Atherton #2: Crater Lakes NP

In my most recent post, I introduced the fascinating Atherton Tableland in northern tropical Queensland. It, or at least the rainforest remnants it supports, is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area. These rainforests are a snapshot of ancient Australia, when old Gondwana was wet and rainforests covered most of the continent before the great drying which produced Australia as we now know it. The tableland is volcanic in origin, which led to very fertile soils, hence both the presence of the rainforest and its subsequent widespread clearing for agriculture. I feel that it is frustratingly obvious that a coordinated reafforestation program, offering appropriate incentives to landholders, would make an enormous difference. I've seen how such projects have transformed places with similar climates, such as Singapore and Costa Rica, undoing decades of clearing (though in Singapore most of the subject land is state-owned). However this would of course require a government with both vision and commitment.

Perhaps the richest of the remaining rainforest is the too-thin fringe that surrounds the two Crater Lakes, Barrine, originally Barany, and Eacham, also known as Yidyam, in the north-east of the tableland. 

Looking across Lake Eacham/Yidyam to the narrow belt of rainforest which surrounds both it and 
nearby Lake Barrine/Barany.

Just to save you from having to go back to the previous post; the crater lakes are in
the north-east of the map.

 

Lake Barrine/Barany above, and Lake Eacham/Yidyam; the red arrow points to Chambers Wildlife Lodge,
where we've stayed on a couple of occasions. As I've said before, I will only name
commercial businesses where I believe they have a genuine conservation ethos and
that what they offer is worth sharing with you. The national park covers just less than
1000ha, about half of which comprises the lakes themselves. Even then, not all of the forest
is reserved (eg the lodge I've mentioned is on the edge of the park, though I'm sure 
the forest is safe in their hands) and the two forests are only marginally connected. 

Despite this, the remnants are remarkably rich, a richness which is obvious to even a casual observer. We like to think of ourselves as a little more than that, and we are entranced by it.

The craters formed between 10,000 and 17,000 years ago (depending on what you read) when massive explosions resulted from the conjunction of molten magma with underground water. Pollen analyses tell us that at that time the surrounding forests were drier (this was during the last glaciation, when aridity was the norm). Both lakes are 65 metres deep at the lowest point and both lakes have easy circuit walks around them, 3km for Lake Eacham/Yidyam and 5k for Lake Barrine/Barany. We've done both of these walks more than once, and have enjoyed it every time, and recently did the boat cruise for the first time, so let's start with the lakes. 

A glimpse of Lake Eacham/Yidyam from the walking track.

Lake Eacham/Yidyam has large and usually busy picnic areas and extensive carparks. Often these are really too busy to provide much wildlife, but on our most recent visit we had a real surprise!

This splendid Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius was ambling along,
seemingly oblivious to the gawking humans (which of course included us).
They are massive up close. Cassowaries have not done well from the human
invasion, with traffic, dogs and of course rainforest clearing reducing numbers 
alarmingly. However there are apparently some encouraging signs of at least a 
slowing in the rate of reduction, and we were told that it has been quite some
years since a cassowary was last seen at Lake Eacham. (The next morning it 
turned up at our nearby accommodation!)

Nearby Lake Barrine/Barany has the historic teahouse and boat cruises. The teahouse was built in 1928 and has been a recreation hall, a guesthouse and, during World War II, an army convalescent home. 

Lake Barrine/Barany. (I'm afraid it rarely occurs to me to photograph buildings, but you can find
photos of the teahouse readily on line; it is a handsome old wooden building.)

As far back as 1888 both lakes, with a narrow strip of shoreline, were declared scenic reserves, and in 1934 both lakes were elevated to National Park status. In 1913 George Curry, with his wife Margaret, settled by the lake and after the war they developed the now teahouse and he was appointed a ranger by the Lakes Trust. (The details differ slightly between the accounts of the Curry family told to us on the boat cruise and the parks service website; I'm not in a position to adjudicate and it doesn't matter in this context anyway.) The teahouse and the boat cruises are still in the family; George and Margaret's grandson runs the boat cruises (at least on the day we were there) and their great-granddaughter and her partner run the teahouse.

Lake Barrine/Barany rainforest from the boat.

It was with a modicum of trepidation that we booked the boat cruise on the spur of the moment (we'd had a disappointing experience on another boat trip earlier in the year, albeit far from here) but our trepidation was entirely misplaced. We were accompanied on the cruise by a small busload of young local Indigenous people and a bigger busload of girls from a Sydney private school - both groups seemed fascinated by what they saw and heard. Our skipper Steve Curry was accompanied by a local Indigenous elder, Laurie, who told the local creation story of the lakes. Steve quietly told the history of the place, pointed out trees and other landmarks (and shared perhaps quite enough polished dad jokes), and the two of them made it an excellent experience. A highlight for seemingly most of us was seeing a couple of impressive Amethystine Pythons in branches just above the water; it was a cool day and the water is a heat sink, so keeps the air above it warm too and they gather here because of it. 

Australian Scrub (or Amethystine) Python Simalia kinghorni; it kept moving and I
unfortunately was unable to catch the head! (There is some disagreement re the names,
but it seems that Amethystine Python, while closely related, occurs only in 
Indonesia and PNG, not Australia.) Magnificent anyway, it is the longest and most massive
Australian snake, and one of the world's Big Snakes..

Flowering Umbrella Trees were another delight.

Flowering Umbrella Trees Heptapleurum (formerly Schefflera) actinophyllum 
Family Araliaceae growing by the lake, above and below.

A downside was the presence of African Tilapias in the water, among several species not native to the lake, which were all released illegally. As a result the number of fish species native to the lake has now dropped from three to one.

Tilapia in Lake Barrine/Barany.

Needless to say the perspective of the forest from the walking track around Barrine/Barany is rather different; here are some highlights we've enjoyed along the path.

A famous pair of Bull Kauris Agathis microstachya, growing by the track near the start
of the Lake Barrine/Barany walking track (going clockwise from the teahouse). These
are in the ancient Gondwanan conifer family Araucariaceae, and the species is endemic
to the Atherton Tablelands and the immediate vicinity. These two are estimated to 
be 1000 years old.

Boyd's Forest Dragon Lophosaurus boydii on the side of a tree, a common
resting/hunting place for them. A few years ago we went up to the tropics
in January - definitely not tourist season! - and were rewarded with sights
we'd not seen in the drier times of the year. This was one of them.

This spectacular dragon is another Queensland Wet Tropics endemic.

Another treat on the same walk was this male Cairns Birdwing Butterfly 
Ornithoptera euphorion, a real stunner and another Wet Tropics 
special (apart from an outlying population near Mackay to the south).

Atherton Scrubwren Sericornis keri, yet another Wet Tropics endemic,
mostly in the highlands.

 

Spectacled Monarch Symposiachrus trivirgatus, a more widespread species,
extending along the east coast south to the NSW mid north coast.

But many aspects of both tracks are, understandably, very similar, so the following set of photos is a combination of both walks; any of these images could have been taken on either walk.

Typical rainforest along the walking track, much of which is a boardwalk (at Lake Eacham at least).

Lianas; the climbing form allows these plants' leaves to access the sunlight by 
ascending into the canopy without investing in a massive wooden trunk. 
They are a feature of tropical rainforests.

A conspicuous group of climbers is the rattan palms, Calamus spp. (I think this
one is C. australis.) They require care on the part of walkers on these tracks. Young 
stems are protected by a thicket of thin sharp spines, and from the crown of palm leaves
descends a very unpleasant flexible 'whip', covered in wicked hooks. We are just
collateral damage however, the real purpose is to hook onto host trees to enable
them to extend upwards to the light.

 

Some rattan palm thorns, small but very effective! Their common name refers
to their use in basket and wicker furniture making, but they are more commonly
referred to in Australia as lawyer, or wait-a-while vines, for their savage entanglements.

Epiphytes are plants which grow on other plants, not taking nutrients from them (as mistletoes do) but using them for support to again get up nearer to the light. Many of these in the tropical rainforests are fern and orchids, which have minute dust-like spores and seeds respectively, to be carried on air currents to a resting place. 

Basket Ferns Drynaria sp., high in the canopy.

However there is one group of epiphytes which eventually literally overwhelm other rainforest trees; these are the strangler figs. 

A bird or bat deposits a fig seed on a branch or trunk in their sticky droppings. The seed
germinates and sends down roots, fine tendrils at first, which get bigger later. When the roots 
reach the ground they penetrate it and start sending nutrients up to the fig seedling, which in 
turns starts to grow upwards. Eventually its massive canopy kills the host tree, not by 
'strangling' but by shading it and preventing it from photosynthesising. The host trunks 
slowly rots, leaving the fig as a free-standing tree, with numerous aerial roots which 
provide shelter to many animals.

A well-known strangler fig on the Lake Eacham track. There are many species of them, 
this one and the one above being Ficus virens (often known as White Fig or Albayi).

Despite the previous comment however, not all ferns are epiphytes of course, and the rainforest understorey supports many fern species. 

Bank of Maidenhair Fern Adiantum hispidulum.

 And fungi are of course profuse; here are a couple that I can't name - sorry!

These bracket fungi are busy returning the log to the forest soil.

 

To end this celebration of the Crater Lakes NP I'm going to offer some of the highlights we've seen from (and even on) the balcony of our accommodation there, facing into the rainforest. Technically the lodge is obviously not in the park, but the boundary is very close and is unmarked. 

 

This is along the short entrance road to the property, some of which is dominated
by huge Flooded Gums Eucalyptus grandis, forming wet sclerophyll forest;
this track  is always work a walk. The lodge however, a bit lower down, is 
totally within the rainforest.

 

This is the view from a cabin verandah, looking directly into the rainforest.

It is not surprising then that the following photos, taken from one or other such verandah on different trips, are a pretty good sample of some of the vertebrate fauna of the park. They include three more Wet Tropics bird endemics though I'm starting with a couple of much more widespread species.

 

Rufous (or Little) Shrikethrush Colluricincla rufogaster, like all shrikethrushes a glorious songster.
It's smaller than other species, and is found across northern Australia and down
the east coast to northern NSW, mostly in rainforests

Lewin's Honeyeater Meliphaga lewinii is found right down the east coast
of Australia in wetter forests. It readily learns to come to the lodge verandahs
if fruit is on offer.

Grey-headed Robins Heteromyias cinereifrons are endemic to the Wet Tropics rainforests.
I find them beguiling, quiet but not especially shy, intent on going about their business.
This one was just below our balcony.

Black Butcherbirds Melloria quoyi live across the wetter parts of northern Australia
and down the east coast to Mackay, as well as in New Guinea and some associated
islands. An authoritative study determined that it is something of a link
between the other butcherbirds and Australian Magpies. Like other
butcherbirds (and magpies) they have a lovely rich complex call,
sometimes almost bell-like.

Male Victoria's Riflebird Ptiloris victoriae on the balcony. (We may have
inadvertently left some fruit on the railing...) Unfortunately the light was
entirely wrong, but you get just a hint of his glorious iridescence. This
species is pretty well limited to the Atherton Tableland.
There are three species of riflebirds, which are birds of paradise, in three 
small discrete populations in the eastern tropical and subtropical rainforests. 

Spotted Catbird Ailuroedus maculosus, calling from just off our balcony. It has a
rather weird cat-like wailing-yowling call, very atmospheric. Catbirds are 
apparently primitive bowerbirds, which do not build display bowers.
This one is another Wet Tropics endemic; there are two closely related and
similar species in far north Queensland and in New Guinea, with which
 it has until recently been confused.

One of the highlights of Chambers Wildlife Lodge is the night wildlife viewing area, near to the cabins, facing into the rainforest.

The area is lit, which initially surprised me, but it doesn't seem to bother at least
some of the animals; I've seen the same setup at a waterhole in Etosha NP in 
Namibia, and in a similar forest situation to this in Brazil.

In principle I don't like the idea of feeding wildlife, but this seems fairly controlled. Some honey is spread on a couple of tree trunks in the early evening, especially to attract two species of possum. In our experiences there the animals don't stay long and don't come every night, so it seems to be providing a minor treat rather than a primary food source. Anyway, here are the stars. 

Sugar Gliders are widespread in eastern and northern Australia and New Guinea.
However we now know that there are three Australian species and the most widespread
one, west of the Great Dividing Range, is Krefft's Glider Petaurus notatus, including this one.
(The true Sugar Glider P. breviceps live along the coastal strip in NSW and Victoria,
and has been introduced to Tasmania.) The New Guinea situation is still being studied. 
The gliding membrane stretches from wrist to ankle - we can see some of it by the
arm and leg of this one - and can carry the glider for well over 100 metres
between trees, changing direction as necessary.

Even more exciting to us however, because it is limited to the tropics and we'd never seen one properly, was the wonderful Striped Possum Dactylopsila trivirgata, found across New Guinea in a couple of narrow strips of rainforest on Cape York and the Wet Tropics. 

This striking colouration is usually a warning sign in animals. It has been reported
that Striped Possums have a strongly unpleasant odour, which suggests that they
might also taste bad for protection and would explain the warning.

Here we can see the extended fourth toe, which they use to extract nutritious wood-boring
larvae from the tree trunk. They locate a hollow by tapping on the trunk, then chew a hole
to access it, and use the long toe to extract the unfortunate grub. In a remarkable 
example of parallel evolution this is exactly the strategy used by the entirely
unrelated Madagascan lemur, the Aye-aye Daubentonia madagascariensis; see below.

This female is part of a population on an island in the Pangeles Lakes of eastern
Madagascar, partially habituated to come down for coconuts left out for them.
(The teeth which evolved primarily to rip into wood work well here too.) The photo
is not good (flashes are quite rightly banned here) but if you expand the photo
you can see the very slender fingers on her right hand and the extended
middle finger.

Another mammal came to the offerings too, but was only able to take whatever fell to the ground.

Long-nosed Bandicoot Perameles nasuta. This little marsupial is found along almost
the entire east coast of Australia, in a variety of habitats. The complete generalist, 
it is also omninvorous and while most of its diet is invertebrates it also eats fungi
and tubers (as well as some spilled honey where available!).

Perhaps the most interesting regular visitor to the lodge however is a tiny kangaroo - the smallest in fact, and the most ancient, perhaps resembling the ancestral kangaroo. Moreover the Musky Rat-Kangaroo Hypsiprymnodon moschatus is the only kangaroo that doesn't hop on its hind legs. It is diurnal and omnivorous and in my opinion one of the most fascinating of Australian mammals. It is not uncommon in the Wet Tropics (and only found there) but until this lodge my only experience of them was repeated glimpses as one dashed across a road or track. Not here though!  

I could scarcely believe my eyes the first time a 'Hypsie' pottered out of the forest
just below our balcony and proceeded to so potter unconcerned by us.
By now you may have some idea how exciting this was for us!

If you've read this far, my thanks. I hope you've been encouraged to visit this tiny park and adjacent forests, whether for the first time or as a return. This remnant of ancient Australia deserves our attention and awe.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 2 APRIL

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Atherton: a tiny, despoiled but still special tropical tableland

Eight hundred metres above steamy Cairns, in tropical north Queensland, is a small volcanic plateau, not much more than 35km from north to south, and 25km west to east. Over the last four million years, until just 10,000 years ago, the area was subject to often vigorous volcanic activity. For most of that time the main impact of the repeated basalt flows across the countryside was that valleys were filled, producing a relatively flat surface, dotted with low rounded hills formed from the eroding cones. More recently the surfacing lava met groundwater, producing violent explosions that generated the crater lakes Barrine and Eacham. 

Perhaps the most profound impact however was the gradual erosion of the layers of basalt which produced deep fertile soils. Until recently it supported tropical rainforest and now rare Mabi forest, a complex vine forest including deciduous and semi-evergreen trees. Those same soils however inevitably attracted farmers and graziers, though not until the late 19th century. Now crops and grazing land have almost entirely replaced the rich upland rainforest and the Mabi forest has nearly gone. Nonetheless there are still remnant protected areas, incorporated into the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area (which comprises the rainforests of the northern Queensland tropics, from Townsville to Cooktown, and which I'll just refer to as the Wet Tropics hereafter). 

This really is a special part of the world. In the Wet Tropics area there are 11 species each of mammals and birds which are found nowhere else (ie are endemic), 13 species of reptiles and 22 of frogs, plus of course numerous endemic plants and invertebrates. See here for more detail. Quite a few of these species survive in the rainforest pockets of the Atherton Tablelandd.

Approximate location of the Atherton Tableland, at the end of the red arrow.

You will probably need to click on this map to see the detail. The yellow stars indicate
places on the tablelands mentioned in this post. The pale green area (ie most of it) is
cleared land. The dark areas are the only remaining forest, and even these remaining forest areas 
are mainly state forest and plantations, subject to logging. The largest reserved area 
is Crater Lakes NP, around Lakes Barrine and Eacham; this reserve is less than 1000ha, 
around half which is water (and is the subject of a follow-up post). 
Mt Hypipamee NP protects some 360ha, while Curtain Fig NP is less than 200ha. 
Hasties Swamp NP is 57ha, comprising an ephemeral wetland plus fringing remnant woodland.

This post is not however intended to dwell on what was lost - though we should never forget that - but to celebrate what is left. As mentioned above, the stunning Crater Lakes NP will get its own post soon; this one introduces the other sites I've mentioned. In our opinion the most pleasant town on the tableland is Yungaburra, small, nice old buildings (especially the pub) and leafy parklands - but I'm afraid I rarely think to take photos of towns!. The best-known natural attraction in town (or at least on the very edge of it) is a long pool on Peterson Creek on the road out to Atherton town, with a well-signposted Platypus viewing platform. We've been lucky there on a few occasions.

Platypus, late morning, Yungaburra.

On a recent visit there we found something quite unexpected on the nature strip of an intersection in the middle of town. 

Bush Stone-curlews Burhinus grallarius, central Yungaburra. They are mostly nocturnal
and tend to loaf about during the day.

They're one of my favourite birds, and the wailing calls at night (the 'curlew' of
Australian folklore) are my favourite Australian bird call, just after Pied Butcherbirds.
(The white fluffy bits on the legs, which I've just noticed, seem to be down feathers.)

One night, 20 years ago, I did something I rarely do in Australia, which was to engage a local to take us out looking for tree kangaroos, which I'd failed to find previously. On this occasion we did see a pair (hopeless photos, but see later for a much better more recent one) but an equal highlight was this superb big owl. We started in Yungaburra and didn't drive far, but I'm not sure exactly now where it was.  

Rufous Owl Ninox rufa, near Yungaburra - sorry about the head! It is only just smaller
than Australia's biggest owl, the Powerful Owl. They are found across the northern
tropics, especially in rainforest and vine forest, and take a range of prey including fruit
bats, possums, bandicoots and scrubfowl. 

Yungaburra is only a few minutes drive from the Crater Lakes, and even closer to the Curtain Fig National Park, the 200ha scrap of forest that exists mostly because of the tourist-attracting Curtain Fig Tree Ficus virens, one of the strangler figs. A bird or fruit bat drops seeds onto another tree and the germinating seedling sends roots down to the ground. When it is established thus it grows up and out, eventually shading the host tree out and killing by starving it of sunshine. As an independent tree, the strangler fig can be huge; the Curtain Fig is said to be one of the most massive trees known in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

The Curtain Fig. It began life, perhaps 500 years ago, on a now-vanished host tree,
which toppled sideways, probably after dying, and leaned against a neighbouring tree.
After sending down the 'curtain' of roots from its 45 degree angle, the fig took over 
this tree too, and from its leaning position grew upwards again. 
I find it very hard to get it all in one photograph. The 'curtain' doubtless provides
habitat for very many animals.

Volcanic rocks are scattered on the forest floor around the fig. This pocket of
forest contains one of the very few remnants of the Mabi vine forest. Since 2001
the fig has been accessed by a raised circular boardwalk, which both provides
access to those who might not otherwise be able to see it, and protects
the forest floor from compaction.

A very large ephiphytic Elkhorn (or Staghorn) Fern Platycerium sp.
A feature of rainforests is the wealth of epiphytes, which take advantage of a tree's 
huge energy investment in a massive woody trunk, by alighting (as a seed, or spore in this case)
onto that trunk to develop up in the sunlight. They are not parasitic and take nothing from the tree.

On one visit this delightful Green Ringtail Possum Pseudochirops archeri was roosting in a low tree
by the Curtain Fig carpark. This possum is only found in the Queensland Wet Tropics,
in a small area of upland rainforest. Its greenish fur is a trick of light, as it reflects from the 
yellow, black and white banding on each hair. This posture, resting curled up by day on 
a branch among foliage, is typical of the species. (The four other members of the 
genus are found in New Guinea and associated islands.)

More recently we did find our own tree kangaroo, in a large tree in a tea plantation near Malanda in the centre of the tablelands.

Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus lumholtzi, Malanda. These animals fascinate me.
Their distant ancestors were small ground-living mammals, some of which went up into
the trees and eventually evolved into the modern possums. Later some of them came down
again and diversified into kangaroos and wallabies. Later still it seems that some rock 
wallabies again took to the trees, giving rise to the tree kangaroos. There are two species in tropical
Queensland - this one is confined to the Atherton Tableland - and another 15 in New Guinea.
This is one of the real treasures of the tableland!

This very large wasp nest has no connection with the tree kangaroo, except that
it was nearby. I didn't get close enough to attempt an identification.

Another popular tablelands destination is Mount Hypipamee National Park on the south-western edge of the tableland. The park, of just 360ha and centred on the Mount Hypipamee volcanic crater (often just called The Crater), is a lovely little rainforest remnant with walking tracks to the crater and along the creek below, past busy cascades. Bizarrely I seem never to have taken a photo of the spectacular tubular crater, 60m across and 80m deep, with a lake at the bottom. There are plenty of birds here but the cascades make it hard to hear them.

Cascades near The Crater, above and below.

Another very handsome Elkhorn Fern in the canopy.

Colourful mossy tree base by the walking track.

White-throated Treecreeper Cormobates leucophaea at The Crater. It is a widespread and
common species in near-coastal south-eastern Australia, but this is an isolated
population in the montane forests of the Wet Tropics. It is smaller and darker than
the more familiar southern birds.

Grey-headed Robin Heteromyias cinereifrons, a wet tropics endemic, by The Crater 
walking track. This rainforest robin is quiet and often unconcerned by us; I'm very fond of them.

And another Hypipamee rainforest robin, this time more distant and through misty rain - 
a soft little Pale Yellow Robin Eopsaltria capito. This one has a curious distribution, with two
widely separate populations - this one in the Wet Tropics, and another in north-east NSW
and adjacent south-east Queensland.

However this is without doubt our most memorable encounter at Mount Hypipamee.
This Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius was standing quietly in a little patch
of trees by the toilet block when I last took a tour there in 2015. She (I'm pretty sure,
due to her bright colours) was very aware of us, but not apparently concerned.
This species has declined in Australia and is listed as an Endangered Species, but there is 
some reason for optimism with increased protection measures and apparent population 
stabilisation. It is a truly magnificent animal.

Another Wet Tropics endemic found more widely in the tablelands forests is the spectacular Spotted Catbird Ailuroedus maculosus. (There has been confusion in the past about the identity of Australian catbirds, but it is now generally agreed that there are three; this one, the Green Catbird A. crassirostris of more southern rainforests, and on Cape York the Black-eared Catbird A. melanotis which is primarily a New Guinea bird.)

Spotted Catbird in the carpark at Millaa Millaa Fals in the south of the tablelands.
Catbirds are a perhaps more primitive group of bowerbirds, which never discovered
bower building. Their weird yowling calls are disturbingly catlike - and even
more disturbingly can sound like a crying baby.

On the western edge of the tableland, just south of Atherton (the town) is Hasties Swamp NP, a place we always visit when in the area. It comprises a fairly substantial seasonal lagoon where we are served by a splendid two storey bird hide. The lagoon is nearly a kilometre long and at the hide is about 200m wide. I am shocked at how few photos I've taken there - perhaps things are usually too far away? On our most recent visit there was atypically not much bird diversity evident, though large numbers of Magpie Geese and Plumed Whistling Ducks were roosting along the edges.

Here are  a couple of photos taken there over the years. 

Wandering Whistling Ducks Dendrocygna arcuata and Plumed Whistling Ducks D. eytoni
at Hasties Swamp. Two very attractive long-legged ducks, belonging to a world-wide genus.
The Plumeds are confined to Australia, though widespread, and the Wanderings
(which in Australia actually don't wander as much as their cousin!) extend through New Guinea
to Indonesia and the Philippines.

Part of a huge assemblage of Plumed Whistling Ducks that stretched along the far shore.

Plumed Egret Ardea plumifera resting near the hide. 

Bleeding Heart Tree Homalanthus sp. in remnant woodland by the hide.

And of course we never know what we might see on any drive across the (otherwise largely uninspiring) cleared land of the tableland.

Spotted Harrier Circus assimilis perched by the roadside. I think this is one of the most
attractive of the birds of prey. This one has lost its tail - possibly moulting though 
August seems an odd time for that, but I don't really know the details of moulting in the tropics. 

Which brings us to the end of this introduction to the beguiling Atherton Tablelands. I hope you're curious enough to think about seeing it (or revisiting) for yourself one day. Next time (when summer will already be over, sigh) I'll be back with the concentrated delights of the Crater Lakes NP, where we spent a few days recently, though not for the first time. Thanks for reading.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 12 MARCH

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