Atherton Tablelands Birdwatching
Barking Owl Retreat Birdwatching Page

Enjoy Atherton Tablelands Birdwatching at Barking Owl Retreat.
Wake to the sound of birds and relax to their songs all day long. Native Birds and Owls are attracted to the blue gum trees in the gully alongside the cottages, and as well as our landscaped native bushes and trees. Not only could you get the chance to possibly hear a Barking Owl you can also try to catch some of these wonderful birds on camera.

How can one bird look so different? This Tawny frog mouth was a real poser! See below larger photos of our Tawny Frog mouth family that breed in the same trees each year just in front of our house. Also see a VIDEO of a baby Tawny Frog Mouth we helped raise.

What a fantastic photo of this Eastern Yellow Robin taken while relaxing
on the Dingo's Lair back deck. Photo by Allan of Smithfield.

The three beautiful birds above were taken by Jack leighton of 'Tinaroo Waters'.
Jack's Rainforest Birds of Australia's 'Wet Tropics' DVD is in the Dingo's Lair cottage for viewing. Enquire here and " Ask how to get your photo published on our Birdwatching Page "

The Eastern Yellow Robin was caught on camera again and is quite often seen around the property along with the Blue cheeked Rosellas. The Red Backed Fairy Wren is such a beautiful dainty little bird and can be seen here in abundance at different times of the year. And although the male
has a magnificent coloured coat the female is also very cute!

These Honeyeaters above were spotted in the Dingo's Lair gardens and the photos were taken by Richard who stayed with his family in winter 2011. The Green Backed Honey eater is commonly found in the gardens around the Retreat. And the White-cheeked Honeyeater has been more previlent since cyclone Larry. And after both cyclone Larry and Yasi we seem to have gained a few
extra different species of birds in our habitat. The Tawny frog Mouth family pictured below were all taken this November and December 2011. This is the first year we have actually seen any babies and we actually helped raise one of the chicks in conjuction with mum and dad! We initially had two although after we put them back in the tree with mum and dad we could only find one the next day.

We named the only chick "Sprocket" and fed him every morning and night just before dark. He would then go out and hunt with mum and dad and learn how to fly. So we found him in all silly places the next morning and would put him back in a tree near mum and dad as shown below.
See a VIDEO of 'Sprocket' here!

Sprocket ended up on the roof after flying lessons one night and also under Chilli's dog dish another time. He is so very lucky we found him.

Dad would come in and feed Sprocket around our house and he is shown above on the sprinkler in our front yard.

The parents were so friendly and never once tried to attack us. Sprocket was so tame you could scratch his head and he would close his eyes in pleasure. Tawny Frog Mouths are closely related to nightjars and hunt at night and roost in the day well camouflaged.

The family moved on mid December from the trees and we hope to see them back next year!

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