Three Days On The Atherton Tablelands

Friday 20^th April saw me off to the Atherton Tablelands. With the BirdLife NQ AGM on Saturday at Yungaburra, the chance for a few days birding was too good to miss. A booking was made at the Kookaburra Motel (with a name like that where else would one stay!) for Friday and Saturday night and I was off.

First stop was Lake Mitchell near Mareeba. I stopped at the viewing area at the roadside. The lake was very quiet, probably due to the amount of water everywhere at the end of the wet season causing most of the birds to disperse far and wide. There were however Pacific Black Duck, Great Egret, Black Swan, Darter and Magpie Goose. Australian Magpie also put in an appearance along the roadside as well as Osprey, Black Kite and Whistling Kite. The small swamp at Brady Road, just before reaching Mareeba, was little better with much the same as Lake Mitchell. There were also Straw-necked and White Ibis, Australian Grebe, Crested Pigeon, Apostlebird and a Blue-winged Kookaburra.

Crested Pigeon

Next stop was Hastie’s Swamp near Atherton. The water here was a little bit more lively. Much the same as at Lake Mitchell was seen with the addition of Dusky Moorhen, Purple Swamphen, Plumed Whistling-duck and a lone Pelican fishing in the shallows. A walk along the road proved to be a better option with Grey Fantail, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike and Rufous Whistler.

The walk at Wongabel State Forest was the next stop. The Mabi type forest here is unique to the Atherton Tablelands. Most of the usable timber was removed from these forests more than 100 years ago and the rest was extensively cleared for farming. In 1903 the importance of this forest was recognised. It was declared Crown Reserve and work began on reintroduction of the red cedars. Here I saw Green Catbird (the northern sub-species previously known as the Spotted Catbird), Eastern Whipbird, Mountain Thornbill, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Grey-headed Robin and Grey Fantail.

Green (Spotted) Catbird - (not a very good picture)

Just before reaching the Curtain Fig near Yungaburra, I spotted a Wedge-tailed Eagle and a Black-shouldered Kite worth stopping for. The Curtain Fig yielded White-throated Treecreeper, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Victoria Riflebird, Large-billed Scrub-wren and Little Shrike-thrush.

After booking in to the Kookaburra Motel I took a drive around town and down to Lake Tinaroo to see what was about. There were Australian Pipit, Black-fronted Dotterel, Purple Swamphen, Pacific Black Duck, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorant and a Great Egret all near the boat ramp. 

Australian Pipit

A nearby fruiting fig had attracted a flock of Figbirds.  On the way back into town I spotted an Eastern Yellow Robin in a hedge. 

Eastern Yellow Robin

On the opposite side of the town is a good walking track along the creek. Here, I saw Rainbow Lorikeet, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Brush Turkey and Brown Cuckoo-dove. I was lucky enough to find a mixed feeding party of birds and followed them for about half an hour. There were Spectacled Monarch, Pied Monarch, Macleay’s Honeyeater, Brown Gerygone, Fairy Gerygone, Varied Triller, Silvereye, Grey Fantail, Yellow-breasted Boatbill and Little Shrike Thrush all moving along the path in the same direction as I was walking. Also seen where Red-browed Finch, Cattle Egret and Bar-shouldered Dove. 

Fairy Gerygone

After dinner at Nick’s Swiss Restaurant I was ready for a good night’s sleep.

Day 2 began with breakfast at the road side at Broomfield Swamp while watching a Black-shouldered Kite and a Brown Falcon. There were only a few Pacific Black Duck on the water but the surrounding area produced Buff-banded Rail, Pied Butcher Bird, Australian Magpie, Pied Currawong, Torresian Crow and a flyover of Topknot Pigeon.

Black-shouldered Kite

At Mt Hypipamee National Park I met up with Townsville birders, Len and Chris Izzy. We visited two Golden Bowerbird bowers and managed to see two male birds and one female. Len said the highlight of the day must have been when one of the birds pooped on me! We were also lucky enough to see Bower’s Shrike-thrush, Fig Parrot, Eastern Whipbird and Atherton Scrubwren. This was followed up by tea and a long chat about past and up-coming birding trips in and around the Winton area.

An early lunch was eaten at Herberton followed by a walk along some of the trails around the mining information centre. These walks definitely deserve another visit early in the morning, not only for the birds, but for some futher investigation of the old mine shafts, buildings and equipment scattered around the area.

I returned to Yungaburra at about 2pm for the BirdLife AGM. We had a very interesting talk on Cassowary before the meeting and then a great slide presentation on the birds of Tasmania after dinner.

Day 3. I started the day with a quick look at the railway cutting at Yungaburra before meeting up with other Birdlife members for a day’s birding on the Tablelands at 7am. The bush was alive with birds feeding on the Grevillia and Bottlebrush as the sun was coming up. There were Scarlet Honeyeater, Macleay’s Honeyeater, Lewin’s Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater and for good measure, a Grey Shrike-thrush and a Green Catbird. What a great start to the day!

Scarlet Honeyeater

At the school we met up with local guide, Alan Gillanders, who would be our leader for the day. Around the streets of the town we saw White-headed Pigeon, Black-faced, Barred and White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike.

White-headed Pigeon

The Curtain Fig is much more lively in the morning than the afternoon. More BirdLife members joined us here to view the Wompoo Fruit-dove, White-headed Pigeon, Vicrotia Riflebird, Green Catbird and Yellow-breasted Boatbill.  

Wompoo Fruit-dove

Broomfield Swamp was much the same as the day before with the addition of Black Swan and Nankeen Kestrel. 

Hypipamee was much better with more birding and less talk than the day before. The Golden Bowerbird was at his bower for all to see.  Other birds seen were Bower’s Shrike-thrush, Golden Whistler, Grey Goshawk, White-throated Treecreeper, Pied Monarch and Grey-headed Robin.

Golden Bowerbird

We moved on to one of the members private properties for lunch and then to find Blue-faced Parrot-finch. We found Crimson Rosella, Eastern Spinebill, Grey Fantail and another Grey Goshawk, but no Parrot-finch. The name of the property, I think, was Possum Hollow. The owners are doing a great job of re-vegetation. We all parted ways here and headed of home. What a great three days birding with more than 130 species seen.