The Daintree River

After a good clean-out from last month's rain, the Daintree River is looking fabulous. The water is clear, the Barramundi fishing season is open and recreational fisherman are endeavouring to catch this prized fighting (and eating) fish.
It's also a great time for birds on the Daintree River.
A trip out in 'the tinny' on Weds morning gave us excellent views of the Great Billed Heron, Black Bittern, Shining Flycatcher, Yellow Oriole and many more. The tide was a little high for Kingfishers.

Great-billed Heron Feb 12 (Trish Forsyth)

Other good sightings in the area include Spotted Whistling Ducks, Latham's Snipe, loads of Magpie Goose, Red-necked Crake and Pale-vented Bush-Hen. Having some water lying around in the fields at last is excellent for these birds.
Wonderful weather - you wouldn't believe it is meant to be the 'Wet Season'.

The new Daintree Birdwatching Bulletin

Following the crash of the one existing computer in this house which supported Windows XP, we no longer have access to the Dreamweaver programme from which the Daintree Birdwatching Bulletin was created and maintained.

So - - - this blog is now the new Daintree Birdwatching Bulletin, which means I have to be a bit more vigilant  about keeping it updated!

September is a fabulous time of year in Daintree - warm, sunny, not humid and very few mosquitoes. With a couple of notable exceptions (Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher and Black Bittern), all our summer migrants are here. Lots of nesting is going on making some birds like Great-billed Heron and Southern Cassowary more difficult to see, and others like Metallic Starling and Brown-backed Honeyeater are easier.

Good sightings of Little Kingfisher, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot and Pacific Baza in the garden at Red Mill House while Stewart Creek Rd has been handy for Lovely Fairy-Wren and Pied Monarch.

Very good sightings of Noisy Pitta on the track at the end of Cape Kimberly and there has been a very handsome, and somewhat 'friendly' sub-adult Southern Cassowary at Jindalba Boardwalk, as the following photos from Paul McLelland shows us.

Sub-adult Cassowary Jindalba Boardwalk

Sub-adult Cassowary Jindalba Boardwalk - a close look!

A male Cassowary with three chicks is also in the region of Jindalba, and also a large female. Most sightings seem have been early morning and it is has been difficult finding then during the day.

Other Daintree sightings include Topknot Pigeon, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Victoria's Riflebird and Shining Flycatcher. Check out our weekly sightings list for more details Red Mill House Sightings page

New Year's resolution - blogging!!

Where does the time go?
My apologies for such a long absence - I was embarrassed to receive blog stats recently and see many people are looking at this blog, but that I have done nothing for such a long time. Thank you for your perseverance.

A New Year's resolution - to keep people informed and up to date this year about life and birding in the Daintree.

First things first though.
We have just returned from a wonderful month's holiday in Sri Lanka.
What a great destination for viewing wildlife and  to have the opportunity to meet such wonderful people who are happy to share their ancient, rich and diverse land with us. We took part in a private Birdwatching and Wildlife tour for 11 days, then spent another 2 1/2 weeks exploring the island by various means.
Many, many photos, but this is a favourite!!

Sri Lanka is experiencing a tourist boom, now that the conflicts are over and the rebuilding from the 2004 Tsunami is virtually complete. It is an easy and safe destination and very popular with northern Europeans at this time of year - why wouldn't it be? Wildlife tourism is also growing quickly, and we would recommend going sooner, rather than later, as there will probably be greater demand in the future, stretching the resources of the good nature guides and companies.
We travelled with, and would recommend Prasanjith Caldera from Walk with Jith, an excellent guide and organiser, who created the perfect tour for us, at a very good price. His other guides, Sam and Nandana, were also charming and knowledgeable and we enjoyed them all.
If you would like any more details, please just contact Andrew or Trish at Red Mill House.

So, back to Daintree - - and what a beautiful place at this time of year. To date, little rain and few mosquitoes, so everyone is happy.
The summer migrants are all here, with Pied Imperial Pigeon very common, flocks of Metallic Starlings feeding on forest fruits, Black Bittern on the Daintree River, and most spectacularly, the Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher which are nesting in the termite mounds nearby. We were fortunate to rescue one of these that had been hit by a car recently. He seemed okay, which is great.

A juvenile Great-billed Heron is being seen regularly on the Daintree River, and some visitors have been lucky enough to watch Mum feeding it. Lots of new Double-eyed Fig-Parrots around also. It really is a great time for birding in Daintree.
This is an older photo now, but a classic just the same - taken on the road to Cape Tribulation by guests from Red Mill House late last year.

Another New Year's Resolution is to take more time birding this year. So lots of reports to come!!