On a clear but not hot Sunday morning, we left Cairns before daylight and assembled south of Herberton for a morning's birdwatching. After a short stop by a creek with surprisingly few birds, we proceeded to a granite slope with many plants in flower - yellow mistletoe, everlasting daisy, grevilleas.
This open forest held many birds -that was obvious from their calls, but it was difficult to see them. Maybe we made too much noise ourselves.
When we moved to a more scrubby area - a ridge between two creeks, we had better luck. Here we saw yellow robin, red-browed finch, little lorikeet, fern-wren, grey fantail, dusky swallow, scaly-breasted lorikeet. I missed a catbird and a Lewin's honeyeater.
The dusky woodswallow was a thrill, as it was my finding this bird that enabled our scope carrier to set up in time for me to photograph it as well.
We stopped on the way home to view Bromfield Crater but there were no cranes - they are away in Carpentaria breeding. This is a famous stopover point for migrating birds. Wonder whether I'll still be here to catch a sighting? This pic by the way is but a placeholder. It only shows a small part of the crater rim. My panorama shot is still on film awaiting processing!
