Australia's Unique Wildlife: Birds and Beasts Down-under

[kittykat23uk]

What a great selection of mammals!

[Feliz]

Wow, this is a great trip report - loving all the bird photos but the sugar gliders are definitely my favourite!

 

Luckily Australia is very close for us - I can see a trip in our future 

[janzin]

6 hours ago, kittykat23uk said:

What a great selection of mammals!

@kittykat23uk you would go nuts over all the great mammals!

 

5 hours ago, Feliz said:

Wow, this is a great trip report - loving all the bird photos but the sugar gliders are definitely my favourite!

 

Luckily Australia is very close for us - I can see a trip in our future 

@Feliz what, you are in New Zealand and haven't been to Australia?? LOL that's like me never going to Canada! (Well, I've been, but not since I was a child.) Anyway thanks for the kind comments, and get yourself over there!

[janzin]

The next morning we got up very early, and headed out before breakfast to try for our next target mammal...the unique Platypus. The Platypus is one of only two genera of egg-laying mammals--or monotremes-- the other being the Echidna.  The Platypus is actually fairly common in the streams of Queensland and most of eastern Australia. It was up there on the top of our list to see!

 

Right in the town of Yungaburra there is a viewing platform over a stream. Since they are most active very early in the day, we got there just as it was getting light.

 

 

 

No platypus visible from the platform, but there is also a trail that runs alongside the stream. We headed down the easy trail and it wasn't too long before we spotted our first!

 

 

 

They actually weren't that easy to photography in the murky water, as they would just swim for a few moments and then dive. We followed the stream a bit and saw quite a few more--in total I think we saw four, including what looked like a parent with a young one.

 

Another great start to the day, and we headed back to the lodge to have breakfast and explore the lodge grounds and trails to see what birds we could find.

 

[kittykat23uk]

Platypus! Fantastic!!!! 

[janzin]

oh no, I just wrote a really really long post and hit some key and now its lost.   Arrrgh. Will have to try again later.

Edited February 5, 2019 by janzin

[janzin]

okay, now that I've stopped throwing things at the PC I will try to recreate this last post. Sometimes ST saves what you've done, but this time it didn't

 

We returned to Chambers Wildlife Lodge to have breakfast on our front porch (for this leg of the trip, we always picked up breakfast provisions and put together our own picnic breakfast either in our lodgings or on the road.) The cabins at the lodge back right up on the forest and at breakfast we were  joined by the likes of Victoria's Riflebird, Spotted Catbird, and others. A piece of apple on the railing didn't hurt

 

 

A pretty great bird to share breakfast with, but that photo doesn't do it justice. Here are some better ones, from around the grounds.

 

 

We were fortunate that we were there during the time of year they do their mating displays. This is so cool to watch; they always pick a tall snag or perch and do a courtship dance with outspread wings. Here, he is dancing to another male...I imagine that was a territorial challenge. A bit far and unfortunately he never turned to face us.

 

 

 

We found another male in the forest and he seemed ready to display, and was quite a bit closer, on a short stump. We stayed with him for quite awhile and he danced around a bit as if trying to get ready--but never quite did a full display. However he did partially display, calling to show his brilliant yellow mouth!

 

 

The female is much more drab, but still a cool looking bird.

 

 

Gathering nest material.

 

 

So as not to risk losing the post again, I will save this now and continue in the next...

Edited February 5, 2019 by janzin

[Galago]

Oh my goodness! I was taken to a private garden to see Vic's Riflebird and, although we got great sightings, nothing compares with your photographs. Difficult to photograph though because the feathers turn from electric to dull in just the smallest movement. Glad you saw platypus. They really are the most extraordinary critters, aren't they?

[janzin]

The lodge is situated very near Lake Eacham and several other volcanic crater lakes. The variety of bird life on the grounds of the lodge is just mind-blowing. Here are some more of the birds we found on the trails around the lodge and on the grounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Spotted Catbird is a close cousin of the Green Catbird we saw in Lamington National Park; they are both considered in the bowerbird family, although they don't make bowers.

 

 

The Wompoo Fruit-dove is another spectacular fruit-dove of Australia. Not only is it gorgeous, but it has a lovely call, which we heard almost continually during our stay in this area. Wom-POOH, wom-POOH, wom-POOH.

 

 

 

Another fantastically colored dove of the area is the  Superb Fruit-Dove, which we saw fleetingly, but it was always too high and far for photographs.

 

 

[janzin]

After spending the morning on the grounds, we headed out for another of the crater lakes: Lake Barrine.

 

A beautiful spot.

 

 

There was really just one special bird we were looking for on the trails there: Tooth-billed Bowerbird. It looks very much like the Spotted Catbird, except it is brown. We heard them calling on the trail; it was almost impossible to get a photo due to the really dense foliage but just so you can get an idea, here is a Tooth-billed Bowerbird (sometimes also called Tooth-billed Catbird.)

 

 

This bird, again, is in the bowerbird group, and while he doesn't build a bower, he creates something called a "display-court." This is an area which he "decorates" and where he does his mating display for the female. He decorates by first clearing an area, then placing green leaves all over the ground.

 

We found his display-court! You might notice that most of the leave have their lighter side facing up--that's the way he likes it. Perhaps they show up better and brighter that way.

 

 

Very cool! There wasn't much else in the forest as it was now getting to be midday, so we retreated to a lovely lunch at the lakeside tea-house and restaurant. Did I mention that all the food in Australia was excellent?

 

 

After lunch, we went over to another nearby "tourist attraction"--the Curtain Fig Tree--not so much for birds, but for the tree itself. This historic tree is one of the largest trees in Tropical North Queensland, and there is a small boardwalk trail that enters the forest and encircles the tree. It really is quite spectacular. I really didn't have a wide enough lens to get the whole tree in.

 

 

 

The sign can explain the origin of the tree better than I can, hopefully you can read this.

 

 

There wasn't much here at the moment in terms of bird life, but Steve told us we would return at dusk to do some night birding. More on that in a bit.

 

After this we took a short walk in Mount Hypipamee National Park, which led through a dense rainforest to a very deep water-filled crater. Honestly I don't think we saw many birds there and I have zero photos from this spot. So not much to say about it

 

Our last stop for the afternoon was a well-known lookout over the tablelands, with a wetland at the base: Bromfield Swamp. Here, we were waiting for a sunset fly-in of Sarus and Brolga Cranes. The spot was beautiful. (Click for full display of the panorama.)

 

 

The cranes usually fly in around dusk. While we were waiting, we noticed a Black-shouldered Kite hunting over the fields. We entertained ourselves by attempting some flight shots. Because we were on a hill, he sometimes flew right by at eye level, making for some great photo ops!

 

 

 

We waited and waited, but still no cranes. But hold on...we turned around and a Wedge-tailed Eagle flew by! The largest bird of prey in Australia, and unmistakable--right over our heads! Wow, this was a bird we'd hoped to see in the Northern Territory and missed...did NOT expect to see him here. It all happened way to fast for anyone to get their camera on him. But we added another life bird for the day!

 

We had planned on an early dinner so that we could go out night-birding afterwards, and we were getting hungry and a bit chilly, so we decided to pack it in and head to dinner. I wonder if the cranes ever did come?

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by janzin

[Galago]

The Spectacled Monarch is gorgeous and such a great shot of the Kite fly by. I remember that fig tree - amazing to see but difficult to photograph! 

[janzin]

15 minutes ago, Galago said:

The Spectacled Monarch is gorgeous and such a great shot of the Kite fly by. I remember that fig tree - amazing to see but difficult to photograph! 

 

Indeed, even with my iPhone, which is very wide angle, I couldn't get it all in!

[janzin]

The day wasn't quite done yet. After another dinner at the Yungaburra hotel, we went directly back to the Fig Tree area with our flashlights for some night birding. As soon as we got out of the car, we spotted some movement in the trees in the parking area. Was it an owl?

 

Nope...but another new marsupial for the trip.

 

 

She was a cute little thing! You can see here why she is called "ring-tailed" possum. Also...looks like there may be something in that pouch which is why I'm calling it a "she."

 

 

And in another tree, another mammal...this one not a marsupial though.

 

 

Does it look like a rat? That's because it is; its common name is Giant White-tailed Rat. It nests and feeds in trees as well as on the forest floor.

 

Off to a good start, we again did the trail around the Curtain Fig Tree; this time in the dark. It was a bit eerie but given that we were on a boardwalk it seemed pretty safe We stopped every few feet, constantly searching and listening for owls. The possibility here would be either the Lesser Sooty Owl, or the Southern Boobook. Either would have been lifers--but alas, we struck out. Not a single call was heard, and no other eyeshine.

 

After awhile, we gave up and returned to the lodge for some last time at the night feeding station. Would we see anything new?

 

Unfortunately, nothing different--but plenty more Striped Possums and Sugar Gliders. Can't resist a couple more photos:

 

 

 

 

And another White-tailed Rat. He looks cuter here

 

 

 

Tomorrow, we sadly have to leave Yungaburra...but there's still plenty of excitement ahead.

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by janzin

[Feliz]

13 hours ago, janzin said:

 

@Feliz what, you are in New Zealand and haven't been to Australia?? LOL that's like me never going to Canada! (Well, I've been, but not since I was a child.) Anyway thanks for the kind comments, and get yourself over there!

 

  No we've definitely been to Australia - but not like you have!  I'm kicking myself that we went to the same area of Queensland that you're posting about and we had no idea of what we could have gone and seen.  We did do a great boat trip and my husband and father spent a day birding (I went snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef).

 

I go over a couple of times a year for work and enjoy seeing what I can see in Melbourne.  My old job required a bit of travel to Sydney - I loved going for early morning walks in the Botanic gardens there and looking for birds sulphur crested cockatoos, rainbow lorikeets and even the odd penguin in the harbour.

[janzin]

@Feliz ahh that makes more sense!  you are fortunate to live so close. And of course, New Zealand is another beautiful country I hope to someday visit. 

[janzin]

For the next day, our schedule had us going directly to Kingfisher Park Birding lodge--a bit back north, in Julatten. But Steve presented us with an option. There was still a very big miss on our list; big in every sense of the word. Cassowary! An iconic bird of Australia and although so far although we had seen signs... (literally--signs!) we had not yet found the bird.

 

 

Steve told us that there was a spot where it was an almost certainty: Betty's Bay, on the coast. He was eager to take us there, although it meant going quite a bit out of our way. It seemed Steve really, really wanted to get us this bird so after a bit of hesitation, we agreed, as it would be our last chance for this bird.

 

It seemed to us we drove on and on through some not very interesting countryside, for a long time. But finally we arrived at Betty's Bay. A very pretty spot where people come to just hang out on the beach, sail, and fish.

 

 

Apparently the Cassowaries roam the beach and especially the area of forest that abuts the beach. They are used to people here and often will be very unafraid, looking for handouts. In fact, people should be more afraid of them, as they can be quite dangerous if they feel threatened.

 

Well, we walked the beach--and the surrounding roads--for over an hour. It was getting quite hot. We saw...signs...

 

 

We asked some folks on the beach who said...oh there was a pair here earlier this morning. Hmmm. And....then a woman told us, oh we just saw two with a chick right up the road! Of course we ran up the road...but no birds

 

We did see some interesting little mounds on the beach, made by a tiny crab. This was the extent, pretty much, of what we found in Betty's Bay.

 

 

It was getting quite hot but Steve was determined not to fail   He directed Alan and I to sit at the cafe while he continued to look.  But still...no luck. And now we were all starving and the cafe was really busy, telling us at least an hour wait for lunch! ARRGH!  We agreed to throw in the towel. I think Steve was more disappointed then we were.

 

So, the answer to @Atdahl's question--no, we did not see Cassowary--it was probably the biggest miss of the trip. In more ways than one

 

We headed back north, and believe it or not, stopped for lunch at a McDonald's. We actually suggested it as we saw the Golden Arches and we were all starving at that point! And didn't want to waste a lot of time in some cafe. I think Steve was a little appalled but we were fine with it--the food seemed exactly the same as in the USA.

 

One reason I didn't want to waste time was that we still had an important stop to make before heading to Kingfisher Lodge: Granite Gorge Nature Park.  This is actually a private "tourist attraction" but the reason to come here is pimarily to view--and feed--the Mareeba Rock Wallabies. These are free-roaming Wallabies but since they allow you to feed them, they are scampering all over the place.

 

But there is also a target bird that is common here; and we found it before we even got to the car park.

 

Another lovely pigeon. Australia has so many great doves and pigeons!

 

 

As we got out of the car in the parking lot, we actually picked up some more new birds for the trip!

 

 

 

We also got Varied Lorikeet, another lifer--but no photos.

 

 

But now it was time for the main attraction. You are given a small bag of pellets with your admission. Normally, I don't really care for these kind of places where you are feeding wild animals...but...they were just so irresistibly cute!

 

Alan getting into the fun.

 

 

 

Some portraits. I generally found I was too close to most of them to use my DSLR with the 200-500 lens, I should have had a smaller lens on! So some of these were taken with my little Fuji Xe-3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OMG cuteness overload.  After awhile, we ran out of pellets, and a big busload of Chinese students arrived taking selfies, so it was time to skedaddle. Onward to our final couple of nights in Queensland at the Kingfisher Birding Lodge.

[Atdahl]

Great photos Janet.  Australia really has some great birds and your photos are fantastic.  Sorry to hear you had no luck with a Cassowary though.  But, that gives you a reason to go back some day. 

[janzin]

25 minutes ago, Atdahl said:

Great photos Janet.  Australia really has some great birds and your photos are fantastic.  Sorry to hear you had no luck with a Cassowary though.  But, that gives you a reason to go back some day. 

 

Many reasons to go back! After all we only saw like 1/8th of the country! (I'm not even counting the vast empty interior, lol.) And a small fraction of the birds. Definitely hope to get back there.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @janzin

 

This trip report has been such a pleasure. Thank you for persisting in preparing and uploading it here.

 

May I please ask a question?

 

Was there any aspect of your Australian visit which surprised you, i.e. was unexpected or notably differed from what you'd expected?

 

Whether a particular bird, mammal, reptile or botanical species, or something about the terrain...did anything unanticipated make an impression on you?

 

(If you tell me that seeing a vagrant Calliope Hummingbird raised an eyebrow, I'll burst out laughing!)

 

Tom K.

[janzin]

1 hour ago, Tom Kellie said:

~ @janzin

 

This trip report has been such a pleasure. Thank you for persisting in preparing and uploading it here.

 

May I please ask a question?

 

Was there any aspect of your Australian visit which surprised you, i.e. was unexpected or notably differed from what you'd expected?

 

Whether a particular bird, mammal, reptile or botanical species, or something about the terrain...did anything unanticipated make an impression on you?

 

(If you tell me that seeing a vagrant Calliope Hummingbird raised an eyebrow, I'll burst out laughing!)

 

Tom K.

 

Thanks so much @Tom Kellie  Gee, that's a tough question. In terms of wildlife I would say we were really surprised at how common it was to see wallabies and 'roos--just all over, even in cities. I thought we'd really have to hunt for them!

 

But overall I think what made the biggest impression were the people--everyone, and I mean everyone, from service staff to the security agents at the airports, and of course our guides--were just so incredibly nice!  Really, the security agents at the airports always said "have a great day" and apologized for inconveniencing us, joked with us, seemed to actually be enjoying their job--not at all what we are used to anywhere we've traveled. Everything, everywhere, no matter what you asked for, was "no worries."

Edited February 7, 2019 by janzin

[Tom Kellie]

5 minutes ago, janzin said:

Thanks so much @Tom Kellie  Gee, that's a tough question. In terms of wildlife I would say we were really surprised at how common it was to see wallabies and 'roos--just all over, even in cities. I thought we'd really have to hunt for them!

 

But overall I think what made the biggest impression were the people--everyone, and I mean everyone, from service staff to the security agents at the airports, and of course our guides--were just so incredibly nice!  Really, the security agents at the airports always said "have a great day" and apologized for inconveniencing us, joked with us, seemed to actually be enjoying their job--not at all what we are used to anywhere we've traveled. Everything, everywhere, no matter what you asked for, was "no worries."

 

~ @janzin

 

I had no idea how you might answer.

 

Your comment above may well be the most compelling post in this outstanding trip report.

 

Such an endorsement of Australian hospitality resounds, especially considering your wide travel experience.

 

What you've eloquently expressed is ample reason to consider a visit to Australia.

 

I've truly loved your trip report, but the comment above caps it off.

 

Thank you so much!

 

Tom K.

[jilm]

What an incredible trip report matched by your photos and it is nice to know that the people were so friendly....I will look forward to that next fall....and all those  Rock Wallabies...cuteness personified....

[janzin]

After Granite Gorge, we headed to Kingfisher Park Birdwatcher's Lodge for our next two nights. As you might guess, this lodge caters to birders and is set in a forested area of Julatten, with several local birding hotspots nearby. And several specialty birds to look for.

 

As it was almost dusk when we arrived, after briefly checking into our rooms we headed right out to do the "big sit" for one of the specialty birds there: Red-headed Crake. This secretive forest crake is known to come down to drink around dusk at their small pond. There are some logs set around the pond to sit and wait. There were a few other birders there when we arrived, but so far they hadn't seen it. Well, we waited until dark, heard some rustlings in the forest, but no crake emerged.  Finally we decided it just wasn't coming tonight--and we were hungry. There was always tomorrow night for another try!

 

Dinner (both nights) was at the nearby Highlander Tavern...with surprisingly gourmet food in the middle of nowhere!

 

First thing in the a.m., we took a walk around the grounds and some nearby roads. There we found some more new birds (and a few we'd seen before.)

 

 

 

The beautiful flowering trees that these honeyeaters prefer are quite common in this part of Australia, and are species of Grevillea robusta, also known as Silky Oak (no relation to Oaks--it is actually in the Protea family.)

 

 

 

 

 

We also found this beautiful butterfly--it was one I'd seen pictured in books and I really hoped we see one! The light was a bit harsh but you can see how beautiful it is.

 

The Cairns Birdwing

 

 

After our early morning walk we returned to the lodge for breakfast on the patio, next up was a hike up Mount Lewis to search for a very special bird.

 

[Pennyanne]

@janzin   I am loving this report. Your photos are superb!  I'm not much of a birder but this report has got me very interested in doing a birding trip to Australia. Thank you so much for sharing your excellent sightings.

[janzin]

After a quick breakfast we headed to nearby Mount Lewis. The trail through the forest, and up the mountain, was actually the longest and most un-manicured trail we'd been on. Still, it was easy enough for us old folks and the light at the end of the trail--the bird we were looking for--was special, and this was the best place to find it: Golden Bowerbird.

 

As we hiked through the dense forest, we saw a few other good birds. The Chowchilla was another target and very range-restricted to this area; its difficult to see as it prefers the dark, dense understory. This photo is so bad I'm not even putting my name on it but I was happy to get a record shot.

 

Chowchilla!

 

 

We also saw more Tooth-billed Catbirds, and other common forest species. The area is also known for a specific, very poisonous snake: the Red-bellied Black Snake. Steve had us be very careful in some spots where the grass was a bit tall and he thought a snake might lurk! At one point he said he saw something go across the trail but I'm not really sure if it was a snake or not.

 

Finally we reached a small body of water, which Steve told us to approach slowly because a water dragon usually hung out there and if we didn't spook it, maybe we'd get a photo. Indeed, he was home and the light was just hitting him nicely. Very pretty lizard.

 

 

Right about here we ran into another birding guide with a client. These were the only people we saw on this trail the entire two hours we hiked.  They were on their way down, and it seems they'd had success...so we were psyched.

 

Soon, we reached the spot where the bower was supposed to be (I realized at this point that Steve had GPS coordinates for it on his phone, and we weren't aimlessly trekking.) Steve went off the trail looking and shortly called us to follow. He'd heard the bird--and found the bower.

 

It was really difficult to get a photo and looking at this you can barely make out--where's the bower? But actually it was huge--see that mass of tangled sticks in the background? That's it.

 

 

here's a little info on the bower and the bird. And the snake

 

 

So we waited in the forest, near the bower--we were hearing the bird calling but would he come in?  Finally, we were rewarded!

 

 

You can actually see in that photo that he is in a somewhat odd position--that is because when he calls, he sort of throws his body back and lets out a very loud rackety call--not a pretty song.

 

Hear it here: https://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/EHGWCIGILC/XC172312-B07h56m51s12nov2013_Golden_Bowerbird2.mp3

 

An amazing bird and we spent awhile just listening and watching; hoping he would actually come down to the bower, but he didn't.

 

Well, we'd gotten our target bird and now headed back down the mountain--lunch was beckoning. There was one other possible target down at the base of the trail: the Blue-faced Parrot-finch. Although we were a bit early in the season for it--it comes later in summer--we thought we give it a shot, as the other birder had said that one had been seen recently. No luck, so after a bit of searching the grasses we headed back to the lodge for lunch.