J-J-J-J-June and it's getting nippy

Winter is well and truly here with some fairly chilly nights around the Holt. I even lit the fire a couple of times (for our British readers a 'chilly' night means hovering around ten degrees centigrade - we don't get frosts here) and I've started wearing jeans instead of shorts again.

Meanwhile back on the dam the Plumed Whistling Duck numbers are rising.  At around 6 a.m. (when I'm enjoying my morning cuppa post feeding birds and chooks), small flocks of a dozen or so ducks come floating over the treetops and then cartwheel down onto the dam. Trust me, it ain't graceful!  The other morning two flocks came into the air space simultaneously from different directions and the number of convolutions to avoid mid-air collisions was amazing to watch (and very funny), following which there where the splashes as they touched down and a flurry of angry whistling as the ducks blamed each other for the near disaster.  This was all seen in silhouette as the sky was just turning and had lightened mere minutes before.

Nothing like a good splash to clean the feathers.

As the day brightens the ducks scuttle up to the bird tables to feed, but once the bulk of the good seed has been taken they settle down to a day of preening and resting before dark falls and they head down to the river flats to feed on the rich grass in the fields bordering the river.

Followed up be some intense preening.

A bit of a flutter

The ducks arrive just on the start of dawn, but the parrots appear to enjoy a sleep in (for birds) and they don't start appearing until dawn is well underway.  Galahs, Suphur Crested Cockatoos, Little Corella and Rainbow Lorikeets begin to fill the trees, patiently waiting....waiting for what I wonder? They get fed everyday, the food is out before they arrive, and yet they spend up to an hour waiting in the trees before they venture down and then it's a complete avalanche of parrots.  I estimate that currently we see 40+ Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, 30+ Galahs, up to a dozen little Corella and 60+ Rainbow Lorikeets...which is a lot of parrots. Commonly the wave begins with a single Cockatoo and then the rest all follow.

Parrots awaiting breakfast

Well it's time I got on with this, so on with the monthly sightings...

Regulars (Seen daily)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Brown Honeyeater
Common Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch

Double-barred Finch

Eastern Spinebill

Eastern Spinebill

Galah
Grey Fantail

Grey Fantail

Laughing Kookaburra
Lewins Honeyeater
Little Corella
Noisy Miner
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Duck

Rainbow Lorikeet
Restless Flycatcher
Silvereye

Silvereye

Striated Pardalote
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
White-throated Gerygone
White-throated Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Yellow-faced Honeyear

Common (Seen Weekly)

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Golden Whistler
Grey Butcherbird
Little Pied Cormorant

Little Pied Cormorant

Noisy Friarbird

Noisy Friarbird

Rainbow BeeEater

Rainbow Bee Eater

Rose Robin

Rose Robin

Spotted Pardalote

Spotted Pardalote

Uncommon (Seen occasionally)


Blue-faced Honeyeater
Eastern Whipbird
Eastern Yellow Robin

The ever inquisitive Eastern Yellow Robin

Grey Shrike Thrush
King Parrot
Magpie Lark

Magpie Lark

Masked Plover
Pale-headed Rosella
Rufous Whistler

The male Rufous Whistler

Scarlet Honeyeater
Welcome Swallow
White-throated Treecreeper
Willie Wagtail
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo


Rare (Seen once)

Australian Ibis
Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Brown Cuckoo Dove

Brown Cuckoo Dove

Figbird
Forest Kingfisher
Olive-backed Oriole
Pelican

Pelicans passing over

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Wood Duck

58-species, which is about all for now.

And for the Non-Aussie's here's a piccie of more of the burnt lands amazing fauna courtesy of someone or other (but not me)!

An Eastern Barred Bandicoot

The merry month of May and winter nips

Other side of the world and everything is reversed. May in the UK is when we expect the promise of summer, whilst May in Queensland offers the dry nip of winter.  It's the beginning of my favourite season with warm dry days and cool nights that sometimes get chill enough to warrant wearing a jumper.  The locals take a more extreme approach and start wearing scarves and long coats, but despite having been here over 15-years now I haven't acclimatized to that extent...yet.

Not only does the weather become more comfortable for someone of a northern root, but the birding gets really interesting. This is when all the SBJs appear in numbers. Grey and Rufous Fantails, Silvereye, Eastern Spinebill and Rose Robins arrive in force. As the migrants come in some of the residents become more vocal and the Golden and Rufous Whistlers are the most prominent of these. Not only does this bring some variety, but a splash of colour as well.

Grey Fantails are very busy birds dancing on the breeze in search of insects.

Grey Fantails are just incredibly active. They are one of first birds to join the dawn chorus and as soon as the light is up they can be seen swooping, fluttering  and flitting from tree to tree, catching insects on the wing.

Just as busy, but usually within the embrace of a Black Wattle or similar bush is the Rose Robin.

The Rose Robin is as active as the fantails, but these small birds are searching for grubs, caterpillars and other crawling insects in the trees. The Rose Robins at the Holt seem to prefer the Black Wattles and can be frequently seen busily hopping around in the branches, frustratingly from the camera's point of view, rarely stopping for more than a second or two and often staying in the shadows of the leaves.

Rufous Whistler in the Brush Box.

Golden Whistler

The whistlers, Golden and Rufous are birds of the mixed flock, often following (or leading) mixed flocks of White-throated and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, White-throated Treecreepers, Grey Shrike Thrush and Silvereyes. If there's a flock moving though you can almost guarantee a pair of these inquisitive birds will be accompanying it.

Silvereye

Thought that some of you might like a clearer idea on what Paradalote Holt looks like, so here's a map. Below is an aerial view of the Holt with the house edged between the two dams in the top right. Yellow lines are boundaries and blue intermittent creeks (i.e. they flow when it rains). The spot where the inner boundary is nearest to the top of the picture, just above the driveway, is my 'hot spot' where a lot of birds continue their journey up the intermittent creek that runs across the top of the map. Instead of following the creek into the dam they follow the boundary along the road, over the saddle, and into the next valley.

The dam on the left is at the back of the house and is the one that I look over when sitting on the back deck with my morning cup of tea, it's also the dam preferred by the Plumed Whistling Ducks.

The dam to the right is affectionately known as the "Lap Swamp", as you can swim laps of it as it's about 50 metres long. It's more shaded and less popular with the ducks, but very popular with the various cuckoos and fantails, and the creek leading up the hill from it (down on the map) is a really good spot for Spotted Pardalotes, Whistlers and Rufous Fantails.

The total area of the property is about 19-acres and most of it is largely left to the wildlife. The large area to the left of the dam is rarely visited by anyone but myself on weed hunting or birding expeditions. It's white mahogany sclerophyllous woodland, which means its a mixed bunch of gums, and wattles.  The woodland floor is carpeted by Blady Grass, Kangaroo Grass, Australian Broom and a variety of small flowering plants include orchids and Spade Flowers. There are a healthy amount of vines present, including the Barbed Wire vine, particularly in the creek beds and plenty of Mistletoe.

This is part of a band of woodland that skirts Mt Tamborine and hosts a variety of interesting wildlife including a rich colony of  Richmond Birdwing Butterflies on some neighboring council land.

Regulars (Seen daily)

Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Brown Honeyeater

Brown Honeyeater

Common Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch
Eastern Spinebill
Galah
Grey Fantail
Laughing Kookaburra
Lewins Honeyeater
Little Corella
Noisy Miner
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Duck enjoy breakfast before the Guinea Fowl push in.

Rainbow Lorikeet
Restless Flycatcher

Restless Flycatcher grabs a snack

Striated Pardalote

Spotted Pardalote scampering around in the deep shade

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow
White-throated Gerygone

The shy White-throated Gerygone

White-throated Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Common (Seen Weekly)

Eastern Yellow Robin
Grey Butcherbird
Little Corella
Rainbow BeeEater
Silvereye

Silvereye

Welcome Swallow
Willie Wagtail

Uncommon (Seen occasionally)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Blue-faced Honeyeater

Juvenile Blue-faced Honeyeater

Brown Goshawk

Brown Goshawk

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Golden Whistler

Golden Whistler

Grey Shrike Thrush
King Parrot
Little Pied Cormorant

What flippers you have Sir...

Noisy Friarbird
Pale-headed Rosella
Pied Butcherbird
Rose Robin

female Rose Robin with distinctive wing pose

Rufous Whistler
Scarlet Honeyeater
Shining Bronze Cuckoo

Shining Bronze Cuckoo - about the size of a sparrow

White-throated Treecreeper

Grey Fantail following the White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (Seen once)

Brush Cuckoo
Collared Sparrowhawk
Leaden Flycatcher
Little Black Cormorant

Little Black Cormorant hunting my fish!

Little Egret
Little Wattlebird
Olive-backed Oriole
Masked Plover
Rufous Fantail
Spangled Drongo
Spotted  Pardalote
Straw-necked Ibis
Tawny Frogmouth
Varied Sitella

Varied Sitella

Whistling Kite
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike
White-faced Heron
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo

64-species, which is about all for now.

And for the Non-Aussie's here's a piccie of more of the burnt lands amazing fauna courtesy of someone or other!

...

A Feather Tail Glider (get these at home).

April and the days dampen

It has got to that time of year when dawn is late and dusk early. I rise at 5am, have a quick breakfast and then its out into the garden to feed the birds and let the chickens out of their coops. It has to be said that the chickens largely ignore me as it's still dark.  As I wander through the trees and around the dam I pick up Red-necked Wallabies in the lights of my cap torch. They have become used to me and enjoy the grain that I put out for the birds. Over the months they have become less anxious about my presence and often let me get to within a couple of metres of them before almost halfheartedly bouncing away, just far enough to keep the gap.

Birds fed, chooks sorted and there's time for a cuppa before shower and change for work. As I sit on the back deck sipping at a hot mug of Tetleys the woodland starts to wake.  It's still dark and the first hint of dawn is still 15-minutes away, but the Kookaburra's will rip open the quiet of the night with their insane cackles.  Like an avalanche that starts slow. but picks up steam, the dawn chorus builds. The next chorister is the Brown Honeyeater, more of a churr than a song and then the descending trill of the White-throated Gerygone enters the fray. Across the valley the Noisy Miner's wake alongside the Grey Butcherbird, whilst further up the hill behind me the Pied Butcherbirds pipe in the dawn. Whilst still dark the flocks of Plumed Whistling Ducks appear as silhouettes against the now lightening sky. They turn sharply and cartwheel down to splash onto the dam nestled in the small clearing.  Once on the water they excitedly whistle at each other as they jostle for their place. By the time I head up for my shower the bush is alive with bird song - the myth that Australia doesn't have songbirds appears to have been ignored here.

Showered and in work clothes I have 5-minutes to finish my tea before heading off to work. Another 15-minutes has passed and the dawn has well and truly flooded though the valley. As the sky turns blue the trill and pips of the smaller birds is drowned by the screech of the incoming cockatoos. We have just over 40 Sulphur Crested Cockatoos that fly up the valley and land in the large gums behind the dam wall. Here they squawk and scream until they are ready to take to the tables in a white wave. In amongst them are a few Little Corellas and waiting for the ruckus to abate a couple of dozen Galah stay high in the canopy and preen themselves whilst the other parrots gorge.

Its time to leave so grabbing my computer I pop out the front to the garage, to be met by Dymple the Peacock, the Guinea Fowl, and Chip-Chip and his flock (Faverolles) that have been feeding beneath the bird tables. They flock around hoping that I have sweet corn treats, but I've a train to catch so I jump in the car and ease it through the birds to get on my way.  As I move along the driveway more wallabies hop back into the bush and then its off to the station...What does your morning look like I wonder?

Its been a bit of a damp period compared to the opening two months of 2018, which has been great for the garden, but now we've disappeared under waterfalls of fast growing vines. Blue Morning Glory has been strangling some of the shrubs and the Blue Billy Goats weed has been running riot, which has meant some hard weed wrangling.

A quick trip to Cape York mid month gave me a break and a chance to seem some less familiar birds and critters.

Brown-backed Honeyeater

Coastal Taipan

Dusky Honeyeater

The local swamp

and yes, it is crocodile infested!

Round-tailed Kite

Regulars (Seen daily)


Australian Magpie
Bar-shouldered Dove
Brown Honeyeater
Common Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch
Galah
Laughing Kookaburra
Lewins Honeyeater

Lewins Honeyeater

Little Corella
Noisy Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove

Peaceful Dove

Pied Currawong
Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Duck

now a breeding resident.

Rainbow Lorikeet
Striated Pardalote
Sulphur Crested Cockatoo
Torresian Crow

Mum and baby Torresian Crow

White-throated Gerygone
White-throated Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater


Common (Seen Weekly)


Grey Butcherbird
Grey Fantail
Pale-headed Rosella
Pied Butcherbird
Rainbow BeeEater

Rainbow Bee Eater

Welcome Swallow
Willie Wagtail

Uncommon (Seen occasionally)


Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
Brown Goshawk
Eastern Spinebill
Eastern Yellow Robin

Eastern Yellow Robin

Forest Kingfisher
Grey Shrike Thrush
King Parrot
Magpie Lark
Pale-headed Rosella
Rufous Whistler

Male Rufous Whistler

Scarlet Honeyeater
Whistling Kite

Whistling Kite

Rare (Seen once)

Azure Kingfisher

Azure Kingfisher

Blue-faced Honeyeater
Crested Pigeon
Little Black Cormorant

Little Black Cormorant

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo
Spangled Drongo
Tawny Frogmouth
Varied Sitella

A Varied Sitella hunting high in the gums

Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike

White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike

White-throated Treecreeper
Wonga Pigeon
Wood Duck

53-species, which is about all for now.


And for the Non-Aussie's here's a piccie of one of the burnt lands amazing fauna courtesy of the ABC...

Eastern Quoll