As we drove up the coast we had many wonderful views of the Northern Queensland beaches and seascapes. I got sleepy, so we played the Bird Game, just kidding............ ha,,ha,,
We came into Port Douglas and luckily found a nice place to park. We got out of the car and looked around and there were beautiful people everywhere. This place was booming with tourism. There were plenty of shops to buy beautiful clothes and jewelry. It was kind of like being in St. Helena or Vale. But as nice as it was and as beautiful as the people were, much to my disappointment, not one beautiful Eclectus Parrot was there to be found.
So we decided on the next best thing, an iced coffee of course. Iced coffee is something that we have come to enjoy on these hot afternoons. As I was ordering the iced coffee, the "mate" behind the counter was being super friendly, as most people are Down Under,,,,, anyway he was asking me if I was a biologist or something, I guess it was the binoculars and camera that I was wearing. I told him "no, just birdwatching". He asked if I was looking for the Eclectus Parrots that were nesting around the downtown area. I lit up like a Christmas tree and then he said "yeah I saw them a week or so ago" and I burnt out a few bulbs on the Christmas tree. Then he said "they're escapees from the Wildlife Tourist Park" and it was like someone had pulled the plug on the brightest Christmas tree, and here's my nod to Trump, wait for it ........ EVER!
Escapees, through no fault of their own are frowned upon in the birding world. Even native endangered birds such as these parrots, are not "countable". So even if I had seen them and got really great pictures, I probably wouldn't have even mentioned it to another birder. But they are beautiful birds, wild or escapees, and I really hope to see, a wild one, someday.
We arrived at the Cassowary House in the early afternoon. No sooner had we brought our bags to our cabin than the owner's son Rowan ( a young man in his 30's) came running up saying, "do you guys want to see the Victoria's Riflebird displaying" and I was like "does Trump say some of the stupidest shit" and we both looked at each other and said simultaneously, just like Bill and Ted on their excellent adventure,,,,,,"EXCELLENT". Well, not really but it was kind of like that.
Mim and I ran over to where he led us, and there, not more than twenty-five yards away was a male riflebird displaying for a female that was perched on a horizontal branch directly in front of him. He was positioned on a short dead stump of a tree that was about twenty feet high. Rowan says they never display in direct sunlight. We were up the hill so we had an eye level view of his display stage. He faced her, stiffened his feathers so as to catch the rays of sunlight that penetrated into the understory of the rainforest. Then he lifted both of his wings up over his head like he was doing some sort of reach for the stars yoga move. The feathers on his breast lit up metallic green, just like a hummingbird's throat patch (gorget). After reaching the apex he paused for a second and then he took several slow deliberate bows, while directly facing his audience of one. He then straightened up and leaned forward throwing his left wing over across his body all the way over to his right side. As he did so you could hear a clicking sound and then he did the same thing with the opposite wing,, click, click, click,. He repeated this several times, until he rose up and pointed his beak skyward exposing his metallic blue triangular patch on his throat and then for the grand finale he pointed his beak towards the sky and opened up his mouth, impossibly wide, exposing the brilliant yellow gape to the object of his desire. This feller was leaving nothing undone. He gave everything he had because if he holds anything back, who knows if there's going to be a second date.
Naturally she was unimpressed and flew away without so much as a wink or a nod. He didn't seem to be too bothered by her indifference. He remained on his display post and began to rearrange his feathers before flying off into the depths of the rainforest. If you'd like to see a video of a Victoria's Riflebird performing his display, click here
It was hot out in a sun but it was rather cool in the rainforest. So we sat out on our balcony which overlooked a little rainforest stream. Not much was happening birdwise, but I was okay with it. In fact, if I hadn't seen another bird for my entire stay I would have been just fine, because never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would see a riflebird display. But today, there was to be icing on this cake. I made some whistling noises and some pishes and soon some small passerines came in for a closer look. Among there were Pied and Spectacled Monarch, Large-billed Scrubwren, and Yellow-breasted Boatbill.
Later on I went out for an evening birdwalk and heard some very strange calls coming from the trees on the side of the road leading into Karanda National Park. After some intense searching I was rewarded with very nice views of some very beautiful Wampoo Fruit-Doves.
The next morning we got up at the break of day. We had some granola and coffee and set out on a birdwalk. There were a couple of groups there that we ran in to. After exchanging pleasantries we went about our separate ways. Mim and I walked down to the creek were we found a pair of Forest Kingfishers that were flying up and snagging termites out of a termite nest that was situated high in a tree. We also found Olive-backed Sunbird, Double-eyed Fig Parrot, Chestnut-breasted Munias, Spotted Catbird, and Sulfur-crested Cockatoos. For a complete list of that morning click here
We made our way back to the lodge and on the way Mim picked out, from among all the twisting vines of the rainforest, a Superb Fruit-Dove, one of the most beautiful doves in the world. When we got back to the drive way leading to the lodge the owner, Rowan, was pulling out in his car. Upon seeing us he slowed down and rolled down his window and said, "guys, the Cassowary has come in". We couldn't believe our luck, first the riflebird displaying and now a cassowary!
We hurried back and sure enough standing at the back of the house was a huge and I do mean huge, and strange and I do mean strange, and prehistoric and I do mean prehistoric, and kind of scary and I do mean kind of scary ------ bird. I was feeling like asking Mim to pinch me because this was really sureal to me. I was not more than ten feet away from this huge bird, which by the way is that only bird to have ever attacked and killed a human being. They have one claw on each foot that is the equivilant of a four inch sharp knife. And those knifes are attached to legs that look to be taken from "The Incredible Hulk".
We stood taking in the moment when the bird decided to move. Lo and behold she began to move slowly in my direction and since I was only about ten feet away, it didn't take long for her to be right at my hip, I mean shoulder. Sue, the owner of the property said to me, "stay still",,,,,, "don't move",,, "don't look at her"........ I followed her direstions of a T, and the Cassowary moved on right by me and proceed to a small little ornamental pond where she proceeded to eat the resident doomed tadpoles.
What a wonderfully unbelievable time at the Cassowary House!
Wow! I consider myself lucky to still have a dad after that close call!
ReplyDelete