Roly and Helen arrived today, they are our birding friends from Adelaide and will be spending the next few days with us and were due to arrive around 9:30am so I walked down the track to the main road to guide them to the tree-house. I took my scope of course and got my first views of the Metallic Starling, what a stunner I can't wait to get that one in the 'can', several small flocks were whizzing passed me and I noted a small number of White-rumped Swiftlets a bit higher up.
Back on rhe veranda the very obliging Kookaburra came to visit so I reeled off a few shots, rude not to!
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| another cracking picture by Dawn with her new camera |
After settling in for an hour or so Roly wanted to go birding, so we all went into Cairns to the Esplanade, unfortunately the tide was high so no mud was exposed for the waders, however, we walked northward towards the mangroves and found some sandy spits with birds on them. We quickly listed Great Knot, Curlew Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Whimbrel, Grey-tailed Tattler, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Bar-tailed Godwit.
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| Great Knots with Silver Gull and if you look carefully a Bar-tailed Godwit is hiding behind the gull - taken by Dawn |
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| Great Egret on the beach - taken by Dawn |
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| Varied Honeyeater on rhe Esplanade |
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| Grey-tailed Tattler next to a B.T. Godwit |
After nipping into the shopping centre we drove back to our tree-house dropped the girls off and went proper birding for the first time in over a week! Roly and I drove to the cemetery back in Cairns and walked right through to the Centenary Lakes. We had a great time and I listed quite a few new species, it was great to have a birder with me who knew all rhe calls. We soon listed Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Rainbow Bee-eater, Bush Stone-Curlew, Olive-backed Oriole and rhe prized Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - these tiny parrots are no bigger than a sparrow and whizz around at 100mph!
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| Bush Stone-Curlews in the cemetery where they breed |
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| Peaceful Dove - aptly named when seen in rhe cemetery |
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| wouldn't mind a Rainbow Bee-eater on my headstone - looks a bit like Blue-cheeked Bee-eater |
Moving into the lakes area we found a flock of the beautiful Rajah Shelduck, a Mistletoebird and lots more honeyeaters including Brown-backed Honeyeater. By now it was 4pm and dark heavy clouding appeared, it was going to rain and rhe light was fading fast. So we made a hasty retreat back through rhe cemetery stopping to look at Yellow Oriole and another bird tracked down by its call the Leaden Flycatcher.
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| Rajah Shelduck |
With just a hour's daylight left we dashed our to the Cattana Wetlands to try for a few more species before dark. This paid off with good views of Green-Pygmy Goose and a White-browed Crake, I love finding crakes and this one was a bit special, my first in Oz. Then we bumped into a male Red-backed Fairy Wren, wow what a stunner, it went straight into my top five, it's a bird I've wanted to see for years.
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| Red-backed Fairy Wren taken in very bad light with a high ISO |
It started to rain just as we heard a Golden-headed Cisticola and two different cuckoos but it was too dark to pursue them, rhe rain increased and we quickly retreated to rhe car park. I added 16 new birds today all because I had an Auzzie birder with me, good old Roly.
1. Metallic Starling
2. White-rumped Swiftlet
3. Rajah Shelduck
4. Green Pygmy Goose
5. White-browed Crake
6. Bush Stone-Curlew
7. Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
8. Double-eyed Fig-Parrot
9. Leaden Flycatcher
10. Red-backed Fairy Wren
11. Varied Honeyeater
12. Brown Honeyeater
13. Brown-backed Honeyeater
14. Mistletoebird
15. Yellow Oriole
16. Olive-backed Oriole
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