Reader Chris Taylor send us part 4 of his series on the flora and fauna of Queensland (see the first three parts here). You can enlarge his photos by clicking on them, and his captions are indented.
Back at Sunday Camp, there was a Pied Butcherbird, Cracticus nigrogularis, in one of the gum trees. The Butcherbird is largely carnivorous, and got its name from its habit of sometimes impaling its prey on a thorn in a tree – or on barbed wire:
A Blue-Faced Honeyeater, Entomyzon cyanotis, was feeding in a Callistemon tree outside the main shed:
And a Great Bowerbird, Chlamydera nuchalis, flew away in the dusk. These birds are known for making a bower where the male can display to the female and, if she likes his work, she will mate with him there. She then has to complete the task of raising the brood by herself. The male here has been sneaking into the sheds, and taking anything that takes his fancy to adorn the bower. Clothes pegs and such are not missed, but I believe one of the birds made off with a key fob, complete with key, that was later retrieved from his bower. There is no information about whether this made him a more successful mate!
A Granny’s Cloak moth, Speiredonia spectans, came out for the night. Wingspan about 65mm:
After two weeks working on the reserve, we drove back to the Rainforests on top of the ranges. This is at Malanda, where we took a short stroll into the rainforest around the North Johnstone River, hoping to see some Tree Kangaroos – we didn’t find any this time!
Many different fungi were growing in the damp leaf litter, here are two of the most unusual:
Brush Turkeys, Alectura lathami, were busy around the forest. These large birds are members of the Megapodidae or mound builders, as are the Orange footed Scrubfowl that was in part 1.
In the Megapodes,the male builds a nest mound out of leaf litter and earth. The mound of the Brush Turkey can be over 1m high and 4m across. The females then visit the nest and lay their eggs into the mound, where the warmth from the composting mound incubates the eggs. The male then spends all his time adding or removing material to regulate the temperature.
This one is out walking across the car park:
Away from the entrance and deep within the dim light of the canopy, we saw this male Brush Turkey in the process of building a mound. He is using his large feet to kick all the vegetation from the path onto the pile behind him. It is easy to see just how thorough he is being; he hasn’t left much on the part of the path he’s cleared, and he has cleared it like that for some 5m!:
Also in the car park, a Nankeen Night Heron, Nycticorax caledonicus, stood for his portrait.
Finally, we arrived back in Cairns where we would stay for the last week. Near to our apartment was a park with an amazing green Jade Vine, Strongylodon macrobotrys. Not a native of Australia, but what an unusual colour:
Nice photos! Agreed about the Jade vine. I saw one recently at a nearby botanic gardens, and the colour almost makes it look synthetic.
Oo, the colors are a treat here!
What a great post! I loved the information on the Brush Turkey.
You’ve peaked my interest in visiting Queensland. Thank you!
Nice set. Thanks.
Nice variety of evolved life forms!
A very interesting set! The first fungus resembles what we call Dead Man’s Fingers (which form a cluster of finger-like fruiting bodies that stick out of the ground), but maybe they are something else.
I had seen somewhere that Brush Turkeys can be a bit of a nuisance, in that there are protections for them, but they really take over a lot of space in their nest-building.
Great series!