Hi All,
Most of us up here in "Sunny" Far North Queensland have now grown webbed feet!
Last month we had
1500mm of rain at our place in Cairns, this month is not quite so bad. Birdwise
it's been fairly
quiet - an unconfirmed report of a Long-tailed Cuckoo was posted by a member of
Qld. Parks and
Wildlife as having appeared in his garden in the Cairns suburb of Smithfield 10
days ago. It would
not be suprising considering all the wind we have had lately.
Last Sunday we had a wader ID day on the Cairns Esplanade - most birds have
already left, we only
found 1 Red-necked Stint, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and 1
Broad-billed Sandpiper
but there was an influx of Grey-tailed Tattlers, most in breeding plumage,
about 70. There was a few
Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, Great Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Lesser and Greater
Sandplover as well as
60+ Little Tern.
The previous day I saw 11 Beach Stone-curlew at Cairns Airport along with 43
Eastern Curlew (good
number for here).
Pied Imperial Pigeons have been nesting late this year and many chicks were
blown out of nests when
Cyclone Steve hit on 30th February.
Intermediate Egrets turned up two days after the cyclone, Sacred Kingfishers
started to appear in
increasing numbers 2 weeks ago, 1 Male Koel was seen at the Cairns Botanic
Gardens last Sunday. We
also saw 2 Black Bitterns in Cairns swamp opposite Centennial Lakes (Botanic
Gardens). On the Monday
2 Little Kingfisher were flying up Saltwater Creek also at the Gardens. A
fruiting fig tree here was
attracting Double-eyed Fig-Parrots - I counted 23!
Two weeks ago we were sitting at the very tip of Cape York (the pointy bit on
the top of the east
coast) counting Pied Imperial Pigeons heading out of Australia at the rate of
1200 a minute for the
30mins we were watching. Also seen migrating were Dollarbirds, Spangled Drongos
and Rainbow
Bee-eaters all heading north. There were a few Red-bellied Pittas still calling
here as well, also
several Channel-billed Cuckoos.
Controversy still rages over the Cairns Esplanade development, with local
government elections this
weekend we have all sorts of promises being made. People are starting to
realise a swimming lagoon
will be expensive to run and they don't want to pay for it out of their rates -
we will have to see
what a new council will bring. Stay tuned.
Keith & Lindsay Fisher
PO Box 2209, Cairns QLD 4870
Australia
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