Macleay’s Honeyeater (Xanthotis macleayanus) is one of Paluma’s most common birds in our gardens and at feeders. While it eschews the dramatic displays and gaudy colours of some of our other regulars around the village, dedicated observers grow to appreciate its soft pastel colours and tartan pattern. It is also special in being one of 13 bird species that are endemic to (only found in) the Wet Tropics. Its distribution extends from Paluma range in the south to Cooktown in the north.
In the forest, Macleay’s Honeyeater is found mostly in the forest canopy where it forages for a range of insects and spiders (its predominant food) as well as nectar and fruit. It is most abundant at lower altitudes, but you would never know it from the vantage point of a typical porch in the village, where it is one of the most common visitors at feeders and is easily encouraged to eat from a hand. In town, it will eat a variety of food on offer although providing processed food to native wildlife is never a good idea.
Macleay’s Honeyeater commences breeding in September. Nests are generally located in very dense vegetation in the canopy (7.5m and above) but occasionally lower. The female is the primary incubator of the eggs, but both parents feed the young.
The genus Xanthotis is derived from the Greek xantho (yellow) and otis (ear) which is a distinctive character of this species. Both the common name and scientific name also pay homage to Sir William Macleay (1820-1891). He was a Scott who emigrated to Australia as a young man. After achieving financial security as a pastoralist (and through marriage) he became a politician and then spent most of the rest of his life indulging in his passion for natural history. He was the founding President of the Linnean Society of NSW, a prolific author, a generous patron of the sciences and an avid collector. His collections were donated to the University of Sydney after his death and formed the basis for the Macleay Museum.
The scientific name is sometimes written as Xanthotis macleayana but this is an error and also a faux pas. Those readers old enough to have taken Latin in school might recognise that the suffix “ana” is used to denote female characteristics whereas “anus” is masculine. I doubt very much that Sir William identified himself as a female!
The department of Main Roads is planning maintenance work on the range road in June through to August. Works will be conducted in the night from 6pm to 6am Saturday – Thursday, and 7pm to 6am on Fridays. This is the same schedule that was used during the last maintenance program. Individuals who commute up and down the range for work should have been contacted individually already. I you fall this this category please contact TMR as soon as possible. There will be no maintenance work during the Paluma Push.
Here is the relevant notice from TMR.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) will soon commence stabilisation works on Mt Spec Road Slop between Fairy Falls and Maiden Hair Fern Creek.
These important works are required due to the deteriorating condition of the rock walls and will prevent failure of the rock walls along this important heritage listed road.
We are contacting you as a key local stakeholder to seek your feedback and understand any concerns you may have about the proposed timing or about these works from a local perspective.
Works will be occurring from:
Monday 17 June to Friday 30 August 2024 With a working roster of 10 days on 4 days off between 6pm – 6am Friday night road closure will occur 7pm and reopen 6am Saturday.
The schedule is currently for a full road closure commencing at 6pm and reopening at 6am. Work crews will commence prestart works an hour prior to the road closure.
Please note, Mount Spec Road in its entirety will be closed during the night works, with provision for Queensland Emergency Services and parents who will be required to retrieve sick students only.
The night works will take place based on 10 working days and 4 days-off (10:4) roster for the duration of the slope stabilisation project. Each Friday night of the work schedule, the road will be closed at 7pm and reopen 6am Saturday morning.
Please find attached Notice of Works including a calendar with scheduled works specific to Mt Spec Road. Please note these may be subject to change due to weather conditions, contractor availability and construction progress.
We encourage you to please let us know of any community events that are occurring over the course of roadworks. Please find the current works calendar on page 2 of the attached document. Alternatively, you can call me on 1800 625 648 to discuss further.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Sarah
Communications Officer Customer and Stakeholder Management Team – Northern District | North Queensland Region Program Delivery and Operations Branch | Infrastructure Management and Delivery Division
Department of Transport and Main Roads P: 1800 625 648| M: 0744218996 Floor 6 | 445 Flinders Street | Townsville Qld 4810 GPO Box 1089 | Townsville Qld 4810
Our next Paluma Working Bee will be this coming Saturday May 4th. We will be distributing a load of mulch around the Hall garden beds and Trees of Memory. Bring a shovel and wheelbarrow if you have one.
We will meet at the Community Hall at 2pm with drinks on the Hall verandah at 4pm.
Paluma residents are invited to participate in the celebration of Glen Parker’s life this Saturday at the Community Hall, April 20th from 12-2 pm. There was a mistake on the sign in front of the Hall earlier this week that showed the celebration as being on Sunday. This has now been corrected with the correct date.
There will be an open bar. You are invited to bring a plate of finger food.
Over the wet season at Paluma a cohort of male Victoria’s Rifle Birds went through big changes in appearance and behaviour.
Until they are four or five years old the male rifle birds are almost indistinguishable from the females of the species with elegant but muted plumage in various shades of brown, buff and cream. The change to fully male appearance and behaviour may not be fully complete until their sixth year.
The changes here took place over a few months as the young males replaced their demure female plumage until becoming fully fledged males clad in velvety black with iridescent neon blue caps and throats with a layered “skirt” in a colour that’s a bit hard to call.
As the change approaches male birds still in female plumage begin practicing their display routines, marked by a progression of vocalisations, postures and movements performed usually atop a broken off vertical tree or tree fern.
The first stage is to call from the display perch and expose their yellow gape to attract attention. Victoria riflebirds make a sound like “yass,” and once a female arrives at the display site, the second stage involves the male turning to face the female, raising his wings above his head to form a circle, again exposing his gape, and raising and lowering his body on his legs. If a female approaches, the male begins the third display stage directly in front of the female described as an “alternate wing clap”, lowering one wing and hiding his head behind the other and then switching from side to side in quick succession.
If the courtship reaches a mutually agreeable conclusion it is left to the female to undertake all nest construction, incubation and feeding of the nestlings, usually two in number. Incubation lasts 18 or 19 days and then the young are fed by the female for a couple of weeks. The nestlings become fully independent of mum after about 10 weeks.
But the subject of this post is the progression of the change to adult male plumage, with a number of individuals photographed over a period from early January until early March on our back deck next to the Rainforest Track (Soon to be named the Hyland Track). By March it seemed all the cohort had completed the change.
Here’s a selection from the fascinating passing parade since late December. Click on any photo to see a larger version.
21/12/2301/01/2409/01/2409/01/2409/01/24 This youngster quite betwixt and between09/01/24 a more precociously advanced young bloke01/02/2402/03/24
The transformation of this cohort seemed complete by late March. The Australian Museum says the breeding season runs from August to February but before then you can still expect to see plenty of practice displays.
When showtime arrives, we can expect displays including these poses below, photographed on 28 March.
Text and Photos by Peter Cooke
Some further facts from Jamie Oliver:
Our rifle bird in Paluma is one of just three species in Australia, but it’s a member of a rich and fascinating family of “birds of paradise” (Paradisaeidae) which is comprised of 45 species in 17 genera.
Outside Australia they are only found in PNG and eastern Indonesia. Most of the overseas species are confined to rainforests and they are even more spectacular in their plumage and their displays which serve show off that splendour to prospective mates.
A “fascinating factoid” about birds of paradise is how they got their name. Reference to paradise in their name originates from a mis-interpretation of preserved specimens – Wikipedia states:
This species was described from specimens brought back to Europe from trading expeditions in the early sixteenth century. These specimens had been prepared by native traders by removing their wings and feet so that they could be used as decorations. This was not known to the explorers, and in the absence of information, many beliefs arose about them. They were briefly thought to be the mythical phoenix. The often footless and wingless condition of the skins led to the belief that the birds never landed but were kept permanently aloft by their plumes. The first Europeans to encounter their skins were the voyagers in Ferdinand Magellan‘s circumnavigation of the Earth. Antonio Pigafetta wrote that “The people told us that those birds came from the terrestrial paradise, and they call them bolon diuata, that is to say, ‘birds of God’.” This is the origin of both the name “bird of paradise” and the specific name apoda – without feet.
Footnote from PC: Wiki uses the language of colonisation and empire to tell us that the Victoria’s riflebird was “discovered” (my quote marks) by John Macgillivray for John Gould in 1848 and is named after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. The common name “riflebird” comes from the likeness of their black velvety plumage to the uniform of the British Army Rifle Brigade.
So far haven’t been able to source any indigenous knowledge from the original discoverers of the VRB.
Our next Paluma working bee will be held this coming Saturday from 2-4 pm followed by drinks at the Community Hall. Depending on the number of volunteers we will finish clearing fallen tree branches from Bruno’s house, and clear some roadside vegetation from the cutting.
Bobbi Parker is holding a memorial celebration at the Community Hall at 12pm on April 20th to honour Glenn Parker who died recently at their home in Paluma.
Friends and relatives from Townsville and other parts of Australia will be attending, and Paluma residents are also invited to participate. There will be an open bar. You are invited to bring a plate of finger food.
As an additional attraction to quicken your pulse (and before we get to the drinks nibbles and games), Wilfred will give a very brief (5min) talk on how to access and open up the defibrillator. See you there!
Our Paluma Community Easter Market is on Sunday March 31st from 9am to 1pm. There are a range of tasks that need some ‘quiet achievers’ to help with to ensure a successful market. You will be working alongside some of our more well known ‘quiet achievers’ (ok, maybe they’re not always quiet, but there’s the fun in it) who will be more than happy to guide you in whatever’s required… in case you’re new and want to help. All are welcome to come and be part of this community event and give a hand, even if it’s for a 1/2 hour (which would be brilliant!).
If you are interested in doing some volunteering, below are a list of jobs that need support. If there is a name beside them, that means they are managing that task and absolutely still need some help.
Easter Market Job List
This list will be on a signup sheet displayed at the hall on Saturday evening at the St Paddy’s day gathering. It will also be available for signup on Saturday 23rd at the hall at 10am or see/email Wilfred or Juanita and let them know what you can do to help.
Day before:
Slice onions for BBQ: This is a good one for those with food processors (and goggles!). Onions, Large plastic bags and/or plastic containers will be provided. Juanita only has a small processor but has a big fridge to store the sliced onions. More helpers welcome.
On the day:
Hall set up: (from 8-9am) organise tables for stall holders; coffee/tea set up – Wilfred and 4 others … as many as is free
PDCA stall holders for: (roster from 9am – 1pm) bake stall and produce stall – Wilfred, Juanita and 2 others.
Sausage sizzle set up and run: (set up 8:30am) tables, bbq, utensils, serviettes, oil, sauces, etc., Eski. Cook- ‘The Don’ (tbc); Money Man – Les; need people to serve the customers and to make up our deluxe sausage sizzle hot dogs. 3 volunteers to allow a roster to give everyone a break.
Pack up and clean up: (starting at 1pm) bbq pagoda and hall – as many volunteers as possible.
