*Video now fixed. D’oh!

So I have officially returned from the Atherton Tablelands. I suppose I physically returned a few days ago but I only feel like I landed about now. It was a truly brilliant trip despite some minor setbacks such as Hasties Swamp being bone dry. Thankfully, the search for the Tooth-billed Bowerbird (Scenopoeetes dentirostris) was a hard fought success! Despite assurances of many active bowers in the week prior to departure, I failed to find a single active bower. It took us four hours to navigate our way around the Lake Eacham circuit track while we chased calling birds and stopped frequently to watch the many finds of the day. The first Tooth-billed Bowerbird was a single bird spotted high in the canopy by Alex amongst a number of calling Spotted Catbirds (Ailuroedus melanotis), but we only got a five second glimpse before it disappeared. I was convinced this was going to be the only bird we would see as we did not even hear one calling for the next two hours or so. It was only in the last half kilometre of the track when the dense undergrowth opened up a little did I finally hear that distinct call. Feeling I wasn’t going to get another opportunity, as I hadn’t so much as hear a single bird at the Chambers Wildlife Lodge either, I set off into the undergrowth to get a glimpse of this bird. As the calling got louder an louder I still couldn’t see the bird, before finally, just before the cloud of mosquitoes around my head finally got to me, I spotted the motionless bird ahead of me. Ashamedly, this is the best video I got. Thankfully, this also happened to be the only video where the audio was not obstructed by buzzing mosquitoes!

The lighting and positioning was not accommodating to photography but I attempted a couple of shots anyway. Here was the best shot I got of the bird.

Although many interesting birds were sighted on this trip, for the most part I was without camera. One of the trade offs of having Alex come up here with me was that I had to offload the camera to her. I did get a hold of it occasionally though and I did get some decent shots (as did Alex) which I will post in the coming days! The highlight of the photography on the trip would have to be the opportunity to capture some Double-eyed Fig-parrots (Cyclospsitta diophthalma) which were feeding on fruit and seemed completely unperturbed by our presence. The video is even more impressive! Hopefully I will get that up tomorrow. Enjoy!

I hope everyone had a great new year!

Tags: Atherton Tablelands, birding, birds, tooth-billed bowerbird