Sounds like a great trip!
John Tongue
Devonport, Tas.
> On 31 Mar 2016, at 1:52 PM, Roger McNeill via Birding-Aus
> <> wrote:
>
> Hello BirdingAussers, Myself,Megan McNeill and Richard Carden are just back
> from a 4 day trip up to LockhartRiver and Iron Ranges NP (three full days and
> PM and AM on either end). Much of the sites are well known but Ithought I
> would share a bit of recent Gen. We focused primarily on birds not seen
> south or on a previous trip toPNG. We spentalmost all our time in the
> Rainforest as I was attempting to do soundrecordings and most of our targets
> were there. Specifically, where didwe spend our time? Ourfavourite was the
> Coen Track. A wonderfulwalk after a brief creek crossing. We also spenttime
> at Cook’s Hut, the Rainforest Campground and ‘between the bridges’ at theend
> of Portland Road Rainforest area. Sortieswere required to the heath for
> White-streaked HE and the Portland Road VillageMangroves for Varied HE and
> some shorebirds. We visited the Poo Ponds twiceand saw bugger all. The
> Mango Farm Damwas good, but not as productive as it must be in the Dry. We
> stayedat the Green Hoose and walked the track behind the lodge multiple
> times. Everytime we visited one of these areas we picked up different
> birds, so there was alot of recycling and movement of individuals at this
> time of the year. Key targets for me were: Northern Scrub-Robin,
> Yellow-legged Fly-Robin, Tropical Scrubwren,Frill-necked Monarch,
> White-streaked Honey-eater and Green-backed Honeyeater. All wereseen well,
> the Scrub-Robin was only seen one and took a bit of doing. At the Rainforest
> Campground a pair wasfound. The Fly-Robinwas probably not-uncommon but we
> only saw two. They were both in the sub-canopy and their call blended with
> thebackground. It was only when I caught abit of song did we stop and look.
> I amsure if we tried and played tapes at various spots we could have found
> plentymore. Seen at the Cook’s Hut toilets andRainforest Campground. All
> theother targets were encountered multiple times through general birding.
> THEN NEXTtarget list were all the regional specialities shared between Cape
> York andPNG. Westruggled with Black-winged Monarch,perhaps many have
> started leaving? Wesaw one on the grounds of the Green Hoose and along the
> Coen Track. I expected them to be much more common. The Manucodes were not
> calling, I fuked one feeding by the Coen Creek Crossing, but it wasnot until
> the last morning that we found a small group…between the bridgesalong the
> Portland Road. Thankfully onewas trumpeting between the bridges. We
> dippedbadly on the Red-cheeked Parrot. Probably because we spent most of our
> timeunder the rainforest. Spotted Whistling-Ducks were around but with all
> thewater were not coming into Mango Farm. Stu,owner of the Hoose saw
> Cassowary, but we did not. Note toself, Lovey Fairywren do not respondto
> pishing. We saw a few, but they werequite cryptic for Fairywrens. Heard
> andthen bush bashed off Cook’s Campground for one group and then a couple of
> K’sdown the Coen Track The Fawn-breasted Bowerbirds were notbehind the Poo
> Ponds where the traditional bower was, but seen in the forestbetween the
> Mango Farm and Mango Farm Dam. Yellow-billed KF and BBParadise KF were
> common, love them.
> Papuan Froggies were common while spotlighting in the open fieldsand at one
> point we had a Marbled sitting up along the road in the rainforestjust 100
> meters from a Papuan. The size difference is amazing... Red-bellied Pitta
> were still calling in the mornings and we saw two; didnot try for any others.
> At MangoFarm we flushed a Common Sand fromthe shore and it attracted the
> attention of a Saprrow-hawk. The sparrowhawk dove on the bird and forced the
> sand into the pond and under water for afew seconds until the hawk flew off.
> Then, it popped to the surface andflew off. Never seen that before! The
> mostinteresting bird was a Mangrove Gerygonein the Mangroves at the beach in
> Town. I heard Fairywren and pisshed...uppopped this bird and it gave a bit
> of a song. They are not supposed to bethere? All theother regional
> specialities were seen well. THEN NEXT,as a bit of fun, targeted all the
> ‘Cape York named’ ssp from BirdLife’s AussieList, some of which are targets
> for future splits: YES, CapeYork Australasian Figbird, Sphecotheres vieilloti
> flaviventrisYES, CapeYork Australian Brush-turkey, Alectura lathami
> purpureicollisYES, CapeYork Black Butcherbird, Cracticus quoyi jardiniDip,
> CapeYork Black-backed Butcherbird, Cracticus mentalis kempiDip, CapeYork
> Black-faced Woodswallow, Artamus cinereus normaniDip, CapeYork Blue-faced
> Honeyeater, Entomyzon cyanotis griseigularisYES, CapeYork Brown Cuckoo-Dove,
> Macropygia amboinensis quinkanDip, CapeYork Brown Treecreeper, Climacteris
> picumnus melanotusYES, CapeYork Eclectus Parrot, Eclectus roratus
> macgillivrayiYES, CapeYork Fairy Gerygone, Gerygone palpebrosa personataYES,
> CapeYork Frilled Monarch, Arses telescopthalmus lorealisYES, CapeYork
> Graceful Honeyeater, Meliphaga gracilis imitatrixDip, CapeYork Laughing
> Kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae minorYES, CapeYork Leaden Flycatcher, Myiagra
> rubecula okyriDip, CapeYork Little Corella, Cacatua sanguinea normantoniYES,
> CapeYork Little Shrike-thrush, Colluricincla megarhyncha normaniYES, CapeYork
> Marbled Frogmouth, Podargus ocellatus marmoratusDip, CapeYork Masked Finch,
> Poephila personata leucotisDip, CapeYork Noisy Miner, Manorina melanocephala
> titaniotaYES, CapeYork Noisy Pitta, Pitta versicolor simillimaYES, CapeYork
> Olive-backed Oriole, Oriolus sagittatus grisescensYES, CapeYork Orange-footed
> Scrubfowl, Megapodius reinwardt yorkiDip, CapeYork Pale-headed Rosella,
> Platycercus adscitus adscitusYES, CapeYork Papuan Frogmouth, Podargus
> papuensis rogersiDip, CapeYork Pied Currawong, Strepera graculina
> magnirostrisYES, CapeYork Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus
> septentrionalisYES, CapeYork Red-browed Finch, Neochmia temporalis minorDip,
> CapeYork Red-browed Pardalote, Pardalotus rubricatus yorkiDip, Ouch, CapeYork
> Red-cheeked Parrot, Geoffroyus geoffroyi maclennaniDip, CapeYork Rufous Owl,
> Ninox rufa meesiYES, CapeYork Rufous Whistler, Pachycephala rufiventris
> pallidaYES, CapeYork Silver-crowned Friarbird, Philemon argenticeps kempiYES,
> CapeYork Spectacled Monarch, Symposiarchus trivirgatus albiventrisYES,
> CapeYork Spotted Catbird, Ailuroedus melanotis joanaeDip, CapeYork Star
> Finch, Neochmia ruficauda clarescensYES, CapeYork Tawny-breasted Honeyeater,
> Xanthotis flaviventer filigeraYES, CapeYork Trumpet Manucode, Phonygammus
> keraudrenii gouldiiYES, CapeYork Varied Triller, Lalage leucomela yorkiYES,
> CapeYork White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Coracina papuensis oriomoYES, CapeYork
> Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Ptilinopus magnificus assimilisDip, CapeYork Yellow
> Honeyeater, Lichenostomus flavus flavusYES, CapeYork Yellow Oriole, Oriolus
> flavocinctus flavotinctusYES, CapeYork Yellow-breasted Boatbill,
> Machaerirhynchus flaviventer flaviventerYES, CapeYork Yellow-spotted
> Honeyeater, Meliphaga notata notata Our lastgood bye was my best ever look at
> Channel-billed Cuckoo. While waiting atthe air strip one landed in the fig
> tree about 2 meters overhead and could notbe bothered we were under it.
> Amazing bird. Bigdisappointment was no Cuscus or Green Python. We went
> spotlighting every nightand found little. According to "Steve the Snake Man"
> thePythons are getting poached badly. We did see the famed Rainbow Serpent
> akaWater Python and another snake I need to key out. TwoDingos were nice and
> I need to look up a bandicoot. I got alot of good recordings so I am happy
> about that. It was fun to spend 3full days in the same forest and get to
> know the birds a bit. Shouldanyone like specifics, please let me know.
> Lastly,thanks for Rob, Sarah, Gus and Chris for their advice and mud-maps.
> Cheers, Roger RogerMcNeillSamfordValley SEQ
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