 | Hello from Coquette Point, This morning I woke to the sound of cassowaries honking and roaring and the sound of crashing vegetation as large birds ran through the rainforest. It was a good time to stay indoors. Today I saw Dot, sub-adult ‘Don’ and ‘Jessie’ with ‘Little Dad’. They were here for most of the day and when their paths crossed the dominate bird displayed aggressively. For over 10 days now I had not seen ‘Little Dad’ or ‘Jessie’ and I had thought he was already sitting on eggs. However, they are still walking together with Jessie dutifully following ‘Little Dad’s’ every move.
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| Our ‘Dot’ has become a movie-star. A North American Documentary team were at Coquette Point this week and ‘Dot’ put on a real act for them.  |  She knew she was the centre of attention and she posed for photographs for over half an hour. The boys were very happy. Hopefully she doesn’t end up on the cutting room floor out-flanked by a bird from the Daintree. |
Cairns Birdwing butterflies are still mating even though their host vine Aristolochia acuminate has all but been eaten back to its roots. However, life is never easy and I was amazed to see a large male birdwing neatly wrapped in silk and hung on the side of a Garden orb-weaver’s web. I went out during the night to photograph the spider’s feast, my apologizes for the quality of the photo as my night time photography needs some practice.
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| In the morning all that was left was the dried wings dropped on the forest floor. Butterflies have been very active this week with Pied Flats shyly concealing themselves under plant leaves while rakish, varied and blue-banded egg flies dance around the sky and only rest to drink a little moisture. |  |
 Pied Flat |  |  |
Every morning the call of the male Shining Flycatcher repeatedly resounds through the mangroves as he chases the female. At times he gets himself so excited that he raises the black feathers on his head and his whole body vibrates in song. She ignores him and only gets excited when she finds something to eat.
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 | This week I was astonished to see a Tooth-billed catbird flying with a large piece of leaf in his beak. I waited at the tree and watched while he tore away pieces of leaf. The male tooth-billed catbirds construct then congregate around a bower-stage which they decorate with leaves, seeds and sticks. They keep the display site clean of litter and display the leaves white side up. I have not found the bower but will spend a day this week looking. The birds are not singing at the moment after all, the breeding season is later in the year, this bird is getting in early. Twice a day a flock of black cockatoos flies over the nursery. On Thursday they settled down in the Beach Almond in the nursery. The almonds are ripe and they had a feast. |
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Leafy Katydids are masters of disguise. These amazingly beautiful rainforest insects do eat plant leaves and possess a good size mouth specially designed for munching.
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However, they also eat other insects, nectar and pollen. Katydids are important rainforest pollinators. Before you crunch one between your fingers think of their other roles and don’t mind so much a few holes in the leaves of your plants.
Cheers for now,
Love and peace,
Yvonne C.
Cheers for now,
Love and peace,
Yvonne C.
