Birdwatching – Page 5 – Paluma – our village in the mist

Rainforest Biodiversity: 5 easy species at a time. Part 1 – Birds

by Jamie Oliver

Introduction

Rainforests are the most biologically diverse of all terrestrial habitats, and the number of different species in just a small plot of forest can be huge. For the interested amateur, identifying the myriad of rainforest plants and animals can be challenging! We don’t know exactly how many species of plants and animals live in the rainforests of the Queensland Wet Tropics – for some groups e.g.fungi, some insect families, there may actually be more undescribed species than ones that have been formally identified. It is likely that during a short 15 min walk along Paluma rainforest tracks you could be passing several hundred different species of plants and animals. Some of these are large and conspicuous while others could require much closer inspection (and perhaps a hand lens) to identify.

Paluma is located at the southern end of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. The WTWHA contains at least 663 vertebrate animal species, and invertebrate fauna is the richest in Australia. Land snails alone are represented by 222 species. It is estimated that the Wet Tropics probably has around 40,000 species of insect, including 230 butterfly species and 135 dung beetle species. Plant diversity is equally remarkable with 2,800 species of vascular plants – 700 of which are only found in the region[1].

All this seems very impressive but it leaves the casual visitor somewhat overwhelmed – to the point where any interest in identifying species can be lost in the enormity of the task.

The purpose of this series of posts is to enable even the most casual and inexperienced visitor to identify the five most common and distinctive species from each of 10 or so groups of plants and animals. By breaking the task down in to 5 easy species from each group a weekend visitor with a keen interest in the task might become familiar with 10 or 20 different rainforest species, and after a few such visits might claim knowledge of 50 or more species!

We will start with one of the easiest groups (birds) and then move on to other groups that may require a little more effort and patience. By the end of this series we hope to have compiled an online and downloadable guide to the 50 most common and easily identified species around Paluma village.

[1] https://www.wettropics.gov.au/biodiversity , https://www.wettropics.gov.au/insects

Birds

Birds are one of the most conspicuous rainforest animals and many of them are quite easy to identify, so it is appropriate to start our ‘5 easy species’ series with this group. The five birds listed here were chosen because they are very common around Paluma roads and walking tracks at most times of the year. They are also easy to identify from photos and descriptions. All of these birds are less common down on the coast and thus contribute to the feeling that you have entered a whole new environment when you take the drive up to Paluma.

1. Lewin’s Honeyeater (Meliphaga lewinii)

Lewin’s honeyeater is commonly seen flitting among low branches of trees and shrubs along road edges or in open picnic areas. While its soft green and grey colouring does not make it stand out, the yellow half-moon cheek patch and its staccato call make it easily to identify.

Lewin’s Honeyeater call. (recording by Andrée Griffin)

It is also a very common visitor to bird feeders around the village. A related species, the yellow-spotted honeyeater, can also sometimes be found in the village. It has a more rounded cheek patch and its call is very different (not staccato).

2. White-cheeked Honeyeater (Phylidonyris niger)

This strikingly bold black and white honeyeater is smaller than the Lewin’s and can be found flitting amongst shrubs and trees, feeding on flowers. It has a large white cheek patch and yellow streaks on the wings. It is one of the most common birds to visit bird feeders around the village. Here it displays a surprisingly bold demeanor, chasing much larger birds away from the food on offer.

3. Brush Turkey (Alectura lathani)

This large black bird with a mostly bald red head is commonly seen around picnic areas, roadsides and along rainforest tracks where it uses its feet to scratch the leaf litter in search of insects. During the breeding season (August to December), males develop gorgeous yellow neck wattles to attract females. Eggs are buried in large mounds of leaf litter built and tended by the male. The heat of decomposition of litter in the mound provide the warmth needed to incubate the eggs.

4. Crimson Rosella (Platycerus elegans)

This beautiful crimson and blue parrot is commonly seen around Paluma but almost never in the nearby coastal areas. It is found in trees or shrubs, as well as on the ground when grass seed is available. The head and breast are deep red, while its back is red with blue mottling. The tail, wings and throat are blue. While this species of Rosella is found in forests throughout southern Queensland and the southern states, in north Queensland it is restricted mostly to Paluma and the Tablelands. The only other parrot of this size in the area with predominantly red colouration is the King Parrot, which is red and green, instead of crimson and blue.

Crimson Rosella calls (recording by Andrée Griffin)

1. Chowchilla (Orthonix spaldingii)

You are more likely to hear this bird than to see it. In the early mornings and evenings the forest often resounds with the raucous sounds of family groups of Chowchilla calling back and forth.

Chowchilla chorus around Paluma (recording by Andrée Griffin)

It is a small brown bird with mostly inconspicuous colouration – the female has a lovely orange chestnut throat, while in the female it is white. Both sexes have a distinctive white eye ring. During the daytime they are mostly silent but can still be heard, and with a bit of luck, seen scratching around in the leaf litter beside village walking tracks. It stays almost entirely on the ground although it will fly when disturbed.

There are many other species of birds that occur in Paluma, and lots of them are both common and easy to identify. Visit the Birds section of the website to learn more about what can be seen in the area.

Nature Notes from Paluma

Many of you will have enjoyed reading the informative ‘Nature Notes’ contributed by Paluma’s resident naturalist Roy Mackay over a great many years. Roy’s passion was to educate people about the natural world and to foster interest and respect for our native flora and fauna. In the spirit of continuing Roy’s great work and his legacy of reporting on nature’s treasures in and around Paluma Village, we present the following notes, observations and musings contributed by long-time residents and fellow naturalists Linda Venn and Colwyn Campbell.

Linda Venn writes:-

You already know (from previous postings) about our Northern Leaf-Tailed Gecko which made an appearance at Summerhouse (No. 16) over Christmas. Well, in the same time period, we had a common Green Tree Frog trying to get in the pet flap on the back screen door. We can hear several Green Tree Frogs calling when it rains, which is unusual. When we first came to Paluma, conventional wisdom was that the only Green Tree Frogs here had been inadvertently imported in goods brought up the hill, as it was too cold for them. Well, now we have at least three just at our end of the Crescent. Maybe Paluma is warmer now than it was 30 years ago? It’s certainly drier.

Another unusual visitor is the Pallid Cuckoo. There’s been a pair around for the last few weeks. These are not often seen in Paluma, though Andree Griffin recorded one at the dam in 1971 and Roy Mackay saw one in Paluma more recently. Their flight is very falcon-like, but whether or not they are a bird of prey was not confirmed by the smaller birds – who couldn’t care less about their presence and gave no alarm calls. This is interesting, considering that the Pallids parasitise honeyeater nests.

Talking of the cuckoo group, I heard a Koel calling one night, but not since (Phew! Noisy buggers!). Must have been just passing through, as were the family group of Black Cockatoos. Also got a good look at a Shining Bronze-Cuckoo this morning; usually heard but not seen. They’re quite small and delicately barred on the chest.

Another interesting one is the Red-necked Rail/ Crake that was calling outside our bedroom window one morning, in the regrowth forest at the rear of Fatima Cottage. This lovely little “chook” was first seen in Paluma by my brother, in the backyard of Ivy Cottage in 1982. Seems to stay close to creeks and is more likely to be heard than seen. Its call is a maniacal laugh, quite disconcerting at close range before dawn!

Yesterday, we had a solitary Metallic Starling in our rusty fig (now fruiting, so we’ve had a Figbird or two as well). To see just one starling is unusual, as they usually travel in flocks. Well, this morning a small flock arrived and spent time in the fig and the regrowth between Summerhouse and Mt Spec Cottage. Their fluttering flight is distinctive.

We also have a shy resident Tooth-billed Bowerbird who enjoys both the figs and the fruit of the walking-stick palm. He was giving his repertoire of mimicked bird calls the other evening, quite disconcerting until you realise that all those different birds are highly unlikely to be in the one tree at the same time!

Another bird that usually travels in a group is the Silvereye. We’d only seen a pair, then this morning a small flock arrived in the regrowth on the footpath.

Colwyn Campbell penned the following response:-

A few years ago, (I’d have to trawl through old diaries for the date), Linda Venn called me over to look at a bird feasting on the fruit of a rhodomyrtus in the front garden. It had been there all the previous day and it was the scolding of smaller birds that drew attention to it. It was unfazed by our presence and just kept eating, seeming determined to strip the tree. We were puzzled because it had the distinctive markings of a cuckoo. Roy Mackay came up and identified it as a young Pallid Cuckoo. We were puzzled as its presence was unusual here; also Linda wondered what local bird would have a nest big enough to have hosted the cuckoo.

The Red Necked Rail/Crake makes its way in the evenings along the creek area behind my house. Only twice in all the years I have been here have I seen one venture onto the back lawn. Last year I saw one at the edge of the shrubbery across from Manali. Coincidentally, that afternoon, two birdwatchers had the Rail/Crake on their ‘to see’ list and it emerged from the scrub long enough for them to take some good photos. Seven years ago near Roy Mackay’s house I found one dead on the road verge. It had evidently been hit by a car, but was almost unmarked and still warm. Roy stuffed it and it now is in the museum.

The Koel – yes, I was surprised to hear it too.

A Game of Bowers

While Michele has described the efforts of our local Satin Bowerbirds in attracting a love interest, in the surrounding forest another Bowerbird, the Golden Bowerbird (Prionodura newtoniana), is also busy constructing bowers that are the largest of the all the Australian bowerbirds, and they are made by the smallest species. Despite its diminutive size, the Golden Bowerbird creates twin towers of twigs that can be up to 3m tall. It decorates them with lichen and pale cream flowers and places a horizontal stick between the base of the towers to serve as a display perch.

The bower. The perch is the small stick just visible near the bottom. Note that this picture was taken a week after the previous shot and the lichen ornamentation has been shifted by the male.

The male often perches in a nearby tree looking out for females or other marauding males

It takes a fair bit of work to make these bowers and it turns out that other males (including young males still experimenting at bower-building) are prone to stealing material and ornaments from other bowers to build their own. Immature males sometimes build small bowers close to a more established structure in the hope that they can distract a female over to its more humble edifice while the dominant male is away foraging or stealing from other bowers. If a mature bower-owning bird dies, his bower is usually taken over by another bird in matter of days. One recent study used game theory to determine at what point the pay-off from raiding other birds bowers exceeded the risk of abandoning a bower to other marauding males (distance between bowers was a key factor). The competition and intrigue is worthy of a Game of Thrones plot-line.

An immature male Golden Bowerbird discretely approaching the bower

Immature male at the bower just before being attacked by the resident male

Last week, while photographing one of our local birds, I observed a small dull bird flitting ever closer to the bower through some dense foliage. I thought it might be a female, but I was able to get a shot of it as it took off from a branch just behind the bower and this clearly showed the yellow tinges to the wing that are diagnostic of an immature male. This immature male then went straight to the perch between the two towers of the bower and began inspecting the ornamentation. In a flash the mature male bower owner dived down and the two birds tumbled off into the ground foliage behind the bower in a flurry of feathers and screeches that lasted several seconds before the birds flew off in different directions. The younger bird was not seen again, but I can’t help but feel it is out there somewhere awaiting another chance to steal the throne and the females.

A small single towered bower made by an immature male less that 15m from the established bower

Don Battersby is our local bird-whisperer -actually it’s more of a shout, but the birds certainly come flocking to his call. When I told him about my observations he regaled me with a complete history of this particular bower, which has occupied at least 4 different positions over the last decade or so, having been abandoned due to damage by tree-falls or in response to over-enthusiastic bird photographers. He was also kind enough to show me a small satellite bower near the site where I had witnessed the altercation. This might well have been built by the immature male that I had seen.

Don knows where virtually all the bowers, and some of the nests are. He is exceptionally generous with his time and is known nationally and internationally amongst “birdos” as the person to visit if you want to get good views and photographs of our rainforest birds. Thanks Don!

Text and photos by Jamie Oliver

The Bower of Love

In recent weeks the Satin Bower Birds of Paluma have been busy with the breeding season and courtship rituals. Male birds have been chortling and calling in the canopy and busily working on their remarkable bowers to attract a female mate.

This year I am lucky enough to have a bower in my own garden. (And I am going to brag about it!).

My bower was constructed over a period of about two weeks and not long after it took form, the blue trinkets and treasures started to appear. A quick inventory last Sunday noted the following:- 2 x bottle tops, plastic straw, surveyors tape, 4 x pen lids, lolly packets, cellophane, half a peg, electrical cable ties and plastic cord. All the items are of a similar shade of bright blue. None of the items observed in the bower have been collected from nature.

While the hard work and ingenuity of these birds in constructing their bower and decorating it with a variety of blue treasures is to be truly admired, it is very disconcerting to see that every item in this bower is made from plastic.

Is this a remarkable adaptation of the satin bower bird to the modern world, or a sad indictment of the intrusive impact of humans in every facet of the natural world?…….I can’t decide.

Text & Photos by Michele (Bower) Bird

Marauding Gangs Invade Paluma

Over the last few weeks, increasing numbers of Pied Currawongs, Strepera graculina, have arrived in Paluma. The onomatopoeic name currawong reflects the liquid, ringing tone of their call, heard all day throughout the village.

The currawong is a large, (42-50 cm long), handsome, black and white bird, with yellow eyes and a lilting, liquid warbling call. But do not be beguiled by the good looks and melodious carolling. Beneath the beauty lies a rapacious nature. Currawongs plunder the nests and feast on the chicks of other birds. The cruel beak says it all.

Currawongs are similar in appearance to magpies and butcher birds, and were once known as crow shrikes or bell magpies. They are found throughout eastern Australia from North Queensland to Victoria in diverse habitats including woodlands, coastal to alpine forests, rain-forests, scrublands and farmlands. They often form large flocks and are seasonally nomadic, ranging over large distances. In the breeding season, from July to January they are mostly seen alone, in pairs or in small family groups.
They tend to move into Paluma from the west as the weather becomes cooler. Sometimes a flock of fifty and more will move into the area. Today, I disturbed a gang of seven or eight on the roadside plotting their next raid.

Pied currawongs’ diet includes small lizards, insects, mice, caterpillars and berries. They also take large numbers of small and young birds. Larger prey, up to the size of a young possum can be taken and birds will sometimes hunt as a group. Prey may be stored in a tree fork or crack to be eaten later. It has been reported that pied currawongs eat more vertebrate material during the spring breeding season than they do during autumn and winter when berries are available. A pair may kill about 40 broods of small birds (up to 2 kg) to raise one brood of their own.

Raising young is a joint effort. Both sexes gather the material, sticks, grass and other soft vegetation, for the bowl-shaped nest which the female builds high in a tree fork. She incubates the eggs while he feeds her. The male supplies food to the female for the first week after the chicks hatch and she feeds them. Incubation time is 21 days and there are usually three chicks.

The dishes and trays of fruit put out by residents for the honey-eaters, rifle birds and other small birds have become fair game for the currawongs who swoop in, terrorising the other birds and taking all the food. They seem to be afraid of humans however and fly off as soon one appears. Perhaps they have a collective memory of being shot at or stoned by people! It was amusing, and surprising to see therefore, two rainbow lorikeets at my bird-feeder yesterday driving off a currawong. The attack was quite vicious with lots of pecking and screeching until the bigger bird retreated.

It will be no surprise to know that pied currawongs are not on the endangered species list: on the contrary, their numbers are increasing. They have adapted well to living in urban areas and their growing numbers have been implicated in the decline of smaller bird species.

Some information sourced from Google entries from Australian Museum and Birdlife

Text by Colwyn Campbell; Photos by Brian O’Leary

Stumped…..The Story of a Tree Trunk

A young Riflebird displaying on the ‘stump’ at No. 13 Mt Spec Road

Well, it was a sad day on Sunday 31 March 2019 at No. 13 Mt Spec Road, Paluma. I have to report that the world famous stump and the dancing perch for many a Victoria’s Riflebird over nearly two decades – is no more. The tree trunk finally succumbed on Sunday morning to the natural elements, wood rot and ongoing decay, to collapse beyond repair.

The story goes………….

When Andy and Ann Bishop built the cedar cottage at No. 13 Mt Spec Road nearly 20 years ago they wanted to maintain as many of the native rainforest trees as possible on their ‘bush block’. They felled only enough trees to allow them to build their dream house amongst the rainforest.

Don Battersby reports that it was about 2004, well after the house was completed that one of the sizeable trees close to the house presented some problems. As the tree continued to grow, the foliage was intruding onto the roof and the verandah. Andy decided to lop the tree, leaving only the tree trunk standing – some 5 metres tall with a flat-top within arm’s length of the verandah.

It was not too long before the local Riflebirds noticed this purpose-built, elevated dancing platform in the canopy. Thus, it soon became a hive of activity for performances and courtship rituals during the breeding season (July-December). Every year since, countless birds have displayed on this stump and it continued to be visited and utilised – right up until it collapsed last Sunday.

Adult male Riflebirds regularly used the stump for their courtship displays.

The stump at No. 13 has been a draw-card for locals, visitors, bird enthusiasts and photographers from around Australia and the world. Brian O’Leary’s superb photographs and video of the Paluma Riflebird’s courtship rituals were captured on this very stump. (These images are included on the Birds of Paluma DVD). Indeed, some years ago Sir David Attenborough called in at No. 13 to view the Riflebirds.

Many a leisurely Sunday morning at No. 13 has been (pleasantly) interrupted in the early hours by enthusiastic bird photographers dropping in to see if the Riflebirds are displaying on the stump!

Quite remarkably, I made the decision to buy the house at No. 13 largely based on this stump! It was a rather chilly Sunday morning in May 2016 when I first visited Ann and Andy to look at the house. I walked onto the verandah and soon after my arrival the Riflebirds landed on that stump and started displaying. I decided there and then that this was the house for me! At that stage, I had not even been inside to look at the interior of the house. Quite an expensive stump really….!!

It was about 18 months ago that it became clear that the tree trunk was virtually hollow and that it was succumbing to wood rot and decay. With the expert assistance of Don Battersby and Brian O’Leary (who were lamenting its inevitable loss as much as I was) we undertook some repair and remediation works. Don put a strong steel brace around the tree trunk, attaching it to the verandah to provide some much-needed support and stability. This worked well for a year or so. Riflebirds continued to use the platform, even though the dance floor was getting smaller and the trunk had started to wobble quite considerably when the dance moves became too frantic or enthusiastic.

The steel brace that Don placed around the tree trunk for support during its decline.

In more recent times and especially since the relentless rainfall this wet season, my frequent inspections had revealed that further repairs would be fruitless. It was going, going, going and on Sunday the tree trunk collapsed at the base. It was gone.

But this story doesn’t end here…….

The search is now on for a replacement tree trunk. With the help of a certain local timber-cutter we hope to find a 5 metre tall straight and solid tree trunk that we can erect and secure in the same place. Our mission is to have the new ‘dance floor’ prepared, installed and reinstated before the commencement of the Riflebird breeding season in June-July.

Once it’s in place, we plan to host Paluma’s first ever ‘stump-warming ceremony’ – to officially welcome the Riflebirds to their new performance platform in the canopy at No. 13 Mt Spec Road.

Text & Photos by Michele Bird

‘To Catch a Chowchilla’

The Chowchilla (Orthonyx spaldingii) is one of my favourite birds inhabiting the upland rainforest in the Paluma area. It is not a particularly large bird, nor does it have striking plumage. It does not build an elaborate bower like the numerous local bowerbirds and it does not have the impressive dance moves of the riflebird.

BUT, the Chowchilla has a loud and unmistakeable call that echoes throughout the forest, usually at dawn and dusk. Any bird with a call like the Chowchilla demands your attention and admiration. Scientists report that their complex vocalisations vary quite markedly from place to place and there are identifiable local dialects. Imagine that – a unique Paluma Chowchilla language!

Chowchillas are also known as ‘logrunners’. They are ground dwelling birds, living and foraging in small family groups of between 3 to 8 birds. Each flock has their own permanent territory. Chowchillas spend most of their time foraging for invertebrates on the forest floor. They have strong legs for scratching in the leaf litter and their tail is used to support their body whilst they vigorously throw leaf litter aside.

Chowchillas are common in and around the village of Paluma. I see them regularly (or at least flashing glimpses of them) in the forest adjacent to the walking track to McClellands Lookout and along Lennox Crescent. They are regular visitors to the forest margins in my back garden.

I find them absolutely endearing for their elaborate songs and their lively and gregarious nature. When foraging as a family group they happily chatter away, enthusiastically intent on their search for food. They are oblivious that they are excavating precious garden beds and pot plants.

But, I have to admit that Chowchillas are the cause of considerable consternation and ongoing frustration for me!

For about two and a half years I have been trying to ‘capture’ a half decent photograph of a Chowchilla. Dozens and dozens of attempts and not one decent photograph!. Blurry, dark and unfocused images of Chowchillas are my speciality!

If I manage to find a bird within photographic range, it will rarely sit still for more than a split second and will surely move just at that moment when I press the shutter. Because the birds inhabit the forest floor, the light is usually poor and it is hard to see the bird clearly, let alone focus the camera.

I am well aware my frustration is shared by many fellow birdwatchers and photographers. ‘Photographing a Chowchilla’ is high on the wish list of many bird enthusiasts who visit Paluma, but it seems not many people actually achieve their goal.

So, after two and a half (long) years, this is my best effort at a Chowchilla photograph. Blurry, too dark, not centred and the bird is obscured by vegetation. And I am sure that Chowchilla is grinning at me, just before it darts back into the cover of the rainforest foliage. I’ll keep trying……….!

Please let me know if you have had better success in capturing images of these beautiful, but very elusive birds in and around the Paluma area!

Text & (Blurry) Photo by Michele Bird

The (Much Maligned) Brush Turkey of Paluma

Brush Turkey (Alectura lathami)

It is time tribute was paid to the much maligned Brush Turkey, the scourge of Paluma gardeners. It is just as much a member of the local birdlife as the Riflebird, Catbird and Satin Bowerbird, and deserves to be acknowledged as such. Yet so often, visitors to Paluma do not give the turkey a second glance so intent are they in spotting the rarer birds. On the other hand, some have mistaken the turkey’s identity and proudly report having seen a cassowary!

In spite of the curses bestowed on the turkey as he or she rummages through the garden, uprooting precious plants and redistributing carefully laid mulch, I suspect most people hold a sneaking affection for them. I find them rather endearing. When I moved to Paluma, I inherited three who roosted in a tree in my back garden. They waited each day at the back steps for breakfast scraps calling with their funny grunting clucks as they followed me to the edge of the forest where I put their food scraps out. Turkeys still have breakfast with me and are usually close by when I work in the garden.

Brush turkeys are expert foragers and are always on the look out for food on the forest floor.

At present the male turkeys are still dressed in the magnificent courtship plumage which they donned during spring when they felt the first pangs of love in the air, with bright yellow wattles hanging in fat coils from their crimson necks. So take a moment to admire them as they strut their stuff through the village. They have been working tirelessly for many weeks, raking leaves, throwing aside sticks and twigs, to build nesting mounds which can cover an area of around two metres square and be up to a metre and a half high.

Their big feet, (Brush Turkeys are Megapodes – meaning ‘big feet’), are useful tools for raking leaves for their nesting mounds and for foraging for food amongst the leaf litter on the forest floor and in our gardens.

A male turkey with his large yellow ‘wattle’ and look at those big feet!

The mound completed, the male has to entice females to lay eggs in it; several hens will oblige – with eggs not necessarily fertilized by the builder of the mound. The hen’s job done, off she goes. She provides no parental care other than providing eggs with particularly rich yolk which can feed the chick after it has hatched. The male turkey will satisfy himself that the eggs are deeply buried in the mound.

The decomposition of the leaves and mulch with which the mounds are constructed provide the heat required to incubate the eggs. He keeps watch, turning the mulch to maintain a constant temperature until the chicks are ready to hatch, (after about 50 days), then off he will go, his job also done.

After the chick hatches it rests for several hours absorbing nutrients from the yolk reserve. During this time its plumage dries and its lungs fill with air. Then it has to work its way out of the mound, an effort that takes on average, 40 hours. It will rest frequently, making a small cavity around itself which allows it to breathe. Once out of the mound, always during daylight hours, the chick has to fend for itself, making its way quickly to the shelter of shrubbery or vine thickets before dark to avoid predators such as dingoes, owls, pythons, carnivorous marsupials and feral cats. The chicks know instinctively to feed on grubs and insects in the leaf litter.

New chicks with their fluffy brown feathers and weighing only about 150 grams, are seldom seen: partly because they gain black feathers at only a few weeks old, partly because they stay concealed within the forest until they are near adult size, (at around 8 months old), but mainly because so many of them do not survive the first few months, falling victim to predators. A hen can lay up to 24 eggs in a season but sadly, of every 200 eggs laid only one will reach adulthood.

So; Salute the Brush Turkey – a battler and survivor.

For more reading, an excellent article on the Brush Turkey written by Dr Ann Goth may be found in Nature Australia (Spring 2005, Volume 28, Number 6).

Article by Colwyn Campbell & Turkey Photos by Michele Bird

Courtship in the Canopy Continues………

Update on Riflebird Courtship at Paluma

In a previous post (5 November 2018) I reported on the frenetic courtship activity of the Victoria’s Riflebird at Paluma during the height of the breeding season for these birds. I noted that many of the juvenile male birds were practising their skills at displaying for females.

While the young males continue to compete for the attention of females, the adult male birds are also displaying with all the finesse that maturity brings. I captured the elaborate courtship display of one adult male bird who managed to win over his female companion. The courtship ritual and display lasted for almost 10 minutes and was a sight to behold.

The adult male arrives and sits on his perch, scanning the forest canopy and calling in a loud raucous voice.

2. A female bird arrives and sits in a nearby tree. He is instantly alert and almost appears to take a bow in her direction.

3. He leaves his perch and flies into the nearby canopy to join her, sitting next to her on a branch. He puffs-up his whole body, raises his wings and the performance begins.

4. He displays frantically over and over with raised flapping wings until he has her full attention. She was looking quite disinterested for a time as the photographs show!.

5. Finally he has her full attention and they copulate. No photographs included here, privacy please!

6. He then flies back to his original perch and turns to display again, raising his wings in the direction of the female who is still sitting in the canopy.

What an amazing and remarkable bird and a truly memorable 10 minutes of my life! Right place at the right time. Or, just another day in the paradise called Paluma.

Article & Photographs by Michele Bird (no pun intended).

Bird (Mis)behaviour – Pale Yellow Robin

For some months now we have had a Pale Yellow Robin resident close to our house on the five acre blocks. He [or very possibly, she] perches in the Murraya tree close to our kitchen window and mounts an attack on the window pane on the left hand side from our perspective looking out. His claws land on the glass and he drops down onto the lintel at the base of the window. He usually pauses for a few seconds before repeating the attack two panes to the right and again usually pauses looking quizzically at you if you happen to be at the sink, totally unfazed by the sight of humans. He then proceeds to circle the house, usually anti-clockwise but not invariably so, attacking windows randomly before returning to the tree and repeating the antics over and over for maybe an hour or more before going off duty for a period. We think he must be eating during this gap as he has an annoying habit of leaving a calling card on or below the windows in the kitchen.

More recently he has discovered that the car has mirrors and he is fascinated by the second bird and spits at the reflection in the mirror and leaves copious deposits on the curve above the door handle which have to be washed off frequently to avoid damage to the paintwork. You may deduce that we are a bit cheesed off with this behaviour and have taken to thwarting the car attacks with our car cover which is pretty successful as he can’t even get at the windows. He still looks for the now covered car windows but has more or less given them up as a lost cause.

But he still does the house daily – we don’t know if our presence engenders his behaviour as we can’t see what happens when we are not there ! He is extremely hard to photograph but the photograph below is at the kitchen window by the sink.

Text & Photo by Les Hyland