Hello from damp and dreary Coquette Point,

We woke on Tuesday morning to the hum of the sugarcane harvesters as they cranked up for the start of the 2015 sugarcane harvest.  The deep volcanic soils in the Johnstone River Valley had dried out just enough for the huge machinery to move along the fields slashing into small pieces, as they crept along the rows,  the tall stalks of flowering sugarcane.

However, the sugarcane harvest only lasted three days before the clouds again brought soaking rain across the valley. The machinery momentarily has stopped but today sunshine once again covered the valley drying out the deep soils. A series of lows in the Great Australian Bight have delivered long awaited snowfalls to the Alpine Mountain regions of Victoria and New South Wales. Cold miserable weather in the South inevitably results in glorious sunny weather in the North, although, the temperature even here is expected to drop and for the first time in nearly twenty years we may experience some real winter weather.

A view over the Johnstone River Valley from the top of the Moresby Range at Coquette Point.

The birds celebrated the few days of sunshine this week with exuberant choruses of song.  The helmet headed friar birds were happiest of all as they saw the blossoms of the Bloomfield penda, Xanthostemon verticillates open full of nectar, in the warm sunlight.

Dusky honeyeaters flitted in and out of the rainforest canopy calling happily as they relentlessly sought out a feast of insects concealed among the leaves.


Two white-bellied cuckoo-shrikes arrived for  a short stay this week. This is a bird I see only rarely at Coquette Point. The white-bellied cuckoo shrike is commonly found in open woodland rather than  rainforest areas. The two birds stayed only a day before they went on their way.

      The female varied triller has hung about over the last month of rainy weather, perhaps she intends to build her nest somewhere concealed on a branch high in the canopy.  The female varied triller lays but one very large egg in a very small nest. I have not observed any male trillers since the rain started.

I am keeping my eye on the female leaden flycatchers as I am hoping to photograph their elaborate courtship behaviour this year. At the moment the male is disinterested in her no matter how prettily she sits and watches him from afar.

Kokei Miinin is a keen photographer and when he visited me this week he was excited to tell me that he had at long last photographed a yellow-breasted boatbill. He saw the bird for only a minute or two at Kennedy and was lucky to take the photographs above. Thank you Kokei for sharing this photograph with the blog, it is indeed a beautiful little bird, one that I have not managed to photograph - yet. An unusual habit of this flycatcher is the way it cocks its tail in a wren-like manner.  Kokei was lucky to capture this behaviour in the photograph on the right.


Cassowary Jessie is once again very elusive.  I have seen her only once this week as she walked across the bottom paddock then disappeared down into the mangroves.                  

     









Cassowary Ky stills walks through the nursery most days on his way from the mangroves to the rainforest. Somedays he just sits around for long periods partly concealed by the foliage.

I saw cassowary Hero and his chick Ruthie when I was visiting a friend at the top of the Moresby Range to take a photo from his verandah out over the valley, see photo above.  Cassowary Hero and Ruthie came to investigate the voices in their territory.

 Bill Farnsworth saw cassowary Queenie walking up the road north of the bridge at 6am on Friday morning and when he came back at 7pm she was standing in the middle of the road close to the same spot he had see her early in the day.  Cassowaries and roads do not mix however, Bill slowed down and did not proceed until 'the lady' crossed the road. Thank you for the photos Bill.

Elma and Bert Vreeken visiting the far north from the far south of Western Australia were absolutely delighted to see Cassowary Brown Cone and his two chicks Philip and Margaret relaxing in the grass alongside the road on the south side of the Mau Bridge. Elma only managed to get one of the chicks in the photograph but confirmed she saw the two. Thank you Bert and Elma for sharing this photo and I hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday in fine sunny weather.

At last the winds have dropped and glassy conditions on the river created a wonderful reflection of the ancient mangrove forest and the entrance to Smith's Creek in the Johnstone River.



The wintering over whimbrels sauntered along the beach before taking off for a days fishing in the wetlands up river.

On the sand-flats evidence of the industry of dozen of acorn worm's  lay on the sand. Mounds of spaghetti shaped sand deposits were all that remained from a mornings feasting on the detritus carried down the Johnstone River in last weeks 'wet event'.

An agile wallaby stood in the shadow of the mangroves watching as the pelican Georgy-girl arrived.






As the sun rose Pelican Georgy-Girl swam along the shoreline searching for a fishy breakfast.

A day flying moth landed on a hibiscus leaf close to me in the mangroves and somehow tangled itself in a cobweb. I watched as it used its legs to remove the cobweb from its face and antennae. Close behind a green ant was also watching.                






























In the Coquette Point wetlands several species of pandanus are ripe and falling. A favourite food for cassowaries.














In the rainforest the last fruits of the onion wood syzygium alliiligneum are ripe and falling.
While the red bell mischocarp, Mischocarpus exangulatus fruits are freshly popping out of their red capsules.

 Far north Queensland is now entering its busy period. The sugarcane harvest has commenced and the tourist season is in full swing helped along with the falling dollar and continued unrest in many overseas countries. All of this increased activity results in a lot more traffic on the roads of the far north and inevitably becomes a problem for the endangered cassowary.

As I outlined in my blog on June 27 there were a number of injured cassowaries, most likely from incidents with motor vehicles or dogs, wandering in the Wet Tropics Rainforest needing urgent veterinarian attention. The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP), which is responsible for animals listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992, (EPBC Act) appear to have abandoned these cassowaries to die slow deaths in the rainforest.

In a most uncharacteristic move veteriarian Graham Lauridsen  spoke to John Hughes of the Tully Times this week. The story was carried on the front page of the Tully Times July 9 issue.

The Cassowary at Flying Fish Point found by Dave Dall has still not received any care. I understand that one EHP Ranger who raised concerns to his Department about his responsibilities under the Federal EPBC Act and the general responsibilities of anyone regarding animal welfare, has been suspended from his employment.

Please join Dr Graham Lauridsen in writing to the Minister, the Hon Steven Miles, Minister for EHP, GPO Box 2454 Brisbane 4001. Or email the Environment Department, info@ehp.qld.gov.au


Good night from Coquette Point and another spectacular sunset over the Johnstone River.

Yvonne

Hello from Coquette Point,

Female fig-bird.

This week the sun came out for two days and all the birds rejoiced. We grumble about the lack of rain and when it falls we grumble more, we are never satisfied. The problem, however, is that the weather is unseasonal, we are experiencing a wet 'dry season' which has followed a dry 'wet season'. This is tough on the land and especially the animals.

Male fig-bird.

As soon as the sun's rays touched the tree tops the birds compete for the best position to sun-bake and dry their drenched feathers, they they fly into the canopy of the rainforest to feed on fruits.

 Even yellow-spotted honeyeater stopped his hyperactivity and raucous calling and stayed still long enough to dry his feathers in the morning sun.
















Although the rain event this week was not significant for the Wet Tropics, around 300 mm over three days, once again the run-off of top-soil from farms containing fertiliser and pesticides, flowed off the farms, into the rivers and out to the Coral Sea lagoon, where it was carried north and south along the coast.

 The sediment in the run-off washed up and covered the white sandy beaches in sticky, slippery mud.

The incoming tide carried the sediment back onto the beach.

Since the advent of residual herbicides the mangroves and dune vegetation along the coastline are dying. I believe it is because the silt which is washed back onto the shore is mostly farm run-off containing, amongst other chemicals, long acting residual herbicides. This residual herbicide has caused the death of the extensive mangrove forest which once protected the beach and dune systems along the coastline. The effect on sea-grass beds is equally devastating, as the once extensive sea-grass beds in the coastal rivers and along the coastline are mostly gone. The sediment flowing off-farm in the Johnstone River Valley has increased dramatically over the last 20 years, particularly since the start-up of industrial scale banana farming in the Wet Tropics area twenty years ago.

Pied oyster catcher was on the beach fishing up to his knees in the water, as I watched he ducked his head into the water to catch a crab.

When pied oyster catcher saw me watching he immediately stopped fishing and started calling in alarm. He flew to an outer sandbar where his mate and his juvenile chick were feeding.

The pied oyster catchers put on an alarm display, then gathering the chick between them, the adults marched off to safety on the very outer sandbar.


The pied oyster catcher's chick is nine months old but still the parents protect it with their life.

I saw only one beach stone curlew and it was fishing on the outer sandbar.

About one hundred terns; crested, greater crested and gull-billed, were either resting on the outer sandbanks or flying fishing forays over Glady's Inlet.

Many sacred kingfishers were active out on the 'mud' flats and in the littoral rainforest behind the lagoons.

In the mangroves rainbow bee-eaters were flying through clouds of mosquitoes and sandflies looking for large insects.

The mosquitoes and insects were happy to find larger prey like me, but I was covered in my insect lotion.

Mozzie Repellent Recipe.
400 gms runny sorbolene cream,
2mls lavender oil
2mls rosemary oil,
2mls tea tree oil,
2mls pure citronella oil, (from chemist).

Add oils to cream
and shake. Test on skin before overall use.



On my return I saw that two of the four Coquette Point pelicans had flown onto the outer sandbar with the pied oyster catchers and as I watched they were joined by seven 'wintering over' whimbrels.

When I walked back into the River estuary, in the distance I saw pelican Cenerio and Georgy Girl with a man fishing on the beach.

 The man caught a small fish and threw it into the air and the pelicans stood on tippy-toes and stretched their beaks to catch the fish.

Somehow Georgy-girl ended up with the fish and Cenerio made a playful tackle to take it from her but Georgy-girl had already swallowed the fish.














The man, CJ, continued to fish and I spoke to him and asked if he had seen Ross, Cenerio's friend. He told me he had not for some time and was concerned that Ross might not be well.



CJ then told me his story about pelicans. CJ is from Ingham and years ago when he was fishing at Hull Heads a pelican approached him begging for some fish. He told the pelican he hadn't caught anything that day and was almost out of bait. The pelican disappeared and just as CJ and his sister were about to pack up and leave the pelican walked onto the beach and coughed up a beak full of sardines. CJ and his sister collected the gift of bait and started fishing again. They soon caught a large fish and CJ gave it to the pelican and straight away the fish started to bite. They soon filled up a bag full of fish to take home. CJ told me from then on he has always given the first catch to the pelicans. As a result he always takes home a bag full of fish.

 The tide had turned and was on the run-in as I left CJ and when I looked back I saw CJ's fishing rods bending.

There is still no sign of cassowary Snout with or without chicks.

Matriarch Cassowary Jessie is covering a wide area in her daily roamings, from the mangrove swamp at the end of Coquette Point to the top of the Moresby Range.


I found her on Thursday in the swamp drinking the rainwater which had recently filled the swamp.

Ky is still managing to avoid Jessie and I see him most days crossing from the rainforest into the mangroves. He is often surrounded with a halo of mosquitoes.














Phillip and Margaret Hall, keen cassowary fans from South Australia, are visiting FNQ at the moment and they were very excited to see Brown Cone and his two chicks walking alongside the road near Ninds Creek. Phillip and Margaret kindly shared their photos, it was their first cassowary sighting.

It is great to see how well the chicks are looking. I last saw them in March when I took the photo on the right. At that time they were just losing their stripes.













Now look at them, they are golden tan and a metre tall. the first chick below appears to be a male and the second may be a female. I reckon they should be called Philip and Margaret  after our keen birdo friends from South Australia?

Philip managed to take a close up of Brown Cone and he is looking in good condition. I will never forget how skinny he was after cyclone Yasi and he would have died had he not found the National Parks and Wildelife supplementary feeding station.


 Philip and Margaret also visited Etty Bay and were fortunate to see Etty the matriarch of Etty Bay. Etty Bay is the southern end of the Moresby Range National Park. Thank you for sharing your cassowary photos with us Philip and Margaret and we hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday on the Cassowary Coast.

Etty Bay matriarch cassowary.

 The cool damp conditions have stimulated the stinkhorn fungi to send their fruiting bodies to the surface.  The foul scented horns rise above the ground and adorned in a petticoat of white 'Irish lace' they turn their heads to the wind which disperses the fungi's scent to attract pollinating flies.

This fungi is eaten in China and is used medicinally as an antibiotic. We can but wonder at a lifeform that quietly rules our planet.

At Tupeki on the Palmerston Ian Laidlaw took the photo of a fungi universe in the rainforest. Thank you Ian for sharing this amazing photo.

Monty the Amethystine python shed his skin this week. The tail was hanging from a down-pipe, but I found the head and body in the garden. It appeared he used the rough leaves on a grevillea to help pull the old skin off. What a shame I missed the event, sound asleep while the natural world goes about its living. No sign of Monica her new outfit may come in spring.




Amateur fisherman from Mackay are seeking help from Queenslanders to support their petition for three net-free zones in Queensland's waterways; St Helens Beach to Cape Hillsborough, Keppel Bay to Fitzroy River and Trinity Bay Cairns. Please support them and sign their petition on their Facebook page. Google  http://www.facebook.com/netsoutqld

This afternoon I received the sad news that Clara Morton nee Mow passed away peacefully in the Innisfail Hospital last night. The date of her funeral will be announced on Monday. Our deep sympathy is extended to Clara's very large Innisfail family.

Until next week,

Yvonne