Hello from hot and humid Coquette Point,

The summer heat is blistering and with the humidity in the 90's it's draining, but that's what we expect at this time of the year. Relief does come briefly, when a storm brings cooling wind and rain. However, if you are right under the storm it is not so good, one banana farmer on the Palmerston last week lost 100% of his crop and stood down 30 workers until March. Another lost 90% of his crop and a work crew of seven men have lost their jobs. A pawpaw farmer lost 75% of his crop while widespread damaging hail was recorded from a storm that arched over the Innisfail hinterland last Saturday evening.

Storms have continued every afternoon this week bringing refreshing rain to the dry soils. In central Queensland drought has turned to minor flooding but no one is complaining.

Ian Laidlaw, from Tupeki on the Palmerston managed to get a photo of last Saturday's storm before it sideswiped Tupeki. Great photo Ian thank you for sharing.Just look at the beautiful red volcanic soils of the Palmerston.

Whether it's the nitrogen in the air from the storms or perhaps young cassowary Ky is starting to feel his oats, but this week he was celebrating his first year with crazy dances and jousting with trees. The exuberant behaviour seems to happen spontaneously in the late afternoon. Sort of cassowary schoolie's week for Ky.

Snout of course has forgotten his young days and when Ky ran up and over a stump alongside him there appeared to be some strong words said as
Ky stopped mucking about and shortly afterwards quietly
followed his dad into the rainforest.



I have observed two encounters between Jessie, Snout and Ky this week. The first one was close to the house where I saw Jessie sitting in the sun, I thought it was strange that she would do that on such a hot day. Then suddenly Snout appeared with Ky further back in the rainforest, Snout was watching Jessie intently.

The cassowaries stayed in the same place for some time. Occasionally Ky uttered a nervous whistle.

It was at least 20 minutes before Jessie gave up and decided to  approach her unwilling lover, but Snout once again had  cold feet and disappeared into the rainforest with Ky running beside him .

The next day I found them all together again and this time Snout gave every impression he was trying to attract Jessie by giving her the 'come on'. However, on this occasion it was Jessie who walked away uninterested.

Cassowary Hero has been bringing his new chick into the Panama berry tree beside the road at the top of the Moresby Range. Henry and Nellie Epong have recorded them at this tree almost every day this week.

Going to town on Wednesday I found cassowary Hero and his new chick resting in the shade under the tree.

Soon they started to feed and I watched Hero stretch up and pluck a berry and drop it on the ground in front of the chick. The chick picked up the berry, tossed it in the air, caught it, and swallowed it all in one throw.

Alison Whatling has advised that she has seen the Flying Fish Point cassowary dad Kevin again and he actually has three chicks not two as previously reported. They are very excited and are looking forward to the Christmas school holidays to get some good photos.  Alison said they have lots of fruits falling in their rainforest patch so the chicks should be well fed.

The new cassowary subadult which appeared at the top of the Moresby Range a few weeks ago is back. I spoke to Mandubarra elder Nellie Epong, who has been watching this young cassowary and Nellie has named it Henry, after her husband Henry Epong of course, a tall proud Mandubarra man.
I believe Henry is Hagar's chick from the 2012/13 season. Hagar presently has another chick Rainbow which is nine months old. Photo above left Henry, right Hagar with Henry August 2013. Photo by Taggs.

The cassowaries are not the only ones cavorting this week. The fig birds are mating and the female in the photo on the left was displaying for the  male by bobbing her head and fanning her tail.
She then started to sing to him but it didn't hit the right note and he looked disinterested.

   
When she changed the tune she caught his interest.






All the excited singing also caught the interest of another female which joined the two and tried to compete for the male's attention.

He tried a note or two himself but soon decided to let the females do all the talking. Courtship displays between birds are complex but always fascinating.

         

The characteristic coo-cooing call of the peaceful dove is mesmerising. During courtship the male peaceful dove commences a series of head bowing and tail raising. The female often acts coy
to this behaviour which seems to encourage the male to more extravagant display.

The peaceful dove often raises more than one brood per season and it is one bird that appears to have benefited from humans clearing forestlands as its preferred habitat is open woodlands.



In my early morning walks on the beach I managed to get a photo of the pied oyster catcher family in one frame. The two chicks are on the left and the bird about to go on guard duties is walking off to the right.

The parent pied oyster catcher which stayed with the chicks appeared to be teaching them how to find a meal.  In the soft glow of early morning they ignored me as I stood behind a mangrove tree watching the parent bird show the chicks where
                                                                                                        and how to feed.                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                                       

 

A young silver gull flew across the sand flats and as it turned I noticed it had an injury across its wing and on its tail. The damage was on the surface and did not appear to be preventing the bird from flying. It may have escaped from a crocodile but it is more likely to have been an encounter with a dog, one lucky gull.


As I continued my walk I noticed someone had been on the beach earlier than me and there were several sets of dog prints, at times alongside a man's print but at other times leading off in long strides out onto the sand flats.

I saw very few terns or waders inshore, however I did see some activity on an exposed sandbar far out in Gladys Inlet but could not investigate due to the tide.


On Wednesday participants in the Cassowary Coast Alliance met with staff of the Cassowary Coast Regional Council, CCRC, about dogs, Quad bikes and other illegal activities damaging the beaches of the Shire.

The Quad bike on the left was driven along the dunes where the green sea turtles have laid their eggs. The Quad bike driver, not happy with driving on the dunes, would suddenly turn down onto the beach do a few burnouts then back up onto the dunes. He was hooning on his Quad bike, smashing turtle nests, undermining the dunes while destroying the dune vegetation.
With this sort of activity on our turtle and shorebird nesting beaches there is no hope for these species to breed or survive in this habitat.

CCRC officers have requested that people report bad behaviour on our beaches to the Council and if possible, in safety, take a photo and record vehicle licence plate numbers to the Council's Nuisance Issues Desk. Go to:-   www.cassowarycoast.qld.gov.au and click on Report an Issue in the left margin, or phone the desk 074030222, or email enquiries@cassowarycoast.qld.gov.au  The Council Environment Officer, Damon Sydes said he cannot act unless he has the complaints. People are not reporting incidents of Quad bikes or dogs on the beaches, but if they do he will act. So it is up to you, don't whinge about an environmentally damaging issue, report it.

One issue that was reported to Council by Duncan Patterson concerning dogs, occurred at Flying Fish Point. Apparently a lady drives from Innisfail almost every morning with a number of very large dogs, lets the dogs loose in the Environmental Park on the foreshore at Flying Fish Point and the dogs run and chase the wildlife until the lady takes them back. The other week the dogs dug up a number of rainbow bee-eater nests that Duncan and his wife Mary had been watching. Duncan spoke to the lady about the issue and reported it to Council but the dogs still run wild in the Environmental Park almost every morning. I spoke to Duncan today to get an update on the issue, nothing has changed.

The rainbow bee-eater is in the bee-eater family Meropidae. It is the only species of Meropidae found in Australia. The rainbow bee-eater is listed as Least Concern under the EPBC act but small populations of these birds, like the one at Flying Fish Point, can disappear if their nests are constantly destroyed.

Last week I was at Kurrimine Beach for the Mandubarra Community Day and turtle release, whilst I was parking my car I discovered a rainbow bee-eater nest on the road verge. You can see the nest in the foreground where fresh grey sand is piled up.

Fascinated I sat in the car watching the bee-eater come and go feeding its babies on a wide range of insects.

The rainbow bee-eater is one of Australia's most spectacular birds, it builds nest tunnels a meter long which are used for roosting in the breeding season.  The male rainbow bee-eater has two long tail feathers while the female's are short. The colouring of both sexes is similar.















I thought what hope do these nestlings have to successfully fledge in such a site, close to a drain and in a Council mowed road verge. The Kurramine Beach Cafe was diagonally across the road and I went to speak to the manager and ask for his help to protect the bee-eater's nest. The Manager's name is Maurice and with amazing serendipity I discovered Maurice is a keen bird photographer and had been watching the bee-eaters on the sign post but was not aware they were ground nesters. Maurice immediately volunteered to keep a vigil over the bird's nest and said he will speak to Council workers when they come to do maintenance in the area.  The bee-eaters offer a great tourist attraction for the cafe.

Later I went to the Kurramine Beach Cafe, with Richard and Karen for a cup of coffee and received
 the best service and best cuppa in spotless surroundings. I recommend the Kurramine Beach Cafe. If you visit ask Maurice to show you the bee-eater's nest.

You always know Christmas is near when the beautiful flower- baubles of the Leichhardt Tree, Nauclea orientalis open to the sun.

Also showing a decorative touch this week is the Glory Vine Faradaya splendid with its large white egg-shaped fruit hanging in clusters from the rampant foliage of the vine. This is a favourite food of the adult cassowary but it is too large for the chicks to eat.

Pommy the mysterious caterpillar has metamorphosed into a fibrous cocoon. The caterpillar crawled out onto the net and down to the lower folds of the net near the soil in the pot. It formed a cocoon between the folds and drew the net together completely covering the cocoon. Neither Jack at the Insect Farm nor entomologists, Richard P or Bill F can identify the cocoon, so it is a wait to see what hatches.

The cocoon is 6 cm long and 2 cm wide. The net firmly encircles the cocoon with the spines protruding on the outer surface. Whatever species of moth it is, it must be large and perhaps nocturnal like its caterpillar.

Jack has instructed me to spray the cocoon with water every couple of days.

Cheers for this week,
Yvonne

Hello from Coquette Point,

It's Cassowary Ky's first birthday so I put together some highlights of Ky's life.

It was an on-again off-again courtship for mum Jessie and dad Snout through August /September 2013. I'll never forget the late afternoon I found them cuddling in the melaleuca swamp, their shadows projected onto the tree trunks in the swamp. After this affirmation they got down to a regular courtship and there were lots of reports of them walking around Coquette Point together.

Then Snout disappeared and Jessie was seen walking with Hagar.

                                                            On December 9 2013 I saw Snout with a tiny new chick. He was very protective of the chick and kept it hidden, I managed to get a peek through his feathers and took the first photo of the chick, see right.
Within a week the chick was running alongside dad Snout and was soon showing a strong personality. We decided to name the chick Ky.

















As the weeks passed Ky's brown feathers came through and he showed confidence in his surroundings, playing in the leaves or stretching out in the sun.













In April with cyclone Ita threatening far north Queensland, wind and rain started to lash the coast.
I was in the house securing windows when I heard a knock at the back door it was Snout and Ky. They gave every impression they wanted to come inside out of the weather.

 Cyclone Ita weakened and crossed the coast near Cooktown and we were back to sunny weather.

We watched little Ky grow under the love and care of his dad.

When the wet season passed Snout and Ky found a pond of nursery run-off water and spent hours every day cooling off and playing Hokey Pokey in the water.

Male cassowary generally keep their chicks  for six to nine months, so Ky is special.

On Monday this week Jessie again started to stalk Snout. On this occasion Ky ran away up the hill but Snout although appearing to be interested in what Jessie was doing, soon walked off to join Ky.

I heard cassowary drumming on Wednesday and ran down the rainforest track to see what was happening. I found Jessie stretched up on her toes and looking up the hill. She did a little dance then bowed her head and waited to see what would eventuate.



























I looked up to the top of the hill and I saw Snout watching every move that Jessie was making. I could not see Ky, however, I could hear him in the distance uttering a low worried, whistling cheep.

Eventually Snout moved away up over the hill. When Jessie realised he had gone she also moved on walking west further into the rainforest.

The next morning Snout and Ky were together as if nothing had changed. They came into the fountain to drink. Snout drank then moved on but Ky became interested in the goldfish.

Ky looked at the goldfish for some time then lunged at them, unsuccessfully, thank goodness. He soon realised Dad Snout was gone and he forgot about the goldfish and ran off to join him.



It's a big world out there with many strange things to discover and this little cassowary will soon be discovering it all for himself.

Happy 1st
birthday Ky and you are not having my goldfish for your birthday present!

Alison W. from the Coconuts sent in an update on Pippi. Alison said she hasn't seen Pippi this week however, last weekend she managed to get the photo on the left and the wound on Pippi's neck is healing well.  Pippi will most probably carry a scar where the wound was and it will make it easy to identify him. I estimate that Pippi is about nine months old.

Alison saw two subadult cassowaries this week at the Coconuts, they look about the same age as Pippi and it appears their Dad has just sent them off on their own.




These young subadults are crossing the road just before the Coconuts and walking into the rainforest on the hill. They are apparently doing that regularly. If you are driving out that way look out for these young cassowary twins. I will contact DEH and ask for a cassowary alert sign to be placed on this section of the Flying Fish Point Road.                            

Thank you Alison for the update on Pippi and the photos of the two newly independent subadult cassowaries.

Report just in from Alison, Pippi's dad Kevin has just turned up with two new tiny chicks, I will try to get some photos for next week. Thank you Alison for the report, what a wonderful Christmas present now you have six cassowaries hanging about your property.

Nellie Epong saw young cassowary Hope again, photo above left, on the wide bend to the eastern approach to the Ninds Creek bridge. This is a very dangerous road area for a young cassowary and I will ask DEH to erect more signs for this area. Nellie also saw Queenie again in the same area, there are mangoes ripening on a tree near the bridge and no doubt the cassowaries are enjoying the feast. Thank you Nellie for the update from the Mandubarra Cassowary monitoring files.

On the beach at Coquette Point the resident pied oyster catchers are proudly escorting two new chicks around their territory.

At first I could not believe that these birds were chicks, they are much larger than their parents and wander off on their own down and around the beach. Russell C. put me right and confirmed they were definitely chicks, the tell tale brown colour on the end of the beak, the brown feathers and the pale legs are all indicative of pied oyster catcher chicks.

It is wonderful to see chicks again on the beach, the first pied oyster catcher chicks at Coquette Point since cyclone Larry. The best of all is that I actually witnessed the parent birds mating in August.

Pied Oyster catchers mating on the 31 August on the beach at Coquette.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a walk on the low tide at Coquette Point. There were about 20 little terns,  some flying across the estuary of the Johnstone River and others over the waters of Gladys Inlet. The little terns were very noisy and many of them were flying with fish in their beaks and offering the fish to other little terns. This is a typical mating pattern and I saw six pairs of Little terns displaying their mating colours and offering and accepting fish. The little terns have returned to Coquette Point again and with a little care from us to keep away from the rookery they will find the opportunity to nest and rear their young on the Coquette Point rookery this season.

Above two little terns fly with crested terns off Coquette Point.

Next week the tides are low in the early morning and this will give me an opportunity to record what is happening on the rookery at Coquette Point.






Only 50 or so gull-billed terns came into roost at Coquette Point and there were about the same number of lesser crested terns.

On the outer sandbar over one hundred Pacific golden plovers were feeding and resting. The photo above is just one segment of the sandbar, there were more Pacific golden plovers scattered over the mudflats inshore.

The terek sandpipers are still on the beach and one bird was having a race along the water's edge with a grey-tailed tattler.

Yesterday the sea was glassy calm but in the late afternoon a 15 knot sou'easter brought refreshing cool air to the coast. The photo right was taken before the breeze came in.

Several pairs of bar-tailed godwits were fishing on the shoreline.

As the sun fell lower in the sky the small waders  came up to the hide tide-line on the beach and as far as the eye could see along the beach hundreds of sand plovers, red necked stints and red-capped plovers were roosting, camouflaged in the tide-line debris. I had not realised there were so many of these little birds on the mudflats it was not until they came to roost did I realise how many were there.

As the sun set striated heron, which I had been watching earlier fishing on the beach line flew up into the dead branches of a dying tree.

Early this morning I found three PIP's feeding in the candlenut tree, Aleurites rockinghamensis.

Late in the afternoon I often see them leaving the coastal rainforest, flying out to the islands to roost in relative safety. However, there has not been anywhere near the numbers of PIPs as I have seen in past years.

At Kurrimine Beach this morning two green sea turtles Barney and Betty were released by Mandubarra Turtle Rehabilitation Centre Innisfail and the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre. A great crowd gathered as James Epong gave a welcome to country followed by a spectacular performance from the  Mandubarra dancers.

The turtles were unloaded from the truck and checked out by Dr Jennie Gilbert.

With the OK given the turtles were carried in a procession down to the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.

Warren Entsch, the federal member for Leichhardt and an outspoken protecter of turtles and dugong was present for the turtle release. With great gusto Warren helped carry Turtle Betty to the ocean's edge. It is through Warren's efforts that the turtles have been fitted with satellite monitoring devices and they will send back valuable information about their travels. Thank you Warren for your active care for the environment and the creatures that call wild places home.

Meanwhile Turtle Barney smelt the sea air and attempted to get out of the crate. The crates were quickly lowered into the water and without any hesitation the turtles swam out to sea.

We watched them go when suddenly one of the turtles stopped partially surfaced, raised its flipper above the water and gave a wave. We all cheered heartily. Then the turtle repeated the wave twice more as if to say thank you for saving me. Jennie Gilbert cried with happiness and heartbreak, her team had nursed these turtles back to health over a long three years and will miss them. Then they were gone into a strong 25 knot  nor-easter, the first strong northerly winds for the season. I did not capture the flipper wave in the photo but we all saw it.

At the moment widespread thunderstorms are lashing the coastline with welcome rain but not welcome wind, at least there will be no speedboats to worry the turtles and they will have time to adjust to the wild.

I understand from several landholders that they have observed freshwater turtles and tortoise laying their eggs this year on very high ground. When this happens it generally signals flooding rains for the Wet Tropics. Time will tell.

The mysterious caterpillar, 'Pommy' is still munching on guava leaves and growing. He is now 13.5 cm long an increase of 2.5 cm over the week. 'Pommy' is a nocturnal feeder and wakes around 4 pm and feeds all night. At some stage in the early morning he finishes feeding and crawls down the stem of the guava close to the soil, where he remains all day.

Please have a thought tonight for the people of the Phillipines as Super Typhoon Hagupit, now weakened to  cat 4, bears down on the Islands with sustained winds of 100 knots and flooding rain.

 Yvonne.