13th March 2011 Report

Thanks to Kath & Dave for keeping the bird and weather records for most of the week whilst we went exploring. 235mm of rain this week which was quite wet but not as wet as some places on the coast south of Cairns who had nearly 800mm! Just what they did not need as they recover from Cyclone Yasi. We have just about cleaned up but are a little soggy underfoot. Temperatures ranged from 21.7ºC to a cooler 26.6ºC due to the cloud cover. Bird species recorded were 106 seen and 3 heard, reptiles and mammals were 21 seen. The increase in bird numbers this week was due to increased effort and numbers of observers.

This weeks bird list is here.

Highlight for the week was probably a pair of Lovely Fairy-wren seen high up in the canopy near our water pump along Bushy Creek. This part of the canopy is quite open since the cyclone went through and is easier to see birds and also easier for the birds to forage around in. This is only the third sighting within the Lodge grounds over the last five years. Also a Great Bowerbird was foraging around on the edge of the grounds which is a first as they normally keep to the more open woodland around Geraghty Park although we have seen them in our neighbours garden across Mt. Kooyong Road. 

Great Bowerbird  - inspecting bower

  
Another highlight was seeing two Papuan Frogmouth together in the orchard at the end of the week. This is the first time they have been in the orchard for several months and the first we have seen two together since before Christmas. Lets hope they pair up and breed this year after two years in which they have not bred in the Lodge grounds.

Pacific Black Duck were in a seasonal wetland opposite the Geraghty Park tennis courts with three ducklings. Both Wompoo and Superb Fruit-Dove were seen during the week. Australian Swiftlet were in a mixed flock with Tree Martin and Welcome Swallow hawking for insects over the Lodge grounds. A Great-billed Heron was seen flying over the fields opposite Geraghty Park. The Pacific Baza seen last week was still around along with a few other raptors – White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling Kite and Brown Falcon. An adult Red-necked Crake was seen crossing the bridge near the units and was the only sighting despite extensive searches. Buff-banded Rail and Pale-vented Bush-hen were along McDougall Road which has been turning up some good sightings over the last few weeks. Three Bush Stone-curlew have been regularly seen at the back of the Mt. Kooyong Road Nursing Home. 

Bush Stone-curlew

  
Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were around after an absence of five weeks and both male and female Eastern Koel continue to hang around the fruiting palm seeds. A juvenile Fan-tailed Cuckoo was seen foraging with a Little Bronze-Cuckoo but not interacting with it, this is a first sighting this year for a fan-tail. A Oriental Cuckoo was reported from McDougall Road by our neighbours Carol and Andrew. Sooty Owl was again heard and an Eastern Barn Owl seen. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher are progressing well with the juveniles fending for themselves, one even picked up a centipede and flew onto one of the outdoor tables by the units where it proceeded to eat it, table trained already! One sighting of a Dollarbird perched on the powerlines along the Rex Highway, we are definitely getting fewer each week. Noisy Pitta has started to call again but has not been seen and Spotted Catbird are also calling and coming into the feeder. A Brown Gerygone was seen down by our water pump which is unusual as they are seen very rarely around the Lodge. 13 species of honeyeater this week being attracted to the flowering eucalypts with Bridled and Noisy Friarbird seen along McDougall Road. 

Bridled Honeyeater

At least two Barred Cuckoo-shrike were along the edge of the Lodge grounds calling and seen as were a pair of Cicadabird. Grey Whistler has burst into frequent calling throughout the day. Both Yellow and Olive-backed Oriole have been around and calling - Yellow is the more uncommon one here. Two Rufous Fantail have been around but no Grey Fantail yet. Other good sightings were Pied Monarch, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Victoria's Riflebird (Female), Golden-headed Cisticola carrying nesting material, Olive-backed Sunbird, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin carrying nesting material and Australian Pipit which was along McDougall Road.

Snakes appear to be more active this week with Amethystine Python, Green Tree Snake and Brown Tree Snake all seen. The Brown Tree Snake was pursuing a frog along the driveway into the Lodge before the frog took to the trees with the snake hot on it's heels, the outcome of this encounter was not known. Boyd's Forest Dragon have been around outside the units again, this time seen chasing off an Australian Brush-turkey. Seven species of frog were still enjoying the wet weather, including Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Green Tree Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog and Cogger's Frog.

Further afield our travels took us onto the southern Atherton Tableland into the Malanda area . We called into see Terry (Eyebrowed Thrush fame) to thank him for letting all the birdos onto his flower farm property to see the thrush. The last sighting was on 20th February by Glen Holmes who was also the last one to see the Isabelline Wheatear at Mt. Carbine a few years ago  - Hmm something going on there! 

We had good sightings of Victoria's Riflebird on the tablelands including this sub-adult male shown resting as it digested a full crop. 

Victoria's Riflebird

Also in this area we found a party of Silvereye feeding on the purple fruit of Callicarpa pedunculata which is a small shrub or tree 3-4m tall.

Silvereye

 

Eastern Spinebill were also seen at the higher altitudes around Malanda and Atherton, we rarely get them at the Lodge but they are nearby on Mt. Lewis.

Eastern Spinebill

  
A dragonfly was seen which looked like a female Painted Grasshawk but had no colouring in the wings, not sure if the ID is correct.

Painted Grasshawk - female (?)

The rain halted some of our birding plans but we did manage a walk around the Wongabel State Forest which is situated 8 kilometres south of Atherton on the Kennedy Highway. Here two walking tracks wind through a remnant forest, known as mabi forest. The tracks have been cleared since Cyclone Yasi and allow easy walking with a few wet and muddy patches to negotiate. The birding was pretty quiet but we did manage 18 species including a male Victoria's Riflebird, White-headed Pigeon and a trio of Scrubwrens, Large-billed, Atherton and Yellow-throated.

Victoria's Riflebird -  adult male

 
Bird species for visit can be found here . Also seen was this mass of hairy caterpillar on the underside of a leaf.

Hairy Caterpillar

A quick check of the Cairns Esplanade revealed a range of wader species in small numbers. The most numerous were Great Knot with lesser numbers of Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Tattler, Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel and a few Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Red-necked Stint plus only three Terek Sandpiper. There were also some Little, Crested and Gull-billed Tern on the mudflats. Bird list for visit here

Bar-tailed Godwit

 

25th April 2010 Report

More drizzle this week with sunny periods and 16.5mm in the rain gauge for the week. Temperatures were down to 20ºC and a top of 26ºC. Bird numbers were 74 bird species seen and 4 heard - mammals and reptiles were 17 seen and one heard.

Highlight of the week was as last week, a mammal, this time Green Ringtail Possum. Two adults with a very large juvenile were spotlighted in the orchard, which is the first time we have seen three green ringtails together. The rather large juvenile was clinging to one of the parents backs before climbing down onto a branch to sit beside it. The other presumed parent was a few metres away watching proceedings. Great to see they are breeding within the Lodge grounds.

 Green Ringtail Possum

There has been a bit of movement with the migratory species in the area over the last week. The first Australian White Ibis for the season turned up in a cow paddock just over the Rex Highway (Hwy44) from the Lodge. Other summer migrants which are still in the area include two male Eastern Koel, several Channel-billed Cuckoo, at least two Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher were still with us at the end of the week, 

 Rainbow Bee-eater

Rainbow Bee-eater numbers are up with several small flocks passing through and Black-faced Monarch were still feeding large juveniles. No sightings of Superb Fruit-Dove this week but with several fig trees in the area fruiting they may well have moved to them, Wompoo Fruit-Dove were present at the beginning of the week but had disappeared by the end. One Papuan Frogmouth was again in the orchard, sometimes hiding but the reliable Pale-yellow Robin found him for us a couple of times. Pacific Baza was around all week calling and foraging in the tree tops and White-bellied Sea-Eagle were again soaring over the grounds calling. Pale-vented Bush-hen and at least two Red-necked Crake were heard calling from a patch of grassy edged forest along the Lodge boundary with Mt. Kooyong Road but not seen.
 

Bush Stone-curlew have just started to come into the Lodge grounds and one was outside the reception area one night. 

 Bush Stone-curlew

(Lesser) Sooty Owl have been around again during the week calling early evening and early morning before going to roost. Several Barred Cuckoo-shrike are still around making use of fruiting fig trees and Cicadabird is still calling and both Yellow and Olive-backed Oriole have been feeding in fig trees and on palm seeds. An adult Black Butcherbird has been around giving some poor frogs a hard time. Grey Fantail is still in short supply with only one regularly seen around the lodge near reception, surprising not more have arrived as we saw small flocks on the Atherton Tableland a month ago. Grey-headed Robin numbers are still low with the local migrants still up at higher ground on Mt. Lewis.

Further afield a Dollarbird was seen on powerlines along the Bruce Highway at Palm Cove whilst we were going into Cairns; they appear to have all left the Julatten area with no sightings for two weeks. Five Dusky Woodswallow were seen at Hasties Swamp near Atherton by Alan Gillanders from Alan's Wildlife Tours, this is an unusual time of year at this site.

Several interesting insects were seen during the week including this female Common Eggfly butterfly.

female Common Eggfly

and this colourful caterpillar from an unknown (to us) species.

Caterpillar

Access to Mt. Lewis is definitely four wheel drive at the moment with many boggy patches and a lot of pig damage chopping up the road. There has only been one sighting of Blue-faced Parrot-Finch over the last few weeks on the mountain but there has been reports of Russet-tailed Thrush calling up at 950m which is quite high.

Other interesting animals spotlighted during the week included Leaf-tailed Gecko, great views of Feather-tail Glider foraging on inflorescence in a Coconut Palm, frogs included White-lipped Tree Frog,  (this one was resting up during the day!)

White-lipped Tree Frog

 

Jungguy Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog and Red Tree Frog. Bumpy Rocket Frog or Peter's Frog Litoria inermis was recorded during the week, this is a rarely observed frog at the Lodge. 

After talking to several frog experts the general consensus is that Jungguy Frog Litoria jungguy occurs at the Lodge and not the very similar Wilcox's Frog Litoria wilcoxii, both these species have been split from Stony Creek Frog Litoria lesueurii.