End of the year and summer swelters

I've lived in Australia for 14-years now, mostly at Pardalote Holt and I'd like to be able to know what to expect as the season changes, but this year it just seems to have been hot.  Don't get me wrong, it's usually hot, hot and humid, in the wet season, but this time its been even hotter and more humid.  It's been pretty unpleasant for both us and the chickens, although despite a plethora of chicken killing hot days, we've only lost two, one of which was sick and the other fairly old. I think I've largely got a handle on the challenges that 40-degree days cause the chooks, but this year there seems to have been a lot more of such days.  Of course some critters positively revel in the heat and humidity, especially lizards...

A Lace Monitor stops from its flight up a tree to check me out.

A Water Dragon with an oddly coloured mismatching head.

The rest of the wildlife appears relatively unaffected. Parrot numbers increase as the weather warms up and the number of Galahs has boomed from a couple of pairs to a couple of dozen.  Their noisy offspring are a constant chorus at the moment, hissing, clucking and crying for food. In fact anyone coming to visit for the 'peace of the countryside/bush' forget it. The Holt seems robed by a cacophony, by day it's the crowing roosters, honking Friarbirds, crying Peacocks, the staccato chatter of screaming Guinea fowl, hissing Galahs, rattling Spangled Drongos, screeching Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and cackling Kookaburras. As dusk falls the day cacophony is replaced by the nocturnal dissonance of squawking Fruitbats, squealing Possums, growling Koala, waves of sizzing Cicada, motor revving Cane Toads, the ping pong plock of the Striped Marsh Frogs  and...... the occasional barking dog (GET BACK INSIDE BITSY!!). Now, I'm not complaining about this after all, it's an indication of the success we've had in attracting wildlife, but it can get a tad distracting.

A Brush-tailed Mountain Possum just hanging around

Quiet as mice in the day, but wait until dusk falls and they really start growling.

Some of you may have noted that I missed a post in Dec/Jan and I apologise, but life just got a wee bit busy. Over the Xmas period we hosted nine Airb&b guests, who were a delight, and in the new year I took on the permanent role of HR Manager for a mining company. Living where we do is a lifestyle choice (and one that I wouldn't readily change), but it does mean that I leave for work at 6.50 am and return at 6.50 pm, and I get up at 5 am to release, feed and water the birds.  This gives me only the weekends free to catch up on the housework and squeeze in some work on the grounds and a little birding. This isn't a complaint, I am just happy to be back on a regular salary, it's just the way things are for the time being.

On another front I am saving time as I've reluctantly stopped posting photographs of the Tamborine Mountain Wildlife Pics page.  I've enjoyed contributing to the page over the last few years, but more recently I found myself increasingly drawn into debates over whether to feed wild birds or not. It's an area that I feel strongly about and I stand on the side of the debate supported by the RSPB, Audubon Society, Griffith University Environment Dept, and various other scientific studies. On the other side of the debate are the Wildlife Carers who have the unenviable task of taking sick birds to the vets (usually to be euthanized). The particular focus of this part of the debate is Psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD) an awful viral disease that affects New World and Old World Parrots.  The disease attacks the feathers, beak and claws of affected birds, sometimes in different ways, but in essence their feathers fail, beaks become malformed and liable to secondary infection and then the birds die. It is horrible. The studies indicate that the chief infection path for the disease is through the nest site as the fledglings immature immune system makes them vulnerable, however, adult birds can pass the disease on to each other through feather debris and faeces.  The Wildlife Carers have latched onto the latter and decided that the best approach is not to feed wild birds at all; however, studies on feeding wild birds, by a number of sources (including Prof. Jones from Griffith) have determined that whilst feeding wild birds can increase the chances of passing on infections (for a variety of diseases) the beneficial effect on the population as a whole far outweighs the disease transmission factor. With this in mind I believe we should be encouraging people to feed birds and educating them on the right way to do it (good food/bad food, hygiene, etc). Anyway, my posts on the facebook page were attracting  comments that were increasingly unpleasant, so I decided to leave....but you can still see my piccy's here.

Nov/Dec Birds

Regulars (seen daily)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Brown Honeyeater
Cicadabird

The shy Cicadabird

Common Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch
Galah

Mother and child Galah photobombed by Rainbow Lorikeet

King Parrot

Male King Parrot, always inquisitive.

Laughing Kookaburra
Little Corella
Noisy Friarbird
Olive-backed Oriole

Olive-backed Oriole catches the worm.

Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Duck on the dam.

Rainbow Lorikeet
Spangled Drongo
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow

Common (seen weekly)

Channel-billed Cuckoo
Leaden Flycatcher

A female Leaden Flycatcher

Noisy Miner
Pied Butcherbird
Welcome Swallow
White-throated Gerygone
White-throated Honeyeater

White-throated Honeyeater on the flowering Thalia.

Yellow-faced Honeyeater


Uncommon (seen occasionally)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Common Mynah
Dollarbird
Eastern Boobook
Eastern Koel
Eastern Yellow Robin
Figbird
Forest Kingfisher

Forest Kingfishers nest in tree termite nests.

Grey-Shrike Thrush
Little Friarbird
Pale-headed Rosella

A juvenile Pale-headed Rosella

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Scarlet Honeyeater
Variegated Fairy Wren

The stunning male Variegated Fairy Wren

White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (seen only once)

Blue-faced Honeyeater
Brown Cuckoo Dove
Buff-rumped Thornbill

The tiny Buff-rumped Thornbill

Collared Sparrowhawk
Eastern Spinebill
Little Pied Cormorant

Little Pied Cormorant sounds off.

Red-browed Finch
Striated Pardalote
Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
White-bellied Sea Eagle

Australia's second largest eagle, the White-bellied Sea Eagle circles in search of prey.

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

The numbers are down, but that's a reflection of my available free time at the moment.  See you soon with an even hotter and wetter January.

October and the season starts to change

Pacific Black Ducks sailing off into the sunset

October is a time when the seasons change and we begin to look toward the wet season. The smaller birds such as the Honeyeaters, Padalotes, Gerygones and Thornbills move deeper into the woodland as the summer visitors arrive.  Dollarbirds, Cicadabirds and Channel-billed Cuckoos begin to arrive as the weather warms and the humidity begins to hint of the summer storms to follow.  Down on the Lap Swamp the Curly Milfoil is blooming and the dragonfly population explodes as the days heat up.

An Australian Emperor takes a break

 Dragonflies and Damselflies are tricky to photograph as I have to wait until they land on something, and more frequently than not they are happier darting back and forth across the still waters of the dam. Some, such as the Common Glider and the Tau Emerald virtually never land, whilst others seem happy to sun themselves on a rock or stem.

An Australian Emperor on the seed thrown grass heads

 The shot below was one of those rare moments when I managed to catch a Common Glider at rest. These fairly large dragonflies are more commonly seen on the wing, even mating in flight.  The best identifying feature are the deep red markings at the base of their wings.

A Common Glider takes a rare break

 I suspect my 100-400mm Canon zoom isn't the best lens for shooting them, but it's the only lens I have and so we'll just have to make do.  Having said that it's brilliant for birds.

A newbie for me, a Black-faced Percher.

Eastern Billabongflies mating on the dam.

Another new one for me, the Unicorn Darner

The Unicorn Darner laying eggs form the pad of the Milfoil

The other effect of the increasing temperature is an increase in lizard sightings.  You will see a variety of skinks around the Holt throughout the year. If you take a walk through the bush you will see dozens of the little fellows scutting through the leaf litter, but as summer approaches you begin to see the larger beasties, often sunning on the gravel at the side of the road (and unfortunately frequently as roadkill).

A Common Bearded Dragon

Very scaly and spikey.

A Major Skink

and a small Skink that I couldn't be bothered to ID because there's so many of them

I was getting very worried this month as the Plumed Whistling Ducks vanished. They have been here daily since the big storm of 2012 and early in the month there numbers began to drop and then by mid moth they had vanished. My only idea as to where they might have gone was that unseasonal rainfalls on the western side of the Great Dividing Range had brought about a rush of growth and flowering, which might have tempted them away, but I am relieved to report that as I write this (at the end of November) they have returned in numbers again.

a pair of Plumed Whistling Ducks

and on that happy note let's move onto the rest of the birds....

Regulars (seen daily)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove

A Bar-shouldered Dove

Common Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch
Galah

A Galah snacking on grevillea flowers

King Parrot
Little Corella
Noisy Friarbird
Olive-backed Oriole
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Pale-headed Rosella
Pied Butcherbird
Rainbow Lorikeet

Portrait of a Rainbow Lorikeet

Sulphur crested Cockatoo
Welcome Swallow

Common (seen weekly)

Brown Honeyeater

The small but very vocal Brown Honeyeater

Cicadabird
Forest Kingfisher
Laughing Kookaburra
Plumed Whistling Duck
Red-browed Finch
Scarlet Honeyeater
Spangled Drongo

A Spangled Drongo on the Silky Oak

Striated Pardalote
Torresian Crow
White-throated Gerygone
White-throated Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Uncommon (seen occasionally)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Channel-billed Cuckoo
Collared Sparrowhawk

A Collared Sparrowhawk causes a stir amongst the chooks

Common Mynah
Eastern Yellow Robin

An Eastern Yellow Robin collecting nesting material from a Stringybark Gum

Dollarbird
Grey Shrike-Thrush
Leaden Flycatcher
Little Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Southern Boobook
Variegated Fairy Wren

The male Variegated Fairy Wren

White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (seen only once)

Brown Goshawk
Brown Thornbill

A Brown Thornbill on a She-Iak (Casuarina)

Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Grey Goshawk
Intermediate Egret
Little Wattlebird
Pheasant Coucal
Purple Swamphen

A Purple Swamphen lurking in the sedge on the Lap Swamp

White-bellied Sea Eagle
Willie Wagtail
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

Which is 57-species

Up the mountain

Just a note, this is a mid-posting, a quick note between the monthly birding lists to ramble on a little about things beyond the Holt.

A Red-Necked Pademelon

As most of you (my eleven gallant followers) may be aware Pardalote Holt is built on the saddle between two unnamed foothills of Mount Tamborine. Its always seemed a little odd to me that there are so many geographical features in Australia that don't bear a name. I suspect there might be an Aboriginal name for the area, but who knows?  Anyway, I digress, we built the Holt on the side of Mt Tamborine.  The mountain wears a broad kilt of Eucalypt woodland about its flanks, but as you make the final climb to the plateau you enter sub-tropical rain forests that apparently hail back to the super-continent of Gondwana.  Pretty impressive huh! At one point in time Australia was covered with rainforest, but as Gondwana split apart and the climate changed the continent dried out and so the remains of these ancient rainforests are now limited to a scattering of mountain tops along the east coast of Australia...and we've got some just up the road!

Now trying the tempt the rainforest down the hill to grow around the Holt is a bit of a non-starter.  I've tried to grow a small patch utilizing the grey water from out bio tanks, but realistically its just too warm and too dry down here.  So, if I want to enjoy the rain forest I have to take a short drive up the hill (or a long steep walk) and at the top there are a number of preserved areas with interesting walks to enjoy.  I'm stating the obvious here, but the flora and fauna is dramatically different from around the Holt and so each trip is quite an adventure.  I avoid the trails on the weekend as they are very popular amongst the tourists and few of the timid beasties that dwell within the deep green will hang around when there's a troupe of Korean holidaymakers tramping through the glens.  So, the best time to go is during the week, and preferably as soon after dawn as possible so that you still catch the shy nocturnals grabbing a last snack before hunkering down behind the verdant cloak to sit out the day.

As you wander the paths you need to keep your ears open as you are more likely to be alerted to the presence of something by the rustle of leaves than by seeing something; however, a good indicator of the likelihood of the local inhabitants being around is their food being left around.  Contrary to general opinion animals aren't tidy creatures and they completely ignore signs about littering, but that is to our advantage because it gives us clues to their whereabouts.

A part eaten Black Apple.

What a mess!

and noting the uneaten fruit can provide further indications of hungry critturs.

An invasive weed, the pretty Mickey Mouse plant.

The Rose-leaved Raspberry

and the Veiny Morinda

It should be pointed out that I am NOT an expert on Rainforest flora and I have no idea as to whether these fruits are poisonous or otherwise to humans, so please don't try to taste them just because they look pretty.

Anyway, back to my walk.  Perhaps one of my favourite routes is the less well trod Palm Grove section where there are oodles of Red-legged Pademelons.

Mum and Joey munching some green stuff

A passing male is enough for Joey to nip back indoors for safety.

But soon reappears to checkout the munching sounds.

These charming creatures are very skittish, but quite common on the trail.

Yup, I'm watching you guys.

and a passing male further along the track.

The Rainforest provides a home for a great deal more species of furry beasties, but for now I'll move on to my feathered friends.  Perhaps one of the more commonly seen birds in the rain forest is the Pale Yellow Robin, who obligingly pops down to see who is creeping along the track.

Pale Yellow Robin

Another frequently seen small brown job is the Brown Thornbill that can often be seen in small groups scuttling around amongst the shrubs as they hunt for insects.  The giveaway hat they are around is their call, a quiet, but insistent high pitched 'seee' or some fussy squeaks.

At 10cm the Brown Thornbill is one of Australia's smallest birds.

 Little Shrike Thrush are somewhat larger, but less common, but even so they are not an unusual sight amongst the lower branches.

The Little Shrike Thrush

Another Thrush, but less common, is the Bassian Thrush

The Bassian Thrush is more commonly found in the gloom.

You are more likely to find some birds nearer the edges of the forests. Not because they don't live in the deeper sections, but it is at the edges where they come down to feed.

The male Satin Bowerbird searching for food on a lawn that borders the rain forest.

and his mate, Mrs Bowerbird.

One bird I almost always hear, but less commonly see is the Wompoo Fruit Dove... I've often mistaken their call for people talking further down the track, but once you get used to it the call is an unmistakable deep and gruff 'wollack-a-woo'.

The Wompoo Fruit Dove

Whilst the Wompoo seems to spend its time high in the upper canopy the Log Runner clearly lives on the forest floor and its the rustle of leaves that will mostly indicate their presence.

A male Logrunner with a white throat

and the female with an orange throat.

Other birds that are more usual on the forest floor include...

The White-browed Scrubwren

and the elusive Noisy Pitta

Somewhat less common, but dazzling when you see them are the...

A Paradise Riflebird

Regents Bowerbird

Now there's one big omission from this list, Albert's Lyrebird, and that's because I have yet to get a decent shot of one.  I now refer to my chase of the Lyrebird as 'Hunting the Snark' and am setting out on regular expeditions to get a decent picture of one.  So at this point I shall leave you until the end of the month report.  Cheers