water Dragon have just appeared along Bushy Creek and a Keelback snake was seen swimming in the creek.

Other Interesting Sightings:

More fungi have emerged as shown here.

  Fungi sp. (?)

Bracket Fungi sp.

Fungi sp. (?)

Bracket Fungi sp.

21st September Report

A dry week in which 80 bird species and 13 mammal and reptile species were recorded. Highlights included White-headed Pigeon which is not common in our area, Superb Fruit-Dove which we actually saw instead of just heard, the male Fernwren is still with us after 5 months – he must be getting lonely by now. Large-billed Scrubwren are busy building nests, A Lewin’s Honeyeater appeared at the feeder after saying last week that they had all left and two Blue-faced Parrot-Finch turned up at the crake pool for a drink, spotted by two Japanese ladies.

The Yellow-breasted Boatbill's are very vocal at the moment and mainly calling each morning and afternoon. This is probably a precursor to nesting which occurs October to January when the male sings continuously whilst building the nest. The boatbill's occurring in our area are of the sub-species secundus and mainly differ from the nominate race (found on Cape York Peninsula) by brighter yellow underparts and flanks, males also have longer tails.

The 3 photos below show an adult male of the race secundus.