Yesterday an enjoyable day was spent in the Daintree Village area by members and visitors of Birds Australia North Queensland regional group. A committee meeting was accompanied by a couple of cruises on the Daintree River and a walk at a local property ‘Wild Wings and Swampy Things’. Considerable effort has taking place to revegetate this once cleared property to return its former rainforest majesty. Rufous Fantail, Little Shrike-thrush, Grey Whistler, and a family of Lovely Fairy-wren were the avian highlights. On a morning cruise on the river, Osprey, Shining Flycatcher, Azure Kingfisher and several Papuan Frogmouth were seen. The highlight was Little Kingfisher observed at close range diving repeatedly from Mangrove Lily to catch and eat tiny shrimp. In the afternoon equally spectacular views of Great-billed Heron were obtained at a range of approximately 15 metres. In other news from the river, migrant species have started to return from their winter sojourn to PNG. Brown-backed Honeyeaters were first observed in mid July. Sightings of Channel-billed Cuckoos and flocks of Metallic Starling are increasing. Small flocks of Torresian Pigeon have also started to appear in the last week. A great highlight of the last month has been regular sightings of Great-billed Heron. On two occasions birds have been observed flying with nesting material. The first sighting was of a bird carrying a stick at least four foot in length, while the later sighting involved grassy nest lining material. ===============================
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