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| Picnic area at Lake Eacham |
Lake Eacham is just around the corner from our accommodation and when Alan Gillanders, naturalist extraordinaire, suggested starting our day there we were in no mood to argue. Why would one when there is such a great variety of species and the possibility of good views - Fig Parrots, Barred Cuckoo Shrikes, Doves, Flycatchers, Robins and Riflebirds.
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| Black faced Monarch |
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| Vince Lee - always a good looking rooster |
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| Wompoo Fruit Dove - a female |
We visited next the Cathedral Fig -
Next on the agenda was a visit to the property of one of Alan's friends; neatly surrounded by good forest and vacant it was populated by a few endemics including a disobedient Victoria's Riflebird male named Ollie. He was to be the star attraction however the generous bellows of Alan encouraging him to come to a favoured perch were ignored as was the promise of fresh banana as Ollie continued away apparently chasing the sex of females. Typical. Views of the riflebird were fleeting however the garden and its surrounds held other delights.
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| Barred Cuckoo Shrike |
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| Barred Cuckoo Shrike |
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| Pied Monarch |
We then went to see a very special beautiful bird that has become synonymous with Alan's wildlife tours; The Golden Bowerbird. When you see the Golden Bowerbird, and sadly very few folks get to, it tends to dominate your thoughts and emotions. It is, of course, our Bird of the Day and will become the bird of the trip. Why? This bird has everything. It is an architect, an artist, an acrobat, an experienced performer with a flair for the dramatic. Its endangered and endemic. It is beautiful. We were enchanted and some of us were literally overcome.
The Golden Bowerbird has suffered habitat loss and poaching such that it is the rarest bowerbird species of them all, including those to our north in New Guinea. It builds a large bower or platform so as to impress its potential ladies with its strength and stamina. It decorates this bower with luxuriant mosses and lichens and selects the finest pale forest fruits and seeds with which to enchant her further.
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Our story started with a visit to a secret bower so we, along with female bowerbirds, could marvel at its scale and structure. All the while Alan Gillanders slowly and softly described the bird's behaviour - both as he has seen and as we would witness. Alan had managed to condition this bird to close visits through endless time and patience and, I think it is fair to admit, love. Alan then quite naughtily removed one of the bird's love trinkets from the main display area of the bower and placed it on an adjacent log. And then we quietly moved into position.
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Soon the male bird flew near. It sat in what should have been clear sight however the browns and golds of the plumage morphed into the surrounding mosaic of light on greens and reds and yellows rendering it near invisible. It flew again - closer this time - close enough to witness the injustice and close enough to spring into action. In a flash it had sailed to the log, snatched the seeds and replaced them triumphantly back in the display area. Through all this there was no sound from the bird; the soundscape being provided by the cacophony of a nearby Tooth billed Catbird and, to a lesser extent, the determined clicking of cameras.
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| male Golden Bowerbird |
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| male Golden Bowerbird set to restore justice! |
All in all it was magic theatre.
A performer of a different kind was in attendance near his stage as we left the Golden. The Tooth billed Bowerbird.
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| Tooth billed Catbird |
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| Tooth billed Catbird |
Two other endemics, Mountain Thornbill and Atherton Scrub-wren, were seen nearby.
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| Mountain Thornbill - sadly my best pic |
Mt Hypipamee aka the Crater was our, by now, late lunch spot. Strolling to the hole that is the crater and back we spied this beautiful Wet Tropics endemic skink.
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| Concinnia tigrinus : Yellow-Blotched Forest-Skink |
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| Concinnia tigrinus : Yellow-Blotched Forest-Skink - This species is found in rainforest and high altitude heaths, and basks on roots and logs (Wilson and Swan 2013, Cogger 2014). It is often found high on trees and in natural crevices such as tree holes, as well as on rocky outcrops. It's population is stable. |
Herberton Honeyeaters
Chambers
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