A Morning in the Daintree Rainforest

1. Daintree Rainforest (72:18)

The album begins in the predawn light with the sounds of Black Butcherbird, Grey Whistler, Little Shrikethrush, Dusky Myzomela, Yellow-spotted Honeyeater and Hornbill Friarbird leading the dawn chorus. At around 1:00 the high-pitched squeaks of an Eastern Tube-nosed Bat (Nyctimene robinsoni) can be heard. 

From around 10:00 the ambience begins to settle with sparser birdsong. The sounds of Superb Fruit-dove whooping from the canopy overhead, the cooing of Pacific Emerald Dove from the forest understorey and the sharp melodic songs of Little Shrikethush can be heard for much of the morning. At 42:08 the first Torresian Imperial Pigeon can be heard with its deep, hoarse cooing calls. Orange-footed Scrubfowls occasionally make their wild, crowing calls in the background and from around 28:00 – 33:00 a pair are scratching and foraging in the leaf litter. 

Later in the track, from around 51:00 a variety of pigeon species can be heard calling and moving about from the crown of a strangler fig where they feed on the abundant fruit. From 1:02:27 onwards Wompoo Fruit-doves can be heard with their distinctive ‘wom-poo’ calls and croaky gargles. In this final section of the track cicadas begin to call and a morning breeze ebbs and flows through the forest.

Bird species heard on this album include:

Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Pacific Emerald Dove, Wompoo Fruit Dove, Superb Fruit Dove, Torresian Imperial Pigeon, Double-eyed Fig Parrot, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Little Bronze-Cuckoo, Yellow-spotted Honeyeater, Graceful Honeyeater, Macleay’s Honeyeater, Dusky Myzomela, Hornbill Friarbird, Barred Cuckooshrike, Varied Triller, Little Shrikethrush, Grey Whistler, Large-billed Scrubwren, Mistletoebird, Black Butcherbird, Spangled Drongo, Victoria’s Riflebird, Spectacled Monarch, Pied Monarch, White-eared Monarch, Australasian Figbird, Metallic Starling and Olive-backed Sunbird.