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Cape York paradise at Portland Roads

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Wildlife of Cape York

December 21, 2011 by Cate

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.

Filed Under: Aboriginal Culture, Birdwatching Cape York, Cape York Accommodation, Chili Beach, Exploring Cape York, Fishing Cape York, Frogs of Cape York, Insects of Cape York, Iron Range National Park, Kutini-Payamu (Iron Range) National Park, Portland Roads, Snakes Cape York, Wildlife of Cape York Tagged With: Cape York 4wd, Cape York Accommodation, cape york in the wet, Cape York travel

December 5, 2011 by Cate

Major Skink in our kitchen

We often have interesting guests at Portland Roads. I was just talking to some Lizard people and told them about this little fellow. So just found out that this is a Major Skink. He was in our kitchen and ran under the bench, behind some boxes. This photo was in July 2011, but I also saw one the other day (December 2011). I surprised him throwing a bucket of water on the garden.

Major Skink, Portland Roads, Cape York
Major Skink, Portland Roads, Cape York

Filed Under: Lizards Cape York, Portland Roads, Wildlife of Cape York Tagged With: lizard, Major Skink

October 15, 2011 by Seamus Campbell

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.

Frangipanni in flower
Frangipanni in flower
sunbird in nest
sunbird in nest
flower petals
flower petals

mangoes!
mangoes!
more mangoes
more mangoes
purple flowers
purple flowers

flowers
flowers
sunbird in nest
sunbird in nest
sunbird in nest
sunbird in nest

yacht in the morning
yacht in the morning
Big grasshopper Portland Roads
We have the Biggest grasshoppers at Portland Roads

Filed Under: Birdwatching Cape York, Insects of Cape York, Portland Roads, Wildlife of Cape York Tagged With: cape york in the wet, wildlife

July 18, 2011 by Cate

Dark-shouldered snake eel. Ophichthus cephalozona

Ophichthus cephalozona by Ben Naden
Ophichthus cephalozona, a photo by Ben Naden on Flickr.

Here is a better photo of our sea creature, taken on North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Filed Under: Fishing Cape York, Portland Roads, Snakes Cape York, Wildlife of Cape York

July 18, 2011 by Cate

Strange sea creature

sea-creature-portland-roads

Dark-shouldered snake eel

When we first got here and walked at low tide we spotted one of these strange creatures, when I asked around no one had seen anything like it, a sea snake with a frilled neck sounded pretty unlikely. Nothing came up on google and I had no picture to post on the forums.

We just spotted another and got a photo, I put it up on a snake and python forum and some brilliant mind has identified it for us! Apparently it is known in these northern waters and many countries across the tropics see fishbase.

Dark-shouldered snake eel - closeup on head

Dark-shouldered snake eel

 

 

Filed Under: Fishing Cape York, Portland Roads, Snakes Cape York, Wildlife of Cape York

May 4, 2011 by Cate

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.

Filed Under: Birdwatching Cape York, Portland Roads, Wildlife of Cape York

April 16, 2011 by Cate

White Lipped Tree Frog – Largest tree frog

White Lipped Tree Frog

White Lipped Tree Frog in our yard

We spotted this huge green treefrog yesterday, here at the Portland Roads Beach Shack. He was perched in a tree just near the path to our house. He sat perfectly still while we photographed him. Notice that he has ear patches rather than holes. That is Seamus’ arm behind him holding down the tree branch so that we could get a better angle. It gives you an idea of how big the frog is.

According to wettropics.gov.au
The White Lipped Tree Frog is the worlds largest tree frog growing in length to 14cm. With a green body with white stripe on lower jaw, and a long flattened body and it has PROTECTED status.

Wikipedia adds that:

  • Females are larger than males;
  • The colour changes depending on the temperature and background – they are usually bright green but can be brown;
  • It has a loud, barking call but when distressed it makes a cat-like “mew” sound;
  • It’s diet is mainly insects and other arthropods;
  • It can live to over ten years in the wild;
  • It is distributed in Australia along the coastal areas of Cape York Peninsula and the wet tropics of north-eastern Queensland. It is the most widely distributed tree frog in the New Guinea region, spanning from eastern Indonesia, through the New Guinea mainland, to the Bismarck and the Admiralty Islands in the North.

Much of the wildlife of the Cape is not found anywhere else in Australia but is found in New Guinea.

White Lipped Tree Frog - Back

White Lipped Tree Frog – Back view shows the texture of its skin

Filed Under: Frogs of Cape York, Portland Roads, Wildlife of Cape York Tagged With: Cape York, Frogs, Frogs of Cape York, green tree frog, wildlife

December 25, 2010 by Seamus Campbell

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.

Spotted Cuscus - photo Jun Matsui
Spotted Cuscus – photo Jun Matsui
Spotted Cuscus - photo Jun Matsui
Spotted Cuscus – photo Jun Matsui
Palm Cockatoo - photo Jun Matsui
Palm Cockatoo – photo Jun Matsui

Palm Cockatoo - photo Jun Matsui
Palm Cockatoo – photo Jun Matsui
Eclectus Parrot Male - photo Jun Matsui
Eclectus Parrot Male – photo Jun Matsui
Eclectus Parrot Female - photo Jun Matsui
Eclectus Parrot Female – photo Jun Matsui

Green Tree Python - photo Jun Matsui
Green Tree Python – photo Jun Matsui
White-faced Robin - photo Jun Matsui
White-faced Robin – photo Jun Matsui
Soldier Crab - photo Jun Matsui
Soldier Crab – photo Jun Matsui

Red Lacewing - photo Jun Matsui
Red Lacewing – photo Jun Matsui
Large-tailed Nightjar - photo Jun Matsui
Large-tailed Nightjar – photo Jun Matsui
Frill-necked Monarch - photo Jun Matsui
Frill-necked Monarch – photo Jun Matsui

Echidna - photo Jun Matsui
Echidna – photo Jun Matsui
Cape York Melomys - photo Jun Matsui
Cape York Melomys – photo Jun Matsui
Black-headed Python - photo Jun Matsui
Black-headed Python – photo Jun Matsui

Filed Under: Birdwatching Cape York, Cape York Accommodation, Portland Roads, Snakes Cape York, Wildlife of Cape York Tagged With: birds of Cape York, birdwatching, Cape York Care Hire, Jun Matsui

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