On Sunday December 8, a public meeting is to be held at the Paluma Community Centre at 10am for all ratepayers to discuss the setting of the 2025 fire levy.
Come along and also find out what the brigade is up to over a cuppa and a piece of cake. If there are any queries in the lead-up to the meeting, please contact Sonya Bryce, Treasurer / Secretary of Paluma Rural Fire Brigade on (0474) 324153.
The Annual General Meeting of the Paluma Rural Fire Brigade will follow on from the morning tea for those who are interested.
Our annual Paluma Garden Competition will be held on Monday, November 25th. As in the past there will be 2 judges from Bunnings who will be escorted around the village by a PDCA member. Bunnings will provide gift vouchers to the winning gardens, and will nominate the winner of the Alison Evans Memorial Trophy.
If you do not wish to participate in the competition this year please email Jamie Oliver (jamieo53@hotmail.com) before the competition date.
Earlier this month, the forest around Paluma began to ring out with the sounds of a bird that is better known for its distinctive courting area than its plumage or its song. The Tooth-billed Bowerbird or Stagemaker (Scenopoeetes dentirostris) has a noisy and boisterous call although it’s not as distinctive to a casual observer as the circular patch of leaves that it carefully lays out on a patch of forest floor to attract females. This “Stage” is familiar to most people who walk the village trails. One of us (PC) was able to record a particularly vocal individual near Mt Spec Rd.
Male calling from its display perch above the stage. (Photo by Peter Cooke)Tooth-billed Bowerbird display call recorded by Peter Cooke
The Stagemaker is endemic to highland rainforests of the wet tropics, and is the only member of the genus Scenopoeetes. While it is common within its range its restricted distribution and dependence on highland rainforest means it is considered near threatened on the IUCN list of Threatened Species.
During the winter months, it feeds mainly on leaves and stems. This is an unusual diet for an arboreal bird. Only 3% of bird species eat leaves, which are not very energy-dense, and require large volumes of material to satisfy their energy needs. The toothed profile of the bill (from which its common name is derived) is believed to be an adaptation for cutting leaves and stems (for both food and stage displays. During the mating and breeding season when more energy is needed for display, defending stages, egg production and feeding of young, Stagemakers switch to a diet of fruit and flowers, supplemented with insects.
Cropped image showing toothed indentations on the upper beak (photo by Peter Cooke)Tooth-billed bowerbird display court, Birthday Ck Falls. Photo by Russel Cumming on Flickr
Stage production, display and nesting commence with the onset of fleshy fruit production (August to September) and displays stop with the onset of the wet. The stage, or court is first cleared of leaf litter by the male and then decorated with leaves from a few species of tree, which are all carefully turned so the paler underside is facing upward. The stage is carefully maintained by the male to ensure the leaves are properly orientated. Stages are clustered in an area with stages separated by 50-68m. Males are long-lived and return to clear the same stage every year (over 20 years in one case). Adjacent males compete for suitable leaves and will steal from the stages of other birds.
Each court has an adjacent display tree the male uses to announce its presence. Its song can include mimicry of over 40 bird species, frogs, and even fruitbats! The recording above appears to be the native call rather than a mimic. Once a female has been attracted to the stage, the male descends from its perch to display and entice the female into mating. The female builds a nest in a tree nearby and appears to rear the young unassisted.
Stagemakers are currently considered to be Bowerbirds, but the lack of a true bower constructed from twigs, and the lack of different plumage between males and females led some taxonomists to initially place these birds with the closely related catbirds (Genus Ailuroedus) within the overarching Family (Ptilonorhynchidae). More recent genetic research suggests that the Stagemaker is a distant relative of the maypole building bowerbirds (e.g. our local Golden Bowerbird), but it has traits that suggest it might have evolved separately from both groups, or a primitive form of catbird.
Much of what we know about the ecology and biology of the Tooth-billed Bowerbird has come from research conducted around Paluma. The preponderance of these studies were carried out by Cliff and Dawn Frith, who lived in Paluma and have published both scientific as well as gorgeously illustrated popular books on Bowlerbirds, Birds of Paradise and general rainforest natural history.
Our next Paluma working bee 🐝 will be THE SECOND Saturday on November 9th. We will meet at the Community Hall at 2pm. Tasks will include:
Removal of cut up Sarsaparella tree on corner of Mt Spec Rd and Lennox Cresc to be taken to the dump.
Install a step on a washed out section of Colwyn’s track.
Clean out the gutter in Lennox Crescent just past the council water depot to make sure the storm water runs into the drain and not across the road.
Wilfred will have the gear for the first two tasks and will need the extra willing hands only. A couple of wheelbarrows and shovels for the drain on Lennox Crescent would be useful if you have that to bring. Most importantly, bring your willing hands and smile.
November’s Social Drinks evening has been changed to the second Friday of this month – November 8th. As usual, it will be at the Community Hall. The bar opens at 6pm. Come along for a catch-up over a drink. Locals and visitors alike are all welcome. Bring a plate of nibbles to share.
This is a reminder about next weekend’s trail runs in and around Paluma village. It is also in our events calendar.
If you’re interested in where competitors will be running, please check out Outer Limits Adventures’ website. However, if you’re unaware, the 50km Ultra marathon starts early Saturday morning from Gumburu. The Sunday morning trail runs of 5km, 10km and 21km start from and finish at the Village Green.
This is another major event organized by Outer Limits Adventures which puts Paluma on the map for adventure racing. Please be patient with the increased amount of traffic and parked cars in the village on Sunday morning in particular. This event brings extra business to local restaurants and the PDCA is operating the BBQ and selling soft drinks to raise funds for the community.
Feel free to come to the village Green on Sunday morning to cheer competitors on at the start of their races.
Would you like to be stronger, more mobile, and learn how to deeply relax?
Hello, I’m Tracy, when I am not standing on my head you will find me in the garden hanging out with the chooks watching the plants grow.
I recently moved to Hidden Valley from Townsville where I have been teaching Yoga for 26 years. Needless to say I have loads of teaching experience and can easily accommodate varying levels of ability. I also have a keen eye for alignment. When we are in the correct position energy flows freely, tensions are released and the poses become effortless.
Yoga offers numerous benefits including increased strength, improved mobility & balance, reduced stress, emotional stability and an overall holistic wellness.
I would really like to offer a regular yoga class at the Paluma Community Centre. I am proposing Friday mornings starting 1st November, but would really like to hear from you to ensure your preferences are met.
If you are interested in participating or have any questions please get in touch by either emailing tracyarmstrongyoga@outlook.com or call 0407522080.
Yoga – the journey of the self, through the self, to the self
Many of the rainforest trees at Paluma are presently providing a bounty of fruit for many species, especially pigeons. As is their lifestyle, large numbers of Topknot Pigeons (Lopholaimus antarcticus) are here taking advantage of that seasonal abundance. They are big pigeons and fly particularly high above the canopy, sometimes singly, or in pairs or flocks.
Finding them parked up somewhere easy to photograph is a rare treat and I managed to grab two shots of one sitting high in a flowering Buckinghamia behind our deck. Despite the 500mm lens the bird occupied only a small part of the frame but when cropped I was delighted to see it carrying a twig in its beak. Clearly it was going about nest building.
Yesterday a female was sitting high in a quandong behind our back yard when it was joined by a male who pressed close and then began to bob its head deeply to its chest and bounced upright again. This went for a while until they both flew off together.
If courtship and nesting are successful they’ll produce just one nestling after about three weeks which will be fully fledged around a month later. Both parents incubate the eggs and feed the young, using regurgitated “pigeon milk” from their crops in the earliest stages. It takes both parents to keep up the supply of pigeon milk, explaining why only one egg is laid.
