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Contact Call

Newsletter of BirdLife Northern Queensland Volume 4 Number 4 November 2015

‘Nestled’ in Townsville

The Museum of Tropical Queensland has a new

exhibition that focuses on North Queensland breeding

birds and their diverse choices in nest location and

nest construction. The ‘Nestled’ exhibition runs from

10 November 2015 to 27 March 2016.

‘Nestled’ offers a great opportunity for a close-up look

at numerous local bird species and real nests, carefully

preserved by the Museum’s taxidermy team. Included

in the displays are many specimens contributed by

members of BirdLife Northern Queensland and BirdLife

Townsville.

And a reminder from the team at MTQ: if you find a

freshly deceased bird, please keep it for the Museum if

possible.

Best procedure is to wrap the specimen carefully in

newspaper/paper towel, then in a plastic bag, then

place in the freezer. Don’t forget to add a label with

the date and location the specimen was collected.

Please contact Julia Hazel (0407 431 382) or Beth

Snewin (0404 759 718) and they will arrange to pick

up frozen specimens for the Museum.

Contents 1. New exhibition: ‘Nestled’ in Townsville

2. Convenor’s report

3. Innot Hot Springs and a ‘Charm’ of Cranes

4. Birds can count on Mapoon Indigenous Land and Sea

Rangers

5. Broadcast Australia and Ospreys breeding at

Greenhill, Thursday Island

6. Birdlife Northern Queensland Events

7. Lovely Fairy-wrens monitoring

8. Time for a Chat!

9. National Bird Week Celebrations and the Aussie

Backyard Bird Count

10. Passage migration and flagged shorebirds on the

Cairns Esplanade…….. and much more

11. Noticeboard and Activities

Need a Challenge? It's time to start thinking about the

Birdlife Australia 2015 Challenge

Count.

The 2015 Challenge Bird Count will be held on the 5-

6 December and everyone is welcome to take part.

All you have to do is get a few friends together and

have a fun day, or spend an hour or two seeing how

many species you can record in your area. If you

would like to take part, read the Rules and, on the

weekend itself, fill in the spreadsheet and ‘face

sheet’ with additional detail of the day. Further

information can be obtained from David Ap-Thomas

on (03) 97876691 or via email on

[email protected], and from the Birdlife

Australia website: http://birdlife.org.au/get-

involved/whats-on/challenge-count

mailto:[email protected]://birdlife.org.au/get-involved/whats-on/challenge-counthttp://birdlife.org.au/get-involved/whats-on/challenge-count

BirdLife Northern Queensland

2 Contact Call. Volume 4 Number 4

From the Convenor

I write this report while sitting in the Shade House at

Broome Bird Observatory on a sultry day at Roebuck

Bay. We spent the morning setting the cannon nets

for Bar-tailed Godwit to catch some for satellite

transmitters. We were unsuccessful this morning - a

big operation with quite a few people, and especially

an energetic crew of locals from Broome! Dave and I

are over here as campground volunteers, which means

we clean up the camp kitchen and the dunnies each

day, but also get a chance to help out with the other

activities around and on offer here. And we get to

spend time at the best quality wader spot in Australia,

if not one of the best in the world! Since we have

been here there has been a nice array of unusual

species – Common Redshank, Eurasian Curlew, Semi-

palmated Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Ruff – to name a

few. But what has been even more amazing has been

the other exotic array of visitors – the people –

numerous English, French, Belgians, Americans, and

Victorians! All fascinating people with a great love and

passion for birds. With its very professional staff and

information readily available, this place is a real jewel

in the BirdLife Australia network!

This year we tried something special and had our first

membership survey. So far we have responses from

less than a third of our members. I would like to

especially thank those of you who made the special

effort to complete the survey. Although we did not get

a high return rate, the results will help us determine

what changes we should make to better meet your

expectations.

I hope that you have been able to participate in some

of the events organised around Bird Week and the

Great Aussie Bird Count.

We have been trying to ensure that there are more

“local” events scattered around our region, so that

members do not have to travel so far, which was one

of the key findings from our membership survey.

We are looking for more members to lead events and

outings in their local patch. We also receive numerous

invitations to participate in environmental events but

do not have the ready pool of volunteers who can do

the needed work. To respond to these requests, we

need to engage and involve more than just our

committee members in these activities. So if you think

you can help out, please let us know – just contact me

at [email protected] .

Several of our current committee members will be

retiring at our next AGM in early 2016. We will need

some new faces to help us maintain our activities for

next year. In particular, we are looking for people who

are willing to do the ongoing roles of Treasurer,

Secretary, Meetings Organiser, and Activities/Outings

Coordinator. If you think you could take on any of

these roles, please let us know by contacting me or

any other member of the Committee.

Please remember that a strong and active branch

depends not only upon your support but also the work

done by willing committee members.

Good birding, Kath Shurcliff

Contact us: Birdlife Northern

Queensland committee

Email: [email protected]

www.birdlifenq.org

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.birdlifenq.org/


November 2015 3

Why should I join the committee?

Innot Hot Springs - and a “Charm” of Cranes We believe we have finally cracked the challenge of

counting the Cranes on General Plains Swamp on the

Herbert River Road which leads to Bush Heritage ‘s

Yourka Reserve. The problem has been that on our

normal arrival in late afternoon many hundreds of

Cranes were already congregated in a woodland at the

northern end of the swamp. They were impossible to

count.

Based on our afternoon observations we thought that

they were there all day coming and going but we now

know they all leave in the morning and only return in

any numbers about midday. These can be counted as

they fly in. Subsequently they come and go as noticed

before but about 6pm this phase gives rise to mass

arrival which lasts until after dark.

At least, that is what happened on Sunday 18th

October when Keith & Lindsay Fisher, Yu Ota, John

Grant, Ceinwen Edwards and I spent the day there.

From the road we saw approximately one thousand

Cranes on an irrigated wheat crop and 200 on an old

peanut paddock. But at the Swamp across the road we

estimated approx.. 2,000 Brolgas and perhaps 200

Sarus Cranes. These figures are preliminary and will

be adjusted. Interestingly most of the Sarus Cranes

roosted in a different part of the Swamp from the

Brolgas.

Whatever – it was a fantastic spectacle and was

enhanced by 65 other species including my first

Dollarbird for the season. Graham Harrington

Your Birdlife Northern Queensland Committee

Convenor - Kath Shurcliff

Deputy Convenor – Martin Willis

Secretary – Graham Harrington

Treasurer - Ian Northcott

Activities Coordinator – Vacant Position

Monthly Meetings Coordinator - Murray Hunt

IBA Coordinator - Graham Harrington

Membership Coordinator – Sam Willis

Conservation Coordinator – Peter Valentine

Crane Count Coordinator - Virginia Simmonds

Website Management - Mikey Kudo

Newsletter Editor - Ceri Pearce

Contact us:

email: [email protected]

www.birdlifenq.org

Join our

flock. It’s fun.

It’s interesting. You learn

more about Birdlife

You can make a

real difference…

.... no matter what

your age, background,

or level of experience

And we really need you!

Come join us for a weekend

at Mission Beach

21-22 November 2016

Meet at the Theatrette of the C4, 535 Porters

Promenade, Mission Beach at 1.30pm on

Saturday 21st to join the PIP count.

Contact: Trish Pontynem [email protected]

Then come on the survey of historical Ninney

Rise the next morning

Contact Helen Larson [email protected]

See the Activities Calendar on the last page of this

newsletter for more details

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]



Birds can count on Mapoon Indigenous

Land and Sea Rangers

The Mapoon Indigenous Land and Sea Rangers joined

forces with BirdLife Australia’s IBA program manager

Golo Maurer (based in Cairns) this October to take

stock of the migratory shorebirds and other waterbirds

visiting the country they are looking after. In 2014 a

count joined by BA Shorebirds 2020 project Manager

Dan Weller and Micha Jackson from the North

Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management

Alliance Ltd (NAILSMA) clocked up almost 20,000 birds

in a fraction of the wetlands and shoreline. This

suggested that the area is likely of international

importance in securing the future of shorebirds.

This year’s annual count took place a little earlier than

counts in other years, which have been done

consistently since 2012. As usual a fantastic effort

was put out by the Rangers who really relish the

opportunity to take stock of the birds visiting Mapoon

land and sea country. Some wizardry with binos and

scopes and fancy handy work behind the car and boat

steering wheel got us to some of the area’s most

popular sites for birds, with no less than 7 counts

completed over just 4 days. The final numbers still

need to be crunched but impressive numbers of

Brolgas (almost 4000) and over 20 species of

migratory shorebirds were found, which really

underscores the value of the area as an extremely

diverse and productive ecosystem for wetland birds.

Just as well that the Rangers are looking after land and

sea country (and their BA visitor) so fantastically. Their

work is really making a difference for the birds. It is

amazing to think that since 2012 it took just two

workshops in partnership with NAILSMA and supported

by a Commonwealth grant and BirdLife Australia’s own

Indigenous Grant for Bird Research and Conservation

have helped put this area on the map. The data

collected by the Rangers means the area is now well

on the way to being recognised internationally as a

Flyway Network Site and possibly an Important Bird

and Biodiversity Area in future.

Many thanks to the Rangers for being such fantastic

hosts and for all their efforts in looking after Mapoon

country.

Golo Maurer

Nathan, Joel, Edwin and Golo taking a welcome Break at

Namaletta after a hot morning of fast counting

Broadcast Australia and

Ospreys breeding at

Greenhill, Thursday

Island

An Osprey nest has existed as long as I can remember

on the Greenhill Antenna at Thursday Is. Qld. The nest

structure is supported on steel cross-members at the

very top of the antenna. A commanding view indeed of

the surrounding waters. The only downside for the

nesting birds would be the radiation emitted by the

signals. Does radiation impact on the birds?

Late August I was contacted by Broadcast Australia

and asked to provide some information and updates on

the nesting Ospreys at the site, as there was a need to

conduct some repairs. On the 11 June 2015 at 10.00 a

rigger who was planning the job took a picture of 3

chicks in the nest and reported the observation to

Broadcast Australia. See picture below.

Broadcast Australia, being committed to safety and the

well-being of the Ospreys, had to re-schedule the

work.

By the time I started my observations one of the

chicks had perished and only two young feathered

birds could be observed being fed plus exercising their

wings on the nest. During the time of observation I

would proceed up to Greenhill Fort and look across to

the nest on the antenna and note down what was

happening and how many birds on the nest. By mid

Sept. it seemed that the 2 young birds had fledged

and had started joining the adults on hunting flights.


November 2015 5

The nest was still being utilised as a feeding platform

from time to time with the birds being absent for

periods during the day.

The decision was made by Broadcast Australia to carry

the repair work out preferably at a time that the adults

and young were absent from the nest.

Osprey bringing prey to the nest 31 Aug. 2015.

The plan was in place and the work rescheduled for 19

Sept. all work was carried out safely and satisfactorily

for all concerned with the birds reusing the nest

immediately for a feeding platform over the following

days.

At the conclusion of the repairs Broadcast Australia

wanted to reimburse me for any cost incurred for the

observations and report but I declined and suggested a

donation to BirdLife Northern Queensland which they

have kindly done via BirdLife Australia. A win situation

for all.

Jon Wren, Muralug Beach, Prince of Wales Is., Queensland.

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK



BirdLife Northern Queensland Events

SEPTEMBER MEETING, CAIRNS

Seabirds in hot water: linking seabird foraging success and oceanography on the Great Barrier Reef.

A talk by Dr Brad Congdon

At the September club meeting, we were fortunate to

have Dr Brad Congdon from James Cook University

present some of his work on seabirds of the GBR, and

particularly how oceanographic processes determine

their ability to successfully forage and provision chicks.

Using a range of tracking technologies, Brad has been

able to determine the foraging patterns of some of the

GBR seabird species. Some very interesting tracking

data from Wedge-tailed Shearwaters breeding on

Heron Island was presented at the meeting. The

Shearwaters show a dual foraging strategy when

breeding. The parents will spend periods foraging

close to the colony (


November 2015 7

Lovely Fairy-wrens monitoring

RESULTS OF SURVEY AND COLOUR-BANDING UNTIL OCTOBER 2015

Population size

Site Family Groups Birds total Colour-Banded

Redden 11 26 24

Ellie 14 33 24

Yorkeys 7 18 13

Holloways 7 23 15

Total 39 100 76

Family groups vary between 5 members or pairs.

Reporting sightings

Reporting of sightings of lovely fairy-wrens are helpful

for monitoring population density and the survival,

group dynamics, and territory size of colour-banded

individuals.

Information to note:

Date

Number of birds seen

Location (lat/long in decimal degrees)

Colour combination or report of unbanded birds

Group members are identified as female (f), male (m),

or juvenile (j) and as unbanded (unb) or by their

unique combination of coloured leg bands (explained

below).

Please report sightings to Ana Leitão

([email protected])

Identifying colour-banded individuals

Most birds have 2 metal bands. Only one of the metal

bands has an ABBBS number (that can be coloured).

The band in the other leg is a split colour band (two

colours).

Identify the colours of the bands in order:

Left leg, upper position (closer to body), left leg

lower position (closer to foot)

Right leg upper position, right leg lower position

Code each colour using the single letter code:

A few birds are still banded with the old system of 4

colour bands:

Examples: S/eo A/ay

Female Male

S/eo, is a bird with one band in each leg and it is Silver

(left) and emerald-orange (right). A/ay is male bird

with: Azure (left), and azure-yellow (right).

Please do not use playback for resighting these

birds. This is important both for animal welfare

reasons and for achieving the research goals of

this project.

mailto:[email protected]



LOVELY FAIRY-WRENS TERRITORY MAPS

Please feel free to

request maps with

better resolution.

For further

information contact

Ana Leitão

(anamvleitao@gmail.

com)

Special thanks to

Ana for her Lovely

Fairy-wrens

research update

at our October

meeting in Cairns.

Redden

Island

Holloways

Beach

Yorkeys

Knob

This report is an

extension of

research work first

reported in March

2014, Volume 3

Issue No. 1 of

Contact Call.

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


November 2015 9

We celebrated National Bird Week (19 – 25th October,

2015) with a number of events in the BirdLife Northern

Queensland region.

BirdLife North Australia Office Opening

The week kicked off with the official opening of the

BirdLife North Australia Office with Drs Golo Mauer and

Leeann Reaney.

Cattana Wetlands Signage Launch

Cairns Regional Council and BirdLife Australia then

launched the new bird sign 'Birds of the Cattana

Wetlands'. What a fantastic turn out with 65 people

attending the launch, guided tours and barbecue.

Attendees came from Cairns Regional Council, BirdLife

Australia, Cattana Wetlands Jabiru volunteers, NEATO

members, Dawul Wuru Yirrganydji Rangers, Cairns

Birders, James Cook University, Bush Heritage, Cairns

Volunteers Australia, Kuranda Envirocare, the

Wilderness Society and the general community from

Mission Beach through to Malanda and Mossman.

The launch of the new bird signage at Cattana Wetlands

Beginner Birders Blitz Eubenangee Swamp

As part of the Aussie Backyard Bird Count, 9 birding

beginners from the Innisfail area met at Eubenangee

Swamp to learn more about the birds of that area.

After several hours, the team had completed four

twenty minute checklists and seen a total of 34

different bird species.

Big Turnout at the Atherton Meeting

A special meeting of BirdLife Northern Queensland was

held on Monday night the 26th October. The focus was

an update on bird monitoring programs. The evening

started with some wine and cheese nibbles as

everyone gathered in the CSIRO Seminar Room in

Atherton. By 6.00 pm start time there was standing

room only (at least 60 people). The first item was a

viewing of the just-released DVD called the Coming of

the White Birds. This film tells the story of Margaret

and Arthur Thorsborne and their work to protect and to

count the Pied Imperial Pigeons at their breeding

islands off Cardwell. The film was introduced by Dr

John Winter who joined the counting team in 1977 and

encouraged Margaret to keep going. Then Bryony

Barnett, who managed the project, talked about the

making of the film. We were all then able to better

appreciate the wonderful film with photos and video of

many elements of the long-running count. BirdLife

Norther Queensland was a sponsor of the film-making.

During questions John was able to explain the

information revealed by the graph of count data. The

hope is that the annual counts will become part of the

long-running measures of the health of the World

Heritage Area and therefore become better supported

by government. However the counts do rely on

volunteers and there is a need to recruit more young

people to join the counts each year. Julia Hazel is now

coordinating the program: Contact

http://www.pipwatch.net/ for details.

The second part of the evening was a brief introduction

and summary of the long-running Tablelands Crane

Count and Virginia Simmonds provided a very

informative account of the history and progress of the

count. The gradual increase in Sarus Cranes and the

challenge of separating the two species makes it an

interesting exercise for all participants. There remains

a lot to be learned and it is hoped that more people

will volunteer each year, especially young people with

good eyes!

There was a short interlude for a stretch and some

slices of pizza before the

evening continued.

The final presentation

was an excellent

overview of our endemic

Tooth-billed Bowerbird

and the various

observations of their bowers on the Tablelands. This

was a joint presentation of Graham Harrington and

Amanda Freeman who had brought together the

observations at the Harrington property in the upper

Barron; the Coopers at Topaz, some early observations

National Bird Week Celebrations and

the Aussie Backyard Bird Count

http://www.pipwatch.net/



of John Grant and the records from the School for Field

Studies (SFS) over many years. The data presented

were extremely interesting and provoked lots of

questions. It appears that while the geomorphic

features favoured for groups of bowers (ridges) are not

limiting in our region, only some such sites are used

and these sites continue to be used over long periods

of time, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years.

Individual bower sites also continue to be used by

successive generations and each year the bower (stage

of leaves) is rebuilt in the same spot. Generally bowers

in any one location tend to have the same leaves used

(often Ginger leaves in the Tablelands) despite there

being many other leaves that could be used. Males

steal leaves from each other and it seems the most

successful males might steal very many leaves from

other bowers each season. The bowers are generally

close enough to each other so neighbouring birds in a

given location can hear each other sing. This seems to

meet the definition of a lek. It was interesting to hear

the idea of a "leaf culture" amongst bowerbirds at any

one place. One key missing element is whether there

is any link between a particular bird and/or site and

successful breeding. A great student project would be

monitoring each site to record sexual success at

different bowers with different leaf (numbers, types

etc). Or whether the best leaf thieves get the most

sex.

Graham gave an example of bowers at his property

that were destroyed by bulldozing activity (illegal) and

the owners rebuilding on the same site even though

the forest was completely transformed. Amanda also

gave an example at the SFS site where new bowers

were established as a deforested area recovered. One

significant concern is the effects of cyclones. A serious

possibility is that cyclones take out a large proportion

of the population of local bowerbirds. Because Graham

had banded birds before Cyclone Larry he was able to

confirm that only one of 12 banded birds came back in

the years after the cyclone. Given that birds are very

site-faithful, this implies a very high mortality from

that fierce cyclone. It is possible that perhaps one or

two may have established sites at a new location for

them but it seems less likely they would have been

successful. It is very interesting that even now barely

half the number of bowers are active compared with

the period before Cyclone Larry. Have the young birds

lost the knowledge of where to build bowers?

Graham and Amanda are seeking further inputs on the

location of Tooth-billed Bowerbird bowers across the

full range of altitudes believed to be used (above 400

metres). It might be very important to start to monitor

those bower sites close to the low elevation margin in

the light of potential effects of climate change. If

anyone has knowledge of sites for Tooth-billed

Bowerbirds they might very valuably contribute to the

study by taking an accurate GPS location for each

bower and passing on the information to Graham.

Any information on leaves used would also be

extremely

useful (a simple photo would help). All data in this

study are securely stored in a confidential database of

BirdLife Australia. There is also an intention to extend

the study of Golden Bowerbird sites, especially given

the unexplained disappearance of many bowers in

recent times.

At the end of the presentations the audience raised

many questions then joined the Chair in thanking all

the presenters. The evening concluded at about 8.00

pm. Article and images by Peter Valentine.

Mission Beach

November 21st – more counters needed!

Birdlife Northern Queensland’s annual count of

Pied/Torresian Imperial Pigeons will take place on

Saturday 21 November. The event starts at 1.30 pm at

C4 Centre in Mission Beach.

The afternoon will begin with a screening of the short

documentary film “The Coming of the White Birds”

(see below) followed by a briefing for counters.

Count teams then disperse to their allocated sites

along the coast near Mission Beach, ready to start

counting at 4pm. We meet afterwards for dinner at a

venue in Mission Beach.

The past couple of years have been short of counters.

Please join in this year if you can and encourage family

and friends to come along, all welcome.

To assist with planning, please notify Trish Pontynen

([email protected]) if you are willing to

participate as a counter.


November 2015 11

Time for a Chat! The car was travelling at speed down a dirt road, red-

brown dust billowing out in its wake. Driver and

navigator were peering intently through the front

windscreen as the driver braked before the sharp right

hand bend, preparing to accelerate out of it. “Stop,

stop. Go back” yelled the navigator. The car slid to a

halt and was enveloped by a dust cloud. Is this a scene

from the desert stage of the Dakar Rally? Have they

missed a turning? Not at all. It’s Ceri and Sandra on

another birding adventure, and a pair of Crimson Chat

had flown in front of the car into shrubs at the side of

the road. Lifers for both of us.

This time we were searching for birds in the south-

west corner of Western Australia. It seemed that there

are 16 possible WA endemics in this area and we were

optimistic that we would find some of them, not to

mention other lifers.

Collecting our hire car in mid-September we put our

trust in the Navman and set off towards Korung NP.

One minute later we found ourselves sitting in the car

park of the local race course looking bewildered.

Having reset the Navman we had another attempt and

after a short while we drove into Lesmurdie Falls

National Park in the Darling Scarp. A great start to our

trip, it was picturesque with many new birds for us

including Splendid Fairy-wrens, Western Thornbill,

White cheeked and New Holland Honeyeater. The latter

at this point was a bit of a novelty. Later in the day, at

Victoria Reservoir we picked up Red winged Fairy-

wrens and Red-eared Firetail. Awesome!

We then drove north for over an hour to Northam, a

place where Mute Swans are said to breed and have

established in Australia. After stopping at several

places on the river with good views in both directions

without any sign of swans we returned to look in a

fenced compound near the Information Centre and

found a captive pair there which had been obtained

from a Victorian collection to re-establish the colony. I

was unimpressed by the diversion, but we got back

into the car and headed south to Narrogin for a 2-night

stay.

The following morning we had a wonderful time in the

Dryandra State Forest, a mainly dry eucalypt forest

with open understorey. Here we found Western White-

naped (Gilberts) Honeyeater, Brown-headed

Honeyeater, Western Wattlebird, Western Golden

Whistler, Scarlet Robin and Western and Yellow-

rumped Thornbill.

Accommodation was available right in the middle of

the forest at Lions Dryandra Village, which looked well-

run and is home to lots of bird species and the

Numbat. We didn’t see a Numbat but did see Rufous

Treecreeper foraging on the ground whilst looking for

one.

Long-billed (Baudins) Cockatoo. Image by Ceri Pearce

Next day we set off north-east towards Merredin via

Lake Yealering. The route took us through the wheat

belt area where Albert Facey, author of “A Fortunate

Life” lived and worked. The roads were very quiet and

the driving easy so we detoured to Wave Rock near

Hyden. The rock was much smaller than I had

imagined and there were not many birds to be seen so

after a short stop we continued on our way finding

Elegant Parrot, Singing Honeyeater, White-browed

Babbler and Red-capped Robin. We stayed overnight

at the very pleasant Merredin Tourist Park which

thoughtfully, in common with most places we stayed,

provided heating and lots of bedding.

Kalgoorlie was to be our next destination, but just a

short drive from Merredin we stopped at Sandford

Rocks NP. We had the place to ourselves except for the

Chestnut-rumped Thornbills, amongst other birdlife. I

enjoyed eating our lunch amongst little insectivorous

plants, Sundews. We stayed for 2 nights at the

Kalgoorlie Backpackers which proved to be somewhat

run-down but quite comfortable. The road out to

Rowles Lagoon passed by numerous mine sites. We

saw an Emu with six chicks, Spiny-cheeked

Honeyeater, White-fronted Chat and Crested Bellbird.

Keeping a close eye on the fuel gauge we decided to

return the way we had come rather than press on to

Googarrie NP and return by the much longer circuitous

option. A wise decision.

Esperance was a 400Km drive a way but there were

many birds to stop for. From our accommodation at

Pink Lake Caravan Park we ventured out to see the



lake which at that time was neither pink nor thick with

bird life. I blame the cold weather.

Our stay at Quaalup Homestead in the Fitzgerald NP

was interesting. The flowering plants and shrubs were

amazing, and we were lucky to see a Honey Possum

feeding on orange-coloured flowers. We also saw Blue-

breasted Fairy-wren, Shy Heathwren and Red-capped

Parrot.

We couldn’t have tried harder to find the Cheynes

Beach special birds. We searched for hours in very cold

weather for the Western Whipbirds which we could

hear, the Noisy Scrub-bird which we missed and the

Western Bristlebird which we heard many times and

got a brief glimpse of. We enjoyed our brief stay there

and met many other birders on a similar mission.

We enjoyed our visit to The Valley of The Giants tree-

top walk despite it being a long weekend in WA and

the numerous visitors still being there just before

closing time. Whilst at the top of the walkway, a flock

of the Western Varied Sittella flew right at us, a

wonderful sight.

After overnighting at Pemberton we visited nearby

Gloucester NP and the “Gloucester Tree’, which was

once used to spot fires from. Having climbed up a few

of its metal rungs to pose for a photo (Ceri climbed at

least 4 times higher than me) we went to find birds

(there were lots of Western Rosella here amongst

many other species) and spent a very enjoyable hour

or so there before heading towards Cape Leeuwin,

Margaret River and Busselton. We stopped to

investigate large black birds landing in trees at the

side of the road, which turned out to be Baudin’s

Black-cockatoo. They did not seem worried by our

presence and we were able to see their bills quite

clearly.

Our last evening in WA was spent watching seals and

an Albatross at Sugarloaf Rock near Cape Naturaliste,

as the sun was setting. Our last day included the

journey back into Perth for a late night flight back to

Cairns. I was worried that birding would be almost

non-existent, but we found ourselves visiting Peel Inlet

and McLartys Nature Reserve before arriving in King’s

Park near the centre of the city and had a wonderful

time. Not only did we see numerous birds but we

enjoyed the gardens, especially the Wild Flower

displays and views of the city. It was a nice way to

end our trip, which was quite successful in that we saw

11 out of the possible 16 endemics, saw many wild

flowers and some excellent scenery and beaches.

And as for the Crimson Chat, that was on the road to

Westonia, a funky little town, where Ceri also managed

to get covered in guano while rescuing a stumpy tailed

lizard from the middle of the road!

Sandra Christensen

The Coming of the White Birds

The tiny Brook Islands north of Hinchinbrook once

hosted vast blocks of breeding “Nutmeg Pigeons”, the

birds called Pied/Torresian Imperial Pigeons. By the

1960s, the Brook Island pigeons had been almost

exterminated by recreational shooting on a massive

scale.

At that point, something extraordinary happened: a

couple of visiting southerners on a camping holiday

intervened personally to prevent the slaughter of the

few remaining birds. What happened next is told in a

new documentary film entitled The Coming of the

White Birds.

In 26 minutes of screen time, film maker Sarah Scragg

has woven together beautiful imagery and personal

accounts of many people involved. Chief story teller is

Margaret Thorsborne who, together with her late

husband Arthur, initiated this remarkable conservation

achievement.

The Coming of the White Birds will be screened at the

BirdLife Mission Beach meeting on 21 November, see

above. The film is also available on DVD from the

Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. It would

make a nice Christmas present and it carries a

conservation bonus. From each DVD purchase $5 goes

to fund continuation of pigeon counts at the Brook

Islands. To order a DVD email:

[email protected]



November 2015 13

Passage migration and flagged shorebirds on

the Cairns Esplanade. The southern migration has been in full swing for

nearly 2 months now and the Cairns Esplanade is host

to flocks of birds who need a stop-over to feed and

rest before moving on.

All of the most common species show temporary and

often frequent increases in numbers at this time of

year, suggesting there are (still) large numbers of

passage migrants temporarily using Trinity Inlet.

Trying to understand exactly what is happening in

these migrations is very difficult and we know very

little about how shorebirds use Trinity Inlet. What we

do know is that it will be complicated - different

species (and probably different individuals) will do

different things. One way to get a handle on this is

through consistent, consecutive counts of targeted

species.

For example, there are currently flocks of Sharp-tailed

Sandpipers which come and go from the count data as

large and brief influxes of birds. The available

evidence suggests this species will only stay for a very

short time (approx. 12 - 24 hours) in Trinity Inlet. In

my counts, there were over 200 on the 24/09, 60 on

the 25/09 and



The yellow flagging on the Great Knots tells us these

were captured in NW Australia which is unusual as the

expected movement for birds which use this area is

south, along the west coast. So have two birds landed

in NW Australia and then flown east to Cairns or did

they go off course further north and end up on the

east coast?

With individual identification, what was formerly neat

and understandable migration routes, swooping down

from the Artic, can suddenly become a lot less clear

and a lot more complicated.

The Bar tail Godwit with a green flag (letters BSV) was

one of twelve Godwits banded in Gladstone in January

2015. One of these has been sighted in Toorbul,

Moreton Bay three times since then, which means it

went south when many assume it should be going

north. BSV however was banded as a 2+ year old bird,

so it probably has gone to the other end of the world

and is now returning to (probably) go further south.

The Great Knot WDA was banded in Roebuck Bay,

March 2012 and was sighted in Roebuck Bay, Broome

in January 2013, November 2013 and February 2014

but in 2015 it ends up in Cairns on the 29 September.

It was sighted again in Cairns 8 days later, on the 7

October, so where did it go between those two

sightings? I know I was looking on 5 occasions during

that time and did not see it. Did it go away then come

back to the Esplanade?

The above summary is based on limited sightings –

any additional records of these, or other, flagged birds

would help to fill in the gaps and be useful in

understanding how shorebirds use the Esplanade

feeding areas. For example, did anyone else see the

Great Knot WDA outside of the above (2) dates?

Additional records of flagged birds would be

appreciated – if you have some sightings please let me

know at [email protected]

Article and images by Paul Fisk

Old trees in the Cairns

CBD

I have some news on correspondence with Cairns

Regional Council (CRC) over removal of some very old

tree in the CBD.

A week or so ago I emailed them over my concern that

vital old trees with nesting hollows might be lost. I was

prompted to do this because of the recent loss some

old trees from the CBD and Hidetoshi (Mikey) Kudo’s

discovery of a colony of critically endangered Bare-

rump Sheath-tail bats (Saccoliamus saccoliamus) in

the Centenary Lakes. I wanted to make sure CRC was

aware of its responsibilities: the Federal environment

protection affords not only these mammals but also

the habitat trees they require to roost and raise young.

These bats have in the past alternated with the Rufous

Owl in using the hollows in three of the big Melaleuca

leucadendra in the Saltwater Lake. In the past I did

persuade one Councillor to table a motion to have

compiled a register with the view to protecting these

trees. The motion lapsed for want of a seconder.

On a slightly more positive note - three days ago the

CRC responded to my email with a phone call from the

supervising arborist, Pieter Taylor. Pieter asked me to

GPS these old hollow-bearing trees and forward the

location onto him. This I promptly did using Google

Earth.

Now I don’t suppose my action will automatically

protect these trees so I would urge our readership to

similarly pressure Council particularly with GPS co-

ordinates of hollow-bearing trees.

Brian Venables



November 2015 15

What‘s been happening in Julatten and beyond?

We are already in mid-October and the rain is still

falling, though to a lesser degree. The birding is very

good with an average of 90 species per outing being

found. Best day so far this month is 117 species. This,

of course, is being helped along by the arrival of the

migratory species from our northern neighbours.

Dollarbird numbers have been on the increase since

the first sighting in late September. Metallic Starlings

are in full breeding mode and it won’t be long before

we see the first juveniles.

Mt Lewis birding is excellent when the wind is not

blowing too hard. Chowchilla’s seem to be a bit tricky

to find some days but we have been having fantastic

sightings of Golden Bowerbird and Tooth-billed

Bowerbird. Both are now very active around bowers

and display courts. There are a lot of new Tooth-billed

Bowerbird display courts this year. I finally saw the

Cassowary reported along the Dam Track but there

have been no more reports so he must have moved

on.

Back down in Julatten several pairs of Cotton Pygmy-

goose are still on the dam in McDougal Rd. The board

walk and hide at

Abattoir Swamp are still

closed but I hear plans

are afoot to re-habilitate

the swamp and repair

the board walk. The car

park has been really

good for Northern

Fantail, Rufous Whistler

and several species of

honeyeater. A Brown

Honeyeater nested at

knee height at the edge

of the car park and

managed to fledge two

youngsters. I did sneak

down to the hide a few days ago and was rewarded

with a Tawny Grassbird and Latham’s Snipe. Since

sighting the Black-headed Pythons in the rafters no

more snakes have been seen.

Further afield the Australian Bustards at Maryfarms

have been showing well and two Oriental Plovers

where reported in early October.

Lake Mitchell is still fairly quiet but the White-winged

Trillers have turned up as usual. Happy Birding!

Doug Herrington

Birdwatching Tropical Australia



Hidden features of our new website

It has been two years since the renewal of our BirdLife Northern Queensland website. I am hoping that our

members are getting used to the new design. But I am thinking some of you might have overlooked

interesting features that have been unpretentiously embedded in the website pages. Now I would like you

to check how many of them you have noticed.

Here is the screen shot of the first page.

1. This is a link to the Birdlife Northern Queensland Facebook page. If you have a Facebook account and

have never visited our group Facebook page, please click and login. My humble target is to reach two digits

for Like (9 at the moment)

2. Please click and see what will happen!!!

3. Unfortunately we closed the crane report page due to constant spam attacks. Thank you so much for

those who spent time for sending reports. Now I made a very simple result page from the collected data.

4. Do you know who I am? I am Dusky Honeyeater.


November 2015 17

More hidden features

5. I am still endeavouring to have a different banner photo for each page. Did you notice that one bird is

slightly different from others in this picture? The event page has another slideshow!!!

6. Some pages have accordions at the page bottom from which you can access the past event reports. I

have tried to capture our historical data:- that way we can always look back and see what we did in the

past.

7. The Bird List and Birding Info page is a very popular page. Sometimes we get more than 100 downloads

in a month. Did you notice that the top map is actually an interactive map and you can click on a location

for the list of files that you are looking for?



News from the Daintree

River - Spring This is a regular column reporting wildlife observations

on the Daintree River by the ‘Daintree Boatman’,

Murray Hunt.

Papuan Frogmouth

A few times I’ve mentioned that there seems to be a

relationship between Papuan Frogmouth and

Australasian Figbird. Over the years I have often

observed these two species nesting within 5 metres.

Sometimes Helmeted Friarbird (Philemon buceroides)

is also in attendance. Indeed the easiest way to find a

nesting Frogmouth on the river is to find Figbirds

active around their nest and search the nearby area.

This Spring I was lucky enough to make a few more

observations. For about 10 weeks, on a near daily

basis I observed a pair of frogmouth perched on the

same branch on a Green Apple Mangrove (Sonneratia

spp). Later they relocated about 10 metres for 2 weeks

Papuan Frogmouth image courtesy of Martin Willis

before finally building a nest a further 5 metres away

in a River Cherry (Syzygium spp). Only later did a pair

of figbird choose to nest nearby. Recently I have also

observed a pair of figbirds building a nest within a

metre of the long term roosting location of a second

pair of frogmouth. It seems to me that it is the figbird

that makes the choice to associate with the frogmouth.

Possibly there is mutual benefit in the relationship with

one species more predator-aware during the night and

the other species more aware during the day. Possibly

the relationship is more one-sided with benefit purely

for the figbird.

Azure Kingfisher image courtesy of Peter Valentine

Azure Kingfisher Throughout the last month or more nesting behaviour

has been observed in Azure Kingfishers. Courtship

involves synchronous bowing, prolonged sessions of head-bobbing, wing-raising, and high pitched calls. In

the last couple of days a male was observed to deliver

a food offering to his beloved in the form of a small

pale fish. Soon after a very brief period of high pitched

piping calls he was observed to attempt mating but

was quickly rebuffed by the disapproving female.

Maybe a bigger fish was required.

More hidden features

8. This is a screenshot from the newsletter page. You may be interested to know that the first edition was

issued in December 1994 and was simply made of two black and white pages. The present edition is

actually cerebrating the 21st birthday of Contact Call.

Mikey Kudo, BirdLife Northern Queensland Website Manager


November 2015 19

Great-billed Heron image courtesy of Ed Sloane

Great-billed Heron

In the last week, lucky cruise passengers were lucky enough to observe a pair of herons courting. Initially

one bird presumed to be male was observed calling its

strange guttural call from a horizontal branch 15

metres high in a Green Apple Mangrove. Subsequently

another bird presumed to be female was heard to

respond from a grassy position on the riverbank about

50 metres away. Over 5 minutes the herons engaged

to alternate calling. Eventually the presumed male flew

to a perch closer to the presumed female, about 15

metres away. The presumed female then proceeded to

walk across the grass to the base of tree below the

presumed male. The presumed female had clearly

'fluffed' feathers and walked in a manner reminiscent

of Australian Bustard. The presumed male, still

perched on a prominent branch 15 metres above the

ground was bending low with the head and beak lower

than its feet, with occasional soft bill 'clacking'. Both

birds also appeared to take an interest in twigs,

leaves, grasses as if interested in nest building.

Murray Hunt

FROM THE EDITOR

It’s our 21st Birthday!!

The first issue of Contact Call was in December 1994 –

thanks for reminding us Mikey! Special thanks to all of

the contributors to this newsletter and to everyone for

the wonderful support you have provided throughout

this year and for the last 21 years. This is your

newsletter, and it is your awesome efforts that

maintain it as such a great source of local birding

news. Thank you!

Please keep the images, articles, observations, activity

and trip reports and reviews rolling in. Email:

[email protected]

Next newsletter deadline:

January 15th for the March Edition in 2016*




What’s on in Northern Queensland Date Time Locality Meeting place and other information Contact the Leader

Wed. 18th Nov.

9.30am - 4 pm

C4

Theatrette,

535 Porters

Promenade,

Mission

Beach

FNQ Beach Bird Secrets

This FREE one day workshop is for everyone interested in

shorebirds and their protection. Beginners and families

are welcome!

The workshop includes:

Presentations on the amazing adaptations of coastal

birds

Advice on conservation actions for beach-nesting birds

A field trip to practice your newly learned coastal bird

ID skills!

Goodie bag with a starter kit to join our nationwide

monitoring and conservation effort

New members signing up to BirdLife Australia on the day

will receive a free Bird Book!

WHAT TO BRING: Binoculars (if you have them), water

bottle, sun-smart gear, sturdy shoes. Scopes will be on

site.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided

PLEASE RSVP BY 16

NOVEMBER:

Golo Maurer: [email protected]

Sat. 21st Nov.

1.30pm Starts at C4

Theatrette,

535 Porters

Promenade,

Mission

Beach

Pied Imperial Pigeon (PIP) Count at Mission Beach.

Everyone is welcome. Suitable for beginners. Viewing of

the film “The Coming of the White Birds” followed by late

afternoon at the beach counting PIPs as they fly to

offshore islands to nest. Then debrief with a group dinner.

For more information and to register your interest contact: Trish Pontynem via Email: [email protected]

Sun. 22nd Nov.

6.30 am Mission

Beach area

Ninney Rise Bird Survey Meet at 6.30 am in the coastal car park at the intersection of Cutten Street and Alexander Drive, Bingil Bay. Please bring a small donation of $5 for this new conservation effort

Contact : Helen Larson via

Email:

[email protected]

5-6th Dec. Area of your

choice

Challenge Count

All you have to do is get a few friends together and have a

fun day, or spend an hour or two seeing how many

species you can record in your area. If you would like to

take part, read the Rules and, on the weekend itself, fill in

the spreadsheet and ‘face sheet’ with additional detail of

the day. Go to the Birdlife Australia website:

http://birdlife.org.au/get-involved/whats-on/challenge-

count

Further information can be

obtained from David Ap-

Thomas on (03) 97876691

or via email on

[email protected].

au

Fri. 22nd – Tues. 26th Jan 2016 or part thereof.

Mt Carbine

Caravan

Park and

surrounding

area

Australia Day Weekend with Doug and Del Join Doug and Del for a weekend birding including a visit to Brooklyn Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Hurricane Station Road and Mt Lewis. There is limited accommodation but plenty of camping and powered caravan sites.

For further details contact

Doug Herrington

Ph: 0418757288

contact call - birdlifenq.orgbirdlifenq.org/newsletters/nq-cc_2015_11_vol4_no4.pdf2 contact call....

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