Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge in Julatten, Queensland, Australia | Hotel

Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge

Locality: Julatten, Queensland, Australia

Phone: +61 7 4094 1263

Address: 6 Mt Kooyong Rd 4871 Julatten, QLD, Australia

Website: http://www.birdwatchers.com.au

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• Nature reserve

25.01.2022 Thanks to Mike Melton for sending this lovely photo into our Notifications box. I am a Facebook dunce so apologies if this appears twice.... I just didn't want anyone to miss it!

25.01.2022 Here is a better photo of the roosting Blue-banded Bees posted a few days ago. This was taken by Dick Whitford and clearly shows the bees hold on only with their jaws.

25.01.2022 Here's a much better photo of the Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher by a recent guest, Paula Bowler. Thank you, Paula.

25.01.2022 Hanging washing is frequently a great way to birdwatch and our lines are in one of the busiest bird corners on the grounds of Kingfisher Park. Today's surprise above the shirts and socks was a low-flying Australian Hobby. A Rufous Whistler just outside the grounds gave the alarm a split-second before the falcon shot over towards the buildings. Deathly silence ensued for the next half-hour - not a lorikeet or a dove or a finch or a honeyeater visible or calling. Oh, apart from one crazy Lewin's Honeyeater chattering like a machine gun. Maybe he was providing covering fire while the others made their escape ;-)

25.01.2022 These are the Hoyas whose scent is currently wafting along the main veranda were they are growing along ropes. The white one has never flowered before and its porcelain perfection came as a lovely surprise.

24.01.2022 Teenage Boydie is back, just hanging.....

24.01.2022 Well, it's certainly antechinus season. I'm re-posting this fabulous picture by Mark Jagusch, plus a rather second-class photo of my own, of a delightful marsupial mammal called Antechinus flavipes rubeculus (I am led to believe). Our old car (used as a wheelbarrow round the place, mostly!) appears to have a nest of these under the dash. Then this morning in the shed I lifted the lid on a box with a new ceramic toilet cistern in it and had two juvenile antechinuses loo...king up at me! No doubt mum has chewed up all that lovely polystyrene packaging for their cozy nest. Then, 6.15pm, as I was feeding George and Mildred, (the two tame Orange-footed Scrubfowl), their nightly banana, who should scamper in for a taste but an antechinus, then two antechinuses. A great chase ensued, round and up the tree trunks, through the potplants, over the decking, under the boardwalk. As I watched the show, who should give its Wak-wak-wak call but a Red-necked Crake. Aha! Up round the cookshed, are we? Excellent. I carried on doling out banana to George and she-who-must-be-obeyed. Then who should sneak in under the feeder, perhaps looking for the birdbath that was on the ground last year, but the crake! If only I could have turned that banana into a camera. See more

24.01.2022 Today was a bit of a raptor day. Three Black Kites hung around a couple of dead feral pigs along the highway as I left for my Tai Chi practice. There are Tai Chi moves with names like Gazing at the Moon, The Flying Wild Goose and White Crane Flashes Wings. Personally, I reckon there should be Raptor Spreading Wings and Gazing at the Kite. I mean, today, from where we practiced on a lovely veranda that is perched like an eyrie high on a hillside with a view of Julatten and th...e mountains beyond, I watched a Collared Sparrowhawk race through and then catch a thermal to circle high and away. Just as we finished class I had the longest and best view of a Square-tailed Kite that I've had in years. It rocked and floated right in front of us, at times below our vantage point, showing all its colours and its long fingers spread and uptilted. It even took a swipe at a treetop in the garden beside us. Then later, back at the Lodge, as I was cleaning a wall at the bunkhouse, one of the local pair of shrieking Brown Falcons flew over, scattering the lorikeets. Then this afternoon I was on the main veranda and saw what looked like a grey rock fly from roof-level through an impossibly small gap behind the seed feeder. It must have been a bird but it had looked like its wings had been chopped off! It had to be a raptor, I thought.....and there it was, perched in an Umbrella Tree. Gary! Gary the Grey Goshawk, eating a late lunch - of which nothing remained in under 3 minutes. The day's raptor total was topped off with an adult Black-shouldered Kite hovering near the road I was walking our dog along, wings a-flutter, head immobile, clean and sharp-dressed as ever. See more

24.01.2022 Well, last night's dog walk involved waiting for two Noisy Pittas to cross the road, and the night before had a Pale-vented Bush-hen (my first of the season) yelling from the long grass as a noisy car went past. I sometimes wish Keeto was a birder. She is so unappreciative.

23.01.2022 Richelieu the Scrub Python who was out to get the Four Musketeers, presently still finding sanctuary on the light globe (see banner pic), has been slithering and thumping in the roof-space of our own living area for about a week. I'm seriously wishing he'd remove himself as the alternative suggestion of opening the inspection hatch to play snakes and ladders is not entirely appealing.

18.01.2022 It's been very windy the last couple of days, which may account for what seems like an influx of Spangled Drongos and Channel-billed Cuckoos. In Mount Molloy today a couple of Red-tailed Black-cockatoos were getting a bit excited blown along by the wind., while here there was a flock of 20 Topknot Pigeons clearly struggling to make their way towards the coast for breakfast.

18.01.2022 Keeto the dog was unimpressed but I was delighted to hear my first Noisy Pitta in months tonight on my dog walk. Sadly, not at the Lodge, but maybe it will fly in tomorrow..... I can but hope. Other notables were a Pacific Baza circling and calling, and then back at the Lodge, a Leaden Flycatcher, a Spangled Drongo and a family of Red-backed Fairy-wrens. Some of you will be saying "so what?" Well, Drongoes have been noticeably fewer than most winters, for sure, and Leadens to...o. The Fairy-wrens were in the grass on the edge of our road which is a bit unusual. To be honest, I thought they were going to be Lovely FWs as we've had those there far more often than RBFWs. (Guests who just left went to Newell Beach and had Lovely FWs on their car mirrors! They are certainly pairing up and getting very territorial, even trying to beat up their own reflections!) See more

18.01.2022 I forgot to say, D'Artagnan left the other 3 Musketeers on their light globe several nights ago. After a day on the fence he retired to one of the recycling bins outside the rooms and has bin (sic) there ever since. Athos went out for a breath of air a few nights back and Porthos had been looking a bit browned off (literally, he'd changed colour) with the team's self-imposed isolation until he took a dip in the toilet bowl below his penthouse perch. Clearly the gang don't think it's warm enough to go galloping about the countryside yet.

17.01.2022 Fruit currently in the orchard.

16.01.2022 Two fantastic photos of the Flecker's Spiny Crayfish (Euastacus fleckeri) found only in the highland creeks of the Mount Carbine Tablelands. This fellow was determinedly dragging that stick along underwater. Thank you to guest Heather Macfarlan for these taken in October 2020.

16.01.2022 An enquiry we had today made me think perhaps I should mention something. Unlike any other year we can think of, we have vacancies for our units for almost every night from now to the end of the year. In normal years we have up to 30 international birding tour groups but in 2020, for some reason....they have all cancelled. So, if any Queenslander out there (or anyone else who can get to Far North Queensland legally) has never seen a Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher and would like to, this will be the year to come! Consider coming to stay from about mid-November. You won't have to squeeze your dates in between groups. (That is not part of a recipe!) Of course, if you don't want to wait for those latecomers, the BBPKs, there are plenty of other, beautiful, special resident and migratory birds to be seen right now. :-D

16.01.2022 Today has been a day of drizzly showers but I managed the afternoon dog walk and it was surprisingly very pleasant! No rain, no wind, all sound seemed to carry much farther and there were more birds about, enjoying dinner and some lively singing. On my way down the road 2 dead trees were sporting a mob of uncomfortable-looking, (rather-less-than-)White Ibis, and one Royal Spoonbill having a jousting match with an Australian Darter to decide on the best perch. (My money was on... the snakebird with the rapier, rather than the wader with the spatula, but I moved on before the match ended.) Then I encountered a Golden-headed Cisticola and 3 families of Red-backed Fairy-wrens along my route, and watched a mixed flock of Silvereyes, Fairy Gerygones and Large-billed Gerygones, and 2 Spectacled Monarchs all hopping through a River Cherry. The 2 adult Black-necked Storks (that kind of remind me of Severus Snape) were on their dam, sharing with 6 Grey Teal, a few Pacific Black Ducks, a Dusky Moorhen and surprise, surprise, Shenandoah the lonesome Wandering Whistling-Duck, back from his latest travels. Keeto the dog was far more interested in the naughty, escapee calf on the road verge, of course. But I was happy. It's always nice to start the week's new list with some goodies. Oh, and a Barn Owl just called. Tick. See more

16.01.2022 At present we have self-contained units and villas available but pre-booking is an essential requirement. Our bunk rooms and camping remain closed at this time. We will update our website www.birdwatchers.com.au and Facebook as soon as this changes.

12.01.2022 Our friend Dick Whitford had spotted these native Blue-banded Bees roosting a few nights ago so we went down this evening to see them. Little cuties! They've been spending their day on our white ginger flowers. Notice how they hold on with their jaws only! Back at the Lodge I continued spotlighting, collecting 18 Cane Toads. That's 18 less to compete for food with our native frogs, 18 less to breed, and 18 less to poison a predator, so no-one will persuade me I am wasting my ...time. I decided to look for a Leaf-tailed Gecko where I'd found one weeks ago and hey, presto, there it was, about a metre off the ground 10 metres from where I'd last seen it. I'd been hearing a Tube-nosed Bat giving loud squeaks. So, knowing I've called them in before, I pursed my lips and squeaked back. Immediately I felt a rush of wings past my ear and ducked! Two of them shot past and then squabbled in mid-air before coming back for another look for this intruder! Their eyeshine is like two glowing coals! Fabulous critters! Sorry, too fast for photos! I will try to find the photo I took years ago of one we rescued from barbed wire. We called it Shrek but it turned out to be female. :-D See more

12.01.2022 There was some humidity today and we still had a couple of light showers, but when the sun shone the birds were certainly busy. The Superb Fruit-Doves called for hours, a pair of Pacific Bazas circled overhead, calling mid-morning, and we heard our first Eastern Koel of the season. I understand a Dollarbird has been spotted locally, and, in case I forgot to mention, we have had a couple of sightings of Channel-billed Cuckoos. The humidity last night prompted Athos, the bigges...t of our White-lipped Tree Frogs, to take a turn around the walls, while D'Artagnan moved onto the windowsill, perhaps tempted to return to the recycle bin. Porthos and Aramis just shuffled round the lampshade a bit. In front of the cookshed a recently-planted Grevillea has its first flower, but the massive, marvellous Syzygium sayeri in the orchard is still sucking all the honeyeaters away from the other plants. Particularly loud are the Bridled Honeyeaters. See more

12.01.2022 Licuala Fan Palm next to the Banksia Bunkhouse.

11.01.2022 We are very happy to report hearing a Noisy Pitta once more in the grounds here. One with a strange "metallic" call has been calling the last few days, mainly on dusk. I have also heard one on one of my dog-walks locally, plus heard several on the way up to the Clearing on Mt Lewis, and along the walking track. So, the boys are back in town! Yay! Oh, and yesterday evening a guest peering upward at a Spotted Catbird had a pair of Red-necked Crakes almost run across her feet! :-D (Just edited this comment. A Spitted Catbird might not be a selling point for the Lodge.....) :-o

10.01.2022 Well, photographic proof has been heroically supplied in the last hour by our neighbour and night-spotting guide, Kahleana Stannard ...... a Blue-faced Parrot-finch, photographed with her phone in their garden! I had just finished changing our seed feeder to a flat tray type as Andrew and I had definitely heard and seen a Blue-faced PF at the back of the units this morning. It flew over our heads towards the feeder so we can but hope.... Also I had heard and seen only a silho...uette yesterday, flying past near the car port. We have had BFPFs before, only ever single birds, clearly attracted by the sound of the other finches at the feeders. We also had one on occasions when we lived next door. In the photo you can see the leaves of Ruellia macrophylla, the weed these finches feed on in Julatten along with grass species such as Guinea Grass and Brachiaria. At least 5 were seen on Mt Lewis yesterday, feeding on Pollia. 2020 has been a strange year! We currently have King Parrots, Noisy Friarbirds, Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos and now a Blue-faced Parrot-Finch on the property! Very, very odd for December! See more

08.01.2022 It's great to see little Double-eyed Fig-Parrots currently feeding with Australasian Figbirds and Metallic Starlings in one of our fig trees that is producing its best crop ever! (This is not a recent photo - it's one of mine in a different species of fig tree - of which there are about 45 in Australia, 750 worldwide!)

07.01.2022 What could be better on tonight's evening stroll than seeing a pair of Lovely Fairy-wrens.....? Why, TWO pairs of course! I heard just a slight tsee-tsee-tsee call and stopped to listen and copied the call, (much to dog Keeto's puzzlement), and the male hopped into view in full sunlight, much bluer than the actually very blue sky, followed by his skipping, blue-cloaked female, prettier than many males of other species. Still smiling over that sighting, 5 minutes later I had a...nother, this time a pair having a bit of a sing-off with a Red-backed Fairy-wren where rough grassland abuts the tangled vines the LFWs prefer. I was struck by the contrast in size between those tiny jewels and the enormous birds the dog and I watched last night: the whole local family of four stately Black-necked Storks (not black) stalking along the edges of a rapidly-drying dam. The variety of sizes, shapes, colours, calls, habits and abilities of the myriad bird species in the world is a constant source of wonder to me. Everyone needs wonder in their life, don't you agree? See more

06.01.2022 For anyone planning to travel Cairns to Port Douglas or vice versa on Sunday, note: the Ironman Competition is running on 27th which means the Captain Cook Highway will be CLOSED to all vehicles from 5.30am to 5.30pm between Palm Cove and Trezise Rd (Mowbray, south of the Port Douglas turnoff). Anyone planning to drive into Cattana Wetlands should take extra care as the cycle route passes round there in order to avoid the Smithfield roundabout as the cyclists return to Cairns. The route Cairns-Mareeba-Julatten-Port Douglas is unaffected though liable to be busier than usual.

06.01.2022 Well tonight's dog walk started with exploding Topknot Pigeons (you know what I mean), then continued to a mixed bag of bird songs - Brown Gerygones, Silvereyes, a family of Large-billed Scrubwrens (some copying the previous-mentioned two :-D), a Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Wompoo Fruit-Doves, Bar-shouldered Doves, a Black-faced Monarch (that just called once) and even a somewhat-distant Noisy Pitta. There is definitely more activity, with many species now nesting. Gary the Grey Goshawk did a great job today around lunchtime. He zapped through, causing more exploding birds, then perched up in a gum tree for our guests to watch. I did not see a single Brush Turkey all afternoon.....

06.01.2022 Well, yet again the youngsters are driving Athos up the wall, and now there's a fifth frog currently hunkered on the windowsill, rescued after I found him flattening himself in a plant pot, trying to avoid the unwanted attention of a Little Shrike-thrush.... He survived a peck on the nose, so we've named him Gregory after Gregory Peck.

04.01.2022 I'm not very regular with posting lists to E-bird but anyone interested will find a couple of recent ones (our weekly lists of species recorded within 1.5kms of the Lodge) to give you an idea of what's about. Lists have been posted by others, under the location of Kingfisher Park, perhaps because they were staying here, but may include birds we know would only be seen at wildly different altitudes (e.g. Mount Lewis) and distances from here, or were in some cases apparently errors in identification or recording. However, for anyone planning a visit, the lists will provide some idea of what one might expect at a given time of year. :-)

04.01.2022 Paula Bowler took this of a White-browed Crake this week, but life on its swamp may be very tough now that it's almost entirely dried up. Bring on the rain!

04.01.2022 I'm sure past guests will know where this series of photos taken with my little camera yesterday was. The vine has been a favourite perch for a/this BBPK for years.

03.01.2022 I forgot to say, tonight's dog walk provided another birdie surprise in the form of 4 Pelicans circling over a rapidly-drying dam. They elected not to land on the water. (Now there's an oxymoron....)

03.01.2022 The little furries that we feed are getting cheekier. One of our recent guests sat down on the veranda with his feet in the feeding zone and a couple of the native rodents, Rattus fuscipes, just ran over his feet. They stay on the ground, but the biggest Fawn-footed Melomys I've ever seen has no trouble scampering up onto the plate where banana is served.

01.01.2022 We have several Carallia brachiata trees in the Lodge grounds. They are the food plant for the day-flying Four O'clock Moth (Dysphania fenestrata a.k.a D. numana). Their striking yellow caterpillars (more rarely lime green) have munched their way through at least two of the smallest trees, but that's OK, they will regrow. And the moths are so pretty! This one decided to spent the night on our bathroom window frame.

01.01.2022 The Black-faced Monarch we've had around for weeks is getting very chatty close to the office now. Spectacled Monarchs come to the birdbath near the veranda but their cousin hasn't as yet tried it. The Yellow-breasted Boatbill is one species I have never seen bathing. I wonder, has anyone? Are they just one of those species that prefers a shower, like Olive-backed Sunbirds? Or do they roll about in wet leaves in the treetops like Rainbow Lorikeets? Or do they perhaps have a label saying "Dry Clean Only"?

01.01.2022 Guests have been seeing the Red-necked Crakes late evenings but as yet we have not heard a Pale-vented Bush-hen here. I have heard one locally but we still need rain to get things going. Our rainfall total for November was a puny 51mm, on top of 10mm in October, taking the total for the calendar year to just 1032mm which is worse even than 2016. Problem is we did not have big rain through Jan/Feb/March in 2020, traditionally our best rainfall months. We need gentle, steady ra...in to soften the ground or the first big rain will just run straight off. Our poor trees are drooping and have been losing leaves faster than I can follow round with the rake and barrow! The buff-breasted Paradise-kingfishers had a very busy couple of mornings calling so they may have paired up and chosen termite mounds but I haven't spotted any new holes in them yet here. Plenty of the birds, though. I heard 5 different individuals calling in the orchard at one time. Last night I found a tnewly-hatched baby Orange-footed Scrubfowl (so often mistaken for a quail here) cowering by the office door. There was downy fluff all along the veranda so I surmised I had been attacked, probably by adults or by a Brush Turkey. So it spent the night in a box on top of the washing machine and was released to rush and hide in a pile of sticks this morning. Life is tough for these precocial, nidifugous chicks! ;-) Precociality - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org wiki Precociality In biology, precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile ... Precocial species are normally nidifugous, meaning that they leave the nest shortly after birth or hatching ... (They are so cute, shame they grow up!)