Davidson Woods

3 October - Sydney Australia - A Brief History of Australia
woodstrehl submitted on Tue Dec 07 2021 22:17:19 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
This land is old or new, depending upon how you look at it. We arrived here some 40-60 thousand years ago. Science should be able to define it better than that. It is still at work. We did not arrive in America until 12-14 thousand years ago. Ditto. So, Australians like to say the occupation has been longer here. But, there is really no structure on the continent that is earlier than 19th Century. Everything is new.
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3 October - Sydney Australia - Touristy Stuff
woodstrehl submitted on Tue Dec 07 2021 22:16:18 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Arrived Sydney a few days ago to begin acting more like a tourist and less like a bushman. We changed into casual clothes from field clothing for the flight south. The heavy fabric felt so strange. Our behavior has not changed so much; we walk about, but here each morning begins with a train ride into the heart of town. Our lodging is in the Waterloo District south of downtown and the harbor.
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28 September - Mission Beach - Tropical Rainforest Meets the Reef
woodstrehl submitted on Tue Dec 07 2021 22:15:19 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
We left the plateau with its chilly nights for a few days of truly tropical climate before leaving for Sydney. Yesterday drove south along the coast past banana orchards and sugar fields. Stopped at lovely and deserted beaches where breakers lapped against coconut palms. Found more Cassowary and heard our last Bird-of-Paradise (Victoria’s Riflebird).
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25 September - Yungaburra - Wallaby and Platypus
woodstrehl submitted on Tue Dec 07 2021 22:14:15 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Well mates, we’re on the Atherton Plateau. Warm in the day, cool at night. Rainforest on the slope to the coast, progressively drier ground to the west. Here seems a bit like California with agriculture and water being what people talk about. They grow a lot of sugar and other things. Today we had lunch at a coffee factory. Day before we birded on a tea farm.
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19 September - Kingfisher Park
woodstrehl submitted on Tue Dec 07 2021 22:13:07 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Drive from Cairns to Mossman is a bit like that along California route 1 with mountains on one side and the sea on the other. A bit more tropical. We stopped at the Mossman River where fishermen mentioned the crocs. I said, “a bit of a nuisance?” They said, “Not really,” but stood back 3 meters from the shore.
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16 September - Cairns, heading North
woodstrehl submitted on Tue Dec 07 2021 22:12:10 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
This is a chore day between our float on the Great Barrrier Reef and a drive north to Mossman. I woke with a full fledged cold and so was lazy. No birding outing at dawn. Laundry is now underway, and we go to shop for groceries soon. The Kingfisher Park Lodge warns that there are few provisions nearby. In a pinch there are restaurants one mile and five miles away. We may sample them but will also pack groceries for our own cooking. I don’t know if I will have access to Internet for the next five days. So, I’ll give a summary of our itinerary.
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15 September, Cairns - Great Barrier Reef
woodstrehl submitted on Tue Dec 07 2021 22:11:11 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Just back from two days and one night on the live-aboard dive boat Reef Encounter moored at various locations along Norman and Saxon reefs which make up a small portion of the enormous Great Barrier Reef of northeastern Australia.
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13 September - Cairns Aus - Birds of Paradise
woodstrehl submitted on Tue Dec 07 2021 22:10:14 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
I might not vote any member of the Bird of Paradise family the most beautiful bird in the world, but they are certainly the most ornate and some of their courtship behaviors are absolutely ridiculous. Human males would have to spend some $100K on their attire to match the cost to these birds of wearing such outfits.
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13 September - Cairns AUS - Bowerbirds
woodstrehl submitted on Tue Dec 07 2021 22:09:21 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
My first bowerbird in PNG was McGregor’s, a more handsome one. Anne spotted a less elegant species, the Yellow-breasted, a day earlier. She almost missed the McGregoprs by going on a “cultural tour” for one morning. Good news was that a McGregor’s showed up again in the afternoon. These often pigeon-sized birds are noted for the peculiar structures the males make to interest females. We have seen a few of these bowers and I find them amazing.
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12 September - Raintree Lodge - Birding New Guinea
woodstrehl submitted on Tue Dec 07 2021 22:08:16 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Many birds inhabit New Britain and New Guinea, but the islands are also well peopled, and there is no public land; therefore one birds among people. More, the most curious birds are the white people who come wearing field cloths and binoculars and calling birds with little speakers. And so, one must great the resident to obtain permission to bird and will be watched. One becomes used to that, but from time to time each of us needs leve the group to step behind a bush away from the group. That is difficult when there is often a person standing on the other side of the bush watching.
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