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Reminder: Paluma After Dark this Saturday night – 6:30pm

The next scheduled Paluma After Dark evening walk will be this Saturday evening at 6:30pm. This time we will be exploring Don Battersby’s property and nearby forest for animals that he has seen around there over the last decade or more.

We will meet at 6:30pm at Don’s place just around the first bend of Hussey Road on the left. Bring a head torch and UV light if you have them – and warm clothes!

The UV lights have proven useful in highlighting some highly flourescent mosses, liverworts and other seedlings, but they are also known to pick up scorpions. I can testify that this is the case for at least one scorpion species that was spotted during my recent trip with Tony and Julie Bligh across the Simpson Desert. Paluma also has at least on species of scorpion so we might see one of these on the prowl this Saturday

Jamie Oliver

REMINDER: BUSH DANCE & MARKET WEEKEND ON 25 & 26 JUNE

A reminder to everyone about the big weekend coming up on Saturday and Sunday 25 and 26 June.

The weekend kicks off (literally) with the annual Paluma Bush Dance with Wattle n Gum. There will be a Sausage Sizzle for lunch at 12 pm so come early for a delicious lunch. The music and dancing starts at 1 pm. Entry to the Bush Dance is via a gold coin donation.

The Paluma Community Market then takes place on Sunday morning from 9 am to 1 pm. The sausages will be sizzling again and there will be tea/coffee and sweet treats on offer. There will be an array of stalls to browse and for this market we are organising a bakers stall with all sorts of delights donated by Paluma’s finest cooks to buy and take home for afternoon tea.

Don’t miss this fun community weekend at beautiful Paluma in the clouds. See you there (with your dancing shoes).

Happy 91st Birthday Leslie

Paluma’s very own living legend and our tireless champion volunteer of anything and everything Sir Leslie Hyland will celebrate his 91st birthday on Tuesday 14 June.

Our sincere and heartfelt congratulations on this birthday milestone Leslie and from your many friends and your Paluma family we wish you many happy returns for the day and continued good health and happiness for the year ahead.

Everyone is invited to join Leslie at the Rainforest Inn this coming Saturday 18 June at 11 am to mark the occasion with some birthday cake.

Australian King Parrot

The Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis) is found from Cairns to Melbourne. This male was foraging by himself on the dried fruit of an Alphitonia tree (known locally as sarsaparilla tree) near the Paluma Community Hall. Birds from southern Australia are larger than the northern sub-species Alisterus scapularis (minor). Lloyd Neilsen (Birds of the Wet Tropics) says they are uncommon at Paluma and Mt Lewis, but Andree Griffin and Roy Mackay class it as a breeding resident in an area from Little Crystal Creek to Mt Spec and Taravale. 

Text & Photos by Peter Cooke

Little Shrike-Thrush

Two species of shrike-thrush are commonly seen at Paluma — the Little Shrike-Thrush (Colluricincla megarhyncha) and Bowers Shrike-Thrush (Colluricincla boweri). They are not easy to disambiguate even with a clear picture and a few bird books, as colour and distinguishing features vary quite a lot by gender and age for both species. The name doesn’t help as the Bowers Shrike-Thrush is smaller than the Little Shrike-Thrush. 

This specimen posed for the camera on one of Jan Cooke’s tomato plants in April. Jan thinks this is probably a Little Shrike-Thrush.

Text & Photo by Peter Cooke

Rufous Songlark

The Paluma area bird list (compiled by Andree Griffin and Roy Mackay) lists the Rufous Songlark (Magalurus mathewsi) as an occasional visitor to Paluma, although its range covers most of Australia. This bird was one of a pair seen near the Community Hall in April. The Australian Bird Guide says the Rufous Songlark breeds in South Australia in spring and summer but migrates inland, or to north Australia in autumn and winter. The distinguishing ‘rufous rump’ is mostly hidden by wing feathers, but can be seen in photo 3 below.

Text & Photos by Peter Cooke

Red-Backed Button Quail

The Red-Backed Button Quail (Turnix maculosis) is a regular resident  in the Paluma Village but is secretive, and most commonly observed exploding from cover and flying rapidly away. 

This female was with a juvenile in tow across the road from the Community Hall in March, but scurried off down the back of Cooke’s place. She next appeared walking away by herself. It seems she planted the youngster under a bush and stayed in plain sight walking away to lead interest away from the bub. 

Text & Photo by Peter Cooke

Calling on Paluma’s Cooks…..

There is a proposal to run a Cake Stall at the next upcoming Paluma Community Market on Sunday 26 June (after the Bush Dance on 25 June).

We are calling on all of Paluma’s amazing cooks to contribute to the cake stall by donating a batch of your favourite baked goods – buns, muffins, slices or other delights that we can sort into small batches for sale at the stall.

The proceeds from the stall to go to the PDCA.

Lynn and Michele are coordinating this initiative so if you would like to volunteer and cook a batch of your favourite recipe for the stall please register your interest with us in the near future.

Michele at: mbird09@bigpond.com

Lynn at: lhyland@optusnet.com.au

Colwyn’s Watercolours & Wine Workshop

In normal Paluma fashion Colwyn’s Watercolours & Wine Workshop scheduled for 16.00hrs on Saturday May 14th got underway at 16.30 hrs.  There were no less than 18 participants and although it was a quiet start, as time went by there were whispered conversations and not-so-whispered conversations. It was remarked that the barman was a trifle noisy.

Everyone was engrossed in putting brush to paper and to the untutored eye some wonderful shapes seemed to appear with  minimal tutoring.  Around 17.30 hrs there was a break while people had quite plentiful snacks which had been spread out in the meeting room and there was  a mini rush to replenish wine glasses at the bar. 

But then it was back to work and brushes were being wielded until around 19.00 hrs. The event was obviously a resounding success and the enthusiasm of the painters was extremely evident.  Many thanks to Colwyn for the effort in providing such an interesting afternoon. The happy artists are looking forward to a second workshop later in the year.  

Text & Photos by Leslie Hyland