Our first Friday Night Social drinks for the year is on this Friday at 6pm. There will be a table tennis competition with the winner awarded a complimentary drink of their choice from the bar.
The bar will be open from 6pm. If you wish, bring some light nibbles to share.
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.
Prior to the meetings below the PDCA will provide a BBQ lunch at noon, April 12th at the Community Hall
A community meeting to review our experiences during & after the February extreme weather event will now be held on Saturday, 12th of April, commencing at 1 pm in the Paluma Community Hall. The objective is to record lessons learnt for the future, discuss known problems & see what we can do to improve how we manage such events. All members of the community are encouraged to attend. See agenda here.
If you are unable to attend but would like to have a specific issue included for discussion, feel free to contact Charlie Allen, Peter Cooke, Anneshka Brown or Jamie Oliver to let them know.
There will also be a regular meeting of the PDCA Council at 3pm, after the community meeting. This PDCA meeting will cover various ongoing items (see agenda below). While these meetings have traditionally been considered as business meetings attended only by the elected members of the Council/Executive, we welcome any residents to attend and to raise any items that they would like the PDCA to consider in addition to what is already on the agenda. Here is the proposed agenda.
It is good to know the TMR is working hard at getting resident only access via the range road during daylight hours. However, the ongoing wet weather has been a hindrance and the possibility of a fully accessible range road seems a little too far in the distant future. Even so, the promise of blue sky, sunshine and reduced humidity isn’t far off and gives reason to lift the spirits a little. Residents of Paluma and district whose livelihoods aren’t dependent on full public access via the mountain range road are fortunate and when the opportunity arises, a little support and kindness for anyone in our community can go a long way. It’s been good to see and hear examples of this in our community.
Did you know that Tahlia at Hidden Valley Cabins is baking fresh ‘regular’ and sourdough bread to order? She is also selling fresh, free range eggs. I’ve sampled both and it is all fabulous. If you would like to order some be aware she’s only able to bake 2-3 loaves/day and needs 24hrs notice…2 days notice if you’re after sourdough. You can order by contacting Hidden Valley Cabins on 07 4770 8088 or just message them on their Facebook page.
This is a great way we can support one of our local businesses doing their best to stay open. The quality of a very reasonably priced, locally sourced food means it’s a win-win for all.
Perhaps, when you go to a yoga class with Tracy Armstrong on Fridays, you can grab your order on the way back home. Do check times for classes with Tracy if you’re wanting to attend.
Text and images: J. Poletto
