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Daintree
Wildlife Bulletin:
3 Jul 09.
Misty morning,
produced Great-billed Herons for the fifth tour in a row. Other good
birds followed being Papuan Frogmouths, Azure and Forest
Kingfishers, Shining and Leaden Flycatchers, Grey and Rufous
Fantails, Golden and Grey Whistlers, Australian Hobby and the list
went on.......
2 Jul 09.
Eventful morning
with Great-billed Herons, Papuan Frogmouths, Little Kingfisher,
Azure Kingfishers, Shining Flycatchers, Green Tree Snake being the
best and a couple of surprises with Brown Falcon and two female
Hardheads (ducks).
1 Jul 09.
Great-billed Herons
again this morning along with Papuan Frogmouths, kingfishers,
flycatchers, other herons and some Green Tree Snakes.
29 Jun 09. Great-billed Herons. We
could hear "Crocodile Birds" calling in the pre-dawn and made our
way up-stream to try and see them. Sure enough we were
treated to good sightings and more calling. These huge herons have
been called the Crocodile Bird because of the loud roaring call that
is mistakenly attributed to crocodiles. I am hoping to edit some
video of this and have it up on YouTube before long.
26 Jun 09.
Birdwatchers morning.
Great-billed Heron, Little Kingfisher, Papuan Frogmouths and Little
(Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo headed up the birds
this morning.
25 Jun 09.
Bats. An interesting
thing to do over the next month or so is to watch Northern Mastiff
Bats prepare to bed down for the day. In the twilight (about 6:20am) before our
dawn river trip these small insectivore bats can be seen around the
street light near the jetty. They can then be seen as it gets more
light circling the green boats before they tuck up into the
lifejackets in the roof often swooping low to drink from the river
on their way.
21 Jun 09.
Oh what a beautiful morning,
Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree
Snake, Azure, Sacred, Forest and Little Kingfishers, Papuan
Frogmouths, Nankeen Night Heron, Shining Flycatchers and the list
just went on............
18 Jun 09.
Saltwater Crocodiles,
Green Tree Snake, Papuan Frogmouths, Nankeen Night Heron, Azure
Kingfishers, Shining Flycatchers caused the most interest this
morning.
17 Jun 09.
Great-billed Heron,
Papuan Frogmouths, Shining Flycatchers, Yellow Orioles, Nankeen
Night Herons, Large-billed Gerygone, Sacred and Azure Kingfishers
were the best this morning with the healthy tide.
13 Jun 09.
Great-billed Heron,
Saltwater Crocodile, Papuan Frogmouths, Green Tree Snake, Little,
Azure and Sacred Kingfishers led the way for a good wildlife cruise
on the Daintree River this morning.
11 Jun 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
Green Tree Snake, Eastern Water Dragon this morning in the early
morning sun. Good birds too, Great-billed Heron, Papuan Frogmouths,
Blue-winged Kookaburras, Yellow-breasted Boatbills and the list went
on...
8 Jun 09.
Intermediate Masked Lapwing,
rare anywhere but especially
Daintree. Records for Daintree show that Intermediate Masked
Lapwings have been seen here three times in the last 20 years. Great
with other birds this morning too. Also lots of Green Tree Snakes
were seen in the early morning sun.
6 Jun 09.
Saltwater Crocodile.
Just one of the many advantages of going out so early is that when
we see a crocodile we see it well. At dawn we often see them moving
unlike later in the day when they just lie on the bank. Good birds
this morning were Double-eyed Fig-Parrots, Papuan Frogmouths, Fairy
Gerygone, Yellow Orioles, Shining Flycatchers and Azure Kingfishers.
3 Jun 09.
Pied Monarch.
As we go
into winter the sightings of Pied Monarchs increase dramatically.
Despite the high tide we had a good run as the wildlife list shows.
1 Jun 09.
Victoria's Riflebird
created a lot of interest this morning as it is the only Australian
endemic Bird of Paradise. Not all of us got a good view however.
Other favourites were Papuan Frogmouths, Shining Flycatchers and to
finish off Azure Kingfisher.
30 May 09.
Pied Monarch,
Great-billed Heron, Papuan Frogmouths, Forest, Sacred and Azure
Kingfishers proved most popular with the birdwatchers this morning.
28 May 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
Green Tree Snake, Great-billed Heron, Papuan Frogmouths, Victoria's
Riflebird, Fairy Martin, Shining Flycatcher, Azure, Forest and
Sacred Kingfishers heads up a good list of Daintree wildlife this
morning.
26 May 09.
Great-billed Heron,
Papuan Frogmouths, Nankeen Night Herons, Little, Azure, Sacred and
Forest Kingfishers provided most of the entertainment this morning
in the wet conditions.
24 May 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
Green Tree Snake, Papuan Frogmouths, Azure Kingfishers, Shining
Flycatchers and Yellow Orioles were our highlights on a beautifully
cool morning.
22 May 09.
Better weather,
crisp
mornings and sunny days are helping with the crocodile sightings and
other species that sit in the sun on a cool morning. Nankeen Night
Heron, Papuan Frogmouths are good examples. Also Great-billed Herons
were seen and heard this morning.
20 May 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
Green Tree Snake, Great-billed Herons and Papuan Frogmouths lead the
interest this morning.
15 May 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
Papuan Frogmouths, Azure, Forest and Sacred Kingfishers, Shining and
Leaden Flycatchers and two passage migrants; Dollarbird and
Channel-billed Cuckoo caused the most interest this morning.
13 May 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
Great-billed Heron, Papuan Frogmouths, Azure Kingfishers, Shining
Flycatchers and drizzly rain punctuated this morning's trip on the
Daintree River.
10 May 09.
Little Kingfisher,
Green Tree Snake, Papuan Frogmouths, Azure Kingfishers and Shining
Flycatchers were a hit this morning in the untidy weather.
8 May 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
Great-billed Heron, Little Kingfisher, Papuan Frogmouths and
Double-eyed Fig-Parrots were this morning's highlights.
7 May 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
Papuan Frogmouths and Little Bronze-Cuckoo were the best during the
high tide this morning.
5 May 09.
Great-billed Heron,
Papuan Frogmouths, Shining Flycatchers, Azure, Forest, Sacred
Kingfishers and a Cinderella performance of Black-winged Stilts made
this morning's trip in the rain memorable.
30 Apr 09.
Snakes alive.
As we
get into our winter reptiles are seen more and more. There were even
more snakes out this morning than 26 Apr, below.
28 Apr 09. Great-billed Heron,
and a roll up of more winter birds; White-faced Herons, Little
Pied Cormorants, Australasian Darters and Little Egrets.
26 Apr 09.
Great-billed Heron
and
lots of Green Tree Snakes in the early morning sun after a cool
night.
25 Apr 09.
Raptor activity.
It is now that some Daintree
raptors will start breeding. Raptors can be seen pairing up and
there are two Whistling Kites building a nest in Windy Reach.
24 Apr 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
Green Tree Snake, Great-billed Herons, Black Bittern and other birds
made for an interesting trip on the flood tide this morning.
22 Apr 09.
Great-billed Herons,
Green Tree Snake and inter-actions between different kingfisher
species were the highlights of this morning's trip.
19 Apr 09.
Great-billed Herons,
Green Tree Snake and Satin Flycatchers were the main species of
interest this morning. The herons because of their rarity, the Satin
Flycatchers for their rarity in Daintree and the snake because it is
the only reptile we have seen in the last two days.
18 Apr 09.
Great-billed Heron,
Papuan Frogmouth, Little
(Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo, Channel-billed Cuckoo, five kingfisher
species, three flycatcher species and Cairns Birdwing Butterflies
proved a hit with our visiting birdwatchers this morning.
16 Apr 09.
Great-billed Heron
was
a treat for our visiting birdwatchers as were Channel-billed Cuckoo,
Brush Cuckoo and Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoos.
15 Apr 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
Green Tree Snake, Shining Flycatchers, Double-eyed Fig-Parrots,
Sacred, Forest and Azure Kingfishers, no rain and sun periods for
which we were very grateful.
14 Apr 09.
Black Bittern,
Black-necked Stork, Green Tree Snake, Shining Flycatchers, Forest,
Sacred and Azure Kingfishers were the best this morning in between
the rain periods.
13 Apr 09.
Saltwater Crocodiles, Green Tree Snake, Papuan Frogmouths,
Forest, Sacred, Azure and Little Kingfishers made for a good
morning.
12 Apr 09.
Great-billed Heron,
Green Tree Snake, Papuan
Frogmouths and Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoos were the best this
morning.
10 Apr 09.
Great-billed Heron,
seen perched under the canopy of a large tree in Stewart's Creek.
Before that we witnessed two Channel-billed Cuckoos being harassed
by a Peregrine Falcon.
We are closed for the wet season
from 31 Jan to 10 Apr 2009.
25 Jan 09.
Great-billed Herons,
Black Bittern
were the best birds this morning.
23 Jan 09.
Great-billed Heron,
Black Bitterns,
Little Kingfisher and Double-eyed Fig-Parrots were the best birds
this morning.
13 Jan 09.
Great-billed Heron,
Black Bitterns, Pacific
Baza and Double-eyed Fig-Parrots were the main treats this morning
on a flooded river.
7 Jan 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
Great-billed Herons,
Black Bitterns, Little Kingfisher, female Eastern Koel, Azure
Kingfishers, Shinning Flycatchers were the backbone of our wildlife
tour this morning.
3 Jan 09.
Saltwater Crocodile,
found dead in Barratt
Creek this morning. This is an usual sighting but it was in an area
where crocodiles nest at this time of the year. Good birds as the
checklist shows.
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