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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9th January 2011

We had 52.5mm of rain for the week on 6 rainy days. Most of the rain fell during the late afternoon and into the night leaving most days fine and sunny, even got some lawn mowing done! Temperatures this week were 21.0-28.1ºC which was a slightly lower minimum and maximum than last week. Bird species were down on last week with 71 seen but 12 heard which was more than last week (within 1.5km of the Lodge). Mammals and reptiles seen were one less thankfully last week with 15 seen.

The weeks bird species list is here

A Wompoo Fruit-Dove was actually seen this week but the Rose-crowned and Superb Fruit-Dove still eluded us. The Pied Imperial Pigeon continues to sit in it's nest 20m off the ground in a Queensland Blue Gum Eucalyptus tereticornis at Geraghty Park, adjacent to the Lodge. 

 Pied Imperial Pigeon - on nest

The lone Papuan Frogmouth was seen once during the week in the rainforest outside the reception area but better news for the pair down the road at the Mt. Kooyong Nursing Home, they were found roosting with a juvenile. So at least one pair in the area bred last year. Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard again this week but not seen. A few Black Kite are still around the area and are not very common at this time of year, tried to get this one in flight but need more practice at this technique!

Black Kite

A Brown Goshawk was soaring over the Lodge grounds early in the week and Nankeen Kestrel continue to perch on the power lines alongside the Rex Highway. Red-necked Crake was heard most days but not seen as was Pale-vented Bush-hen. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo have whinging youngsters and Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have been flying over but we have not found where they are feeding yet. Cuckoos continue to call with Pheasant Coucal, Eastern Koel and Brush Cuckoo only heard with Channel-billed and Little Bronze-cuckoo also seen. More about Bronze-cuckoos can be found at the end of this weeks report.

(Lesser) Sooty Owl has been heard calling once in the evening and many times early in the morning around 4 to 5.00am but not seen despite one search for it. One Eastern Barn Owl has again been seen coming out of the regular daytime roost but no sign of its mate. Further along the highway an adult female E. Barn Owl was unfortunately picked up dead and is now in our freezer after measuring and weighing. It will along with another be passed onto the relevant authorities. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher continue to surprise with six nests now confirmed to have chicks in and another two still having birds sitting on eggs. Another nest in our neighbours garden also has chicks in it as does one in Geraghty Park. If you want to see a stunning image of a BBP Kingfisher taken at the Lodge this week check out this link. Dollarbird continue to feed their nestlings in Geraghty Park and Noisy Pitta is still calling frequently and being seen not quite so frequently. Brown Gerygone was in our neighbour garden for the second week running and Large-billed Gerygone were inspecting a hanging vine over Bushy Creek with a view to possibly building a nest. 

 

 Large-billed Gerygone

Striated Pardalote were calling after an absence of 10 weeks in the eucalypts on the edge of the Lodge grounds.

Lewin's Honeyeater is still with us and Macleay's Honeyeater are still showing up with juveniles in tow. Barred Cuckoo-shrike were heard at the beginning of the week and Cicadabird are still around calling. Australasian Figbird are still sitting in a nest not far from the Pied Imperial Pigeon nest in Geraghty Park. Black Butcherbird has been around all week calling and even hopping along the veranda outside the units. Spangled Drongo have three juveniles they are feeding which is keeping them busy. Chestnut-breasted Manikin have been seen carrying nesting material so they maybe going to nest again.

The most interesting reptile sighting this week was this Boyd's Forest Dragon who was clinging to a tree outside the reception shedding its skin, note the difference in the skin colour from the old and new. 
 

 Boyd's Forest Dragon

A small colony of Little Bent-wing Bat mixed with Northern Broad-nosed Bat decided to roost under our neighbours house during the week.

Further afield a juvenile Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher was seen at the Jindalba Boardwalk on the northern side of the Daintree River, this is a very early record.

Again the wet weather has bought out some more fungi as well as a few butterflies including the Small Grass Yellow.

 Fungi sp.

 Ramaria sp. (?)

Small Grass Yellow

Bronze-cuckoo identification can pose a few problems up here in Far North Queensland, especially juveniles and females. Shining, Little and Gould's (now lumped with Little in the Australian Taxonomy of Christidis and Boles, 2008) pose the most problems.

Females are not illustrated or shown well in several field guides, Pizzey and Knight don't show female of any of the three species, Slater shows only a side on view of male, female, and juvenile Little and Gould's which does not show the broken scalloping on the breast of the adults, the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds does not show female Little or Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo but it does show a female hybrid between the two species, it also shows differences in tail patterns between male and female Shining. Simpson and Day do show male and female of Little and Gould's but not Shining (only under-tail appear different). Which leaves Morcombe's Field Guide, which does show male and female of both Little and Gould's pointing out ID features and probably does the best job of the lot. The best descriptions we have found are in Lloyd Nielsen's book Birds of Queensland's Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef which sadly is out of print now. Juveniles of Horsfield's, Shining, Little and Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo are almost impossible to separate. Lloyd says that habitat is a good indicator, Horsfield's prefers drier open forest, Shining in usually in upland rainforest, Little are usually in open, paperbark and gallery forests and tropical woodland whilst Gould's prefer coastal rainforest, nearby open and gallery forest as well as mangroves. Gould's also appears to like some of the open woodland around the Lodge. Differences between Little and Gould's really do not matter now as Little and Gould's are lumped  -:).

Below are a few images taken around the area of the Lodge, the first three are the same bird whilst the forth is a different bird. You will notice the different amount of barring in the tail, first bird (3 images) shows three bars and the second only one bar, maybe this is an age feature? All three show rufous outer tail feathers which is diagnostic of Gould's, Little has white outer tail feathers. The fith bird has incomplete scalloping across the breast but shows some rufous around the neck, it also appears to have white outer tail feathers and more barring in the tail with no rufous in the tail and a light coloured eye ring which would make it a female Little Bronze-Cuckoo.

These first four birds would appear to be female Gould's and the fifth one a Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, if anyone has any other ideas please let us know.
 

 Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo - female

 Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo - female

 Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo - female

 Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo - female

Shining Bronze-Cuckoo