 A caring father and his chicks
Photo © WPSQThe Far North Quoll Seekers Network had several historic sightings of spotted-tailed quolls in the Speewah area near Kuranda, 30km north west of Cairns. The landscape in the area is a mix of large acreage residential properties, some eucalypt forest and a large area of rainforest which is located both on private properties and within the Barron Gorge National Park. Two trigger cameras, also known as heat-activated camera traps, were set up in the rainforest with the hope of catching some images of the elusive quoll.
This area is noted for good numbers of cassowaries and their droppings can be found but the birds themselves are quite secretive and are not commonly seen - unlike their cousins at Mission Beach which are more habituated to people. After leaving the cameras for a period of two weeks they were retrieved. Although no quoll images were captured, over 30 images were taken of various cassowaries.
It appears the images are of a lone (possibly) female adult cassowary, a lone juvenile cassowary and an adult male cassowary with his three young chicks. The images of the male cassowary and his chicks are fantastic (see photo) and the camera captured over 20 images of them wandering around, feeding and resting. Although the area is known cassowary habitat, it is always wonderful to verify it and the cameras certainly did not let us down in the cassowary department. Now for the quolls……
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