Ella Bay Cassowary Family Visit the Beach

Cassowaries often visit the beach at Ella Bay and I have talked about this before in the story Cassowary Scat/Tracks on the Beach in Front of Proposed Ella Bay Resort Complex/Urban Development
Ella Bay cassowaries use the fresh water contained within the natural lagoons that run parallel to the beach.

Of course they also feed from the native fruit trees that grow within this strip of coastal vegetation; native cassowary fruit trees which the proponent’s “Cassowary Assessment of the Ella Bay Integrated Resort Project” untruthfully insists are not present in this area!

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Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service Map of Reported Cassowary Vehicle Strike Deaths

In April 2007 the Queensland government produced a map of known cassowary vehicle strike deaths at Mission Beach.

Sometimes a picture says a thousand words and basically a map is just a picture isn’t it!

Click on image for larger view.

Keep in mind that these are exclusively cassowary vehicle strike deaths and only record the percentage of vehicle strike deaths that are reported.

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World’s largest orchid Grammatophyllum speciosum flowers at Bramston Beach in Australia

Bramston Beach and Ella Bay both have some wonderful native orchid species growing in the wild.

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Mangoes and Cassowaries on the Ella Bay Road - food for thought!

Alongside the Ella Bay Road you will see many Mango trees Mangifera indica.
Of course they are not native to Australia and were probably planted along the road by local people years ago as a low maintenance seasonal source of fresh fruit.

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Bob Irwin speaks up for Endangered Cassowaries at Mission Beach

Earlier in the week, On 7 November 2009, Cairns Post environment journalist Julie Lightfoot wrote an article about Bob Irwin’s visit to Mission Beach: "Steve Irwin’s dad joins cassowary fight".

Just in case you are one of the 5 people on this planet who don’t know, Bob Irwin is the father of the late Steve Irwin “The Crocodile Hunter”.

Photo by Julie Lightfoot from Cairns Post.

Bob is committed to wildlife and conservation and has put his weight behind many campaigns to protect threatened wildlife and habitats. I applaud him for doing his bit to help our endangered southern cassowary at Mission Beach.

Today I read another article in the Cairns Post about Bob Irwin that I would like to share with you.

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Torres Imperial-pigeons along the Ella Bay Road

A fortnight ago, after a long walk at Ella Bay I chanced upon a flock of Torres Imperial-pigeons Ducula spilorrhoa. They were feeding amongst the tree tops near the car park on the Ella Bay Road.

Photo from AVICEDA on the wikipedia Torres Imperial-pigeon page.

As I approached they were wheeling in and out amongst the trees so you have to excuse the quality of my photographs! I snapped off a few quick insurance shots before I even recognised what sort of birds they were.

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Cassowary Fruits along the Ella Bay Road

Ok I know I have been promising a story on the Cassowary Plum Cerbera floribunda but this is the story before that story!
Before I start I want to give a warning. Many rainforest fruits despite looking very handsome are in fact very toxic. Please don’t eat any rainforest fruit unless you absolutely positively know what you are doing. Here endeth the warning!

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Cerbera manghas at Ella Bay

The Cassowary plum's deadly cousin!

Ok I know I promised a story about Ella Bay’s beautiful Cassowary plum Cerbera floribunda in my last post but instead I want to introduce you to Cerbera manghas a closely related and very poisonous species. It has a few common names including beach mango, rubber tree, native frangipani, fish poison tree and dog bane. I will use the common name native frangipani in this story and when you see the flowers you will know why!

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Ella Bay’s Magnificent Mackinlaya Fruit

Before I start I’ve got a bit of a warning to you all. Many Australian rainforest fruits are very toxic and as yummy as they appear, please don’t give them a taste test as they can make you really ill. Here endeth the warning!

A few months ago I noticed a beautiful rainforest shrub growing within metres of the beach at Ella Bay. Upon returning to my home I did a bit of Google searching, emailed some friendly experts and deduced it was the rainforest shrub Mackinlaya confusa or the very similar Mackinlaya macrosciadea but as the fruit on it matured I became more convinced it was confusa….are you confused yet?? Let’s just play it safe and call it a Mackinlaya!

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Ella Bay’s Spectacular Spectacled Flying Fox

Ella Bay is home to the spectacled flying fox Pteropus conspicillatus.

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King Ferns at Ella Bay

There are giants at Ella Bay!

They don’t eat small children or destroy whole villages and they’re no good at climbing beanstalks either.

These giants are botanical giants and of course I’m talking about the King Fern Angiopteris evecta. Satori’s environmental consultants have not mentioned this amazing plant once as it’s not a listed species in Queensland.

Jeff the entomologist and Angiopteris evecta

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The Grey Goshawk: Ella Bay’s Deadly Forest Assassin

The Grey Goshawk Accipiter novaehollandiae lives at Ella Bay.

(Photo by www.aviceda.org)

This noble forest predator is listed as rare by the Nature Conservation Act although it may be found in every Australian state. It is not a huge bird, measuring from 40 to 55 cm long and weighing up to 680 grams (larger birds are females).

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Forest Gardeners

I’ve been thinking that the developers at Ella Bay should perhaps think about advertising for a special type of gardener if their proposed 450 hectare urban development/resort actually gets approval from the Federal Government.

Their advertisement could go a bit like this:

Wanted: skilled rainforest seed collectors/planters/gardeners (at least 7 positions available)

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