On our full day birding last Friday 12th August our party flushed an early Latham’s Snipe off a golf course in Port Douglas. Without perusing my past records I would imagine that on average it to be one of the first through on the way south. As springtime arrives so do the Metallic Starlings which are already setting up nesting positions. Also on Friday we watched a pair of Doube-eyed Fig-Parrots mating. This is the first time I have witnessed them in the act and it went on for more than four minutes. Along the way the recently returned Brown-backed Honeyeaters finshing off their nest. Later in the day we observed two Chestnut-breasted Cuckoos and one of the last Fantailed Cuckoos which are about to return south. Generally the weather in the Wet Tropics has been much cooler than average over the winter months. This has had the effect of slowing up the ripening of many palms and rainforest fruits leading to a shortage of food with a general dispersal of many species especially pigeons and honeyeaters. This also has applied to fruit bats which have been noteably absent, even on night tours on the Daintree River.
Del. Richards, Fine Feather Tours, Mossman, North Queensland.
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