Dry Country Deep Dive

With the wet season now fully behind us and some time between tours, Dave and I decided to head out on a "Dry Country Deep Dive", spending some extended time at a few of our favourite birding spots in the eucalypt woodland surrounding the Wet Tropics rainforest.

Our first stop was out to Wondecla, where we spent about two hours chasing an abundance of bird activity. The morning was still crisp, being the first day of winter, but without a cloud in the sky the morning sun provided glorious light to see such treasures as Spotted Pardalote, Rufous Whistler, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Red-browed Firetail and a pair of graceful Pale-headed Rosella, casually feeding in the Mexican Sunflowers.

Following the track down to Wondecla Creek, we spied Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Grey Shrike-thrush, Rufous Whistler and some brief glimpses of the stunning Scarlet Myzomela as a male zipped around in the top of the tall Blue Gums that line the park. The action was so constant here today that we had trouble leaving, as every time we attempted to go a new call would entice us out for another look.

Eventually we made the call to head further west, spending the rest of the morning at Springvale, where we chanced upon a suspected Swamp Wallaby on our way down to the creek. Almost immediately upon arrival we saw a small flock of Little Lorikeet fly over our heads. They didn''t return, but we did get some good views of Scaly-breasted Lorikeet screeching in the top of the gumtops. Down lower to the ground was a family of Red-backed Fairywren, Grey and Northern Fantail and several Fuscous Honeyeater.

Having some extra time for this deep dive, we decided to follow the creek for a while, lured by the call of a Golden Whistler that eventually posed for a photo. We then got great views of a Pied Monarch, Dusky Woodswallow, Brown Treecreeper and a brief glimpse of a busy Eastern Whipbird under the lantana.

With midday now upon us we set off to explore the back roads of Malanda in search of a sleeping Lumholtz''s Tree-kangaroo. Although no tree-kangaroos were found, we did spy a Nankeen Kestrel in an aerial battle with a pair of Whistling Kites, as well as Torresian Crow and Pied Currawong at various locations in the farmland surrounding the rainforest.

After a brief stop in Malanda town, we decided to check out the crater lakes for the resident Southern Cassowary that has been spotted sporadically in the carpark. The lake was surprisingly quiet, considering the glorious weather, and as we walked around the turtle viewing area we saw a Sevenspot Archerfish and a lone Little Black Cormorant in the sun, and a pair of Spectacled Monarch feeding in the understorey.

On our way home we drove past about 50 Black Kite circling the smoke clouds of a small fire somewhere in the farmland around Tolga, and got some great views of a Black-shouldered Kite perched in a dead tree on the side of the road before it flew off to demonstrate its amazing ability to hover in the one spot, looking for prey in the grass below.

Our final stop was back to the dry country around Mareeba, where we were graced by Double-barred Finch, Australasian Figbird, Tree Martin, Rainbow Bee-eater and a pair of soaring Wedge-tailed Eagle above the mountain range. As the sun began to set we made our way home, grateful that we were able to explore the area on such a wonderful winter''s day.