Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher is back!! (1 Viewer)

Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher are been seen in and around Daintree. Another one of our favourite migrants, the Black Bittern is also been spotted on the Daintree river daily.

Lucky you Andrew, I missed this fantastic bird on my last trip to Australia. I was around Julatten on 6 Nov 2004 and they hadn't come back by then. I'll come late November next time, when it's really hotting up!

E

Our best view a few years back was this guy sitting on the clothes line at Kingfisher Park. Between them being common and an honour system on beers in the fridge, it was -- well, paradise. Up in Iron Range Park they would dash - head level - across the road.

I just missed them when I was up there in 2003. And this year, I'm stuck in the office. (sob)

Tannin said:

I just missed them when I was up there in 2003. And this year, I'm stuck in the office. (sob)

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No sympathy, Tony, at least you can get in your car and drive there, even if it is a 6,000 km round trip for you.
Anyway Tony, I heard some worrying news from Australia today. The brand new super news channel in Iceland was trying to show off today by giving us weather forecasts from around the world. It claimed that the temperature in Darwin tomorrow is going to be 12°C. I reckon 12°C in Darwin in November can mean two things, a) the Icelandic weather news made a complete balls up or b) the Earth has left its orbit of the sun and is heading for the far reaches of the Milky Way. Can you put my mind at rest?

E

Dat big yellow ting still up dere in the sky at de moment.

Forcast for Darwin today is 33C, humid, afternoon showers or storms - i.e., exactly what you would have guessed for this time of year. Here in Ballarat it looks as though its going to be about 22: blue sky, light breeze, fluffy white clouds a fraction thicker than I'd like for photography, but pretty close. Even Hobart is looking at 18C. Perfect spring weather all around.

Seems like a good day for a drive out to Mt Beckworth, 50-odd kilometres north of here on the other side of the divide. Beckworth is a granite outcrop with excellent remnant vegetation and the southern-most point for a number of my favourite inland birds. (Southern Whiteface, even Crested Bellbird has been reported there.) If I'm lucky, I might get pictures of one or another species that has eluded my camera so far: Speckled Warbler, Black-chinned Honeyeater, who knows?

A drive to Julatten and a return to the delightful Red Mill House, alas, is not on the agenda for the day. Roll on winter!

Throw in a stop in MT Malloy for me. Great Bowerbirds everywhere and that fun little place to eat. That whole area is paradise on earth........