190) Cassowary House

A Lovely Fairy-wren

 Really - that is the species name. Finally a bird with an appropos name! We spent two nights at the Cassowary House, as it is the center for many birding hotspots. We were in search of this (fairy-wren) endemic and received excellent advice "Drive to km 4.8 and stop right before the bridge. They will be in the bushes on the left"

Yep - the lovely girls (left) were there too!

 A female  Victoria's Riflebird coming in for a feed at Cassowary House during breakfast - an event not to be missed as the hosts put out all kinds of healthy goodies for the bird guests (as well as the house-guests--yumm!).

Mcleay's Honeyeater (another endemic)

Posing again with a different background...

I am not sure who is most suprised in the shot - this fine Black Butcherbird or me! He was being "councilled' by the owner after apparently raiding another birds nest - he was being encouraged to become more Buddhist and learn to be a vegetarian. So he got cheese for his protein!









 An endemic Dusky Rat-kangaroo - (not a Kangaroo-rat which would be a type of rat.

They are the smallest of the kangaroos (macropods).... hmmmm

Also, the only ones with 5 toes, the first being opposeable; they are also normally quadrupedal, similar to a bandicoot.

Another endemic - the Spotted Catbird. We heard these quite often throughout the trip but these were the best views - These guys could really put it away.

Unfortunately no Cassowaries passed through when we were there and our return out to the Mareeba wetlands was thwarted when they closed the area for maintenance. The Black-throated finches will just have to wait....