Contact Call - Birds Australia

Contact CallHerons become more secretive as they becomeoccupied with nesting through spring and earlysummer. It takes about a hundred days for the youngchick – generally only one - to fledge the nest aroundChristmas time. Two pair of heron must have beensuccessful in fledging a chick last season as recentlytwo youngsters have taken up residence in the narrowconfines of Barratt Creek - a tidal tributary to theDaintree River.On a recent cruise, one of these juveniles wasobserved begging the parent for a regurgitated meal.For more than five minutes the youngster put on anextraordinary performance - reminiscent of a toddlerhaving a tantrum - including a strange overhandrowing motion of the wings. Eventually the adult heronflew away with the youngster’s puerile behaviourunrewarded. The youngster is about ten months oldafter all…News from the RiverTIME OF THE ‘KING’... & A FEWOVERGROWN LIZARDS…Oh, yeah. I nearly forgot…reptiles are also especiallygood during the winter months. In the cold conditions,Green Tree Snakes are commonly found out on theouter branches over the river seeking warmth from thesun. Likewise Saltwater Crocodiles are also commonlyseen, particularly on a low tide on sunny days,emerging from the cool water mid-morning to enjoythe sunshine.This is a regular quarterly column reporting wildlifeobservations on the Daintree River by the ‘DaintreeBoatman’, Murray Hunt.Winter cruises are often quite chilly, sometimes a littledrizzly, and often initially misty…but if I was a weatherreporter my summation of winter cruises would be,“Early surreal heavy mist clearing to bloody beautiful!”Winter is the time of year when brave cruisepassengers venturing out from their cosy slumber aremost rewarded with fresh, clean, crystalline vistasafter the rising sun slowly dissipates the lingeringblanket of mist.Adult Great-billed Heron. Image courtesy of GeoffSmith. All rights reserved.Winter is also the season when passengers are mostlikely to be rewarded with crippling sightings of the‘King’ of the river, the Great-billed Heron. May, Juneand July is the time of the year that this bird is at itsmost relaxed and repeatedly during this periodpassengers have obtained close, extended views ofthis normally shy heron. An incredible 85% of cruisesduring this time have observed at least one heron.Some passengers have also been lucky enough towitness this heron bellowing its extraordinary call thatis akin to an angry bull or an unhappy puppy. Toproduce this call the heron raises its head skyward,inflates the cheeks and neck, and then propels its callforth by pulling its head back to the body like a verticalharpsichord. In the next month or two, Great-billedImmature heron. Image courtesy of Jacqueline Phillips.All rights reserved.August 2013 7