Alexandra Appleman's recent posting on the status of the Bush Stone-Curlew
implied that the only place to find them in Cairns was the graveyard. I
lived about 150 metres from the cemetery in the period 1977-1984 and we
often had them at night on the footpath and in the front yard screaming
beneath out bedroom window (just as well I was a birdlover!). There was
also always at least one pair resident in the Council depot yard at Martyn
Street.
Since moving to Clifton Beach in 1984 we have always had a pair resident in
the horse paddock opposite our house and another pair can always be found
on vacant land down toward the beach. They appear to be holding their own
in this part of suburbia. Just the other morning, when driving in to work,
I spotted one eyeballing (with wings extended) an old grey horse in the
horse paddock on the northern side of the Trinity Beach roundabout.
A bit further afield, when camping at Lakefield National Park last October,
you could hear them calling during the night.
Ian Cowan
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