We look at birds and generalise, considering them as just feathered animals that fly. Then, once you get to know them and to understand the different kinds you find their idiosyncrasies quite fascinating. Take the Cassowary, for example. The male will incubate the eggs, about 6 of them for 2 months. That’s not all. He will also tend to the young, organising their security and generally doing all the housework! Then there is the Black Butcherbird who, instead of just picking up food, prefers to catch live food like frogs, snakes and lizards. He didn’t get his name for nothing.  I’ve actually witnessed this bird jamming a frog into the fork of a branch and tearing it apart; hence its name. Then there is the Bar – shouldered Dove; with its distinctive whistling sound it makes with its wings as it flies off when startled. This is instinct in action! The sound is produced by the wing tips that have microscopic knife like blades that slice the air with infinite speed, thereby making the sound. This is done by the first bird when it senses danger. The rest just follow suit. Then there are the 2 kingfishers (the Little and the Azure) that live only along the watercourses. They perch on a branch looking intently into the water for fish and prawns, while bobbing the head up and down. I’m not sure why they do this but the best advice I’ve had is its way of getting a better dimensional view of the fish through the water. Then there are the Frogmouths who sleep during the day, side by side, in a family group of 3. They look upwards into a position that is called the ‘cryptic posture’. By doing this they resemble broken tree branches. Then there are the White – breasted Woodswallows that sit on a branch, side by side, as many as about 30 of them huddled together, jostling for position. I can only guess that it’s all about security, the one in the middle being the safest. Then there is the male Victoria’s Riflebird who performs the most bizarre dance to impress the female. A male will perch in a tree, raise his wings over his head until his wing tips meet. He then rocks to and fro. He then opens his beak, arcs his head backward and sways sideways. A lot of work to impress the female! Then there is the Welcome Swallow who gets his name form what seems like small flocks of these little birds welcoming the boats as they return to port. Now, this is a fisherman’s story and I believe it is true. Apparently, as the boat is moving forward, the air turbulence caused by the bow disorients the insects that we can’t see but the birds can. So, upon seeing the boats coming in the birds fly out to meet then for an opportunistic meal. Sounds like a good story! See you next month.

In the January issue, I introduced you to bird watching, with the focus on the Yellow – bellied Sunbird. Daintree is a Mecca for this hobby. Over the next few months I will select popular birds that we see frequently on my river cruise. My hope is that the locals will develop a keen interest and perhaps we could develop this activity into a group thing, complimentary, of course!

One of my favourite birds is the Papuan Frogmouth (close relative of the more familiar Tawny Frogmouth). There are three frogmouth species in Australia, but the Papuan is the only one we have in the lowlands of the Daintree Coast. They are nesting right now, and we are presently watching one along the river. Perhaps the best way to describe it is to liken it to an owl, or perhaps a broken piece of a branch (40cm long). The camouflage is spectacular, with its plumage matching the bark of the tree that it roosts in. It is a nocturnal bird which sleeps through the day with its head cocked up or looking towards the sky to give it that woody appearance. This is called the “cryptic posture”, to confuse potential attackers. I hear people calling it a frogmouth owl. This is incorrect. The frogmouth is a nocturnal insectivore. Whereas an owl is a nighthawk, catching prey with its talons. Although it is described as an insectivore, it will also catch small rodents and frogs, etc. the name frogmouth comes from its short wide break, resembling a frog. Its distribution is in Far North Queensland and in Papua, of course!

The nest of this bird is ridiculous! Only a handful of twigs, criss – crossed in the fork of an almost vertical branch. How the one eg or the chick doesn’t fall out is amazing. Once hatched, the hatchling pokes its head out from under the adult and it looks like a white, fluffy tennis ball with dark eyes.

One of the myths about this bird is being called the “Mopoke”, which it is not. The Mopoke is the Boobook Owl. It is often though that this bird migrates between Cape York Peninsula and New Guinea. This is not so, in fact it is described as being sedentary, or keeping to the same territory year round, using the same favoured roosts for long periods. They also pair permanently and sometimes you will see the male, female and the one off – spring side by side on a horizontal branch.

Well, I hope I’ve turned some of you into birdwatchers. Come up to the Daintree and join my early morning trips to catch up on your new hobby. See you next month.

It’s during May that we see the beautiful Ullyses butterfly in abundance. In the evergreen surroundings there appears this obvious flash of bright blue darting to and fro. Then it suddenly disappears , because when it lands it folds its wings up thereby appearing black and being unseen. I often thought that the bright blue warns birds of its toxic defences, but apparently this is not so. So, to avoid being caught, it darts all over the place. On the other hand, the also beautiful Birdwing butterfly glides gracefully along without a fear in the world because it’s toxic to birds, I’m told. It’s spectacular to watch a pair of Birdwings waltzing in the air in courtship, seemingly oblivious to any nearby dangers or risks. The male has bright green on its wings, with yellow and red undersides on its abdomen. The female is longer, grey on top and has the same colours as the male underneath. I believe that the Birdwing is Australia’s largest butterfly.

The most spectacular moth I’ve ever seen is the Hercules. It is about the size of an adult human hand, beige coloured with long dangling pendulums it seems hanging from either wing. Just looking at this moth makes you wonder how it can fly and why on earth nature would make something so clumsy and perhaps awkward to fly!

Another one is the four o’clock moth, seen during the day and often mistaken for a butterfly. We generally see moths at night and they are usually dull-coloured. This moth has a large yellow abdomen and dark purple wings with clear or transparent patches. On the back wings it has yellow spots. This moth should have been a butterfly!

So, what is the difference between a moth and a butterfly? Butterflies have antennae with knobby tops while those on moths are feathery. Moths lock their wings together in flight whereas a butterfly can’t. Moths are most active at night whereas butterflies prefer the day. Butterflies are thought to be useful for pollinating flowers, but the moths are seen to be pests, eating clothing and generally seen as horrible. We often joke about someone’s wallet ‘having moths in it’, suggesting someone is reluctant to pay for his round of drinks in a bar! We could go on forever.

Have you ever wondered why moths have ‘dusty’ wings? I don’t know how accurate this is but I actually watched a moth hit a spider’s web and within a split second, before the spider could pounce, the moth had bounced off. I’m suggesting that the ‘dust’ or scales fouled the sticky catching parts of the spider’s thread.

See you next month!

Beyond the high tide mark and the mangroves the change in habitats is radical. Mangroves dominate the intertidal zones while vegetation beyond that belongs to the woodland zone. There are obviously many different species of trees within that zone, ranging from coastal scrub species through to the rainforest ones. Between the Asian jungles (rainforests) and our rainforests there are several common species. Perhaps this is because of the links to the past.

One interesting tree is the Ylang-Ylang (pronounced “eelung-eelung”); its botanic name is Cananga odorata. Its significance is that the essential oil in the flowers is used as additives in producing fragrances in well-known brand names of scents and perfumes. Europeans, through Marco Polo who discovered the trade route to China, fancied the fragrances to hide the obvious body odours for the masses of people who in those days rarely bathed! I’m told by knowledgeable female tourists that the oil is also used in aromatherapy for melancholy (a feeling of sadness). Why would you bother? Others have suggested it’s used as an aphrodisiac. This really confuses me! However, the fruits or berries are about 15mm long and can be green or black and eaten and dispersed by pigeons, fig birds and cassowarys. The trees’ distribution is from Cape York to Mission Beach.

Another interesting tree that’s found in both regions is the Indian Beech (Pongamia pinnata). It grows to 20m, produces a raceme of flowers which ultimately becomes a seed pod, brown, and is about 100mm long, containing two seeds. The seed is a valuable vegetable oil and has been harvested in India since the first diesel engine developed. The oil is refined and used as a cheap biodiesel instead of diesoleum (petroleum by product). In India, wide spread use of taxis using diesel engines is the practical way to go for economic reasons.

There has been some local interest by people here to promote plantations for future use. Did you know that reject oil from deep fryers is being collected right now, refined and then on sold as bio diesel? See you next month.