Winter in the Daintree - Kingfishers galore!

A busy time of the year in the Daintree with school holidays in all the cold southern states. What could be better than escaping to the tropics?!
It is a lovely time for wildlife - whales off-shore, crocs and tree snakes basking in the sun on the banks of the Daintree River, frogs hiding indoors during the day and lots of lovely birds.
Winter can be good time for seeing kingfishers, and at this time of year the following are visible around Daintree Village.

Little Kingfisher - Australia's smallest - shy and always near water.

Azure Kingfisher - bright and confiding and nearly always seen on the Daintree River.

Forest Kingfisher - often seen on power lines or fences, hunting for skinks, grasshoppers etc. Recognisable by the two white 'headlights' above the bill.

Sacred Kingfisher - more common in winter as it settles into the warmer weather. Another feeder of arthropods and others.

Laughing Kookaburra - our early morning chorus. 'Laugh, Kookaburra, Laugh'.

Blue-winged Kookaburra - more common in the open areas, rather than forest. Great haircut!!

The 'Wet Season' at last

There is nothing like some decent rain to bring the tropical lowland rainforest alive, and we have had just that in the last week or so.
The birds, the butterflies, the frogs, the fungi are all coming to life.
Pairs of mating butterflies of all sorts are making the most of sunny weather following good rains, including everyone's favourites, the Ulysses and Cairns Birdwing butterflies.

Cairns Birdwing Butterfly Daintree

The rains have also brought out the rather-stinky 'Bridal Fungi' which emerges from compost heaps and wet earth. Notice the blowflies being attracted to the slimy 'gleba' which emits a rotting smell. They then carry the spore on their feet, or through their intestines, to other locations - thus ensuring further distribution of the fungus. A marvellous world we live in!

Bridal Fungi Red Mill House garden

Many birds have been particularly active since we have had good rains. Red-necked Crake, Bushhen, Black-necked Stork and others.

A beautiful adult Cassowary was spotted bathing in Noah Creek yesterday - just gorgeous!

Southern Cassowary Miki Dengels March 2012

Cuckoos and other cheats

Spring and summer are the seasons for cuckoos in the Wet Tropics and Daintree, many of which are known to call incessantly, and most of which parasitise other birds nests.

The smallest, the Little Bronze-Cuckoo, breeds in this region and often uses the hanging nests of the Large-billed Gerygone or Fairy Gerygone to lay their eggs. The newly hatched chick disposes of the birds own eggs, allowing the poor, hapless (much smaller) 'parents' to feed it and it alone.

Little Bronze-Cuckoo (S.Isoe)

Other cuckoos in the Daintree region over the season include Brush Cuckoo (which calls incessantly), Channel-billed Cuckoo (Australia's largest cuckoo)and Australian Koel. Closely related, but not a brood parasite, is the rather clumsy but beautiful Pheasant Coucal.

Pheasant Coucal (Fred Forsell)

Large numbers of very noisy Channel-billed Cuckoos are about at present, which plenty of rainforest figs providing their necessary food.
The "wet season" is a fabulous time to be doing some Daintree birdwatching!

Welcome to Breeding Season in Daintree

After a long absence, the Daintree News blog is up and running again!

Queensland's Wet Tropics are, without doubt, Australia's best wildlife-watching locations with the rich biodiversity that is unique to the tropics. Ranging from sea-level to 900m, there is a diverse range of habitats.

Daintree, on the coastal lowlands and ranges, has some of the oldest and richest rainforest in the world and is home to a great variety of birds, mammals, reptiles and insects.
Birds and birdwatching are a major focus of the region with birders from around the world visiting to see a huge diversity of species in convenient and comfortable conditions.

As the 'Wet Season' approaches many local birds are finishing their breeding season, nesting at a time when flowers, fruit and insects are plentiful in the rainforest, and before rainy conditions make it difficult to raise a family. Black Bittern, Shining Flycatcher and Papuan Frogmouth chicks have mostly fledged. These all nest in trees on the banks of the Daintree River and it's best to be gone before the river floods.

Papuan Fogmouth (S.Isoe)

Others, like the Wompoo Fruit-Dove, are more likely to breed outside their main nesting season. This pair have been building their somewhat-flimsy nest in the past week. They appear to have chosen a sheltered spot, so should be successful.

Wompoo Fruit-Dove (A.Forsyth)

One of the great breeding success stories are the Metallic Starlings who migrate from New Guinea in huge numbers in August each year to breed. Their nesting colonies are massed in often-huge trees and are used year after year. They are communal nesters and can raise two, or sometimes three, broods in a season..

Adapting well to urban life, the following photo is of nesting colony in one of several palms in the carpark at Smithfield Shopping Centre.

Metallic Starling (T.Forsyth)

Fungi in the Forest

Fungi play an important role in the tropical rainforests of the Daintree as they help to break down plant matter on the forest floor. They are a hugely diverse kingdom and large numbers of species are found locally.

These few were found in just a short walk around a rainforest garden in Daintree Village, and include Woody Shelf Fungi which will grow on trees and probably contribute to their death. They will then live off the rotting timber for years, each year adding new layers with fresh colours.

Smaller, softer, more delicate and shorter-lived 'gilled' fungi like these examples below also grow on timber and add wonderful colours and textures to the rainforest floor.

No rain, but plenty of birds!!

While January can often be humid and rainy here in Daintree, this isn't the case this year (to date). Clear, cloudless days, cooler nights, few mosquitoes, but lots of frogs calling at night and birds at dawn.

A favourite bird for all at this time of year is the Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher, which come from New Guinea each October/November to nest in the small ground termite mounds of this part of the Wet Tropics and also a little further south. Jindalba Boardwalk, north of the Daintree River, and Stewart Creek Rd at Daintree Village are good places to find the nesting birds.

Other summer migrants include Metallic Starling, Pied Imperial Pigeon and Black Bittern - all of which can be seen in, or around, Daintree Village.

Daintree Village Heritage Walk now available on I Tunes

Just out on the Australian Short Walks App.
The Daintree Village Heritage Walk, free after downloading the Australian Short Walks App from the App Store $1.99

Other Daintree area walks include Mossman Gorge, Mossman Historic Walk, Port Douglas Coastcare Walk and Port Douglas Historic Walk.

All walks are FREE after initial download of short walks app.

Download here