Contact Call Newsletter of BirdLife Northern Queensland Volume 9 Number 4 December 2020 Can you guess what bird this is? It’s a Pale Yellow Robin. But the images to the left are of a leucistic Pale Yellow Robin recently found at Yungaburra. What does leucistic (or leucism) mean? Leucism, or leukism, is an abnormal condition caused by a genetic mutation that prevents pigments from reaching some—or sometimes all—of a bird's feathers. The intensity of leucism varies with a bird's genetic makeup, but the skin and eyes retain their normal pigment and color. Birds with leucism can have: White coloured feathers in areas where the bird should not be white Paler overall plumage colour that looks faint, patchy or bleached Overall white plumage with little or no color visible. Leucism can be inherited. The extent and location of the paler colouration can vary between adults and their young, and can also skip generations if leucistic genes are recessive. For more information go to British Trust of Ornithology For comparison, a normal Pale Yellow Robin. Leucistic Pale Yellow Robin. Images by Gary Wilson Image by Ian Montgomery, Birdway.com BirdLife Northern Queensland In this issue… 25th Anniversary of the formation of Birdlife Northern Queensland ………. page 4 Keith and Lindsay Fisher report on the big weekend of activities at Malanda, held in recognition of the 25 years since the formation of BNQ. BirdLife Northern Queensland Buff-breasted Button-quail Project Update ………. page 7 Pat Webster updates us on his research and reveals the last verified sighting of Buff- breasted Button-quail (BbBQ) was in the 1920’s from Coen. New insights about Painted and Chestnut-backed Button-quail may help our understanding of the conservation needs of BbBQ. Conservation Conservation Matters by Peter Valentine ………. page 8 Matters BirdLife Northern Queensland’s Conservation Coordinator, Peter Valentine provides an update on the Inquiry into Australia’s Faunal Extinction Crisis and alerts us to a range of other conservation matters, relevant to our region. Story of the Opalton Grasswren by Lindsay Fisher ………. page 9 It’s officially, Amytornis rowleyi – the Opalton Grasswren, now has species status. Learn all about it in this report by Linday Fisher. Tooth-billed Bowerbirds, Mt Elliot, Townsville ………. page 10 The bird life of the largely inaccessible Mt Elliot, south of Townsville, is revealed in Dominic Chaplin’s update on the BirdLife Northern Queensland Bowerbird Monitoring Project. Eungella Bird Week ………. page 13 What is it like to attend Eungella Bird Week? Read this article by Ceri Pearce to learn about Eungella Honeyeaters, Eungella Bird Week and how you can get involved as a citizen scientist. A late dry season visit to Rinyirru/Lakefield National Park ………. page 18 Peter Valentine recounts his search for the white-bellied subspecies of Crimson Finch, and shares his joy at finding this special finch, amongst other special birds at Rinyirru/Lakefield National Park. Note, there is also some sad news about failed breeding success in the endangered Red Goshawk. Also Mount Isa News by Rex Whitehead Flood the lifeblood for Gulf of Book review: Celebrating ….. page 21 Carpentaria as researchers find Australia’s Magnificent Wildlife: nutrient levels lacking ….. page 25 the art of Daryl Dickson ….. Earliest fossils of giant-size bony- page 27 toothed birds from the Eocene of Another property in the Gulf Seymour Island, Antarctica ….. recognised as critical shorebird Book Review: An Australian page 22 pitstop on the East Asian- Birding Year ….. page 28 Australasian Flyway ….. page 26 Taking action to help protect our 2021 Activities ….. page 32 shorebirds ….. page 23 2 Contact Call Contact Call Our 25th anniversary celebration was a success. I From the Convenor think everyone enjoyed socialising, catching up and making new friends, relaxed birding and reminiscing. The festive season seems to have crept up on me this Read about it on page 4. Congratulations to our event year, which means this newsletter is later than usual. organisers on a brilliant job: Sandra Christensen, As I write, the wet season is building and some storms Lindsay Fisher and Wayne Young, and also to the have arrived. “Spring” is over but the breeding season volunteers who assisted them, Keith, Gary and Robyn, continues. Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfishers have Peter and Rob. Special thanks to Alan Gillanders for returned amongst the other summer migrants leading the spotlighting and early morning birding. including Torresian (Pied) Imperial Pigeon, Channel- The BirdLife Northern Queensland committee has been billed Cuckoo, Dollarbird and Metallic Starling. Further busy reinvigorating our activities calendar. We’ll have north, more exotic species are arriving such as Papuan some great social events coming up next year (see the Pitta and Black-winged Monarch. The heat and last page of the newsletter for a preview). humidity may be here, but if you get out early in the morning, the birding is rewarding and energizing. As this year draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families and friends Despite the impacts of coronavirus this year, all the best of the holiday season. I hope that you will miraculously we’ve managed to complete our bird have the chance to join us on one of our activities or monitoring projects for 2020 (the annual crane count, Torresian Imperial Pigeon counts, Bowerbird meetings in the new year. Better still, feel free to monitoring, monitoring for breeding activity in Beach contact us if you have ideas and/or would like to Stone-curlews, Gouldian Finch surveys, surveys for become more involved and volunteer. Carpentarian and Kalkadoon grasswrens, as well as cheers Ceri Pearce, Convenor surveys in Key Biodiversity Areas). Organising and completing these activities can be a challenge in any year, but to adapt and complete them in 2020 – they are major milestones worth celebrating! Bravo to our volunteer organisers and the teams supporting them. BirdLife Northern Queensland Committee Convenor Ceri Pearce Email: [email protected] Phone: 0488131581 Secretary and Communications Renee Cassels Email: [email protected] Coordinator Treasurer Lindsay Fisher Email : [email protected] Cairns Area Coordinator and Website Mikey Kudo Email: [email protected] Phone: 0402343610 Manager Cape York Area Coordinator and Kath Shurcliff Email [email protected] Phone: 07 4069 6595 Grasswren Survey Coordinator Cassowary Coast Area Coordinator Sandra Christensen Email: [email protected] Phone: 0448 845 842 Tablelands Area Coordinator Graham Harrington Email: [email protected] Stickybeak Coordinator Golo Maurer Email: [email protected] Project Technical Support Ray Pierce Email: [email protected] Conservation Coordinator Peter Valentine Email: [email protected] Phone: 07 40966171 Committee member Wayne Young Email: [email protected] Committee member and Birds in Pippy Cannon Phone 0438645293 Schools Coordinator Committee member and Assistant Gary Wilson Email: [email protected] Newsletter Editor Newsletter Editor Ceri Pearce Email: [email protected] Phone: 0488131581 December 2020 3 BirdLife Northern Queensland 25th Anniversary of the formation of BirdLife Northern Queensland By Keith and Lindsay Fisher. Short History:- It was in 1994 that about 60 Royal Australasian Ornithological Union members responded to a call to form a North Queensland branch of this national organisation. They met at Murray Falls National Park, near Cardwell, to discuss the feasibility of forming such a group. There was lots of enthusiasm and volunteers stepped forward to start the process and by the end of 1994 there was a full committee with Graham Harrington, as Convenor, at the helm. The first newsletter Contact Call went out on 1st March 1995 (issue Emu – newsletters were named after birds) and we were on the way with Birders of North Queensland. Name and boundary changes have occurred over the years, but Contact Call remains as our newsletter. We still have a vibrant and hardworking committee Eastern Yellow Robin plus volunteers involved in various projects and this weekend was an example of a coordinated effort to revegetated Peterson Creek going as far as Lloyd’s recognise the past 25 years. Suspension Bridge. Birds seen along the way included Azure Kingfisher, a pair of Pacific Baza soaring The weekend was based in Malanda and started Friday overhead, Eastern Yellow Robin building a nest and afternoon with a meet and greet for those staying at seven species of honeyeater (eBird). the Malanda Falls Caravan Park. The evening saw us gathering at the Malanda Falls Conservation Park to Also seen were a pair of Eastern Water Dragon, a meet Alan Gillanders, a long term member and former Platypus and a Green Ringtail Possum. convenor. Alan, owner of Alan’s Wildlife Tours, had In the afternoon we split up into two groups for walks offered to take us spotlighting along the edge of the in the Malanda Falls Conservation Park, one group conservation park and we were not disappointed. We walked the northern track and the other the 1km loop saw several Coppery Brushtail Possum (NQ sub- track. We heard more species than we saw, but there species of Common Brushtail Possum), Green Ringtail was plenty of Grey-headed Robins plus White-throated Possum, Red-legged Pademelon and a Lumholtz’s Tree Treecreepers, Yellow-throated Scrubwrens, Bower’s Kangaroo. Thank you Alan. Shrike-thrushes and Spectacled Monarchs amongst Saturday morning was an early start at the Cathedral others (eBird). Fig Tree, 6.00am. This was again led by Alan Saturday evening was the social highlight of the Gillanders. The dawn chorus was in full swing when the weekend, at the Malanda Hotel for dinner and drinks, ten early morning birders arrived. Chowchilla vocal whilst being entertained with images of the groups wars across the walking track kept us entertained until activities on the screen.