25.7.15
Oxley
2 - 12.7.15
Oxley
I picked up Mr D at 6.45 and we
arrived on site at 7.00. A damp, grey, cool morning, at first it seemed like
everything would be quiet – but it actually turned out to be quite birdy. Lots
of Brown Honeyeaters, Bar-shouldered
Doves, Grey Fantails and even a Whipbird
calling in the first section of the walk. I tested out my new recording
device and speaker attachment and it performed better than I expected – it
should be a real bonus in future – especially overseas.
A flock of approx. 30 Chestnut-breasted Mannikins flew by and
shortly afterwards we found a small number of Nutmeg or Scaly-breasted Mannikins in the grass nearby. These are
not a common bird around Brisbane and we only occasionally see them at Oxley.
On out along the track and we
continued to record good numbers of common ‘wintering’ birds.
The ponds were very quiet – 4 Black Ducks, 1 Hardhead, 3 Grey Teal, 1
Pelican, a couple of Little Pied and 1 Little Black Cormorant…..
Heading back Mr D spotted a Shining Bronze Cuckoo perched up in an
isolated bush in the grass and a Fan-tailed
Cuckoo called shortly afterwards and was seen briefly.
With a total of 57 species for the
morning, but an overall estimated bird number of almost 400, it was a
satisfactory outing. We headed to our ‘Oxley’ breakfast location – Café’ Europa
in Sherwood - and sat back to enjoy the usual eggs and bacon breakfast supplied
by Mine Host……
Cape York
2.7.15 We met
in Cairns airport at 9.30am having arrived on three different flights - Stu
(SP) and I together, Andy (AJ) on a Jetstar flight and Dave (DM) from Sydney - but
all around the same time. We jammed our bags into a cab and got him to take us
the 15 minute drive to CampersOz – the hire company for the 4WD - in Cairns
itself.
The car was ready and we packed our
bags and the hired camping gear aboard. We had brought our own tents and
sleeping bags, but added an esky, electric fridge, picnic table, chairs,
sleeping mats, stove, gas cylinder and other sundry equipment to the vehicle’s
load.
We headed down to the esplanade area
and searched a couple of locations for a roosting Rufous Owl that had been
reported earlier in the year – we didn’t locate it, which wasn’t particularly
surprising as the last report had been a couple of months previous.
Heading north from the city we
stopped at Smithfield to spend an hour or so food shopping for the next 9 days
- spending $300.
We finally left the coast behind at
12.45 and headed west up the range to Kuranda, then Mareeba and eventually on
to Laura. The bitumen ended at Cooktown and the road after that varied in
condition, from quite smooth to heavily corrugated, dust plumes followed all
vehicles and made passing difficult and dangerous. We re-filled the car with
fuel at the Hahn service station - $100 @ $1.69/l and continued on our way.
Twenty five kilometres before
Musgrave Roadhouse we turned off to Artemis Station at
about 17.00. As we approached the gate
Stu, who was driving, called ‘Butcherbird’ and we all bailed out to tick our
first Black-backed Butcherbird – we
were to see many more of them in the coming days.
Andy had been in contact with the
owner and arranged for a guided tour of the property - or at least the part of
the property that had Golden-shouldered Parrots, our important target bird at
this location. We called in to the station house to find that our promised
guide to the GSPs had broken her arm a couple of days previous and was
currently in hospital in Cooktown. Her partner was unsure of exactly where the
parrots were, but we drove the track past the station entrance and checked out
the edges of the road as dusk descended. Two Green Pygmy Geese on a dam were our only reward.
We returned to the station and set up
camp in an open field beside the toilet/shower block. Had dinner and crashed
around 21.00.
 |
| Black-backed Butcherbird |
 |
| Camping on Artemis Station |
3.7.15 We woke
to the sound of vomiting – Blue-winged
Kookaburras calling. Leaving at daybreak we were out on the main road looking
for GSPs. Stu, again, spotted two birds in a dead tree and Andy got a good
enough view of two female Golden-shouldered
Parrots. Frustratingly, despite a search through the roadside bush, we
failed to track them down leaving three of us GSP-challenged for the time
being.
We tried at a couple of spots further
down the road but gave it away around 8.30 and headed back to camp for a late
breakfast, pack up and hit the road around 10.
We reached Musgrave and turned right
towards Lakefield NP for about 20 kms seeing a Spotted Harrier and 2 Hobbys in the same air space. Further
on down Lilyvale
Rd we had the only Square-tailed Kite of the trip and a
pair of Yellow-tinted Honeyeaters which
were right on the edge of their range – a good Queensland tick.
Back-tracked to Musgrave Roadhouse
and, turning right, we headed north again and the condition of the road
improved.
We reached Cohen at 12.30 and filled
up with fuel again - $115 @ $1.80/l. We had lunch in a takeaway – apparently
the burger was good, but the hot dog I had left a little to be desired. We had
used the gas cylinder for two ‘meals’ only, but it seemed ‘light’ so we had it
filled - just in case. In fact it turned out it was only half full to start
with – something we hadn’t been told.
We continued on our way to and past
Archer River roadhouse and then the turn off to Iron Range. There were some
steep river crossings on this stretch of track, but the Land Cruiser managed
them with minimal effort. We stopped off at some heath habitat and tried for White-streaked Honeyeater. After some
effort we did manage average views – the conditions were not the best, being
quite windy in the exposed environment. A Dingo
wandered across the road and we started seeing Northern Nail Tail Wallabys replacing the Agile Wallabys we’d being seen earlier.
We had pre-booked, as you must do
now, our National park campsite known as Rainforest campsite no 3. It was a bit
vague as the 300 meter track ended in a general open space, not clearly marked
as to no 2 or no 3….we had just decided that the right hand end was no 3 when
three more 4WDs arrived down the narrow track and 6 young guys set themselves
up in no 2. We were a little concerned re noise and proximity but they crashed
early and left the next day leaving the whole area to us for the rest of our
stay.
Getting in some birding before dusk
we walked back to the main track and immediately heard Yellow-billed Kingfisher
calling. While we tried to locate the little yellow devil several Eclectus Parrots flew high above the
canopy all heading in one direction - obviously a roost somewhere distant.
Failing on the YBK mission and with
dusk descending rapidly we returned to camp and set up our tents and cooking
arrangements, table etc., had dinner then went spotlighting for a while along
the main road – without any success. Crashed around 22.00.
 |
| Campsite in Iron Range |
4.7.15 We were
up before dawn and listened to a Noisy
Pitta calling right beside campsite. Walking to the main track again AJ had
a probable Red-bellied Pitta. He had
it in the bins for a few seconds and was calling it when it flew. All Stu &
I saw was a dark bird flying up off the forest floor and disappearing between
the trees - unfortunately not nearly a good enough view to add it to our lists.
We walked along the road to Cook’s Campsite
– approx. 300 meters, where, incidentally, the only toilet for the Iron Range
campsite group was located.
We had several good birds. Yellow-legged and
Yellow-bellied Flyrobins,
Tawny-breasted,
Dusky, Graceful & Yellow-spotted
Honeyeaters, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, and the more familiar Rufous Fantails and Little Shrike Thrushes. We could hear Trumpet Manucodes and Magnificent Riflebirds calling and the
odd Eclectus Parrot flew across the
road high overhead.
 |
| Yellow-legged Flyrobin |
 |
| Birding in Iron Range |
Moving down the track past the toilet
block area we caught up with a Green-backed Honeyeater which took some effort to
see and successfully identify – but it turned out to be the first of many and
we saw it much more satisfactorily in future days. A Magnificent Riflebird also responded to our efforts and showed at
eye level through the bush – unfortunately the male didn’t show well, but we
had good views of the female hanging onto a tree trunk at about 20 meters
distance.
Back at the campsite, breakfast
completed and we headed off for Chile Beach. As we approached the end of the
rainforest DM called a Cassowary
ahead on the side of the road and sure enough a young bird stood for a few
seconds in the shadows before moving into the forest. Although we parked up and
sat quietly it didn’t re-appear and after another car had passed in the
opposite direction the bird seemed to have moved well back into the bush.
The 30 minute drive to Chile Beach from there on was uneventful and a strong wind
was blowing along the shoreline. We scoped the ocean for a few distant Noddys and a couple of Brown Boobys. SP found a pair of Double-eyed Fig Parrots (race marshalli) perched up in the car park
and we all satisfied our camera fetish with hundreds of photos of this engaging
little parrot.
 |
| Double-eyed Fig Parrot - male |
 |
| Double-eyed Fig Parrot - female |
We drove around to Portland Roads and had coffee on the verandah of the Out of the
Blue café – which we would highly recommend – while watching for Frigatebirds
over the ocean. Two or three Lesser Frigatebirds put in an
appearance and a single Great
drifted past and out of sight around the headland. A couple of Brown Boobys patrolled the coastline
occasionally splashing into the water in pursuit of fish.
After coffee we tried the mangroves
for various species – with no success. On the way back to camp we visited the
local rubbish tip based on advice from previous visiting birders - again with
no notable outcomes.
When we got back to camp we cooked
dinner and sat around until after dark when we went spotlighting again.
It was remarkably quiet. To our
surprise we spotted no geckos, frogs or snakes and no mammals until close to
Cook’s Hut camping area AJ found a Grey Cuscus low
down in a roadside tree. This was a brilliant result as this species is
difficult and rarer than the Spotted. We also heard a distant Rufous Owl and
managed to locate a Marbled Frogmouth
(race marmoratus) perched up well and
being distinctly smaller than our regular birds in SE Qld.
We were happy with the sightings, but
still bemused at the lack of general wildlife at night.
 |
| Grey Cuscus - Photo by Andy Jensen |
5.7.15 It rained
overnight and we woke up to a damp morning. However we were up at 6 and drove
to the far end of the Old Cohen Track. The track was muddy and
slippery from the rain and after about 200 meters basically came to an end as
the creek was up and running and, while we could have waded across, we would
have got quite wet doing so. We did have a pair of Frilled Monarchs showing well and spent some time trying to locate
a calling but elusive Yellow-billed Kingfisher.
Back to Cooks Campsite and we walked the
road to Gordon River – very quiet but great views and many photos of a perched
up Yellow-legged Flycatcher. We
returned to camp, a little dispirited, and made coffee and tea and were sitting
around contemplating our options when a Yellow-billed
Kingfisher called from nearby. Instant arousal – so to speak…..we crept
down the track from the campsite and within a minute or two SP had spotted the
little yellow blighter sitting quietly under the canopy in full view. He then
became the most photographed YBK of the year….
 |
| Yellow-billed Kingfisher |
We had been advised that the sewage
ponds were a good place to start and, after making enquiries, found our way to
the overgrown gate. We checked the ponds but apart from a handful of Australian Grebes there was nothing
exciting.
We drove back through town and turned
off to the left to a small dam surrounded by tea trees and backed by a forest
of dead drowned trees. I spotted Brown-backed
Honeyeaters dropping into the water for a drink and a bath, DM pointed out
an Azure Kingfisher and AJ found a Papuan Frogmouth perched up in one of
the distant dead trees.
Back to the main track and as we
drove a bird crossed in front of us – both DM and I called Bowerbird and hopped
out to check – it had perched up in a tree some distance away and, before we
could all get onto it properly, dropped down and disappeared – it had been one
of our target birds, however, a Fawn-breasted
Bowerbird.
We decided that we would play it safe
and fill up with fuel while we were here so returned to Lockhart River and used
the card-only petrol pump to put in $100 @$1.77/l or, in fact, $97 worth of
fuel as the pump retained a $3 credit card use charge, before again heading for
the sewage ponds.
We were just parking up when SP
called a dark bird crossing the road up ahead. We bailed out and walked as a
group up the road to see what it might have been. Suddenly SP called again and
a Palm Cockatoo crossed the road above our heads – to say we were
gobsmacked would be an understatement – it was huge! Stunningly large winged,
all black with just the bright red cheek patches to relieve the colour. This
would be the bird of the trip for me.
As we stood around looking for more,
AJ reckoned he could hear Red-cheeked
Parrot in the trees across the road, he was scoping for them when SP called
two more Cockatoos flying towards us from the far end of the sewage ponds. As
we started to line them up, AJ called a Red-cheeked Parrot in flight and for a
few seconds it was chaos! The Cockatoos were forgotten, unfortunately, as we
got the female Red-cheeked in the scope and enjoyed full perched up views. This
was lucky actually, as we only saw one other RCP and that in flight.
We walked into the sewage ponds again
and had satisfactory-for-all scope views of a Fawn-breasted Bowerbird perched up high in a dead tree fly catching
insects in the late afternoon light.
Back to camp for dinner. Spotlighting
after dinner – we drove the road slowly to Gordon Creek and wandered around the
area, but saw nothing and heard nothing, apart from the frogs.
6.7.15 Up at 6
and it rained again as we got breakfast. We headed off to Lockhart River sewage works again for dawn. There wasn’t much
happening around the ponds and the weather was a bit damp, but as we drove back
through the community a Palm Cockatoo
was spotted walking through the service station concourse. We parked up and I
headed off to stalk the birds – two or three in total – as they flew up into
nearby trees. The rain set in in earnest so unfortunately my photo opportunity
was not what it might have been.
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| Palm Cockatoo - in the rain |
 |
| Palm Cockatoo - still in the rain...... Not the most exciting video - but look at the conditions! http://youtu.be/NFGsszXhTnY
We checked the farm dam again on the
way out, but not much was showing. Our mission now was the last of our target
birds in Iron Range – one we had heard so often, but failed to see - Trumpet Manucode. Stopping off at the small creek crossings along the
road we tried for it - finally having
success at the third, where a pair flew in, remained high in the canopy, but
provided satisfactory views and some photos for all.
To finish off the morning we drove to
Cook’s campsite and slowly walked the road to Gordon’s Creek again. Some good
birds - I had a nice Frilled Monarch pose for a couple of
shots, Common Emerald Doves put in
an appearance, Green-backed Honeyeaters
flickered overhead, camera-challenging Yellow-breasted
Boatbills dodged the lens and Magnificent
Riflebirds appeared and disappeared before we could get on to them. A Little Bronze Cuckoo put in an
appearance over the campsite as we prepared morning tea.
|
 |
| Frilled Monarch |
We drove to Portland Roads for lunch – the day had become a very hot
(30+degrees), bright Monday. We had a very agreeable lunch in the shade on the
verandah of the Out Of the Blue café again and seawatched while we ate. The
afternoon was whiled away in the shade of a beachside tree continuing the
seawatch and chatting – a Roseate Tern passed
by just offshore while the usual Brown
Boobys foraged over the waves, a Dugong
surfaced once or twice and flocks of 100+ Common
Noddys were on the horizon, Superb
Fruit Doves zoomed across the beach into the mangroves and a Grey-tailed Tattler poked around in the
rocks.
We looked for Mangrove Robin and
Red-headed Honeyeater in the mangroves with no result, but did have a pair of Large-billed Gerygones.
Later we drove down to Chile Beach
for similar results, nothing new. Heading back after filling our water
container at the roadside facility, we watched a family party of about 15 Wild Pigs trot across the road and just
further on nearly collected a Spotted
Nightjar on the windscreen.
We had dinner back at camp, then went
spotlighting. A little more success tonight with good views of 3 Cape York Melomys and finally, at the last minute, a Spotted Cuscus high in a tree – again near Cook’s Campsite. We were
very pleased at getting both Cuscus species, but once again commented on the
lack of general wildlife in the spotlights.
 |
| Cape York Melomys |
 |
| Spotted Cuscus |
7.7.15 We had
originally planned to stay at Iron
Range until Wednesday, but as we had ‘got’ all the target birds (apart from us
all seeing the Pitta which we could have spent the rest of the winter looking
for) we decided to head back south and put some extra time in elsewhere. It was
to prove a smart decision.
We went birding along the road first
up and walked as far as Gordon River campsite. It was, as we had found, pretty
quiet, never as birdy as we had expected, but we had some of the ‘usual’ stuff
plus Spectacled Monarch, a male Red-cheeked Parrot that flew across the
road several times, giving OK binocular views, but challenging to the camera, and
a Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo which
played hard-to-see-tag in the edge of the forest canopy.
Back at camp at 9.00 we packed up and
left at 10.00.
On the way out we stopped off at the heathland and got onto a
well perched up White-streaked
Honeyeater with views that pleased everyone.
 |
| White-streaked Honeyeater |
Drove to Archer River roadhouse and stopped for fuel – we re-considered
when we saw the price of $2.20/litre and decided we had enough to carry on to
Cohen where we knew it was cheaper. SP moved the car off the bowser and parked
in the shade, then he, DM and I sauntered into the roadhouse to get some lunch
while AJ enterprisingly set up the scope and scanned a small wetland/pond area
to the left of the roadhouse.
I had just ordered a coffee and was
waiting for the others to finish their order, when AJ came into the shop and
whispered in my ear – ‘Spotted Whistling Ducks on the pond!” I, of course, passed this
on and we all dashed back to the scope – our haste unnecessary as the ducks
were quite happily feeding and paddling on the water about 150 meters away. I
could see that the road that ran into the back of the property would afford us
improved views so I went and talked to the owner who agreed to allow us to
drive up the road so that we got to within 100 meters of the water.
We spent an hour or so, watching and
filming the birds – there were two flocks or families, one comprising 9 young
birds and 2 adults and the other 11 younger birds and both adults – obviously
recent local breeding evidence. At one point one of the adults (the male?)
aggressively chased, rounded up and herded a flock of 50 Plumed Whistling Ducks. Amazingly aggressive behavior by a duck!
 |
| Spotted Whistling Duck |
We filled up with fuel at Cohen (a much more realistic $1.81/litre) and headed on to Musgrave Roadhouse where SP & DM booked themselves into a cabin ($110 per night), while AJ and I set up camp ($10 per night).
As it was relatively early we drove
towards Lakefield NP and found a pair of Red
Goshawks – and spent the rest of the light watching and filming them.
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| Red Goshawk - male |
 |
| Red goshawk - female |
8.7.15 We had
planned a big day in Lakefield NP today,
so we were up early, before dawn, had breakfast and set off. We turned left before the park entrance onto
Lilyvale Rd and stopped off at a spot AJ had advice about to look for finches
and honeyeaters. A grasslands area with riverine habitat over a dry riverbed,
unfortunately nothing was flowering but we did have Yellow Honeyeater, Rufous-banded Honeyeater, Diamond Dove, Rufous
Songlark, and DM flushed a flock of buttonquails which we spent some time
looking for getting very wet in the dew covered grass.
 |
| Rufous-banded Honeyeater |
We stopped off to see the Red Goshawks again, then on to Lakefield NP itself. We found our way to Marina Plains and looked for Zitting Cisticola with no success
– it was only mid-morning in mid-winter but it was stinking hot.
We called in to Low Lake
and sat for a while watching the life around and on the lily covered water
– Whiskered and Gull-billed Terns, Australian Grebes, Green Pygmy Geese, Comb-crested
Jacanas, a Black-necked Stork
glided in, 2 distant Black-breasted
Buzzards were a good record, 500 Little
Corellas flew up every now and again in the usual flock panic and in a
corner of the lagoon, a pair of Radjah
Shelducks and a Glossy Ibis were
spotted.
On to Nifold Plains and out to a billabong surrounded by trees in the
middle of the grasslands. It was a classic set up – cool shade tempting in
birds to drink. We parked up and set up seats, awning, stove & kitchen – we
were here for the day.
We saw Black-throated Finches almost immediately and they returned on
several occasions through the afternoon, we reckoned on a total of about 20
birds. My target was Star Finch and they
too showed up at odd intervals – unfortunately I seemed to be somewhere else
when the adults showed and so only got to see juveniles, which was
disappointing. Other visitors included dozens of Bar-shouldered and 100s of Peaceful
Doves, Diamond Doves, White-winged Trillers, Spotted Harrier, Swamp Harrier,
Black-faced Wood Swallow, Brown Goshawk, Black-shouldered Kite, White-throated
Gerygone, Golden-headed Cisticola (one only), about 6 Forest Kingfishers, Rainbow Bee Eaters, an Australian Bustard flew by and a pair of Brolgas were nearby.
 |
| Black-throated Finch |
 |
| Green Pygmy Goose |
We had dinner as dusk descended and
then, once it was dark, slowly drove the road looking for nightlife. And plenty
of it there was too – 25-30 Spotted
Nightjars, we had a couple who sat in the headlights allowing close
inspection, 4 Barking Owls – 2
actually stood on the road, 2 Red-chested
Buttonquails also allowing very close approach, one of which I actually
managed to catch, 2 different Pythons, later identified as one Spotted & one Water and a Dingo. It was a very exciting
spotlighting event.
 |
| Red-chested Buttonquail |
 |
| Spotted Nightjar |
 |
| Barking Owl |
 |
| Spotted Python |
9.7.15 Crawled
out at 7.00 and SP jacked the car up for a closer look. I had been voted as the
best person to ring the agent in Cairns, so I did and, over the morning,
arrangements were made for a replacement vehicle to be driven in by 23.00 and
the mechanic who drove that one, would fix ‘our’ one and drive it back, leaving
us free to continue our trip – from tomorrow. The verdict was that the king
pins in the front right wheel were ‘broken’.
SP and DM returned to camping after
two nights in the ‘cabin’ - and we moved the campsite to a more comfortable,
shaded position for the day.
I had had a bit of trouble with my
contact lenses and had taken them out to give my eyes a break; so I was quite
happy to sit in camp for the day and read and snooze and drink coffee while the
guys did a bit of local birding, chatted and wrote their notes.
After dark we had a couple of beers
and managed to get the first Australia v England cricket test on the TV which
pleased AJ & SP no end – especially as England were in a strong position.
We waited up till 23.30 but the
mechanic didn’t turn up, so we turned in.
10.7.15 We
were up at 6.00 and wondering what we were going to do when the mechanic walked
up. He’d arrived at 00.20 and had been unable to find us. We swapped stuff over
from one vehicle to the other and headed in to Lakefield NP again – to Marina Plains looking
for Zitting Cisticola again – and again with no luck. We did have the only Red-backed Kingfisher of the trip and a small number of Black-throated Finches at a muddy
waterhole.
We drove in to Sweetwater Camping area and lake
– difficult to get a clear view across the water and not much there, apart from
a Goanna. Then we left the NP to
call in to Lotusbird
Lodge on the way back to camp.
Most notable - Magpie Geese, Green Pygmy
Geese, White-necked Heron and
Wandering Whistling Duck.
So, back to camp, a late breakfast
and an early beer before packing up and heading leisurely the 25 kms to Artemis
to try again for the GSP.
Called into the station house and Sue
– she of the broken arm – agreed to meet us at 7.00 the next morning to take us
to find the parrots. In the meantime she gave us direction to an area where we
could look for them ourselves – and this we did.
We walked into the bush off the road
as directed, found a dry watercourse and followed it down to a small muddy
waterhole. On the way we had a pair of Banded
Honeyeaters, a long sought species for SP, and, when we settled down near
the water, we had Little Friarbirds,
Great Bowerbirds, Bar-shouldered and Peaceful
Doves, White-throated Honeyeaters, Leaden Flycatchers, and a pair of Pale-headed Rosellas come in to drink.
A couple of Masked Finches put in an
appearance too, which was a good Queensland tick for me and a lifer for the
others.
We had been there about 30 minutes
when SP hissed ‘Golden-shouldered Parrots in the tree
to the left’ and we got onto a female and young male perched up in the open
for long enough to get photos. Over the next 30 minutes or so we had
tantalizing glimpses of individuals and a small group of birds flitting around
the area. Eventually a group of 5 sat up in a tree on the far side of the water
– unfortunately DM was the only one who could see them clearly and it required
a slow move by AJ and myself to get a clear view. The clear view lasted about 5
seconds before the adult male and 4 females flew and disappeared into the bush.
We felt we had held them off the water long enough so we headed back to camp
and our last camp cooked dinner which was a bizarre concoction of white rice,
Honey & Mustard Chicken Tonight sauce and canned salmon….
 |
| Golden-shouldered Parrot - female & young male. |
 |
| Great Bowerbird |
 |
| Masked Finch |
 |
| Banded Honeyeater - juvenile |
I lit the donkey boiler so we had hot
water for showers. We watched the sky for a while, experimenting with SP’s
Google Night Sky app and crashed around 22.00.
11.7.15 I had
a disturbed night’s sleep, but heard Southern
Boobook and Bush Stone Curlew
calling in the pre-dawn dark. I got up at 6, and nearly fell over. My head was
spinning and I sat down quickly to help it settle. It did after about 15
minutes although I still felt a bit unsteady. I think it might have been low
blood pressure, but it didn’t re-occur so the cause has remained unknown.
We met Sue at 7.00 and she took us
back to the same area we had been in yesterday. For two hours we searched for
the parrots but were completely unsuccessful – luckily we had seen them
yesterday! We did have Bar-breasted
Honeyeater which was another good Queensland bird and an unexpected bonus
at this site. We paid Sue for her efforts and for camping knowing the money was
going to a good cause, packed up camp and headed south.
Leaving Artemis at 10.30 we reached
Lakeland Roadhouse and the start of the bitumen at 12.30. Put in $100 fuel
@$1.60/litre, filled the gas cylinder ($16), had some lunch and headed south
again. Somewhere along the road we lost the petrol container that had been
supplied off the roof rack, but otherwise we arrived at Kingfisher Park at 15.00 unscathed.
There was no camping available so we
booked two humpies ($32.50 each for the night) and did some local birding – McDougal’s Rd to look for Little Kingfisher, Side’s Rd for Blue-faced Parrot Finch – with no success at
either location. Returned to Kingfisher Pk, showered and went to the pub in Mt
Molloy for dinner.
After dinner AJ and I wandered around
KP spotlighting and had a Papuan
Frogmouth, a Spectacled Flying Fox and a Green Ringtail Possum and I had a brief view of a White-tailed Rat.
 |
| Papuan Frogmouth |
12.7.15 Got up
and packed up with minimal fuss and breakfast. Had a wander around the orchard
and the creek bank for Grey-headed
Robin, Pale Yellow Robin, Macleay’s Honeyeater and Emerald Dove – the usual denizens of KP. Sorted out the remains of
our food supply and left the canned and packaged stuff for others to use at the
camp kitchen.
We left and drove to McDougal’s road again but no Kingfisher; we did have excellent
views, and got photos of, an enthusiastic Yellow-breasted
Boatbill and had Cotton Pygmy Goose
on one of the dams along that road.
 |
| Yellow-breasted Boatbill
A quartet of Wompoo Fruit Doves showed well:
|
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| Wompoo Fruit Dove |
Then we headed north and descended the range to the coast road just north of Port Douglas. We called into a man-made pond on Ferrero Rd looking for Pied Heron, but only added Hardhead and Grey Teal to our trip list.
On down the lovely drive to Cairns along the ocean front stopping off to buy a petrol container at Bunnings to replace the missing one and then at Cattana Wetlands.
We wandered around the ponds for
about an hour with DM achieving success by being the only one of us to see
Little Kingfisher – which we were there for him to see. We had Varied Triller, Leaden Flycatcher, Spangled
Drongos, an Osprey, Australian
Swiflets, Black Butcherbird and
White-necked Heron among other more common species. It was hot and muggy.
On to the Esplanade and a search for Mangrove Robin – successfully at the
beach end of the mangroves. A second search for Rufous Owl wasn’t so successful
unfortunately and it continues to elude me.
We filled up with fuel, ($164 @
$147.9/l) and found our way to a car wash where we cleaned up the car. Then we
dropped AJ off at the airport for his earlier flight home and DM, SP & I
went to Centenary Lakes in the Botanical Gardens for a last bird before
leaving. Very close Rajdah Shelduck
and the usual assortment of birds one can see in the Gardens in the middle of
the day and we were back at the car, completing last minute packing and then
driving to CampersOz to return the car.
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| Radjah Shelduck |
Once that was completed - along with
a promise to refund us a day’s rent due to the breakdown – we got a cab to the
airport, stopping off at Centenary lakes again to briefly look for my glasses
which I had managed to lose…..and checked in for our 17.00 flights to Brisbane
(SP & I) and Sydney (DM).
It was a very successful trip bird
wise for me – 8 lifers, 10 Australian ticks and 5 species to add to my
Queensland list. The only dips being Rufous Owl (was always going to be
unlikely) and Zitting Cisticola which seems unusual given the advice we had
received – however, it is what it is!
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