Skyrail Nature Diary
Late Flowering on the Cableway
December 2011
The Flame Tree is flowering sparsely on the cableway. These beautiful trees have greenish trunks with chlorophyll and maple-like leaves. During flowering, the Flame Tree sheds all it’s leaves and is covered in numerous tiny red bell shaped flowers. The fruits are woody boat... read more
Red Leaves
November 2011
We are just coming out of our winter so it’s getting hotter as we come into what we could call our spring. Some trees are still covered in red leaves whilst others have become deciduous after their leaves turned red such as the Damsons. Other trees are completely red... read more
Bush Stone Curlew
October 2011
With a milder than usual winter behind us, we are now moving into spring and have been excited to note that some of the migratory birds are beginning to arrive. The main two observed at Skyrail so far have been the Pied Imperial Pigeon and the Metallic Starling. Here at the... read more
The Spectacled Flying Fox
September 2011
If you look to the skies after dusk at this time of year you are quite likely to see flocks of the distinctive Spectacled Flying-fox (Pteropus conspicillatus), heading out for a night of feeding and socialising. Like most mammals in Australia's Tropical Rainforests, the... read more
Layers of the Rainforest
August 2011
This month we will be looking at the structure of a typical rainforest. Depending on the type of forest, there are normally three vertical layers, but occasionally there can be more. Unlike temperate forests, most activity in tropical rainforests takes place in the... read more
Little workers: Beetles of the Wet Tropics
July 2011
The life cycles of beetles involves what is known as complete metamorphosis. This means that both young and adult beetles are totally different from each other, interspersed by a pupa stage where the young, known as larvae, change into the adult, known as an imago. The... read more
Ferns of the rainforest
June 2011
Basket Ferns (Drynaria rigidula: Polypodiaceae) are the most common fern spotted in the Barron Gorge National Park. They are epiphytic and grow on top of trees, just below leafy branches. The falling leaves become compost and nest in the basket shaped structure of the fern.... read more
Spectacular geology: The Barron Gorge and beyond
May 2011
Geologists believe that just behind Barron Falls, Barron River was joined by the Mitchell and Clohesy Rivers. This created a more powerful flow in front of the point where they joined and therefore gouged out more of the gorge at that location, rather than behind it. There... read more
In the gloom of the rainforest: Plant survival
April 2011
In an undisturbed rainforest, the amount of light that reaches the forest floor can often be as little as 1%. Very few plants can survive let alone grow under such conditions. Most plants survive on a chemical process called photosyntheses (a process that converts carbon... read more
Lizards of the rainforest
March 2011
Australia has the world's highest diversity of lizards, many of which can be found in the Wet Tropics Rainforests of Tropical North Queensland. Lizards are intriguing creatures and are closely related to snakes. Some species are elongated with reduced or lacking limbs. The... read more
The great timber trees of the Wet Tropics
February 2011
Relatives of the citrus trees from the genus Flindersia have long been popular timber trees. Several have strong smelling timber, one of which includes Hickory Ash's (Flindersia ifflaiana: Rutaceae) timber which smells of curry - see image 4. The flowers of these magnificent... read more
Spectacular spiders of the Wet Tropics
January 2011
Spiders are spectacular creatures with many unique qualities. Although the thought of a spider may make you quiver, they are often misunderstood and provide much value to rainforest ecosystems. All spiders have the following characteristics: four pairs of legs; two body parts... read more
