Jon Turner
Well-known member
12C - luxury! You soft southerners!
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My Cairns city block list. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter chowchilla
- Start date
chowchilla
Well-known member
Lol, I guess I don't have any Geordie blood in me even though I am absurdly hairy.
I'm used to the heat now and really notice when the temperature drops below the mid-twenties.:t:
Jon Turner
Well-known member
We dream of 12C in mid-winter up here!
chowchilla
Well-known member
'sfunny because I lived in Kent for 18 years and remember it being distinctly milder even then London (though we did have two very cold snowy winters). No I wouldn't be able to cope with living oop north methinks..
Nutcracker
Stop Brexit!
That's the same temperature as it is here, nowIt got down to 12C on a night shift this week. 12C! I had about nine layers on.
chowchilla
Well-known member
Forgot to add this earlier in the week: had an Olive-backed Oriole calling at the Lakes earlier this week. A seemingly not infrequent winter visitor to these parts.
116 species.
116 species.
Last edited:
Robert L Jarvis
Robert L Jarvis
Just spotted this thread whilst searching for the one recommended.
Great list there.:t:Can hardly wait.
chowchilla
Well-known member
Thank you Robert, and you've just reminded me to add a group of birds I saw earlier in the week as I saw several Yellow-eyed Cuckoo Shrikes in the tall paperbarks along Greenslopes before they flew away in the direction of the cemetery. Unmistakable call, this is a regular from the Tablelands in winter.
117 species.
Still no winter flocks of Firetails or White-eyes, plus the Great-billed Heron that is clearly around (judging by the giant poos near Saltwater Lake) isn't showing for me yet. I've always looked at what else I can reasonably expect this year and there are still several gaps, so I'm optimistic I'll make 120 at least for this year but 130 might be a stretch.
117 species.
Still no winter flocks of Firetails or White-eyes, plus the Great-billed Heron that is clearly around (judging by the giant poos near Saltwater Lake) isn't showing for me yet. I've always looked at what else I can reasonably expect this year and there are still several gaps, so I'm optimistic I'll make 120 at least for this year but 130 might be a stretch.
chowchilla
Well-known member
Had a Shining Bronze Cuckoo calling yesterday near my apartment; the first this year, and I just realised that I haven't added Eastern Osprey yet, despite now having seen a couple.
119 species.
119 species.
chowchilla
Well-known member
Wow, I've really neglected this thread of late....
I was reminded of my obligation to update it by a flyover Great-billed Heron today on my way back from the dentist. It was above tree height and heading coast wards over Saltwater Creek. Very nice!
I've had a couple of other new 'uns too which I did intend to add, namely a short-staying Little Pied Cormorant from a couple of weeks back, and two flocks of Topknot Pigeons; one over the Lakes and the other flying inland along the slopes of Mt Whitfield.
Still no sign of Silvereyes or Red-browed Firetails which usually turn up over the winter. Might be too late now...
122 species.
I was reminded of my obligation to update it by a flyover Great-billed Heron today on my way back from the dentist. It was above tree height and heading coast wards over Saltwater Creek. Very nice!
I've had a couple of other new 'uns too which I did intend to add, namely a short-staying Little Pied Cormorant from a couple of weeks back, and two flocks of Topknot Pigeons; one over the Lakes and the other flying inland along the slopes of Mt Whitfield.
Still no sign of Silvereyes or Red-browed Firetails which usually turn up over the winter. Might be too late now...
122 species.
chowchilla
Well-known member
Unmistakable Caspian Tern early this morning over the Lakes. Starting to warm up here as we gear up for summer. Very dry at the moment as well though the sunshine is glorious!
123 species.
123 species.
chowchilla
Well-known member
Wow I literally forgot to update this thread with work and life in general conspiring to get in the way.
Contributing to another thread where the next bird came up reminded me that I heard a Mangrove Robin in the mangroves a few weeks ago at the Lakes. I reckon this species is slowly coming back to this location, a place it used to be very reliable. Encouraging if so.
Further to this I have since had a Rufous Fantail from the boardwalk about a week ago, perhaps a late migrant. Very nice!
125 species.
I hope I don't let this thread slip again, even though I may not add further to it.
Contributing to another thread where the next bird came up reminded me that I heard a Mangrove Robin in the mangroves a few weeks ago at the Lakes. I reckon this species is slowly coming back to this location, a place it used to be very reliable. Encouraging if so.
Further to this I have since had a Rufous Fantail from the boardwalk about a week ago, perhaps a late migrant. Very nice!
125 species.
I hope I don't let this thread slip again, even though I may not add further to it.
chowchilla
Well-known member
It is very dry in Cairns at the moment. As a consequence water bird activity has increased significantly at the Lakes. Just on the Freshwater Lake alone (which isn't that big- about 75 metres by 100) I counted 28 Australian Pelican which must be a record; at least 20 Radjah Shelducks; about a dozen Little Black Cormorants; a similar number of Magpie Geese; about 50 Pacific Black Duck; 3 Nankeen Night Herons; 1 Black Bittern; three species of Egrets; Royal Spoonbill; and lots of White Ibis. No particularly unusual species, but these numbers are not at all common. As soon as the rainy season kicks in, they will likely disperse and the Lakes could be devoid of water birds once more, apart from a modest selection of farmyard type ducks and one or two egrets.
Cycling on, I had very nice early morning views of a Grey Goshawk in a paperbark and a small flock of four Channel-billed Cuckoos, which I would have thought would be settling down to breed by now.
Newbie of the day however was an Eastern Curlew on the mud of Freshwater Creek south of my block but visible from the bridge over the creek, so it still counts.
126 species.
Cycling on, I had very nice early morning views of a Grey Goshawk in a paperbark and a small flock of four Channel-billed Cuckoos, which I would have thought would be settling down to breed by now.
Newbie of the day however was an Eastern Curlew on the mud of Freshwater Creek south of my block but visible from the bridge over the creek, so it still counts.
126 species.
chowchilla
Well-known member
Hot on the heels of the Curlew, I had a Greenshank a bit further up the saltwater creek, but it was already in flight when I spotted it and as it disappeared around the corner it called, giving it's ID away.
Only yesterday I noticed that a Wandering Whistling Duck had joined the increasingly crowded throng on Freshwater Lake. About time this species turned up as it used to be regular.
128 species.
Only yesterday I noticed that a Wandering Whistling Duck had joined the increasingly crowded throng on Freshwater Lake. About time this species turned up as it used to be regular.
128 species.
chowchilla
Well-known member
Another visit to the Lakes a few days back yielded my first ever Pied Heron at this location; a young bird judging by the streaked head. I was hoping for Jabiru or perhaps Pacific Heron, both of which I recorded here last year but so far not this year. I'll settle for a new bird at this site though!
For much of the time I was there, the Pied was being harassed by a Little Egret which was noticeably bigger, reminding me that Pieds are really pretty small for a heron.
Apart from one heavy shower about a week ago, we are still drought-ridden here; the rainy season is well overdue and the waterbirds continue to congregate on the Lakes, though alas the Wandering Whistling Duck I saw the other day didn't stick around.
Can I get to 130 before the year's out?
129 species.
For much of the time I was there, the Pied was being harassed by a Little Egret which was noticeably bigger, reminding me that Pieds are really pretty small for a heron.
Apart from one heavy shower about a week ago, we are still drought-ridden here; the rainy season is well overdue and the waterbirds continue to congregate on the Lakes, though alas the Wandering Whistling Duck I saw the other day didn't stick around.
Can I get to 130 before the year's out?
129 species.
chowchilla
Well-known member
A final total of 129 species for the year 2014 seen and heard on or from my city block. It's not a bad total, but tbh I somewhat lost interest in the second half of the year; my heart just wasn't in it. It could well have been a much higher total as I missed some key species. I won't be pursuing a similar list for this year, as I just don't have the interest or motivation.
Happy New Year to everyone. I very much hope to see some great lists by other members for 2015. :t:
Happy New Year to everyone. I very much hope to see some great lists by other members for 2015. :t:
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