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| Palm Cockatoo [pic by Paul Jensen] |
Saturday 21 September
Pre Trip – Meet in the foyer of the hotel at c. 6-30pm to go for a take away
dinner – dinner at own expense.
o/n Crystal Garden
Resort & Restaurant, Cairns
Sunday 22 September -
Day 1 – After an early breakfast most of the participants will be joining
Ken on a trip to Michaelmas Cay. This boat trip offers great opportunities for
snorkelling while on the sand cay you can see Common Noddy, Lesser Crested,
Crested, Black naped, Sooty and Bridled Terns plus Masked and Brown Boobies and
the chance for both Greater and Lesser Frigatebirds.
After our reef day trip, all participants will meet in the
foyer of the hotel at 6-30pm before going for dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant.
We will have a quick get-to-know-you before any last questions regarding the
tour will be discussed.
o/n Crystal Garden
Resort & Restaurant, Cairns
Monday 23 September -
Day 2 – Cairns birding
Near the airport there is a Mangrove boardwalk which
provides us the opportunity to see Torresian
Kingfisher, Shining Flycatcher and Mangrove Robin. The nearby Centennial
Lakes and Flecker Botanical Gardens are home to a variety of species; Olive backed Sunbirds, Yellow Honeyeaters,
Pied Imperial Pigeon – to name a few.
And we’ll visit the Cairns Esplanade; surely one of the best
paces in Australia to see migratory
waders. The esplanade is also home to Double-eyed
Fig Parrots.
o/n Crystal Garden
Resort & Restaurant, Cairns
Tuesday 24 September Day
3 – Rainforest birding searching for
Wet Tropic Endemics.
Straight after breakfast we will leave Cairns for the
tableland and we should be able to see some new species.
We will visit Lake Eacham and then onto the nearby Lake
Barrine. These two crater lakes are surrounded by rainforest and we will search
for such species as Grey-headed Robin,
White-throated Treecreeper [sub specie - minor],
Chowchilla, White-eared and Pied Monarchs, Fernwren and Yellow-breasted Boatbill
and Barred Cuckoo-shrike. On the waters of Lake Barrine there are usually
good numbers of Great Crested Grebe.
The Curtain Tree Fig will also be visited. This is an outstanding example of a strangler
fig within Mabi rainforest. The name "mabi" is derived from a local
Aboriginal word for the rare Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroo, the largest mammal found
in this rainforest. Birds possible here
include Bower’s Shrikethrush,
Grey-headed Robin, Brown Gerygone, Large-billed Scrubwren, Pied, Spectacled and
Black-faced Monarchs, White-throated Treecreeper, Golden Whistler, Eastern Whipbird
and all local Cuckoos. Macleay’s
Honeyeater is also a possibility.
We should also complete the fig tree double and visit the
Cathedral Fig Tree. This tree is located on a rainforest island; that is one
surrounded by grassland and other habitat. In the grassland we should add Golden headed Cisticola, Red backed Fairy
Wren, Tawny Grassbird and perhaps some quail to our list. While in the
forest itself we have chances for fruit doves and some of the Wet Tropics
Endemics.
Before the day is out we will return top our Rainforest
Lodge for some birding. Spotted Catbirds
and Tooth-billed Bowerbirds are both resident in the grounds of our lodge as
are Victoria’s Riflebird. We should
also see some familiar southern species here; Lewin’s Honeyeater, King Parrots and Crimson Rosellas.
We’ll enjoy a BBQ dinner [and perhaps a beer] at our
accommodation where we may be able to see some nocturnal visitors; Sugar Gliders and White tailed Rats plus
Red legged Pademelons and Long-nosed Bandicoots.
o/n Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodge
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3 Bridled
Honeyeater
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This morning an early start, straight after breakfast, with
a fifteen minute drive to the nearby Bromfield Swamp. Here we will spend about
an hour or so hoping to get some views of the Cranes that roost there; both
species – Brolga and Sarus Cranes
can be seen. This is also a good site for road side views of Quail and good for
raptors hunting the grassland.
After breakfast we will meet our local guide for the day
[and night], Alan Gillanders. Allan is one of Australia’s greatest naturalists
and he will be taking us to some of the best birding locations within the wet
tropics. We will target remaining Wet Tropic endemics; Grey-headed Robin, Bridled Honeyeater, Mountain Thornbill, Atherton
Scrubwren, Fernwren, Tooth-billed Bowerbird, Spotted Catbird and Golden
Bowerbird.
This evening after a roast meal dinner at our lodge we plan
to take a spotlighting excursion, searching for both birds and mammals. Wet Tropics endemic mammals should be in the
menu; Green, Herbert River and Lemuroid Ringtails plus the chance of Lumholtz’s
Tree-Kangaroo.
Chambers Wildlife
Rainforest Lodge
Thursday 26 September
Day 5 – Lake Eacham north to Mossman
Today we pack up and reluctantly leave our Rainforest Lodge.
Our first stop, unless we see some birds enroute, will be
the Granite Gorge Nature Park. Here
is an excellent place to get great views of the Mareeba Rock Wallaby. Additionly, there are quite a few good birds
that are common in the park; Peaceful
Dove and Squatter Pigeon, Great Bowerbird, Koel and Channel billed Cuckoo, Blue
winged Kookaburra, Red tailed Black Cockatoos, Red winged Parrot, a range of
Honeyeaters including Yellow and White gaped and Helmeted Friarbirds, White
bellied Cuckoo Shrike and Grey crowned Babblers. We’ll also keep our eye
open for the spectacular Frill necked
Lizard which is occasionally seen in this area. We will spend the morning
here until having our picnic lunch.
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4 female
Lovely Fairywren
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We will drive down off the tableland towards the coast for a
one-night stay at Mossman.
o/n Mossman Motel
Friday 27 September Day
6 – am Daintree cruise; pm birding
Mt Lewis
Daintree is famous for its birdwatching river trips and
rightly so. Our first task this morning is to drive for an hour to the Daintree
River for a boat trip at 6-30am! We will divide into 2 groups and we will
alternate between the boat trip and birding around the village of Daintree. Great-billed Heron, Little Kingfisher and
Black Bittern are some of the target species and are regularly seen on the
river. Other sought-after species include Double-eyed
Fig Parrot, Little Bronze-Cuckoo, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Buff-breasted Paradise
Kingfisher, Beach Stone-Curlew, Lovely Fairy-Wren Large billed Gerygone and
Yellow Oriole. Keep your eyes open for crocs!
We will have breakfast in the Daintree Village before a
little birding around the township.
After the morning in the lowlands we will make our way up
towards Mt Lewis National Park. This park, with Higher altitude rainforest, is
home to all the 12 “Wet Tropic” endemic species. There is also the possibility
of Blue-faced Parrot Finch. We will
bird this area until dusk before driving to our accommodation at Wetherby
Station for a BBQ dinner.
o/n Wetherby Station
Saturday 28 September
Day 7 – Whetherby Station via Mt
Molloy, Mt Carbine to Laura Rock Art
An early start this morning as we head northwards to the
base of Cape York.
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5
Rufous throated Honeyeater
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In the afternoon, upon arriving at Laura we will take a tour
to see some of the splendid Quinkan Art Galleries. Famous for its rock art,
Quinkan Country contains a large and dramatic body of prehistoric rock
paintings. These galleries have been identified as being between 15,000 to
30,000 years old and have been included on the Australian Heritage Estate and
listed by UNESCO as being among the top 10 rock art sites in the world.
o/n Laura Motel
Sunday 29 September -
Day 8 – Laura to Musgrave via
Lakefield National Park
Today we will enjoy a drive through Lakefield National Park
on our way to Musgrave. Lakefield is the second largest national park in
Queensland, after the Simpson Desert. The dominant vegetation in the park is eucalypt woodland and gallery
forest associated with
waterways. Countless lagoons and waterways throughout the park provide
many opportunities for wildlife watching and the park is well known for its populations of
waterbirds such as the Brolga, Sarus Crane, Black-necked Stork, Comb-crested Jacana and Magpie Geese and, of course, crocodiles. In the woodland and grassland area the Agile Wallaby, Northern Nailtail wallaby and, if we are very lucky, Spectacled Hare Wallaby.
We will stop and bird when we can; specifically we will
visit 'Old Laura' and 'Red Lily Lagoon' for the White-bellied sub-species of
the Crimson Finch. We will search
for Star Finch at Nifold Plain. Australian Bustard may also be found.
o/n Musgrave
Roadhouse
Monday 30 September -
Day 9 Musgrave to Lakefield NP to
Musgrave
We depart early to go birding in the northern sections of
Lakefield National Park, then we’ll turn east towards Princess Charlotte Bay.
Today we’ll search for two major targets: the beautiful and very restricted
Golden-shouldered Parrot and the rare Red Goshawk. Other good species we’ll
hopefully come across include Rufous-throated and Rufous-banded Honeyeater,
Star Finch, Black-breasted Buzzard and Black necked Stork. At the end of the
day we return to Musgrave for another chance of night-birding if required.
O/n Musgrave
Roadhouse
Tuesday 1 October Day
10 Musgrave to Iron Range NP
In the
morning, we may have another chance of any targets missed. We’ll then drive the
Peninsula Development road through Coen to Iron Range National Park in the
afternoon. Before we bed down at night we will hopefully see our first Cape
York specialty species. PLEASE NOTE – Lockhart River and surrounds are a dry community; meaning
absolutely no alcohol!
Wednesday & Thursday 2 & 3 October Day 11 & 12 – Iron Range National Park
We will spend the entire two days in and around Iron Range
National Park, one of Australia’s premier wildlife refuges. From tall forest to
heath to coastal bush, Iron Range has a diversity of habitat and a range of
wildlife found nowhere else in Australia. We shall target such species as Northern Scrub Robin, White faced Robin,
Yellow legged and Lemon bellied Flycatchers, Magnificent Riflebird, Trumpet
Manucode, Frilled Monarch, Black winged Monarch, Tawny breasted, Green backed,
Yellow spotted and White streaked Honeyeaters, Tropical Scrubwren, Yellow
billed Kingfisher, Chestnut breasted Cuckoo, Fawn breasted Bowerbird, Red
cheeked and Electus Parrots and the magnificent Palm Cockatoo. There is a
large variety of other species that inhabit this area as well so bird call
could take a while this evening…
Nocturnal Species abound as well. We will target Frogmouths and Nightjars as well as two
cuscus species.
Friday 4 October Day
13 – Iron Range to Weipa
A final
morning birding the rainforests of Iron Range National Park picking up any
species still needed and no doubt seeing more of the species we’ve seen on
previous days. We then travel west across the Cape to the town of Weipa.
O/n Albatross Bay Resort, Weipa
Saturday 5 October Day
14 – Weipa
Weipa on the far north-west coast of Cape York Peninsula is
a great birding location with access to a variety of habitats. There are
coastal dunes, wetlands, mangroves, patches of vine forest, gallery forests
along the major rivers as well as the tall open Darwin Stringybark forests of
the Weipa plateau.
A highlight of visiting Weipa is the only known mainland
roost of frigatebirds. Large numbers of both Great and Lesser Frigatebirds roost on the western Weipa peninsula.
Many come down to roost after sunset, just on dark, along the main road into
town between the port facilities and Evans Landing. Visitors also come to Weipa
to see Spotted Whistling Ducks and
Cape York specialities like Magnificent
Riflebird. Local Stringybark forests are a refuge for the disappearing
black-backed form of the Brown
Treecreeper.
Sunday 6 October Day 15 – Weipa fly Cairns
A little lie in for those who need it this morning as the
only real business is to breakfast before transferring to the airport before a
flight to Cairns where our tour ends.
