Kingfisher Birdwatchers Lodge 21st September Report

21^st September 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

What can we say about the weather? Well we have had no rain over the last two weeks again, just wall to wall sunshine, cool temperatures down to 11.1ºC and much warmer than previous months, up to 27.3ºC, great conditions. Temperatures in the morning have been about 4ºC below the average for this time of year.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 7th - 13th September and 14th- 20th September The first week had 105 species recorded and the second week 103.

Morning and Evening Guided Walks:-

Morning walks produced between 44 and 55 species, some of the highlights were Pacific Baza foraging in the camp ground, two Blue-winged Kookaburra, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, Noisy Pitta in the orchard hopping around us for over 10 minutes whilst we were watching a pair of roosting Papuan Frogmouth, Great Bowerbird performing at its bower, a pair of Yellow-faced Honeyeater on a nest, a male Fairy Gerygone foraging on the ground (usually high up in the rainforest) and a pair of Pale Yellow Robin attending a nest. Also a Platypus was seen twice on one morning walk at two different locations and once on a night walk. The full species lists can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. Click on Explore Data then Hotspots and type in Kingfisher Park – you will then see the Lodge in the drop down menu. Click this on and a map will appear with two markers, click these and you can have access to all our records. It sounds long winded, but it is really easy. Alternatively you can click this link which will take you directly to Hotspots http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspots.

Evening walk highlights were Barn Owl, Papuan Frogmouth, Red-legged Pademelon, Striped Possum, Platypus, four different frog species, despite the dry weather, Boyd's Forest Dragon which had re-appeared with the warmer weather, Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko and two Australian Scrub Python. A surprise one night was a roosting Pacific Baza high up in a rainforest tree, a first for a night walk.

Other Birding Highlights:-

An immature Orange-footed Scrubfowl has been around the edge of the orchard foraging in the rainforest and trying to get out of the way of the adults who harass it at every opportunity. Here it is intently looking for food as it scratches away.

 

Orange-footed Scrubfowl

 

Red-necked Crake have been regularly coming to the Crake Pool late evenings with one or two seen, one was also seen in the garden in front of the units. A Comb-crested Jacana was in one of the McDougall Road lagoons, this was a first for many months. A pair of Wompoo Fruit-Dove were in the trees around the Crake Pool on the edge of the orchard and a pair of Torresian Imperial-Pigeon flew over Geraghty Park. The Torresian Imperial-Pigeon are recent arrivals to our part of the inland only having been around for the last four years. Small flocks of Topknot Pigeon are still flying over, nine being the most at any one time. Channel-billed Cuckoo have been scarce with only one seen over the last two weeks and several other calling. Papuan Frogmouth have been roosting in the area including these three.

 

Papuan Frogmouth

 

Again Australian Owlet-nightjar has been heard, but not seen, very frustrating. Rainbow Lorikeet have been seen nesting as have Double-eyed Fig-Parrot. Bridled Honeyeater have moved into the area and two uncommon Black-chinned Honeyeater were seen in Geraghty Park. The Blue-faced Honeyeater which occurs around the Lodge is in a zone integration between the nominate race Entomyon cyanotis cyanotis from eastern Australia and Entomyon cyanotis griseigularis, the sub-species from Cape York. The one pictured here is an immature bird foraging on a Grevillea in a neighbours garden adjacent to Geraghty Park.

 

Blue-faced Honeyeater - immature

Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been active and calling as well as showing well. A few Barred Cuckoo-shrike are around the lodge grounds, but proving difficult to see. Northern Fantail have also returned to the fringes of the Lodge grounds and have been heard calling well. Pied Monarch are also around,

Pied Monarch

as is at least one immature male Victoria's Riflebird. 

 

Victoria's Riflebird - immature male

 

Metallic Starling are slowly making nests, but quite a few have fallen to the ground which is not good for their breeding season. Male Mistletoebird have been calling and showing well, but no sign of nesting yet.

Further Afield:-

An unconfirmed report of vagrant Northern Pintail at Hasties Swamp, only seen once and not relocated again despite several visits to look for them. More information can be found on Eremaea Birds website. Mt. Lewis continues to be the place to see the “Wet Tropic” endemics with all but the Lesser Sooty Owl seen over the last two weeks, even a couple of male Golden Bowerbird were found by our roving bird guides Carol and Andrew Iles, can't beat local knowledge! Carol also reported Spotted Harrier, Dusky Moorhen, Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, Blue-faced Parrot-Finch, White-eared Monarch and the first reported Black-faced Monarch for the season around the Julatten area plus she had up to eight Australian Pratincole along West Maryfarms Road between Mt. Molloy and Mt. Carbine off the Peninsula Road. The first Large-tailed Nightjar for the season was heard calling in Julatten (by us) on the 21st September, at the same time a Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo was calling! Flowering Grass Tree spikes in Julatten have been attracting many honeyeaters including, Brown, Scarlet and Dusky. This Dusky was on a flower spike and the Brown Honeyeater was waiting his turn.

Dusky Honeyeater

Brown Honeyeater

Rufous Owl is still being reported along the Cairns Esplanade.

Barn Owl Display, Julatten, Far North Queensland

Geraghty Park, Julatten is home to two pairs of Barn Owl which have bred here every year since at least 1995. The nests of these two pairs and a third pair across the adjacent Rex Highway are within 300m of each other. Most years these three pairs have had three young each. In 2014 the two pairs in Geraghty Park had a brood of three and the third nest had four, all of which left their nests and the area by the end of August. On the 3^rd September 2014 a visit to one nest site in Geraghty Park was rewarded by a very unusual display by the adult male towards the adult female of the pair. The male was first seen with just its head peering out of a hollow in a Queensland Blue Gum Eucalyptus tereticornis which is its daytime roost/nest tree. After about 5 minutes the adult female appeared at a different tree hollow approximately 2m below the one the male was in, here it perched. Shortly after this the male moved out of its hollow onto an adjacent branch where it was seen to adopt a hunched posture looking down at the female, it then outstretched its wings and began crouching down and raising itself several times before rocking from side to side (wing waving) with its tail raised. It continued this display for approximately 1 minute. The female meanwhile was looking away and taking no notice of the male. The male then folded its wings but continued in the hunched position looking down for approximately 30 seconds before again outstretching its wings and beginning the rocking motion again, this time the female looked up and watched the display. The male continued for another minute, at which time the female flew to a nearby branch. The male continued to stay in a hunched position looking down until it flew to join the female after 2 minutes. Both birds were perched next to each other facing different directions for about three minutes before the male turned around. Both birds then moved close to each other and started allopreening for at least two minutes. This behaviour of allopreening often precedes mating which takes place in the nest (Debus 2009). During the whole period of the display both birds remained silent. We then considered that the birds had been disturbed enough by our presence and we left. It was not know whether the birds did return to the nest to mate. A short video of part of the display taken by Mr. Ota Yu, Japanese tour guide based in Cairns can be found on You Tube . The background noise is excited Japanese taking plenty of photos!

Stephen Debus says that this behaviour has been recorded in Masked Owl but as far as he is aware not in Barn Owl. Thanks for your input Stephen.

The following night we had another look at what the owls were doing but they did not put on a display like they did the previous night. The adult male and female came out of their daytime roost to perch on the branches.

 

Barn Owl - male on right female on left

 

After they sat on the branch for a while the male started to outstretch his wings and did a brief wing waving display. The female was not interested as you can see!

 

Barn Owl - male on right female on left

 

Both birds flew to different perches and the female started to take notice of the male but he had given up by now and was just perching quietly.

 

Barn Owl

Reptiles and Mammals:- 

Fawn-footed Melomys and Bush Rat have been coming to the reception area feeder at night along with up to six Northern Brown Bandicoot which is the most we have seen all year. A Yellow-footed Antichinus was heard scratching in a dead tree before it came out to run up and down the outside and disappear into the tree before coming out of a different hole, this activity continued for well over five minutes. Here it is seen peering out of one of the holes.

Yellow-footed Antichinus

 

At least two Platypus have been showing well in Bushy Creek in the late evening and early morning  much to the delight of our guests. One of our guests observed an Eastern Water Dragon along Bushy Creek catch a Little Shrike-thrush and eat it; we've seen them raiding nests, but not take an adult bird. The Australian Scrub Python we have living in a large log can often be seen coiled up inside it, this is what you see.

Australian Scrub Python

10th August 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The first week had 9mm of rain which fell over three days, the second week had 17mm of rain over six days. Temperatures ranged from a cool low of 16.1ºC up to 23.6ºC which is about average for this time of year. Despite the drizzly rain there were plenty of opportunities to get some good birding in both during the day and night walks.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 27thJuly - 2nd August and 3rd- 9th August The first week had 94 sightings and the second week 97 .

Morning and Evening Guided Walks:-

Morning walks were very productive with numbers of species seen ranging from 51-55 apart from one day where the rain cut it short and only 43 species were seen. We had some good sightings including three Little Bronze-Cuckoo, Papuan Frogmouth, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot – one female was digging out a nest hollow in a tree, Noisy Pitta, Spotted Catbird, 11 species of honeyeater, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, male Cicadabird, Pied Monarch, Victoria's Riflebird and Lemon-bellied Flycatcher.

Night walks were also very good up to 11 Barn Owl seen as there are at least 3 nests around the Lodge area with juveniles. Other good bird sightings were a Brown Falcon flying over and calling, Barking Owl, Papuan Frogmouth and a pair of Blue-winged Kookaburra – one was calling. 

 

Papuan Frogmouth - female

Mammals seen were Giant White-tailed Rat which is a native tree rat,

Giant White-tailed Rat - male

Fawn-footed Melomys and Tree Mouse (prehensile-tailed Rat) both of whom were feeding in oranges as these two images show – quite amazing! 
 

Fawn-footed Melomys - tail

Tree Mouse

Others seen were Red-legged Pademelon, Striped and Green Ringtail Possum, Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot, plus Spectacled Flying-fox. This one was getting nectar from the blossom of a South American Sapote fruit tree.

 

Spectacled Flying-fox

Frogs seen were Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Red Tree Frog, Roth's Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and Cane Toad, plus Platypus. Reptiles seen were Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko, Asian House Gecko and Australian Scrub Python high up in a tree.

Other Birding Highlights:-

A pair of Green Pygmy-goose were along McDougall Road along with White-faced and White-necked Heron. At least two juvenile Black-shouldered Kite were perched near Geraghty Park and a Swamp Harrier was over a paddock behind the nursing home. A Brown Goshawk came swooping into the reception area feeder scattering the Bar-shouldered Dove and Red-browed Finch, but it left empty handed after failing to catch anything. Black and Whistling Kite are mopping up road kills along the Rex Highway and a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagle have been seen heading for the local fish farm. Red-necked Crake was heard, but not seen; they have not been easy lately. Up to 21 Topknot Pigeon have been seen flying over and landing in the Blue Quandong trees looking for the fruit which is still green and not the bright blue ripe fruit. Lesser Sooty Owl was heard once and Australian Owlet-nightjar was also heard, but neither species were seen. Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet were both seen nesting in tree hollows. The male Yellow-throated Scrubwren previously reported in still being seen around the Lodge grounds and a brown Black Butcherbird has also been around. A couple of Bower's Shrike-thrush are still in the Lodge grounds along with a male Golden Whistler. Olive-backed Oriole have returned and are calling, not sure where they disappear to. A White-eared Monarch has been calling over the last two week, but was only seen on the 9^th August high in a tree beside Bushy Creek at the Platypus viewing area. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have both been calling well and being seen. 

Yellow-breasted Boatbill - female

The female and immature male Victoria's Riflebird previously reported are still with us and being seen in various parts of the grounds. A Golden-headed Cisticola was reported by our neighbours and bird guides Carol and Andrew Iles along Bushy Creek, this is a first sighting for many months. Up to five Blue-faced Parrot-Finch have been found near Abattoir Swamp.

Further Afield:-

Banded Honeyeater was reported by Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours on 30^th July just north of Mt. Carbine, which is about two months earlier than previous years. A Wedge-tailed Eagle was soaring over Euluma Creek Road in Julatten, not common in our area. Just outside our 1.5km Lodge reporting area on the way to Mt. Molloy a Crested Pigeon was perched on a power line across the Rex Highway, this is the closest to the Lodge that we have seen this species. Mt. Lewis has been performing as usual with all 13 “Wet Tropic” endemics seen including male and female Golden Bowerbird. A trip to the Atherton Tableland allowed us to catch up with a few birds including these two, an Eastern Whipbird and a male Victoria's Riflebird.

 

Eastern Whipbird

Victoria's Riflebird - male

 

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Apart from the mammals reported on the night walks we have recorded Agile Wallaby, Eastern Horseshoe Bat, Large-footed Myotis (fish eating bat), Northern Broad-nosed Bat and Little Bent-wing Bat. Other reptiles seen were Boyd's Forest Dragon after a month long absence, Eastern Water Dragon and Green Tree Snake. 

Thanks to Carol and Andrew Iles for helping to compile the weekly bird lists, contact them if you need any bird guiding. 

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27th July 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

The first week was mainly dry and sunny' but 3.5mm of rain fell over two nights, the second week began dry before we had 4mm of rain which fell over two days. Temperatures ranged from a cool low of 11.5ºC up to 23ºC, very pleasant and great birding weather.

Last Two Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site. 13th - 19th July and 20th - 26th July

The first week has 98 sightings and the second week 109. Rainfall was 6.5mm over four days, much of this fell at night or was fine mist during the day. Overall it was great birding over the two weeks.

Birding Highlights:-

A few waterbirds were around in the local lagoons and Barramundi Farm; these included A couple of Green Pygmy-goose, Pacific Black Duck, Australasian Grebe, Little Black and Little Pied Cormorant, a single Australian Pelican, Great, Intermediate and Cattle Egret, White-faced Heron, Australian White and Straw-necked Ibis plus three Royal Spoonbill. Orange-footed Scrubfowl (they should be called orange-legged) have been very noisy calling day and night and chasing each other, they are quite comical to watch as they strut around.

Orange-footed Scrubfowl

 

Raptors were quite good with Black-shouldered Kite, Swamp and Spotted Harrier, Grey Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, Black and Whistling Kite along with White-bellied Sea-Eagle. A Red-necked Crake was calling one evening but not seen. Brown Cuckoo-Dove have been taking advantage of several fruiting trees including Celerywood and a Strangler Fig with up to five seen at one time. Bar-shouldered Dove have been around the Lodge grounds and at the Barramundi Farm, they are a very attractive dove.

Bar-shouldered Dove

 

A single Wompoo Fruit-Dove has been around the Lodge grounds and calling. Not much cuckoo action with only a Fan-tailed Cuckoo heard and a Little Bronze-Cuckoo seen. Barn Owl have been noisy with one pair having three juveniles to feed and another pair with at least two chicks still in a nest. The two Barking Owl which have been around on and off for the last two years continue to be around, but not every night. Australian Owlet-nightjar has been heard on several nights, but not seen. Papuan Frogmouth numbers have increased to five in the immediate area with a male and female taking up residence in our orchard, so hopefully they will stay and breed here, welcome back! This picture shows three Papuan Frogmouth roosting during the day and pretending not to look like birds.

 

Papuan Frogmouth

 

Rainbow Bee-eater are still with us, but only about 12 have been recorded which is a decrease in numbers over the last few weeks. Up to six Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have been coming to a fruiting Cluster Fig to feed on the green fruits. At least two pairs of Spotted Catbird are in the Lodge grounds and our neighbours Carol and Andrew's garden. This one was queuing up for a free feed at their bird feeder.

Spotted Catbird

Our single Noisy Pitta continues to make appearances in our orchard to the delight of our guests. 15 species of honeyeater were recorded including at least two Black-chinned (Golden-backed Form) were are still around. A single male Yellow-throated Scrubwren is still with us after first being sighted a month ago, an altitudinal migrant from the mountains behind us. Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been showing well and coming down to lower levels in the rainforest for good views as have the Pied Monarch. A male Common Cicadabird was seen on a couple of morning walks, which was the first sightings for this year.

Common Cicadabird - male

 

A couple of Bower's Shrike-thrush are still around and showing well. Australasian Figbird have been scarce over the last few weeks, but towards the end of the second week they re-appeared in flocks of 30-40. These males are eating the fruits of an Umbrella Tree in front of our units.

 

Australasian Figbird - male

 

A female Shining Flycatcher flew through our neighbours garden whilst it was cutting a corner on a bend in Bushy Creek; we only see this species occasionally throughout the year. Another occasional visitor was a Tawny Grassbird foraging near the entrance to the Lodge and darting into the adjacent cane paddock. A few Chestnut-breasted Mannikin were also foraging alongside the cane paddock.

Further Afield:-

Numbers of Blue-faced Parrot-Finch near Abattoir Swamp have increased from the two reported last blog to at least five, but they are very difficult to locate. At Abattoir Swamp our neighbour Andrew Iles (bird guide) had Varied Sitella, which is uncommon at that location. Mt. Lewis is still the place to find the 13 “Wet Tropic” endemics with all being seen in the last two weeks – not on the same day though! At least three Lesser Sooty Owl were seen one evening. Just outside our 1.5km Lodge reporting area were five Purple Swamphen foraging alongside the Rex Highway which is not a good idea! Hopefully they will learn the error of their ways and relocate to the nearest wetland. Square-tailed Kite has been reported in Mt. Molloy and further north at Maryfarms. Hasties Swamp, near Atherton, has been turning up some good waterbirds including Freckled Duck and Glossy Ibis. A Brown Goshawk was around Euluma Creek road in Julatten one afternoon, always nice to see this species.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The last few weeks have been extremely good for our night walks with plenty to see. One of the highlights was a Short-beaked Echidna which was the first we have seen this year. Other species seen were Striped and Green Ringtail Possum, Northern Brown and Long-nosed Bandicoot, Fawn-footed Melomys feeding on the fruit of an orange tree in our orchard, a brief glimpse of a Platypus in Bushy Creek and Several Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko. A few frogs were also spotlighted – Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Roth's (Laughing) Frog, Desert Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, Cogger's Frog and one small Cane Toad. Apart from those seen on the night walks we also had Bush Rat, Giant White-tailed Rat, Eastern Horseshoe and Northern Broad-nosed Bat, Spectacled Flying Fox a couple of Australian Scrub Python. A large Carpet Python was over the road in the Geraghty Park hall during a residence meeting.

Thanks to our guests for reporting sightings and to Carol and Andrew Iles our roving bird guides for their input into this weeks blog.If you need bird guiding click on their link and send an email.

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14th November 2010 Report

Firstly we would like to thank all those people who sent us congratulations on our Wet Tropics Management Authority Cassowary Award for Nature Based Tourism. We could not have done it without you, our guests, so thank you to you all.

Now what has been happening during the week? Well it has been dry with just a hint of rain but nothing recorded in the rain gauge. A storm surrounded us late in the week which made lots of noise but no rain. What a difference a few weeks makes, we have gone from a mud bath to a dust bowl! It has been warming up with the clear sunny days with one day getting up to 31ºC and down to 19.2ºC. We recorded 82 bird species seen and 8 heard, mammals and reptiles were

The weeks bird species list can be found here

Highlight for the week was finding a newly fledged Yellow-breasted Boatbill sitting a few centimetres off the ground being fed by the adult female. A few quick images were taken before beating a hasty retreat to let the female continue her good work. No sign of the adult male. The juvenile was located a few days later still being fed by the female, this time it was 3m off the ground and about 30m from the first sighting. The juvenile was seen flying, although clumsily, from one branch to another so it looks like it has a good chance of survival. A sequence of images is shown below. This is the sub-species Machaerirhynchus flaviventer secundus which is the species occurring at the Lodge. Some field guides do not show the female plumage very well  for this sub-species and this has lead to confusion amongst a few guests.

 Yellow-breasted Boatbill - recently fledged juvenile

 Yellow-breasted Boatbill - adult female bringing in a bush fly

 Adult female and juvenile

 Feed time

  

Another highlight was a Great-billed Heron seen flying over a neighbouring paddock out in the open one morning.

It appears that a second wave of Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have arrived this week as there are many more birds calling all over the Lodge grounds, we will not know how many are here until they have all started nesting activity. So far we have found three pairs which have started digging nests in termite mounds plus one more in our neighbours garden. Whilst some birds are still staying 6-8m up in the rainforest some have been coming down and putting on a show for our guests, one bird was observed for 10 minutes pouncing onto the ground to grab prey items. The males are looking very smart in their pristine plumage and in display mode they are puffing up their white back feathers contrasting with the blue wings.

 Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher - displaying

At least five Superb Fruit-Dove are calling with one actually seen high up in the canopy for a quick glimpse. Papuan Frogmouth are still calling each night but only showed once at their normal daytime roost area at the beginning of the week, so maybe they have started to nest. The Pacific Baza continue to feed two nestlings bringing in a variety of insects and frogs, at least one of the frogs was a Dainty Green Tree Frog Litoria gracilenta. Again Red-necked Crake have been calling with one possible glimpse down at the Crake Pool at 4.30 one afternoon. A few Channel-billed Cuckoo have been flying over and Little Bronze-Cuckoo have been calling and seen well. A Sooty Owl was heard on two separate occasions around 4.00am giving a single note call but still not giving us any opportunities to see it. Eastern Barn Owl have started playing games with us again with one night no appearance at the roost tree, another night two in the roost tree and another night one in the nest tree and one in the roost tree. Other pairs (3+) have been calling in the area as well. Laughing Kookaburra appear to be nesting again and Blue-winged Kookaburra have started to call more often this week. Noisy Pitta have also been calling a lot and staying in the rainforest more often than coming out into the open. Spotted Catbird have just seen off a juvenile and are now building another nest, it is certainly an interesting year for bird behaviour. Beside the catbird, Large-billed Gerygone and Olive-backed Sunbird are re-using previously successful nests for a second time within two months. Scarlet Honeyeater are busy in the tree tops with an occasional sortie to lower levels to at least give people a chance of seeing them properly. A lone Barred Cuckoo-shrike has been calling towards the end of the week, but not seen and Cicadabird continue to call and fly around. Black Butcherbird has been skulking around and making low guttural calls, but keeping hidden in the rainforest. Pied Monarch woke up towards the end of the week and started calling and showing after a few weeks of keeping quite and not showing well. Pale-yellow Robin juveniles have started to appear again after some were seen 10 weeks ago. 

 Pale-yellow Robin - juvenile

Common Myna appear to be nesting high up in a Queensland Blue Gum in Geraghty Park nearby but they keep to the open paddocks and not near the rainforest.

Not much spotlighting this week due to other commitments but we did see a Striped Possum and A Giant White-tailed Rat at the end of the week, the possum was the first sighting for a few weeks. Fawn-footed MelomysRatus ratus or a pregnant Bush Rat but the tail was too short for Black Rat although it could have lost the tip. Its behaviour seemed different to Bush Rat as it kept climbing up to the water bowl for a drink and sometimes when feeding it sat on it haunches quite upright holding a seed in its front paws. It also had black patches under each eye and rougher fur than the Bush Rat, we will try for an ID but if anyone has ideas we would like to hear. 

 Rat sp.

Boyd's Forest Dragon are still showing well in the rainforest with Eastern Water Dragon along Bushy Creek and Major Skink making a few appearances around the reception area.

Further afield two adult and one juvenile Blue-faced Parrot-Finch was seen in about 5kms from the Lodge along a creek with bamboo edges, by Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours, none have been seen on Mt. Lewis yet. Little Lorikeet were reported at the Rifle Creek camping area just out of Mt. Molloy which is an uncommon species here and even more unusual was three Black-throated Finch along the road to Emerald Creek east of Mareeba, reported by Klaus Uhlenhut from Kirrima Tours, this is the furthest south Klaus has seen them on the Atherton Tableland.

Dragonfly's have been coming out in the sun with this Painted Grasshawk fairly common around the area. I was surprised the image came out so well as I was using a 300mm F2.8 lens with a 1.4x tele-converter and hand held with a bit of fill flash. Would usually use a 100mm macro or at a pinch 100-400mm zoom which is also surprisingly good at macro.

 

 

 Painted Grasshawk

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.