Ravenshoe

Visited: autumn and winter

Recommendation: This is a very pleasant town with a patch of bush and a creek filled small lake that is home to Platypus. The surrounding area is beautiful with many hotspots. Research is needed though, it is easy to spend time wandering around and not seeing anything.

Ravenshoe (Ravens-hoe or Raven-shoe?) is a convenient place to stop on any journey west or south. It is an interesting little place and close to local beauty spots like the Millstream Falls (above). I stayed at the railway caravan park or Archer Creek rest area. All were very pleasant and had lots of wildlife. 

My favourite place to visit was the Ravenshoe Cemetery car park (oh the glamour of a birder's life!).  It was all a bit odd. I first stopped there as just somewhere to gather myself before I began to explore Ravenshoe. To my surprise there was a lot of birds around and something strange on the ground. Turned out to be rice and very neatly cubed veggies. A tantalising treat for the local birds. I returned several times to the car park and always it was the same, rice and veggies. I wasn't sure how I felt about it but couldn't deny, it provided great bird photo opportunities.

The birds in the car park were what I call medium good birds - birds I have seen before but will always love to photograph. Also attracted were wallabies and rabbits but they ran as soon as I pulled in. 

The highlight was the number of Satin Bowerbird in the area. Females and juveniles were in the trees around the car park and there was evidence of bowers as well. No sign of the glamourous males but the females are so interesting with their vivid purple eye.

Female Satin Bowerbird (ptilonorhynchus violaceus)

Also around were Crimson and Pale-yellow Rosellas, always a favourite of mine with their spectacular plumage. They were both very shy but I parked the van in the deserted car park so that I could sit quietly in the driver's seat and shoot out of the window.