FNQ

The reason for the trip to FNQ based around Cairns was that it is very quiet photographically locally and it is peak-breeding season down there. I have been there at least three times previously and enjoyed it although the image results were not very spectacular. I believe that going anywhere on a shoot you have to have a plan although serendipity plays a role in results as well. I had a hit list of targets and on the second full day there I hired a guide for a full day although he ran out of ideas half way through the day. The other brief was to keep the trip as cheap as possible. The cheapest flight I located was on Qantas to Melbourne and thence to Cairns and reverse. It felt a bit elongated but was still the cheapest. I hired the smallest Jucy van to be like a turtle and sleep in my shell. I had some apprehensions about this but having your ass on the ground, almost literally keeps you in touch with what is around. I picked up the Jucy van upon arrival at Cairns. It was rather old and most things were not in great condition. One deck chair collapsed under me a few days later. The doors were very stiff to unlock and about the second or third unlocking I Yuri Gellered the key. There was another one that I treated very gingerly for the rest of the trip. They provided a chilly bin but no cool bricks and there was no extension lead to connect to camping ground power. They had also run out of GPS units …but charged $160 for rental when you could buy one at Dick Smiths for $140. I thought they were very necessary…so I have a Tom Tom.

The front seats of the van had to go far forward to accommodate the bed in the back. The bags and cameras had to be all stuffed on the front seats. Even then I had to sleep diagonally on the bed to fully stretch out.

I stayed in a motel on the outskirts of Cairns the first night to sort things out. I was also going out for both days in the weekend…with the guide on Saturday and with the Cairns Camera Club on Sunday who were going to the Frankland Islands on the inner reef. The next few nights I stayed at Chambers Lodge near Lake Eachem. I have known the proprietor for years and given him a number of photos for advertising. I photographed the fauna around the grounds; catbirds, Brush Turkeys and Victoria's Riflebirds were prominent. 
Birds shown below; Brush Turkey (male), Spotted Catbird (also a Bowerbird that does not have a bower) and Victoria's Riflebird (female)......the object of the elaborate courtship rituals of the male.

The guide lived nearby and was helpful showing me a number of things I wanted to see. As it turned out everything else seemed to stem from my hit list and I was happy with what I photographed. As well as my big camera unit and lens I had the video on its own tripod and my little GoPro. My check-in bag was only a few Kg from maxing out and had the heavy warning labels. My carry-on bag possibly was 10 kg over the limit but was not challenged.

The trip to the Frankland Islands was very good. The first part of the trip was down a broad river and then out in the open sea for about 45 minutes. There is about 5 islands in the group and they are solid lumps of granite with sandy beaches and fringing coral reefs. They had a semi-submersible to view the coral. It was very good providing a panorama of the reef inhabitants except for dirty windows. We saw  9 large turtles, which was very good. There was a tern colony around the back of the island and after a good lunch I walked for 20 minutes and got quite close to the action as the tide receded. Throughout the trip the boat was comfortable and the crew was very helpful.

My first target on the following Monday was a Blue-winged Kookaburra that was nesting in a termite nest in the fork of a tree.  It must have taken a bit of spotting because there are zillions of trees and quite a few kookaburras. I hopped a barb-wired fence and set up under a tree with a long lens aimed at the nest. The parents came in quite frequently with lizards and mice with the female doing most of the fetching. I spent about four hours there and snagged myself on the barbed wire getting back to the van. The muddy nest can be seen as a dark blob in the fork near the top of the broadest central tree (below)

My next assignment was to see if not photograph Lumholz Tree Kangaroos. The best place to find them I was told was on the trees at the front of the Nerada tea estate.  This facility produces the bulk of the tea grown in Australia. They were harvesting and processing the tea while I was there. With the help of one of the employees I found several Kangaroos, which looked something like a cross between a Wallaby and a Possum. I went to the tearooms on-site to enjoy a cup of tea and scones after my shoot only to be told they had no electricity.

My first camp was at Granite Gorge camping ground. It was great. The facilities were excellent and there was only a few staying overnight. There was a colony of Rock Wallabies that attracted some day tourists. A little bantam kept sitting next to the toaster and each day left a small egg. The proprietor bequeathed it to me  while I was there. The Wallabies were everywhere at night and there were possums in the nearby fruit trees and I was reading in the open-sided kitchen one night when a Quoll sauntered past. There was also a Tawny Frogmouth nesting in the fork of a tree. It slept most of the time but moved around quite a bit apparently while still slumbering. I would have like to see it feeding chicks. The main reason for going to Granite Gorge was a nice bower belonging to a Great Bowerbird. It was well angled to the morning light and I spent most mornings recording the behavior on digital media; both still and movie. As usual their toys were purloined from the surrounding area with ribbons, paper clips, green fruit and a red ballpoint pen. Another Bower at Mount Molloy has two red ballpoint pens and a blue one. It was in the grounds of a primary school however so did not have to travel far on burglary missions.

Other campers included a couple of German girls a Belgian couple, and a German man living in Melbourne who had lost his wife in recent years. There was another gentleman in a huge van with a horsefloat-sized van attached. He was not in Olympic condition but told me he was waiting to go into the army. He composed music, had also lost a partner in January and had a little terrier called Charlie Brown who implored you to kick pine cones for him to chase. I wondered what the interior of the mega-vehicle was like….especially when I saw him clean it inside with a leaf blower.

The male Great Bowerbirds spend a lot of their time calling and making micro-adjustments to their bowers. The females will chose the male with the best-looking construction. A record of attending to the small detail featuring the Granite Gorge Bowerbird were obtained using a Sony video camera in conjunction with a GoPro, situated near the nest. A video can be seen here of the Granite Gorge bower: https://vimeo.com/112646673 or here of the Mount Molloy bower; https://vimeo.com/112676405

The Great Bowerbirds are characters and very busy around their area. In the image above the male had gathered green fruit for his wooing arsenal. A foraging Wallaby could not resist and started munching on the items. The Bowerbird was naturally upset but did not back off and gave the Wallaby a decent scolding.

There was a little stream running through the rocks and I saw Rainbow Bee-eaters leaving a nest across the stream. I could not find a way to cross the stream to access the nest that was at the back of an orchard in another property.

I left Granite Gorge heading for Kingfisher Park at Julatten. I stopped at Mareeba for provisions and to check emails at a café with old computers that had stubborn keys. I stayed two nights at Kingfisher Park. It was named after an exotic Kingfisher that arrives each year from Papua New Guinea to nest in local termite mounds. Quite what is wrong with the termite mounds in PNG is anybody’s guess. The proprietor sighted one the following day….the first of the season…but I did not see it. There was a nice Canadian couple in an adjacent site. A bunch of British birders arrived for 4 nights and there were others from Poland present. The idea is to grill them on their days sightings when they come in to the kitchen to prepare their food. The grounds of Kingfisher Park consist of forest, an old orchard and a small stream where platypus can be seen at dusk and small birds slake their thirst during the heat of the day. (the birds are a Dark-faced Monarch and an Azure Kingfisher)

Not far from the camping ground was a fruiting tree that attracted hundreds of frugiphores. They were a skittish lot but I managed to isolate some individuals during the feast. 
Birds below; Yellow White-eye, Metallic Starling and Barred Cuckoo-shrike.

I spent two mornings at Mount Molloy, which has proved rich in bowerbirds previously. You can be done and dusted before the school kids arrive. The school is good in allowing access to photographers with a suggested code of ethics. Mount Molloy is a small town with a pub, a restaurant and a general store. It has not changed in the time I have known it but is reputed to have the highest density of bird species in Australia in a small radius around it. The village features industrial relics form more prosperous times. At its height Mount Molloy boasted a large copper mine in the 1890s. 

The proprietor of the school bower was very active...calling (and pooing) from a high perch and fastidiously making micro-adjustments to his bachelor pad (the other bird is a Blue-faced Honeyeater).

My next stop was a motel in Mossman. This had two purposes to organize things, charge batteries and above all watch the Saturday races from Flemington hoping for tips for the Melbourne Cup. There was a Saturday morning market along the road with a number of dubious goods on sale. One extolled colloidal silver for health benefits!!!! I enjoyed the racing and one give-way line led me to pick the cup winner.

From Mossman I explored the gorge very early in the morning as the sun rose. It did not officially open until about 8.30am but I was well done and dusted by then and had the whole ancient forest to myself…..a magical feeling.

 I  investigated a nest of a Wompoo pigeon. These are quite colourful birds with a call that always cracks me up….it is like one of the Goons saying ’bollocks are blue' .http://www.birdlife.org.au/images/uploads/audio/wompoo_fruit_dove.mp3 > 

I sighted and photographed the nest but it was not in a good place.

I drove to Daintree and investigated the campsite there. I also checked the site at Wonga Beach. It was deserted so I did not even bother to look around. I found out later a croc had taken up residence nearby on the beach and campers had left en masse. 

I was told the camp at Port Douglas was good….it was OK but more crowded and more expensive. I left the next day to go back to the Tableland. I was speaking to a young German lad who was working locally in a Pizza parlour at Port Douglas and told him to back the German horse in the Melbourne Cup. There was a largish cruise ship anchored offshore containing mostly Americans. They were being ferried ashore for various activities while a Dixie Jazz band welcomed them ashore.

I went back to Granite Gorge for 3 nights with two missions. Get the Rainbow Bee-eaters and good shots of the elusive Golden Bowerbird. I got some shots of the Rainbows but did not get clear skies and bright days to get high speed action. In exploring ways to reach the nest across the stream I had seen previously I went down one unsealed road only to read a notice painted on a derelict truck threatening bullets or hungry dogs if you trespassed. The bullet holes in the vehicle suggested they had live ammunition so I gave up that idea. Later I found 5 nests on the Granite Gorge campsite property so there was no need to risk canines or carbines.

On the first Tuesday in November I placed two $10 bets on the noses of two horses in the Melbourne Cup. I drove into Mareeba but did not want to stay around until the middle of the afternoon. I listened on a portable radio back at the camp. I made my choice based on jockey, weight, age and perceived ability to stay 2 miles. I figured the Japanese horse that won the Cox Plate had too much weight and was too old. Unfortunately it died from a heart attack after the race. I picked Protectionist because he ticked most boxes and his jockey was declared as 'having a special way with horses'. My other selection got 4^th…..the jockey Joe Moreira was the star jockey in Singapore before we left and is magic on the backs of horses.
Video of the race is here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTAyi3W2ty0

I spent a morning with the Golden Bowerbird in the Mt Hypipamee Reserve. This species is the smallest of the 20 species of Bowerbirds. Australia has 8 species, PNG has 10 with two shared. These birds are always in fairly thick forest which of course is dark and calls on maximum possible low-light settings on the camera. In my session I was really treated to a lot of behavior. The male flew quite near me and perched patiently while I took some shots. This species do not fuss around their bowers like the Great Bowerbirds. It is a maypole bower as opposed to an avenue bower. My friend got quite excited when a female appeared. He immediately went off to get a dried flower, which he carefully placed on the bower. He then seemed to disappear while she appeared excited and sat on a number of perches adjacent to the bower. Before leaving he did a little flutter dance, which looked like shades of liquid gold suspended in the gloom of the forest. A pair of British birders joined me briefly and said this particular male was even famous in England.

Nearby there was a crater where a huge chunk of granite had been blown out by a volcanic gas discharge. The duck-weed covered water fills over half of the crater.

From Granite Gorge I investigated a few camps before choosing Lake Eachem camp. It was also very nice with good facilities and few other campers…..until the last night when there was an invasion. 

There were quite a few flowering bushes and trees around and I spent the afternoon shooting honeyeaters. Birds below; Scarlet Honeyeater, Rainbow Lorikeet, Dusky Honeyeater, Bridled Honeyeater and Eastern Spinebill.

My main mission was to get shots of another Bowerbird, the Toothbilled Bowerbird. This species also inhabits dark forests and builds a simple bower by clearing part of the forest floor and placing leaves, bottom-side up in that space. The male then sings loudly from an adjacent perch. Two males had bowers along a track near Lake Barrine, which is not far from Lake Eachem. I set out from the camp at first light and was greeted by a very atmospheric misty morning with wonderful landscape possibilities. I stopped and photographed them for a while and then when I arrived at the lake there was mist and light and swimming coots on the lake to photograph.  While photographing these I turned around and noticed a male Victoria’s Riflebird of a tall stump in a nearby carpark. This species of bird or paradise have a spectacular routine to attract the ladies. I hastened into position and was elated when the subject not only called but went into his courtship behaviour. This was number one on my hit-list so I was very happy. I went back next morning and he appeared on the stump but looked half-hearted and flew off after a while. It demonstrated the need to be in the right place at the right time.

 I also got some decent shots of the Tooth-billed Bowerbird in full song…..while stretching the camera parameters to the limit.

 The following weekend I stayed one night in a motel in Cairns and explored the esplanade for birds and other sights. There was a group of tourists from Holland and they had booked to go to the outer reef on the Monday. One of their members had been hospitalised and I was offered a half-price ticket with Reef Magic which I took advantage of.  This trip was also well organized with the boat trip on a fast catamaran taking 90 minutes each way. They moored on a floating shelter  where visitors could go diving, snorkeling, or exploring on a glass-bottomed boat, a semi-submersible or even a helicopter. Some young Japanese I noted signed up for each activity. They even taught them to scuba dive in 20 minutes on the way out. The visibility was not great although much could be seen. The surface was a bit choppy but I enjoyed some snorkeling. There was a large and friendly Maori Wrasse called Wally who played all sorts of games to get as much feed as he could. 

Part of the reason that I went back to this region is that it is on a list as a possible place to live after Penang. I looked more closely at towns and areas without wasting time on house prices. In essence I eliminated a number of places that looked less than prosperous or clearly had an unemployment issue. The only region I really like was around Lakes Barrine, Tinaroo and Eachem. The nearest small town is Yungaburra, which hosted a music festival for several days when I was staying nearby. My guide lived there and said it was a nice town with a good community spirit.

David had expressed some interest in the beaches north of Cairns so I spend a morning investigating them. My pick was the more upmarket Palm Grove Beach that appeared more established, had a longer beach and some nice coffee shops. Trinity Beach was not far behind but is yet to be fully established but had a rather stunted beach. A young couple was getting married on the beach when I was there and the bride was over 30 mins late. I spent some time talking to her father….who was a bit nervous. David said he did not want Yorkey’s Nob as an address and this was indeed the runt of the litter.

The reef trip extended my stay in Cairns….I found a nice camp and stayed the rest of the time there. I really like the Cairns esplanade, there are training stations, barbecues, migrant birds, a large swimming pool, well manicured lawns and it is well policed and kept very clean. Many people walk and jog there in the mornings

The next day I had a day up in the Tablelands and explored Kuranda on the way home. At Kuranda I ticked off another shot from my list. I wanted a portrait shot of a Cassowary. I got several handheld shots and one turned out to be what I wanted….it has got clearly more hits than other shots since I posted it on my website. 

Birds below; King Parrot (male), Eclectus Parrot (female), Cassowary.

The only shot I did not get was the Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher. Apparently they are at Granite Gorge in January.

image supplied

I like photographing Australian birds and wildlife generally. They have interesting behaviour and are often very colourful as are some of the native flowers.
Bird species show are; Mistletoe bird, Yellow-bellied Sunbird, Rainbow Lorikeet and Blue-winged Kookaburra (male)

I had a smooth trip home. I stayed in Singapore for 2 nights originally with the intention of catching up with Paul but as he was delayed I spent the time with Nick and Sophie Baker, which was very pleasant. I got a good washing from a curly poodle when I arrived home on Saturday evening.

Just a comment about the airlines used. The long leg from Singapore to Melbourne on Qantas was not impressive. Mediocre food, entertainment screen marginally bigger than postage stamps and programs that were 30 years old. The flight from Melbourne to Cairns was very good as was the reverse trip. Fortunately the leg from Melbourne to Singapore was on Emirates and that was considerably better that the Qantas offering; better food, bigger screens and some of the latest programs.

All nature images from the trip can be seen on my website; http://grguy.smugmug.com/Northern-Queensland-2014/i-HxFzT9g

Video clips illustrating some of the birds encountered

Riflebird  mating behaviour

The best quality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKc2amcxczs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkNCslAgNSw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XhPHWY4RuM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L54bxmZy_NE

Tooth-billed Bower singing near the bower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9woXjRp8jq4

Catbird sounds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3OkDFpZCHY

Golden Bower mating call

https://vimeo.com/84559302