4 Jun 2016 Port Douglas

2016 was the second successive year we visited Port Douglas just before the main school holiday season kicks off. Early June can be changeable in terms of the weather but the town is quiet and there are still lots of birds to see.

The footie oval was particularly fruitful. We spent time watch the courting ritual of a pair of bar shouldered doves. Mrs seems pretty unimpressed!

Fig birds were plentiful. The figs had clearly just ripened,  see picture of the female below.

The best way to get around PD was on a hire bike. They had big baskets for all the camera gear. We found ourselves returning to the footie oval twice daily, as there was so much going on. At the top of the one of the floodlight towers was an osprey nest, with two adult ospreys in it.

Rainbow bee eaters might be very common but I love them. So colourful and those long tails are amazing.

In 2015 the most common kingfisher was the Forest - this year we saw far more Sacred Kingfishers...

And most ended in a civilized manner, with a beer on the Inlet, watching the sun go down