Northeastern Queensland, Australia

September - November 2016

Part 5

Atherton Tablelands, QLD, Australia

male Double-eyed Fig-parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma)

Double-eyed Fig-parrots were a bit hit-or-miss throughout October and nowhere near as reliable, or in such large numbers, as they were last year but a few of these very quiet and unobtrusive parrots could often be found by carefully searching their favourite trees when there was ripe fruit available for them to eat.

female Double-eyed Fig-parrot (Cyclopsitta diophthalma)

Barred Cuckooshrike (Coracina lineata)

Barred Cuckooshrikes were far more reliable and up to 6 of them could often be found feasting in the same trees as the fig-parrots.

Barred Cuckooshrike (Coracina lineata)

Topknot Pigeons (Lopholaimus antarcticus)

Tooth-billed Bowerbirds started to become a bit more vocal in October and several males could be found singing above their minimalistic display arenas deep in the rainforest.

Tooth-billed Bowerbird (Scenopoeetes dentirostris)

Spotted Catbird (Ailuroedus melanotis)

The berries of a non-native tobacco plant were very popular with a number of species, including Tooth-billed Bowerbirds, Spotted Catbirds and Australian King Parrots.

Spotted Catbird (Ailuroedus melanotis)

female Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis)

male Australian King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis)

Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus)

Rainbow Lorikeets are common garden birds and these were photographed coming to the feeders at my good friend Sandy's house.

Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus)

White-banded Plane (Phaedyma shepherdi) sheltering from the rain

Chestnut-breasted Mannikins (Lonchura castaneothorax)

Chestnut-breasted Mannikins were by far the commonest seedeater coming down to the bird table and I ended up with hundreds of images of these beautiful little birds.

Chestnut-breasted Mannikins (Lonchura castaneothorax)

Other birds were making use of the water bath to freshen up after a hot day and these included, among others, Silvereyes and the occasional Black-faced Monarch.

Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis)

Black-faced Monarch (Monarcha melanopsis)

Black-faced Monarch (Monarcha melanopsis)

After night had fallen, her resident Coppery Brush-tailed Possums would come scrounging for their nightly banana...

Coppery Brush-tailed Possum (Trichosurus johnstonii)

Coppery Brush-tailed Possums are endemic to the Atherton Tablelands. Although it has traditionally been treated as a subspecies of Common Brush-tailed Possum, recent studies have shown that there are sufficient morphological and molecular differences that these should be treated as distinct species. There is, however, a degree of gene flow between them and further studies are required to fully understand the evolutionary relationship between these closely related possums.

Coppery Brush-tailed Possum (Trichosurus johnstonii)

Sunset over the rainforest

NE Queensland pt.4 NE Queensland pt.6