November 2015

Wet Tropics of Northern Queensland, Australia

Part 3: Atherton Tablelands (continued)

male Double-eyed Fig-parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma macleayana)

At Lake Eacham a couple of fruiting fig trees were a popular hang-out for Double-eyed Fig-parrots and they could often be seen feeding on the fruit of eye-level branches.

male Double-eyed Fig-parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma macleayana)

Double-eyed Fig-parrot is the smallest parrot in Australia and is a very quiet and unobtrusive species, often almost mouse-like in its movements as it clambers through the branches. Their green plumage also camouflages them beautifully, making them surprisingly hard to spot even when you know there are at least 20 of them in the tree in front of you.

female Double-eyed Fig-parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma macleayana)

Females can be distinguished from the males by the lack of a red cheek patch. Their pastel blue faces make them, to my eyes at least, even more attractive than the males.

female Double-eyed Fig-parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma macleayana)

While photographing the fig-parrots one morning, a Yellow-bellied Boatbill fortuitously came and landed on branch right beside us. This species usually spends most of its time in the canopy, so getting the opportunity to photograph one at eye-level is not all that common.

Yellow-bellied Boatbill (Machaerirhynchus flaviventer)

Yellow-bellied Boatbill (Machaerirhynchus flaviventer)

Spectacled Monarch (Symposiachrus trivirgatus)

Eastern Whipbird (Psophodes olivaceus)

Eatern Whipbird is a common bird all the way down the east coast of Australia and should be familiar to anyone who has visited the area...or at least its whip-like call should be familiar. It usually takes quite a bit of effort to get decent views of this notorious skulker, but at least it's considerably easier to see than its western counterpart!

Eastern Whipbird (Psophodes olivaceus)

 

immature Eastern Whipbird (Psophodes olivaceus)

Another common, but skulking, species that forages on the gloom of the forest floor among the leaf litter is the Chowchilla. This is a bit of a nemesis bird for me. Last year I totally failed to see any at all, and this year, although I saw them quite frequently at Lake Barine, they never came out into the open enough for me to get any photographs without branches partially obscuring them. Maybe next year I'll have more luck...

female Chowchilla (Orthonyx spaldingii)

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