TABLELAND BIRDING DAY - AKA 'THE DAY OF ALAN'

BIRD OF THE DAY - GOLDEN BOWERBIRD

Alan Gillanders

Today was a highlight of the trip;  a great day's birding under the guidance of Alan Gillanders - an excellent birding / nature / wildlife  guide for the Tableland area.

I had never met Alan however I had long heard of his reputation and after not-quite-a-day it is easy to see that his reputation is well deserved. Within an hour some of our group started sidling up to me to whisper or comment, 'We've done well with Alan!' Alan used to be a teacher... the loss to the education department has been our gain.

Why the fuss?

Alan has an excellent knowledge of every aspect of natural history. His knowledge and patience with the special birds of this region is without peer. And, just as importantly, he has been a staunch advocate for conservation in this region, encouraging and organising revegetation projects to link extant pieces of protected habitat to improve and increase the region's rainforest biodiversity.


So what did we see?
Among the region's endemics we saw....

• Tooth-billed bowerbird (Scenopoeetes dentirostris)
• Golden bowerbird (Prionodura newtoniana)
• Bridled honeyeater (Lichenostomus frenatus)
• Atherton scrubwren (Sericornis keri)
• Mountain thornbill (Acanthiza katherina)
• Grey-headed robin (Heteromyias cinereifrons)
• Bower's shrike-thrush (Colluricincla boweri)
• Macleay's honeyeater (Xanthotis macleayana)
• Victoria's riflebird (Ptiloris victoriae)

We started our birding near our accommodation with some viewing around a fig tree; chief birds were the not so subtle Channel billed Cuckoos.

Channel billed Cuckoos

Next on the agenda was the Cathedral Fig here we started to score some wonderful birds.

Cathederal Fig

Spotted Catbird

Grey headed Robin

Next to a mate's place for some more birds

Macleays Honeyeater

Bowers Shrike thrush

Bowers Shrike thrush

Bowers Shrike thrush

Victoria's Riflebird

Victoria's Riflebird

Victoria's Riflebird

Red legged Pademelon

The views of Golden Bowerbird we got were legendary. It is no exaggeration to say if you want to see Golden Bowerbird you must hire Alan. You will not regret it I guarantee it.

Golden Bowerbird

Golden Bowerbird

Golden Bowerbird

Mountain Thornbill [Paul Fraser]

Our mammal list got off to a good start with Musky Rat Kangaroo at a nearby Fig tree and Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo at the Nerada Tree Plantation. Here we found nesting Fairy Gerygones as well.

Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo

Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo

Fairy Gerygone nest

Fairy Gerygone male

Alan in action pointing out a stinging tree

Stinging tree

In addition we got such species as Spotted Harrier and Sarus Crane, oh, and Cassowary.

juvy Cassowary

juvy Cassowary

Before dinner we had a quick spotlight and scored excellent views of a Lesser Sooty Owl. And after dinner spotlighting witnessed Green Ringtail Possums, Coppery Brushtails, Long nosed Bandicoots and a decent Carpet Python.

Green Ringtail

Green Ringtail

Coppery Brushtail

Lesser Sooty Owl

Pretty bloody good day!