12th August 2012 Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

We just celebrated seven years of running Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge which has been most enjoyable with lots of hard work but has been worth the effort. We would like to say a big thank you to all our fantastic guests who have shared the area with us and hopefully catch up with those of you who have not visited yet.

Now what has been happening over the past two weeks? No rain apart from a brief bit of drizzle one morning which did not even register in the rain gauge, the rest of the two weeks was fantastic weather with sunshine and cool mornings. The top temperature was a pleasant 20.9ºC and the minimum was 11.2ºC. The humidity was high, up to 95% and a very low for us of 53%.

Bird sightings for the first week were 96 seen plus 7 heard. The second week had slightly more sightings due mainly to the great weather but also more birdos looking, 112 seen plus 2 heard. Mammal and reptile species were slightly less than the last two weeks due to the dry cooler weather with 23 species seen. 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 White-necked Heron was foraging in ponding in the adjacent cane paddock late one afternoon, not a common bird in our area, also here were two Purple Swamphen another uncommon bird in this area. A Red-necked Crake was heard calling from the rainforest patch adjacent to Geraghty Park whilst we were on a nightwalk – at least they are still around and hopefully they will start showing themselves soon. A reminder of what they look like!

 

 

Red-necked Crake

 

Also still around is the (Lesser) Sooty Owl which called once at 5.20am as it was flying over, however still no sightings. A pair of Yellow-throated Scrubwren were seen in the rainforest adjacent to the orchard which was only the second sighting this year, the previous sighting was of a single bird. A White-eared Monarch we had heard calling for over a month decided to show itself on two consecutive days in the orchard flitting around the tops of the trees as they do, thanks to Murray for finding the bird.

Other sightings:

Waterbirds continue to come and go especially Magpie Goose, Hardhead and Australasian Grebe. Brown Cuckoo-Dove are appearing again and even a Superb Fruit-Dove has been showing in the orchard on the odd occasion but more often has been heard. A couple of Topknot Pigeon have been flying over occasionally and our Papuan Frogmouth returned to its usual daytime roosting site in the orchard at the end of the second week after not being able to be found for a month but promptly vanished the next day. An Australian Owlet-nightjar was heard on several nights calling near the accommodation units but not seen. Raptors have been showing well in the area with nine species seen, Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling, Brahminy and Black Kite, Brown Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, Swamp Harrier and Wedge-tailed Eagle. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot were only seen once flying over and the juvenile Scaly-breasted Lorikeet reported in the last blog is still in the grevilleas and surviving well despite falling out of the tree several times, it just gets up and climbs back along the trunk. It is now starting to develop its primary feathers and tail so hopefully should fly off soon.

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet - on Grevillea

A Fan-tailed Cuckoo was foraging along McDougall Road which is one of very few sightings this year. The pair of Barking Owl are still with us and are calling most evenings and early morning; they were seen calling in a Poinciana tree at the entrance to the Lodge one evening. At least one pair of Eastern Barn Owl have three fledglings out of the nest begging for food, hopefully they will make it. The Noisy Pitta reported in last blog was with us for most of the last two weeks but had disappeared for the last three days. Our neighbours had which was presumably the same bird appear in their garden, so maybe the pitta is widening its feeding area in the search for something other than banana! Whilst it was here it put on a show one sunny afternoon and sat out sunning itself. 

Noisy Pitta

Lovely Fairy-Wren were again seen in our neighbours garden one afternoon when a male and two females appeared. 12 species of honeyeater again for the last two weeks making the most of the flowering trees and rarely coming into the nectar feeders. A White-cheeked Honeyeater was foraging along the edge of the rainforest behind the units one morning which was nice as they don't visit us often and Graceful Honeyeater are singing well. This one was twisting its head and distorting the yellow ear patch.

Graceful Honeyeater

 
At least two Barred Cuckoo-shrike were heard behind the units in the rainforest but only one morning before they disappeared. A single male Golden Whistler, which is a winter visitor from the mountains behind the Lodge, has been around the grounds. The Golden Whistler has not been calling unlike the Grey Whistler who are in full song. A female Bowers Shrike-thrush was looking for insects on the veranda in front of the units one morning; this is another winter visitor from higher altitudes. The Yellow Oriole which have been around since the beginning of April seem to have left the area to be replaced by the Olive-backed Oriole which are calling well. A pair of Black Butcherbird are still lurking around the rainforest and catching the occasional frog, usually White-lipped Tree Frog. Our Spangled Drongo is still making noisy appearances at the nectar feeder and both Rufous and Grey Fantail, including a few of the race keasti from higher altitudes are around the Lodge grounds. 

Grey Fantail - race keasti

Pied Monarch and Yellow-breasted Boatbill are calling and needing a bit of persistence to see them. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher have been in Geraghty Park and both Pale Yellow and Grey-headed Robin have been foraging out in the open orchard. One morning there were three grey-headed foraging together along with several others scattered around the orchard, they will probably stay with us until late October/early November before heading back up into the mountains at higher altitudes. This Pale-yellow Robin was very interested in this leaf and kept coming back to it.

Pale-yellow Robin

Metallic Starling are busy trying to build nests but have been distracted by having to chase off marauding Australasian Figbird who have been stealing their nest material. This female was heading up to one of the nests.

Australasian Figbird

These Metallic Starling were trying to build their nest with one working the nest and another on lookout duties.

Metallic Starling

It appears that the Olive-backed Sunbird reported last blog nesting in Geraghty Park have failed with their nest, probably due to an overnight period off the nest because the female was locked into the adjacent library room. They will try again, hopefully with a better outcome.

Further Afield:-

A Spotted Harrier was seen chasing off a Wedge-tailed Eagle along Euluma Creek Road, Julatten, before it landed on the ground to eat a small prey item. Whilst it was on the ground a Nankeen Kestrel buzzed it. The Wedge-tailed Eagle flew off to be harassed by a pair of Whistling Kite. Also along Euluma Creek Road a Large-tailed Nightjar was calling on dusk. Blue-faced Parrot-Finch are still being found near Abattoir Swamp but in small numbers of less than six. Black-throated Finch were reported from Hurricane Station Road north of Mt. Carbine and Del Richards from Fine Feather Tours reported a Latham's Snipe at Lake Mitchell which is the first we have heard of them this season.

Reptiles and Mammals:-

One spotlighting walk produced both Striped and Green Ringtail Possum which was something we had not done for at least a month, only finding one of the species at a time. Platypus have been showing in the evening, night and early morning with an adult and immature one morning at 7.00am. Our neighbour and bird guide Carol saw an Echidna along the banks of Bushy Creek near the nursing home which was the first for several months, she also had an Australian Scrub Python under her house. 

Short-beaked Echidna

A Long-nosed Bandicoot ran into the feeding station near the office one night which is unusual as they normally keep to the rainforest and orchard. Frog species sighting have become less frequent with the cooler weather as have the sightings of Eastern Water Dragon in Bushy Creek with only one seen over the two weeks.

Photography:-

One of the joys of photography in the “Wet Tropics” is trying to look after your equipment. Our camera gear is kept in a de-humidified cabinet which is in a de-humidified room but despite this the dreaded fungus gets into the camera gear. Using the lenses and having light passed through them helps impair fungal growth but does not completely stop it. In our days of running a camera shop we regularly had customers with lenses which were solid fungus from one end to another and wondered why they were getting soft focus pictures! Invariably they were kept in the dark with lens caps on which helps promote fungal growth in our humid conditions. There was a time when silica gel was recommended as a drying agent but in our climate they absorb the moisture in no time and you end up carrying a wet bag of gel which helps fungal growth!

The upshot of all this is that our gear has had to go away to get cleaned/repaired, our main camera, EOS 7D, has growth on the focusing screen which probably means a new screen, a job that could be done at home if the focusing screens were able to be purchased. This is not the case, Canon don't sell them as an accessory, so Canon camera technician only. One lens, 300mm F2.8 has a small blob of fungus in the front element and judging by past repairs on other lenses, the front lens elements are constructed as a group of lenses and cannot be replaced individually, so be prepared for an expensive bill! Currently I'm are using the backup EOS 40D and 100-400mm zoom. Using this combination I find quite a few limitations against the regular equipment. As good as the 40D is it is no match for the 7D, in particular the shutter button is not as sensitive resulting in having to press hard on the button resulting in camera shake. Previously I got used to rolling my finger across the button to trigger it so I'm having to learn this technique again. The 100-400mm zoom lens is a slow lens to use in the rainforest and obviously not as sharp as the 300mm (even when it has a 1.4x converter on it) and it is difficult to get the push pull zoom to operate smoothly. Most people we see coming through the Lodge use this lens at the 400mm setting for bird photography and if I had to choosing another lens I'd go for the 400mm F5.6 which is a good choice for bird photography at a reasonable price, Its light, sharp and has good fast auto focus.(of course a 500mm or 600mm 800mm would be better but we'll have to win the lottery first!).  The 100-400mm zoom has its place, it's definitely lighter than the 300mm! It is useful to be able to switch from bird photography to insect photography at times and zoom back to macro mode and of course it has image stabilisation which the fixed 400mm does not have. I'd be interested to see how the 200-400mm telephoto zoom with a built-in 1.4x focal length extender goes when it is released, probably be very expensive.

Normally the 40D is used for macro photography with the 100mm F2.8 macro lens and this works well as most shots are taken on a tripod with the shutter release. Looking forward to getting our gear back and a more usable images per shutter click. PS. We also have an EOS 20D with fungus on the sensor which costs as much to replace as buying a new camera body, so that goes with the old film cameras as boat anchors! Oh for an EOS 1.

13th February 2011 Report

The clean up from the cyclone continues and gradually the Lodge is getting back to normal but heavy rainfalls are slowing us down. We did get three dry days but still had 206mm for the week with the orchard area going under water again but not for long. We have now had over 1000mm for the year so far. Temperatures ranged from 21ºC to 28.7ºC. Bird species recorded were 77 seen and 4 heard, reptiles and mammals were 18 seen and 1 heard.

This weeks bird list can be found here

A Pacific Black Duck was seen flying over one morning in company with a Channel-billed Cuckoo! An odd combination. Two Brown Cuckoo-Dove were in the orchard looking a bit lost and wondering why one of their feed trees was lying down. A Wompoo Fruit-Dove was feeding low down in the Golden Cane Palm behind the units late one afternoon. Pied Imperial Pigeon are also regulars in this palm along with a male Eastern Koel and a few Metallic Starling which have not returned to their nesting colony in Geraghty Park. 

Eastern Koel - male

 
A Papuan Frogmouth is still roosting outside the reception area in the rainforest patch and has to put up with Pale Yellow Robin visiting throughout the day and scalding it, the family of three are still roosting in the nursing home grounds but have less vegetation to hide themselves in. Two Black Bittern were seen along McDougall Road in a flooded paddock, obviously enjoying the heavy rain. Comb-crested Jacana are still in the McDougall Road swamp. 

Comb-crested Jacana

Whistling Kite are still around and a Black Kite was attracted to a road kill along the Rex Highway. Two Pale-vented Bush-hen were calling in long grass beside Geraghty Park and the Rex Highway when two chicks flew out and disappeared into a patch of grass further along the road, nice to know they are breeding in the area. A pair of Scaly-breasted Lorikeet flew over Geraghty Park, these were the first we have seen for a few weeks. A male Little Bronze-Cuckoo was foraging in Geraghty Park and several Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo were calling high up in the remaining rainforest canopy. A Juvenile Brush Cuckoo obligingly posed for a few photos when it hopped up onto a fallen branch after foraging on the ground. 

Brush Cuckoo - juvenile

 

Brush Cuckoo - juvenile

 

Brush Cuckoo - juvenile

 Rainbow Bee-eater have been around in Geraghty Park perching on the exposed eucalypt branches.

(Lesser) Sooty Owl continued to call evening and early morning and we actually saw one flying over whilst another was calling nearby, great to have two around, hopefully a pair. Eastern Barn Owl was heard most evenings and seen once. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher continue to be seen foraging on the ground and feeding juveniles when they are not dive bombing Noisy Pitta and a juvenile Orange-footed Scrubfowl. One juvenile Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher took shelter on our veranda when it got waterlogged and could not fly very well. We put it back into the forest near its nest and the adult bird came down to feed it. A few days later we saw one which could have been the same bird perching on the nearby washing line.

Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher - juvenile

The adult Noisy Pitta (female) and two juveniles in tow has been spending more time around the deck eating area and adjacent rainforest patch in front of the units this week. Rather nice to sit down to breakfast and watch them fossick around, the juveniles are starting to gather food for themselves rather than rely on parents. Spotted Catbird have fired up and are calling each morning with occasional forays to the feeder. Numbers of honeyeater are beginning to build up at the feeder as they are finding it hard to get natural food with all the rain and the aftermath of the cyclone. Macleay's Honeyeater are most numerous with many juveniles being fed, then Lewin's, Yellow-spotted, Graceful and Blue-faced. Cicadabird are still around and calling well and Black Butcherbird is also calling well. Leaden Flycatcher are still feeding young and the female Victoria's Riflebird which flew into our neighbours window last week did the same trick this week but no harm done. A pot plant has now been put in front of the window and hopefully stopped this happening again.

Whilst watching the (Lesser) Sooty Owl fly over, a crashing in the trees revealed a Striped Possum leaping from one side of the road to the other near our water tank. Great to see they are still around after the cyclone; it's five weeks since we last saw one. 

Striped Possum

  
A rather wet Long-nosed Bandicoot was in our neighbours garden during the day and had probably been forced out of its daytime den by the flooding. Once again the frogs are in their element with the Cogger's Frog and Dainty Green Tree Frog competing to see who can make the most noise, the Striped Marsh Frog has no chance! A Major Skink made a rare appearance at the feeder near reception but quickly disappeared under the deck eating area.

Further afield the main interest was around Malanda on the Atherton Tableland where an Eyebrowed Thrush was found, this got the “twitchers” excited. We were flooded in and did not fancy the long trip through Cairns beside we had too much work here getting our water supply fixed after the pump went under water. This is now up and running again. The image below shows the pump with the Orange-footed Scrubfowl mound in the background. This went under water and is now a bit smaller than it was.

Water Pump beside Bushy Creek.

The closest distribution, for the Eyebrowed Thrush, to Australia is the Greater Sundas (including islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Sulawesi ). Have not heard any reports for a few days as to whether it is still there or moved on. An overnight trip to Cairns earlier in the week to replenish supplies (before we heard about the thrush), allowed us to visit the Cairns Esplanade. Apart from a little sand erosion you would never know there had been a cyclone pass by. The city was looking back to normal apart from the odd branch hanging up in a tree. Not much in the way of birds to report on the mudflats, small numbers of the following:- Red-necked Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Eastern Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Gull-billed Tern, Eastern Reef Egret (grey phase), Silver Gull and Masked Lapwing. A few Varied Honeyeater were foraging in the trees along with Pied Imperial Pigeon and Common Myna were hopping along the footpath. A few Barred Cuckoo-Shrike were foraging at the beginning of the Mt. Lewis Road (no reports about access along this road yet but suspect it is impassable).

This Shield Bug was sheltering from the rain on our kitchen wall. 
 

Shield Bug sp.

And this Dragonfly, which we have yet to identify was perched on a wet grass head.

Dragonfly sp.

186mm of rain during the week which was due to the influence of Cyclone Olga and the monsoonal trough. Temperatures ranged from 20ºC to 28ºC. Bird numbers were 71 bird species seen and 8 heard - mammals and reptiles were 19 seen and three heard, (as last week Striped Possum was only heard ). The rain and two days in Cairns restricted birding around the lodge hence the lower bird numbers than in previous weeks.


A few Pied Imperial Pigeons continued to stay around the lodge grounds and Superb Fruit-Dove is also around but only heard. A Black-shouldered Kite and Nankeen Kestrel were seen soaring over after being absent for a few weeks. A Brahminy Kite was on the ground at the nearby barramundi farm eating one of the farmed fish, very tasty fish! Channel-billed Cuckoo numbers have dropped with only the odd one flying over, hopefully the numbers will increase again as the southern birds start to migrate back north. They usually pass through here in February stopping off at a couple of large fruiting fig trees; one year we had over 120 with at least 60 juvenile birds staying six weeks and roosting in the adjacent Geraghty Park. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher continue to be active being very obvious as they forage for food to feed their youngsters in nests. More juvenile Dollarbirds were seen this week perching on power lines and in trees. Not sure if the Noisy Pitta is still feeding their youngsters as they don’t seem to be as active foraging for food, however they are being seen regularly around the units and in the orchard. Spectacled Monarch are having some success with a fledgling being seen, amazing that the dull grey fluffy ball grows up into a handsome bird as the two pictures show.

Spectacled Monarch - fledgling

Spectacled Monarch - adult

The Lewin’s Honeyeater is still coming to the feeder and making an interesting single note loud whistle at intervals of about 10 seconds. It is still making the machine gun like rattle which is the most well know call but only a couple of times a day. More honeyeaters, including a few juvenile Macleay’s, are coming to the feeder as it becomes more difficult to find nectar due to the rain washing it out of blossoms, Spotted Catbird has also been in a few times to get banana after they have polished off a not so ripe Soursop fruit from the orchard. Black-faced and Pied Monarch plus Yellow-breasted Boatbill have all been showing well this week.

Further a field Blue-faced Parrot-Finch have been on Mt. Lewis a several places both on the way up and also at the 10km parking area. Access has been difficult this week due to a couple of trees down across the road but these have been cleared now. The gate across the road just past the 10km parking area is closed until further notice and as the wet season continues the road has become four wheel drive only but not recommended as trees do come down and you can become stranded. Carol and Andrew at Red Mill House reported two Red-rumped Swallow at Somerset Drive which is on the left (heading north towards Daintree Village from Mossman) just past the Newell Beach turn off. Also five reported along the road just before the Newell Beach turn off. No recent reports of Barn Swallows.

On the Cairns Esplanade some of the waders like Bar-tailed Godwit and Great Knot are starting to color up and numbers of Terek Sandpipers showed a marked increase since the last visit two weeks ago. Also since that time Greater Sandplover numbers had gone down as had Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

The most Interesting sighting of mammals this week was a pair of Cape York Rat mating and chasing each other around whilst we watched for at least five minutes. The odd Fawn-footed Melomy’s and White-tailed Rat came to the feeder but otherwise it was quiet. Both Long-nosed and Northern Brown Bandicoot were spotlighted.

Northern Dwarf Tree Frog Litoria bicolor

Frogs again enjoyed the rain with eight species seen and two heard. Those seen were Wilcox’s Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog, Dessert Tree Frog, Rocket Frog, Dainty Green Tree Frog, Cogger’s Frog and Cane Toad, Roth’s Frog and White-lipped Tree Frog were heard. A few Boyd’s Forest Dragon braved the rain and were seen perching low down on trees.

Dainty Green Tree Frog Litoria gracilenta

I've been experimenting with slide photos, trying to copy them. Both the frog images have been copied from slide transparencies by using a slide copier attached to the camera and a wireless controled flash for a light source. The slide copier crops the edges of the original transparency even at its widest setting so it is not suitable for images which fill the transparency, you can zoom in on the original but you need another light sorce to see the image through the cameras viewfinder. At least with digital you can delete the duds straight away and adjust settings to try and improve the result. More experimenting required!