Just returned from a great trip with my wife Jane to FNQ between May 25 and
June 5. A few days on the Atherton Tablelands, a visit to the lava caves at
Undarra and the last few days on the coast around Port Douglas and Cape
Trib. We saw over 140 bird species and having just read Laurence Knight's
excellent article in the latest issue of "Wingspan" on Bogey Birds, I can
report we knocked off a few of ours. Here are some of the highlights.
Grey Whistler. On the walk around Lake Eacham.
Golden Bowerbird. A female (I think - may have been a juvenile - see photo)
at Hypipamee. About 20m from the crater on walk down to river. Someone
reported a male on the road in, just the day before.
Fan-tailed Cuckoo. Undarra. Many savanna bush birds here but this one was
not on the resort's extensive birdlist for the area.
Fernwren. At the top of the longer walking track at Mossman Gorge.
Interesting as this was a bogey bird and most guides have it as a bird found
above c 600m. This bird I estimate was at no more than 250m. I guess it is
not unusual for rain forest highland birds to descend during winter. Almost
all FNQ Eremeae reports of Fernwren are from Mt Lewis and none from MG. S&D
reports it as a "not a well-known species"
Yellow and Scarlet Honeyeaters. Big Mitchell Creek, Mt Molloy.
Grey Goshawk. Jindalba Boardwalk. Cape Tribulation. A bird we have chased to
no avail across the western plains of Sydney, where it is regularly
reported. Now we see it high in the rain forest canopy being harassed by a
pair of Black Butcherbirds. Grey morph.
Little Bronze-Cuckoo. Port Douglas. Along the dirt road that runs beside the
resort railway. In a small stand of mangroves by the wire netting fence.A
juvenile and though fully grown was still being attended to by its Mangrove
Gerygone foster parents. Confusion reigned back at the ranch because S&D had
Goulds as separate and Slater had them combined and both guides had
different Latin names. Internet access finally showed that C&B had them
merged. We had previously seen Goulds so sadly no new tick but good sighting
all the same.
Bush Stone Curlews. Port Douglas. On the cross street leading to the Surf
Life Saving Club. Every night we were there a group of half a dozen would
mournfully wail their way down the street around 10pm. Wonderful sight and
sound and they seemed quite at home with the revellers leaving the SLSC.
Cairns Esplanade. Wrong time of year but still a special place with a few
over stayers. BT Godwits, Sharpies, BF Dotterels, Whimbrel, RC Plover, Great
Knot (we are pretty certain) and Varied HE on boardwalk plus Egrets (Reef
and Little) and Pied Oystercatchers.
White-browed Robin. Nope didn't see this and now is our number one bogey
bird for the region. But hey this just means we have an excuse to go back to
this fabulous part of the world!
A few photos of the birds can be seen at this link
https://picasaweb.google.com/cgregory123/FNQMay2011
Cheers
Chris Gregory
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