North Queensland Road Trip Winter 2020 – Mt Lewis & Julatten

Daintree River Ringtail, Southern Boobook (lurida subsp), Lesser Sooty Owl, Bassian Thrush (cuneata subsp), Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo and my namesake reptile (Grey-bellied Sunskink, above) were the highlights of a 3-day visit to the Mt Lewis-Julatten area earlier this month. Leaving southern Cape York behind (following post) we settled in to the delightful FeatherNFriends camping ground a few kilometres north of Julatten.

The first morning turned up a vocal Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo in rainforest not far from the camping ground. This species was once thought to be restricted to northern Cape York in Australia but has been recorded reliably from several sites around the Carbine and northern Atherton tablelands, as well as the Cooktown area. It was thought to be a summer migrant to these forests but a small population is resident near Julatten.

I arranged to head up to near the top of Mt Lewis (a 28-kilometre drive) with local herpetologist Grant Husband. The goal was to find and photograph a Grey-bellied Sunskink (Lampropholis robertsi - below). The species was named after me in 1991 by well-known zoologist and taxonomist Glen Ingram for my “services to wildlife conservation”. It is found only in high altitude rainforest and heath around the summits of a handful of wet tropics mountains, including Mt Lewis.

It was a gloomy day; not looking hopeful for a sunskink sighting. Reptile enthusiasts had left small sheets of roofing iron around a hut at the road end so skinks could easily be found sheltering. National park rangers, however, had tidied all these up. Grant (image below) eventually spotted a sunskink emerging from a crack at the base of the hut when the sun made one of its brief appearances.

Around the hut under logs we found a Fry’s Frog (Austrochaperina fryi) while earlier, further down the mountain, we located a Brown-tailed Bar-lipped Skink (Glaphyromorphus fuscicaudis).

We walked a short distance through the forest to an escarpment and enjoyed the view over the surrounding World Heritage-listed rainforest.

A short distance down the mountain we saw a Bassian Thrush roadside; this subspecies, a likely future split, is endemic to the highlands of the wet tropics - it is uncommon generally and in decline on Mt Lewis. Two other endemic subspecies from the wet tropics mountains - the keasti race of the Grey Fantail (below) and nigrescens race of the Crimson Rosella - were also seen.

I looked unsuccessfully around Julatten for Blue-faced Parrot-Finch but lots of nice birds were about including Graceful Honeyeater (above) and White-cheeked Honeyeater and Lemon-bellied Flycatcher (below).

I returned to Mt Lewis for an evening visit. Walking uphill from the road end, I found a Daintree River Ringtail, a much-wanted lifer mammal. Unfortunately my camera settings were out so the image is a tad blurred.

Also seen were a couple of Green Ringtails.

On the drive back I tracked down a roadside Southern Boobook. Another subspecies endemic to the high altitude wet tropics and a potential split, this bird (sometimes referred to as the Little Red Boobook) can be difficult to see as it tends to keep well inside the rainforest. The Mt Lewis bird was more co-operative than several I’d tried unsuccessfully to photograph at Chambers Lodge. While I was engaged with the boobook, a Lesser Sooty Owl appeared abruptly, landing in a tree beside the road. I got the owl in my camera frame only for the boobook to swoop at the bird, driving it away. I found another Lesser Sooty Owl roadside further on but it too was quick to disappear into the forest.