Wildlife Diary - September 2020

Time flies, and hopefully we can get those state borders opened safely and allow for international travel very soon. Had really great birding tours with interesting people, and some very enjoyable nocturnal tours, but only one image to show for it as I don’t carry a camera while guiding. Not that many guests carry a camera themselves and so there aren't always guests' image sto share. I always have my gear in the car, just in case… Getting this White-throated Nightjar sitting on the road is one of those instances where I will get out the camera gear.

White-throated Nightjar, Atherton Tablelands

Pale-yellow Robin (leucistic), Atherton Tablelands

My main man Golden Bowerbird is still at his bower and has been for the past 3 breeding seasons. I hope he will be around for a long time to come. There are records of bower occupancy of +-10 years. This bower is not being hammered by visitors like a few others in the Wet Tropics. I think it is very important to keep the number of visits to a bower as low as possible, and not to share bower info widely. The males’ genes tell them they have to be near the bower for most of the day to be there when females come in. So, while you will very often see the male when visiting a bower in the breeding season, you might think that the birds do not seem to be disturbed by an overload of visits. But the whole point of the bower is to get females to come to the bower for the male to reproduce with. When there are visitors near the bower, and also depending on how these visitors behave, the females won’t come in, or will come in, but might be too shy to spend enough time near the bower for the male to be successful. Keep that in mind when you share bower location info. Individual birds will differ, but it’s important to adhere to the cautionary principle here. We are not sure whether a high visitor load has an impact, but we need to keep in mind that it might have.

Male Golden Bowerbird decorating his bower with a Melicope broadbentiana fruit. Atherton Tablelands.

September was a good month for wildlife viewing on the property. New additions to the bird list: Large-tailed Nightjar, Blue-faced Honeyeater and Rufous Owl. Some of the migrants have arrived too: Channel-billed Cuckoo, Dollarbird, Black-faced Monarch are the ones that come to mind. To my surprise the immature Golden Bowerbird – very likely just the one individual now – is still hanging around. In my previous Wildlife Diary entry, I said I thought it had left, but maybe it was just quiet and I wasn't around as much. It isn’t as vocal anymore. Pied Monarchs forage along the creek as well. With Grevillea robusta and a few callistemon flowering, we have had more than 10 species of honeyeater around the house: Scarlet Myzomela, Dusky Myzomela, Eastern Spinebill, White-cheecked Honeyeater, White-naped, White-throated, Lewin’s, Bridled, Yellow-faced, Brown, Macleay’s, Noisy Friarbird, and last but not least: Banded Honeyeater. The property bird list is now at 132 species. No new mammal species were added to the list, but a few other critters were: Lace Monitor, Queensland Grey Huntsman and a Banded Huntsman. 

Immature Golden Bowerbird with Ficus virens fig. 

Scarlet Myzomela (male)

Eastern Spinebill (male)

I spent quite a bit of time in the field with the Quail-thrushes I have been studying the calls of. Early September, I found the nest of a pair I had been following. It was all very exciting. I’m often very close to the birds and they seem to have accepted me being around, but are nevertheless very careful; as am I. I usually don’t stay with the same birds for more than 2 hrs at a time, or on a particular day. I now have three ‘territories’ and whenever I get the chance, I try to get data (calls first) of the other birds as well. Every time I’m out, I learn something new – even if it's only about myself or my mistakes.

Male Quail-thrush from the northern or 'Atherton' population feeding one of the two youngsters.

Female of the pair on her way to feed one of the chicks.

While writing this diary entry, I can say that both young birds of the first pair are still alive and in good health. The young have grown really well and the first signs of moulting are already visible. The first image below shows one of the fledglings soon after having left the nest for the first time. The second image shows one of the youngsters 4 weeks later with tail fully grown.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and well!