Daintree Wildlife
Chris Dahlberg's Daintree River tours>>
16 Jul 09. Misty mornings. There is no doubt that an overall wildlife count will be less on a misty morning but it does not mean that the early start is not worthwhile. There will be places where the sun breaks through the edge of the rainforest where some of the smaller passerines will be seen as this morning's checklist shows.
13 Jul 09. Saltwater Crocodiles, Green Tree Snake, Papuan Frogmouths, Shining Flycatchers, Forest, Azure and Little Kingfishers created the most interest this morning. First return of Brush Cuckoo in Windy Reach.11 Jul 09. Very similar morning. With a similar tide and weather conditions we ended up with a very similar wildlife checklist to yesterday.
10 Jul 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snakes, Papuan Frogmouths, Nankeen Night Herons, Channel-billed Cuckoos, Pied Monarch, Shining Flycatchers, Forest, Sacred, Azure and Little Kingfishers during our two hour tour and four Pacific Bazas to finish off with at the edge of the car park.
8 Jul 09. Great-billed Heron sightings are uncommon enough and their habits have been scarcely recorded. We witnessed this morning a, full sized, juvenile bird being fed regurgitated fish. It was both a noisy and messy procedure. At one stage the parent picked up a fish which had become covered in sand, rinsed it in the river and re-presented it to the chick. it is thought that this procedure has only been accurately recorded for science once before.
6 Jul 09. Outstanding winter weather. Cool nights and sunny days and one of our best winters in years. On the wildlife front it provide good close up looks at birds sitting in the sun first up, particularly in Windy Reach before the wind comes in.
3 Jul 09. Misty morning, produced Great-billed Herons for the fifth tour in a row. Other good birds followed being Papuan Frogmouths, Azure and Forest Kingfishers, Shining and Leaden Flycatchers, Grey and Rufous Fantails, Golden and Grey Whistlers, Australian Hobby and the list went on.......
2 Jul 09. Eventful morning with Great-billed Herons, Papuan Frogmouths, Little Kingfisher, Azure Kingfishers, Shining Flycatchers, Green Tree Snake being the best and a couple of surprises with Brown Falcon and two female Hardheads (ducks).
29 Jun 09. Great-billed Herons. We could hear "Crocodile Birds" calling in the pre-dawn and made our way up-stream to try and see them. Sure enough we were treated to good sightings and more calling. These huge herons have been called the Crocodile Bird because of the loud roaring call that is mistakenly attributed to crocodiles. I am hoping to edit some video of this and have it up on YouTube before long.
26 Jun 09. Birdwatchers morning. Great-billed Heron, Little Kingfisher, Papuan Frogmouths and Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo headed up the birds this morning.
25 Jun 09. Bats. An interesting thing to do over the next month or so is to watch Northern Mastiff Bats prepare to bed down for the day. In the twilight (about 6:20am) before our dawn river trip these small insectivore bats can be seen around the street light near the jetty. They can then be seen as it gets more light circling the green boats before they tuck up into the lifejackets in the roof often swooping low to drink from the river on their way.
21 Jun 09. Oh what a beautiful morning, Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snake, Azure, Sacred, Forest and Little Kingfishers, Papuan Frogmouths, Nankeen Night Heron, Shining Flycatchers and the list just went on............18 Jun 09. Saltwater Crocodiles, Green Tree Snake, Papuan Frogmouths, Nankeen Night Heron, Azure Kingfishers, Shining Flycatchers caused the most interest this morning.17 Jun 09. Great-billed Heron, Papuan Frogmouths, Shining Flycatchers, Yellow Orioles, Nankeen Night Herons, Large-billed Gerygone, Sacred and Azure Kingfishers were the best this morning with the healthy tide.
13 Jun 09. Great-billed Heron, Saltwater Crocodile, Papuan Frogmouths, Green Tree Snake, Little, Azure and Sacred Kingfishers led the way for a good wildlife cruise on the Daintree River this morning.
11 Jun 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snake, Eastern Water Dragon this morning in the early morning sun. Good birds too, Great-billed Heron, Papuan Frogmouths, Blue-winged Kookaburras, Yellow-breasted Boatbills and the list went on...
8 Jun 09. Intermediate Masked Lapwing, rare anywhere but especially Daintree. Records for Daintree show that Intermediate Masked Lapwings have been seen here three times in the last 20 years. Great with other birds this morning too. Also lots of Green Tree Snakes were seen in the early morning sun.
6 Jun 09. Saltwater Crocodile. Just one of the many advantages of going out so early is that when we see a crocodile we see it well. At dawn we often see them moving unlike later in the day when they just lie on the bank. Good birds this morning were Double-eyed Fig-Parrots, Papuan Frogmouths, Nankeen Night Heron, Fairy Gerygone, Yellow Orioles, Shining Flycatchers and Azure Kingfishers.
3 Jun 09. Pied Monarchs. As we go into winter the sightings of Pied Monarchs increase dramatically. We had a great run this morning despite the high tide including Great-billed Herons and Papuan Frogmouths.
28 May 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snake, Great-billed Heron, Papuan Frogmouths, Victoria's Riflebird, Fairy Martin, Shining Flycatcher, Azure, Forest and Sacred Kingfishers heads up a good list of Daintree wildlife this morning.
26 May 09. Great-billed Heron, Papuan Frogmouths, Nankeen Night Herons, Little, Azure, Sacred and Forest Kingfishers provided most of the entertainment this morning in the wet conditions.
24 May 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snake, Papuan Frogmouths, Azure Kingfishers, Shining Flycatchers and Yellow Orioles were our highlights on a beautifully cool morning.
22 May 09. Better weather, crisp mornings and sunny days are helping with the crocodile sightings and other species that sit in the sun on a cool morning. Nankeen Night Heron, Papuan Frogmouths are good examples. Also Great-billed Herons were seen and heard this morning.
20 May 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snake, Great-billed Herons and Papuan Frogmouths lead the interest this morning.
13 May 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Great-billed Heron, Papuan Frogmouths, Azure Kingfishers, Shining Flycatchers and drizzly rain patches punctuated this morning's trip on the Daintree River.
10 May 09. Little Kingfisher, Green Tree Snake, Papuan Frogmouths, Azure Kingfishers and Shining Flycatchers were a hit this morning in the untidy weather.
8 May 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Great-billed Heron, Little Kingfisher, Papuan Frogmouths and Double-eyed Fig-Parrots were this morning's highlights.
7 May 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Papuan Frogmouths and Little Bronze-Cuckoo were the best during the high tide this morning. See this morning's trip on Everytrail: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=199312
5 May 09. Great-billed Heron, Papuan Frogmouths, Shining Flycatchers, Azure, Forest, Sacred Kingfishers and a Cinderella performance of Black-winged Stilts made this morning's trip in the rain memorable.
30 Apr 09. Snakes alive. There were even more green Tree Snakes out in the early morning sun this morning than on the 26th. Good birds too.
28 Apr 09. Great-billed Heron, and a roll up of more winter birds; White-faced Herons, Little Pied Cormorants, Australasian Darters and Little Egrets.
26 Apr 09. Great-billed Heron and lots of Green Tree Snakes in the early morning sun after a cool night.
25 Apr 09. Raptor activity. It is now that some Daintree raptors will start breeding. Raptors can be seen pairing up and there are two Whistling Kites building a nest in Windy Reach.
24 Apr 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snake, Great-billed Herons, Black Bittern and other birds made for an interesting trip on the flood tide this morning.
22 Apr 09. Great-billed Herons, Green Tree Snake and inter-actions between different kingfisher species were the highlights of this morning's trip.
19 Apr 09. Great-billed Herons, Green Tree Snake and Satin Flycatchers were the main species of interest this morning. The herons because of their rarity, the Satin Flycatchers for their rarity in Daintree and the snake because it is the only reptile we have seen in the last two days.
18 Apr 09. Great-billed Heron, Papuan Frogmouth, Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo, Channel-billed Cuckoo, five kingfisher species, three flycatcher species and Cairns Birdwing Butterflies proved a hit with our visiting birdwatchers this morning.
16 Apr 09. Great-billed Heron was a treat for our visiting birdwatchers as were Channel-billed Cuckoo, Brush Cuckoo and Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoos.
15 Apr 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Green Tree Snake, Shining Flycatchers, Double-eyed Fig-Parrots, Sacred, Forest and Azure Kingfishers, no rain and sun periods for which we were very grateful.
14 Apr 09. Black Bittern, Black-necked Stork, Green Tree Snake, Shining Flycatchers, Forest, Sacred and Azure Kingfishers were the best this morning in between the rain periods.
13 Apr 09. Saltwater Crocodiles, Green Tree Snake, Papuan Frogmouths, Forest, Sacred, Azure and Little Kingfishers made for a good morning.
12 Apr 09. Great-billed Heron, Green Tree Snake, Papuan Frogmouths and Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoos were the best this morning.
10 Apr 09. Great-billed Heron, seen perched under the canopy of a large tree in Stewart's Creek. Before that we witnessed two Channel-billed Cuckoos being harassed by a Peregrine Falcon.
WET SEASON RECESS back on 10 APRIL 2009
25 Jan 09. Great-billed Herons and a Black Bittern were our best birds this morning.
23 Jan 09. Great-billed Heron, Black Bitterns, Little Kingfisher and Double-eyed Fig-Parrots were the best birds this morning.
13 Jan 09. Great-billed Heron, Black Bitterns, Pacific Baza and Double-eyed Fig-Parrots were the main treats this morning on a flooded river.
7 Jan 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Great-billed Herons, Black Bitterns, Little Kingfisher, female Eastern Koel, Azure Kingfishers, Shinning Flycatchers were the backbone of our wildlife tour this morning.
3 Jan 09. Saltwater Crocodile, found dead in Barratt Creek this morning. This is an usual sighting but it was in an area where crocodiles nest at this time of the year. Good birds as the checklist shows.
posted by Chris Dahlberg at 10:19 AM
