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Sunday, 3 November, 2013

 

My second to last birding day in Australia this year was kind of a slow one, especially compared to yesterday’s very busy day.  There was very little left for me to look for, and not many new places to go.  I slept really well and long, and I was up at about 5:15.  I walked around the property here at Kingfisher Park for about 20 or 30 minutes, but I didn’t see much.  As I finished my walk around the property, it started to rain pretty steadily, so I decided to head out.  I chose a couple of birds to go for this morning, based on conversations with David yesterday.  My first target species was at the entrance to Mareeba Wetlands, which is about a half hour drive from here.  On the way, I stopped in Mt Molloy to check the
Brown Goshawk nest, but again, all you could see was the bird’s tail.  By the time I got to Mt Molloy, the rain was behind me, and I didn’t see any more today.

 

On the drive in to Mareeba Wetlands, I got this picture of a White-necked Heron.  It was just begging to have its picture taken as it stood there and posed for me.

 

It was five km (about 3 miles) on a good gravel road from the highway to the entrance gate.  I had seen various conflicting hours that the wetlands is open to the public, including 10 AM.  On the fence next to the gate, it said it opened at 9.  On the gate itself it said 8:30.  It was 8:05 when I got there, but the bird I was looking for was supposed to be just inside the gates.  Unfortunately, the locked gate was too high for me to climb over, and there was a channel of water running along the inside of the fence, so I wasn’t going to be able to go over the fence, either.  I was just starting to look across the fence for my bird when a truck came driving in, and the woman in the truck opened the gate.  I asked when they opened to the public (they offer lodging, and the place is reserved for the use of their paying guests the first thing in the morning and the last thing in the afternoon), and she looked at the sign on the gate and said 8:30, but she was going to leave the gate open and I was welcome to come in now.  I find it interesting that such a large property would be run as a private business.  I wonder who paid to make the wetlands and build the visitors’ centre, who actually has ownership, and who pays to maintain it.  I visited in 2002, when it was pretty new, and they didn’t have lodging then.  The lodging must be very high-end, based on the prices they charge.  There were no fees then for access, but now it costs 8 or 10 bucks to walk around the trails, although it is still free to go to the visitors’ centre.  I mainly just wanted to look around the entrance gate for my target species, where David had said to look for it, but I was also interested in seeing the visitor centre, to see how it has changed over the years.

 

I looked around and didn’t see any birds at all.  I think that David had told me that the species I was looking for there didn’t respond to playback, but I tried it anyway, to no avail.  I walked around, and did see a couple of birds fly in.  I got this picture of a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike.  I don’t think I have shown a picture of this species before, but those of you with complete notes would know better than I would, of course.

 

As I was taking pictures of that bird, a couple of small birds flew in to the top of the same tree.  I took a look at them, and much to my amazement, they were a couple of LEMON-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS, the very bird I was looking for there.  They were high in the tree and obscured by leaves, but I managed one picture before they flew on.

 

You can see one bird in the lower left and another one in the upper right part of the picture.  Together, they do show the characteristics of the Lemon-bellied Flycatcher, which is more closely related to robins than to flycatchers, as I understand it.  I had seen the species in 2008, but I don’t remember it.  They were much yellower and much smaller than I had expected.  It was another almost-lifer.  I was pretty pumped after that.  I had expected to be skunked today, so getting a trip bird before 8:30 was outstanding.

 

I drove on in to the visitors’ centre there at Mareeba Wetlands, and it was much the same as my memory of it from 2002.  There were six people there having breakfast at the café, and they hadn’t come in the entrance, so I assumed they were overnight guests.  I looked around the large lake that the visitors’ centre is on, but didn’t see anything interesting for me.  There were some Plumed Whistling-Ducks and some Green Pygmy-Geese, but those were expected.  I hadn’t seen the pygmy-geese next to other ducks before, and I was surprised to see that they are about the same size as coots.  Pygmies indeed.  Here is a picture of the lake, taken from the visitors’ centre.

 

My next destination was a park in the town of Yungaburra.  I had been through Yungaburra last week, as it is located only about 10 or 15 miles from where I stayed in Atherton for two nights.  David had told me that White-headed Pigeons could sometimes be seen in that park.  I had missed White-headed Pigeon down south, where they are much more common, so I gave it a try this morning.  Here is a picture of that park.

 

There was no sign of pigeons of any kind, but I did get this picture of a couple of Bush Stone-curlews who were loafing away the day, waiting for night time again, so they could go look for whatever food they eat.

 

They were both sitting, so I wondered if one of them was on a nest, but a little later I saw them both on their feet, so I guess they were just trying to sleep until I came along.

 

As I was getting ready to leave the park, there was a male Magpie-lark moving around.  They are very common and I have seen them everywhere, but they have never stuck around close enough for a picture.  I got a picture of this one that I like.  The males and females look superficially alike, but have different arrangements of black and white, especially around the head.  I had to look in the field guide to see that this was a male.

 

Don’t confuse this black and white bird with the Australian Magpie, which is a larger black and white bird that is also very common.  There are a lot fewer Magpies here in the north, though, I notice, than there are down south.

 

So after that I drove around Yungaburra for a while, looking for pigeons, but eventually I gave that up and headed back to my lodgings at Kingfisher Park.  I was an hour away by then, and I was hungry.  I got back here about 12:20, because I stopped again to check the Brown Goshawk nest, but only the tail was showing, still.  It showed more than before, though, which made me think the bird had shifted, anyway.  I’ll probably try again tomorrow, since it would be a trip bird if I could see her head.

 

I had a nice ham and cheese (Havarti this time) sandwich, made with Best Foods mayonnaise, which was expensive but worth it.  I had some vegetables and some potato chips, too, along with a Diet Coke.  After lunch, I wrote my report for yesterday, which you have no doubt already absorbed.  That was the long day with the professional guide, David.

 

Late this afternoon, I went out again, as it was cooling down.  It had gotten up into the high 80’s again, and was in the low 80’s in my room.  In the cooler late afternoon temperatures, I went back to Clacherty Road, which was one of the places that David took me yesterday.  It was the place where I had seen Lovely Fairy-wren, and I hoped to get better pictures today.  I also wanted to play the calls of three species that I still need, as David had seemed to think they might be around there.

 

Nothing responded as far as I could see or hear to my three calls for new species, but a male Lovely Fairy-wren did fly in to his call.  This time I got better pictures.  I didn’t see the female today, but here are a couple of better pictures of the male Lovely Fairy-wren.

 

That one isn’t very sharp, but it does show all the colors and catches the spirit of the bird.  This next one is the best, as it is the sharpest of the lot.

 

As I was getting ready to leave, I heard the call of one of the three species I had played the calls of a little earlier.  It sounded close, so I played it again.  The bird answered, and we had quite a dialog, as I tried to lure it in to where I could see it.  Eventually, I saw movement, and I got a peek though a hole in the greenery at a lovely NOISY PITTA.  I had thought they were a ground bird, as the only time I had seen one before, it was scratching around on the rainforest floor.  I guess they will fly up into trees, though, because this one went even higher and perched out in the open, calling repeatedly.  Here are a couple of pictures.  The bird was high up and the bright background made it a very tough shot, but you can see some of the colors on this colorful bird, after I heavily processed the pictures.

 

I moved around to the side, to show the blue streak on the wing better.

 

So, that was a great ending to my slow day.  I added two more species to my trip list today, when I thought I would probably get skunked.  That brings me to a total of 358 species for the trip, of which 33 are lifers.

 

It is hard to imagine what I can add tomorrow.  Maybe the Brown Goshawk on the nest will show herself.  Or, there are a couple of other lifers that are here at Kingfisher Park, but they are very difficult to see.  One of the disappointments of the trip is that it appears I will miss seeing the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher.  This very colorful bird is the logo of Kingfisher Park, and they nest here every year.  They migrate to Papua New Guinea from about April to October, and they return in late October or early November each year and breed here in north Queensland.  They migrate in groups, I understand, and when they get here, they are fairly easy to see.  I had hoped to be here late enough to see one, but it appears they are late this year.  One was seen or heard near here on the 16^th or 17^th of October, and I thought I was in like Flint, but it appears that was an anomaly, since none has been seen or heard since.  They could still show up tomorrow or Tuesday morning before I leave, but it is getting increasingly unlikely.  Still, you never know, and that would provide a bang-up ending to my trip, to get the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher on my last day here.  It is always good to have something to hope for, but it is not likely, I’m sorry to say.

 

So, one more day, and I have to figure out what to do tomorrow.  I don’t really care about getting skunked, since if I do get skunked tomorrow, it is because I have been so successful in seeing so many birds already.  The skunk thing has been fun, though, and it would be fun to stretch it one more day, my last day of birding here.  I head for home on Tuesday morning, and it will take me three days to get home.  There are three flights, and I chose to do them one per day.  It means more airport hassle, but it also will be easier on my old body, since the middle flight is about 14 or 15 hours long.  What a life!