Peter James Fullagar

There have been several interesting reports of birds in Canberra this week including a Blue-faced Honeyeater in the grounds of the Australian National University along with a Little Friarbird and, not far away in the centre of Canberra, at least 10 Brown Gerygone have been observed regularly in a rainforest gully section at the Australian National Botanic Gardens. All are a little exceptional as records from the Canberra region although the two honeyeaters occur west and south of the ACT and the Gerygone, a small warbler-like bird, occurs in suitable habitats to the east, specially at the nearby coast. Needless to say I have not chased after any of them.
On Sunday last a fresh plumaged male Golden Whistler put in a brief appearance in my garden. This species is one of the most delightful and widespread of the genus Pachycephala (thick head). A genus that occurs through the indomalasian and Australasian regions and this particular species has many derivatives present as local endemics, specially on islands to the east and north of Australia but it does not not reach New Zealand. On several occasions during the week there have been many Red Wattlebird in the garden and I find that a Eucalypt, not many streets away to my south, is in particularly profuse flower. Its flowers are bright red but I am uncertain of the species of tree concerned. It is evidently a favoured site for the wattlebirds and up to 20 can be found at times feeding and squabbling in its branches. This happened on the one day this week I was able to go for my usual walk.
I found a curious hairy caterpillar in the garden this week and to the best of my ability I think it was a species of Anthela. The Anthelidae are very hairy caterpillars and often cause 'urticacious itch', as the irritation is called, if some of them are handled.
The Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve is about 45 mins drive west of Canberra (in the foothills of the Brindabella ranges). It is well know, if for nothing else, that pioneering work on the song of the Superb Lyrebird was done here in the late 1950s and earlry 1960s. In particular, detailed studies were made on the extraordinary mimicry that is included in the normal song of Superb Lyrebird or for that matter also for the only other extant lyrebird the Albert's Lyrebird of south-east Queensland. I had reason to go to Tidbinbilla twice this week.
On the way out on Thursday I saw three Wedge-tailed Eagle soaring above the road. I was a bit slow in trying to get a picture because they had rapidly gained hieght in a thermal by the time I was ready.
I was due to retrieve our sound sampling gear on Thursday following its installation the Wednesday before. However, there had been a fault in the setting up process resulting in no sample recordings being made. I brought the gear home and checked it out before returing the next day to set it up again for another week. We are trying to follow the course of recolonization by lyrebirds after the disastrous wildfires that swet through this area and a huge area of the surrounding forests in January 2003.
There was remarkably little in the way of bird activity this time at our recording site at Tidbinbilla or for that matter during the walk in and out from the nearby car park. I came across a small feeding party of Striated Thornbill and White-browed Scrub-wren; maybe 10 individuals, mostly thornbills. I heard one or two Spotted Pardalote and a White-throated Tree-creeper, a Grey Thrush. Some Galah were calling near the car park - an unusual species in this particular area of forest. Occasional calls from Pied Currawong were noted and a White-eared Honeyeater was heard distantly. Once in the hour that I was doing this job I heard the distinctive calls of a far off Superb Lyrebird but lyrebirds were certainly not as vocal as I had expected them to be at this time in the season. They are winter breeders and in general a fair bit of territorial activity might be expected by late May. It has been remarkably dry and such dry conditions may have put them back somewhat. I did little better the next day when the place seemed even more birdless. Again, there was no wind but I did hear some distant Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and the White-throated Tree-creeper. In adition a Grey Butcher-bird was vocal and because its calls came from different directions I judged that it might be moving through the valley or at the very least it was moving over a very large area.
Visiting the waterfowl ponds at Tidbinbilla on both days I was delighted to find a family party of Black Swan with three fluffy cygnets. The adults were upending to pull up submerged vegetation (a fine leafed species that I could not easily identify) which the cygnets scoffed eagerly each time it was dropped by the attending adult. The cygnets fed mostly with one adult, which I took to be the female, but certainly fed with the other individual of the pair on some ocasions - indicating that parental duties are shared. The adult would sometimes shake the bunch of uprooted grass before dropping it or the cynets would do the same as if to dislodge as much of the soil as possible before ingestion. On both days there was an attendant Dusky Moorhen or two taking advantage of the odd scap that got away from time to time. I am not all that familar with the growth rate of Black Swan cygnets but these young were certainly still all in down although well grown and some pin feathering may have been present under the down on the head suggesting that they were about 4-5 weeks old.
The drake Musk Duck on these ponds was occaionally causing strife amongst the Dusky Moorhen and Coot. He would set off in an obvious beligerant move in which he would rapidly cover a long distance underwater to surface only shallowly unlike his normal surfacing behaviour when diving for food. He would keep this low profile with head stretched forwards and dive again. The consequence of these 'runs' by the Musk Duck was that the Coot and Dusky Moorhen reacted by screaming loudly and dashing for cover or got out of the water. He did not actually attack any of them but I suspect he takes a toll on small chicks when young broods appear on this pond. Notwithstanding this possibility there were many Moorhen about and the family groups contained many young birds.
I noted that the Magpie Goose colony was now settled on a rushy (probably Eleocharis) island on this same pond occupied by the Musk Duck. In my recollections these geese have used other ponds upstream of this one in previous years. The couple of dozen Magpie Geese present seemed to be settled on nests but I did not investigate closely. Other species noted were Australian Shoveler (a pair and a single drake) with the repeated 'clubit' sounds of a drake distinclty audible from a distance on several ocasions. What a splendidly easy sound to identify, except that this drake call is uttered softly and is therefore very often hard to hear.
Because some captive birds are held on these ponds it is difficult to say which are wild and which are not. Hardhead and Australian Pelican are captives but the Grey Teal and Australsian Little Grebe are clearly not. Nor are the 20-30 Pacific Black Duck present this week and for that matter the family of Black Swans. The Magpie Geese are free flying but originate from captive releases many years ago. The drake Musk Duck is also a pinioned individual of some several years. I do not know exactly how old he is but I suspect 7-8 years, at the least.
For me an interesting week.

Friday 12th May
For some years Queensland Yacht Charters, based at Airlie Beach, north Queensland (http://www.yachtcharters.com.au/) have provide a sponsorship promotion at the Canberra Yacht Club. This takes the form of a free yacht charter for 5 days of sailing in the Whitsunday group. Such a prestigious prize is traditionally drawn on the night of the annual prize giving at our club. This draw is restricted to those boats that have regularly sailed in the weekly summer competition at the CYC. Last year I won!
After a bit of thought to choose a good combination of crew and an upgrade to a bigger yacht the six of us in the party headed for Proserpine at the end of the second week of May. Our upgrade was further improved at the last minute to a six berth Beneteau because the slightly smaller yacht we had originally chartered had been taken out of commission only weeks before after being put aground and seriously damaged. Our Beneteau was brand new!
Our journeys north were a bit uncoordinated. I traveled with Iain and Katie McCalman to Brisbane via Sydney meeting up with Ross Pover (my regular crew on the Flying Fifteen State of the Ark and my co-winner) and finally Peter and Hella Dalton. Peter is Commodore at the CYC. We arrive in Proserpine close on dusk and sort out our car hire and then 4 of us go into Airlie Beach to find the pre-booked overnight accommodation. About the only bird I noticed on the way was a Black Kite or two near the airport.

Airlie Beach

We settle in to our self-contained luxury Sea Star apartment on Nara Avenue high above Airlie. Peter then drives back to the airport to retrieve Ross and Iain who volunteered to stay for the second run. It took much longer than we had expected to do this shuttle so they were stranded at the airport terminal well after it had been shut-down for the night. We have a great seafood meal in town close to the beach at the corner of Airlie Esplanade with Bush Stone-curlew calling in the background. We could see them on the sand when we walked back along the Esplanade to our car.

Saturday 13th May
Lewin’s Honeyeater call at dawn and Rainbow Lorikeet are noisily flying about. We see some Yellow-breasted Sunbird and some Rainbow Bee-eater fly over. We head down to the Esplanade again to have breakfast in a beachfront cafe. There are House Sparrow in town and Torresian Crow are vocal and conspicuous. A few Australian Magpie are seen. Eventually we go down to the QYC offices at 9:00 AM and start the briefing process. Iain, Ross and I concentrate on this while Kate, Peter and Hella go off to do the shopping. Iain has an ear and throat infection so needs first to see a doctor for a suitable prescription and then joins us when this is sorted out. Two very confiding Welcome Swallow resting on a mooring line in the marina are frustrating in that I do not, of course, have the camera ready at the time. We meet up with Phil and go over the features of the yacht and talk about what we are expected to do with regards to our regular radio skeds at 09:00 and 15:45 each day. Eventually, the others arrive with the food and grog and we load up and make ready to depart mid-afternoon. Peter and I take the car back to the Avis depot in the main street (Shute Harbour road) and walk back to the marina along the boardwalk. Here I see a female Darter, a Great Egret and a dark morph Reef Egret.

The Abel Point boardwalk from Airlie to the marina

A view across Abel Point marina Airlie Beach

QYC offices upper floor top left

Phil takes us out of the marina and leaves us to head off to Nara inlet on Hook Island for the night. The wind is steady from the SE at 25-30 knots. We decide not to hoist sail and motor all the way to an anchorage at the top of the inlet. We settle in and the mooring is reasonably comfortable. There were few birds to see on the way across. A few Silver Gull and some Crested Tern near the marina but the sea crossing was otherwise lacking in the way of any interesting seabirds. Absolutely nothing. Several Sulphur-crested Cockatoo gather in small pre-roosting groups in the tops of Hoop Pines Araucaria cunninghamii on the hillsides around us at dusk and then noisily fly off to their final roosts as night falls. The slopes are thickly forested with extensive areas of Hoop Pine. To provide some background information I have extracted the following from a PDF document at (http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/register/p01108aa.pdf) set up by Queensland Parks and Wildlife service as an Whitsunday Islands information sheet [with some additions and corrections by me]:

‘Off the Queensland coast, east of Proserpine, lie a number of continental islands known as the Whitsundays. The Whitsundays include more than 90 continental islands that were once part of the adjacent mainland. National park status has been given wholly or in part to most of these islands. More than 96 percent of the 30000ha of wooded hills, rocky headlands and shingle beaches are managed to protect a range of values including fauna, flora, water quality and the scenic integrity. The waterways and beaches surrounding the islands are marine park‚ and fall within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Temperatures in this tropical area, range from 5°C to 35°C and are moderated by south-eastern winds in winter and north-westerly in summer. Rainfall varies from 1200 to 2000 mm per annum, with most falling in summer. The generally mild climate, natural landscape and warm sea temperatures make the Whitsundays a popular holiday destination. Nature-based recreation includes bush camping, diving, snorkeling, sailing, exploration, bird watching and photography. GEOLOGICAL ORIGINS. During the last ice age (about 18,000 years ago) expansion of the polar caps reduced the sea to a level approx 100m lower than it is today. At that time, the Whitsundays were an inland mountain range and the Great Barrier Reef was a line of coastal limestone hills. About 10,000 years ago the icecaps began to melt causing valleys to flood and bays and inlets to form, isolating the Whitsunday Islands from the mainland. The tropical waters surrounding the Whitsunday Islands are a particular shade of blue. The colour is caused by very fine particles of sediment in the water which scatter the sunlight as it penetrates the surface. ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION. Research indicates that Aboriginal groups belonging to the Ngaro tribe inhabited the Whitsundays for at least 8000 years prior to European settlement. Evidence of their occupation can be found in authentic cave paintings discovered at Nara Inlet, Hook Island and in a stone quarry that exists on South Molle Island, where stone axes and other cutting tools have been located. Numerous fish traps which clearly demonstrate Aboriginal use of the marine environment are also located throughout the area. FLORA and FAUNA. Vine forests and thickets of lush vegetation grow in gullies and hillsides where fires are less frequent. Towering Hoop Pines, Araucaria cunninghamii, emerge from these forests and mark the skyline with their distinctive radiating branches and tufts of deep green foliage. The tall pyramid shaped Flame Tree [Brachychiton acerifoliu?] is easily recognizable during the summer months when their red flowers can completely cover the tree. Drier slopes are generally covered by open grasslands as well as eucalypt and acacia forests and woodlands. These communities rely on fire to regenerate and survive. Pink Bloodwood [Eucalyptus intermedi], Poplar Gum [E. alb], Moreton Bay Ash [= Carbeen E. tesselaris] and White Mahogany [E. trianth] are common. Their distribution and density is determined by soil, aspect and fire frequency. The Grass Tree, Xanthorrhoea, is a typical plant, attracting noisy flocks of birds, butterflies and many insects to its large flowering spike. The fauna of these island forests and woodlands is less diverse than that of the adjacent mainland. Birds are conspicuous with many species recorded. Whitsunday Island supports a population of Unadorned Rock Wallabies [Petrogale inornat] while Gloucester Island is colonized by the Proserpine Rock Wallaby [P. Persephon]. These highly social and nocturnally active wallabies are an unusual occurrence on east Australian islands [in fact, their entire ranges are restricted to this part of Queensland-PF].’

There are signs that some islands have been extensively cleared and grazed: Hamilton, Dent, South Moll, North Molle and Henning, for example, but the rest seem to be pristine.

View forwards from the cockpit

Iain offering up the prawns (photo by Hella)

Sunday 14th May

Kate returning from snorkeling in Nara Inlet

Hella enjoying the snorkeling

Laughing Kookaburra call at dawn and Lewin’s Honeyeater can also be heard. Pied Currawong and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo add their calls to the morning sounds. I see two Striated Heron moving along the rocky northern shoreline. A couple of White-bellied Sea-Eagle are soaring overhead. A good night on the mooring and after breakfast some of the party go for swims and a shore party of Iain, Kate and Ross go to look at some aboriginal cave paintings above the nearby southern shore [noted above]. We decide to head out of Nara inlet and sail downwind under reefed main and a foresail to the top of Hayman Island before we slog across some choppy water into Butterfly Bay. We spot a couple of turtles and one came close enough astern for us to identify it as most likely a Hawksbill Turtle Eretmochelys umbricata. It held its head up and looked at us closely before diving and disappearing from our sight. I suspect all those seen by us over the next few days are this species but we do not see many. Occasionally we see a solitary small uniformly rather brownish dolphin and I suspect these are all Long-beaked Bottlenosed Dolphin Tursiops aduncus a recently recognized smaller inshore warm water species (See Menkhorst & Knight (2001) A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia OUP; page 230 and plate 94) that should occur in these parts. Again there are not many seen. In Butterfly Bay we are in a no-discharge protected area in the Marine Park and we use a permanent mooring buoy for the night.
An absolute must is to have on board a copy of the magnificent book 100 Magic Miles by David Colfelt and illustrated by Carolyn Colfelt. This is a superb source of information and is essential to safe navigation in the Whitsunday islands. We are supplied with the latest seventh edition (2004; Windward Publications. ISBN 0 9586989 3 7). It has 256 pages packed with helpful tips, lots of excellent coloured pictures and loads of large, clear, full colour charts, together with many colour high resolution vertical air-photos. If there is any fault it is very short on information about flora and fauna except for mention of a few of the reef fish especially those that are legal to catch.

On our mooring in Nara Inlet

Weighing anchor (photo by Hella)

At the helm (photo by Hella)