A Cape York Blog

Cape York paradise at Portland Roads

Birdwatching Cape York

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croc?

Tonight I was walking boomer and these days I always check for eye shine between the shore and the mangroves
I was just thinking that I am starting to think of the little fellow as our pet croc
then I saw red eye shine, but it was not in the water
It was over under the bushes near the monument
I thought it couldn’t be a croc up on land but it was distinctly 2 very bright eyes,
I wanted to inspect, but my instinct brain was sending adrenalin through me and imagining me getting close enough to see a croc then it snapping at me
Then one of the eyes wobbled and moved away from the other, then took off in flight!!! with a flapping noise
One eye stayed still so i got really close and it was a bird just sitting there on the ground
It let me get quite close before it flew away
Title of this email was going to be the croc that flew – but that gives it away.

Worked out later that it was probably a Spotted Nightjar.

 

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Baby Sunbirds left the nest

Our baby sunbirds left the nest today. I’m assuming both of them left as I only actually saw one go. Both parents were hovering close by the nest, twittering away. The baby cautiously crawled out of the nest, holding on with it’s claws until it’s beak was pointing vertically towards the floor. Then with much twittering from parents, he let go, almost tumbled but then started flying. Incredible to watch. I didn’t have time to video it and only got two photos. I watched him outside for a little while – both parent birds keeping an eye on him. Couldn’t see the other baby, so I suppose it was flying around somewhere.

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Fly/drive/stay deal – the wet season is the best time for wildlife

You can Fly into Cape York and spend some time exploring. There is heaps to see in just one area. Explore the Iron Range National Park, Chili Beach and Lockhart River area from Portland Roads.

To encourage people to visit Portland Roads Beach Shack during the wet season, we have negotiated deals with Skytrans and Lockhart River Car Hire so that our customers can get discounts when booking through us.

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Spring is sprung and the wet is nearly here

I’m not sure that we actually have spring here, but the plants and trees are bursting with new life. And we are seeing more and more different animals and insects each day. Of course the humidity keeps rising too. But the winds are lessening and the sea is calming and becoming glass-like in the mornings. There is burning off happening and this gives us some incredible sunrises where the air is smoky and the morning sun is a red as a sunset.

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Identifying Bird sounds

We often hear birds but don’t always see them, so we are left wondering what they are. I was thrilled to find this site to help identify our local species, especially the night birds.

Bird sounds from Australasia and the Pacific is a site where people have submitted their bird recordings, it is also a resource if you have a recording of a call that you can’t identify.

Check out the sound of the Papuan Frogmouth found at Portland Roads – on our clothes line we still hear this regularly.

Check out the sound of the Blue-Winged Kookaburra found between Portland Roads and Lockhart River – Iron Range National Park

The birds spotted by Jun Matsui when he stayed here in December, we haven’t seen them yet but would love to. The Palm Cockatoo, White-faced Robin, Large-tailed Nightjar and the Eclectus Parrot.

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Blue-winged Kookaburra

Blue-winged Kookaburra

A Blue-winged Kookaburra. Photo is by Jon Clark, used with permission.

A Blue-winged Kookaburra flew past me while I was driving from Lockhart River to Portland Roads. Apparently they are common on the cape and Southern New Guinea. I had never seen a Blue kookaburra before, it was a very quick glimpse but quite striking. There seem to be lots of bright blue creatures here, birds, butterflies. Down south Kookaburras are coloured to blend in to their environment. Just another amazing site on our regular trip to Lockhart River to pick up mail and groceries.

Spotted March 13, 2011.

Photo by Jon Clark. Used with permission. See Jon Clark’s Gallery on Flickr

 

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Papuan Frogmouth

Papuan Frogmouth at Portland Roads

Papuan Frogmouth at Portland Roads Beach Shack

We were just talking about how much wildlife we have – we see  some amazing creature most days.

It was dark, Boomer started barking and wagging his tail wildly. I was about to tell him off; he usually barks at squeaky branches other weird noises. Then we spotted this guy in the dark, sitting on our clothesline.

Papuan Frogmouth

He is a [wiki]Papuan Frogmout[/wiki] (click to read more in a popup from wikipedia) He is huge, he just sat there watching us curiously while we took heaps of photos, posing this way and that .

He does indeed have red eyes; they glowed red with the flash.

I just wish we could have taken a better photo though, we were trying to use our new Nikon but it just would not focus as he was in the dark, we tried shining a torch on him but then he had an orange glow, we haven’t had the camera for long so have heaps to learn. This was taken with my old Kodak which did better. Later I realised we should have put it on manual. Hopefully he will visit us again. He has flown by quickly so hopefully he will visit us again.

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Q. Can I visit Cape York in the wet season?

A. Yes, you can visit Cape York in the wet season.

Most people think that it is impossible to visit Cape York in the wet season. It is true that the major rivers flood, cutting off road access.

However you can still explore the Kutini-Payamu (Iron Range) National Park, Portland Roads and Chili Beach. Forget your vehicle and take a flight from Cairns.

1. Hire a 4×4 from Lockhart River Car Hire and stay at the Portland Roads Beach Shack, or

2. Hire a 4X4 campervan from Lockhart River Car Hire and camp at Chili Beach,  or one of the designated camping spots in Iron Range National Park.

Roads

The road from Lockhart River to Portland Roads does not cross any major rivers. It is graded and well drained, so the rains do not make it impassible. Occasionally Chili Creek may rise and make the crossing difficult, but it is tidal so will recede within an hour or two.

Flights

Skytrans flies in to the Iron Range Airport at Lockhart River 4-5 days a week.

Transport

Lockhart River Car Hire has a fleet of vehicles that are utilised by workers in the area in the dry season.
Paul and Laney Piva from Lockhart River run the local family owned business.

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Jun Matsui photos – Dec 2010

We had 2 guests stay for a week in December this year – a birdwatcher and a guide (Jun Matsui) from Sicklebill Safaris. They had flown in to Lockhart, hired a 4wd and stayed with us.

Jun (the guide) found a cuscus in one of our mango trees just up the road; came running back to tell us – of course we were all terribly excited and very thankful that he’d made the effort to let us know.

We watched it eat a couple of mangos for about 30 minutes. Thanks Jun!

He also sent us the following photos.

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Sunbirds nest – Sun 7th Nov 2010

Sunbirds nest Wed Nov 3rd

Sunbirds nest Wed Nov 3rd

I’ve just put the last 2 days of birds nests.

Plus below that the original nest.

They often build their nests under verandahs – it’s thought that they consider humans less dangerous than other animals, so do build under eaves and verandahs.

And often build a new nest next to the old one, then use some of the old nest in the new.
Click any image to see larger version.

Sunbirds nest Thurs Nov 4th

Sunbirds nest Thurs Nov 4th

Sunbirds nest Sun Nov 7th

Sunbirds nest Sun Nov 7th

Original Nest

Original Nest

Closeup of Original Nest

Closeup of Original Nest

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Palm Cockatoo

Palm Cockatoo

Palm Cockatoo

The Palm Cockatoo also has a distinctive red cheek patch that changes colour when the bird is alarmed or excited.

It has a unique display where the bird (typically the male) drums a large branch against a dead bough or tree, creating a loud noise that can be heard up to 100 m away. It is possible that females can assess the durability of the nesting hollow by the resonance of this drumming display.

Palm Cockatoos only lay one egg and have one of the lowest breeding success rate reported for any species of parrot. Off-setting this is their very long life-span. A male commenced breeding at age 29 in Taronga Zoo in Sydney, and another was 40 when she laid he first egg at London Zoo in 1966. There is anecdotal evidence of a Palm Cockatoo reaching 80 or 90 years of age in an Australian zoo,although the oldest confirmed individual was aged 56 in London Zoo in 2000. Breeding takes place inside tree hollows, which are typically like standing pipes. Fires play an important role in the destruction and creation of nest hollows. Fires allow the colonisation of microorganisms and termites which enter the tree and start hollowing out the inside. Cyclones are important in the final stage of nest hollow development.

This is an Excerpt used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. You may use this article as long as it is attributed in this way.

Read the full article at Wikipedia – Palm Cockatoo

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Birds nest, carpet python and palm cockatoo

The latest guests (Sharna and co from Weipa) left today, so it was washing, cleaning and bedmaking work for the morning.  Sharna  had washed the dishes which was great and Boomer helped me wash the deck. I hosed the deck down then gave it a scrubbing with a stiff broom – Boomer thought this was a fantastic game – he reduced me to tears of helpless laughter several times with his frenzies of absolute joy.

I have been watching, for a couple of mornings, some little sunbirds build a nest on the clothes line just outside the toilet.

03 Nov Birds Nest

About day 3 of the build (3rd Nov)

Alan has said it is  sunbird’s nest but I’m not sure which brand of sunbird. The two little birds do not look like Yellow-bellied Sunbirds which are gloriously yellow and quite common in the garden. I took a photo today and intend taking one each morning til they have finished. It is fascinating to watch how quickly they build this nest.

They also will land on the clothesline, then swing backwards, upside down and open their wings and flutter them briefly – most amusing to watch.

I’ll probably do a slideshow when the nest is finished.

Mid afternoon I drove into Lockhart to get some fresh vegies – on the way home a huge smoky grey palm cockatoo swooped down ahead of me and almost  level with the height of the top of the OKA. I watched for a short time then screeched to a halt, jumped out of the vehicle to try and see more of him; but he had disappeared. He was huge (they grow to between 55–60 cm in length)

The batteries were a bit low so after dinner I went up to the top generator to charge the batteries.

tiny bit of tiny python at top left corner

I was nearly at the gen shed when I gave a very ladylike yelp and levitated for a few seconds. I nearly trod on an extremely beautiful carpet python (Morelia spilota I think).  It was only about 40 cms long and not much thicker than my middle finger. I sternly sent Boomer back to the house (he of course wanted to see what I wasn’t letting him see), then I followed him back to get the camera and get a photo. It was very pretty and just ambling along (the snake not the camera). Anyway I got back with the camera, turned my torch off and took several photos. None of them came out well.