Unit 02 - Bush Turkey’s Tea
Party
Good Reference Books
Queensland Museum (2000) Wildlife of Tropical North Queensland (Cooktown
to Mackay), Queensland Museum Press, South Brisbane
Menkhorst, Peter and Knight, Frank (2001/2004) A Field Guide to the Mammals
of Australia, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne (first and second
editions)
Strahan, Ronald (editor) (1983/2000) The Australian Museum Complete Book
of Australian Mammals, Angus and Robertson, Sydney
Photographs
Below you will find pictures of diurnal (daytime)
animals and information about their lives. Click on the thumbnail picture
to enlarge the image.
Note the word “endemic” here means that the animal occurs
only in north Queensland, in the Wet Tropics
1. Host animal: Bush Turkey 
Who am I? I am also called Brush Turkey, Scrub
Turkey and Wild Turkey
Where do I live? I live in the rainforest and
in some people’s gardens
What do I eat? Insects
What do I do? I have strong legs and feet for
scratching the leaf litter and I roost in the trees at night
What is special about me? I build a big mound
on the ground for a nest
2. Pacific Baza. .
Who am I? I am a bird of prey
Where do I live? In the day I fly above the
forest and look for food with my bright yellow eyes. At night I rest in
the top of trees
What do I eat? Birds, lizards and frogs
What do I do? I call like a whistle, “wee-choo,
wee-choo”
What is special about me? I have a grey head
and a brown and white striped breast
3. Wompoo Pigeon
Who am I? I am a large, brightly coloured pigeon
Where do I live? In the rainforest
What do I eat? Fruits and berries
What do I do? I call, “wallack-a-woo,
wallack-a-woo”
What is special about me? I have a grey head,
purple breast, green wings and a yellow belly. In the forest I am difficult
to see
4. Cassowary
Who am I? I am the biggest animal in the rainforest.
I can weigh 60kg
Where do I live? I do not fly so I walk around
the forest floor
What do I eat? Seeds and fruits
What do I do? I am bad tempered and the forest
needs me
What is special about me? I have a helmet (casque)
and a brilliant red and blue neck. I am also highly endangered and there
is less that 1500 of me left in Australia
5. Pale Yellow Robin
Who am I? I am a rainforest songbird
Where do I live? I like to live in prickly vines
or in epiphytes
What do I eat? Insects and spiders
What do I do? I sing “seee-seee-seee”
when I am happy and “scairr, scairr, scairr” when I am angry
or alarmed
What is special about me? I have a yellow breast
6. Golden Bowerbird
Who am I? I am also called the Queensland Bower
Bird
Where do I live? I build a big home of sticks
called a bower
What do I eat? Insects and spiders
What do I do? I decorate my bower with beautiful
objects like seedpods, lichen, flowers and fruit and then I dance in my
bower
What is special about me? I am bright yellow and
I can imitate the calls of other animals. For instance, I can croak like
a frog
7. Victoria's Riflebird
Who am I? I am a Bird of Paradise, endemic to
the Wet Tropics
Where do I live? In the rainforest canopy
What do I eat? Insects
What do I do? I dance around holding my wings
out and make a loud noise that sounds like “yaas, yaas, yaas”
What is special about me? I have iridescent green
and blue-black feathers
8. Forest Kingfisher
Who am I? I am a small kingfisher
Where do I live? Next to the streams and waterways
What do I eat? Fish and yabbies
What do I do? I kill fish with my long sharp bill
What is special about me? I have beautiful plumage
– green and blue feathers on my back and snowy white feathers on my
breast
9. Four O’Clock Moth
Who am I? I am a large day moth
Where do I live? In the rainforest canopy
What do I eat? When I am a caterpillar I eat leaves
to grow into a really big moth
What do I do? I can fly long distances as a moth
and I often come out in the afternoon
What is special about me? As a caterpillar I have
a fat yellow body and big black spots. As a moth I have blue wings and a
yellow body
10. Ulysses Butterfly
Who am I? I am a famous, big, blue butterfly
Where do I live? In the rainforest
What do I eat? Nectar
What do I do? I fly around the forest
What is special about me? I have metallic, blue
and black wings. My hind wings have tails. When I fold up my wings, I look
like a brown leaf
11. Cairns Birdwing Butterfly
Who am I? I am Australia’s largest
butterfly
Where do I live? In the rainforest
What do I eat? Nectar
What
do I do? I am a really good flier
What is
special about me? I am a big butterfly with green and black wings
and a yellow body – nobody else looks like me
12.
Hercules Moth Caterpillar
Who am I? I am the larva of Australia’s
largest moth
Where do I live? In the rainforest
canopy
What do I eat? I eat leaves of rainforest trees,
especially the Bleeding Heart tree
What do
I do? I fend off predators with my long spikes so I can eat in peace
What is special about me? When I am a moth I do
not eat at all. I have no mouthparts. This is why I have to eat so much
when I am a caterpillar
13. Mueller’s
Stag Beetle
Who am I? I am a one of the world’s
most beautiful beetles
Where do I live? I
am only found in the Wet Tropics
What do I eat?
Leaf debris
What do I do? I fight other stag
beetles with my long curved jaws (mandibles)
What
is special about me? I am a dazzling mix of metallic green, purple
and gold colours. I look pretty scary
14.
Peppermint Stick Insect
Who am I? I am a long, pale green insect
Where do I live? I like to hide in the Pandanus
tree
What do I eat? Leaves
What
do I do? I hang around looking like a green stick
What
is special about me? I camouflage myself very well so that no one
can see me and eat me
15. Greengrocer Cicada
Who am I? I am a green noisy insect
Where
do I live? High up in the canopy
What do I
eat? Leaves
What do I do? I make a
big noise by singing continuously
What is special about me? I spend most of my life
underground
16. Golden Orb Spider
Who am I? I am a very large spider
Where do I live? In my large web
What do I eat? Insects which get caught in my
web
What do I do? I grow very big, up to the size
of an adult hand-span
What is special about me? Tiny Dew Drop Spiders
also live in my web but I don’t eat them
17. Orange-fingered Yabbie
Who am I? I am a freshwater crayfish
Where do I live? Along the waterline of rainforest
streams
What do I eat? Anything I can get my claws on
What do I do? I can grow up to 10 cm long
What is special about me? The fingers of my
claws are bright orange
18. Crocodile
Who am I? I am an estuarine crocodile.
Where do I live? Tidal areas, lagoons, rivers
and swamps
What do I eat? I usually eat crustaceans, fish,
birds and small mammals
What do I do? I lie in the sun to heat my blood
What is special about me? I have lots of teeth
and a killer smile
19. Saw-shelled Turtle
Who am I? I am a freshwater turtle
Where do I live? In ponds and rainforest streams
What do I eat? Aquatic insects, fish, tadpoles
and frogs
What do I do? I have a short neck and big goggly
eyes. I breathe air.
What is special about me? I can eat a cane toad
and not die
20. Boyd’s Forest Dragon
Who am I? I am a large rainforest lizard
Where do I live? In the rainforest from Cooktown
to Paluma
What do I eat? Ants, beetles, spiders and worms
What do I do? My body temperature is the same
as the air temperature
What is special about me? I have a row of spines
down my back and big spines on my head
21. Rainforest Skink
Who am I? I am a rainforest lizard
Where do I live? High up in the trees
What do I eat? Insects and spiders
What do I do? I lie in the sun on tree branches
during the day and I hide in tree hollows at night. I squeak
What is special about me? I have black horizontal
stripes running across my back
22. Catfish
Who am I? I am a freshwater fish
Where do I live? Freshwater rivers and lakes
What do I eat? Rotting leaves and insects
What do I do? I can grow up to 90 cm long
What is special about me? I am an edible fish
and people like to catch and eat me
23. Mudskipper
Who am I? I am a fish that pulls its body out
of the water
Where do I live? On mangrove mudflats and the
lower reaches of freshwater streams
What do I eat? Whatever I can gulp down in my
big mouth
What do I do? I rest on mudbanks but when I
get frightened I hide back in the water
What is special about me? I have big protruding
eyes and a stick up dorsal fin
24. Snake-headed gudgeon
Who am I? A pretty freshwater fish
Where do I live? In the lower reaches of rainforest
rivers and streams
What do I eat? Aquatic insects and worms
What do I do? I swim around in the water
What is special about me? I can be many colours
such as bright orange-red or green or brown
25. Common Green Tree Frog
Who am I? A big, green frog
Where do I live? In houses and forests
What do I eat? Insects and worms
What do I do? I grow very big
What is special about me? I make a sound like
“crawk crawk”
26. Musky Rat Kangaroo
Who am I? I am a little forest marsupial
Where do I live? On the ground in rainforest
What do I eat? Fungi, insects and fruit
What do I do? I am active during the day and I hide at
night
What is special about me? I look like a rat but I hop
like a kangaroo. I have very dark fur
27. Red-legged Pademelon
Who am I? I am a little forest wallaby
Where do I live? On the ground in rainforest
What do I eat? Leaves and fruit
What do I do? I live alone and I am very shy
What is special about me? I thump my hind feet on the
ground when I am frightened
28. Agile Wallaby
Who am I? I am a wallaby
Where do I live? In open woodlands and the edges of rainforest
What do I eat? Grass
What do I do? I live in large family groups. I like company
What is special about me? I have big ears and I can hop
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