Day 1: Our tour begins midday, with the arrival of those participating in the preceding tour.After lunch we’ll head a bit to the west of Sydney, to spend the remainder of the afternoon birding around some of the parklands in the western suburbs of the city.Our actual route will change from year to year to optimize our birding potential, but the afternoon will give an excellent introduction to the common birds of the region, with species such as Laughing Kookaburra, Galah, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Superb Fairywren being among the expected highlights.Night in Sydney.

Day 2: For our first full day we will spend our time birding around the vast Royal National Park. We shall start with a search for Superb Lyrebird, one of the world’s most accomplished mimics along the pretty and very diverse Lady Carrington Drive. A trip out to the stunning coastal heathlands may well reveal New South Wales’s only endemic bird, Rockwarbler, as well as heathland specialties such as Southern Emu-wren, Tawny-crowned Honeyeater and perhaps even Chestnut-rumped Heathwren. We’ll look as well for a wide cross-section of more southerly Australian species, such as the glorious Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Superb Lyrebird, Little and Red Wattlebirds, and New Holland Honeyeater. A short seawatch on the handsome bluffs of Royal National Park should reveal numbers of Wedge-tailed, Short-tailed and perhaps Fluttering Shearwaters, and with the right conditions may also provide our first views of Black-browed or White-capped Albatrosses. In the late afternoon we should be able to track down a roosting Powerful Owl, perhaps the most impressive of the suite of Australian owls, near the park boundary. Night in Sydney.

Day 3: We’ll take a pelagic trip into deep water beyond the continental shelf. We’ll cruise out through Sydney Harbor and have a view of the famous bridge with a glimpse of the opera house below. During our day-long trip we should see many Southern Hemisphere seabirds that, depending on sea temperatures, may include Little Penguin, Australasian Gannet, Antipodean, White-capped, and Black-browed Albatrosses, Gray-faced and Providence Petrels, up to six species of shearwater, and diminutive Wilson’s Storm-petrels. We’ll feed the birds behind the boat and can usually draw in a selection of great seabirds to watch at arm’s length. Photographic opportunities are outstanding and binoculars are hardly needed. We won’t soon forget the fabulous experience of tossing bits of fish to White-capped Albatrosses bobbing about behind the boat. Cetaceans may also be a feature of the trip, and though none is guaranteed, in previous years we have seen Humpback and Sperm Whales, Pilot Whales, and Common and Bottlenose Dolphins. With the vagaries of the Southern Ocean in play, it is worth mentioning that should conditions not allow us to go out to sea, we’ll spend this day to the south of Sydney around Barren Grounds Nature Reserve, where we could see heathland birds such as Southern Emu-wren, Eastern Bristlebird, Beautiful Firetail, Pilotbird, and with some extreme luck perhaps even Eastern Ground-Parrot or Gang-gang Cockatoo. Night in Sydney.

Day 4: On the last morning in Sydney we will likely return to the coastline at Royal National Park where we’ll look for any of the species missed on our previous visit or visit another section of the park where the brightly colored Eastern Rosella and well-marked Yellow-tufted Honeyeater reside. We may also elect to investigate some of the many city parks near the hotel, where we might encounter birds such as Red-rumped Parrot, Red-whiskered Bulbul, White-plumed Honeyeater, or Yellow Thornbill. A midday flight up to Brisbane will allow us to look for Mangrove Honeyeater and Mangrove Gerygone close to the airport before we make the drive inland to Lamington National Park, an area of montane rainforest with a delightful climate. We’ll pass through open farmland and eucalyptus woods broken occasionally by marshes and streams, and we should see Gray Butcherbird, Little Friarbird, and perhaps Glossy Black Cockatoo or Pretty-faced (Whiptail) Wallaby. By late afternoon we’ll enter the subtropical rainforest of the Lamington Plateau, a change of environment marked by flocks of Crimson Rosellas. We’ll arrive at O’Reilly’s Guesthouse in time for some late afternoon birding. If we’re lucky we may be able to watch a Satin Bowerbird decorating its bower or hand-feed the many semi-tame Regent Bowerbirds, Australian King Parrots, or Crimson Rosellas that decorate the lodge grounds. In the evening Red-necked Pademelons graze on the lawns, and during dinner Short-eared Brushtail Possums often come to the dining room feeders. Night at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Guesthouse.

Day 5: O’Reilly’s Guesthouse is celebrated by birdwatchers worldwide for its amazing shows of multicolored tropical species, many of which are hand-tame and present fantastic photographic opportunities. Species that frequent the guesthouse feeders include bizarre Australian Brush-Turkeys, stunning Regent Bowerbirds (the guesthouse emblem)—the male being arguably the most beautiful Australian bird—more subtle but equally attractive Satin Bowerbirds, chunky Wonga Pigeons, cheeky Lewin’s Honeyeaters, and ragged flocks of Crimson Rosellas and Australian King Parrots. But the feeding frenzies around the guesthouse are by no means the only ornithological attractions at O’Reilly’s. Set in the heart of Lamington National Park, the guesthouse has lengthy trails that take off in various directions through superb montane rainforest containing a wealth of specialties that will be new for us. These include Paradise Riflebird (our first species of bird of paradise), curious Green Catbirds, entertaining Australian Logrunners, both Bassian and Russet-tailed Thrushes, remarkably confiding Eastern Whipbirds, three species of scrub-wren all so tame they will feed within feet of us, and many, many more. Perhaps the ultimate prize is Albert’s Lyrebird, a species with a tiny world range but also a very shy bird, usually heard singing but not always seen—and even then often just a large dark shape bounding away through the undergrowth. And after dinner we’ll make a serious attempt to find Marbled Frogmouth, a seldom-seen denizen of the high rainforest canopy. Night at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Guesthouse.

Day 6: After an early morning at O’Reilly’s searching for any species still missing and enjoying the superb ambience of the location and its many very approachable birds, we’ll drive back down the mountain and on to Brisbane, where we will catch a flight to Hervey Bay. Depending upon flight times we’ll spend some time birding along the coast here, where wader roosts can be quite impressive in both diversity and numbers. Wetlands in the region might hold numbers of Wandering or Plumed Whistling-Ducks or perhaps a hulking Black-necked Stork or dainty Green Pygmy-Goose. Night in Maryborough.

Day 7: Today will be a total contrast to the previous week, dominated as it was by forest birding (albeit fairly easy stuff with lots of showy birds). We’ll depart the small airstrip near Hervey Bay for the 40-minute flight out to Lady Elliot Island. This postcard-perfect coralline island sits near the southern reaches of the Great Barrier Reef, and although fully protected as part of the Great Barrier Reef Green Zone, it is serviced by a small airstrip and has excellent infrastructure for tourists. At 45 hectares in size, the island supports an amazingly rich variety of sea life, including resident Manta Rays and large numbers of nesting Loggerhead and Green Sea Turtles. The island also has the highest diversity of breeding seabirds along the reef. Thousands of Black Noddies and Sooty Terns breed in the shrubs around the island periphery, and we’ll look among them for smaller numbers of Brown Noddies and Bridled Terns. Other breeding seabirds here include the stunningly beautiful Red-tailed Tropicbird, Brown Booby, Roseate, Black-naped, and Greater Crested Terns, and Great Frigatebird. The island further supports a nice array of waders, including both Sooty and Pied Oystercatchers, Pacific Golden-Plovers, and both Gray-tailed and Wandering Tattlers. Landbirding here is also excellent, with Buff-banded Rails and the local Capricornia subspecies of Silvereye common sights around the island. For those who wish, there will be opportunities to inspect the corals and fish from a guided glass-bottom boat cruise, go snorkeling or swimming in the azure-colored from the beach —or even, for anyone already suitably qualified, go diving. In the late afternoon we’ll fly back to Hervey Bay, and then head back to Maryborough for the night. 

Day 8:  Today will largely be a travel day, as we will fly back down to Brisbane and then on to Cairns.  Our schedule will wholly be dependent upon the flight availability, but rest assured that we will spend whatever time we have free birding, either in the morning around Maryborough or the afternoon around Cairns. Night in Cairns.

Day 9: We’ll awake in the tropics, and after breakfast will spend a bit of time around the Cairns Esplanade, where Varied Honeyeaters, Torresian Imperial-Pigeons, Double-eyed Fig-Parrots and Australian Swiftlets should be in the parks, and a host of wading birds (tide permitting) will be out on the shoreline. We’ll then move to the south, to visit a small beachhead that often hosts a family group of Southern Cassowaries that have become somewhat habituated to the beachgoers. Seeing the birds always involves a bit of luck, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed. After lunch we’ll then drive inland to Yungaburra, arriving in time to do some birding near town. A short walk along a nearby natural area where we should find our first Spectacled or Pied Monarchs, little groups of Large-billed Scrubwrens and perhaps a pair of brightly marked Yellow-breaster Boatbills. A few Tooth-billed Bowerbirds typically are on territory along the trail, and we’ll try to see one singing as it sits just a few feet above its bower of carefully arranged leaves, all turned pale side up. We might even encounter our first bird of paradise in the form of a displaying male Victoria’s Riflebird. In the evening we’ll wander down to a nearby creek to look for one of the tablelands most famous mammalian inhabitants; the incredible Duck-billed Platypus. Night near Yungaburra.

Day 10: The remnant patches of rainforests that dot the Atherton Tablelands are rich in birds, many of which are virtually restricted to this tiny corner of the world. Our day will be broken into sections, providing all-day birding for those who wish or a chance to opt out occasionally to relax and perhaps explore the picturesque town of Yungaburra. Before breakfast we’ll visit one of the local patches of rainforest, itself a fully designated national park, where the fruiting trees around the parking lot attract a wealth of forest species that are likely to include bulky Spotted Catbirds, the elusive Double-eyed Fig Parrot, and highly localized Queensland endemics such as Gray-headed Robin and Bower’s Shrike-Thrush. After breakfast back in town we’ll visit a higher-elevation national park to search for species that don’t occur around Yungaburra, including Fernwren, Atherton Scrubwren, Bridled Honeyeater, and Mountain Thornbill. We’ll have a nice lunch in the idyllic town of Atherton and then spend the afternoon exploring the agricultural fields around the region, where numerous raptors and both Brolgas and Sarus Cranes are likely. After dinner we will offer an extended nocturnal outing into the higher reaches of the tablelands, where we may encounter Lesser Sooty Owl or several beautiful species of possum, including Lemuroid, Green, and Herbert River. Night near Yungaburra.

Day 11: Our pre-breakfast excursion will be to a nearby local reservoir, and if there has been rain or heavy dew overnight, we’ll watch the shoulders of the road for Buff-banded Rail and Brown Quail. The jaunty song of White-throated Gerygone may reveal its presence in one of the well-wooded gardens, and Tawny Grassbird, Red-backed Fairy-Wren, and Golden-headed Cisticola should be singing in the rank vegetation along the water’s edge. With luck they may perch high enough for telescope views. We may bird a bit in the area after breakfast as well if we are still on the lookout for some of the species, but by the afternoon we’ll be driving north across the tablelands to reach the wetlands around Lake Mitchell, which should hold a good cross-section of the area’s waterbirds, including Green Pygmy-Geese, Australian Pelicans, some migrant waders, and possibly both Brolgas and Sarus Cranes. Around the lake we often spot Pale-headed Rosellas, Chestnut-rumped Munia, and Double-barred Finch. With luck we might encounter the distinctive local race of Brown Treecreeper on the trunks of the trees, and we should have an opportunity to look at some of the impressively large termite mounds that liberally dot the landscape. In the late afternoon we’ll drive north to Kingfisher Park, where we’ll spend two nights. We’ll arrive in time to do some local birding in the afternoon, including at the lodge’s feeders, which attract Blue-faced, Yellow-spotted, and Cryptic Honeyeaters as well as delightful little Red-browed Finches and Chestnut-breasted Munia. After an early dinner there will be an optional spotlighting trip. With luck we might find an owl or a frogmouth, and we are sure to see some nocturnal mammals. Night at Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge.

Day 12: We’ll spend the morning birding the excellent grounds of the lodge and the lower slopes of nearby Mount Lewis. Several pairs of Noisy Pittas are typically on territory around the grounds, and a small creek attracts a wide array of birds during the heat of the day. We should encounter Spectacled and Black-faced Monarchs, the odd and perky Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Gray Whistler, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, and the improbably coiffed Topknot Pigeon as we walk around the well-forested paths. Up on Mount Lewis we’ll seek out Fernwren and Chowchilla, two skulky but very vocal species that are extremely range-restricted. We’ll also head a bit inland to the drier eucalypt forests north of Mount Malloy, which support populations of Red-winged Parrot, Apostlebird, and the imposing Australian Bustard, and we should see the impressive bower of Great Bowerbird, which are quite common in the area. An early evening vigil at the lodge’s water features may reveal, with a bit of luck, one of the resident Red-necked Crakes. Night at Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge. 

Day 13: After a final early morning around Kingfisher Park, we will spend a bit of time visiting some local wetlands, where we might find White-browed or Spotless Crake, or perhaps even Cotton Pygmy-Goose.The area around Julatten can be excellent for a few often harder to find species such as the well-named Lovely Fairywren, an early arriving Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher (with great luck), or perhaps “wintering” Blue-faced Parrotfinches.The afternoon plan will be flexible, allowing for some time off to explore the grounds or to seek out any local species that we may still be missing.Night at Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge.

Day 14: We’ll depart Kingfisher early, heading north and off the tablelands for morning boat trip on the Daintree River, which is likely to be one of the highlights of the trip for some, especially avid photographers. Waterbirds are numerous and tame and should include Australasian Darter, Rufous Night-Heron, Papuan Frogmouth, Shining Flycatcher, and Azure Kingfisher. We’ll also be hoping to glimpse some of the scarcer birds, such as Great-billed Heron, Black Bittern, and Little Kingfisher. After we pack up, we’ll head back to Cairns, where we’ll explore the varied birds that call this tropical city home. A visit to the botanical gardens should reveal Rajah Shelducks swimming among the water hyacinths, Bush Thick-knees tucked under the shade, Rainbow Bee-eaters flycatching from exposed perches, Australian Swiftlets coursing overhead, and a variety of honeyeaters including Yellow and Brown-backed. Depending on tide conditions, we’ll also visit the world-famous Cairns Esplanade, where extensive mudflats host hordes of migrant waders, including Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers, Terek Sandpiper, Gray-tailed Tattler, Eastern Curlew, and Great Knot.  We’ll also visit a bustling colony of Metallic Starlings, which build large communal nests reminiscent of weaver colonies in Africa. Their blood-red eyes have to be seen to be believed. Night in Cairns.

Day 15: Flights home.

2025 Narrative

IN BRIEF: Our 2025 Australia tour to the eastern states of Queensland and New South Wales provided a phenomenal mix of habitats and bird species, and a wide array of other wildlife. This was the first year that we have run the itinerary south to north, which made the tour flow much more smoothly. We began with a few days around Sydney, surely one of the most picturesque cities in the world. Our pelagic trip out of Sydney was rougher than average, but still produced close views of White-capped and Black-browed Albatrosses, Providence Petrels and Flesh-footed and Wedge-tailed Sheawaters. We made the most of our two days around Royal National Park and the Sydney suburbs where we encountered a semi tame Superb Lyrebirds, a roosting Powerful Owl, stunning Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos and gained a great introduction into Australia’s birdlife. Moving northwards we visited Lamington National Park and the famous O’Reilly’s Guesthouse, where we were greeted by masses of Crimson Rosellas, Australian King Parrots, and both Regent and Satin Bowerbirds around the grounds of the lodge. And in the woods, we found confiding Eastern Whip-birds, pairs of Australian Logrunners, Paradise Riflebirds, a lovely Marbled Frogmouth, instructive and repeat views of both Bassian and Russet-tailed Thrushes, querulous Green Catbirds, portly Wonga Pigeons and an 11th hour Albert’s Lyrebird that gave us a merry chase before settling down in the open. We then moved up north of Brisbane to the small city of Hervey Bay. Here we enjoyed some excellent ponds with more tropical waterbirds such as Comb-crested Jacana and the unique Magpie Goose, as well as the beautiful sandy shores of the Great Sandy Bight, where we located Mangrove Honeyeaters, Torresian Kingfishers and a nice selection of migrant waders from Asia. Our chief reason for visiting this part of the country though was to catch a flight out to Lady Elliot Island, a forested atoll near the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef. Here we found thousands of Black Noddies and Bridled Terns, bold Buff-banded Rails, both Great and Lesser Frigatebirds, some ethereally white Red-tailed Tropicbirds, the local race of Silvereye that may well be granted species status at some point, courting Black-naped and Roseate Terns and a dazzling array of colourful reef fish including one huge Reef Manta that we saw from the plane as we landed.  

The last week was centered around the coastal lowlands between Cairns and Daintree, and the cooler pastoral highlands of the Atherton Tablelands dotted with remnant patches of upland rainforest. It’s hard to pick a favorite sighting when you spend a week in such an incredibly diverse area. Some of the highlights included our wonderful sighting of multiple Southern Cassowaries on the final day of the tour, a hunting Great-billed Heron on Daintree River, our encounter with two difficult understory species in Blue-faced Parrotfinch and Fernwren, and the magical time we spent with a young male Golden Bowerbird that was seemingly oblivious to our presence. The wealth of life here in the north isn’t limited to the birds though, and sometimes with animals like Platypus, Striped Possum, Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo and the undeniably adorable Krefft’s Glider it can be the non-birds that really shine! 

No trip such as this can be summed up by statistical means alone as the experiences and landscapes are integral, but our tally of 320 species of birds, an incredible 30 species of mammals, and dozens of species of fish, amphibians and reptiles certainly played a role in making this a very successful 13 days in the field. 

IN FULL: For the 2025 Eastern Australia tour we swapped our regular tour direction from North to South for the reverse, starting in Sydney. We met in the afternoon of day 1 for a short bit of birding at a park not far from our hotel. This allowed us to acquaint ourselves with a nice selection of the more common birds in Sydney at a relaxed pace and took advantage of the fact that all of this years participants had elected to come a day or two early and were eager to bird. We were a trifle beset by some impressively strong winds, but over the course of two hours or so opened our triplist account with nearly forty species. Around the open lawns we familiarized ourselves with a suite of black and white birds that would soon become familiar companions for the tour; Willie Wagtail (actually a large species of fantail), Australian Magpie (not actually a true corvid), and Magpie-Lark (which is supposedly a terrestrial monarch flycatcher). At the edge of a small woodland we scoped a rather grumpy looking Laughing Kookaburra as it huddled in the wind and peered down for some unsuspecting animal to scuttle by. A bit later likely this same bird cackled out its ringing sound; a welcome party unique to Australia. The little trail that meanders through the woodland had several large fruiting mulberry bushes at its start, which were attracting a lot of birds. Most were exotic species (much like the mulberry itself), with a few European Starling, several striking Red-whiskered Bulbuls, and a couple of Spotted Doves and Common Myna. But a few native species were about as well, including a wonderfully engaging and particularly approachable family of Superb Fairywren and several dapper New Holland Honeyeaters. Once in the mangrove woods near the ponds we found a chattering flock of Yellow Thornbills, a handsome bright yellow species with an almost orange face and throat. They were hard to spot given their size and the persistent movement of the trees in the high winds, but eventually gave good looks as they dropped down to eye level. 

In the small wetland pond in the center of the park we found Pied Stilts, Australian Ibis and White-faced Herons hunting in the shallows, and Dusky Moorhen and Chestnut Teal paddling around in the more open sections of marsh. Flowering Banksias here were attracting more New Holland Honeyeaters, with both Red and Little Wattlebirds and a single Brown Honeyeater vying for space at the flowers. Here too was a very responsive pair of White-browed Scrubwrens and a singing Golden-headed Cisticola which sat up in a short tree for a very un-cisticolalike length of time. A rather unexpected find here was a small flock of seven or so Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos which flew by in their characteristic languid fashion, sounding rather like a flock of depressed and creaky seagulls as they disappeared to the north. We pressed on a bit further northward ourselves, watching a swarm of Welcome Swallows hawking insects over the parks sports oval, and finding a couple of striking Crested Pigeons strutting about the lawns in their rather supercilious fashion. Another smaller wetland contained many more Chestnut Teal, this time with a couple of Grey Teal mixed in, as well as a single Australasian Grebe and a quick flyby from a Black-shouldered Kite. As we walked back towards the vans we admired the vocal stylings of the local Australian Ravens and Noisy Miners which were engaged in a fairly aggressive dispute. The small golf driving range provided a bit of amusement as well, as the vehicle (a dilapidated minivan with heavily screened windows) responsible for sweeping up the golf balls was also serving as an excellent target for the dozen or so golfers practicing their swings. Nearby Ben spotted an active Grey Butcherbird nesting just a few feet off the trail, and we were able to watch as one of the parents brought in a prey item for their two half-grown but still downy chicks. We capped off the walk with a nice study of a Rainbow Lorikeet that obligingly sat in a bare tree just over the vans.  

The first full day of the tour this year was reserved for our all-day pelagic out of the Sydney Harbour. Our trusty 45-foot commercial sport fishing boat left from the Rose Bay Ferry terminal early in the morning, with great views of the magnificent Sydney Harbour, Opera House and Harbour Bridge as we left port. Clear skies and sunshine made for a scenic ride as we navigated through Sydney Harbour and out past the dramatic headlands. A trail of Silver Gulls followed along as we began to hit the heavier seas of the open ocean. It became quickly apparent that despite the pleasant weather, the sea was more than a bit choppy from the prior day’s winds. We held on to our gear and the railings as birds slowly began to appear. Our first tubenose of the day came in the form of a close pass from an immature Black-browed Albatross. Wedge-tailed Shearwaters followed, as did White-capped Albatross. It’s always amazing how fast these birds actually are; one second you spot one on the horizon angling towards the boat and seemingly in the next second they are already scrabbling around the stern for proffered scraps. Soon after we were treated to quite an excellent showing by a group of Humpback Whales, with several animals actually repeatedly breaching out of the water in an impressive shower of spray. By the time we reached the shelf and began to chum more vigorously, some participants had begun to feel the effects of the rough sea. As a result, we didn’t spend as long as we otherwise might in the usually productive waters of the shelf, but even our short visit allowed close views of several Providence Petrels and Flesh-footed Shearwaters, as well as multiple of both White-capped and Black-browed Albatross. The return journey was relatively quiet until we had the headlands firmly in view, at which point we added a few new species for the day- Australasian Gannet, Great Crested Tern, Bar-tailed Godwits, sooty Oystercatcher, and a Pacific Reef-Heron. A White-capped Albatross sat on the water associating with a Black-browed Albatross close to the boat and a little group of Long-nosed Fur Seals clambering around the rocks were welcome parting gifts as we began the final leg past the headlands and gratefully into the calm waters of Sydney Harbour. Night in Sydney. 

We spent the next day exploring the large and wild Royal National Park, just a little south of metropolitan Sydney. The first National Park created in Australia (and second designated in the world), Royal encompasses 15000 hectares of coastal heath, dry forest, and patches of temperate rainforest in the valleys and boasts an amazing diversity of bird (and plant) life. Our local contact in Sydney lives close to the park, and has spent decades exploring the various sub habitats. Acting on his suggestion we spent the morning walking down Lady Carrington Drive, an old roadbed that follows a meandering stream and passes through patches of more humid forest. Our primary goal for the walk was to locate a Superb Lyrebird, and this goal was achieved in near record time. Generally wary and hard to see in the field the birds in Royal National Park are somewhat used to people and allow a closer approach, and our first bird spent several calm minutes scratching around in the trailside leaf litter as we watched from just a few meters away. New Holland Honeyeaters, Grey Fantails and Little Wattlebirds were common companions down the trail, soon becoming almost a distraction when they appeared in denser cover. Golden Whistlers seemed to be almost everywhere, giving a musical counterpart to the errant and raucous yarks from passing Sulphur-crested Cockatoos and the maniacal cackling of distant Kookaburra. As this was effectively our first real day of birding on land and our progress was slow. Some of the particularly attractive or noteworthy finds as we made our way out to a small picnic area lined with huge creekside figs included a striking pair of Beautiful Firetail (a small finch which is certainly a stunner, covered with thin black bands across its entire body and possessing a bright red rump and bill and delicate blue eyering), perched Fan-tailed and Shining Bronze Cuckoos, busy little groups of Brown Gerygone, Large-billed and White-throated Scrubwren and Brown Thornbill and, of course, a family group of uncommonly cooperative Variegated Fairywren. Some sharp-eyed participants in the group picked out perched Wonga Pigeons sitting high up in the canopy, and a lovely passing Grey Goshawk; a scarce species in the park and one that we generally miss. Once out at the fruiting figs we rather quickly connected with three excellent rainforest species in quick succession. The first, Green Catbird is often quite hard to see well, as they sound off with their grating calls from high up in the canopy while remaining stubbornly hidden in tangles well overhead. Once again, our birds proved more tractable, with a male apparently engaging in courtship feeding its potential mate. The Satin Bowerbirds showed well too, with several younger males or females feeding high up in the figs, and sitting still long enough for some scope views. The last species here was a pair of Bassian Thrushes which were hopping about along a shaded stretch of trail and seemingly oblivious to our presence. 

On the walk back we enjoyed a couple of perched Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos, repeat views of male Australian Golden and Rufous Whistlers, a single White-throated Treecreeper that was particularly adept at remaining on the back side of the tree trunks from the photographers in the group, and a lovely pair of very attractive frenetic honeyeaters; with quite a few Eastern Spinebills and one stunning male Scarlet Myzomela. The open lawns along the creek back near the carpark kept us entertained as well, with noisy groups of Little Rosella, Rainbow Lorikeet and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo prospecting for nesting cavities, a dazzlingly blue and blushing plum Azure Kingfisher sitting quietly above a shaded section of the creek bank and a cute family group of Maned Ducks with five adorable fuzzy chicks in tow. Perhaps the most impressive sighting though was of a single Topknot Pigeon that obligingly sat up on a bare branch in the nearby canopy. It’s flared bouffant brown hairdo, long black and white banded tails and oddly colourful lores and eyes cut quite an attractive figure! 

Leaving the trailhead area, we stopped in at the park café, where in addition to an excellent lunch were able to watch the local wildlife interacting with the outdoor diners. The birds here have always had a somewhat unhealthy relationship with the dining area, but during the covid years they seem to have grown even more attentive to the arrival of food. The long suffering waitstaff have to bring baskets to cover the food, and one of our participants experienced a lightning-fast aerial swoop by a Kookaburra just as the waiter was delivering the plate to the table! I suppose dining outside in Australia always carries a bit of risk that one will end up sharing a meal with the local wildlife.  

As our visit coincided with a holiday long weekend we found the park to be heaving with day visitors. Our usual parking area out on the coast was jam-packed so we elected to visit the following morning instead. This allowed us to do a bit of exploring into spots that we do not regularly visit in the park. We walked a few hundred meters down a wide fire trail through the coastal heath near Bundeena. On one side of the fire break it was evident that there had been a fire in the last few years; with lots of burnt trees protruding from the dense new growth in the understory. This provided perfect conditions for Southern Emuwrens, our principal target for our visit here. These tiny balls of charisma with their ridiculously long and filamentous tail feathers (which, like in ratites lack the connecting barbs to hold the feather structure in place) can be incredibly difficult to see well as they prefer to move inside dense vegetation rather than atop it. In this particular location though the substantial tangles of burnt branches lying just above the dense grasses gave them the illusion of cover, and amazingly a pair came up and repeatedly sat up long enough for us to really take in the blue throat and rich copper-buff plumage. The open skies above the sprawling heathlands held a few distant raptors, including a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles that were being mobbed by a group of Australian Ravens as they flew down the seaside cliffs and a female Collared Sparrowhawk that briefly circled overhead. Here too we managed to track down a pair of smart-looking Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters and a nice mix of interesting heathland plants in good flower.  

Leaving the park behind we headed to a small city park nearby where Steve has been keeping tabs on a family group of Powerful Owls. Unfortunately for us the birds were not in their traditional spot on this day, perhaps flushed by some local kids exploring on their long weekend. In the more open part of the park though we had an excellent consolation prize when we found a roosting Tawny Frogmouth up on a heavy horizontal branch. Frogmouths are hulking and shaggy plumaged birds with an oversized heads and thick bills contributing to an overall look like some kind of odd and armless muppet complete with a bristly moustache and oversized eyes who generally exude a sense of zen that would make even Eeyore jealous. After a bit of deliberation Steve offered up a second site where we could check for Powerful Owls. We drove over and walked up a small creekline in the woods and within just a few minutes of our arrival were staring into the watchful eyes of a Powerful Owl that was perched high above the creek. This huge owl (the largest species in Australia) seems to enjoy the suburban/forest interface, where it can feast on possums, and perhaps the occasional cat which thrive in the fire-suppressed and flowering-plant rich gardens. The birds’ massive talons and baleful stare certainly made us believe that it is a well-named species! A nearby park along a scenic river gave us access to some welcome bathrooms, as well as flowering trees that were attracting our first Australian King Parrots, a few Crimson (and one brief Eastern) Rosellas and a seemingly inexhaustible number of Rainbow Lorikeets and Noisy Miners. A few White-faced Herons and Silver Gulls were flying up the river and overhead we picked out a lone Australian Pelican and several dozen Australian White Ibis. Our last stop for the day was at a nearby public garden where we stopped to look at a colony of Grey-headed Flying-Foxes that were hanging by the dozens in the trees around the carpark, like oversized paper Halloween ornaments. Below the bat roost we enjoyed close views of a handsome pair of Chestnut Teal, some close Pacific Black Duck, a ridiculous number of Maned Duck and some very approachable Australian Ibis. 

For our last morning around Sydney, we again met up with Steve in Royal National Park. This time we headed straight out to the coast, happily arriving ahead of virtually all of the weekend traffic. Here, at the somewhat exotic sounding Wattamolla Point we walked on a newly constructed boardwalk that leads out to the Sandstone ledges that form the clifftops of the shore. With 40-60 Meter drops to the sea, crashing surf on the rubble below, small ravines with patches of short heathy vegetation and azure-blue bays the coast here could easily fill a tourist catalogue. Happily, though, instead of the somewhat expected resort hotels and beach umbrellas we found the region largely empty of people (though by the time of our departure the parking lot was rapidly filling). Our main quarry, the enigmatic Rockwarbler, proved elusive but we enjoyed our time here immensely. Scanning out to sea revealed a passing Black-browed Albatross, several Australasian Gannets, a single Pacific Reef-Heron and a couple of migrating Humpback Whales. Around the sandstone clifftops we enjoyed views of several large and colourful Australian Water Dragons, as well as our final New Holland Honeyeaters and Little Wattlebirds of the trip. All too soon we had to pack up and start heading up to the Syndey Airport to catch our midday flight up to Brisbane. It all went smoothly, and we soon touched down in Australia’s “third” city, ready to see what wonders the state of Queensland had in store for us.  

Once we gathered our luggage and secured our new chariots, we headed south of the airport to look at the mangroves around the Port of Brisbane. We timed the visit perfectly from a tidal perspective, with decent numbers of waders (including our first Far Eastern Curlews and Whimbrel, Royal Spoonbills and a flock of Australian Terns out on the mudflats. The sandier shoreline held our first Australasian Darters, Little and Great Egrets and a few Australian Pelicans paddling around in the shallower water. Overhead we were thrilled to spot a couple of striking Brahminy Kites; a lovely raptor clad in chestnut and white that often occurs around tropical coastal forests. Our principal reason for the visit though, was to catch up with a trio of mangrove-based birds in the denser mangrove forest on the edge of the carpark. Our run of excellent form continued, as it didn’t take long to track down a Torresian Kingfisher perched on a bare mangrove branch. This husky kingfisher was split from part of the old Mangrove/Collared complex, with a range that encompasses coastal north and northeast Australia and a bit of the adjacent New Guinea coast. It can be a hard species to see well, as it generally prefers to remain buried within the mangroves, calling loudly but staying in inaccessible haunts. We walked to the edge of the mangroves and were able to also locate (with a bit of patience) a Mangrove Gerygone that was occasionally singing as it foraged in the crowns of some mangroves just a bit in from the edge. A quick stop at a nearby convenience store netted us some welcome cold drinks and snacks, and also a perched Black-shouldered Kite sitting on a roadside pole.  

By this time in the afternoon, it was time to start the roughly two-hour drive up from the coast and into another world; the rainforests along the upper ridges of the Border Ranges and our base for the next two nights at the incomparable O’Reilly’s Eco-Lodge. About an hour into the drive, we arrived at the beginning of the ascent into the park, stopping first a large public bat roost which contained a few Black Flying-Foxes in the masses of Grey-headed Flying-Foxes hanging in some bare trees along the road. We also stopped at the nearby park for a comfort break, and while there admired a few Noisy Friarbirds, Blue-faced Honeyeaters, Rainbow Lorikeets and Australasian Figbirds that were coming into some tall flowering Grevellia trees. Just as we started to leave Canungra our attentions were caught by a flurry of activity around a restaurant patio. Apparently a large (and quite venomous) Red-bellied Black-Snake had appeared on the deck, and scattered diners in all directions. A local hero, decked out in a lovely fuchsia T-shirt, bushy beard, and large bucket-style black cowboy hat grabbed a mop handle and started to tap the ground, hoping to drive the snake away. A few onlookers directed traffic as this unlikely strategy started to bear fruit, and the snake (which was at this point quite grumpy) was ushered across the road and down into a field. After this little wildlife spectacle, we made one more stop at a quiet creek crossing, where we discovered that the habitat (which had been excellent for Pale-vented Bush-Hen) was no longer suitable. A pair of Red-backed Fairywrens was a nice consolation though, as was our first Red-necked Wallaby that was feeding in a roadside paddock. We then started the drive uphill on the narrow and windy road that snakes its way up into Lamington National Park, stopping a few times to appreciate a couple of Pretty-faced Wallabies along the roadside clearings. As we neared the lodge a sudden shift from the dry and grassy Eucalypt forest to a temperate rainforest full of cycads, moss, a few Nothophagus and ferns was a surprise to many. The drive up was punctuated by patches of road construction and a lot of downed trees in the forest. Over dinner that night we did a bit of research and discovered that the region had been significantly affected by Typhoon Alfred back in March of 2025. The storm brought high winds and widespread flooding, with heavy damage from northern New South Wales to several hundred kilometers north of Brisbane. The upper reached of the mountain ranges received several feet of rain in a two-day span, with heavy damage to park trails and the O’Reilly’s access road. Subsequently the region had dried out, and with warmer than normal temperatures and little rainfall since March the area was remarkably dry. The lodge was actually having to truck in water daily, and had had to make several logistical adjustments to their normal operations to stay open. Despite these hardships the lodge was bustling with people enjoying the tail end of a long holiday weekend. 

We began our full day around Lamington National Park with a pre-breakfast walk around the lodge grounds where we caught everyone up on the common birds that frequent the clearings around the lodge. Quite a few of the participants mentioned that when they awoke and opened the curtains, they were instantly tallying lifers from (and on) their balconies! It’s certainly nice when the common birds include such absolutely stunning species as Regent and Satin Bowerbird, Australian King Parrot and Crimson Rosella, Wonga Pigeon and Red-browed Firetail! It’s not just the species list here that make an impact, but the tameness and approachability that a visiting birder can revel in. Instead of quietly lurking in the underbrush and hoping for a quick part-view of a calling Eastern Whipbird here one just scans the lawn or holds out some walnuts and one waltzes in without a care. It is, simply put, an amazing experience, akin to the Galapagos Islands in some respects. After spending the requisite amount of time taking in the colour show and getting selfies of King Parrots and Crimson Rosellas perched on various heads and shoulders we started a short walk around the periphery of the lodge grounds and down around the nearby campground. Some flowering bottlebrush trees were attracting a few Lewin’s Honeyeaters and dapper Eastern Spinebills, both of which posed nicely for photos. Eastern Yellow Robin, Gray Shrikethrush and White-browed Scrubwren were along the forest edge, occasionally coming right out onto the lawns or nearby posts, and Brown Gerygones were chattering away from the trees. 

Of particular note during our walk (and indeed our entire visit to the area this year) were the remarkably high number of thrushes that were around the forest edge. There are two species of extremely similar thrushes in the mountains around O’Reilly’s. Bassian Thrushes tend to prefer the higher reaches of the montane ridges, dominating in the sections of forest with thick undergrowth, tree ferns and cycads while Russet-tailed Thrushes are the more common species on the lower slopes in drier and more open forests. As lodge sits right between these two zones, and there is considerable overlap between the two species on the trails near the lodge. When they are not calling separating the two species is tricky, but thankfully most of our sightings involved birds hopping about in the open and at close range. We could clearly make out the brighter rufous tinge to the uppertail, white tail corners and pale tipped coverts lacking any shaft streaks that separated the Russet-tailed Thrushes (the more common of the two species) from the larger and more uniformly scaled Bassians. Undoubtedly our most memorable find on the pre-breakfast walk was an unusually cooperative Noisy Pitta that we found near the recently renovated campground. Noisy Pittas are an exceptionally colourful bird; emerald green on the back, with a deep red vent, black and buff striped head and bright sky-blue shoulders it is a bird that would widen even an ardent non-birders eye. Our bird sat out for several minutes up in the midstory, occasionally changing perches and angles, and showing off to an amazing degree.  

After breakfast we set off down one of the more forested trails that snake out into the National Park from the lodge. Here, Large-billed, Yellow-throated and White-browed Scrubwrens hopped around us at incredibly close range, while pairs of Australian Logrunners scratched hopefully in the leaf litter just a few feet away. Eastern Yellow Robins were plentiful, often perching within touching range and looking at us inquisitively. Even normally retiring species like Eastern Whip-bird are tame here, boldly hopping by in the open, or (in the case of one bird) even climbing up to an eye-level perch and checking out the contents of our outstretched hand. We walked about a mile through the rainforest, finding pairs of Brown Gerygones, a few Brown Thornbills and a near constant background din from Lewin’s Honeyeaters and Golden Whistlers. Near the back part of our walk, we pinned down a flashy pair of Australian Rufous Fantails; a lovely and charismatic species clad in rust, black and grey which actively moves around in the understory and mid-canopy like an oversized butterfly. A couple of other highlight species worth a mention here were a soaring adult Grey Goshawk and a lovely male Satin Bowerbird attending quite an opulently decorated bower just a bit off the trail. Generally, when birders think of bowerbirds or birds of paradise they think of New Guinea, but both bird families are represented in Australia as well. Rather than advertising their fitness through intricate song or flashy plumage (though the purplish-black males with their impossibly violet eyes have flashy plumage in spades) male Bowerbirds are the architects of the avian world. Carefully constructing a short runway bordered by walls of small sticks and ending in a wide flat mat lined with dried grass and straw these portly birds then decorate the mat with all manner of blue objects. Naturally a rare colour, blue used to be restricted to certain fruits or ephemeral flowers, and amassing and curating those hard to find objects would have made a Satin Bowerbirds job as an interior decorator difficult. These days however people have introduced all sorts of perennially blue objects that the male birds can collect to set their potential mates hearts aflutter. Bottle tops, pen caps, drinking straws, bits of plastic bags and the odd bright blue zip were carefully festooned around this bower.  

After lunch and a bit of down time we met up in the mid-afternoon and hopped in the cars to explore a side road that leads down to Duck Creek. This road has been closed (past our destination) since the storm and is currently a matter of some political discourse. Apparently, the road is owned by the local council, but they do not have the money or will to reopen it. In the past O’Reilly’s ran off-road tours down the route, and they apparently do have the ability to get the road fixed, but the council will not approve a private entity repairing the public road. A campaign has been mounted to “save the Duck Creek Rd” and we saw several flyers hanging about in support. At any rate, we turned down the track and bumped along for a few kilometers, dropping down from the main road until we came to a patch of open Eucalyptus forest with an understory of grasses, grass trees, and lantana thickets. In this generally drier habitat, we were soon able to track down several parties of White-naped Honeyeaters, some close enough that we could discern the red arc over their eyes. It took a little longer to locate our other main target for the area, the generally scarce Red-browed Treecreeper. Initially the pair of birds appeared far away from our position, but thankfully they came quite a bit closer and lingered for a while, clambering about on a selection of nearby trunks before eventually disappearing downslope, and showing off their rusty faces and dark crowns and white spotted chests and flanks to nice effect. Here too we enjoyed close views of another Spotted Pardalote, and a little flock of Striated Thornbill. On the way back up the road we stopped along a ridge overlooking a large, cleared pasture. The views of the many-layered mountain ridges were superb, and while looking over the field we noticed a flock of foraging Sulphur-crested Cockatoos out on the grass with the cows; a bucolic Australian scene! 

Leaving Duck Creek behind we elected to take a short walk out the Python Rock track in a successful bid to locate a Paradise Riflebird. This trail winds through a forest with quite tall and epiphytically-laden trees; perfect for riflebirds who like to hunt for larger insects in the clumps of staghorn and elkhorn ferns. We managed to locate a female Paradise Riflebird who was doing just that before perching high over the trail. The three species of Australian Riflebirds are most distinctive in their female plumage, and the Paradise female is perhaps the most attractive, with largely white underparts heavily speckled with black, and bold white supercilia bordering dark cheeks. Recent research has shown that the Birds-of-Paradise likely initially evolved in Australia, retreating uphill and into the humid montane forests of New Guinea as the lowlands began to dry out and Australian rainforest patches shrank. Although the Paradise Riflebird is now the most southerly-distributed species of BoP it is quite probable that a hundred thousand years ago there were many species present in the mountains of southern Queensland. 

After dinner we set out for a short drive to look for some of the areas nocturnal life. The conditions for night birding were perfect, with a relatively clear sky, a bright moon, cool but not outright cold temperatures and calm winds. We drove down the road and out to an area where I have had multiple sightings of Marbled Frogmouth over the years. Amazingly, soon after I started a bit of playback we heard a response, and soon after one individual flew in wonderfully, perching in a nearly perfect position opposite our waiting torches and sitting on a small bare branch with puffed up feathers and a stare worthy of an American boxer trying to psyche out his opponent during the pre-match televised interview. This is undoubtedly the most difficult species of Frogmouth to see in Australia, with a fairly restricted range and more retiring habits than the other two species. We ended up walking away from the bird, which after calling and rocketing in had simply frozen in place! Some spotlighting a bit lower on the road revealed a a few Red-necked Pademelons and Wallabies out on the lawns. 

Our final morning around O’Reilly’s started much as the first, with a wheeling show of colourful species nearly at our fingertips. Our main goal for the morning was to locate our missing main target bird for the region, the sometimes remarkably tame and at other times extremely elusive Albert’s Lyrebird. We walked the margins of the forest, checking on all three of our historically productive Lyrebird locations to no avail, although we did hear some brief song phrases from one bird well downslope in the woods. The pre-walk produced other goodies though, as we enjoyed good views of two perched White-headed Pigeons (always a bit of a bugbear species to find on this tour itinerary) and our first Brown Cuckoo-Dove; a tropical fruit eating dove that spends most of its time up in the canopy (although ours was sedately sitting on the trail). We spotted a nice Red-legged Pademelon as well, which hopped off into the bush before we could close in for a lengthy look. 

While we ate breakfast and set about packing up the vans Ben kept looking, and at the 11th hour called in on the radio that he had found a female Lyrebird down by the campground. We hustled over but the bird had been spooked by a barking dog, and by the time we arrived it had left the campground clearing and gone back downslope into the woods. A merry chase ensued which was a tad more adventurous than initially suspected, but eventually the group obtained excellent views of the bird foraging along some downed trees and even coming back up to the campground clearing. Albert’s (and the closely related Superb) Lyrebirds are the world’s largest (and among the world’s oldest) passerines. Accomplished mimics, they are perhaps best known for their starring role in many a nature documentary concerning Australian wildlife.  

This year we were able to negotiate flights both to and from Hervey Bay, thus cutting out two quite long drives, but our scheduled flight out was a bit earlier than we had hoped. With the rather protracted but ultimately rewarding delay for Lyrebird we had to hustle to the airport, stopping only once to listen to a roadside colony of Bell Miners (and admire a second Paradise Riflebird). Some further annoying delays at the check-in desk resulted in quite a rushed boarding process but we all made it aboard and a short 40 minutes later landed in the small town of Hervey Bay a bit before 2pm. This gave us some time in the afternoon for some birding along the Fraser Coast. The flight also permitted us to see just why this south Queensland coastline is among the fastest developing parts of the country. With sparkling blue water, a complicated geography with many bays and inlets and bright white beaches it’s pretty much a developers dream. Thankfully for the local wildlife though large tracts of this area are protected in national parks, and a lot of the coast is inaccessible except by boat due to the paucity of roads. Once we gathered up our luggage and secured our new chariots we drove about fifteen minutes to one of the richest birding spots in Hervey Bay; the Arkarra Lagoons. 

Our first stop was at a small pond just outside the park where we noticed a lot of waterfowl sitting around the grassy margins. Here we enjoyed close views of prehistoric looking Magpie Geese which showed off their unwebbed feet as they trundled across the lawns. Our first Plumed Whistling-Ducks were snoozing in the shade around the lagoon, and the photographers in the group took a bit of time as a couple of Comb-crested Jacanas and a pair of Black Swans were posing nicely. The shoreline of the lake was hosting both Royal and Yellow-billed Spoonbills, a Plumed Egret and a single Bar-shouldered Dove. The birding here wasn’t limited to the lake though, as some tall trees along the road were attracting our first Black-faced Cuckooshrikes and Little Friarbird, as well as a couple of Galah, Figbirds and a handsome Blue-faced Honeyeaters. Once at the actual lagoon we found the park closed for an unlisted reason (and just for the day of our visit). Some flowering trees around the parking lot though were abuzz with activity and we spent a bit of time watching Noisy Friarbirds and Miners chasing each other around. Here too were a pair of elegant looking Radjah Shelducks, a single Olive-backed Oriole and (just a few blocks down) our first pair of striking Rainbow Bee-eaters.  

As we still had some daylight left we drove south, reaching the coast of the Great Sandy Bight at the tiny community of Maaroom. This small but well-kept collection of houses and a sprawling caravan park always has lots of parked cars but remarkably few (to no) visible people. With a significant number of Eastern Grey Kangaroos foraging out on the lawns and hopping along the driveways it could easily be seen as a set for some post-apocalyptic movie in which kangaroos have risen to be the preeminent form of sentient life. Our final total in the counting contest between town residents and kangaroos was an unusually close 13-17 this year! Once we were situated along the mangrove-lined bay it didn’t take long for us to locate a responsive Mangrove Honeyeater (the species that we had heard but not seen a few days prior in Brisbane). A hunting Brahminy Kite made several passes over the boat ramp, which enabled the camera laden folks in our group to practice their birds in flight skills. Although the tide was way out we could still see a wealth of birdlife out on the mudflats, and we spent a bit of time scoping through the masses of feeding birds. Here we picked up our first Red-capped Plovers and Pied Oystercatchers, enjoyed closer views of Far Eastern Curlew and European Whimbrel and scoped some distant Australian Terns and a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagles. On the way out of town we stopped to photograph a small mob of female Eastern Grey Kangaroos (many with pouched Joeys) and while doing so were thrilled to spot a trio of Pale-headed Rosellas nearby. For a travel day we were quite pleased with the day’s birding, and our checklist took a while as we waited for our meals at a local pub next door to our hotel. 

The following day dawned clear with blue skies and only a few scattered clouds, in short, a perfect day to visit the sparkling waters of the Great Barrier Reef. In previous years we had accessed breeding seabirds and the Great Barrier Reef via a catamaran from Cairns. With the recent and significant bleaching events that have severely affected the overall coral health of the northern sections of the reef we decided a few years ago to shift our reef day from Cairns to this new location offshore from Hervey Bay; accessing the area via a short flight out to Lady Elliot Island, a small coral atoll surrounded by a vibrant and healthy fringing reef and liberally covered with trees and shrubs which support a wealth of breeding seabirds. The island supports continentally important numbers of several species and has the second highest diversity of breeding seabirds of any site on the Great Barrier Reef. We drove up to the tiny airport at Hervey Bay and were soon ushered into a small waiting room that was covered in large photos of swimming Sea Turtles, Manta Rays and an array of colourful fish. Our Twin Otter aircraft took off as scheduled, passing along the shores of the incredibly beautiful Fraser Island (the largest sandy barrier island in the world), covered with a seemingly endless expanse of native forest, small lakes and hills and a miles long bright white sandy shoreline. As the plane neared the atoll we circled around a few times as we dropped towards the grassy airstrip that neatly bisects the small round island. It took only a second of looking out of the airplane windows for everyone to realize that this was indeed a special place. Hundreds of Black Noddies were perched on trees and bushes or flying overhead as they performed their tandem display flights. We were greeted at the airplane by a host from the on-island lodge who was soon trying to give us the run-down of our day on the island; though she had to compete with the nearly hand-tamed Buff-banded Rails, and dozens of Bridled Terns and Black Noddies that were simply everywhere that we looked and completely untroubled by our presence. Once properly oriented we set out on a small loop walk around the island, where we started off by locating a few pairs of Red-tailed Tropicbirds that were tucked in the deep shade of some large octopus plants. These are the largest and most pelagic of the world’s three species of Tropicbird, with a very buoyant flight, ethereally white body plumage and bright red tail streamers, and although we kept the prescribed 2m distance from the nest sight our views were superlative, with a couple of mostly grown chicks. At one point we were treated to the sight of an adult awkwardly crash landing and then shuffling over to its chick.

Moving over to the end of the runway we found our first Pacific Golden-Plovers and Ruddy Turnstones, as well as yet more Buff-banded Rails and Black Noddies. Most seabird colonies around the tropics are largely unvegetated, and the visiting birder has to search through Sooty Terns and Brown Noddies in the hopes of finding just one Bridled or Black. Here we found the experience reversed, and with some careful searching we noted good numbers of Brown Noddies tucked into the low shrubs along the beach. Along the coralline coastline were several Pacific Reef-Egrets feeding in the shallows. Over the course of the day, we found eight or nine of these long-billed herons. The island possesses an endemic subspecies of Silvereye, and we were able to see several of these large and distinctively coloured birds as we walked along the edge of the forested half of the island. Dubbed the “Capricorn” Silvereye, this form is endemic to only a handful of islands along the Great Barrier Reef, and given the propensity for island-based endemism of white-eyes may well deserve full species status. In previous years we have tried experimenting with playback on these birds, finding that they generally ignore calls from mainland birds but respond vigorously to calls from the form of Silvereye from Lord Howe Island. Along the north beach we were happy to find several hundred Roseate Terns huddled under the trees and dotting the shoreline. This elegant species breeds here in small numbers, and several of the birds were nicely blushing pink. At the same section of beach we also picked out a couple of pairs of bright white Black-naped Terns (our only ones for the day) that were sitting up off the beach. Nearby we enjoyed excellent scope views of a group of perched Brown Boobies, a huge flock of Great Crested Terns, a single Sooty Oystercatcher and a mixed group of Wandering and Grey-tailed Tattlers. A single locally rare Sharp-tailed Sandpiper was foraging in some shallow tidepools nearby, a nice surprise for those of us working on our Lady Elliot Island birdlists! Just before heading back to the lodge for lunch we were distracted by a large Green Sea-Turtle that was loafing about in a rapidly shrinking tidepool. We spoke with some of the lodge naturalists later and learned that sightings of grounded turtles are not uncommon at this time of year, as nesting females often end up in such situations if they can’t return to the sea after coming ashore to nest. 

Leaving the turtle to her soporific low tide plight we headed to the lodge to enjoy a buffet lunch where we were joined at the table by pushy Buff-banded Rails that didn’t think twice about climbing over our feet or grabbing a stray chip from a plate (proffered or not). In the afternoon the group split up to enjoy the leisure activities of the island, with many people opting for a short snorkel trip out on the reef, or a wander around with bins or cameras in hand. A few kept birding though, finding a single Bar-tailed Godwit out on the lawns, a calling Sacred Kingfisher, a single Red-necked Stint out on the rapidly growing coralline shoreline, a flyby Eastern Cattle Egret (only the 2nd record for the island), and better and repeated views of the wealth of breeding seabirds that call this island paradise home. Most of the participants took in a bit of a snorkel, and upon their return had tales of reef fishes, sea cucumbers, a Black-tipped Reef Shark and Nudibranchs to tell. A short reef walk was productive too, with the undoubted highlight being a small octopus that was amazingly adept at camouflage. We never would have spotted it if it hadn’t initially been in motion, and once it froze at our approach it was effectively invisible, with some participants needing a bit of convincing before they accepted that there was, in fact, an octopus present. Happily the animal moved a second time, and in reviewing our photos it appears that it was a Mosaic Long-armed Octopus (or at the very least that genus); a rarely seen and even more rarely documented species with just a handful of records in Australian waters! 

We reconvened a bit before our flight so we could look for roosting Frigatebirds in the larger trees around the lodge and try for Golden-headed Cisticola and Tawny Grassbirds out int the low shrubby vegetation near the airfield. During our morning walk a few Frigatebirds were spotted as they soared up over the island. All of the birds that we could identify were Lesser Frigates, so we were happy to spot a couple of definitive Great Frigatebirds perched up in the largest Casuarina tree by the lodge. Even better a couple of Greats were flying around as we boarded the flight, giving us quick but clear views of their chest and underwing patterns. The Tawny Grassbirds and Golden-headed Cisticolas performed well, perching up in some short bushes just a few meters from our position. We arrived back on the mainland after an easy half-hour flight; well pleased to have been fortunate enough to spend our day surrounded by such intense, wheeling life both in the air and (for those that sampled the sea) underwater.

We weren’t quite done for the day though, as after dinner (at the local social club, which is a cultural experience unto itself) many opted to mount a chase trip for some Large-tailed Nightjars that a few participants and Ben had found the prior night on an extended nocturnal search for Koalas. Despite being less than 24 hours after their sighting we didn’t hear or see any sign of nightjars. We did however (with the benefit of some night vision scopes) locate a foraging Krefft’s Glider and a Little Red Flying Fox that were feeding on sprays of yellow blossoms in a roadside tree. We also detected a Red Fox, who seemed curious about us as it popped back out to the road several times. While trying some playback for the nightjars we heard a single call from an Australian Owlet-Nightjar, and, amazingly, managed to find it perched in the mid-canopy using the night vision equipment. These tiny birds are not true nightjars, belonging instead to a small Australasian family with only one Australian member. They spend their days roosting or nesting in tree cavities and then hunt largely on the wing at night for small moths and other aerial prey. As they tend to perch inside of vegetation and do not show eyeshine by torchlight they are incredibly hard to see at night, and if not for the night vision scope we would have been consigned to list it as a heard-only. 

An amazingly opulent buffet breakfast put on by our hosts at the Kimba Hotel and consisting of a spread of local fruit, cheese, quiches and pastries started our next day on a good footing. As our flight down to Brisbane and then on to Cairns was quite early this year we loaded up after breakfast and headed straight up to the airport. Checking in here was a much more relaxed affair than back in Brisbane, and after accomplishing our short layover in the Brisbane airport we landed in the true tropics of Cairns at around 1:30pm. 

Our first new birds appeared even before we had secured the rental vans, with a nesting pair of White-breasted Woodswallows just outside the terminal doors and a group of Torresian Imperial Pigeons gobbling down fruit in a large tree in the carpark. Since the tides were not favourable for a visit to the esplanade and our flight had arrived so early in the afternoon we decided to use the rest of the day for a trip south down the coast to look for Southern Cassowaries around the picturesque Etty Bay. It’s about an hour and a half drive from Cairns, and roughly a third of the way in we diverted to a small turf farm just a few kilometers off the highway to look for a pair of reported Little Curlews that had been found about a week prior to our arrival. These small curlews are a wet season migrant to Australia, principally in the top end and northern Western Australia. Only a few individuals get as far east as coastal Queensland each year, and generally those birds don’t appear until the true onset of the wet season (sometime in late November/early December). It took us a bit of scanning to locate them, but happily the birds were still present, marking only our second sighting ever of this declining and elegant wader. Other birds were around too, and our visit stretched out a bit as we ogled point blank views of Black-fronted Dotterels, a mixed flock of Black and Whistling Kites, several dozing Bush Thick-Knees, our first close Fairy Martins, a few Australian Pipits, and lots of Masked Lapwings (here of the taller, paler and more wattled Northern subspecies). We made a valiant attempt at leaving, but along a small railroad track used by the local sugar cane company we ground to a halt when a flock of Crimson Finches appeared in the grasses before us. This is a truly lovely finch, clad in the brightest strawberry red with an elegant long tail. While watching these little gems we also picked up a small group of equally well coloured Chestnut-breasted Munia feeding on the ground a bit further down the tracks. Here too was a mixed flock of Peaceful and Bar-shouldered Doves, a few more White-breasted Woodswallows and some passing Australian Swiftlets.  

Eventually we managed to tear ourselves away and after a quick stop for drinks and snacks were soon crossing over a low set of forested hills just east of Innisfail and then dropping down to a small but pretty white sand beach at Etty Bay. As we neared the coast, we had started to see some helpful signs that heightened our expectations. Every 100m or so there would be a placard proclaiming Cassowary Crossing, slow down for our Cassowaries, no-dog Zone, we love our birds etc. We arrived in the late afternoon, with high hopes that the local birds would perform on cue with a dusk visit out to the beach. During our hour or so long vigil we were happy to see an adult White-bellied Sea Eagle gliding down the coastline, and a nesting Sahul Sunbird near one of the public grills, but sadly no sign of our hoped-for quarry. We met camper after camper who share comments like “It was right here about an hour ago” but for us there was nary a whiff of Cassowaries. We sent one of the vans back to patrol the more forested entrance road (a strategy that had worked the previous two years) but that team had to content themselves with several busy flocks of Metallic Starlings, a foraging group of herons that included some incredibly muddy Royal Spoonbills and several perched Rainbow Bee-eaters. As dusk fell we (and several other groups of birders and photographers) admitted defeat and headed for nearby Innisfail for dinner at a river-side tavern before heading back up to Cairns for the night.

The following morning, we awoke and after breakfast found that the local tide was nearly perfect for us to head down to the Esplanade in search of migrant waders on the beach. With a rapidly incoming tide the birds were shuffling closer and closer to us as we found a nice position with the sun at our backs to observe the milling throngs, picking out the salient identification features of birds that most North American birders dream of while scanning flocks at home. The most common species present were Great Knot, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Red-necked Stint, but we found decent numbers of Gray-tailed Tattler and Bar-tailed Godwit, and a few Far Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, and Terek and Curlew Sandpipers as well. The comparison views of Greater and Siberian Sandplovers were especially well appreciated. The beach was active for non-waders as well, with common species such as Silver Gull, Caspian, Little and Australian Tern, hulking Australian Pelican and (oddly) our first visible Sacred Kingfishers all showing well. In the public park that runs along the beach we enjoyed the vocal stylings of several Varied Honeyeaters (a local specialty on the esplanade), a rather staid but remarkably cooperative Brown Honeyeater, little flocks of Rainbow Lorikeets, and even a few brightly plumaged Australian Figbirds. Some flowering trees held a day-active Spectacled Flying-Fox, several tiny Double-eyed Fig Parrots and a seemingly everlasting supply of striking Torresian Imperial-Pigeons. Our meanderings even attracted the interest of a small film crew who were interviewing a member of the Cairns Tourism Board. After posing with them for a picture we headed back to the hotel to pack up and then moved over to the Cairns Botanic Gardens for a visit around the Freshwater and Saltwater Lakes. The botanic gardens here are vast, and the area is often excellent for general birding. On this occasion we found the lakes to be relatively quiet for waterbirds, although we did appreciate our first cooperative Rainbow Bee-eaters which were hawking dragonflies over the still waters of the lagoon. The adjacent gardens held strutting Orange-footed Megapodes and Australian Brushturkeys that were tending to their large mound nests. Here too was a lovely pair of Black Butcherbirds, several very approachable Bush Thick-Knees and a quite responsive male Sahul Sunbird. We then walked over the bridge to the tidal Salt Water Lagoon, where we tracked down a singing Sahul Cicadabird (a thin and dark-bodied Cuckooshrike with a very repetitive insect-like call), and enjoyed our first Helmeted Friarbirds and Australian Spectacled Monarch. A passing couple stopped at a seemingly random tree along the path and started taking pictures of the bark (or at least that’s how it seemed to us from a distance). When we approached closer we could see that the reason for their excitement was an impressively large Stick Insect that was hiding along some folds in the bark! 

Leaving the gardens behind we traveled a bit north of Cairns to check on a location where a small group of Spotted Whistling-Ducks had been reported for the past several months. Unfortunately for us the area was a hive of activity, with large earthmoving equipment around the pond and no way to really canvas the area. We made do with close-up views of a few flocks of Metallic Starlings that were coming into a roadside fruiting fig and then decided to take their gastronomic activities as a prompt to head for lunch ourselves. After lunch in the nearby town of Yorkey’s Knob we left the lowlands of Cairns behind and drove uphill on a short but remarkably windy road that passes through alternating bands of rainforest and drier eucalypt forest before reaching the central Atherton Tablelands.  

Our main birding site for the afternoon was a bit short of Mareeba along Davies Creek Road. This somewhat rough track parallels the pretty Davies creek as it slowly climbs up into the Kuranda Ranges. Initially the road passes through open grassy Eucalypt forest, with denser pockets of gum and fig along the clear-flowing creeks. As the road climbs grass trees and cycads appear, and eventually the road drops into some valleys with excellent upper elevation rainforests. We made a comfort stop along a small and very tranquil creek, where along with the park bathrooms we enjoyed our first (of many) Little Shrikethrushes and a somewhat cooperative White-throated Treecreeper, as well as several flashy Tropical Rockmasters (a large and stunning blue and black damselfly).  

Once back in the more forested humid valley we stopped in a stretch of road with more open forest downslope. Here we soon located a family group of Chowchillas that were scratching along in the open understory down in the valley floor. These often skulky birds, with tufted crests, colored throat patches and bright eye-rings are generally loud and easy to hear, but can be frustratingly difficult to spot or follow on the ground in their preferred rainforest haunts. These birds gave us a merry chase given the distance down to them from our vantage point, but with patience everyone got clear views in the end. Chowchilas are a species of great conservation concern, as they are poor dispersers and need a decent amount of good forest to forage in. Just during the past decade populations have winked out in many of the smaller tableland parks, with good populations persisting only in the largest blocks of forest

A short walk along the stunningly clear flowing forest creek revealed a clump of not particularly fresh Cassowary poop, and a little group of Pied Monarchs. This black and white monarch flycatcher is a particularly attractive bird, and we were treated to one of the males giving at least a half-display. The bird puffed out its overly fuzzy white shawl and erected the feathers to partially cover the crown, creating a bit of a masked ping pong ball effect. He then drooped his wings and bounced a bit on the branch while staring down at us from the mid canopy. We also stopped to watch a Yellow-breasted Boatbill flitting around in the lower canopy. This tiny, brightly colored and huge billed species can be tricky to see well as they prefer to remain high in the forest canopy. One of only two species in the world (the other occurring in New Guinea), Boatbills resemble somewhat oversized Tody Tyrants with an optimistic view of the world. Our bird performed wonderfully, dropping down to a position just over the road with a cocked tail and drooped wings. Here too were a few by now familiar rainforest birds that we first encountered around O’Reilly’s such as Lewin’s Honeyeater and Scarlet Myzomela. 

Leaving Davies Creek behind we stopped along the Barron River near Mareeba, where we were amazingly successful in finding a responsive White-browed Robin lurking in the thick riverine vegetation. This is a generally scarce and often fairly secretive species that we normally do not target on the tour. It’s a much flashier species than field guides tend to show, well-marked in bold grey, black and white and often with a dramatically cocked-up tail, and this bird showed all of those fieldmarks off well as it came up into a near eye-level position and sang for several minutes before dropping back down into the undergrowth. By this point the afternoon was waning, so we drove the roughly hour-long drive south to our base for the next two nights; Chambers Ecolodge. After settling into our rooms, we headed to the tavern in nearby Yungaburra for dinner.  

Most of the participants were eager to see a bit of the local non-bird fauna, so after dinner we set off to the nearby Curtain Fig National Park where a bit of spotlighting (and thermalling with a couple of thermal scopes in the group) produced a wealth of critters. Several sedate Green Ringtail Possums and a few Giant White-tailed Rats were around the carpark, and our views of the stunningly large curtain fig by torchlight were truly memorable. Once back at the lodge we wandered down to a special area where the lodge has set up an excellent viewing platform for nocturnal mammals, with floodlights along the edge of the forest illuminating a nice patch of tree trunks. Here we quickly found a Krefft’s Glider lapping up sap from a close trunk. This silvery-grey marsupial resembles an overly fluffy flying squirrel, and like those animals it has thin, furred membranes along its flanks and limbs which allows it to glide long distances to escape potential rivals or predators. We were able to watch the animal at length, and at a ridiculously close range (thanks to their near daily exposure to human paparazzi). While watching the glider we noticed a Queensland Barred Bandicoot; a cute rabbit-sized terrestrial marsupial with a long snout, pointy ears and a curious running hop snuffling around in the leaf litter below the observation platform. On another trunk, a discoloured patch of bark caught our eye, and with a bit of investigation revealed itself to be a nearly foot-long and incredibly well camouflaged Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko! Even though it was only a few feet from our position it was hard to fully resolve against the trunk, as its intricate body colouration and odd shape blended into the bark so well. This was only our second sighting ever of this amazing creature! 

There can be few experiences dearer to a traveling birder than that precious first morning in a brand-new area. The stream of unfamiliar calls emanating from the forest and the flutter of colour and motion in the canopy, all signal that long-awaited birds heretofore seen only in the pages of field guides have now arrived as living creatures. We met for a pre-breakfast walk around the carpark of the lodge; a walk that basically became an impromptu big sit as a few of the trees around the margins of the small clearing were in fruit and attracting a heady mix of birds. We started off with repeated and close-range views of both Rufous and Bower’s (a Tableland endemic) Shrikethrushes that were foraging right along the edge of the carpark. Lewin’s Honeyeaters were seemingly everywhere around us, uttering their piercing machine-gun-like trills at regular intervals. Brown Cuckoo-Doves were chasing each other around in the canopy, and the grating growls of a couple of Spotted Catbirds allowed us to track down these often frustratingly elusive birds. We found Double-eyed Fig-Parrots to be uncharacteristically prevalent, with several individuals even perching out on sunny limbs above the lodge. Even more exciting was the presence of a large number of Victoria’s Riflebirds; it’s not every day that one starts a daily bird list with a bird of paradise! We were able to watch several females at length as they came into fruit. Less boldly coloured than the males these females are still a very attractive study in brown and white, with an impressively strong and curved bill. The skies were active as well, with small flocks of Topknot Pigeons, Australian Swiftlets and the odd White-headed Pigeon flying over at intervals, and a steady trickle of Spangled Drongos heading southwards on their annual migration out of New Guinea. Near the end of our vigil, we found a perched Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove which was initially sitting up on a completely exposed branch in the sun, but as is often the case the bird dropped out of sight before everyone could soak in the view. Happily though, it landed in an occluded but still visible perch, so with a bit of maneuvering we were able to enjoy its pink crowns, silvery-gray chest and tequila sunrise toned underparts. 

After our catered breakfast we drove over to nearby Lake Eachem, a deep volcanic crater lake surrounded by thick rainforest. Here we scoped a dozen or so Great Crested Grebes as they paddled around the back of the lake, and were treated to excellent vies of a little group of Australasian Figbirds in the carpark and quick views of an Azure Kingfisher flashing by along the shore. A little further to the south we stopped in at an overlook for the Bromfield Swamp. This site is an important roosting area for the regions cranes, but on this occasion we noted neither species lounging in the valley bottom. The stop was productive though, with an odd quartet of birds up in the sky together. A large Wedge-tailed Eagle was simultaneously being chased by a diving and acrobatic Pied Currawong, a determined Nankeen Kestrel and a somewhat disinterested looking Black Kite!  

Our principal location for the morning was the higher elevation forest in Mount Hypipamee National Park. More commonly known as ‘The Crater’ this park supports a large tract of forest at over 700m in elevation and still has the full complement of the Atherton Highlands endemics, although a few are no longer regularly findable on the short nature trail. Our first bird upon leaving the buses (with the exception of the ridiculously tame and even pushy Brushturkeys) was a sprightly little Grey Fantail, here of the local Atherton race, flashing its tail around like a proud father showing off a newborn baby. In the same tree we found a nesting Satin Bowerbird and a quite tame White-throated Treecreeper! After a comfort break and some time looking at our first official Grey-headed Robin (a high elevation endemic on the tablelands) we walked back along the entrance road, which offers a nice access point for forest-edge birding. Here we stopped to watch another pair of Yellow-breasted Boatbill flitting around in the lower canopy. The road edge also gave us close views of several groups of foraging Large-billed Scrubwrens, a few chittering Brown Gerygones, and with a bit of patience and careful scrutiny one group of Atherton Scrubwren. The latter is difficult to distinguish from Large-billed, but they are generally warmer-toned and darker faced, with some cinnamon-ish tones to the rump and a predilection for foraging on the ground in thick leaf litter (rather than ascending well up towards the canopy like Large-billeds tend to).  

Our main goal here was to spend a bit of time looking at a couple of bower sites for Golden Bowerbird. These paired maypole-style constructions are impressive, topping out at nearly three feet in height and often with horizontal display perches built in. I dare say that most humans would struggle trying to replicate one. A large tree had fallen in the area of last years’ bowers, but we located a new one a bit upslope and were thrilled to find the male in attendance. The bird was a young male, likely the same immature male that has been in the area for several years. It takes at least six years for the males to reach their full golden potential, and this birds transition from brown to gold is at this point very nearly complete. Initially the bird wasn’t apparent around the bower, but after standing quietly around for fifteen minutes or so it materialized (as if by magic). At first he was foraging on the ground, hopping about only a few meters from our position, but after a minute or two he worked up into an eye-level branch and gave us an unparalleled show; even uttering his alien-like electric song as we watched on in awe. Eventually he headed up into the higher canopy, which allowed us to move around a bit, and to take a closer view of his bower, which this year included an impressive amount of pale gray-green lichens around the display area. Elated with this truly special experience (we have missed this species completely in past years) we quietly came back down the road, stopping for some high-fives and a bit of a short lecture when we were closer to the carpark. Because Golden Bowerbirds require large tracts of high elevation forest and occur only in the mountains around the tablelands, they are generally scarce, with populations largely isolated by intervening land clearing. With the current shifting of the weather, impending climate change issues, habitat fragmentation and a small and declining population the future for this species is somewhat bleak. Hopefully its charisma will be enough to mount a recovery and support plan. After a quick snack and bathroom break we walked down to the actual crater, an impressive collapsed lava tube with a small but likely very deep lake at the bottom. It resembles in some ways the cenotes in the Yucatan, minus (one hopes) the many human sacrifices. The trail into the crater held a few birds of interest for us, with the chief prize likely being a pair of Mountain Thornbill (oddly our only ones of the tour) and some very approachable Pale-yellow Robins. Once back in the clearing we tracked down several calling Victoria’s Riflebirds and were amazed to see a male doing a contorted display as he sat on the side of a tall vine. With his iridescent chest shield flared and bright blue tail flashing in the sun the bird would periodically throw his head back and open his mouth, revealing a bright yellow mouth lining. We were much more impressed by this display than the nearby female Riflebirds were though, and soon he gave up his quest for love. Our final bird for the park revealed itself with a series of rollicking calls up in the canopy. We hustled over and were soon looking at two Bridled Honeyeaters (another high elevation Atherton tableland endemic) that were close enough that we could see their elegant black-tipped bills and pale blue-grey eyes.  

As we had flown in both directions between Hervey Bay and Brisbane this year we missed out on visiting the drier forest that occurs in the intervening area. A bit of careful checking of recent reports allowed us to identify a likely looking new spot a bit inland from Mount Hypipamee that might offer a few of our missed species. A bit off the road to Heberton we stopped at a small dam, where among more familiar species we found our first Green Pygmy-Geese, several foraging Tree Martins and perhaps our best views of Straw-necked Ibis. It wasn’t until we reached a little creek crossing back in the forest that the birding really heated up though. Here we spent a very entertaining hour or so, with a steady trickle of new birds turning up every few minutes, amid a constant backdrop of bird activity. Honeyeaters were particularly well represented, with several attractive White-cheeked and White-throated, a few Yellow-tinted (a write-in species for the cumulative tour list) and lots of Fuscous. Here too was a single Brown Treecreeper (here of the distinctive Black-backed race that is a good candidate for full species status), several Leaden Flycatchers, a family group of Eastern Yellow Robins, a single Dusky Woodswallow and a beautiful passing Pacific Baza that soared right over us in a series of wheeling arcs. Undoubtedly the bird of the location though was the pair of Eastern Shriketits that were busily stripping bark and leaves off nearby trees as they started construction on their ball-shaped nest. These uncommon birds are often missed on tours, as they tend not to vocalize much and are somewhat lethargic as they feed by stripping bark strips from the canopy in search of spiders. A recent taxonomic study confirmed that the three very disparate populations should be regarded as three distinct species, a position long adopted by most Australian birders.  

Leaving the Heberton area behind we made a stop in Hasties Swamp. This large wetland has a nice two-story blind overlooking the lake that in the latter stages of the dry season is often generously stuffed with birds from the surrounding arid country out to the west. This year the banks of the lake were relatively devoid of waterfowl, but there were still several dozen Wandering Whistling Ducks amid the several hundred Pacific Black Ducks and Grey Teal. Out on the lake we found our only Hardheads (Australia’s answer to the northern hemisphere scaup or pochards), and a nice array of birds such as Comb-crested Jacana, Australasian Swamphen, Great, Little and Plumed Egrets and various cormorants and shorebirds. By scoping the grassy verges of the lake we also picked up a few large Agile Wallabies that were quietly nibbling on the greener patches of grass, and our first Dollarbird sitting atop a tall bare snag near the lakes shore. Just before leaving the blind we were treated to very good views of perched Azure and Sacred Kingfishers sitting in some blind-side trees, as well as perhaps our best views of Yellow-faced and Brown Honeyeaters as they fed in some bottlebrush trees.  

Moving back towards Yungaburra we passed through a section of agricultural land, soon screeching to a halt when we noticed a small group of huge gray cranes out in one of the fields. As hoped, they proved to be Sarus Cranes, clearly showing the fully red hood and upper neck that helps differentiate them from the (slightly) smaller Brolgas which are also in the area. It proved a great stop, as some local farm workers were tilling an adjacent field. Their actions were attracting the attentions of an uncountable number of Eastern Cattle Egrets, dozens of Black Kites (with a few Whistling Kites thrown in for good measure) and three or four stunning Black-shouldered Kites!  

Our final stop for the day was along Peterson Creek in Yungaburra. It took a bit of time slowly walking along the forested creek, but eventually we succeeded in tracking down a couple of Platypus that were paddling around on the surface and occasionally diving down in search of dinner. Most Australians have never had an encounter with a wild Platypus, so our timing was incredibly fortuitous. We were able to watch one of the animals for quite some time as it slowly moved along just underneath our vantage point on the creek bank. The views were superlative, and the group was elated by the experience, so much so that few even deigned to look at the Buff-banded Rail that was crying out for attention on the far bank! Leaving the Platypuses to their business we enjoyed our own dinner back at our Yungaburra hotel and then headed back to the lodge where we again visited the nocturnal mammal viewing area. This time we really were lucky, as in addition to several more Queensland Barred Bandicoots we found a striking Striped Possum calmly lapping up nectar from a nearby tree. This is the most colourful of Australia’s possum species, boldly black and covered with parallel white stripes and possessing a long and bicoloured tail it often features on the covers of books about Australian mammals. It is a shy species normally, and one confined largely to small pockets of rainforest around the Atherton Tablelands and Cape York Peninsula as well as a portion of New Guinea.  

About half the group decided that an additional nocturnal outing was warranted, so after gearing up we headed a few kilometers north to an area near Lake Tinaroo where we found (again with the aid of thermal scopes) two more Australian Owlet-Nightjars and a very inquisitive Barking Owl! Here too we were thrilled to spot a beautiful Coppery Brushtail Possum as it crossed the road and then slowly began to climb up a small tree in front of our van. We weren’t quite done for the day though, as we opted also to return to Hypipamee National Park to look for nocturnal mammals. Spotlighting and thermalling down the access road proved incredibly productive (thanks in large part to Steve’s fine spotting skills). We were amazed at the sheer density of mammals, with an arboreal mammal every several dozen meters as we walked down the road. In all we must have located nearly a dozen possums, with 5 or 6 dark and fuzzy Lemuroid Opossums, 2 separate black-and-white Herbert River Possums, a few Green Ringtails and another Coppery Brushtail! A brief walk down the beginning of the crater trail revealed an even more special mammal, when our spotlights picked out a large Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo that was near the ground, stripping leaves off a small vine. These largely nocturnal and arboreal Kangaroos are truly odd creatures, looking quite ill designed for their chosen haunts, but are actually quite adept at clambering around high up in the trees. In many ways these tree kangaroos seem the ecological analog of a central or south American Tamandua (tree anteater) though admittedly faster and perhaps more agile. This individual showed off its agility by rapidly moving away from us, although once it had climbed a bit up from the underbrush it lingered for quite some time. Simply put it was just a magical evening of mammalling and birding! 

For our second morning at Chambers, we didn’t officially meet up until breakfast. This allowed the participants to do a little exploring of the grounds on their own, and most of the group did just that. Among their many good finds was another displaying Victoria’s Riflebird near one of the cabins, some almost tame Spotted Catbirds, a handsome male Mistletoebird and one or two Pacific Emerald Doves on the forest floor. After breakfast we packed up and headed out to a largely forgotten patch of forest just a few miles out of town. This park was designated to protect another epically large strangler fig tree, but over a decade ago the tree fell, leaving the area still protected but no longer visited by the general public, or even signed as a site. The somewhat rough track in is kept open by researchers, but on all of our visits here I have yet to see another vehicle. The birds here are generally unwary and often responsive, and as the area is connected to some upland forest as well the biodiversity is high. Our chief goal once we entered the forest here was to try to encounter another species of skulky understory bird; the Fernwren. This aberrant thornbill is largely terrestrial and is restricted to higher elevation forest on the Tablelands. It is often extremely shy, staying far enough back in the thick understory that getting a clear view can be difficult. The pair that we found this year though performed well, skittering out into the open on multiple occasions and even lingering in the shade of a large trunk for a few seconds. A few very adept participants even managed a couple of photos! The tall forest here also gave us repeated views of Australian Spectacled Monarchs flashing around in the understory, Yellow-throated Scrubwrens feeding young, another Grey-headed Robin and a lot of bird song from the resident Australian Golden Whistlers. Here too we were able to pin down (amazingly, again, with the help of a thermal scope) a singing Tooth-billed Bowerbird that was sedately perched just a few feet off the ground. These Bowerbirds build a matlike bower of overlapping and overturned silvery leaves that are arranged on the forest floor like an oval or round accent rug. The males then spend the majority of their day singing a complex scratchy song that incorporates a lot of mimicry from their well-hidden mid-canopy perches above their bowers. We managed to find some angles where we could get the bird in our scopes, giving everyone a great view of its streaked underparts and large black bill. As we left the park we stopped a few times out in the grassy open country, where we tallied a somewhat more cooperative Pheasant Coucal, a perched Spangled Drongo and a little group of Chestnut-breasted Munia.  

The next destination was a dryland patch of forest a bit to the west of Yungaburra where a short walk along the road revealed a couple of very vocal and aggressively responsive White-throated Gerygones, another bounding Pheasant Coucal and some quite showy Barred Cuckooshrikes that seemed a bit out of habitat as they sat up in the crowns of some open Eucalyptus trees. We then made a bit of a foray out into some open agricultural areas in search of flocks of cranes. This led us eventually to the boat ramp at Lake Tinaroo, where among the many small watercraft and jet skis we were amazed to see a huge flock of Magpie Geese, numbering at least 10000 strong lined up on the far shoreline. Here too were several hundred cranes, but a thorough search by scope failed to turn up any obvious Brolga in amongst the Sarus. The area held about a dozen Bush Thick-Knees too, who placidly stared at us as we slowly drove by.  

Next, we headed a bit to the north into more arid and rocky country, stopping in at the Granite Gorge Nature Park. It’s an odd spot; part caravan park, part zoo, but as the hosts here regularly water the ground and the property abuts a stretch of permanently flowing creek it is often an excellent site for birds. Before we even parked our principal target here; the well named portly Squatter Pigeon appeared. Nearly a dozen individuals were scattered around the campground keeping company with a little flock of ducks with a rather dubious genetic history. Generally, Squatter Pigeons are a tricky species to locate as they are wary and inhabit the grassy understory of rather open forest. The birds here though are semi-tame and very approachable, even wandering close to our feet at times!

Some flowering trees around the grounds held a nice selection of honeyeaters, including Noisy and Little Friarbirds, several bright Blue-faced Honeyeaters, and a couple of Yellow Honeyeaters. The tree was also hosting a couple of Spangled Drongos and several Scaly-breasted Lorikeets and Pale-headed Rosellas, making for quite a busy scene. We also sampled the cold drinks and ice creams on offer at the reception, and wandered down the trail to look at the small and undeniably cute semi-tame Mareeba Rock Wallabies that were hopping about in amongst the huge, rounded boulders of the gorge. A short meandering path paralleled the creek, passing through some tall, rounded boulders and under large spreading fig trees. Here we found a small group of Great Bowerbirds having a chat high up in one of the figs. After greeting the wallabies again we headed out, bound for Julatten and our rooms at Kingfisher Park, where we would spend the next three nights. A quick stop at Lake Mitchell on the way revealed our first (distant) Latham’s Snipe and Whiskered Terns, a pair of stately Black-necked Storks, three Brolga (finally), some passing Red-winged Parrots and an impressive number of Green Pygmy-Geese.

Our comfortable hotel in Kingfisher Park is situated in a protected track of rainforest adjacent to a small shallow creek, just a kilometer or so from the extensive forests of Mount Lewis. Our gracious hosts, Carol and Andrew, are excellent birders and naturalists, and in addition to showing us all our rooms they also introduced us to some of their local Orange-footed Megapodes, and the busy flocks of Red-browed Firetails and Chestnut-breasted Munias at the lodge feeders. While Carol was in the middle of her introductory speech about the intricacies of the lodge electric grid Andrew popped his head out of a window and announced that the local pair of Red-necked Crakes were present at one of their favored bird baths. This colourful rail likes wetland areas within rainforest and is generally regarded as one of Australia’s most difficult species to see well. A huge proportion of the good photos online are from Kingfisher Park, where a pair of rails has learned that the more open gardens are safe. Even here though the species can be devilishly hard to connect with, and we had not recorded it on a WINGS tour since 2019! We hurried over and quietly walked up to the area, and amazingly the bird popped out at the water feature, hanging around as we shuffled about for better angles and clearer photos; what a way to start our Kingfisher Park birdlist! Since we arrived at Kingfisher Park just after five, we managed to have a bit of time to settle into our rooms before we headed to a nearby country pub for dinner. The pub proved excellent for more than just dinner, as the owner came out and gave us a quick tour, showing us a huge Hercules Moth snoozing away on one of the buildings outer walls, a recently shed Slaty-grey Snake skin and quite an impressive Rhinoceros Beetle!  

The next morning, we met up for a walk around the Kingfisher Lodge grounds, beginning the day by walking the outer edge of the property where the first sun hits the trees. Some flowering bottlebrushes along the path were hosting Cryptic and Yellow-spotted Honeyeaters, which allowed us to spend a bit of time teasing apart the identification issues that surround Meliphaga honeyeaters. We then passed along the edge of a large paddock, stopping in at an impressively busy and large Metallic Starling colony, scoping some perched Topknot Pigeons, and a lovely pair of displaying Forest Kingfishers as we made our way down to Bushy Creek. At the little bridge over the creek, we turned up our first Grey Whistler, a small and rather understated species with a ringing jaunty song. Once back at the lodge, we enjoyed an excellent breakfast, accompanied by George and Matilda, the local pair of Orange-footed Megapodes and a wary Pacific Emerald Dove roaming the edges of the breakfast area hoping for falling table scraps. The feeders were also attracting a busy mixed flock of Chestnut-breasted Munia and Red-browed Finch, several Mackleay’s Honeyeaters and a little group of Bar-shouldered Doves that were picking up the seeds that the finches were dropping to the ground. Just as we finished our homemade ginger yoghurt and fruit salads the pair of Red-necked Crakes (dubbed Steve and Puddles) came in again, this time lingering for some photos in the morning sunshine! 

After breakfast we took a short drive to the south for a visit to the Abattoir Swamp. Here a short, elevated boardwalk leads through a small paperbark swamp and out to an overgrown marsh ringed with flowering bottlebrush trees. In the carpark we quickly tracked down a family group of Lovely Fairywrens that were, amazingly, in the exact same tree that we had found them on the 2024 tour. This is a generally scarce species, occurring in coastal forests around the Cape York Peninsula down to about Townsville. Although the male resembles many of the other red-shouldered and blue-headed species across Australia the female is unique, with a full blue hood and white lores. Once on the boardwalk we found that the paperbarks and bottlebrushes were in good flower, and abuzz with honeyeaters. By far the most common species was the understated Brown-backed, clad in a dull brown and white, but possessing red legs and bill. A few Yellow-faced, Scarlet and Brown Honeyeaters were around as well, and in the blind we were happy to spot two impressively large White-lipped Treefrogs tucked up in the rafters.  

Our next stop was to the lower stretch of road on Mount Lewis. Normally we would spend a half-day or more slowly birding up into the higher parts of the mountain but unfortunately in the winter of 2024 an epically bad typhoon hit the northern tablelands. An incredible 1.8m of rain (that’s roughly 6 feet) fell in just four days, causing huge amounts of damage to infrastructure and the landscape in general. At Kingfisher Park the orchard was flooded with more than 6 feet of water, and although the lodge itself suffered no direct damage the effects of the intense rain and flooding were still very evident. The Mount Lewis Road in particular was hard-hit, with the bridge over Bushy Creek (at the base of the mountain road) completely washed away and an unknown number of landslides and downed trees on the road. In the subsequent year the bottom bridge had been fully replaced, and the first kilometer or so of the road was again open to vehicular traffic. Sadly it would appear that the park service may not be particularly interested in opening the remaining 20KM or so to the public, as a new gate has been installed over the road. Thankfully we had managed to spot all of the higher elevation species while birding around the southern side of the tablelands, so we drove up to the gated area mainly just to see what the road conditions were like, and to check out whatever birdlife we could find. Without a doubt the star of the show here was a very vocal Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo that sat out for us just over the road. This rare species is generally restricted to the top of the Cape York Peninsula, but has in recent years occasionally been seen in the wetter forests around Mount Lewis. This was only our second sighting ever for the tour, and with its rich chestnut underparts, smartly coloured slate-grey back and bold yellow eyering it was definitely a bird to admire. Nearby we stopped when a smartly marked black and white bird made an arcing flight out of the trees in front of us. It sat on a low branch, glowing with a rich blue-black gloss on its head and back, with a snow-white breast and vent. The richly coloured upperparts with a downward curving breast edge marked it as a quite clear Satin Flycatcher, a scarce wet season migrant that winters in New Guinea and migrates mostly down the coast to its breeding grounds in Eastern Australia. Our sighting was the first in the Kingfisher Park for the year, and Carol said that they see them only once every couple of years around the lodge.  

Leaving the mountain behind we started heading towards our lunch spot in Mount Molloy. A quick detour down a small side road that wound through more open forest revealed a male Leaden Flycatcher on a roadside fence (a useful comparison species to the Satin), as well as a perched Blue-winged Kookaburra which lingered on its chosen branch for a long time, staring at us with its intensely yellow eyes, and exuding an altogether menacing air.  

After lunch we decide to make one more stop at the Mount Malloy state school before heading back to Kingfisher for an early afternoon break. Our chief reason for the visit was to acquaint ourselves with the locally famous Great Bowerbird bower in one of the school garden beds. We succeeded in that task quite easily, with views of a bowerbird before we even reached the carpark, and a truly opulent bower. Great Bowerbirds build an intricate and large runway of sticks, decorated with a mat of white objects (in this case bits of plastic and snail shells) and green fruits. This year the bower was in a slightly different location, and was decorated with a full mat of green glass shards and large white snail shells. Some of the highlight decorations included various bright pink plastic bits, some shiny pieces of reflective pink foil, a few fuzzy pipe cleaners and, the coup de grace, a lovely and carefully placed pile of large roofing screws. Surely no visiting female bowerbird would be able to resist such artistry! On the drive back to the lodge we stopped to watch a Pheasant Coucal quietly stalking grasshoppers on the verge of the road. Unlike the several Coucals we had seen previously this one stayed out in the open for us, allowing us to better appreciate its colourful plumage and large proportions. 

In the late afternoon we set off again, this time bound for the western side of Mount Lewis and the town of Mount Carbine. This small ex-mining town sits in the rain shadow of the coastal range, nestled in a wide tropical grassland plain. Small creeks with riparian vegetation and lightly timbered patches give the region a vastly different feel to the much wetter and lusher coastal side of the range. We started by birding along the West Maryfarms Road, where we quickly located an unusually large number of Australian Bustards that were striding around in the short- grass fields in full view (rather than remaining huddled in the shade of the scattered trees). These large bustards can be incredibly good at hiding in the tall grassy areas that they prefer. A few individuals were actually right along the roadside, providing excellent views. Soon after we began to watch them, we realized that some of the males were in active display, parading around the lekking grounds, with pendulous wattles dangling from their chins. The nearby females seemed quite unimpressed, preferring to remain across the field in better foraging habitat. One of the males was actually displaying right next to the road, and allowed us unparalleled views as we navigated slowly around it to continue down the path. This first road also produced two fine raptors for us, with a pale morph Brown Falcon sitting atop a small termite mound out in one of the fields, and a Spotted Harrier quartering over a brushy field near the end of the road.  

We then moved a touch further west to the town of Mount Carbine, where we visited the Mount Carbine Caravan Park, a sprawling RV park with well-watered lawns and several residents who regularly feed the local birds. Right at the entrance to the park we ground to a halt when a wheeling flock of at least 100 silver and pink Galahs descended upon the front yard of one of the houses. Along with the cockatoos we noted a few pairs of Pale-headed Rosellas (which were surprisingly common this year in several locations), roughly twenty Apostlebirds, another Blue-winged Kookaburra, a pair of Pied Butcherbirds and several more Great Bowerbirds all in the same yard. The antics and vocalizations of the Apostlebirds were a special treat as they hopped around the ground squabbling over particularly choice morsels. The area was awash with Agile Wallabies as well, with several dozen visible at once along the entrance road as we left. A quick jaunt down the more easterly road near the Mary River revealed a passing Dollarbird, more displaying Bustards, a lovely perched Black-shouldered Kite and, best of all, a trio of White-throated Needletails that coursed overhead at an impressive rate before wheeling back against the billowing clouds and showing off well to our admiring crowd. We then headed south accompanied by a gorgeous peach sunset, stopping in for dinner back at the Mount Molloy pub, where we were greeted by a reserved table with our name up on chalkboards.  

The threatening clouds from the prior day had thickened overnight, perhaps marking a very early start to the wet season in northern Queensland. Our second full day around Kingfisher was to be impacted by bouts of heavy rain, interspersed with bright sunshine and mist/drizzle in about equal measure. Typically, such weather arrives in mid to late November, but there seems to be less and less typical weather globally in this day and age. We spent the morning seeking out a couple of local birds that would be new for us, starting with a pre-breakfast trip to the end of McDougal Road. Here a marshy pond along the roadside was very productive, with excellent views of a Spotless Crake (found by thermal) and several White-browed Crakes (found the old fashioned way) walking along the edge of clumps of emergent vegetation. Here too was a placidly sitting White-bellied Sea-Eagle, another (closer) Latham’s Snipe, and a stunning male Mistletoebird that was feeding in a large clump of roadside mistletoe. At the end of the road we connected with a pair of spritely Fairy Gerygones, and had fun watching a parade of birds (including Wompoo Fruit Doves, Barred Cuckooshrikes and Brown Cuckoo-Doves) coming into a large fruiting fig. After breakfast we ventured a bit further afield, acting on a tip from Carol about a productive stretch of road a few miles NE of the lodge. We were hoping for White-eared Monarchs, but had to content ourselves with multiple views of Victoria’s Riflebirds and Spotted Catbirds, migrating flocks of Spangled Drongo, a vocal but elusive Noisy Pitta and repeat views of Grey Whistler, Macleay’s Honeyeaters and Black-faced Monarch… We had to dodge a shower or two after leaving the area, but in between the rains we located a Lemon-bellied Flyrobin that was enthusiastically greeting the wet weather with a continual bout of its cheerful and bouncy song.  

Lunch back in Mount Molloy produced a few birds of interest too, with a cooperative Sahul Brush Cuckoo calling from near the town’s central park, several Red-winged Parrots playing hide-and-seek around the playground, a very friendly couple with their pet Eclectus Parrot, and some very tame Great Bowerbirds. After another mid-afternoon break back at Kingfisher Park we decided to go a little off script and take a journey further west past Mount Carbine, where we hoped that some rather remote creek crossings and dams might hold a few more dry-land birds that we typically do not encounter on the trip. Although the western flank of the mountains is in the rain shadow and receives only a fraction of the rain that lands along the coast, on this day we found conditions quite reversed.  

Before we set off on the drive though we took advantage of some excellent scouting by Ben. Instead of resting during our time off he had taken it upon himself to look around a traditional spot for wintering Blue-faced Parrotfinches. In spite of the dearth of records over the prior months Ben was very successful; finding a pair lurking in the undergrowth in a spot where he thought the group could access. This is a very scarce species in Australia, with a small breeding population centered around the Mount Lewis highlands and an even smaller group near the southern end of the tablelands. It’s an altitudinal migrant, with a few birds generally “wintering” near Julatten during the dry season and then heading back up into the higher parts of the mountain in the wet. Its bright green body plumage is unique among the Australian Finches, although seeing all the bird’s colors can be tricky in the dense vegetation that they prefer. We took the short trail that Ben had created for us and quietly crept into the understory where we managed to spot one or two adults foraging about 6 meters from our position. It took quite a while for everyone to get clear views as the birds were staying quite low in the vegetation. This marked only our second sighting of Parrotfinches for the tour, a testament to Ben’s perseverance and the groups willingness to try for some of the “harder” birds. 

We drove off to the northwest and almost as soon as we arrived near the McLeod River crossing the proverbial heavens opened. We pressed on a bit further, hoping to drive out of the weather, but if anything, it rained harder once we arrived at the series of dirt roads off the highway that we were intending on exploring. With the heavy rains beginning to flood the dry washes, and the dirt roadbeds beginning to get sticky we decided that discretion was the better part of valour. Not wanting to get stuck, we turned around, and soon after recrossing the McLeod River found a gap in the weather as we passed over the Battle Creek bridge. We hopped out of the cars and explored the area along the creekline. Lots of birds seemed to be using the gap in the weather here too, with several dozen Rainbow Bee-eaters, a few Spangled Drongo and two Dollarbirds moving around in the trees. Some flowering trees held a busy group of Brown Honeyeaters and Helmeted Friarbirds and in a recently burned patch of ground we found more than a dozen Peaceful Doves scratching about for seeds. It was the small group of Double-barred Finches though that captivated the group. These delicately marked finches are stunning if seen well, covered with fine spotting and a complicated array of black barring. We were elated with the find, as it was a species that several participants were keen on seeing. On the way back towards Mount Molloy we stopped in again along West Mary Road, where we had fun watching another male Australian Bustard strutting his stuff on the short grass airfield near the main road.  

Our last full day of the trip was reserved for a special cruise along the Daintree River. We departed Kingfisher Park early, and an hour later met up with our river guide for the morning; Murray Hunt. This year, because of our group size we elected to keep the group together in one boat, even though that meant that there was no space for Ben or I. Murray has been guiding birders along the river here for well over a decade, and is intimately familiar with the birds, fauna and even flora of the area; so we knew the group would be in good hands. 

After a brief introduction Murray took the group upstream, pointing out some of the effects of the gigantic floods of January 2019, where the river reached an incredible 15m above average, flooding the town and washing away buildings, cars, and virtually all the cattle in the adjacent fields. This flood had changed the character of the river, with many of the larger trees broken, higher sand banks along the edges and still visible debris hanging high in the trees. It didn’t take long until one of the main Daintree specialties appeared, with a single Great-billed Heron foraging on small fish along the creek edge. These large herons are quite scarce in Australia, and often are frustratingly wary. To see one in plain sight, at close range for so long was truly exceptional. On the way downstream the group enjoyed views of a couple of large Estuarine Crocodiles lurking underneath some overhanging trees. One of them, dubbed Barratt by the locals was pushing 4m in length, making some in the group eye up the height of the boat railings… Murray explained that the territory of this male covers nearly 4KM of the river, and that much of his time is spent patrolling his stretch and keeping out rival large males. With the particularly high tide there were no sandbars for Barrat to haul out on, so we had to content ourselves with our close-up views under the water gums. Given how difficult this animal was to spot from just a few meters away we quickly realized why swimming in the river was not recommended! 

The group cruised further downstream, tucking the boat under some twisted water gums and were soon watching a perky pair of Shining Flycatchers along the bank, clearly displaying their amazingly disparate male and female plumages as they investigated possible nest sites. Nearby Murray pulled into a small cove and announced a contest to see who could spot the nearby nesting frogmouth. It didn’t take long for some of the sharp-eyed participants to pick out the bird as it sat on a horizontal limb, in plain sight but so closely resembling a broken branch that it would have been invisible had the group not been specifically looking for it. Down a small tributary creek which sits in more brackish waters we found dozens of species of mangroves, many with epiphytic orchids lining the banks. This area was excellent for birds, as the narrower channel and generally shadier conditions seemed to bring more species to the waters edge. Some of the more noteworthy finds here were nesting Large-billed Gerygones that were busily bringing nesting material into their remarkable dangling woven nest that closely resembles flood debris trapped in the canopy, two incredibly tame Azure Kingfishers that (with Murray’s excellent captaincy skills) allowed an amazingly close approach, our only Striated Heron of the trip and even a bright green and yellow Common Treesnake that Murray picked out on a limb over the water. The group had one more surprise on offer, as just before the boat came back to the dock a pair of Whistling Ducks flew past. Some quick photography revealed them to be Spotted Whistling-Ducks! This is a recent colonizer from New Guinea, with a tiny breeding population around the Daintree.  

Once back in the village, we ate breakfast at the local coffee shop, and fortified for the rest of the morning we used the balance of the day to make the long drive back to the south of Cairns in search of perhaps the marquee bird of the trip, the incredible Southern Cassowary. We broke the drive up with a few short stops north of Cairns. The first was at some roadside fish ponds, where we found a pair of soaring Osprey, a few Little Egrets and far too many fisherfolk crowding the pond berms for the area to be productive for birds. We had better luck at the small golf course pond in Yorkey’s Knob, where we picked up a small group of Scaly-breasted Munia foraging in some low grasses alongside a flock of Crimson Finches and enjoyed some close views of nesting Australasian Darters, a surprise Torresian Kingfisher and a garrulous Black Butcherbird.  

A little further south we stopped at the mouth of the Barron River, where the low tides were revealing expansive mudflats around the point. We walked out onto the strand and were soon tucked in looking through the throngs of waders that were feeding on the exposed mud. Here we enjoyed close views of Far Eastern Curlew, Pacific Golden-Plover, Greater and Siberian Sandplovers, Red-capped Plover and lots of Red-necked Stint and Great Knot. Out over the river mouth we found foraging Little, Australian, Great Crested and Caspian Terns all diving into the choppy water. A walk out to the actual tip of the point revealed a locally rare Sanderling and a loafing Common Tern, but the group eschewed the walk, preferring to press on to Etty Bay.  

By mid-afternoon we were in place, slowly driving back towards the bay and keeping a close eye on the forested road edges. Just a few bends into our quest we had to rub our eyes to make sure we weren’t dreaming, as a male Cassowary was calmly striding down the edge of the road towards us! We pulled over and amazingly the bird kept on coming, getting to within a few feet of the front van before simply melting away into the woods. It was quite remarkable how quickly such a large bird vanished in the undergrowth! After such a long drive and one failed attempt on our first day in the tropics this encounter was especially exhilarating. We continued on to the beach, and while enjoying some celebratory drinks and ice creams were amazed when Steve started ushering us over to the other side of the parking lot. Amazingly, another Cassowary was walking up the beach! This bird proceeded to walk up into the campground and then checked out each of the camp sites to see if any loose food might be on offer. The bird gathered quite a crowd, but seemed oblivious to the cameras and attention as it methodically visited each camp and then ambled off up into the forest. On the way out of the bay we stopped to look at yet two more Cassowaries as they walked across a grassy field heading for a distant patch of trees. After missing the species completely on our first visit it was a bit of a shock to see four adults all within about a half-hour. It’s never a great idea to leave such an important species to the last afternoon, but when you can end a trip with such a proverbial bang it sure feels good. Over dinner that night in Cairns we reminisced about the tour, with dozens of highlights mentioned by the participants from among our 302 species recorded (although the three winning species were rather unsurprisingly the Golden Bowerbird and Platypus up on the tablelands and the virtual flock of Southern Cassowaries).                                                                                                                                       

-          Gavin Bieber

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