News from Coquette Point

Hello from sunny Coquette Point,

The week opened with ‘dial up weather’ which has remained; days reaching 23/24 and nights around 14/15; bright blue sunny skies with hardly a cloud to be seen.

Great excitement on Wednesday with the transit of Venus across the sun. Laurie and Anne visited from Cardwell and Ruth joined us for a ‘Venus’ party. We had great views of the transit through a modern welding helmet.

The sun has put on its best ‘going-out dress’ this week and clear skies and calm waters on the Johnstone River have enhanced the nightly display.

The owners of the property 27V, across the road from me, have an application into Council for rezoning to tourism facility for a ‘Biker’s Retreat. Coquette Point is zoned conservation/ rural residential. The Town Planning Office at CCRC confirmed the rezoning application and advised me that they had requested more detail before they could consider it. This week a surveyor has been taking levels and completing a site plan of the 33 acre property.

Before cyclone Larry the property was 70% forest, since then extensive clearing, under the guise of ‘cyclone clean-up’, has seen the mangroves and rainforest  cleared from most of this property at Coquette Point.

  Incidentally, my property received the same wind  and I did not find it necessary to ‘clean-up’ after cyclone ‘Larry’ or ‘Yasi’.  Now the rainforest on my property is again growing tall and full of fruit and cassowaries.

Cassowary ‘Flat-top’ has been crossing the Coquette Point road in a daily journey from the Moresby Range National Park to the mangrove forest each day: crossing roads is a dangerous undertaking for cassowaries. This week saw another bird killed by a vehicle at Mission Beach. It is about time that Council advisory speed limits become mandatory. Slowing down to 50km in identified cassowary crossing areas takes no more than two or three minutes off a journey. One wonders why we are always in such a hurry.

Cassowary ‘Dot’ has been visiting the water bowl every day she is always thirsty. She has been eating a lot of bracket fungi and I wonder if this would make her thirsty. The trees that fell to cyclone ‘Yasi’ are host to a variety of fungi and beetles, the cassowaries feast on both.

Dot eating bracket fungi

For the last six months I have been nurturing a crop of granadillas. I picked two yesterday and thought I would pick six today. Not so lucky.  Unbeknownst to me ‘Jessie’ has also been keeping an eye on the fruit. I had placed two fruit on a carton to keep them off the ground she found them and in a few minutes ate three large granadillas.

 Meanwhile ‘Snout’ has taken a liking to baby pumpkins and their flowers. Cassowaries are resourceful.

Subadult ‘Don’ somehow manages to manoeuvre around the senior cassowaries. At the first sight of one of the older birds he makes a quick exit and instantly disappears into the forest, his brown feathers making the perfect camouflage.   

The wet weather left sticky mud beside the road. One of the cassowaries left a footprint in the mud and it clearly shows the scales covering the footpad.

North Queensland Day Flying moths are leaving the Moresby Range National Park in their ones and twos and flying north across the Johnstone River. Their bodies are fat and their wings incredibly, brightly, iridescent.

The number  I have seen flying back across the river is small and nothing like the anticipated migration that will occur in reverse over spring.  Perhaps these few fat moths are the source of the next generation.

Flying high in the sky over Coquette Point two White Breasted Sea-eagle can be seen every day hunting for fish. Their nest, in a giant melaleuca tree in the mangrove swamp,  is now inaccessible. However years ago I walked into the tree and looked up at the massive nest, unfortunately I didn’t carry a camera in those days.

With the low tides this week white faced heron and greater egret have been fishing in the pools of water left when the tide recedes. Egret walks out into the water flapping his wings and then pounces on the fish he disturbs: a clever fisher-bird. White face heron, however,  stands absolutely still and waits for the fish to come to him.

White faced heron

Greater egret

Red-capped plover, pied oyster catcher and the beach stone curlews all were busy hunting for food on the low tide every day this week. Only a few soldier crabs are still active and they will all soon retreat to their sandy caves for winter.

Red capped plover

Pied oyster catcher

Beach stone curlews

Soldier crab

On the outermost sandbar crested terns rest and preen their feathers between  fishing forays. All the terns have obtained their adult plumage now however the numbers still remain at around 100 birds.

A great deal of detritus was deposited on the front beach following the recent heavy rains.  Mangrove dieback continues to infect the forest, now  little of this once extensive forest remains.

However within the Johnstone River itself the mangroves appear in good health with recruitment evident.
Erosion on the neck of the rookery at Coquette Point continues and it is only seven metres across at its narrowest point: this is naturally a dynamic system of dunes.

Yellow Orioles continue to add their bright calls to the chorus of bird song:  their presence is an indication that the rainforest trees at Coquette Point have ripe fruit. The female sun-bird is finding a ready supply of food for her babies and black bitten can be found every afternoon fishing in the nursery sediment pond.

I received several verbal reports of dead crocodiles found on the beach, one at the Coconuts, one at Flying Fish Point and one large crocodile at Ella Bay.  I reported this to WPSQ. Meanwhile, Russell  investigated but could not establish the veracity of the reports.  I have not sighted any crocodiles this week in or along the Johnstone River.

Cheers for now,

Yvonne c.

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