BUFF-BANDED RAIL GALLERY

The buff-banded rail, Gallirallus philippensis, is a species of rail. It is a rather beautiful bird, and in Australia it is normally found near wetlands. Being a rail, it is usually extremely secretive, however on Green Island these rails were everywhere! They behaved like rails on Tonga and the other Pacific Islands do: they really don't care about people! I got some of my best views of this species on the island, and many, many photos. Here are some.

A rail takes a bath to escape the hot Queensland sun

Rails were everywhere, running across the boardwalks

Deeper in the rainforest this rail was foraging in arm's reach of me!

Another rail in a more natural setting

This preening rail looks somewhat like it has been possessed

I hope you enjoyed these photos of a normally secretive bird!

MYSTERY BIRDS

On day one I saw two birds I could not identify. Images of them are down below. Do you have any idea what they are? If so please leave a comment. Neither species gave any call, and the habitat I saw them in was dry woodland on the edges of a wetland in northern Queensland, at Jabiru Safari Lodge in Mareeba.

BIRD 1

BIRD 1

BIRD 2

EDIT: Bird 1 has been identified as a great bowerbird. 

CAIRNS TRIP: DAY FOUR (last full day)

DAY FOUR
In Cairns we woke up early, as at 7:45 am we would have to leave for a cruise to Green Island. The cruise left at 9:00 am and arrived on the island at 10:30 am. The cruise was fairly uneventful, with the birds mostly the same as previously noted: common terns, silvergulls and greater crested terns. However I did see a single brown booby fishing in the water. When we arrived on the island I immediately noticed a nest on a pole sticking up out of the water, being attended by two ospreys! A great start.

A pair of ospreys nesting, you can see one bird feeding the chick

As I walked along the jetty towards the island, I saw several eastern reef egrets of both the pale and dark morphs perched high in a tree. The island itself was covered in rainforest, and there were abundant buff-banded rails everywhere. On one particular walk from the change rooms to the showers I counted 31 different rails! We walked the boardwalk through rainforest but saw nothing but more rails, a few silvereyes, about 3 bar-shouldered doves and a single olive-backed sunbird.

The unmistakable dark morph eastern reef egret

In a short while it was time for our semi-submersible ride, a boat with the bottom half submerged, kind of like the ultimate glass bottom boat, with a great guide. It was extremely enjoyable. I saw a lot of fish, and at the end there was a fish-feeding session where teira batfish, spangled emperors, threadfin trevally, chevron fusilier and a single great trevally were all providing great views.

Two threadfin trevally next to the much larger great trevally

A school of chevron fusillers

These spangled emperors are apparently sought after as a food fish

A lone teira batfish swims over some seagrass

A view of some of the reef's corals: note the spaghetti coral in the bottom left corner

As I was walking back along the jetty I spotted two green turtles swimming and feeding on seagrass. After this we snorkelled around the beach, but saw little, only another batfish and a few fusiliers.

Green sea turtles are apparently fairly common around the island's beaches

As we were about to leave we saw a fish-feeding demonstration, again with many teira batfish, but they were jumping out of the water a little so I took some photos.

Many teira batfish were eating right in front of the boat

The cruise back was again rather uneventful, however there were many brown boobies perched on a pole, and I saw a single unidentified tern, otherwise birds were similar to those on the way to the island.

MELBOURNE'S COMMONER HONEYEATERS

Melbourne is home to a wide variety of birdlife. Among these are honeyeaters. Honeyeaters are a group of birds found mostly in Australasia, with a few species in parts of Indonesia and several in the Pacific's many islands, however most species are found in Australia. They generally feed on nectar, and make up the family Meliphagidae. There are many different honeyeaters in the Melbourne area, this is a list of some I have seen, including photos from previous posts.

LITTLE WATTLEBIRD Anthochaera chrysoptera

RED WATTLEBIRD Anthochaera carunculata

The genus Anthochaera contains the wattlebirds. 2 species of wattlebird live in the Melbourne area, both are very common and can be found in gardens, dry woodland and grassland. These are the little wattlebird and the red wattlebird.

SPINY-CHEEKED HONEYEATER Acanthagenys rufogularis

The genus Acanthagenys contains only one species, the spiny-cheeked honeyeater. Though uncommon in the Melbourne area this bird can be found in heathlands and saltmarsh, especially along the Mornington Peninsula. It can also be found in dry woodland in other parts of Victoria, but in Melbourne it is best seen in these coastal areas.

NOISY MINER Manorina melanocephala

BELL MINER Manorina melanophrys

The genus Manorina contains the miners. 2 species of miner live in the Melbourne area. The first, the noisy miner, is extremely common in dry woodland and grassland. The second, the bell miner, is also fairly common in dry woodland, but it forms small colonies in certain areas: examples include the Melbourne Zoo's carpark, and Merri Creek Park in Northcote. Both may visit gardens.

LEWIN'S HONEYEATER Meliphaga lewinii

The genus Meliphaga contains 4 species of honeyeater, 1 of which lives in the Melbourne area. This is the Lewin's honeyeater. It prefers riverine woodland and temperate rainforest. It is supposedly moderately common in the Melbourne area, but I have only seen it once there, in the forest around Healesville Sanctuary.

SINGING HONEYEATER Lichenostomus virescens

WHITE-PLUMED HONEYEATER Lichenostomus penicillatus

YELLOW-TUFTED HONEYEATER Lichenostomus melanops

The genus Lichenostomus contains many species of honeyeater, 5 of which (to my knowledge, there are probably more species I have missed) are regularly sighted in the Melbourne area. These are the yellow-faced honeyeater, singing honeyeater, white-eared honeyeater, yellow-tufted honeyeater and white-plumed honeyeater. Most of these birds can be found in dry woodland, though the white-eared honeyeater is known to prefer wetter forests. The white-plumed honeyeater can be found pretty much throughout the Melbourne area. The yellow-tufted honeyeater, on the other hand, is only found in a few select areas of mallee, though its endangered subspecies the helmeted honeyeater inhabits wetter forests near Melbourne.
The genus Melithrepus contains only a few species of honeyeater, 2 of which (again to my knowledge) can be seen regularly in Melbourne and surrounds. These are the brown-headed honeyeater and white-naped honeyeater. The brown-headed is a bird of dry woodland, seen in places like Long Forest Conservation Reserve and the Cranbourne Botanic Gardens. The white-naped, on the other hand, prefers wetter forests. I have not had the experience of seeing either.

NEW HOLLAND HONEYEATER Philidonyris novaehollandiae

The genus Philidonyris again only contains a few species of honeyeater, only 2 of which inhabit the Melbourne area. These are the abundant New Holland honeyeater (seen pretty much everywhere from heathland to dry forest, including my garden) and the crescent honeyeater (a lot less common, it prefers wet forests and is a specialty of the Otways NP).

EASTERN SPINEBILL Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris

The genus Acanthorhynchus contains the 2 spinebills, of which only one inhabits Melbourne's forests, both wet and dry. This is the eastern spinebill, a locally common honeyeater in good forests, which I first saw in the Grampians area but have seen around Melbourne Zoo as well.

WHITE-FRONTED CHAT Epthianura albifrons

The genus Epthianura contains the 4 Australian chats, which are actually honeyeaters and not related to the chats of most of the Old World. Only one can be seen in Melbourne, and this is the white-fronted chat. It prefers saltmarsh and similar habitat near the sea, and is a regular sight at the Western Treatment Plant.
Those are the common honeyeaters of the Melbourne area.

CAIRNS TRIP: DAY THREE

DAY THREE
I woke up at about 5:45, got ready and then birded Cassowary Lodge and surrounds. At first I didn't see much apart from Australian brush turkeys and orange-billed scrubfowl due to the fact every bird was up in the canopy trying to broadcast its voice over as large an area as it could get. However this all changed at around 8 am when breakfast was served by our great hosts, Sue and Phil. I walked to the breakfast area and immediately was stunned. There, right in front of me, was a lifer, a beautiful male Victoria's riflebird with an entourage of females and immature males following him. Sue invited me up for breakfast, near to the feeders. The birds were amazing. Victoria's riflebirds were jumping forward, almost in reach of my hand, snapping up fruit and cheese. In a small flowering tree behind them a yellow-spotted honeyeater was slowly drinking some nectar. On the ground was a single emerald dove, several musky rat-kangaroos and many Australian brush turkeys. As breakfast went on more birds joined the table: horn-billed friarbirds, and finally several spotted catbirds. The riflebirds and catbirds were species I would have had to go through quite a bit of trouble to see normally, and here they were dancing around in front of my face!

The male Victoria's riflebird perches, waiting for his feed

He nears his breakfast, ready for a bite

He flies straight in and snaps it up hungrily

These cute little musky rat-kangaroos are one of the most primitive marsupials still alive

The female/young male Victoria's riflebird also has her/his own beauty

Normally shy, spotted catbirds will do anything for cheese

A black butcherbird scares some of the smaller birds away as he takes his turn eating

After this Phil recommended walking along Black Mountain Road and along the driveway to us, and we tried this out. At first we saw little but we soon stumbled into a small flock of Macleay's honeyeaters, along with a single little shrike-thrush. On our return I spotted an extremely obliging pale yellow-robin who allowed three photos before flying off. Unfortunately after that it was time to head back to Cairns. I didn't see anything of note in Cairns and will thus end the post here with some pictures of the aforementioned birds.

A shy and rather fast little shrike-thrush was met right outside the driveway

These Macleay's honeyeaters were extremely common on our short walk

Pale yellow-robins look much prettier than their southern cousin to me

CAIRNS TRIP: DAY TWO

DAY TWO
I woke up at about 6:30 and immediately heard the dawn chorus. I got out to see several fuscous honeyeaters and lifer brown-backed honeyeaters singing. I could hear the noise of a bird being mobbed so I looked and saw several apostlebirds calling at a lifer Pacific baza. The apostlebirds flew off before I could photograph them but the sparrowhawk remained in place for about half an hour before Kevin, our guide again for the early morning walk, arrived in his safari jeep to take us through the park.

The Pacific baza sits in a tree, watching the ground below him

This brown-backed honeyeater was calling for about an hour

From there Kevin took us to a small farm with a garden filled with flowering plants, as well as a feeder. Kevin told us it would be a hotspot for birds and he was correct. A large eucalypt overlooking the feeder held silver-crowned friarbirds, helmeted friarbirds and red-winged parrots, as well as a single lifer Gould's bronze-cuckoo. In some bamboo a lifer yellow honeyeater was hiding. A spangled drongo perched on a wire, hawking insects. A flowering shrub was being used as cover by double-barred finches and chestnut-breasted mannikins, who were also visiting the feeder along with many of the aforementioned species. Peaceful doves and bar-shouldered doves were walking on the lawn. Finally, a brown honeyeater was drinking nectar from some flowers. All in all it was a great site that we would never have found without Kevin's help.

The yellow honeyeater, a specialty of Queensland's woodlands

Red-shouldered parrots, common but amazing birds

Gould's bronze-cuckoo was once considered a subspecies of the little bronze-cuckoo

Similarly the horn-billed friarbird was once a subspecies of the helmeted friarbird

Spangled drongos are known for bullying smaller birds

As we drove on we saw many eastern grey kangaroos and agile wallabies, watching our jeep with curiosity. Some bounded off, some stood and watched us as we passed.

An eastern grey kangaroo reaches out for some grass

An agile wallaby stares at our jeep, checking us out

We continued onwards into a patch of woodlands. Here we saw both species of kookaburra together: laughing kookaburra and my lifer blue-winged kookaburra. Kevin explained that the species didn't get along well, as kookaburras were highly territorial and would kill any kookaburra that flew into their territory and wasn't from their family group.

 This blue-winged kookaburra would viciously murder any others in sight

Eventually we had to head back to our tent. We quickly packed our things as we had to drop off my sister and my mother in Cairns before driving back to Kuranda. We all arrived in Cairns and ate lunch at an Italian restaurant. While I was waiting for my food my father asked me to come with him to the Esplanade. I followed and he showed me a vast flock of terns and waders that had been forced towards the shore by the high tide. I spotted a variety of species among the flock. There were around 3 bar-tailed godwits, 2 grey-tailed tattlers and 6-7 whimbrels, but most of the flock was made up of curlew sandpipers, a few lifer great knots  and sharp-tailed sandpipers. There was at least one red or greater knot in the flock as well  3 Caspian terns were furthest away, but the bulk of the terns were common terns and greater crested terns. To add to this all a varied honeyeater was calling from a nearby tree!

Two Caspian terns stand next to each other

A group of several whimbrels standing near the mud

A common tern drinking water from a stream

A group of sandpipers: here you can see curlew sandpipers, great knots, grey-tailed tattlers, etc.

A caspian tern calls at another, with a common tern in the foreground

I watched the flock before I ate my lunch and had to leave for Kuranda and Cassowary Lodge, a mere 25 minute drive from Cairns. Due to the time of day I didn't see much, and though I did do a walk around Kuranda I mostly heard birds instead of seeing them, though I did get decent views of two spotted catbirds in foliage.