1st February 2015 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

THE LAST BLOG

Yes it is the last blog from Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge, number 264, before we hand over the Lodge after 9½ years. The new owners from the 4^th February are Carol and Andrew Iles who have bought the business and property. They have had a long association with the Lodge working as bird guides in 1999-2003 and again for the last four years working with us and running their own guiding business as well as helping out around the Lodge. It is good to know that the Lodge is going into their capable hands to continue on for future guests to enjoy. They will probably be posting interesting sightings on Facebook so keep an eye out for that. Please note that the Lodge is closed in February and the camp ground and bunkhouse will also be closed in March.

Weather Report

The weather has been extremely unpredictable over the last few weeks, it has been very hot, showery with thunderstorms and plenty of sunny days. This is more like the weather we would expect in November as the “Wet Season” approaches. It has been up to 34ºC and down to the low-mid 20ºC with humidity going from 35 to 100%. We have managed to miss most of the storms but we have had a couple of good downpours of 67mm and 71mm with a total of 223.5mm for the last three weeks.

Last Three Weeks Bird Sightings:-

These can be found on the Eremaea eBird site.11th- 17th January ,18th- 24th January and 25th- 31st January The first week had species recorded and the second week .

Birding Highlights:-

The last three weeks have been hectic with the transfer of the Lodge to the new owners so birding has taken a back seat. However we did host the BirdLife North Queensland's annual Australia Day weekend which saw three days of intensive birding in and around the Lodge. At least one Australian Brush-Turkey was trying to scrape up a nesting mound outside the accommodation units. This one was getting away from the wetter ground perching on a vine in the rainforest .

Australian Brush-Turkey

Waterbirds have been scattered with the onset of the wetter weather with only a few species seen including a few Wandering Whistling-Duck, Pacific Black-Duck, Grey Teal and Hardhead. One week saw a few Little Black and Pied Cormorant visit along with a single Australasian Darter. Others to appear briefly were Intermediate and Great Egret, a White-faced Heron, a Glossy Ibis and several Australian White Ibis. Raptors were also light with only Black and Whistling Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle and a single sighting of a Pacific Baza. Once again the pair of Red-necked Crake have been putting on a show for most of our guests both in the evening and morning at the Crake Pool. Pale-vented Bush-hen have also been showing around the roadsides and cane paddocks but patience is required to see them. Superb Fruit-Dove have been calling with good numbers around the Lodge and a pair of Torresian Imperial Pigeon were found nesting. Lesser Sooty Owl has been coming around once or twice a week and was seen one night flying around the Lodge hawking for insects. We have been hearing our one Papuan Frogmouth calling during the night and occasionally seeing it roosting in our orchard. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher have been going in and out of their nests so we presume they are sitting on eggs. One pair near our cookshed have been performing well for our guests who have been able to relax in a chair and watch at a distance. Could not help but put another photo of these special birds into our last blog! 

 

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher

Other good birds around include Noisy Pitta, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Barred Cuckoo-shrike, Pied Monarch and nesting Olive-backed Sunbird.

Yellow-breasted Boatbill - male

Further Afield:-

Mt. Lewis is still accessible, but there is always the chance of a tree coming down on the road at this time of year. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch are being seen, but they are still in low numbers and elusive, most of the “Wet Tropic” endemics have been seen over the last few weeks. One surprise over the Australia day weekend was a Rose-crowned Fruit Dove calling not far from Abattoir Swamp, this is usually a bird of the coastal areas and offshore islands with very few sightings in our region. There has been large flocks of Pacific Swift (Fork-tailed) in the Julatten - Mt Molloy area, these have been reported on Eremaea e-Bird.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

28 mammals and reptiles were reported for the last three weeks including Green Ringtail Possum, Platypus, Boyd's Forest Dragon, Lace Monitor and Carpet Python. Frogs were vocal when the rain was coming down with nine species recorded.

 

Northern Sedge Frog

Dainty Green Tree Frog

 Had to put in an image of our favourite frog at the Lodge!

White-lipped Tree Frog

Insects:-
The rain also triggered the termites to swarm out of some nests, the flying ones descended on us in their thousands dropping wings everywhere. These ones were not coming out of one of the mounds but a log on the ground.
 

 

Termite sp.

Termite sp.

Fungi:-

The wetter conditions certainly encouraged the fungi to pop up everywhere, here is a selection of some of them.

Unidentified fungus - complete with Wolf Spider

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Unidentified fungus

Finally we would like to thank all those people who have supported us during our time at the Lodge and those who followed our blog. We have had over a thousand guests staying each year for the last ten years with many regulars and have met some wonderful people. Thank you to Carol and Andrew for helping with the weekly sightings and also for taking on the Lodge to continue to offer a great wildlife experience for guests. We are retiring to our home in Julatten and look forward to some travel over the next few years.
Keith & Lindsay.

We have had many emails from guests over the years, but this one from a Japanese gentleman remains our favourite.

Thank you very much for your full attention shown to me. Three days flew like an arrow as every moment I experienced there was woderful. Thanks to your help, I am very happy to have taken nice photos, specially kingfisher. These photos goes with nightcap before falling into sleep, taking the place of bankbook of no more balance. Thanks again for your kindness.

 

The End.

18th May 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Mixed weather over the last two weeks, we have have some fantastic sunny days with temperatures only getting up to 24ºC. The first week was dry, but the second week some rain fell with 18mm on six rainy days, just enough to be annoying.

Birding Highlights:-

A pair of Cotton Pygmy-goose have been coming and going from one of the lagoons along McDougall Road, not a common species in our area. Bar-shouldered Dove have been displaying and calling, always nice to see this attractive dove even though it is very common.

Bar-shouldered Dove

A small flock of 8 Topknot Pigeon flew over the Lodge whilst we were on a morning walk; this is the first sighting for 13 weeks. A lone female Papuan Frogmouth showed up in the orchard for a day which was something for the Pale-yellow Robin to harass for most of the day, presumably the same bird was seen perching in front of the accommodation units on 17^th May. This bird was not one of the family of three which are still in the area and seen roosting away from the Lodge. A Great Cormorant turned up along McDougall Road, another uncommon bird in the area. A Black-breasted Buzzard was along Euluma Creek Road near the Julatten School and a Square-tailed Kite was seen to fly over the Lodge. White-bellied Sea-Eagle have been displaying and calling a lot and maybe going to nest nearby. Great to see a Spotted Harrier over a cane paddock whilst we were on a morning walk late in the second week as this is an uncommon visitor. A single Purple Swamphen was along McDougall Road, another uncommon visitor. Red-necked Crake have been seen both weeks, on one occasion an adult was seen with an immature, good to know at least one of the three chicks is surviving. A pair of Scaly-breasted Lorikeet appeared at the feeder one afternoon much to our surprise as we have only seen them here once in nine years. 

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have been taking advantage of a couple of fruiting fig trees, up to four have been regularly seen. On the same morning walk when the Spotted Harrier was seen a single male Australian King-Parrot flew across the Lodge grounds calling, this was a first sighting for the year at the Lodge. Barking Owl are still around and calling close to the reception area, one was seen perched in a Queensland Blue Gum near the entrance to the Lodge. Lesser Sooty Owl was seen in the Lodge grounds by Klaus Uhlenhut from Kirrama WildlifeTours and his guests late in the second week. Barn Owl, who are probably thinking of nesting by now, have been calling and seen. Azure Kingfisher have been along Bushy Creek and both Laughing and Blue-winged Kookaburra have been regularly seen. Noisy Pitta are around the Lodge grounds, but more often heard rather than seen; there was one sighting of two birds. Two Spotted Catbird have started to come to the feeder in the mornings to eat banana, better than eating baby birds! The same 12 species of honeyeater have been seen over the two weeks, these included Bridled and Scarlet Honeyeater who are not regulars. Barred Cuckoo-shrike have been lured back by the same fig trees that the Double-eyed Fig-Parrot have been in and have been joined by a couple of White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike. Of course there have also been 100's of Australasian Figbird fighting over the figs as well.

Australasian Figbird - male

A single male Golden Whistler was seen on the 6^th May, this was the first for two years as none came down off the mountains last year to visit the Lodge. Grey and Rufous Whistler have also been seen and are very vocal. A Yellow Oriole has been seen and heard over the past two weeks, they are not resident and presumably come up from the coast where they are very common. A Pied Currawong flew over the Lodge one morning and was seen by Carol Iles, bird guide. Rufous and Grey Fantail numbers continue to increase as southern migrants arrive. Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill have been calling and seen regularly, especially the boatbill. At least two female Victoria's Riflebird have been foraging in the Lodge grounds and coming to the bird baths in the afternoon. Silvereye have been around in small to large groups (50+), very busy birds as they move through the forest. 

Silvereye

Immature Metallic Starling are still around, which is very late for them, our birds have usually gone north by now.

Further Afield:-

A flock of 8 Topknot Pigeon were seen flying over Euluma Creek Road, Julatten at the beginning of May. Also along Euluma Creek Road was Eastern Yellow Robin (uncommon) and a Buff-banded Rail which appear to be becoming scarce in our area. A Sacred Kingfisher was seen in Mount Molloy (uncommon) and Maryfarms north of Mount Molloy had some Black-faced Woodswallow and White-winged Triller. Mt. Lewis continues to be good for birds with Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo heard on the lower slopes along with one Blue-faced Parrot-Finch. Higher up the mountain a male Golden Bowerbird was seen in company with a brown immature/female bird. One of our herpetologist friends in Julatten, Grant, sent us this photo of a Large-tailed Nightjar perching in a tree along his driveway at the end of April. This record is interesting as there are very few records around here in April and this species is not often seen perching in trees. We have never seen one  in a tree and local ornithologist Lloyd Nielsen said he had only seen it once although he had seen them on fence posts. They are normally ground dwellers.

Large-tailed Nightjar

Thanks to Carol and Andrew Iles our local bird guiding neighbours for contributing to the bird lists. Please email Carol if you need any local guiding.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

Fawn-footed Melomys have been visiting our neighbours, Carol and Andrew, whilst a Yellow-footed Antichinus was visiting us in our office. Red-legged Pademelon have established themselves in the Lodge grounds and can usually be seen early morning or at night foraging in the orchard area. One of our guests, Adrian, put out a camera overnight at the feeder to see what came in. Most action occurred in the early hours of the morning when Bush Rat and White-tailed Rat showed at the feeder. Northern Brown Bandicoot have started to re-appear and a juvenile Striped Possum was seen on a night walk. Several Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko have been seen around the rainforest and only one snake seen when our neighbours disturbed a Small-eyed Snake. 
 

Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko

Boyd's Forest Dragon returned to the reception area after being away for about 10 days and got straight into the banana on the feeder. Frogs have been a bit scarce with the drier weather but we have seen Jungguy Frog, White-lipped Tree Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog as well as these Desert (Red) Tree Frog who were trying to get into a hole in the amenities wall. This species is also known as Naked Frog for obvious reasons!

Desert Tree Frog

Also seen was this Roth's (Laughing) Tree Frog, which was found in the reception area covered in fluff and cleaned off before being released outside.

 

Roth's Tree Frog

Bats:-
Two of our guests Paul and David spent a few hours during the night chasing bats on Mt. Lewis, these are the ones they identified.

Eastern Long-eared Bat Nyctophilus bifax
Eastern Forest Bat Vespadelus pumilus
Little Bent-winged Bat Miniopterus australis
Eastern Horseshoe Bat Rhinolophus megaphyllus
Eastern Blossom Bat Syconicteris australis
Flute-nosed Bat Murina florium

 Go Gunners! Sat up and watched Arsenal win the FA Cup - about time.

Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge Business and Property For Sale
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20th April 2014 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Weather Report

Cyclone Ita was the big news, the effects of it arriving at the Lodge on Friday night (11^th April) with wind and dumping 296mm of rain over two days. Ita came via the Solomon Islands where it had wreaked havoc, but as it moved on passing Papua New Guinea it increased in strength until it hit landfall on the Queensland coast north of Cooktown as a Category 5 cyclone, the highest rating for cyclones. Once it was on the mainland it lost strength quickly and changed direction to go south slowly causing a lot of damage to banana and sugar cane crops and both the human and natural environment. By the time it passed over us it was a category 1 cyclone, but this still bought winds of 110 -130kmh which was more than enough to topple at least 10 of our trees and take the tops out of at least another 15. It was mainly the effects of the big rainfall which caused damage bringing floods which swept through our orchard and reach at least 2m in depth. Our camp ground was underwater and is still drying out. Access to the Lodge was cut for nearly two days with power and phones/internet going down. Power came back on Monday afternoon after two days off but phones and internet not until the next day. Anyway it could have been a lot worse, the water quickly receded leaving us to clean up. The birds did not seem to be affected much by the cyclone and have been more obvious and call a lot since the event.

Camp Ground Flooding

View from units with large tree limb on roof

Water flowing from our orchard across Mt. Kooyong Road, looking towards nursing home

Cattle sheltering in flooded paddock along Mt. Kooyong Road

Bushy Creek debris at Platypus viewing area where our water pump is normally (removed  before the cyclone)

We ended up with a total rainfall over the three weeks of 328mm. Temperatures were between 19ºC to 26.6ºC. 

Last Three Weeks Bird Sightings:-

Sightings are on the Eremaea eBird site. 30th March - 5th April, 6th - 12th April and 13th - 19th April

Birding Highlights:-

A Black-breasted Buzzard flew over the Lodge grounds heading towards the coast on the 10^th April. As it flew over the orchard it put up a flock of over 100 Metallic Starling who were noisily feeding in the adjacent rainforest. This is the first sighting of a buzzard over the Lodge in the nine years we have been here (one was seen in nearby McDougall Road back in 2012). The other exciting bird to be seen also on the same day was a roosting Southern Boobook Owl (sub species lurida Little Red Boobook, thanks to Lloyd Nielsen for identifying this one) in our neighbours Carol and Andrew IIles (Local Bird guides) garden. This was the first seen since 19/11/2006 in and around the Lodge. A rather poor shot was taken of the bird roosting high up in the dark of the rainforest.

Southern Boobook- sub species lurida Little Red Boobook

Both Red-necked Crake and Noisy Pitta have been seen with chicks over the past three weeks, the crakes have three while the pitta has two. Both these species had already bred late last year in December. Migrants that are still with us include Channel-billed Cuckoo (seen on the 17^th April), Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher (seen on the 17^th April), Adult and juvenile Dollarbird (seen on the 18^th April) and Black-faced Monarch. Waterbird species have been spread out over the district with not many in our immediate area, the usual Pacific Black Duck, one Australasian Grebe, one Australasian Darter, one Little Black Cormorant and one White-necked Heron along McDougall Road. The local Barramundi Farm had a Purple Swamphen, several Eurasian Coot and a couple of Dusky Moorhen on their overflow pond. Raptor sightings were light on as well with one Black Kite, one Whistling Kite plus a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagle heard. The Pale-vented Bush-hen chicks from our neighbours garden are now down to four from six, they seem to be dispersing away from their breeding area. A female Common Koel has been hanging around a fruiting palm tree, also in our neighbours Carol and Andrew IIles (Local Bird guides) garden, for the last two weeks.

Common Koel - female

Barking Owl have been heard a couple of times, so they are still hanging around the area. Laughing Kookaburra have been around our orchard with up to five at any one time, this one was perched on a vine along the edge of the rainforest.

Laughing Kookaburra

Small flocks of Rainbow Bee-eater (6-18) have been around over the two weeks. Lewin's and Bridled Honeyeater have been in and around the Lodge after returning from higher altitudes up in the mountains behind us. Cicadabird have been calling and were still with us on the 20^th April. Black Butcherbird have been heard calling but only a brown immature bird has been seen. A Northern Fantail was foraging in Geraghty Park one morning, this was a first for several months. Pied Monarch have been around along with Yellow-breasted Boatbill who have started calling a lot, four were seen on a morning walk. A female Victoria's Riflebird has been coming to our neighbours bird feeder and seen once in the Lodge grounds. Grey-headed Robin numbers continue to increase as more come down from the mountains to spend the winter in the Lodge grounds. Olive-backed Sunbird have been seen nesting again in a nest which has been previously used.

Further Afield:-

 A White Tern found exhausted at Hasties Swamp after Cyclone Ita was the most unusual bird for our region, also many reports of both Lesser and Greater Frigatebird along and just inland for the coast between Cairns and Port Douglas, all a result of the cyclone. Six Grey Teal were at the Ferraro Road wetland Craglie, near Port Douglas, an uncommon species in this area. Our roaming neighbours Carol and Andrew had a few interesting birds in the third week along Euluma Creek Road, Julatten, Spotted Harrier, two Brown Falcon, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Pale-headed Rosella, Australian King-Parrot, Tawny Grassbird and Eastern Whipbird. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch have been seen on Mt. Lewis between 1-2km along the road from the Bushy Creek bridge along with White-eared Monarch. At least 3 Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo were also heard calling in the same area and another along Euluma Creek Road. Female Golden Bowerbird have also been seen on Mt. Lewis several times. Eastern Yellow Robin sub-species Eopsaltria australis chrysorrhoa were seen near Abattoir Swamp, not a common species near the Lodge. Eastern Yellow Robin do not occur in the rainforest here unlike the ones around the Border Ranges of Queensland and New South Wales who co-exist with the Pale-yellow Robin. In our region the Eastern Yellow Robin occur in more open sclerophyllous forests and not rainforests. They are excluded by the Grey-headed Robin who occupy this same niche in the "Wet Tropic" rainforests. ["Directory of Australian Birds" (Passerines) - Schodde and Mason - 1999].

Eastern Yellow Robin - sub-species Eopsaltria australis chrysorrhoa

The Birdlife Australia monthly meeting was held at the Lodge Saturday 5th April where we gave a PowerPoint presentation on the birds and wildlife of Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge, this was followed on the next day by a visit to a private property in Mt. Molloy. The Birdlife Australia group had visited here on the Australia Day long weekend at the end of January and plan to make this venue a regular atlas site visited at three monthly intervals. Interesting birds here were a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagle, which are not common in the area, a pair of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot which flew over and a male and female Lovely Fairy-wren. We ended up with a species list of 35 birds. 

Birding highlights from around the gulf country, Normanton and Karumba area can be found on the Eremaea Birds site posted by Roger Jaensch. Some of the highlights include a possible hybrid between a Pied Heron and Little Egret (photo), Zitting Cisticola possibly nesting (photo) and Great Crested Grebe, north of normal range.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

The highlight over the two weeks was finding an Australian Scrub Python eating a Red-legged Pademelon, which is a small rainforest kangaroo, (not a highlight for the poor unfortunate pademelon!). When we found it on the edge of our orchard it only had the leg sticking out to identify the prey item. The python was probably 3-3.5m. 

Australian Scrub Python - with pademelon inside

 

Australian Scrub Python - just finished swallowing the pademelon

Whilst clearing leaves off the roof we came across another slightly smaller Australian Scrub Python curled up trying to have an undisturbed daytime sleep. Another good sighting made by one of our guests was a Green Ringtail Possum hanging by its tail in a tree along Mt. Kooyong Road in our rainforest, then seen again in our neighbours garden. Green Ringtail Possum are becoming increasingly hard to find around the Lodge so it was good to know at least one is still here. A pair of Striped Possum were heard early one evening grunting to each other, possibly a territorial dispute, and then we heard a thump as one fell to the ground. We then located it at eye level clinging to a bunch of vines which were hanging from a tree. A few frogs have been around, mainly Cogger's and Jungguy Frog but when the rain bought on by Cyclone Ita arrived the Dainty Green Tree Frog started calling in unison. A Platypus was seen, whilst on a morning walk, sitting on an overhanging tree trunk at the side of Bushy Creek having a scratch.

Insects:-

When we were doing our bird survey in Mount Molloy we came across this moth larva of Syntherata janetta, a moth which is found across northern Australia and as far south as Sydney.

Syntherata janetta - lava

Also here we had a few Painted Grasshawk Neurothemis stigmatizans stigmatizans dragonfly.

Painted Grasshawk

Around the Lodge we had these two interesting Katydid species. Thanks to David Rentz for confirming the identifications.

Spiny Katydid, Phricta spinosa

Serrated Bush Katydid Paracaedicia serrata - Yellow morph

This Ulysses Swallowtail was sunning in the orchard one morning with its wings outstretched, something they don't do very often.

Ulysses Swallowtail Papillio ulysses

Fungi:-

This fungi was also seen on the Birdlife bird survey in Mount Molloy.

Fungi sp.

Thanks to Carol and Andrew Iles for their bird sighting input to this weeks blog, they can  be contacted for bird guiding here .