News from Coquette Point

9/4/2012

Love is in the air at Coquette Point,

Jessie the matriarch cassowary of Coquette Point is walking out with ‘Little Dad’. Last Sunday as I was walking along the mangroves I sensed a movement in the leaves, when I looked in the dimness I saw cassowary ‘Little Dad’ sitting among the roots of an hibiscus tiliaceus. Some three metres away I saw another cassowary standing absolutely still. I was unable to identify the bird hidden behind the dense undergrowth and I did not wish to disturb them.

I left the area but went back to check if they were still there every half to one hour making every effort not to be heard or seen. Two hours later they were gone. Excitedly I looked for eggs but none to be found.

On Tuesday I was dumping rubbish on my compost heap and 'Jessie’ appeared close by in the mangroves. ‘Little Dad’ stepped out and moved onto the lawn and soon followed by ‘Jessie’. I moved away from the area and watched them.

They moved over to where I had dumped the weeds and Jessie all the time with her eyes on ‘Little Dad’. Suddenly they moved off back into the mangroves and I have not seen them since.

It is very early in the season for mating. However, there were no new chicks last year and the males have been alone for some months now.

This week I was trying to file my cassowary photos when I noticed a photo of the sub adult ‘Big Sis’ with a white dot on her left wattle. I had not noticed it before. I could also see the dot clearly on a video I took of her, at the time of her foot injury, I also saw that she had been developing some brown markings on her casque. I now feel quite certain that the unknown cassowary ‘Dot’ is ‘Big Sis’.

I have not seen ‘Big Sis’ for three months and if it is the same bird then the growth to adulthood over these few months has been extordinary, particularly the growth of the casque.

I have not seen the Nutmeg pigeons for over ten days. I miss their cooing and the sound of the wind in their wings as they move in the rainforest canopy.

The number of birds that I saw two weeks ago, which coincided with the gale-force winds and heavy rain, may have been an assemblage of pigeons at Coquette Point where they rested and fed for a few days prior to departure to Papua.

The shining starlings will also soon be gone, meanwhile, they are feeding hungrily on the fruits of the rainforest.

The melaleuca leucadendras, paperbarks of Coquette Point are in flower again. As the sun sets, 6.30pm, the spectacled flying foxes appear in their ones and twos flying from the west. As I watch I see some veer off and head for the Ella Bay paperbark swamps while the others back their wings with a swish of air and land on the branches of the melaleuca around me. Quickly they hang upside down and move to feast on the high protein nectar of the flowers. As the night proceeds the flying foxes come in increasing numbers, although nothing like the thousands I have seen in the past. At first they are quite in the trees concentrating on the flowers, but as more and more arrive, squabbling starts and they become quite noisy. They feast all night and are gone before dawn.

In the morning the ground beneath the trees is strewn with fallen flowers and debris. From first light the bees and insects find the flowers and the tree hums with their activity.

In the sky above the tree wood swallows and rainbow bee-eaters scoop up the insects and fly around and over and through the trees until the heat of the day forces them and the insects to seek shelter.

Through the day the tree is visited by peaceful doves, rainbow lorikeets, sunbirds, crested hawks, varied thrillers, starlings and an assortment of moths.