What to do when your birding buddies nick off to southern states for the weekend without you? (How dare they!) Why, make a last minute solo trip to birding paradise, a.k.a. the Atherton Tablelands in north Queensland! The lure of riflebirds, catbirds, robins and many others – with a chance for the odd lifer –Continue reading “Atherton + Cairns mini-break, Nov 2024”
Tag Archives: Far North Queensland
Iron Range, Nov 2023
Summary: Remote tropical lowland rainforest with unique and special birding Dates of visit: Nov 13 to 17, 2023 Kutini-Payamu or Iron Range National Park is a large national park in Cape York, right at the top of Queensland. Biologically this region is heavily influenced by nearby Papua New Guinea, providing a smorgasbord of birds thatContinue reading “Iron Range, Nov 2023”
Green Island, Nov 2023
Summary: Lovely rainforest island not far from Cairns with some interesting birdlife Date of visit: Nov 18 2023 Green Island is a small island of 12 hectares in the Great Barrier Reef, accessible in around 40 minutes by ferry from Cairns. It is the only coral cay on the reef that has rainforest, and itContinue reading “Green Island, Nov 2023”
Iron Range and Cairns, Nov 2023
One of the last great frontiers for Australian birding is tropical Cape York in far north Queensland, and the jewel in that crown belongs to Iron Range National Park, a low-level rainforest where the birds and plants are more influenced by nearby Papua New Guinea than by Australia. Our birding group had booked for AugustContinue reading “Iron Range and Cairns, Nov 2023”
Cairns-Daintree-Julatten Christmas trip, 2022
You know you’re a pair of tragic-level birders when one gets the other a Christmas present consisting of a 5 day trip to far north Queensland in summer to see birds… oh well, life is tough, isn’t it? We simply do what we must. Straight off the plane and into birding is how we doContinue reading “Cairns-Daintree-Julatten Christmas trip, 2022”
Flagstaff Hill, Port Douglas, Nov 2021
[A stop on the Cairns + Atherton + Daintree, 2021 trip] Port Douglas is a resort town about an hour north of Cairns and might not be somewhere you’d be inclined to do a lot of serious birding, what with the beaches, the resort shops and Sunday markets, golf courses, and plenty of options for boat cruisesContinue reading “Flagstaff Hill, Port Douglas, Nov 2021”
Daintree River Cruise, Nov 2021
[A stop on the Cairns + Atherton + Daintree, 2021 trip] The Daintree Rainforest in Far North Queensland is truly enormous at 1200 square kilometres and is a very special place indeed. One of the highly recommended ways to explore it is via a boat cruise on the Daintree River, and for birders especially this is aContinue reading “Daintree River Cruise, Nov 2021”
Mt Lewis, Nov 2021
[A stop on the Cairns + Atherton + Daintree, 2021 trip] Mount Lewis is a region of highland rainforest within the huge Wet Tropics World Heritage Area of northern Queensland. There is only one road in, Mount Lewis Rd, starting just a kilometre or two north of Julatten. The road has two major sections: from the Mossman-MountContinue reading “Mt Lewis, Nov 2021”
Kingfisher Park Lodge, Nov 2021
[A stop on the Cairns + Atherton + Daintree, 2021 trip] The famed Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge in Julatten, Queensland is truly a very special place. This is reflected in its eBird all-time species count, which places it as the #4 birding hotspot in all of Australia. What’s interesting though is that if you filter eBird’s top AustralianContinue reading “Kingfisher Park Lodge, Nov 2021”
Cattana Wetlands, Apr 2021
[A stop on the Cairns + Atherton + Daintree trip, 2021 trip] Cattana Wetlands is a relatively new site of 80 hectares, located about 15km north of Cairns. Its proximity to Cairns and its excellent set-up for birding, as well as a very respectable 243 species recorded on eBird (putting it in the top 20 sites inContinue reading “Cattana Wetlands, Apr 2021”
Bird Spots 