Category: Birds

The Spectacled Monarch (Symposiachrus trivirgatus) is a small and colourful songbird with an international range — from Eastern Australia, through New Guinea into the Islands of Indonesia and Timor. 

There are multiple subspecies. In eastern Australia the northern subspecies is albiventris, with melanorrhous further south and gouldii at the southern limit of its range, Port Stephens in New South Wales. 

According to the Australian Bird Guide maps, at Paluma we would expect to find sub-species melanorrhous. The differences between subspecies are somewhat subtle so in Paluma we may be seeing an overlap with the far northern sub-species albiventris. Albiventris is described as having a rufous upper breast sharply defined from more extensive white underparts than melanorrhous and gouldii. 

Males and females are similarly feathered — blue-grey above, with a black face mask that extends across both eyes, rufous (red-orange) breast, white underparts and a black tail with white outer tips. Immature birds lack the black face and have a grey throat. 

As well as subtle changes in plumage the sub-species are distinguished by a variety of songs and calls from rising mellow whistles in the Lesser Sundas to raspier whistled notes in Australia. eBird says that calls vary, but are generally “harsh and unpleasant-sounding buzzes and rattles”.

The eastern Australian sub-species are found in subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or (as we have here at Paluma) the moist montane forests of the Wet Tropics. 

The Spectacled Monarch is not an easy bird to photograph, stopping only for a few seconds to perch as it makes its way, mostly obscured, amongst dense foliage while foraging for insects below the canopy and on tree trunks or vines.

Google search comes up with several spellings for the scientific name: Birds in Backyards says Symposiarchus trivirgatus, most other sites use Symposiachrus trivirgatus

Photos by Peter Cooke and text gleaned and adapted from Wikipedia, eBird and Birds in Backyards. Location: jungle margin behind #56. 

The Grey-headed Robin (Heteramyias cinereifrons) is a large, plump robin of the Wet Tropics with a range extending north from Paluma to near Cooktown. 

At Paluma it’s often seen along rainforest tracks and margins, usually feeding on or near the ground, scanning leaf litter from an upright perch on tree trunks or low branches before dropping to take its prey. 

Both sexes are olive brown above, with gray crown and breast, stark white throat, and white wing patch, prominent in flight. Its upright stance, large size, intricate plumage, and pale pink legs are distinctive. 

Breeding occurs from August or September to January, with one or two broods per season. The nest is a shallow cup made of bark, grass, and dry leaves. Spider webs are used for binding or filling, and strips of fern and palm for lining; the outside is decorated by dried vegetation. The nest is generally placed in a lawyer vine up to 10 m above the ground. A clutch of one or two eggs is laid. The eggs are buff, cream- or dark greenish-white, and marked with light brown splotches and spots, usually concentrated around the large end, and they measure 26 by 19 mm.

Photos by Peter Cooke and text adapted from Wikipedia and e-bird. 

The grey fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa) has a wide Australian distribution but is also found in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. 

There are five named subpopulations in Australia. At Paluma, we have the eastern Australian subspecies Rhipidura albiscapa keasti, most commonly found along the coast and ranges to our north and south. This population is regarded as sedentary, while most others are migratory or nomadic.

P. a. keasti is distinguished by having the darkest plumage of the grey fantails.

During waking hours, the grey fantails are almost never still. They flit from perch to perch, sometimes on the ground but mostly on the twigs of a tree or any other convenient object, looking out for flying insects. They are able to catch flying insects using intricate acrobatic chases.

The birds are not shy, and will often flit within a few metres of people, especially in forested areas and suburban gardens. In doing so, it is able to catch any small flying insects that may have been disturbed by human activities such as walking or digging.

Most bird species typically build one nest in a breeding season, but grey fantails commonly build more than one nest before egg-laying, and seven nests have been recorded as the highest number in a breeding season.

There is a hypothesis explaining nest abandonment in this species. Abandoned nests could be used to confuse predators. In fact, a large number of abandoned nests exposed on trees are significantly less concealed than nests that eventually received eggs. Grey fantail eggs and fledglings are a favored prey of pied currawongs.

Some of the materials from decoy nests may be used to construct the subsequent breeding nest. They raise several broods per season, usually each of three or four cream eggs, spotted grey and brown. The incubation period is around two weeks, with incubation and feeding duties shared by both parents.

Photographs taken by Peter Cooke in Smith Crescent.
Text is largely an edited version of a Wikipedia entry.

Last year a pair of white cheeked honeyeaters (Phylidonyris niger) nested in the deep cover provided by the straplike leaves of the Lomandra clumps in our backyard at #56.

They’re back again this year in the same place.

We’ve avoided the nest site but from our back deck they can be seen coming and going busily now in early May.

White-cheeked Honeyeaters pair monogamously for the breeding season, with males defending breeding territories that can be held for several years. Males aggressively attack other birds of their own and other species during the breeding season, but not familiar birds such as their own mates, relatives and resident neighbours.

The female builds a cup-shaped nest from twigs, bark, and other plant materials, lined with pieces of flowers (e.g. Banksias, Isopogons).

And as the beak of the nest-building in our photo indicates the nest is kept together with spider web.

The nest is well-concealed in dense foliage or in grass (like Lomandra) below shrubs and ferns or placed low in forked branches of trees or shrubs, often close to the ground. Both parents feed young.

The White-cheeked Honeyeater is endemic to eastern and south-western Australia, ranging from east of the Great Divide in Queensland through coastal New South Wales, becoming scattered south to Jervis Bay. Also in south-western Western Australia and from Perth northwards to Murchison River.

The populations in the east and west are quite unconnected.

The white-cheeked honeyeater looks very similar to the New Holland Honeyeater which can be distinguished by its white eye.

Photos by Peter Cooke and text mostly from Birds in Backyards site.

The e-Bird website describes the Pale-Yellow Robin as “a rotund little robin, olive above, with gray head, yellow underparts, and white around the base of the bill”. 

Our picture illustrates its common feeding behaviour: “Perching on low branches and on the side of tree trunks, from which it drops to the ground to capture prey”— in this case a nice fat worm on the gravel near the Village Green toilets..

Pale-Yellow Robins are very similar in appearance to Eastern Yellow Robins but Pale-yellows are smaller than Eastern Yellows (12 cm in length as opposed to 15) and have morewhite around the beak and throat. The Eastern Yellows have black legs, more vibrant yellow plumage and a longer tail. 

There are two sub-species of Pale-Yellow Robin. The nominate and southern race is Tregellasia capito and the northern race is distinguished by addition of a sub-species name nana — latin for dwarf. 

The northern sub-species is found from near Cooktown to Paluma and the southern ones are found between Barrington Tops in NSW to the Mary River in Queensland. 

Pale yellow Robins are sedentary and favour rainforests and dense eucalypt forests, particularly where lawyer vine is found. 

They use the prickly lawyer vine (Calamus muelleri) as nesting material and as a nest site. The nest may be anywhere up to 10 m above the ground, though often much lower. Breeding season is July to December with one, or sometimes two, broods. A clutch of 2 oval eggs, measuring 20 by 15 millimetres (0.79 in × 0.59 in), is laid. They are pale green, splotched with brownish marks. 

Smith Crescent has a great variety of rainforest species, some regulars and others occasional. Jan Cooke saw a Yellow Breasted Boat bill there last week and a few years back a Rhodesian birder got good shots of a Paradise Kingfisher well above its usual altitude. .

Photograph by Peter Cooke.
Text assembled by PC from various plagiarised sources.

The Wet Tropics crimson rosella (Platycercus elegans nigrescens) is commonly seen at Paluma delicately feeding on lawn seeds or flowers like the Albizia outside the Ivy Cottage.

P. e. nigrescens is the smallest of sub-species of the widely distributed crimson rosella. The sub-species was first described in 1988 by Edward Pierson Ramsay who noted its darker crimson plumage, black back and nape, and smaller size yet larger bill. It was also known as “northern crimson parrot” or “Campbell’s parakeet”, after Alexander James Campbell.

Wet Tropics crimson rosella is an appropriate common name based on its limited distribution.

In the breeding season, Wet Tropics crimson rosellas will only forage with their mate. Outside of the breeding season, crimson rosellas tend to congregate in pairs or small groups and feeding parties. The largest groups are usually composed of juveniles, who gather in flocks of up to 20 individuals, usually much fewer at Paluma. When they forage, they are conspicuous and chatter quietly.

Mutual preening is not exhibited by the playcercus genus, and the courtship display is simple; the male waves his tail sideways, and engages in some head bobbing, and the female reciprocates.

The female chooses the nest site. Like most parrots, they are cavity nesters, generally nesting high and in deep cavities in older large trees in forested areas. They generally have a clutch size of several eggs which are incubated for around 21 days by the female alone. The male feeds the female through this time and for some time after incubation concludes. Quickly covered in white down, chicks take around five weeks to fledge.

Platycercus are most proprietorial of their nesting sites. During the breeding season, it is common for females to fly to other nests and destroy the eggs and in fact, this is the most common cause for an egg failing to hatch.  This behaviour is thought to be a function of competition for suitable nesting hollows, since a nest will be abandoned if all the eggs in it are destroyed.

A pair of rosellas will tend to nest in the same area from year to year during their 20-year lifespan.

The name rosella is said to have come from the first encounters of Early European settlers with eastern rosellas at Rose Hill, New South Wales, now Parramatta, and so they called it the Rosehill parakeet, which became “Rosehiller”, and eventually “rosella”.

The species as it now stands has subsumed two former separate species, the yellow rosella and the Adelaide rosella. Molecular studies show P. e. nigrescens, one of the three red-coloured races, is genetically more distinct.

Compiled by Peter Cooke from a variety of sources, mostly Wikipedia.
Photos also by PC.

Pigeons are among the most broadly distributed and widely recognised bird groups. All pigeons belong to the family Columbidae, which has 42 genera and 316 species. Although the number of species of pigeon that can be found around Paluma is not particularly large (about 8 rainforest species in and around the village) we host some of the most striking and colourful species to be found in Australia. The white-headed pigeon (Columba leucomela) belongs to the former group, having a striking black and white plumage with just a dash of colour around the eyes and bill.

In Paluma it can be seen flying overhead in small groups, and foraging in the canopy of Bollygum (Neolitsea) and other local fruiting trees. It is found from Cooktown to Eden in NSW predominantly in rainforests and gallery forests along creeks and gullies. While not uncommon, it tends to feed quietly in the mid to upper canopy so it is not easily spotted along the village tracks.

Although it is not threatened if was previously a preferred target for hunters, which depressed populations along much of its range.

The White-headed Pigeon is the only native member of genus Columba in Australia. The only other member in Australia is the ubiquitous and frequently maligned Rock Dove or Feral Pigeon (Columba livia) which occurs worldwide in areas of human habitation.

Pigeons are monogamous with both parents helping to raise their young. There are almost exclusively seed eaters (granivores) or fruit eaters (frugivores). When feeding their young, many other vegetarian bird species switch to energy and protein rich insects to promote rapid nestling growth. Pigeons, however, feed their young on a highly nutritious “crop milk”, which is a secretion from the lining of the crop (a muscular pouch near the throat of many birds). This useful trait is analogous to lactation in mammals.

Crop milk (often called Pigeon milk) is produced only by pigeons, although flamingoes and penguins also feed their young from secretions from different parts of the gut.

The extinct Dodo and Solitaire (Genus Raphus) are also formally included in the pigeon family (Columbidae).

Australia Post published a series of 4 pigeon stamps in 2021. Three of these are to be found in Paluma, including the White-headed pigeon.

Text by Jamie Oliver, photos as indicated

One of the more spectacular birds in Paluma rainforests, the Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher (Tanysiptera sylvia) is most commonly seen as a small bundle of blue and white with trailing streamers flying across the range road during the wet season between culverts 165-175.

There is something about extravagant elongate plumes that is attractive to humans. In New Guinea bird plumes are highly prized for personal adornment on headdresses. In Europe the passion for plumes nearly led to the decimation of several bird species. Here in Australia, it drives birdwatchers to make pilgrimages, cameras and obscenely long lenses in hand, to observe and photograph them. Our sole representative of this group of memorable birds does not disappoint those lucky enough to get a good view. According to ebird, the Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher (PKF) has been seen 6 times around Paluma Village, although it is not clear if these records extend down the range or refer only to the village.

The Buff-breasted PKF like most other species in the genus builds its nest in termite mounds on the ground. They spend the dry season in New Guinea and migrate to NE Queensland at the onset of summer rains. Once they have arrived they spend some time establishing a territory and jointly excavating a fresh hole in an active termite mound of the species Microcerotermes serratus. A long-term study in the Iron Range National Park, indicated that birds return to the same area (and often the same mound) each year with the same mate. They lay 2-4 eggs and both partners share in feeding of the young. Occasionally another young male may help in feeding the young. This behaviour has been reported in Kookaburras, which are also Kingfishers. With the Buff-breasted PKF it is not known if these helpers are genetically related to the mating pair (older offspring) or if unrelated young males who have not managed to attract a mate and choose to help out in the hopes of bonding with one of the female hatchlings and mating in the subsequent year – avian cradle-snatching!

The genus Tanysiptera comes from the greek word tanusipteros meaning long-feathered. Wikipedia indicates the species name is from the latin word for forest (sylvia) although I prefer a more poetic derivation from the same word in ancient greek that refers to a nymph of the forest that served the goddess Artemis.

Paradise kingfishers are found almost exclusively in Papua New Guinea and offshore islands with the exception of two species one from the Moluccas and the other from NE Queensland. All of the nine species are primarily forest dwellers and have long tail streamers. Most are brightly coloured, and all are very territorial. They feed on insects and other small invertebrates on the forest floor.

Last week I stopped near culvert 175 to talk to a couple of birdwatchers who had come up from Townville after one of their mates reported seeing one. They were not successful but they pointed out a quite large and conspicuous termite mount on the uphill site that was excavated, so there is still a good chance to see these wonderful birds if you keep a close lookout on the range road above culvert 165.

Text by Jamie Oliver, Photos as indicated