Recent rain has brought the Orange-thighed Tree-frogs down from the canopy. For several nights, the males gathered near little streams and puddles and called for the females to join them.
On stage:
This one got a bit confused.I don’t think the female was amused!
Our resident pair of Grey Goshawks (Accipiter nocaehollandiae) decided to build a new nest in late July. The chosen site is a tall Rose Gum close to our house.
By late September they were incubating, and at the end of October, they were feeding a single hatchling.
Today it even had a go at a tree-kangaroo:
After an unsuccessful attempt, it often lands on a nearby perch (in this case right on top of the birdfeeder!),
and waiting for another opportunity.
Noisy Pittas are summer visitors to the higher parts of the Atherton tablelands (we are at 1000m elevation), and we usually hear the first ones in December.
This year they have arrived a bit earlier. I happened to be down by the creek, watching the Grey Goshawks (they built a nest near our house in August), when a Pitta called near me, then a second one answered!. I had hoped to have a better image for this blog, but the birds have eluded me over the last week (although they are calling a lot).
The Grey Goshawks’ nest is in a very tall Rosegum and one only gets a good view from one spot near the creek.
The adults are feeding one chick and are calling before coming to the nest, which makes it easy to hurry down to the creek in time to see the parent arrive.
Many other bird species are also nesting now. Mrs Cockatoo chose a tall dead tree for her nest.
She always comes to the opening when she hears someone walking past.
Female Scarlet Honeyeaters are busy collecting nesting material
while the males are always on the look-out for competitors.
The Spangled Drongos are sharing nest-building duties.
Amazingly, they can fit up to 5 eggs into their tiny nest!
Brown Gerygones are flitting in and out of their nest, which is pendular with a roof over the side entrance, to feed nestlings.
Other birds already have fledglings in tow. This Mountain Thornbill got duped into raising a Shining Bronze-cuckoo.
Many Red Roarer cicadas are hatching at the moment -it might be another cicada year, when they are much more numerous.
September is a good month for orchids.
Several species are flowering now. From the tiny Caterpillar Orchid (Plexaure crassiuscula) with flowers about 1.5mm small
to the large Oak Orchids (Dendrobium jonesii.
Other epiphytes are the Buttercup Orchid (Dendrobium agrostophyllum)
this Northern Thumbnail Orchid (Dendrobium nugentii)
and this small Common Snake Orchid (Bulbophyllum johnsonii syn. Serpenticaulis johnsonii)
Pink Lady Fingers ( Caladenia carnea) are ground orchids, which grow along the drier road verges here
and so is this Northern Sun Orchid (Thelmytra queenslandica).
Someone has already nibbled on this flower! Orchids are tasty, and not just insects, pademelons and possums eat them: yesterday I watched a cassowary pecking at the flowerbuds of a Giant Boatlip Orchid, which was just within reach.
So far, I could identify 19 species of orchids on our property, hopefully more to come!
If you think that the adult male Victoria’s Riflebird is just a black bird with a few blue bits, you haven’t seen one in the right light, yet.
With the sun shining on him from the right angle, he is very colourful indeed:
Combined with his shape-shifting display he truly is one of our most magnificent birds.
Our adult males haven’t been performing their display dances for several weeks now, and we haven’t seen much of our females, which could mean that they have mated already and the females are busy with their nests. The adult males know not to waste their energy on futile displays, but of course the young, brown males are still practising .
Several other species of birds are breeding early this year. We’ve observed Mountain Thornbills, White-throated Treecreepers and Yellow-throated Scrubwrens putting the finishing touches on their nests a couple of weeks ago.
Our male cassowary is running a bit late (he lost his first clutch and is still leading the sole survivor of his second one) and the female is patiently following him around. She invites him to mate with her by sitting down near him, but he is still reluctant and usually walks quietly away from her.