Hi Keith & Lindsay,
I should have been more specific - the White-gaped HE was at a stopover (on the
drive back to Cairns) near Babinda, just south of Cairns. I first heard the
call and on investigation found one bird associating with a few Brown
Honeyeater and a couple of Yellow Honeyeater.
Interestingly, both Birdata and Eremaea sites have records of WG Honeyeater in
this area, and Birdata has a couple of records in Cairns proper (at the
Esplanade).
Perhaps a slightly unusual record, but definite nonetheless,
Cheers,
Greg
> Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:32:20 +1000
> From:
> To:
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Mission Beach Area Trip Report
>
> Hi Greg,
> Good trip report for Mission Beach and Cairns areas.
> White-gaped Honeyeater in Cairns must be a typo as the nearest
> white-gape population is north of Mt. Carbine on the Peninsula
> Development Road (Mt. Mulligan Highway) at the McLeod River (on the way
> to Cooktown/Cape York).
>
> Cheers,
> Keith & Lindsay.
>
> Keith & Lindsay Fisher
> Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge
> RN 6 Mt. Kooyong Road
> Julatten QLD 4871
> Ph : (07) 4094 1263
> Fax : (07) 4094 1466
> Web Site: www.birdwatchers.com.au
> Blog: http://kingfisherparkbirdwatchers.blogspot.com/
>
>
>
> Greg Oakley wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Just returned from a pleasant family holiday for 9 days at Wongaling
> Beach Qld (a small area between North and South Mission Beach). In all
> my years of finding destinations that juggle birding and family, this
> would have to be the best so far! The weather here in winter is
> spectacular – between 25º and 29º + sunny every day. The beaches are
> excellent and remarkably quiet - I have 2 young kids who spent most of
> the time on the beach. There is a wide range of accommodation and there
> are plenty of restaurants in the area. The thing I liked about Mission
> Beach was that it is very quiet and thus lacks the big over-tourist feel
> of Port Douglas and Cairns. And the birding is surprisingly good, with
> many excellent sites very close to your accommodation.
>
> Cassowary was one of my main targets, having eluded me on many prior
> trips up to FNQ. This would have to be the best area to see them -
> although you do need an element of luck & plenty of time walking around
> their main haunts. I managed to see 2 separate birds (one was a male
> with a young stripy chick) at Lacey Creek and Tam O'Shanter N.P. I also
> tried Clump Mountain NP and Licuala State Forest. Early morning or late
> afternoon are the best times.
>
> The walking track between El Arish/Mission Beach Road and Licuala SF
> (Tam O'Shanter N.P) is an excellent birding area. The rainforest here is
> in good shape, and being not one of the main tourist tracks it is nice
> and quiet.
> Along this strip I managed to get on to some really good birds –
> Cassowary, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Chowchilla, Victoria’s Riflebird,
> Spotted Catbird, Brown Cuckoo-dove, Wompoo Fruit-dove, Superb
> Fruit-dove, Rose-crowned Fruit-dove, Yellow-spotted, Graceful,
> Macleay’s, and Dusky Honeyeater, Grey Whistler, Rainbow Pitta, Emerald
> Dove, Little Shrike-thrush, Pale-yellow Robin and Barred Cuckoo-shrike
> among the best.
>
> I also checked out many unmarked rainforest tracts and some more open
> forest/tall rank grass etc. I lucked on a Bush-hen which flushed from a
> swampy/rank grass area near Wongaling Beach. It ran several metres
> straight past me, allowing good enough views to tick!
>
> Below is a trip list (around 121):
>
> Southern Cassowary (2 separate sightings – Lacey Creek and Tam O'Shanter
> N.P) Orange-footed Scrubfowl (common in rainforest) Grey Teal (near
> Tully) Pacific Black Duck Rock Dove - I (Cairns) Spotted Turtle-dove - I
> (Mission Beach) Brown Cuckoo-Dove (several - Tam O'Shanter N.P) Emerald
> Dove (several - Tam O'Shanter N.P)
> Peaceful Dove (common everywhere – classic café bird under tables on
> Cairns Esplanade) Bar-shouldered Dove (Mission Beach) Wompoo Fruit-Dove
> (several Mission Beach area) Superb Fruit-Dove (several - Tam O'Shanter
> N.P) Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove (several - Tam O'Shanter N.P) Pied
> Imperial-Pigeon (couple of small flocks around Mission Beach) Australian
> Swiftlet (common over forested areas) Brown Booby (single bird, pelagic
> waters out from Dunk Island) Little Pied Cormorant Little Black
> Cormorant Pied Cormorant Australian Pelican White-necked Heron (Mission
> Beach) Eastern Great Egret (Cairns Esp) Intermediate Egret (Cairns Esp)
> Cattle Egret (literally hundreds in recently cultivated cane fields from
> Tully to Innisfail) Striated Heron (Cairns Esp) White-faced Heron
> (Mission Beach) Little Egret (Cairns Esp) Eastern Reef Egret (Cairns
> Esp) Nankeen Night-Heron (Cairns Botanical Gardens) Glossy Ibis (Mission
> Beach) Australian White Ibis Straw-necked Ibis Royal Spoonbill (Cairns
> Esp) Whistling Kite Brahminy Kite (Common Mission Beach) Black Kite
> Brown Goshawk Nankeen Kestrel Brown Falcon Australian Hobby Bush-hen
> (single bird flushed, ran from tall cane grass near Wongaling Beach)
> Bush Stone-curlew (common around Mission Beach) Beach Stone-curlew
> (resident bird at Wongaling Beach) Red-capped Plover Red-kneed Dotterel
> Masked Lapwing Whimbrel (Cairns Esp) Eastern Curlew Gull-billed Tern
> (Cairns Esp) Lesser Crested Tern (2 loafing on rocks at Clump Pt boat
> ramp) Crested Tern Laughing Gull - R (Cairns Esp) Silver Gull Galah
> Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Rainbow Lorikeet Double-eyed Fig-Parrot (Cairns
> Bot Gardens) Little Bronze-Cuckoo (1 calling, Tam O'Shanter N.P)
> Fan-tailed Cuckoo (1 calling, Lacey Creek) Laughing Kookaburra
> Blue-winged Kookaburra (1 near Tully) Forest Kingfisher (common on
> telegraph wires, Mission Beach) Sacred Kingfisher (Mission Beach)
> Collared Kingfisher (Cairns Esp) Rainbow Bee-eater Noisy Pitta (common
> in rainforest habitats) Spotted Catbird (several, Tam O'Shanter N.P)
> Satin Bowerbird (single female, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Large-billed
> Scrubwren (Tam O'Shanter N.P)
> Brown Gerygone (only a couple in Tam O'Shanter N.P) Large-billed
> Gerygone (Tam O'Shanter N.P, Cairns Bot gardens) Fairy Gerygone (Lacey
> Creek, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Yellow-spotted Honeyeater (common most
> rainforest habitat) Graceful Honeyeater (single bird, near Wongaling
> Beach) Varied Honeyeater (Cairns Esp) White-gaped Honeyeater (Cairns)
> Yellow Honeyeater (El Arish) Dusky Honeyeater (Tam O'Shanter N.P)
> Scarlet Honeyeater (single bird, near Wongaling Beach) Brown Honeyeater
> Blue-faced Honeyeater Helmeted Friarbird (common around Mission Beach)
> Little Friarbird Macleay's Honeyeater (several rainforest sites around
> Mission Beach) Eastern Whipbird Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike Barred
> Cuckoo-shrike (small flock of 6-10, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Varied Triller
> Grey Whistler (several, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Little Shrike-thrush (Tam
> O'Shanter N.P) Bower's Shrike-thrush (rainforest near Wongaling Beach)
> Grey Shrike-thrush Australasian Figbird Yellow Oriole White-breasted
> Woodswallow Black Butcherbird (several around Wongaling Beach)
> Australian Magpie Pied Currawong Rufous Fantail Grey Fantail Willie
> Wagtail Leaden Flycatcher Shining Flycatcher (Cairns Bot gardens in
> mangroves) Spectacled Monarch (common around Mission Beach rainforest
> areas) Magpie-lark Yellow-breasted Boatbill (several, Tam O'Shanter N.P)
> Victoria's Riflebird (single female, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Lemon-bellied
> Flycatcher (cleared areas near rainforest sites) Pale-yellow Robin
> (beginning of track, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Mangrove Robin (Cairns Esp)
> Australian Reed-Warbler Welcome Swallow Fairy Martin Metallic Starling
> (only a couple, Cairns Bot Gardens) Common Starling - I Common Myna - I
> Mistletoebird Olive-backed Sunbird Red-browed Finch Nutmeg Mannikin - I
> House Sparrow - I
> Keith & Lindsay Fisher
> Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge
> RN 6 Mt. Kooyong Road
> Julatten QLD 4871
> Ph : (07) 4094 1263
> Fax : (07) 4094 1466
> Web Site: www.birdwatchers.com.au
> Blog: http://kingfisherparkbirdwatchers.blogspot.com/
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
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