Since today was to be my last full day in Iron Ranges National Park, I decided to try to track down the last few specialty birds for the area. I had six species on my list, all of which were a distinct possibility: Lovely Fairy-wren, Magnificent Riflebird (heard calling all the time but had yet to have a good view of one), Fawn-breasted Bowerbird, Palm Cockatoo, Yellow-legged Flycatcher, and Northern Scrub-Robin. The other two specialties of this area, Red-bellied Pitta and Black-winged Monarch, are wet season migrants from Papua New Guinea and I was about a month and a half too early to have a realistic chance at seeing them. So, off I went in search of these birds, but first a stop at Portland Roads was in order to photograph a pair of Double-eyed Fig Parrots that were excavating a nest near the place where Roy and Sterling (birders who I had been with yesterday) were staying.
On my way to Portland Roads, Imanaged to pick up the Palm Cockatoo with great views of a pair that flushed from a tree near the road but then landed in one which I actually could get decent clear views of them. After photographing the parrots and searching unsuccessfully for the fairy-wren, I set off to see if I could get to Chili Beach. The road was closed except for local residents but Roy and Sterling had been down there and they said that it was in good condition most of the way. So my plan was to go until conditions deteriated and then walk the rest. It turned out that the entire road except the last kilometer or so was in great condition and the end was badly rutted but perfectly dry. Ran in to some rangers at the campground (where I had orginally planned to stay before I realized it was closed) who pleasantly waved and moved on with whatever they were doing. During my short walk around the campground, I managed to find two of my targets, the Fawn-breasted Bowerbird, which was the reason to attempt the drive as they are seen here regularly, and the Lovely Fairy-wren which was a bit of a surprise.
I returned to my camp for lunch and a some downtime during mid day before heading in the opposite direction to try and see my other targets. After a short nap I happened to wake up and the first thing I looked at was a female Magnificent Riflebird feeding in a tree on the edge of the campsite. It was quite a lucky and convenient time to wake up. That left two birds, the flycatcher and the scrub-robin. While I had no idea where the flycatcher had been seen, I did know that the scrub-robin had been seen and heard recently in the vicinity of the Rainforest Campsite, just down the road.
So off I went to see what I could find. Despite wandering in the area for most of the evening, I came up empty handed. While I was disappointed to miss these two specialties, really my first true misses of this year as I will not be returning to this area, I was happy to pick up the other five. There is also still a chance I could see either or both of them further north in the patch of rainforest at the tip of the peninsula.
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