Hello Russ,
I say "here here" on Superb Fruit Dove! Truly my bogey bird for sure! Having seen just about every non vagrant species possible over Sth East Queensland there is one bird that over many years has evaded me. In fact, as Sean Dooley lamented in his book about the Grey Falcon , I wonder if the bird actually exists! And yet I know like you, out there will be birders who say how easy it is to see! ......" Yeah mate, ten a penny out my way!"
........Through many a rainforest and scrub, scouring fig trees from the border to Central and North Queensland, Cape York and beyond - in all the places they are meant to be, but I have, but one of them, never seen!
So I wish you luck on your quest to see a Superb Fruit Dove! And let me know when you do! And I'm sure when I go after it - the coop it will have flown!
David Taylor Brisbane
On 14/02/2006, at 11:27 AM, Dam Lamb wrote: With the excitement of 30 new birds from our Broome trip now well behind me, I'm trying to regain that ticking feeling. I've decided to elevate the Superb Fruit-Dove to" next bogey bird" status. This will ensure it takes me years to get it (but I've already been trying, on and off, for a few years ) , that other birders will regale me with tales of how easy it is (sure),and that I'll develop an unusual fondness for fig trees. I've identified the Gheerulla Falls track, west of Mapleton on the nortern end of the Blackall Range,as a likely spot close to home (why be frustrated with dipping thousands of kms away when you can do it more comfortably from home?). Things were looking good on arrival, the track had been cleared, it wasn't raining, and , most importantly, there were plenty of fruiting figs.Great.Well I saw Wompoo Pigeon, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Top-knot Pigeon and even heard a Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove calling from deep in the gully. I saw over 20 Pied Currawong feasting on the figs and excluding all others from their tree of choice.I saw Figbirds and Satin Bowerbirds enjoying the figs in the currawong-free zones. I saw the usual rainforest lovelies like Rufous Fantail, Pale-yellow Robin and listened to the trilling Fan-tailed Cuckoo and the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos as they flew overhead.But I didn't come close to a Superb Fruit-Dove. Not on this visit. Russ Lamb, Maleny, SEQ
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