Feeling overdue for a break from camping, we stayed the next night at
Musgrave Roadhouse in a comfortable cabin with shared facilities and had a
nice meal and a few beers. Next morning we headed down the Peninsula
development road making a few random stops along the way. The two dams
mentioned in Thomas and Thomas as a stakeout for GS Parrots are fenced off
now so we didn't go in there. Luckily, Bill spotted a female bird high on a
tree a few kms south of there, and said 'that's not a lorikeet'. (I knew
there was a reason I let him tag along). Shortly after we located a group of
at least 20 GS Parrots quietly feeding on the ground. Then, a very strange
thing happened. (As I have related in an earlier post), a Papuan Frogmouth
came from nowhere (actually, somewhere, behind us), swooped low over the
parrots as if he was trying to grab one, and scattered them to the far
winds! It has been pointed out to me that Frogmouths don't prey on
birds..well, they're not supposed to fly around in the daytime either. Just
around here we also saw Banded Honeyeaters making a nest, and a few more
Frogmouths well spotted by Bill. This time tiny Tawnys (phalanoides). Just
south of here is the Morehead Rover crossing which proved to be a good
stopping place. Overhead, were several raptors including a pair of
Black-breasted buzzards and a White-bellied sea-eagle. Along the river were
several Black-necked Storks, Brolgas, Nankeen Night Herons and a few large
Freshwater Crocodiles to boot. The rest of the trip back to Kingfisher Park
proved uneventful but we did see a pair of Squatter Pigeons and a Bustard
south of Lakeland.
This time I booked two nights at Kingfisher because I wanted to spend some
time up at Mt Lewis. I'd never ventured up there before because I've usually
had two-wheel drive campervans before. This time I was targeting Mountain
Thornbill and Fernwren, and Bill was likely to pick up at least five lifers.
The thornbills were no problem, and were plentiful around the clearing at
the rainforest walk. Shortly after starting the walk I also had Fernwren
under the belt. Following Keith Fisher's advice, I looked carefully after a
group of Chowchillas and found the Fernwren quietly bringing up the rear.
Apparently it's what they do. A bit further along we located a Tooth-billed
Bowerbird at his display area (look for green foliage on the ground). Not
long later we heard the weird rattling call of a Golden Bowerbird and
eventually managed to locate a Female high in the trees...no luck with a
male bird this time. We walked as far as the dam, adding birds such as
Victoria's Riflebird, Spotted Catbird, Yellow-throated and Large-billed
Scrubwrens. On the way back I found an Atherton Scrubwren just off the
track. These are superficially like Large-bills but if you watch them for a
while, they behave in a totally different manner. This one never left the
ground for the 15mins we watched it, scratching around in the leaf litter as
true ground dwelling birds do. In comparison, Large-bills constantly move up
and down the trees and vines and fly from tree to tree.
After heading back down the mountain we headed off to search for
Parrot-Finches near sides Road after a tip off from birders at the lodge. No
luck there though.
End Part 3
Steve Murray
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