Long term subscribers will notice the change in format. I would welcome comments about the change. In this issue you will find paragraphs on

                                            1. Weather
                                            2. Fruit and Flowers
                                            3. Bird Sightings
                                            4. Reptiles
                                            5. Tree Kangaroos and other Mammals
                                            6. Birds of a Feather
                                            7. The Vicissitudinous Venal Quiz on Verbosity

1. Weather

As I write this newsletter it is very tempting to leave the computer as it is not only fine but sunny for a change.We have had very few sunny days since the cyclone. Frosts have been very light as a result and not very wide spread.

2. Fruit and Flowers
What a year for gold flowers! First it was the Golden Penda, Xanthostemon chrysanthus, then Red Penda, X. whitei and now Golden Bouquet Tree, Deplanchea tetraphilla. Red Penda is normally a shy flowerer but put on a display to rival the Golden. There is a red flowered Penda from Cape York Peninsular but the local one is named for its red timber. The timber of penda leads one suppose that they don't make nails like they used to and perhaps I've set the drill in reverse. It is extremely hard. Red Penda is also very durable and was used widely for fence posts and house stumps. Deplanchea produces heads of golden flowers at the ends of its stems. As the leaves arise in whorls of four, each bunch of flowers looks like a bouquet, ready to be presented.
The extra flowering of the Candle Nut trees has continued without any fruit set. I suspect that its pollinators are not operating in the colder months.The bottlebrush trees, Callistemon spp, in the village are in wonderful bloom and full of honeyeaters and lorikeets. Both of the Silver Ash species, Flindersia spp, and Northern Tamarind, Diploglottis diphllostegia, are in heavy bud. Coppery Brushtail Possums are eating the buds of the Tamarind. Tree-kangaroos are eating the buds of the Ash and Green Ringtails are eating the flowers of Red Tulip Oak and the Tamarind buds. Still, I am sure that enough will survive to set fruit. This does not happen in the Lychee orchard where we go spotlighting as the brushtails eat every flower in most years. They miss out on the fruit like the rest of us. Someone should teach them about deferred gratification! And perhaps, sharing.
The Damson Plums which are really a Terminalia, are starting to turn purple prior to loosing their leaves. Spring deciduous trees are a real surprise to many of our visitors.
 are in heavy bud.

3. Bird Sightings
The numbers of cranes, Bustards and raptors have been steadily building. No cranes are yet roosting in the little wetland on the edge of the village as they have for the last few years. The female Shiny Flycatcher is still to be found above the falls at Malanda. Spectacled and Pied Monarchs were feeding fledglings at the Curtain Fig in early July. A Grey-headed Robin has been sitting on an egg there for three weeks now. It is rather sad to see the devotion with which the egg is regularly turned.
Cuckoos have been more evident this year.Shining Bronze have been seen regularly in Yungaburra and at the curtain Figtree. A Channel-billed cuckoo was seen on the Esplanade in Cairns only last week; perhaps it over wintered. A Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo was seen near Tinaroo. It was first identified on call by a very experienced birder.
Barking Owls have begun to bark. One sighting had the male 'singing' right in her ear! Whipbirds are chasing each other around and will remain highly visible for a month or so as they feed higher in the understorey. Their dueting is always a source of amusement to visitors and locals alike. Golden-headed Cisticolas and Pipits are starting to display. I have not seen or heard the Tawny Grassbirds joining the chorus yet. Cotton Pygmy-geese are returning. The best public place to view them at the moment is Tinaburra.
The birding moment of the two months for me was the great sighting of a Red Goshawk near the Curtain Fig. The bird was working its way along above the road. I had time to misidentify it, correct my mistake, find it in the book and have my guest check all the field marks. Unfortunately it has not hung around this year. At least not to my knowledge.

4. Reptiles
In the sunny weather a few snakes have been seen sunning themselves and moving around. The big Amethystine Pythons sun themselves at Lake Barrine and Eacham on most mornings. The best way to see them is to take the first boat cruise of the morning at Lake Barrine. The big male Leaf-tailed Gecko which lives in the Shiny Leaved Stinging-tree has lost his tail for a second time. Still no Chameleon Geckoes have been seen since the cyclone. I can offer no explanation for this.

5. Tree Kangaroos and other Mammals
Rex, the dominant male tree-roo, is back using his lookout trees on a regular basis. Pexie has been seen again on the edge of her territory. We don't often see her as most of her area is away from the track. Kara and Jill have young at heel but I think that Dorothy has chased off her youngster. Dorothy now often crosses the road to use a piece of forest in a corn paddock. This is not pleasing as not only can we not see her there but because of the risk of car strike on the road.
The Green Ringtail Possums are eating a wide range of leaves again and returning to their favourite trees which they ate so heavily after the cyclone that I feared for the trees. Female Brushtails are chasing off their young in preparation for breeding again.
We have had Echidnas along the track and seen one on two successive evenings! Long-nosed Bandicoots are very active in the forest and in my garden where they have dug many of their narrow holes looking for invertebrates. A Dingo bitch whelped four crossbred pups on the edge of the village. While the pups were caught, she evaded all attempts. A Water Rat was seen at Lake Eacham. Now that there are introduced Red Claw Crayfish (when will people stop doing such irresponsible things?) in the lake, it is possible that a resident population of Water Rats will establish.

6. Birds of a Feather
Chris Corben gave this succinct and erudite response to a question about how birds change their feather colour to breeding and non-breeding plumages."Is it due to wear or the growth of new feathers?"

"More or less. However, feathers can change their appearance, in some cases very dramatically, both due to wear (abrasion) and fading.

"The new feathers grow from the same follicles that contained the old feathers. The new feather basically pushes the old feather out.

"Birds can change into "breeding plumage" either by growing in new feathers or simply through wear of the old feathers. The former is illustrated by a Curlew Sandpiper, which replaces most of its grey and white plumage with feathers which are largely black and red. The latter is illustrated by a male House Sparrow, which gets its black throat when the pale tips of the feathers wear off. Strictly speaking, there is no change in plumage in the case of the Sparrow, just a change in appearance due to wear.

"Some birds do both. An interesting case is the Red-necked Stint which moults grey feathers into black and rufous feathers with broad grey tips. So initially there is little change in overall colour until the pale tips wear off, revealing the bright colour underneath. This is even true of its red throat, since the new red feathers have broad white tips which have to wear off before the red becomes visible." Thanks to Chris Corben for permission to reproduce his response here.

7. The Vicissitudinous Venal Quiz on Verbosity
The idea for this quiz came about when I asked one of my guests to explain a word and then he reciprocated. Both words began with V and so hence this quiz. I hope it does not lead to my vituperative vilification. Match the words to their meanings. If you want a bigger challenge define the words without reference to the answers.
Words:- volant, volva, vitelline, vitric, vespertine, vermivorous, vitreous, viviparous, viscera, vesicular
Definitions:-
 flying
 bearing live young
 ring on a mushroom stalk
 humour gelatinous filling of the eyeball
 interior organs
 of the egg yolk
 crepuscular
 eating worms
 glassy
 having spherical cavities

Craig and Kathryn Kermode came up with this alphabetical list in response to the last challenge. 
Antechinus
Bolwarra - Eupomatia laurina
Cunjevoi
Davidson's Plum - Davidsonia pruriens
Emerald spotted tree frog
Feather tailed glider
Greater glider
Hare's foot fern
Ibis
Jagera pseudorhus - Foambark tree
Koala
Lumholtz's tree kangaroo
Macadamia integrifolia - Macadamia nut
Neolitsia dealbata - bollygum
Owlet nightjar
Phascogale
Quoll
Red necked wallaby
Swamp wallaby
Toona cilata - Red cedar
Uromyrtus bidwillii - Python tree
Velvet gecko
Wollemi pine
Xanthorrhea sp - Grass tree
Yellow tailed black cockatoo
Zebra finch