March Madness

Have had a very busy start to March with so many highlights - its always nice when you have a mix of clients, those who have never been birding in Australia before and those who have specific targets that they have failed to find in previous trips. As the autumn develops some species are definitely becoming harder to find and conversely others seem to be easier.
Here is a selection of the high points from the last few tours.

Golden Bowerbird is one of the Wet Tropics most sort after endemics

although the male is still occasionally tending his bower he is no longer reliably there as he spends more time away from it than he does in September - February the key season for him.

Satin Bowerbirds on the other hand seem to be easier to find as there are large groups of 20+ female types roaming the forest feeding on fruiting trees. In early February we were lucky enough to find this female on her nest

picture by Patrick de Geest
Although the nest is now no longer active (hopefully because they have fledged) it was a real privilege to be able to watch her.

One of the less spectacular endemics is the Mountain Thornbill - this has a very restricted range and can at times be hard to find but recently they have been very obvious in the right habitat, occasionally allowing decent photos to be taken

picture by Patrick de Geest

Another one of the slightly less colourful endemics that is more often heard than seen well is the Bower's Shrike-Thrush. Again the last couple of weeks we have seen some very showy individuals

picture by Patrick de Geest

One of the species that I am frequently asked to find is Eastern Crested Shrike-Tit. This has a very restricted range in Far North Queensland and so far I have been exceptionally lucky and found it for all my clients who have asked for it - and in the case of Paul from New Zealand he had tried seven times and was starting to think that they did not exist. Well much to his relief (let alone his wifes) we found a family party with the adults feeding three fledged young

This poor shot shows the male - identifiable by his black bib.

We have also been lucky in finding some very unexpected species. The biggest surprise has been a group of up to six Dusky Woodswallows that stayed in one area for about three weeks, these are not a common species in FNQ.

This very bad picture does clearly show one of the diagnostic features of this species - the white leading edge to the wing.

It has not all been about the birds either. We have had an amazing run of Tree Kangaroo sightings

the most spectacular being of a an adult with a joey who was having difficulties getting down from the top of a tree, unfortunately whilst the views were great through binoculars it was just too distant for my camera!

Another perennial favourite with clients is the Boyds Forest Dragon

this very attractive lizard is not particularly rare just exceedingly good at hiding so it always a thrill to find them in the rainforest.

As March draws to an end and autumn sets in it will be fascinating to see what we find over the next few weeks. This weekend there is the potential for a storm or two which may blow a few seabirds in so watch this space