AUSTRALIA : QUEENSLAND, Cairns

Sept 20: Twelve participants accompanied me on a delightful trip to Australia in September, the beginning of spring for this southern hemisphere continent.  We toured Queensland and the Northern Territories, with an extension covering Western Australia and Tasmania, in search of avian species that inhabit this vast continent.

We explored a variety of habitats – coastal lowland and heathland, tropical rainforest, savannah woodlands, and widespread eucalyptus forest – finding an impressive diversity of birds.  Our tour began in Cairns, “Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef,” on the eastern coast of Queensland.  Some of our group had arrived in this small city a few days early to relax and recover from jetlag, after the long journey across the Pacific. I had already been ‘Down Under’ for about 2 weeks, and had spent the previous 3 days at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, south of Brisbane, with Peggy, Ginger, Pam and John.

Double-eyed Fig Parrot

In Cairns, I met up with our wonderful local guide, Barry Davies, and joined up with Marie, Lisa, Enid, Janis, Vicki, Joy and Anna Marie. Everyone’s flight schedules had us arriving at different times, so our whole group was not together until the end of the day!  We explored the northern end of Trinity inlet, where the habitat was little more than mangroves lining a typical tropical suburban and coastal habitat, but provided plenty of avian activity to hold our attention.  We saw Mangrove Robin, Long-billled Gerygone, Green Oriole, White-bellied Cuckooshrike, Collared Kingfisher, and Olive-backed Sunbird.  A diminutive Double-eyed Fig Parrot was coaxed out of it nest hole.  We found Yellow, Brown and Dusky Honeyeaters, the first of 43 honeyeater species that we would log on our trip.  This large, diverse family of birds relies upon Eucalyptus trees – each species specializing in a different type of Eucalyptus, which are widespread throughout the continent.

MIxed flock of waders

Australian White Pelicans were seen in a small flock, feeding cooperatively. Gulls were unusually easy to identify, because we only had one choice, the ubiquitous Silver Gull.  (Not until we reached Tasmania, did we have to worry about a second gull species!)  We were able to separate a large group of shorebirds by size.  The largest were Black-tailed Godwits, contrasting with the smallest Red-necked Stints, which fed more actively than the resting Great Knots, Sharp-tailed and Curlew Sandpipers. This was our only occurrence of Terek Sandpipers.

Rainbow Bee-eater

We took lunch at a small deli near our hotel, and met up with another member of our party, Nancy.  After eating, we took off to visit a couple of spots around the city. The first stop was to see the spectacle of thousands of Spectacled Fruit Bats adorning the tops of trees. Driving through a cemetery, we oohed and aaahed at some colorful Rainbow Bee-eaters and a large congregation of Bush Stone-Curlews resting in the shade of gravestones.

Cairns Botanical Gardens

We spent most of the afternoon at the lovely Botanical Gardens and adjacent Centenary Lakes. In this tropical lowland forest habitat, we found noisy Spangled Drongos, Black Butcherbird, Metallic Starlings, and Australian Figbirds.  Another honeyeater was added to our list, Hornbill Friarbird, a large drab-looking bird with bare, black facial skin.

Hornbill Friarbird

Amongst the most fascinating of avian nesting activities is that of the megapods, a small family of large-footed birds that build mounds to house their eggs.  We had out first encounter with Australian Brushturkeys and Orange-footed Scrubfowl in the Botanical Gardens, and watched a pair of scrubfowl attending to their huge nest mound, six feet high and fifteen feet across. The birds regulate the internal temperature of the mound by opening and closing the mound, and adding or removing sand and leaf materials, as needed to maintain temperature for the eggs.

Orange-footed Scrubfowl nesting mound

Our first raptors included Whistling, Black and a Brahminy Kite. We sighted another honeyeater, Brown-backed, along with an actively feeding female Leaden Flycatcher, and a Varied Triller foraging methodically through the foliage.  In a small pond, pairs of Pacific Black Ducks and a few Australian White Ibis foraged along the banks, while a lone Magpie Goose stood in ankle deep water.  We were all excited when Nancy spotted a motionless Blue-winged Kookaburra, one of the birds most associated with the country of Australia.

Blue-winged Kookaburra

John, Pam, Ginger and Peggy arrived from Brisbane in time to join us for dinner at the RSL Club, where we first saw the gaming rooms that are located in every hotel/pub in the country. Gambling is among the most popular pastimes in Australia!

all photos © adrian binns