Here on the Atherton Tablelands the late wet season is a very special time of
year. It can be frustrating for tourists on a tight schedule as the rain may
come by the bucketful for a few days before it clears to beautiful warm days and
cool nights.
While the summer peak of flowering and fruiting may be over there is still a
lot happening in the canopy of the rainforest and many understorey shrubs are
coming into fruit. Golden Penda is making a show. Despite being a huge tree it
will flower at less than two metres if planted in the open.
This is the best time of the year for butterflies, the biggest specimens and
the largest variety are now flying. Flying in my garden today are huge green
Cairns Birdwings, brilliant blue Ulysses, burnt gold Rustics and at least eight
other species apart from the awls, darts and skippers which are so difficult to
identify. As evening approaches some of the more sombre coloured butterflies
will join two species of hummingbird hawkmoth. The cicadas have passed their
most numerous but katydids abound.
Cranes and bustards wont return for another month and the northern migrants
are soon to leave us. The young of the large rainforest pigeons are fledging and
flocks are starting to reform. Little Grebes are feeding their zebra stripped
young the larvae of water insects while beside them tadpoles seem to be the
preferred diet of Dusky Moorhen chicks. Purple Swamphens are being followed by
fluffy balls on stilts. Rising water levels have made finding shorebirds more
difficult but a number of people are seeing Lathams Snipe in waterlogged
paddocks.
I did not find the nest of the Leaden Flycatchers this year, a shame as it is
one of the most beautifully constructed. Still, breed they did and are feeding
two young, which just like their parents cannot stop from wagging their tails
each time they alight. Many other birds are also accompanied by their offspring
and some by those which they had foisted upon them. The large cuckoos will soon
be migrating further north.
This is not usually the best time of year for raptors but a recent trip to
Hasties Swamp and Wongabel proved fruitful. On the way there I saw
Black-shouldered Kites and Kestrel. On a dead tree was a most glorious Peregrine
Falcon. Between the dark grey bars on the breast and pyjama pants was almost
white which made me think it was a male but her huge size convinced me she was a
female. A Swamp Harrier and a White-bellied Sea-Eagle were also at the Swamp but
the most outstanding raptor there was a Brahminy Kite. The unusually broad
terminal band in the tail shone brilliant white in the sun, contrasting with the
black of the ends of the primaries. At Wongabel I saw a Grey Goshawk which was
all white except for its grey wings. To my mind this is the most attractive
morph of this very attractive bird. At the Curtain Figtree a Wedge-tailed Eagle
flew over low and fast. Driving home I saw a lone Black Kite over a paddock;
soon there will be tens of them.
An Owlet Nightjar has shown itself on a number of my recent night walks and I
think the young Rufous Owl is becoming a bit of a show off. We have seen her
devouring a Rhinoceros Beetle as little as three metres above our heads.
At higher altitudes the Crater Aspen, a citrus relative, is in fruit and
being devoured by Topknot and Wompoo Pigeons during the day and Herbert-river
Ringtail Possums at night. White-headed Pigeons are feeding on Camphor Laurel in
Yungaburra.
There have been plenty of beetle grubs for the Striped Possums so we have not
seen them on the ground eating dung beetles this year. Setting up shop beside
the cow pats though have been Chameleon Geckos. We have not seen the bright pink
Chameleon Gecko,normally grey and brown, for over a month now and I fear
for its survival. Being that gaudy would have to have its drawbacks. Huge
green-black Rove Beetles have been around in very high numbers but like the
White-kneed crickets are becoming fewer common each night I look.
Dorothy, the young adult female tree-kangaroo from near the gate has not been
seen for a while now. I am wondering if her mother, Grandma, has taken back her
territory but I have not seen her in that area either. Jill?s young has been
named Jemima for the mother of one of the guests on the night I felt comfortable
enough to assign a sex. Rex has settled down now, allowing closer inspection and
will sometimes hang out with the young Jack when he is not out visiting his lady
friends. Jack is not his offspring which makes this an interesting relationship.
Jack was born before Rex came on the scene.
There have again only been small numbers of Spectacled Flying Foxes at home
and in the nearby forest this year. This does not auger well for large fruited
tree species as it is only when the numbers outstrip the available feeding space
that bats become effective dispersers. A bat will fly up to 600 metres with a
fruit in its mouth to find a quiet place to feed. If it is quiet where the fruit
is they will eat it there and not disperse the seed.
Platypus are using the higher water levels to make their way back into areas
abandoned during the drought. They are being regularly seen along Petersen Creek
in the morning and evening by Yungaburra locals and visitors. The evening
flights of the Dollarbirds amuses people while they wait for the Platypus to
show. Perhaps they are hunting but it looks like the Dollarbirds are just
enjoying flying loops and rolls.
