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Tuesday, 29 October, 2013

 

I had a big day today.  I didn’t spend all that much time birding, but I got good numbers nevertheless.  I was up before 5, and John picked me up at 7.  He was going to try to show me a particular lifer I had asked about, before his Tuesday morning birdwatching walk, which starts at 8:30.  He parked near the Botanic Gardens and we walked for five minutes along the canal.  We got to the place that he had said was the best place in Cairns for this particular bird, and there they were, a male and female LOVELY FAIRY-WREN (lifer)!  They were sitting next to each other on a branch, out in the sun, and they were beautiful.  I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture, and after that first sighting, they stayed back in the bushes, where we could see them, but pictures weren’t possible.  My camera would have focused on the twigs in front of them.  But, I had seen them, a species I had especially wanted to see on this trip.  It wasn’t even 7:15 AM, and I had a lifer.

 

We went on down the track and saw another male, but again, no pictures.  When we reached the park (actually Centenary Lakes, which is adjacent to the botanic gardens), we had some bird action.  There were several birds around, and I got some pictures.  I spotted an ORANGE-FOOTED SCRUBFOWL, a strange looking bird, and later I got a mediocre picture.

 

They scratch around in the leaf litter and pretty much stay on the ground, as far as I know.

 

I added YELLOW ORIOLE to my trip list.  Here is a picture of one that makes it look more yellow than they actually are.

 

Here is the same bird with a bug, and the color is more true in this one.  They are sort of a greenish yellow.  Or, maybe it is a yellowish green.  The modern name is actually Green Oriole, I understand.

 

So, I was doing great.  It was still before 8 o’clock, and I had added three birds to my trip list.  John pointed out the call of two other birds that would be lifers for me, Cicadabird and Little Bronze-Cuckoo.  I still haven’t seen either of those species, but they were there this morning.

 

John volunteers to do a birdwatching walk every Tuesday morning, leaving from the botanical gardens, and he went off to start that, while I waited on a bench in the shade and looked for birds.  His walk was going to come right by where I was sitting, and I would join them then.  While waiting, I saw a few birds, but nothing new for my trip list.  I did get this picture of a Spangled Drongo that I like, though.

 

That strange arrangement of the tail feathers is diagnostic of this bird, as is the red eye.  I’ve seen more of them on this trip than I had seen on all of my earlier trips combined.

 

Here is John and his birdwatching walk group approaching where I was waiting.

 

Ironically, they had just seen two Black Butcherbirds, a bird I still need for my trip list.  Maybe tomorrow.

 

I joined the walk and enjoyed John’s knowledgeable narration about the birds and plants of the park.  We crossed the saltwater canal and there were interesting crabs in the mud that was exposed because the tide was out.  Mostly, all you could see was one red claw sticking out of the mud, but here is a picture of a whole crab.

 

You can’t tell the size there, but the claw is maybe an inch or an inch and a half long.  As far as I could see, each crab only had one claw.

 

John pointed out other birds, including a nesting Bush Stone-Curlew.  The “nest” was just a place in the sparse grass where the female had laid her eggs, and she was presumably sitting on them, while the male stood guard nearby.  They are night birds, and during the day they are just resting and passing the time.  I have been hearing some loud bird calls at night, and John tells me that they are Bush Stone-curlews, which are common around Cairns.  I showed a picture of a family of them last week, in Townsville.

 

About then, one of the people on the walk noticed some little birds, and I added NUTMEG MANNIKIN to my trip list.  It is an introduced bird, or maybe more properly, an escapee that has thrived here.  They are sold as caged birds and are called Spice Finches in the cage trade.  Here is a picture of one of them.

 

There were some honeyeaters in a tree, and I got this picture of a White-throated Honeyeater.

 

Next was one of the most exciting parts of the walk for me, even though it didn’t produce a new trip bird for me.  I had counted Double-eyed Fig-Parrot yesterday, and I said then that I wanted to get a picture of this cute little parrot.  Well, today I did.  It is the smallest parrot in Australia, and one of the smallest in the world.

 

Is that a cute little bird, or what?  I love the blue color on the face.  Here is a picture of two of them.  Those are small figs in the tree, and they were eating them.

 

They nest in holes they dig out themselves, in dead trees.  They had a nest hole in a dead snag, which John hadn’t seen before, but now he can keep an eye on it each week on his walk.

 

So, right on top of the excitement of pictures of Double-eyed Fig-Parrots, someone noticed some ducks on the canal.  Up until last night, I hadn’t expected to see this species of duck on this trip, and I had it at only a 10% chance in my spreadsheet.  Last night I had done some online research, and I noticed that they have been reported regularly at Centenary Lakes for a while.  John told us that they had never been there until two years ago, when a pair had shown up.  They have produced at least five clutches of young ducks so far, so they are around all the time now.  I got this picture of an adult RADJAH SHELDUCK (lifer) and some of the young ones (they are a bit smaller and have a gray patch on the crown of their head).

 

I got some other pictures of this striking duck later, and will show them in the proper sequence.

 

I got this picture that I rather like of a Yellow Honeyeater.

 

Here is a picture of a Striated Heron, a bird I just added to my trip list since I got here to Cairns.

 

I think I had a couple of pictures of one at the beach yesterday, and here is one in a park, on a salt water canal.

 

Here is another picture of a Radjah Shelduck, with a Pacific Black Duck behind it.  Pacific Black Duck is one of the commonest ducks over here, but I don’t think I have shown a picture of one on this trip.  The two ducks make a nice contrast, I think.

 

Here is my best picture of a Radjah Shelduck.  I know, I am showing a lot of picture of that species, but it was a lifer, after all, and I think they are very beautiful.

 

So, that was my last picture from the walk this morning.  John dropped me back at my caravan park about 11 or a bit after.  It had heated up by then, but I was actually pretty comfortable.  I had worn shorts and sandals without socks, and I hadn’t worn a t-shirt under my normal shirt, like I usually do.  I had tried to stay in the shade as much as possible, too.

 

Interestingly, as I walked from the entrance to the caravan park, where John had dropped me off, to my humble abode, I saw a little group of Nutmeg Mannikins, the species I had added to my trip list an hour earlier.  Here is a picture of one on the ground, which is where you usually see them.

 

Back here at my “villa”, I downloaded my pictures to my computer and took a look at them.  I also took the opportunity to do a load of laundry, and that should get me by until the end of the trip.  Of course, I had my humble lunch as well.  Today it was tuna, potato chips, mini peppers, Lebanese cucumbers, and a Diet Coke.  A great Old Rambler lunch.

 

I went out again about 2 o’clock.  Three hours in the air conditioning had refreshed me.  I had several species to look for on the Esplanade; that is, the beach front.  I found a place to park, sort of in the shade, and started to look.  I was looking for a honeyeater that lives along the Esplanade and I was just looking in the trees, watching for any movement.  Almost right away, I saw some movement, and damned if it didn’t turn out to be my target, a VARIED HONEYEATER.  Here is an interesting picture of it.  The picture isn’t rotated; the bird is upside down.

 

This isn’t as good a picture, but at least the bird is in a more conventional position.

 

I was really pleased to see one so easily, as there isn’t anywhere else I have any chance of seeing one on this trip.

 

I took this picture of a Peaceful Dove about then, too.

 

They are quite common, and mostly birders ignore them, but I think they are kind of cute.

 

So, I had two more targets on the Esplanade.  I drove down to where there were more shorebirds, and lugged my scope over to the edge of the beach.  Birding in Cairns is the most comfortable birding for shorebirds you will ever find.  In the afternoon, you can sit in the shade on a bench, with the light coming from behind you, and scope dozens or sometimes hundreds of birds as they feed.  As the tide comes in, they get closer and closer to you.  I needed one common species seen there and one that is pretty uncommon, but there has been one around lately.  I got the common one easily, GREATER SAND PLOVER.  Here is a distant picture of one (I think).

 

I didn’t see the other one, which is Grey Plover.  It is the same species we call Black-bellied Plover in the US.  I have seen lots of them on the west coast of the US, but I needed it for my trip list.  Oh well, maybe I’ll look again tomorrow, or maybe not.  Finding one bird on a mile or two of beach isn’t easy, even if it is still there.

 

I took some more pictures, as the light was so great and the birds were so close.  Here is a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

 

Here is a Common Greenshank.

 

Here is a Terek Sandpiper.  Note that its bill is covered in mud, from probing for food in the mud.

 

Finally, here is a White-faced Heron.  It is a common bird, but the lighting was so great, and it was just begging to have its picture taken.

 

I spent about an hour and a half on the Esplanade this afternoon, and it was very pleasant indeed.  I talked to several other birders, including 4 or 5 from the US.  The Esplanade is a magnet for birders; it is one of the top three or four places to bird in Australia, in my opinion.

 

I gave it up about 3:45 or so and stopped at the grocery store on the way home to stock up again.

 

So, I added a whopping 7 species today, which is huge at this point, and two of them were lifers, no less.  That puts me at 333 species, of which 30 are lifers.  I have done so well here in Cairns that now I run the risk of being skunked in the next 2 or 3 days, but we will take one day at a time.  I do have one species in my pocket, so to speak, as I think I can go get it whenever I need to.  I am hoping to save it until Thursday, but if I don’t see anything else tomorrow, I’ll have to go get it.  It is a species that nests communally, and John told me where to look for a nest tree.  It is supposedly guaranteed there.

 

Tomorrow John is picking me up still again, for the third morning in a row.  He is going to take me to try for a trip species, and after that I plan to go back to Centenary Lakes to try for the three birds I missed there today (two of which I heard and would be lifers).  It will be a challenge, but we will see how it goes.