Greetings all. Wife Margaret and I spent a week birding at Mossman,
with visits to Daintree, Weipa and Yungaburra on the Atherton
Tableland. Some of the more interesting birds seen at Mossman, where we
did a half day tour with Del Richards of Fine Feather Tours, were Bush
hen, Red-backed buttonquail, Grass owl (three seen, quite close,
flying..wonderful birds!), and, in a flock of White-throated needletails
and Fork-tailed swifts, House Swifts! We found a flock of hundreds of
Red-rumped swallows near Mossman, and about a dozen Barn swallows. A
Daintree river cruise with Chris Dahlberg produced a Bush hen, a Nesting
Papuan frogmouth (about 3 metres above the boat), swags of Shining
flycatchers and a Great-billed heron. At Weipa, the Car hire man knew
of the Spotted whistling ducks, and of Sean Dooley , whom he
considered, pleasantly, as being much the same as us - an obsessive
birdwatcher! This was an impression we couldn't argue with. Thanks to
timely assistance from a local birder, we got onto the Spotted beasties
within an hour or so of arrival. We saw them again next day, before we
flew back to Cairns. In Yungaburra we stayed two nights in a cabin in
rain-forest near Lake Eacham. The dawn-chorus, which started promptly
at 5 a.m. and finished at six, was incredibly rich.
We will be happy to provide further details, including the full
bird list.
Greville Reidy
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
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