Oystercatchers pied and sooty

Oystercatchers reward the casual visitor to the Australian coast by being so easily identifiable.  The distinctive red eye, bill and legs causes oystercatchers to stand out from the crowd on the sandbar.  

 Pied oystercatchers trundle around the beach on an ebb tide stabbing their bills deep into the sand in search of prey while their sooty cousins are more likely to be seen on rocky points beating mussels into submission.  Occasionally a sooty oystercatcher will join a couple of pieds between the tides in search of food or just to have a rest until the tide begins to recede.

Claire Wood

23 April 2012

Just Claire Wood

email:  JustClaireWood@gmail.com

longlines, In The Atmosphere

Australian Brush Turkey – Long Island, North Queensland

One bird often seen in parks and gardens, in the wild and around tourist resorts in North Queensland is the Australian Brush Turkey.  This mound building bird has made a comeback over the past 30 years or so after a decline in numbers through habitat loss and, in the early years of settlement, because they provided a reliable and easy-to-catch source of protein.  Today the bird makes its home not only in rainforest and along scrubby creek margins but also is found in the inner city suburbs of Brisbane. Although the Brush Turkey is the largest of the mound builders, it is the scrub fowl (see Just Claire Wood blog 8 April, 2012), the smallest of Australia’s mound builders that builds the largest mound.

For more information about Australian Brush Turkeys go to Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland website  or  Birds In Backyards website 

Claire Wood

Just Claire Wood

20 April 2012

http://JustClaireWood.blogspot.com

Email:  JustClaireWood@gmail.com

longlines,  In The Atmosphere 

Green Tree Ants

The green tree ants have built another giant nest in one of the trees in the backyard.  They already have an old one there, on to which they have built an extension, so there is a green leafy add-on to the old dead brown leaf original home and a brand shiny new one above it.  A red flowering ixora grows up against the tree ant tree.  Lately the sunbirds have been going crazy every morning in the tree.  Because the foliage is so thick I haven’t been able to get a good look at them to see what it is they are eating.  I’m wondering if they are feasting on the green ants.  They usually eat the little spiders that live in the trees and under the eaves.

For more information on Green Tree Ants go to :State of the Environment Website: 

and

Unique Australian AnimalsWebsite:  

Claire Wood

Just Claire Wood

Email:  JustClaireWood@gmail.com

 longlines, In the Atmosphere

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

Curlews

 Monday afternoon

After a fine Easter the rain has returned, the temperature has dropped and this afternoon the light was soft, unusual for this part of the world.  Curlews were calling from the remnant bushland near the beach side park.  In the dim dark ages of my childhood, to hear a curlew calling three nights in a row signalled a death. However the regularity of the curlew calls here has helped to completely dispell any remaining superstitions.

Claire Wood

Just Claire Wood

Email:  JustClaireWood@gmail.com

See also longlines, In theAtmosphere

16 April 2012

Black Winged Stilts

At the Wildlife Habitat in Port Douglas a pair of black winged stilts took advantage of the fresh water pool and bathed with energy.  It was entrancing to see these usually sedately elegant birds behaving in such an undignified manner while obviously enjoying themselves.  Click on the above link to see my YouTube video.

Claire Wood
Friday 13 April 2012
http://Just Claire Wood.blogspot.com
Email:  JustClaireWood@gmail.com
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Ulysses Butterfly at Digger Creek

Yesterday's trip from Port Douglas to Mackay was necessarily a fast one.  No time for long stops to check out the many, too many, beautiful beaches and other points of interest along this 800 kilometre route. However this is probably the best time of the year to travel in north Queensland and every stop to fuel up or change drivers was enhanced by at least one rewarding moment. 

On the northern side of Al Arish at Digger Creek rest area (clean toilets, picnic facilities and even a small commercial food van), a Ulysses butterfly wandered among the vegetation along the creek bank.  I have yet to see a photo of a Ulysses that captures the startling irridescence of its wings.  It is a strikingly beautiful creature.  They are not rare in this part of the world, but every sighting is a heart lifting experience.

Black Swans

Black swans are nesting now in North Queensland. Black swans mate for life and both parents care for the egg and the young.  The pair I saw here in Port Douglas had built their nest of dried grass and leaves on an island in shallow water.  Although one of them was sitting on eggs they were still lining the nest with down and soft material.

ClaireWood
http://JustClaireWood.blogspot.com
email:  JustClaireWood@gmail.com
 longlines, In The Atmosphere

Port Douglas: Orange Footed Scrub Fowl

The evening walk up Flagstaff Hill is enlivened by orange footed scrub fowl which dart from the forest bordering the road.  They then either cross the road or run along the edge of the forest for a short distance before crashing back into the bush.  They seem to thrive in this remnant forest which grows around residential housing on the hill overlooking Port Douglas.

The YouTube link is of a pair crossing Murphy Street, as I forgot the camera each time I walked to the lookout.

Claire Wood
http://JustClaireWood.blogspot.com
email:  JustClaireWood@gmail.com

Shining Starlings Easter at Port Douglas

A flock of shining starlings wheels and turns above Macrossan Street in Port Douglas as evening descends and the street lights come on.  It is a continual shape changer, curling in on itself then spreading into loops and curves, ever diminishing in size until the entire flock has roosted in the trees in the centre of the street.

The flock seems to contain many juveniles and I wonder if they have recently fledged and are preparing for the annual northern migration or if they are permanent residents of the town

Travelling North

A quick trip from Townsville airport to Cairns airport, collecting incoming passengers at both airports did not allow me time to stop on the way up, but passing through Tully, fifteen months after Cyclone Yasi, revealed just how devastating the cyclone had been.  The sight of huge coconut trees still lying where they had been uprooted and tossed around by the gales, and of gutted buildings, was a reminder that though natural disasters quickly fade from the public interest, their legacy lasts a long time.