Hi,
Just a quick summary of a recent trip myself and Nathan Waugh did to NE
Queensland (5th-11th January 2005). A more detailed report will follow in due
course which I will post on a website with information also on reptiles,
amphibians and mammals.
Firstly, thanks to everyone who provided information particularly Francis
Crome, Lloyd Nielsen, Alan Gillanders, Mike Carter, Rohan Clarke, Frank Pearce,
Ron Stannard and 'Thomas & Thomas' The Complete Guide to Finding Birds in
Australia. Thanks also to Mike Hunter and Richard Baxter for finding
Buff-breasted Buttonquail, giving us the chance to see this extremely difficult
bird.
The beginning of the wet season is a good time to visit the wet tropics. The
first major cyclone hit today, 24 hours after we left. The weather during the
trip was relatively cool and mainly dew-laden mornings with some overnight
rain, fresh winds, cool nights and daytime temperatures getting to the mid 30s.
Birding was spectacular as most birds were territorial and singing / calling. I
had never seriously birded any rainforest in Australia and I will not embarass
myself by saying how many new birds I saw but in all we topped 224 species in 7
days. I've included a complete list below but it is easier to say which species
we did not see.
We did not see: Rufous Owl, Lesser Sooty Owl, Papuan Frogmouth (all easier in
winter), Green and Cotton Pygmy Geese (all wetlands wet, birds probably thinly
distributed), Sarus Crane (not present in summer), White-eared Monarch
(probably overlooked in lowlands). We did however hear Rufous Owl at Lacey's
Creek and heard Masked Owl (very close, as usual!!) at Lake Tinaroo.
The highlights we did see were Blue-faced Parrotfinch (close scope views at
road sides at base of Bartle Frere walking track near Malanda), Red Goshawk
(bird seen well and found soaring low over Rock Creek War Memorial Park south
of Mareeba), Grass Owl (two birds circling over grassland next to the Kennedy
Highway just south of Atherton), Mangrove Robin (at north end of Cairns
Esplanade), Crimson Finch (various road side sites south of Cairns), Black
Bittern (seen at three locations including Thomsons Road, Big Mitchell Creek
and Daintree River, including perched birds at the latter), Barred Cuckoo
Shrike (Curtain Fig Tree + heard at Licuala State Forest), Atherton Scrubwren
(behind Mt Baldy), Golden Bowerbird (females behind Mt Baldy and at Crater NP),
Little Kingfisher (perched views on Chris Dahlberg's Daintree River Cruise +
birds at Cairns Botanic Gardens and Lacey's creek picnic area), Southern
Cassowary (just off road up track to Licuala State Forest off main road near
Lacey's Creek Picnic Area - adult and 2 juveniles), Chowchilla and Fernwren
(Crater NP), Southern Boobook lurida subsp. (Malanda Caravan Park), Squatter
Pigeon (various including roads just south of Kingfisher Park but largest
numbers on Tinaroo Creek Road), White-browed Robin (abundant in suitable
habitat including Big Mitchell Creek, 6 birds, Emerald Creek Falls, 2-3 birds),
Buff-breasted Buttonquail (dry slopes next to Big Mitchell Creek), Northern
Fantail (Big Mitchell Creek - apparently out of season stayover),
Black-throated Finches (25+ at buttonquail site, another 25+ on paved layby
near Big Mitchell Lake, Red-necked Crake (Kingfisher Park), Bushhen (Cane
fields next to Scamazzo road, opposite Newells Beach), Barn Swallow (Newells
Beach), Great-billed Heron (Daintree River Cruise with Chris Dahlberg), Black
Noddy and Black-naped Tern (Green Island).
Mammal and herpetological highlights included Green Ringtail Possum,
Frill-necked Lizard, Green Tree Snake and Lumholz Tree Kangaroo.
Regards,
Simon Mustoe.
Full list as follows:
1 Southern Cassowary
2 Australian Brush-turkey
3 Orange-footed Scrubfowl
4 Brown Quail
5 Wandering Whistling-Duck
6 Black Swan
7 Australian Wood Duck
8 Pacific Black Duck
9 Grey Teal
10 Chestnut Teal
11 Hardhead
12 Australasian Grebe
13 Great Crested Grebe
14 Little Pied Cormorant
15 Little Black Cormorant
16 Great Cormorant
17 Australian Pelican
18 White-faced Heron
19 Little Egret
20 Eastern Reef Egret
21 Great-billed Heron
22 Great Egret
23 Intermediate Egret
24 Cattle Egret
25 Striated Heron
26 Nankeen Night Heron
27 Black Bittern
28 Glossy Ibis
29 Australian White Ibis
30 Straw-necked Ibis
31 Royal Spoonbill
32 Black-necked Stork
33 Osprey
34 Pacific Baza
35 Black-shouldered Kite
36 Black Kite
37 Whistling Kite
38 Brahminy Kite
39 White-bellied Sea-Eagle
40 Brown Goshawk
41 Grey Goshawk
42 Collared Sparrowhawk
43 Red Goshawk
44 Wedge-tailed Eagle
45 Brown Falcon
46 Australian Hobby
47 Nankeen Kestrel
48 Red-necked Crake
49 Buff-banded Rail
50 Bush-hen
51 Purple Swamphen
52 Dusky Moorhen
53 Eurasian Coot
54 Buff-breasted Button-quail
55 Painted Button-quail
56 Latham's Snipe
57 Bar-tailed Godwit
58 Whimbrel
59 Eastern Curlew
60 Common Greenshank
61 Wood Sandpiper
62 Terek Sandpiper
63 Common Sandpiper
64 Grey-tailed Tattler
65 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
66 Comb-crested Jacana
67 Bush Stone-curlew
68 Pied Oystercatcher
69 Black-winged Stilt
70 Pacific Golden Plover
71 Lesser Sand Plover
72 Greater Sand Plover
73 Black-fronted Dotterel
74 Masked Lapwing
75 Silver Gull
76 Caspian Tern
77 Crested Tern
78 Black-naped Tern
79 Common Tern
80 Little Tern
81 Bridled Tern
82 Black Noddy
83 Rock Dove
84 White-headed Pigeon
85 Spotted Turtle-Dove
86 Brown Cuckoo-Dove
87 Emerald Dove
88 Crested Pigeon
89 Squatter Pigeon
90 Peaceful Dove
91 Bar-shouldered Dove
92 Wompoo Fruit-Dove
93 Superb Fruit-Dove
94 Pied Imperial-Pigeon
95 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo
96 Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
97 Rainbow Lorikeet
98 Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
99 Double-eyed Fig-Parrot
100 Australian King-Parrot
101 Red-winged Parrot
102 Crimson Rosella
103 Pale-headed Rosella
104 Brush Cuckoo
105 Fan-tailed Cuckoo
106 Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo
107 Common Koel
108 Channel-billed Cuckoo
109 Pheasant Coucal
110 Southern Boobook
111 Barn Owl
112 Grass Owl
113 Australian Owlet-nightjar
114 White-rumped Swiftlet
115 White-throated Needletail
116 Fork-tailed Swift
117 Azure Kingfisher
118 Little Kingfisher
119 Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher
120 Laughing Kookaburra
121 Blue-winged Kookaburra
122 Forest Kingfisher
123 Collared Kingfisher
124 Rainbow Bee-eater
125 Dollarbird
126 Noisy Pitta
127 White-throated Treecreeper
128 Brown Treecreeper
129 Lovely Fairy-wren
130 Red-backed Fairy-wren
131 Spotted Pardalote
132 Fernwren
133 White-browed Scrubwren
134 Atherton Scrubwren
135 Large-billed Scrubwren
136 Weebill
137 Brown Gerygone
138 Large-billed Gerygone
139 Fairy Gerygone
140 White-throated Gerygone
141 Mountain Thornbill
142 Helmeted Friarbird
143 Little Friarbird
144 Blue-faced Honeyeater
145 Noisy Miner
146 Macleay's Honeyeater
147 Lewin's Honeyeater
148 Yellow-spotted Honeyeater
149 Graceful Honeyeater
150 Bridled Honeyeater
151 Yellow-faced Honeyeater
152 Varied Honeyeater
153 Yellow Honeyeater
154 White-throated Honeyeater
155 Brown-backed Honeyeater
156 Eastern Spinebill
157 Dusky Honeyeater
158 Scarlet Honeyeater
159 Lemon-bellied Flycatcher
160 Pale-yellow Robin
161 Eastern Yellow Robin
162 Mangrove Robin
163 White-browed Robin
164 Grey-headed Robin
165 Chowchilla
166 Grey-crowned Babbler
167 Eastern Whipbird
168 Golden Whistler
169 Grey Whistler
170 Rufous Whistler
171 Little Shrike-thrush
172 Bower's Shrike-thrush
173 Yellow-breasted Boatbill
174 Black-faced Monarch
175 Spectacled Monarch
176 Pied Monarch
177 Leaden Flycatcher
178 Shining Flycatcher
179 Magpie-Lark
180 Rufous Fantail
181 Grey Fantail
182 Northern Fantail
183 Willie Wagtail
184 Spangled Drongo
185 Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike
186 Barred Cuckoo-Shrike
187 White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike
188 Cicadabird
189 Varied Triller
190 Yellow Oriole
191 Olive-backed Oriole
192 Figbird
193 White-breasted Woodswallow
194 Black Butcherbird
195 Pied Butcherbird
196 Australian Magpie
197 Pied Currawong
198 Victoria's Riflebird
199 Torresian Crow
200 Apostlebird
201 Spotted Catbird
202 Tooth-billed Catbird
203 Golden Bowerbird
204 Great Bowerbird
205 House Sparrow
206 Double-barred Finch
207 Black-throated Finch
208 Crimson Finch
209 Red-browed Finch
210 Nutmeg Mannikin
211 Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
212 Blue-faced Parrot-Finch
213 Yellow-bellied Sunbird
214 Mistletoebird
215 Barn Swallow
216 Welcome Swallow
217 Tree Martin
218 Fairy Martin
219 Clamorous Reed-Warbler
220 Tawny Grassbird
221 Golden-headed Cisticola
222 Silvereye
223 Metallic Starling
224 Common Myna
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