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| Mistletoebird |
Yorkey's (as its known) is a good spot for birds, with a golf course, some rainforest and a lake, the latter holding plenty of waterbirds including Radjah Shelduck, Intermediate Egret, Australian Darter, Little Pied Cormorant, Pacific Black Duck, Australian Grebe and Green Pygmy Goose. We heard a Mistletoe bird calling and it took ages to track him down, but we eventally found him in the trees by the football pitch and what a little red, white and black gem he was. A small bird, about the size of a Great Tit, he was singing away trying to attract a female. He was the bird of the day, along with a gorgeous Forest Kingfisher, perched incongruously on a rusty bed frame that someone had thoughtfully dumped by the golf course. Somewhat surprisingly, the rusty bed frame made quite a good photo, with the kingfisher perched on it.
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| Forest Kingfisher |
Rainbow Bee-eaters were out in force although, sadly, I couldn't improve on the pictures I took of the ones at the cemetery back in Cairns. The weather was dull and the bee-eaters stayed up on the wires, silhouetted against the grey sky and totally unphotographable, unless you're into silhouttes of birds against a grey sky. Yuck.
Other birds in the vicinity were Laughing Kookaburra, Figbird, Double-eyed Fig-parrot, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Helmeted Friarbird, Leaden Flycatcher (no, it wasn't a very heavy flycatcher, the 'leaden' refers to the dull grey colour of the bird), Peaceful Dove (it doesn't pick fights), Spotted Turtle Dove, Common (Indian) Myna and Spangled Drongo.
The following day, it was back to the Esplanade. Again it was another crap day, weather-wise, with barely a break in the rainfall. Despite this, Tony and I managed to find some good birds. We spent a while hunting down Mangrove Robin, a normally elusive species and I managed to get some pretty shoddy pictures, they were shoddy in part due to the dismal weather and poor light but also because I felt rather conspicuous poking a large white lens into people's front gardens, half expecting the police to show up at any minute! At first they were elusive (not the police, but the robins) but eventually we saw four of them, including one in someone's front garden. Varied and Brown Honeyeaters were around and a Brahminy Kite flew over the esplanade. North of the esplanade is a patch of scrubby land and here we found Golden-headed Cisticolas as well as Forest Kingfisher. I wasn't wearing what could exactly be called 'suitable footwear', a pair of thin trainers which quickly got soaked through in the wet grass but, as it was also very warm indeed, it wasn't as uncomfortable as it would have been in southern Australia where it is much colder.
An Osprey cruised over the esplanade from the direction of the hospital but, sadly, it was gone before I had a chance to aim my camera at it. To this day, I still haven't taken a decent photo of an Osprey, whether in the UK (we get them on passage, they stop on the IoW for a few days twice a year) or abroad. One day...! On the beach were Beach Stone-curlew, Whimbrel (a familiar bird from home), Royal Spoonbill, Straw-necked Ibis, Striated Heron and Black-fronted Dotterel.
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| Rainbow Lorikeets |
In the evening, we watched the Rainbow Lorikeets all coming in to roost. As you might think, given their name, these are wonderfully brightly coloured birds and hundreds of them in one place is both a spectacular sight and sound, even if the sound is not melodious. Lorikeets follow the general rule that, the brighter and more highly coloured the plumage, the more tuneless the singer! But who cares about the sound when the visuals are so spectacular? Sadly, though, my photos did not justice to these lovely birds as they came into roost at dusk.
Other birds coming to roost, in even more spectacular style than the lorikeets, were Metallic Starlings. These may not compete with the lorikeets for colour but they flooded into the city centre in their thousands and we watched as the flocks dodged pedestrians, buses, trucks and cars. It was amazing that there were no collisions, but the starlings were expert at dodging and weaving around all obstacles in their path.
As the day shift were heading to their beds, the night shift was thinking about leaving it's trees and heading out. The Spectacled Flying-foxes were waking up and leaving their roosts in batches. You don't want to park your car under a flying-fox roosting tree, not if you want to keep it clean. Flying foxes eat fruit. A lot of fruit, with predictable consequences as that fruit has to come out sometime and nice, clean shiny cars parked beneath flying-fox trees don't stay nice and shiny for long. I saw several cars and vans absolutely plastered in bat shit and I didn't envy the owners trying to clean them up again. But if you knowingly park your car under such a tree, maybe you deserve to get it smothered in crap. Hides the rust, anyway - in fact, I think that the flying-fox shit was probably the only thing holding one van together.
The following day, I returned to Centenary Lakes and the cemetery to try and improve on my pictures of Rainbow Bee-eaters. Fortunately the weather had improved although I did get soaked later on when caught in a heavy tropical shower. I only added Varied Triller to my list. It was the only shower of the day and even the inside of my camera bag got wet, not good news. It dried out ok, though, fortunately with no damage to cameras or lenses.
The following day, 13th May was the highlight of the trip. I'd booked a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef on the Passions of Paradise, a large sail-assisted catamaran. The trip was to go to Michaelmas Cay and then to Paradise Reef. You could go snorkling or diving. I didn't fancy diving, as I hate things being over my face but decided to give the snorkling a go and I'm glad I did. I love swimming anyway and this was superb.
The day was hot and sunny although the sea was choppy and I felt seasick for the first time in my life. I don't normally get sick on boats or ships, but this was a catamaran and not a conventional single-hulled vessel. Her motion was horrible and I found myself feeling so sick that I resorted to buying over-the-counter anti-seasickness pills from the crew! I have spend most of my life in and around boats and ships so it was a touch embarrassing, to say the least. But, when we got to Michaelmas Cay and saw all the seabirds and then the bright fish and corals, all that was forgotten.
Snorkling is a great way to see the reef and, once you've got over the desire to hyperventilate, it's fantastic. I'd hired an underwater Canon camera (a zoom compact in a waterproof housing) and took pics of the noddies and terns on the beach as well as the corals and fish. From Michaelmas Cay you can swim out to the reef from the beach, as it's only a few metres away. There were brain corals, mushroom corals, sea cucumbers, and many brightly coloured fish which were the marine equivalent of parrots in their bright colours. I couldn't help but be smug and think of the celebrity-and-baby-obsessed girls in the council office where I'd been temping until recently, stuck at their desks 12000 miles and 10 time zones away! They'd sneered at me for liking birds and wildlife but I think I have the better end of the deal...not that the ignorant young women would think so, I guess.
Our next destination, Paradise Reef, was further out and in exposed waters. It was very choppy but still a fun experience and nothing to both strong swimmers such as myself. We had to go off the back of the boat, no convenient beach here, and it was hard going swimming in the choppy seas which were rougher than they looked. Here, the reef was deeper but the fish and corals no less spectacular. All to soon it was time to pull up the anchor and head back to Cairns. The crew put the sails up and we raced back to Cairns in spectacular style. The sail back was more comfortable than the trip out but that was probably as much to do with the anti-seasick pills as anything else.
NB: I have photos, bad photos, of the visit to the reef and I will dig them out at some point. These were made with a rented waterproof camera and I have a DVD with the photos on it.
The following day was spent shopping and just hanging around in Cairns. I bought an amusing 'Birds of Australia' t-shirt where, with typical Aussie humour, there weren't pictures of birds but rather of white splodges of various sizes and patterns, representing bird crap. Under each splodge was a bird species name. I still have the t-shirt and it amuses people whenever I wear it. I also got a decent pair of head phones for my iPod, to replace the inadequate in-ear ones supplied with the thing - Maiden, Priest, Metallica, etc, need to to be listened to in their glory, not sounding as if they are in a public toilet on Mars.
While waiting for the bus back to Sheridan St, I stood under the glass canopy of the local government offices. I noticed it was in dire need of a clean, as it was littered with the bodies of dead mynas, all in various states of decay. Some were freshly dead and still plump, others were skeletal, and there were others at various stages in between. Nice. I know stuff decays quickly in the tropics but, even so, the Cairns offices of the state government ought to give that roof a clean now and then.
The evening was spent packing as I was leaving Cairns and tropical Queensland and heading south to Sydney the next day. This time, I was going by air as I'd had enough of coaches...
