Hi all,
Not long back from a long-awaited trip to Iron Range (north Cape York), and
then some time around Cairns/Julatten. Sorry about the belated nature of this
post, but we were only back a week before Christmas, and had to get through the
Christmas rush to get a moment to post this.
For many years, I'd been wanting to visit Iron Range. An inheritance made this
possible for our whole family, early in December. We put it off as late into
the season as we could, to get the PNG migrants, but also had to be back in
reasonable time for Christmas (as I'm an Anglican Minister). For months, we
gleaned snippets from Birding Aus, and other sources, and I want to thank all
those who gave us advice directly.
We flew Tassie to Cairns, and then into Lockhart River, where we hired a 4WD
Troop Carrier from Lockhart River Car Hire. Paul is fine about you taking his
4WDs offroad (unlike some car hire companies), and was more than helpful, with
esky, water carrier, chairs and gas stove thrown in. We stayed at Portland
roads, in the Portland Roads Beach Shack, and had a number of (fantastic!)
meals next door, at the "Out of the Blue" Cafe. In our week at Iron Range, we
were able to check and double-check the main areas, eventually seeing all the
'Iron Range Specials' apart from Marbled Frogmouth, which was only heard. This
was partly due to lots of searching, and partly due to lots of helpful advice -
from Paul Piva, at the Car hire place, Greg and Sheree at the Cafe, Brian
Venables, who was there with some birding friends, and Klaus Uhlenhut of
Kirrama Tours, who was there with a tour group.
Brian put us onto 4 Spotted Whistling Ducks that were on the Lockhart River
Sewage ponds, as well as giving helpful advice about the Yellow-billed
Kingfishers being easier at Chilli Beach than in the Rainforest. Greg, at the
Cafe, pointed us in the right direction for a Fawn-breasted Bowerbird bower,
which made finding the bird so much easier. Sheree told us where to pull up to
get views across to an active Eclectus Parrot nest. And Klaus gave us lots of
tips and advice whenever our paths crossed, including directing us to where a
Red-bellied Pitta was calling, arriving from PNG just the day before we left,
and finally being tracked down by us on the morning we left!! I was so
excited, I took lots and lots of pics from underneath its perch, prompting my
daughter to rib me about all my shots of Pitta-bottoms. Added to this, we had
great views of Papuan Frogmouth, Noisy Pitta, and many of the other local
specials (though some were really only glimpses).
We then came back to Julatten, where Keith and Lindsay Fisher at Kingfisher
Lodge were very kind, generous and helpful hosts, who put up with us only being
round occasionally, as we visited lots of spots in the area. We got onto lots
of species in the lodge grounds, as well as visiting Daintree, Cairns, Emerald
Creek Falls, Mt Carbine, Abbatoir Swamp, and Mt Lewis. Unfortunately, no
Blue-faced Parrot Finches, Golden Bowerbird, Red-necked Crake, or Victoria's
Riflebird, but some other great birds, including fantastic waders at the Cairns
Esplanade, Lovely Fairy-wren (finally) at Redden Island, nesting Pacific Baza
near Kingfisher Lodge, great views of Tooth-billed Bowerbird at Mt Lewis, and 7
White-browed Crake, and a Black Bittern at Mt Carbine Dam.
All up, we scored 224 species for the trip, with the four of us in the family
seeing almost all birds. This included 58 lifers for me, 59 for my wife
Shirley, 98 for our daughter Kimberley, and 99 for our son Peter. It was a
fantastic trip, made the more enjoyable by all the information and assistance
given by many through this forum, and others on the ground. Thank you all so
much.
Continue to have a safe, bird-filled holiday season, and I look forward to
being in touch with many in the new year.
Cheers all,
John Tongue
Ulverstone, Tas.
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