Mission Beach Cassowaries
  • ABOUT CASSOWARIES
    • Cassowary ID and tracking >
      • Sightings maps
    • World Cassowary Day 2015
  • NEWS
  • Information
    • Developments
    • Thorsborne Trail NOT FOR SALE >
      • MARGARET 'T' AO 1927-2018
    • Walking tracks
    • Birding
    • Lot 66/Garrett Corridor
    • Publications
    • Mission Beach Naturally >
      • Community Identity
    • Heritage
  • Photo Gallery
    • Fauna >
      • Cassowary
      • Birds
      • Mammals
      • Reptiles
    • Flora >
      • Flowers
      • Plants and trees
      • Fungi
    • Scenic
  • Contact
    • Privacy policy
  • Mission Beach Cassowaries

News from Coquette Point

4/12/2011

 
Click to enlarge
Ho Ho Ho from the rainforest at Coquette Point,

The forest in a spurt of exuberance, no doubt brought on by the deluge it has received this week, has put out the Christmas decorations. The Leichhardt tree, Nauclea orientalis, was the first and it hung gold and white Christmas bubbles, then Brachychiton acerifolius, the flame tree dotted the Moresby Range with red.  The brash young Alphitoni petriei, the sarsaparilla tree, not to be outdone, has covered its foliage in snow-white flowers.

The Christmas beetles are adding their touch of colour as they glide around the forest in their iridescent green coat.
Picture
Tucked underneath leaves or hidden in the leaf-litter the black beetle is hatching in their thousands. The humid wet weather creates ideal conditions for the insects of the rainforests.
Picture

Scrub fowls have been very active and I saw some young birds enjoying a coconut I had cut for the pig cage. Both of the fowls were eating the coconut flesh but they moved off as I went to take the photo.

A group of five brown-backed honeyeaters arrived this week. Their melodious call is loud for a little bird and every afternoon they come out of the tree to swim in the bird bath. They are very shy and they fly high up into the branches of the tree as soon as they see me.

Picture
There was a crab claw lodged in a cassowary scat this week. In the past I have seen cassowaries on the sand banks at low tide chasing soldier crabs. This crab claw is red and belongs to the small mangrove crab. The crabs are about 15cm across, quite a mouthful for a cassowary! I pulled the claw out to see its full size. I could not see any more of the crab body in the scat. There was a good assortment of fruit in the scat. The rainforest is recovering quickly.

Cassowary ‘Big Sis’ is almost fully recovered from her leg injury. She does not limp anymore  when she walks, and only slightly when she runs. She is starting to put weight on but still has not got the gloss back in her feathers.

Picture
Dad 1 and chick Rosie are virtually living under the Wax Jambu. It has about another ten days of fruit left to fall. Their scats are showing pandanus and wax jambu only: they have not found the feeding stations.  The chick ‘Rosie’ named after the fruit, has put on weight. She is facially very different from the other chicks around her age. ‘Rosie’ is very thick-sett: squat, strong legs, a shorter but fuller beak and a quaint face. Rosie is very timid and stays close to Dad She remains dominant over the other subadult cassowaries in the area, and chases them fiercely if they approach the food tree: Dad looks on approvingly.  On Monday morning I woke to Rosie’s pathetic whistles. ‘Dad 1’ had left her under the fruit tree and had gone off somewhere into the forest. He was back by nine o’clock and she immediately stopped whistling.
Picture
The fruit in the orchid is swelling quickly, hopefully ready for Christmas; mangoes, abiu, rambutan, mangosteen, and breadfruit. What a feast we will have.

Cheers for now,

Yvonne C.


Comments are closed.
    Mission Beach Cassowaries facebook page
    Follow the lives of individual cassowaries on facebook

    Picture
    Friends of Ninney Rise
    Ninney Rise
    - the inspiring
     conservation history of Mission Beach



    Archives

    September 2023
    May 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    January 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    January 2020
    October 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    November 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

    Categories

    All
    Ash
    Birds
    Boat Bay
    Bush Tucker
    Butterflies
    Cassowaries
    Cassowary Coast
    Cca
    Coquette Point
    Cowley Beach
    Crocodiles
    Cyclones
    Cyclone Yasi
    Development
    Flowers
    Flying Foxes
    Frogs
    Fungi
    Insects
    Johnstone River
    Little Terns Nesting
    Mahogany Glider
    Mangrove Dieback
    Marine
    Mission Beach
    Port Hinchinbrook
    Rainforest Fruit
    Sediment Runnoff
    Snakes
    Spiders
    Threats
    Tourism
    Tully Heads
    Turtles
    Wildwatch
    W P S Q Tully Branch


© All content on this website (except where otherwise stated) is copyright Mission Beach Cassowaries All Rights Reserved If copying or publishing  content or information from this site please credit and link to Mission Beach Cassowaries Inc. website Except where otherwise credited, all photos on this website are copyright and must have permission to reproduce