Well we have had a nice relaxing stay in Bowen. The weather has been fine though a bit too cloudy for the amazing coastal photos that you usually get here. The ocean can look a very light blue and the beaches stunning white on a really clear day without too much wind.
View of Bowen from Flastaff Hill
Bowen Coastline
View south from Flagstaff Hill
Horseshoe Bay
Horseshoe Bay
The coastal walk is great with picturesque outlooks, we were hoping for some birds of prey ‘ flybys’ but weren’t lucky enough.
This afternoon we visited the rivermouth at Queens Beach at low tide and saw quite a few Eastern Curlews, Red- capped Plovers and some other terns and shorebirds so that was really nice.
Red-capped Plover – a joy to photograph, they are sooooo cute
Red-Capped Plover
Red-Capped Plover on the hunt
Press play to view Steph’s Video snips of Bowen
Eastern Curlew Flyby
Its exciting to be near the coast to capture some amazing shorebirds
Caspian Tern
Little Tern (Breeding Adult)
Gull-billed Tern
We visited Mullers Lagoon in the middle of town a few times. There’s always a good variety of water birds here.
We were a bit concerned about the water quality there though……they have signs everywhere warning us humans not to drink the water as it’s ‘ Reclaimed Effluent’ it has a bizarre greenish tint to it.
Of course the birds don’t know that otherwise they wouldn’t be there I guess. We did see 3 dead pelicans there so that took the shine off for us, we don’t know what they died from.
A Nankeen Kestral doing a great balancing act
Pelicans Synchronised Fishing
Plumed Whistling Ducks
Straw-necked Ibis Flyby
Blue-faced Honeeaters
Some popular birds of Mullers Lagoon
White-faced Stilt at Mullers Lagoon
Tomorrow we are off to Cape Palmerston, we haven’t been there before so are quite exited to be going somewhere new🤩🤩
The van park is 100 metres from the beach, also a National Park not too far away so hopefully we will have good weather and see lots of critters.
We will also be catching up with Anthony’s son and family…..( my two gorgeous inherited grandchildren ). We don’t get to see them much with our current lifestyle so it’s really great that they are also hitching up their van and coming to spend the weekend with us 😁😁 we will have a great time.
The aptly named Peaceful Doves are difficult not to PhotographThis Pied ButcherBird held this pose for quite some time … so I abligedThis Whistling Kite was eying off his evening meal, perched over a roosting Island at Mullers Lagoon
So bye for now and of course enjoy all the pics and video snippets.
Well we have really enjoyed our time here in Mareeba. We did visit Kuranda which is always nice especially on a beautiful day.
There’s plenty of walks in the rainforest and along the Barron River and the boardwalk down to the Barron Falls lookout is fantastic and a great spot for birdwatching.
Fig trees border the streets of KurandaThe Barron River walk
Press play to view Steph’s Video snippets
The last few days in Mareeba have been very windy and smokey …..there’s some reduction burns going on in the Dindin forest and with the strong south easterly winds the smoke is coming here.
Anthony has been having a great time walking around the grounds here and over to the small dam, which is almost dried up and doesn’t really look like it would have any bird visitors, but a few days ago a Jabiru flew over Anthony’s head and landed in it, and has been re-visiting it every day since. At first he seemed a bit nervous, so Anthony hid in the pump house shed next to the dam where he got some great photos.
Yesterday afternoon Anthony managed to slither on his belly right up to edge of the dam and sneakily got some amazing close ups of this gorgeous big bird. He had to slither back down so as not to disturb him…..we love getting great photos and video but hate it when we disturb them.
This Black-necked Stork (aka Jabiru) allowed me to get quite close and put on quite a show
Jabiru up close
So we are off to Cairns soon…..
It’s usually a place we avoid, because it’s just way too busy for us now. But we have to fly out to Thailand for more dental work next week.
We were hoping not to go this year but I still have a problem with my tooth implant and Anthony wants more work done and it’s just so ridiculously expensive here, we don’t have much choice.
We didn’t want to put Chloe in a Cattery, so by putting the van in Cairns my lovely sister Denise will be able to look after her, and hopefully she won’t be bothered too much that we aren’t here.
We are only going for 5 days.
Black Kite
Wompoo Fruit Dove
Black-shouldered Kite
White-faced Cuckoo-shrike
There are some great birdwatching and dragonfly spotting hotspots around in Cairns as well so we will try and get out and about as much as we can till we fly out so we will keep you posted.
Cheers, Steph and Anthony.
We will miss this sight from our window in the mornings
We have had another couple of great days in Ingham.
Yesterday we drove south to Jourama Falls only about a 20 minute drive, the last 5 kms is corrugated dirt but our truck doesn’t seem to mind the corrugated roads. It must be the length and also maybe the dual wheels at the back but I think a standard car would be shaken to bits.
Pathway to the falls
It was very overcast, no rain but not very good for photos. The birds didn’t want to come out and play either. On a previous visit to the Falls and later in the year this place is teeming with dragonflies but we didn’t see one. We had a picnic lunch and still a beautiful place to visit and a great little hike up to the waterfall lookout.
We popped into Tyto in the afternoon but didn’t get any photos there either. I think, like us, the birds like to see the sun.
Picturesque Swimming hole at Jourama
Rockpools and creeks
A rare occasion when a Spectacled Monarch sits still long enough to snatch a pic
Varied Triller
a brief glance of a Dusky Honeyeater
Rufous Shrike-thrush
Immature Spectacled Monarch
Press play to view a short clip of Jourama Falls
Today….
beautiful blue skies again. We visited Tyto this morning and wow, what a difference.
Birds were chirping everywhere, Anthony got some great photos. We missed out on a Jabiru flying off and at one time there was a wedge tail eagle getting harassed by about a dozen whistling kites. Great to watch but too far away for photos.
There is always something to see here.
An Egret surveying his domainThose Spurs on the leading edge of the wing is a good enough reason to avoid being swooped by ‘Plovers’ (Masked Lapwings)
a pair of Bush Stone Curlews
Drip Drying Drongo
Here’s a selection of pics featuring the gorgous Red-backed Fairywrens
This Leaden Flycatcher allowed us to get very close and personal … bless his cotton socks
Press Play to view Tyto Birds Video
Well this is our last day here, tomorrow we are heading north again and up the Palmerston Highway to the Tablelands.
We like the trip up there. We are booked into a van park in Yungaburra, one of our favourite places but it’s extremely busy and we are not sure yet if we can fit in. One of the pit falls when being so big.🙄🙄
