| Hello from the fairy garden at Coquette Point, I was walking in my garden early Wednesday morning and low and behold I found a van and beside it a tent full of French backpackers. I took a few photos and left them undisturbed to sleep. Later that morning, quite coincidentally, my neighbour brought his big tractor through on our internal connecting track and he was astonished to see a tent with eight legs running before him. Above the French screams John W roared with laughter. Take a look down the bottom of your garden, you never know what you may find. |
Russell C reported last week that he saw a congregation of metallic starlings in the Innisfail CBD trees. This week the same thing occurred here, hundreds of metallic starlings, which included a large number of juveniles, crowed into the branches of a large melaleuca leucadendren.
| The next morning they were almost all gone on their northern migration. Six adult starlings have stayed. It is so quite now without their noisy gatherings and the cassowaries will miss the food they knock to the ground in their exuberant feeding forays. Matriarch cassowary ‘Jessie’ returned alone on Thursday. I had not seen her for a few days and there is no sign of her mate ‘Little Dad’. It is over a month since I first saw them walking out together so I am hopeful he is sitting safely on eggs, somewhere close by. 
Matriarch 'Jessie'
‘Dot’ still visits ‘plastic cas’ every day and he has found an old terracotta bowl that he seems to enjoy drinking from. ‘Dot’ will drink his fill then gather beaks full of water which he pours down his front then vigorously washes and preens his feathers. It has become a daily ritual. It is surprising to see how he can move the wattles around his neck.
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Cassowary ‘Snout’ has been making a regular appearance and he chased the hell out of ‘Dot’. ‘Dot’ needs only to glimpse and he turns and runs with his neck extended and legs beating a fast retreat. It will be interesting to see which bird ‘Jessie’ walks with next. 
‘Snout’
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It was so good to see sub adult cassowary ‘Q’ turn up this week. I have not sighted him for over five months. His sibling ‘Don’ has remained at this end of Coquette Point. The siblings chased each other and then both are chased by ‘Dot’. When ‘Jessie’ and ‘Snout’ see either of them they join in the territorial battle-chase. All week there has been honking and crashing sounds coming from the rainforest. No wonder ‘Dot’ seeks protection near ‘plastic cas’.
I have included some old photos of ‘Little Dad’ and his chicks ‘Don’ and ‘Q’ showing how they have grown over the last two years. (Click on images to enlarge)
I have included some old photos of ‘Little Dad’ and his chicks ‘Don’ and ‘Q’ showing how they have grown over the last two years. (Click on images to enlarge)
First sighting 6.3.11
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Supplementary feeding begins 13.3.11
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Chicks alone for first time 25.7.11
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‘Q’ 11.5.2012
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‘Don’ 8.5.2012
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Lots of Bordered Rustic butterflies around the nursery this week. Also the orange/brown form of the Varied Egg-fly. Little Bush Browns are laying their eggs on grass sheaths.
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Dragon flies are out competing each other for beauty and grace as they busy themselves removing mosquitoes from the nursery.
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The sunbirds are selecting real estate on which to build their nest. The female finds a possible site and calls the male to check it out. Nest building does not commence until he approves. Once the site is selected she begins building and can complete a nest within a week. The males supervise while the females exhaust herself to construct the nest to their primeval design.
| I am going to the Cairns Garden Show tomorrow with ‘the book’ and checked out the water and fuel in the van tonight in preparedness. When I lifted the bonnet I found a night tiger snake comfortably coiled in the engine. A nice, sometimes warm, winter home. Cheers for now, Yvonne C. |
