Daintree Wildlife Bulletin:

11 May 08. Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snake, Shining Flycatchers, Large-billed Gerygones, Azure, Forest and Sacred Kingfishers kept the cameras busy in the calm sunny conditions this morning. Large-billed Gerygones are building a nest near the village and, as if in response, Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoos are calling close-by.

9 May 08. Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snakes, Pacific Baza, Little Kingfisher, Papuan Frogmouth and, in the one tree, male and female Leaden Flycatchers in the top and male and female Shining Flycatchers in the bottom with territorial squawks. Other kingfishers included Azures and Sacreds posing for our passenger's photographs.

8 May 08. Grey Fantails, were particularly active this morning on the edges of the rainforest giving lots of vocalisations and good views. Other good birds were Little Kingfisher, Pacific Baza and Papuan Frogmouth.

5 May 08. Papuan Frogmouths are keenly sought by visiting birdwatchers and photographers and despite the showery weather this morning they did not disappoint. Other good photographic opportunities were Azure Kingfishers and a very tame Green Tree Snake.

2 May 08. Peregrine Falcons, in the first part of the trip this morning our attention was drawn upwards by the call of a Peregrine Falcon. We saw two streaking away over the sky. Ten minutes later we saw an adult perched in a tree and just finishing feeding. This sort of vocalisation could have something to do with an adult training a juvenile. Not listed above was the poor sighting of an Amethystine Python. A bird party drew our attention to an elkhorn where two of us could see part of the snake in the top of it.

30 Apr 08. Osprey observed this morning at the top of the telecom tower in Douglas Street, where there used to be an Osprey nest, being harrassed by Spangled Drongos, Torresian Crows and Magpie Larks. It is likely that Ospreys will nest there again this year.

28 Apr 08. Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snake, Eastern Water Dragon, Azure and Little Kingfisher were the best species today but the best interaction was two chattering adult male sunbirds at the top of a small shrub whilst a female sunbird (possibly a second) sat below preening in the sun.
 
27 Apr 08. Saltwater Crocodile, Green tree Snake, Great-billed Heron, Little Kingfisher, Papuan Frogmouth head up today's wildlife checklist.

24 Apr 08. Bird eats crocodile. As predicted a most eventful morning culminating in seeing a Great-billed Heron with a newly hatched Saltwater Crocodile in its bill. Other reptiles and Papuan Frogmouth, Double-eyed Fig-Parrots, Forest, Sacred, Azure and Little Kingfishers(3) were the best of the birds.

22 Apr 08. Great weather and tides coming up. Great tides for an early start that is, and it all translates to good wildlife spotting. Best this morning were; Green Tree Snake, Black Bittern, Sacred, Forest, Azure and Little Kingfishers.

21 Apr 08. Saltwater Crocodile. As the weather gets colder we see more reptiles. This morning an adult Saltwater Crocodile climbed up on the river bank as we watched, something they would not do a week or so ago. Interesting morning as the wildlife checklist shows.

20 Apr 08. In between seasons. Today a Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher at Julatten and yesterday a Pied Imperial Pigeon at Wonga Beach. Both will leave shortly for New Guinea for the winter.

18 Apr 08. Southern birds arriving: Grey Fantails, Leaden Flycatchers and more Spectacled Monarch Flycatchers are showing up in the rainforest as the year rolls on.

16 Apr 08. Snakes alive. Green Tree Snakes were out in force this morning and just about where ever we went we would find one.  Good birds included Black Bitterns and Pacific Bazas.

15 Apr 08. Natures Top Gun. Halfway through this mornings trip with interesting species like Black Bitterns and Channel-billed Cuckoos we had a good look at a Peregrine Falcon tearing strips of it's prey. A little later we saw the Grey Goshawk from yesterday.

14 Apr 08. Grey Goshawk. Three Spangled Drongos harassed an immature Grey Goshawk along Barratt Creek this morning complete with vocalisations being copied by the drongos. Black Bitterns, Papuan Frogmouths and Green Tree Snakes were other interesting species seen.

9 Apr 08. Saltwater Crocodile, Great-billed Heron, Little Kingfisher, Black Bittern, Double-eyed Fig-Parrots and an influx of Rufous Fantails this morning.

8 Apr 08. Great-billed Herons, Little Kingfisher, Black Bittern, Pacific Baza and Green Tree Snake were the platform to our wildlife list this morning. The most interesting interaction was the Pacific Baza divebombing one of the Great-billed Herons.

7 Apr 08. Black Bitterns, Papuan Frogmouths, Green Tree Snake, Forest, Sacred, Azure and Little Kingfishers head up our wildlife list this morning.

5 Apr 08. White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Channel-billed Cuckoo. Interesting interaction this morning as the eagle chased the cuckoo around the big fig trees on the river flats. Hard to come up the connection except for the fact that the eagles are courting at present and probably don't want a big parasitic cuckoo anywhere near their nest. Other good wildlife sightings were an Amethystine Python maneuvering into a sunny patch, a Great-billed Heron poking around it's nesting tree, a timid Black Bittern in the bright sun and not far away a Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo sunbathing.

4 Apr 08. Amethystine Python, Black Bitterns and Papuan Frogmouths were the best this morning in glorious weather for this time of year.

3 Apr 08. Great-billed Heron, Black Bittern, Amethystine Python, Green Tree Snake and lots of Channel-billed Cuckoos were the most interesting wildlife species this morning.

1 Apr 08. Black Bittern, Little Kingfisher, Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo and Green Tree snake were the highlights this morning.

29 Mar 08. Saltwater Crocodiles, Green Tree Snakes, Papuan Frogmouths, Sacred, Forest, Azure and Little Kingfishers top today's list.

28 Mar 08. Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snakes, Papuan Frogmouths, Azure Kingfishers and Shining Flycatchers head up this morning's Daintree Wildlife list.

26 Mar 08. Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove. Whilst we glimpsed other fruit-doves this morning we had a Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove sit for us for about 5 minutes in a little rainforest creek. Also we saw some Black Bitterns and a little crocodile eyeing off a Common Sandpiper across from the jetty.

24 Mar 08. Great-billed Heron. The wet dreary conditions that we sometimes have this time of year can be an asset when looking for some of our scarce species like Black Bitterns and Great-billed Herons. Sure enough, this morning we saw both in the wet dreary conditions.

22 Mar 08. Kingfisher morning. Laughing Kookaburra, Forest, Sacred, Azure and Little Kingfishers presented themselves this morning along with two Black Bitterns.

20 Mar 08. Great-billed Heron, Black Bitterns, Little Kingfisher, Double-eyed Fig-Parrots and Gould's Bronze-Cuckoo head up this morning's wildlife checklist on a flooded river in bright sunshine.

15 Mar 08. Wet Season update. We returned home yesterday by car. The last section involved driving through the wettest part of Australia; Tully, Innisfail and Babinda. We got through but only hours later the road was flooded over again. The Slaty-backed Gull is still at Cooktown, if you can get there.

18 Jan 08. Best birds this morning were; Great-billed Heron, Black Bitterns, Latham's Snipe and Double-eyed Fig-Parrots.

12 Jan 08. Black Bitterns were more plentiful this morning and we were pleasantly surprised with another Great-billed Heron which flew over the boat and then perched for a brief photographic session.

4 Jan 08. Great-billed Heron. Great start to the new year with good sightings of our most elusive bird - the Great-billed Heron. This was wonderful after sightings of some secretive Black Bitterns and colourful Wompoo Fruit-Doves.
 

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