Jun Matsui, Sue and I twitched up to Marks Lane near Yungaburra, (Far
North Queensland) and saw the 3 Banded Lapwing in a ploughed field
down Forysth Road, with 23 Australian Pratincole alongside, and
another 52 a couple of fields further on. Thanks for that posting,
this was an overdue area tick for me and brings me up to about 330
species within 2 hours drive of Cassowary House, Kuranda.
We then became bold and went to Kahlpahlim Rock, about 10 minutes
drive beyond Davies Creek NP and in Dinden NP, another one of those
unheard of gems that we have lying about up here. Jun had checked it
out earlier in the week and seen several Golden Bowerbirds by the
purple kauris, so it was a nice thought to go get another site for
this elusive bird, albeit one only for the fit and adventurous.
It reaches 1306m and is a steep climb, it took us a couple of hours
of quite hard slog to get up to the first viewpoint, but views are
spectacular and you can see Mt Lewis and Lake Mitchell away to the
north. We did not have time (or energy- bring snacks!) to get to the
other 4 viewpoints, but they have great views out the the east.
Birding was good and this is a very nice day trip in good weather if
you are moderately fit, just 45 minutes out of Cairns and 20 km this
eastern side of Mareeba along the road to Davies Creek.
Topknot Pigeon 1
Fan-tailed Cuckoo 2
Shining Bronze-Cuckoo hrd
Pied Monarch 3
Spectacled Monarch 2
Bridled Honeyeater 6 seen and many heard, being very noisy
White-naped Honeyeater 6
Eastern Spinebill 2
White-cheeked Honeyeater 4
Pale-Yellow Robin
Eastern Yellow Robin at base car park
Grey-headed Robin
Chowchilla heard, yet another dialect being faster and higher pitched
than Kuranda or Mt Lewis birds.
Pied Currawong 2
Golden Bowerbird 1 m, and bower near track still decorated with fresh
lichen. The bird sang briefly several times, but was mainly foraging
quite high in the canopy and chasing off Bridled Honeyeaters.
Tooth-billed Bowerbird 4 feeding on green fruits in mid stage
Spotted Catbird 2
Victoria's Riflebird heard
No sign of Mountain Thornbill, which was perhaps surprising.
Phil Gregory
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