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Written by Phil & Sue Gregory
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31st August
This has been a very wet dry season. The frogs have loved it with both Northern Barred Frogs and Striped Marsh Frogs calling loudly for most of the year in the pond outside our bedroom. We have already had a number of tadpoles with the eggs of the Northern Barred Frogs stuck spectacularly, to the rocks behind the waterfall. The White-lipped Treefrogs seem to have spent less time sleeping in the toilets this year as for the most part it has been warmer than usual.
Dad Cassowary is due back from the nest very soon and we are keeping our fingers crossed that this year there are no problems and he is able to raise a healthy brood. "Missy" the female has remained a faithful visitor seen by most of our guests. However her lack of timetable has made it difficult for people who are unable to spend time waiting for her.
Both the male Victoria's Riflebirds are displaying and get very annoyed with each other if they meet up at the feeders.
The Red-necked Crakes have been very vocal in recent weeks and if the rain continues we can hope for an early brood of babies. However in previous years they can get quite excited and then everything goes off the boil when the sun comes out and a prolonged dry period occurs. Fernwren has been singing well just outside the gate and the first Noisy Pittas have started calling. The Grey Goshawks are back on the nest and Rose-crowned Fruit Dove has joined the morning chorus. The Yellow-breasted Boatbills are also calling well along the driveway.
17th April
Despite all the rain we have been having lately birding around the area has been consistently good. At Cassowary House Cassowaries continue to come daily and the Red-necked Crakes after their exceptionally good breeding success are seen regularly. Spotted Catbirds, Macleays Honeyeaters and the very grumpy and aggressive Helmeted Friarbird are regular on the verandah. There is also a remarkably cute baby Brush Turkey scratching around in the mulch. A miniature of the adults, even down to the tail which always seems put on the wrong way, the only real difference being the lack of colour on its head.
At present we have two male Victoria's Riflebirds coming in regularly and in the past week we have twice been treated to some pretty good almost full displays at breakfast when a bevy of females joined one or the other in the tree by the verandah. With puffed out feathers, wings upcurved, head thrown back and yellow gape flashing, this is a truly awesome sight. No-one is regularly on the usual display tree yet but it is great to see such responses to females at the start of the season.
The frogs have really enjoyed the rains with some very impressive Northern Barred Frogs in chorus just outside my bedroom door. The steady drip of the Striped Marsh Frogs is also a regular evening sound and usually continues well into the dry season.
7th March
The Red-necked Crakes have just presented us with the 3rd brood of the season and we now have birds in various stages of development all over the place!
Having stated that the Barred Cuckooshrikes were not around at the start of the month, the following day large flocks reappeared noisily eating the berries in a fruiting tree. They have been joined by big flocks of Metallic Starlings and Rainbow Lorikeets in the last couple of days.
The autumn migration is now truly underway with the first Rainbow Bee-eaters coming north through the garden this week. Several Channel-billed Cuckoos have been heard recently and yesterday a high altitude Dollarbird was also seen flying steadily north.
1st March
The second brood from the Red-necked Crakes are now looking more like birds than furry, black, ping-pong balls. Still lacking the red head, they are however crake-shaped and easily identifiable. Recent visitors have had no trouble finding both the youngsters and the adults down around the banana plants at dawn and dusk.
Last night the Lesser Sooty Owl was very vocal and was seen in our car park perched very high in one of the tall trees. Oddly the vocalisation being made was the trilling cricketing call we usually associate with breeding. We would not expect this until later in the year.
Both the Cassowaries are visiting daily. Sometimes they come in together but this seems to be the result of chance meetings rather than a pairing and there are lots of grunts and other noises because Dad is a bit wary of Missy.
Gould's Bronze Cuckoo, Cicadabird and Boatbills, are all still very vocal but there have been no Barred Cuckooshrikes around lately. The Noisy Pitta is still with us and was heard again yesterday.
There was a huge amethystine python curled up in the mulch pile the other morning. It had a rather disturbing bump in its tummy. We hope it wasn't one of the musky rat-kangaroos.
29 December 2009
Sadly none of the Cassowary chicks survived, the last one vanished in early September, maybe due to the very dry conditions then plus some large pythons in the area. The male and female Cassowary still come daily, at varying times, but there was no further breeding attempt this year.
Locally 2 Asian Dowitcher have been making a prolonged stay at the Cairns Esplanade, along with a couple of Broad-billed Sandpipers and erratic appearances from the vagrant Laughing Gull that first appeared back in February, plus the usual good variety of shorebirds like Great Knot, Red-necked Stint, Grey-tailed Tattler and Terek Sandpiper.
31st July 2009
Great news!!!!!. Dad Cassowary is back with 4 beautiful little striped baby chicks!  Dad with Chicks 31/07/09
The Red-necked Crake is continuing to come in every evening, waiting in the bushes until the Brush Turkeys have gone off to roost and then coming out into the open.
14th July 2009
The resident Red-necked Crake has recently become much more confiding and is showing well most days. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times though it was out in bright sunlight this afternoon. Practically everyone who has wanted to see it recently has been able to do so. The area under the main house verandah is the best place to look at the moment so we all sit up on the verandah and look down. Provided the Brush Turkeys are not being too aggressive we are usually able to get good views. They are a fairly common bird in the area and later in the year we will hear several calling all round the house but they tend to be shy and retiring and usually difficult to see.
Dad Cassowary is still away so we are keeping our fingers crossed that this will be a successful breeding attempt. The female is still visiting daily but follows no timetable and may appear early morning one day and late afternoon the next.
A recent tour client asked for Cassowary, Golden Bowerbird, Victoria's Riflebird and Noisy Pitta all in one day. We were very pleased when we managed to oblige with a supporting cast of many other FNQ specials as well. A rather strenuous day but well worth it.
13th June 2009
Having been observed (and photographed) mating, from the verandah of Cassowary House in mid May, our male Cassowary has gone off to the nest. We haven't seen him for a few weeks now. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything will go well and in the latter part of July we will be keeping our eyes open hoping he will be back with a family of small striped chicks. The female is still coming round daily, not at all worried by onlookers she carries on with whatever she is doing while our guest's cameras are clicking around her.
The cold weather has kept the frogs very quiet recently. The 4m python has moved on but a smaller one has taken up residence in the main house roof. This prime real estate became vacant on the sad death of its previous inhabitant last year.
Winter birds are very much in evidence now. Though many birds are not calling much at present Noisy Pittas have been joining in the dawn chorus at certain nearby sites much to the delight of local birders.
Despite the current high water levels our popular "Breakfast with Platypus" has had a lot of success lately with large numbers of platypus giving very good and very close views. This morning one stayed resting his bill out on the weed for some time offering a fantastic photo opportunity.
14th April 2009
A 4 metre amethystine python is currently playing havoc with the local wildlife. It slithered into view yesterday during breakfast at Cassowary House traveling fast across the area below the verandah and disappearing into a large clump of vegetation. The musky rat-kangaroos, which had been hopping about happily, quickly disappeared. The last time this particular snake set up home she ate at least 5 of them, decimating the local population.
The recent rain has perked up the frogs no end. The striped marsh frogs have been driving guests mad with their dripping call - a form of water torture. The northern barred frogs are also very noisy at present and yesterday a white-lipped tree frog decided to spend the day on the wall at the top of the stairs up to the guest rooms.
26th March 2009
Both male and female Cassowaries are visiting Cassowary House daily at present and conveniently often turning up at breakfast time allowing guests to have good views of these magnificent birds. On the odd occasions that they turn up together the smaller male is obviously wary of the much larger female and is being quite vocal with worried grunts and snorts as he jumps back whenever she steps towards him even though she is showing no obvious signs of aggression.
The Red-necked Crakes second brood of the season has recently started to disperse and are out on their own looking for territories. We are seeing them in odd places, miniature crakes without the colouring of the adult birds yet.
A large Striped Possum has been a welcome, if rather noisy visitor, on the banana plants on the end of the Cassowary House verandah during recent nights. Between the birds and the wild mammals the human residents rarely get any of the fruit we grow here.
A recent week-long Tropical North Tour based at Cassowary House was very successful despite the paucity of ducks, egrets and grebes probably due to the large amount and high levels of surface water at this time of year.
Highlights of the tour included;
- the Daintree early morning cruise with "Sauce" of Daintree River Experience when we had really good views of Great-billed Herons and Black Bittern,
- the Laughing Gull which is still on the Esplanade
- a Banded Lapwing at Mossman Golf course- a very unusual record for this coast
- some excellent birding along Black Mountain Road with 4 species of monarch seen well, plenty of great views of Cassowary, Lovely Fairywrens and much more.
- good looks at Fernwren and Tooth-billed Bowerbird at the Crater.
- the incredibly friendly Mareeba Rock Wallabies at Granite Gorge.
- a balloon trip over the Cairns Highlands!
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Cairns/Kuranda Birding 
