Once we got to Lakeland we were back in familiar territory. The only place we stopped for a photo was a pull-out lookout on the left (according to the maps it's Bob's Lookout). It's looking towards Mount Carbine.
Large-billed Scrubwren
White-throated Treecreeper
Pale-yellow Robin Race nana
Yellow-breasted Boatbill
Grey Fantail
Over the past six weeks we'd put a number of things on a list to buy when we got back to civilisation, and not knowing when we'd be close to major shops again, we decided a day trip to Cairns would be worthwhile. We initially thought we would drive down the Kuranda Range and back up the Gillies Range, but it was foggy and drizzling rain on Tuesday morning, so there was no point chasing views, so we just went down the Gillies.
We had mixed success with shopping. Bunnings didn't have a number of things we wanted even though the website said they had plenty in stock. We're very happy with our new Kings solar blanket, though. We've seen more and more people using solar blankets, and while they are not as efficient as regular panels, they are light and compact, and can be moved around to follow the sun. The new battery system in the car is all Kings and the DC-DC charger had an Anderson plug input for solar, so I watched for a deal on the 360W panel and 12m extension cable and bought it click and collect. The system was plug and play, so we tried it out in the car park while we ate lunch and were getting about 10 amps even with the cloud cover. The additional solar means the battery running the Engel can stay topped up even if we aren't driving, without needing to plug it into the van.
On our way back up the Gillies two cars in front of us suddenly slowed and put their hazard lights on, even though we weren't at roadworks (and there were a number of sections of roadworks). Dazz quickly realised they were stopped for a cassowary! It took me a minute to grab my phone, but I did manage a quick (one second!) video. This is a screen shot from it.
Some of the people we met at Iron Range had told us that a really good place to see tree kangaroos was at Peterson Creek in Yungaburra. It was about 4:30pm when we got back to the top of the range, so we thought we'd have a quick look. The whole area was a lot bigger than we expected and we didn't see any tree kangaroos, but we did see a Pied Monarch, and watched Pale-yellow Robin parents feeding a chick in the nest. The chick was being kept warm under one parent while the other one went to get food. It fed the parent on the nest, who then fed the chick.
Pale-yellow Robins
Pied Monarch
On Wednesday Dazz took the car into Atherton for a service while I spent the day cooking meals for the freezer. By the time he got home it was late in the afternoon, but we decided to try again for the tree kangaroo. Still no luck with that, but we did get a better shot of the Pied Monarch and we also saw a male Victoria's Riflebird. There was a rainforest tour group coming the other way and Dazz was explaining to them about the Pale-yellow Robins' nest on the next path when I noticed something large and black fly into a tree down the hill a bit. I found it in the binoculars and realised it wasn't a Satin Bowerbird and that it had a long bill, meaning it wasn't a Spangled Drongo. I didn't want to say Riflebird out loud with the tour group there, though, because I wasn't sure that's what it really was. As they moved down the path I called Dazz over for a look. His initial thought was Spangled Drongo, but then he also saw the bill and said it was a Riflebird. There was a straggler from the tour group who was looking for birds and he was really excited when we pointed it out to him. When the tour leader came back to get him, he told him what we were looking at and the other birder in the group also came racing back for a look. Unfortunately it was late in the afternoon and the photos were totally backlit with cloud so the photos aren't great.
Pied Monarch
Our time at Bonadio was not particularly relaxing, but at least we did see some new birds!
Our last opportunity for birding in the tropics was back at the TYTO Wetlands at Ingham. As we came into town we were excited to see our first cane train of the trip. We saw another one a couple of minutes later, but now that we're out of the cane growing area that will be it.
Australasian Darter (male)
Brown Honeyeater
Pacific Baza
