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”
Tag Archives: Far North Queensland
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”
Centenary Lakes and Cairns Botanic Gardens, Apr 2021
[A stop on the Cairns + Atherton + Daintree trip, 2021 trip] Centenary Lakes and the adjoining Botanic Gardens is a sprawling site with many varied habitats and vegetation sections. It sits a mere 3km north of the Cairns CBD and so is very easily accessible for birding, and furthermore has access to the massive MtContinue reading “Centenary Lakes and Cairns Botanic Gardens, Apr 2021”
Cairns Esplanade, Apr 2021
[A stop on the Cairns + Atherton + Daintree trip, 2021 trip] How good does a birding hotspot have to be to be the #3 all-time eBird hotspot in Australia? Pretty darned good, you’d expect, and with 278 species recorded, Cairns Esplanade is that spot. Even more surprising, there’s not a forest in sight – instead it’s beachContinue reading “Cairns Esplanade, Apr 2021”
Cairns + Atherton + Daintree trip, 2021
I’d been pretty keen to get to the Wet Tropics to sample its renowned birdlife for a while. Lots of Queensland’s best birding hotspots are here, and you can visit all of them pretty easily in a relatively short trip (say, for sake of example, a mere 10 days). So off I went in AprilContinue reading “Cairns + Atherton + Daintree trip, 2021”
Bird Spots 