A Cape York Blog

Sunbird frolicking in the rain

Seamus — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:24:44 +0000

Watching a sunbird frolicking in the rain. Although I try to avoid anthropomorphism, it was hard to not feel that this little bird was having a great deal of fun.

frolicking sunbird

Orange Beetle Dilocrosis balteata

Seamus — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:40:19 +0000

Our neighbour on the hill behind us brought down this strange coloured beetle that he’d found. He’s been here for 20 odd years and has never seen one this colour before.

If anyone knows what this beetle is let us know. We think it’s a Christmas Beetle (Scarabaeidae Rutelinae) but can’t find these colours anywhere in our fieldguides or on the net.

We have now found out the beetle is Dilocrosis balteata. We’re trying to get more info on it.

Jack Hasenpusch from the Australian Insect Farm has very kindly, sent us this:

“Your beetle is Dilocrosis balteata and belongs in the Family Cetoniidae – these are flower beetles and your beetle also likes to eat fruit. I collected some in my garden the other day. I breed them up and supply them to schools for children to rear and breed and learn about insects in the classroom.
D.balteata occurs in Papua New Guinea all the way down the coast to approx Paluma (near Townsville). They like to breed in humus usually in hollow trees .
They are quite common actually but rarely seen , you can find them on blossom of Euodia trees, Eucalypts, Syzigiums etc usually quite high up.
We are doing a revision of this Genus of beetles at the moment but it all takes time.
The Cetoniidae is a large family within Australia and there are some beautiful species you can see on blossom generally in Spring and Summer , some are plain black or brown and others are of the most fluorescent and metallic greens and reds you have ever seen.”

Jack has written, with co-author Paul D Brock, ”The Complete Field Guide to Stick And Leaf Insects Of Australia“. It’s available on the Australian Insect Farm website.

Baby Sunbirds left the nest

Seamus — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:44:07 +0000

Our baby sunbirds left the nest today. I’m assuming both of them left as I only actually saw one go. Both parents were hovering close by the nest, twittering away. The baby cautiously crawled out of the nest, holding on with it’s claws until it’s beak was pointing vertically towards the floor. Then with much twittering from parents, he let go, almost tumbled but then started flying. Incredible to watch. I didn’t have time to video it and only got two photos. I watched him outside for a little while – both parent birds keeping an eye on him. Couldn’t see the other baby, so I suppose it was flying around somewhere.

Dainty Green Tree Frogs

Seamus — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:13:02 +0000

I was woken at 4am by the noise of hundreds of Dainty Green Tree Frogs (Litoria gracilenta). The noise was enough to wake and the bedroom was over 100 metres from where the frogs were. They are beautiful little frogs (also known as Graceful Tree Frog) only about 40mm – 45mm long. I could only see a couple while I was taking the video.

We’ve had them in the shack before but only one at a time.

Sunbirds nesting in our verandah

Seamus — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:18:07 +0000

We’ve had a couple of sunbirds nesting in our verandah at Portland Roads Beach Shack. They build a nest hanging off a piece of string in about 2 weeks, then have the babies.

We have been watching them and noticed that they seem to take the babies shit (neatly wrapped in a little white bundle) out of the nest, fly away with it drop it off somewhere.

Beautiful big python at our backdoor

Seamus — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:58:50 +0000

The other night I was met at our back door by a 3.5m python. It was very quiet and relaxed but it too big to have around the house.

Earlier in the day some of our little birds had been getting quite agitated and making warning noises, but I couldn’t see anything at the time. So I think the python had eaten something from our garden.

I asked our neighbour to help bag it and then I re-located it on the banks of a nearby creek.

He grabbed the python and I helped put it in a bag – this was my first time handling a snake like this; it was very strong – two of us struggled to get it in the bag.

I then drove to a nearby creek and let the python out on the bank – it seemed like a nice place for a big python to live.

Orange-naped snake

Seamus — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:34:54 +0000

This little Orange-naped snake (Furina ornata) was hiding next to our outside stairs. In spite of it’s very, very bright orange colouring, it was well camouflaged in the dull brown leaf litter.

I presume it was a young one as it was only about 30 cms long – they apparently grow to around 70 cms.

Fly/drive/stay deal – the wet season is the best time for wildlife

Cate — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:28:47 +0000

You can Fly into Cape York and spend some time exploring. There is heaps to see in just one area. Explore the Iron Range National Park, Chili Beach and Lockhart River area from Portland Roads.

To encourage people to visit Portland Roads Beach Shack during the wet season, we have negotiated deals with Skytrans and Lockhart River Car Hire so that our customers can get discounts when booking through us.

Jade coloured tree snake

Cate — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:00:04 +0000

This colourful tree snake is very long. At the other end his colour changes to an olive green. He is living under this water tank in our yard.

Jade coloured tree snake, Portland Roads

Major Skink in our kitchen

Cate — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:41:25 +0000

We often have interesting guests at Portland Roads. I was just talking to some Lizard people and told them about this little fellow. So just found out that this is a Major Skink. He was in our kitchen and ran under the bench, behind some boxes. This photo was in July 2011, but I also saw one the other day (December 2011). I surprised him throwing a bucket of water on the garden.

: Major Skink, Portland Roads, Cape York