Baza solves raptor puzzle

Pacific Baza (Aviceda subcristata) circles at a distance above me near Tyto's western boundary today. Hours before I had a tantalising glimpse of what appeared in the early morning light to be an oddly white and grey raptor carrying some small leggy prey.

The later sighting of a Baza - with a Willie Wagtail bouncing off its back - almost certainly clarified the question. Probably one of what proved to be a pair of Bazas, and equally probably the prey would have been a tree frog.

Bazas do love big juicy tree frogs, and crunchy mantids. So much so they'll sometimes fling themselves at outer foliage to see what shakes. Don't see much of the behaviour in Tyto, the trees in the main neither suiting nor rewarding such extreme foraging.

Nor are the birds that occasionally drop into the wetlands as unconcerned by human presence as they can be elsewhere, particularly in and near coastal settlements.

In the Daintree I've seen small flocks chatting (rather like New Zealand's Keas) as they fly between offshore roosts and mainland feeding areas. But never more than a pair, or an adult plus a juvenile (parent birds seem to split up and look after one juvenile apiece) around Ingham.

Female Leaden Flycatcher checks the nest for shape today. The birds were nowhere to be seen for most of the morning. Only when I was getting down for a sneaky crawl to try for close-up shots of Green Pigmy Geese in water just behind the nest tree did the female appear clutching nest material. Since yesterday the nest has grown and shows bits of bark added to it.