Cairns Birdwatching itinearies North Queensland

CAIRNS BIRDWATCHING ITINERARIES

Cairns, Tropical North Queensland, Queensland's Wet Tropics and Daintree.

Important considerations:
There are 13 Wet Tropics endemic bird species in our area and more than half of those are not found at sea-level but are found at higher altitudes. Cairns, Port Douglas, Mossman, Wonga Beach and Daintree (including Cape Tribulation) are all at sea-level.
Most of the 430 bird species that can be found here are found on the eastern side of the Great Dividing Range but not all. The western side of the range has considerably less rain than the east and different species are found there. Birdwatching is seasonal and influenced by climate vagaries.

Getting around. The public transport system in the Wet Tropics area is poor, for serious birdwatching think of it as being non-existent. You can catch a bus to the tablelands or Daintree from Cairns most days. The bus fare from Cairns to Daintree for two people is similar to the cost of one day's car rental. The Wet Tropics area is not great in size and you can get around it comfortably in a conventional two wheel drive car. You can order a rental car to meet you at the Cairns Airport and you can leave it there when you fly out.

See driving tip. Drive north from Cairns. Northern places include Daintree - Wonga Beach (sea-level) and Julatten (northern tablelands). The area north of the Daintree River has little to offer birdwatchers apart from Cassowary sightings at the Jindalba Walk at Cow Bay, but one or two days at Daintree Wonga Beach is worthwhile.
The Daintree Village is on the south side of the Daintree River and the tourism focus there is showing Saltwater crocodiles to masses of tourists by boat. There are many boat departure points starting at the ferry crossing all the way to the Daintree Village. Quite independently of the 24 tourist boats I have been taking people out at dawn>> before the day tourists arrive since 1992.
There are many wildlife species that a boat is best for like herons, kingfishers, flycatchers, Papuan Frogmouths and reptiles. A lowish tide is generally best.

Walking around Wonga Beach, the village and along the first part of Stewart Creek Road can be fruitful.
If an itinerary for a week in the southern hemisphere winter was being planned you do not need to spend a lot of time in Cairns except for the airport. If it is the southern hemisphere summer, September to March, then a visit to the Cairns Esplanade for the waders is worthwhile. Try not to be there at low tide or the birds will be distant and spread out.

Regardless of your length of stay a base in the tablelands is recommended and nothing comes recommended more highly than Kingfisher Park at Julatten. It is central to the birds and away from the tourist traps. Accommodation ranges from camping, campervan, bunkhouse to self catering 1 and 2 bedroom units.

The Highlander is a terrific restaurant just down the road from Kingfisher Park.
The Highlander Restaurant near Kingfisher Park.

The following places are well know birdwatching locations:
The mangrove boardwalk on the left at the Cairns airport access road.
Daintree River, Daintree Village, Wonga Beach, all in the Daintree Valley.
Julatten, Mt Lewis, Abattoir Swamp, Rifle Creek Reserve, Maryfarms, Mount Carbine, Mt Molloy, Lake Mitchell, all in the northern tablelands.
Hasties Swamp, Lake Barrine, Lake Eacham, Lake Tinaroo, The Crater, all in the Atherton Tablelands. (New tourist brand name = "Cairns Highlands", poor Atherton Family!)
Cairns Esplanade, Cairns Crocodile Farm, Centenary Lakes and Flecker Botanical Gardens, Michaelmas Cay.
Lacey Creek State Forest Park, Licuala State Forest Park, at Mission Beach.
Paluma, Townsville Common, Ross River Dam all from Townsville.

The above can be looked at as check points. Use your birdwatching instincts as you travel around and visit these places. By staying at Kingfisher Park you will meet other birdwatchers and most of them blab about the good spots where things are happening at that moment!

Cairns bird books, sound, and films link>>


	Queensland's Wet Tropics is the name used to cover the thin coastal strip between Cooktown and Townsville. Parts of it receive 3 - 4 metres of annual rainfall. The 2 wettest months are Feb & March.


	Where did the name Tropical North Queensland come from? The old name was Far North Queensland but the Cairns Based tourism association changed it to a name with more tourist appeal.


	DAINTREE For our purposes here, consider Daintree to be from Rocky Point on the coast to Cape Tribulation and includes; Wonga Beach, Daintree Village, Cow Bay and Cape Tribulation. All at sea-level.

Map showing the relationship of Wonga Beach, Daintree, Julatten, Port Douglas and Mt Molloy.


	Driving Tip: if you are driving on the left hand side of the road for the first time, after you pick up your rental car at the Cairns airport, go north. The airport is in the northern outskirts of Cairns and the traffic considerations are much easier driving away from the city than driving into it. By the time you come back to Cairns you will have a lot more experience and in any case you do not need to go into the city to return it.


	Daintree River. What did we see today? Today's wildlife checklist>>>


	What birds are here? From some of the world's smallest parrots and kingfishers to the largest of cuckoo's, to birds that can see in the dark and pigeons more colourful than Amazonian parrots the Daintree region is central to many of the most exciting birds in the world. After breeding in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere shorebirds and waders fly longer distances than the international traveller to be here in summer. In Spring, the quietness of the rainforest can suddenly shatter with the call of the male Victoria's Riflebird advertising for a mate. The dappling light of the rainforest is pierced with a flash of red, white and blue - a Paradise-Kingfisher. The dawn chorus rising from a tiny rainforest creek is dramatically interrupted by the leonine call of the crocodile bird. At almost any time one of the 430 bird species can steal the scene. The daytime eco show is dominated by birds that range in size from the diminutive endemic Mountain Thornbill to the giant , yet vulnerable, Southern Cassowary as each carves their niche throughout the Wet Tropics Area of Queensland. There are many and varied techniques for seeing birds here as the variety of them. In recent years Australian and international experts have traversed this region developing field guides, filming world's firsts and recording their complex calls and songs. A new bird was discovered in Daintree during 1995, the first perhaps of many new discoveries for the area, as interest in avian matters increases universally. Our small region has 100 Australian endemic species, 13 of which are endemic to the Wet Tropics. Another 50 Australo-Papuan species can be seen here making compelling reasons for birdwatchers to visit. Many old world bird families are prolific in Africa and Asia with representatives that can be found here like; sunbirds, coucals, rollers, cisticolas, starlings and bee-eaters.


	There are other give-away maps for this area. Just mail a stamped self addressed envelope to: Chris Dahlberg 2 Janbal Street Wonga Beach Q 4873 and they will be sent to you.


	The 13 Wet Tropics endemic birds are: Lesser Sooty Owl, Mountain Thornbill, Tooth-billed Bowerbird, Pied Monarch, Bower's Shrike-thrush, Fernwren, Chowchilla, Grey-headed Robin, Bridled Honeyeater, Macleay's Honeteater,Golden Bowerbird, Atherton Scrubwren and Victoria's Riflebird.


	The 10 Wet Tropics endemic mammals are: Atherton Antechinus, Bennet's Tree Kangaroo, Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo, Musky Rat-kangaroo, Lemuroid Ringtail Possum, Thornton Peak Melomys, Green Ringtail Possum Herbert River Ringtail Possum, Daintree River Ringtail Possum and Insectivorous Tube-nosed Bat Murina florium (do not confuse with Queensland Tube-nosed Bat Nyctimene robinsoni)


	Copyright © Chris Dahlberg 2007 phone 07 4098 7997