Kookaburra's alighting weighs heavy on Leadens

Sun's shining, sky's blue, Laughing Kookaburra's sitting pretty - till it's time to move on.

Move that goes down like lead balloon with territorial pair of Leaden Flycatchers. Male proves more aggressive of the two.

But flying up an angry storm, though prompting a flinch or two, fails to do the desired. Kookaburra stolidly fixed to branch, flycatchers vanish to sulk unseen. Also unseen, probable nest somewhere near. 

Cape Pallarenda Conservation Park this morning.

 

When you've GOT to go, you've gotta go

Got up early and got down to waiting for some sunshine to get Australian Reed-Warblers up and going in their stretch of Common Reed (aka Bamboo Grass and got more names). Got good shot of bird near top of reed stem.

And got lucky with bird that had just got lucky.

Also got up close to one of several Crimson Finches getting active in small Pandanus.

Got these shots of Crimsons the other day.

Got Leaden Flycatcher hopping on Pandanus branch.

And got female Olive-backed Sunbird getting into nicely colour-matched nectar-flower.

Got to get Double-barred Finch on to today's list.

Now, got to get to the GOT:
Onya, Arya! Starkest of the Starks. Cracking opening to season 7

Gotta go now.

Whipsnake too fast for skink

The action came almost underfoot in the Common today with a Lesser Black Whipsnake whizzing from long grass after striking Striped Skink.

Sorry about image quality. Too close for long lens on camera so had to press Ipod into service.

Also close to underfoot, but far enough away for lens, female Leaden Flycatcher obviously enjoying bit some morning sunshine.

And showing off some 'under foot', Red-backed Fairy-Wren takes an unexpected jump, No flash being used so jump just one of those things.

AF misses the flycatcher action

Wee trip north today to Five-mile Swimming Hole just south of Yasi-ravaged Cardwell offered plenty of action with Lemon-bellied Flycatchers (Microeca flavigaster) and Leaden Flycatchers (Myiagra rubecula).

Missing in action through much of a frustrating hour, auto focus and/or external flash. Birds came and went, so did camera functions.

But even on best behaviour camera would have struggled for sharp capture of sudden spat between two birds.

And in-flight grabs at prey seldom come out much better than the above. Of course, back at home camera works perfectly. Damn it!
Click pix to enlarge

Graceful Honeyeater chips in nicely

Hard to get open shots of ever busy Graceful Honeyeaters (Meliphaga gracilis), a handful of which have begun sounding again in Tyto.

Best view for long time came today as bird foraged, mainly on insect-ravaged corkwood leaves. Oft-repeated 'chip' call identifies Gracefuls from very similar Yellow-spotteds.

But not all the 'chips' fall from Gracefuls. Northern Fantail (Rhipidura rufiventris) also can go for long spells on one maddeningly similar note. Pity, because it means the fantail less often breaks into one of the most cheerfully sweet songs heard in the wetlands.

Sweet scarcely describes the sound of any flycatcher. Above female Leaden Flycatcher (Myiagra rubecula) rasped away near the site of the Shining Flycatcher nest this week. Didn't seem to bother the nest builders, specially the male, which is lately doing much sitting.

Update: Comb-crested Jacana eggs OK. No sign of the two lots of four Jacana juveniles. Probably safe in inaccessible parts of lagoon system.

Some Leaden light at last

Finally, the leaden skies have gone and there's some sunshine and light to show off the Tyto birds, such as the Leaden Flycatcher (Myiagra rubecula) quietly going about business today.

Sorry to have been rather quiet all week. Terrible weather and dodgy modem combined to kill  pictures and posting. 

Not so quiet and just one among many enjoying the end of rain almost every day and night this month, Red-backed Fairy-Wren (Malurus melanocephalus) just coming into male breeding colour.

Almost certainly final tally of species for April will not be close to predicted 120. But today's count of 46 slightly better than expected. Nothing of real note seen, though an immature Dollarbird was mildly surprising since most flew off north last month.

Change of venue for last picture. Eastern Dwarf Treefrogs have taken to sitting by day in, on and among Bird of Paradise flowers and leaves in the caravan park gardens. Need shorter lens to do justice to frog. Working on it!

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.

Flycatchers build on success

Where would you like to build this year, my love? Fancy a change?

Oh, I don't know, darling. That spot last year was nice, with plenty of morning sun. And a bit of shade in the afternoon.

You mean that little paperbark by the track? Just around the bend from the hide?

Yes, that would do nicely. It was fun last year sitting right over the heads of people walking by.

And they didn't notice us, most of them. Right, I'll get to work straight away. We'll wrap this up in just a few days.

Creatures of habit, all of us. None more so than a pair (male above) of Leaden Flycatchers (Myiagra rubecula) seen in Tyto today part-way through construction of their nest on a low horizontal fork.

With some bark exterior to camouflage it the nest won't be quite so obvious in another day or two. It will, however, be in view to all visitors who lift their heads a fraction. Most won't, so the birds will sit quietly on the nest and watch the walkers wander by.

Before their happy paperbark experience raising two youngsters last year, the same pair nested very low on a shaded bough and just above waist-high grasses close to another track nearby. One day, two hatchlings; the next, no hatchlings! Tree snake or tree frog, probably.

The birds wasted no time in moving 30 metres west - and two metres higher - to the paperbark. The new nest is less than a metre away from the old site. Success breeds success - and good habits!