20190828-MMPI0059 - Mossman Region North Queensland Holiday
At the end of August 2019 I travelled to Mossman north of Cairns in far North Queensland for a short break for my wife's birthday. I took my bird photography gear and managed to get a few bird outings in during the four days.
Following a trip there several years ago I was determined to capture the large Kites that swoop low over freshly-harvested sugar cane fields looking for injured rodents and reptiles. I managed to find a field with over 50 Black Kites and Whistling Kites just before sunset, capturing a few good shots as they took to the air when I got out of the car. I found that with so many raptors circling in the air it is difficult to concentrate on one at a time and didn't get too many keepers.
Another species I wanted to see again was the Orange-footed Scrubfowl, a large ground-dwelling bird that builds a huge nest mound similar to the well-known Australian Brush Turkey. The rainforest lodge we stayed at had a pair of Orange-footed Scrubfowl on a nest right near the pool, but that proved to be very difficult to photograph due to low light and intervening foliage.
A day trip to the world heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest area yielded no sightings of our target species, the Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) which we did encounter first-hand there on out last trip. On the way back across the Daintree River I found a Forest Kingfisher, hoping it was my first sighting of a Little Kingfisher but this beautiful bird was not a bad second prize.
On another afternoon we went to a small town named Julatten on the tableland above Port Douglas, which has several well-reported birding locations. It turned out these locations were all at bird lodges, so we retired to the Julatten Hotel for a cold drink, to watch the sun go down and see what species we could find. Sitting on the deck that afternoon with my wife, very friendly locals, the sun going down and some new species for me made it one of those unexpected, wonderful occasions that you just can't plan. Here I got two new "lifer" species, the Graceful Honeyeater (Meliphaga gracilis) and Dusky Myzomela (Myzomela obscura), also one of the beautiful little Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis) feeding on Lantana flowers. We hoped to see a Platypus in the dam below the pub, locals told us they were a regular sighting at dusk but alas no luck for us on that day.
On a morning trip to Port Douglas I found a very accomodating Scrubfowl that was walking along a park and allowed me to move along with it, getting photos when light and bird movement allowed. That same morning I found a large fig tree at a sports field which had several species feeding underneath on fallen fig fruits. I lay down across the road and once the bird settled, got lots of good shots as the very calm birds grew used to my presence and returned to their feeding. This was a great chance to get close to these usually-flighty small Peaceful Doves, giving me some nice eye contact and poses. A small flock of Magpie Geese (Anseranas semipalmata) flew past, happily they alerted me to their approach by letting out a few low honks, giving me time to change to in-flight camera settings and snap away.
An afternoon outing to Port Douglas yielded some good opportunities and species. I got some good shots of the northern species of the Australasian Figbird (Sphecotheres vieilloti), which have a bright yellow colouring unlike their more southern cousins in my home region of South-East Queensland. I was thrilled to show my wife a beautiful male Leaden Flycatcher (Myiagra rubecula) up quite close in the park, wiggling his tail each time he perched as is common for Flycatchers. I then spent a bit of time on a mooring pontoon capturing various Greater Crested Terns (Thalasseus bergii) in flight as they flew past or dived looking for small fish or fishermen's bait. One of the fishermen pointed out a Striated Heron (Butorides striata) that had been hiding unseen by me in a small Mangrove tree a few metres away. We finished off the afternooon with a Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides) and a Pied Imperial Pigeon (Ducula bicolor) calling from a tree in the car park, before retiring for a nice dinner at a local establishment.
So not a bad few days of birding considering the trip was a short break with my wife who rarely comes birding with me. It was lovely to share some of these encounters.
Read MoreFollowing a trip there several years ago I was determined to capture the large Kites that swoop low over freshly-harvested sugar cane fields looking for injured rodents and reptiles. I managed to find a field with over 50 Black Kites and Whistling Kites just before sunset, capturing a few good shots as they took to the air when I got out of the car. I found that with so many raptors circling in the air it is difficult to concentrate on one at a time and didn't get too many keepers.
Another species I wanted to see again was the Orange-footed Scrubfowl, a large ground-dwelling bird that builds a huge nest mound similar to the well-known Australian Brush Turkey. The rainforest lodge we stayed at had a pair of Orange-footed Scrubfowl on a nest right near the pool, but that proved to be very difficult to photograph due to low light and intervening foliage.
A day trip to the world heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest area yielded no sightings of our target species, the Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) which we did encounter first-hand there on out last trip. On the way back across the Daintree River I found a Forest Kingfisher, hoping it was my first sighting of a Little Kingfisher but this beautiful bird was not a bad second prize.
On another afternoon we went to a small town named Julatten on the tableland above Port Douglas, which has several well-reported birding locations. It turned out these locations were all at bird lodges, so we retired to the Julatten Hotel for a cold drink, to watch the sun go down and see what species we could find. Sitting on the deck that afternoon with my wife, very friendly locals, the sun going down and some new species for me made it one of those unexpected, wonderful occasions that you just can't plan. Here I got two new "lifer" species, the Graceful Honeyeater (Meliphaga gracilis) and Dusky Myzomela (Myzomela obscura), also one of the beautiful little Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis) feeding on Lantana flowers. We hoped to see a Platypus in the dam below the pub, locals told us they were a regular sighting at dusk but alas no luck for us on that day.
On a morning trip to Port Douglas I found a very accomodating Scrubfowl that was walking along a park and allowed me to move along with it, getting photos when light and bird movement allowed. That same morning I found a large fig tree at a sports field which had several species feeding underneath on fallen fig fruits. I lay down across the road and once the bird settled, got lots of good shots as the very calm birds grew used to my presence and returned to their feeding. This was a great chance to get close to these usually-flighty small Peaceful Doves, giving me some nice eye contact and poses. A small flock of Magpie Geese (Anseranas semipalmata) flew past, happily they alerted me to their approach by letting out a few low honks, giving me time to change to in-flight camera settings and snap away.
An afternoon outing to Port Douglas yielded some good opportunities and species. I got some good shots of the northern species of the Australasian Figbird (Sphecotheres vieilloti), which have a bright yellow colouring unlike their more southern cousins in my home region of South-East Queensland. I was thrilled to show my wife a beautiful male Leaden Flycatcher (Myiagra rubecula) up quite close in the park, wiggling his tail each time he perched as is common for Flycatchers. I then spent a bit of time on a mooring pontoon capturing various Greater Crested Terns (Thalasseus bergii) in flight as they flew past or dived looking for small fish or fishermen's bait. One of the fishermen pointed out a Striated Heron (Butorides striata) that had been hiding unseen by me in a small Mangrove tree a few metres away. We finished off the afternooon with a Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides) and a Pied Imperial Pigeon (Ducula bicolor) calling from a tree in the car park, before retiring for a nice dinner at a local establishment.
So not a bad few days of birding considering the trip was a short break with my wife who rarely comes birding with me. It was lovely to share some of these encounters.
