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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cheers for now,
Yvonne C.
