Agile wallabies You don’t have to try hard to see a wallaby around Cairns these days. On a small paddock just north of the Trinity Beach turn-off, I recently saw 84 of the little grazers out in the light rain at mid afternoon.  

On the way to the Cairns Airport is dense forest of mangroves. MostEuropeans have never heard of this alien world, not even on TV and tothem it really is the closest thing to an out of this world experience.Should anyone want to explore this forest, there is a kilometre or twoof elevated boardwalks where one can enter the forest and be safe fromthe crocodiles that like there.

Apparently even parrots find such modern structural designs appealing. This fact was revealed itself a few evenings ago, when I heard a strange continuous hissing sound. Recognising the sound of a baby bird, I began looking for the source and noticed that he sound appeared to be coming from the base of a metal street light.

The fruit famine is over and the fruit feast has begun. Berries and fruit feed the fauna of the rainforest and right now (Oct-Nov) is when rainforest trees will be in full fruit Trees fruit before the wet season starts so that their seeds can be spread around and ready for the start of the growing season.

The local McDonalds has a surprising sign in the door – Patio closed to nesting birds. Well, if a bird was nesting on the patio, it can’t have done so without knowing that thousands of people come and go every day. I decided to each on the patio anyway. It was then, the staff came out and informed me of the real reason for the sign – the peewee that was begging for a fry was a maniac. I was told that if I kept on encouraging him, he would try to peck my eyes out!If I had not heard of such a thing before, I would not have believed it.

High in the mountains of the Wet Tropics, it can be surprisingly cold. Even the birds seem to only really get into a morning spirit when the arriving sun provides some warmth. Just as the first rays shone through, I spotted some rather excited birds – spotted pardalotes. The excitement soon turned to battle with two of the birds engaging in physical combat as a third looked on.The battle was so intense, that soon the birds totally ignored my increasing proximity.

Exposed sand flats at low tide look like the closest thing to adesert in the Wet Tropics. They may appear devoid of animal life otherthan a few birds, yet there are animals there. Many of these animalshave only shown themselves to me once or twice in my lifetime. If allthe different species that I have seen living in the sand were ever toappear together, then the sand flats would be very interesting indeed.Let me show you the critters I happened to come across last Friday atthe mouth of the Barron River.

On a weekday last week at one in the afternoon, a group of chattering sunbirds came into my yard and settled down to rest.  It was the first sunny day after a run of rainy days and the birds were clearly happy about the return of the sun.  Altogether there were about five birds including two adult males.  Sometimes they slept together, however they mostly slept by themselves or at a little distance from their fellows.  Half of the group was always active, so only 2-3 birds were asleep at any one time.  After a half-hour, the birds resumed their daily rounds.  <

Crimson finches were only a few years ago considered by somegovernment authories to be 'hanging on to survival by their toenails.  Well good news, they seem to have either bounced back fromthe edge or are much more common than previouslythought.  This species of finch gets around in small familygroups rather than big flocks.  They have a reputation for beingaggressive to other finches in captivity, so they are rarelykept.  Only the males are bright red, females are a mixtureof brown and bright red.  The best places to see these finches arewh