Saturday, Nov 17 - Birding in Daintree

We assembled at 6:15 AM and walked into Daintree Village and down to the river where we found Murray who runs the Daintree Boatman Nature Tours and his nine-person outboard…that was firmly stuck in the mud as the tides are extreme near a new moon.



Being hauled out of the mud!


 

  He called a buddy who runs a larger tour boat and he came down and pulled our boat out onto the water! We then boarded and set off. Murray first took us up a tiny tributary and showed us a 15” stick insect - quite amazing and very difficult to distinguish from a branch.
The river was so low that we couldn’t travel very far up the river, but managed to see two new life birds and a wonderful Papuan Frogmouth, a grey mottled bird that lies flat against a branch and is very difficult to see.





The fog was rising and disappeared for a cloudless day - and a very hot, humid one. We to back at 8:45 and rushed back to Red Mill House for another platter of exotic fruits which included my favorite, lychees!

When we were stuffed full of food, we set off back to the farmlands we had visited yesterday morning in search of the Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher. It was blazing hot. We walked through brush and along the dirt road and finally got some fairly good views of this brilliantly-colored bird - but no photos.

Cork Vine

BBP Kingfisher - photo byTaro Okauchi

  We returned home at 1 PM and walked into the Village for ice cream. Hilary and I plunged into the B&B swimming pool to cool off. She and I took the rest of the afternoon off and Bob and Frances returned to the road to try for a better look at the Kingfisher. They didn’t see it again but did get good looks at the Lovely Fairy-wren. Fairy-wrens being my favorite group of birds - serves me right for taking time off birding!!

At six we walked back to the Village and to the General Store - the only business open on Saturday night! We had made a reservation - not really necessary - and ordered Croc Patties with hot sauce for me, and chicken and shrimps for the others with multiple FNQ (Far Northern Queensland) Beers.

White-lipped Frog

We returned to Red Mill and went into the library, turned off the lights, waited 15 minutes and then saw the wonderful White-lipped Frogs that live behind most of the framed pictures on the walls. After dark they come out and sit on the frames or in the kitchen and catch insects - pretty cute!