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Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands :  some outings - (prices in A$) -

A Bird Walk.
On the Esplanade; Around the Centenary Lakes; or almost anywhere -
Short guided bird walks start from anywhere at anytime, and cost about $15 per hour per person.
 

Day Trips by vehicle.
Around Cairns and further afield - one person $165, two or three people $330, four or more $440.

Group Tours.
Group tours around the area are taken by Andy or Ben (often both together) and range as far as Georgetown which is regarded as "local" although about 400km away.
Guiding, vehicle, food, and accommodation will all be included in the quote.

Hit Lists.
If you have a short list of target species and need assistance please ring Andy or Ben.

August 10-21.  New Zealand Ornithological Society. Cairns, Tablelands, Georgetown. Enquiries to Andy A. <tours@aabirding.com> or Jan Walker <shesagreen@hotmail.com>

Nov 9-14.  Mark Smith Nature Tours, Cairns, Tablelands, Georgetown. Apply to Mark Smith Nature Tours, c/o Willamette International Travel, Portland, OR, USA. tel  503-224-0180  or 1-800-821-0401, fax 503-242-3867, www.wittravel.com

We expect other groups to be coming too.

30-Oct-1998
Bird Racing in Tropical Queensland

    On our 24-hr bird races or birdathons, which were always held from around midday one day to midday the next, we used to go out to Georgetown, halfway to the Gulf of Carpentaria, driving over 700 kms during the race - and then having to drive 450 kms home after it had all finished! That's how tallies of 222, 223, 233 had been achieved in the last few years.
    These are good scores for Australia, all of them at the time being second highest scores ever, the highest being 263 by a Townsville team some years before. As a trial run for the RAOU (now Birds Australia) Birdathon on the 26/27th October 1998 and the QOSI (now Birds Queensland) Birdathon on the 2/3rd November 1998, we decided to try a different, more sensible, route and do a Big Day (midnight to midnight) as a practice run. Australia's record for that was only 176 established by a Brisbane team many years before.
    Our 1998 team was John Grant, Eric Sticklen, Glenn Holmes and myself (Andy Anderson) and the results exceeded our expectations. We thought we would be lucky to get to 230 species, and we came home with 247 species identified by either sight or sound by a majority of the team. A new Australian record!
    The distance driven was only 480 kms and the remarkable thing was that, by looking at a map afterwards, we discovered that all species were identified within a 45 km radius of the Tinaroo Dam! This is how it came together.

A Record Big Day for Australia

    As I arrived to pick up John at the Centre for Rainforest Studies, a private American school at 700m a.s.l. where students can get university credits in ecology, a Lesser Sooty Owl was calling from the rainforest behind. Like a falling bomb, typical of the Tyto genus. It was 0420, and still 40 minutes before dawn, on a balmy late Spring morning in North-east Australia. Unfortunately, that was the only call from that species we were to hear that day, for a majority of the team has to identify the bird, and we didn't join the other two members until 0445 hrs by the township of Atherton. As we drove up to where they were quietly waiting, a Bush
Stone-curlew      flushed from the road in front of us all, and a Willie Wagtail, one of the Australasian fantail flycatchers, sang beside us as we climbed from the car.
                                             
    We listened patiently for a few minutes for the "toc, toc" of the Large-tailed Nightjars which had been calling nearby for several days at this time. "Never mind!," said Glenn and Eric, "They'll call when we get back tonight!". (They didn't). We drove back to the Cathedral Fig (getting a half a Barn Owl on the way - 2 out of 4 of us saw it properly) and began counting in earnest as the day dawned.

    The dawn chorus of rainforest birds come thick and fast. Three Pigeons - White-headed, Brown and Wompoo; four parrots - Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Rainbow Lorikeet, Fig Parrot and King Parrot;  White-throated Tree Creeper, Large-billed and Yellow-throated Scrubwrens, Brown Warbler, five Honeyeaters - McLeay's, Lewin's, Bridled, White-throated and Scarlet; Pale Yellow and Grey-headed Robins, Chowchilla, Eastern Whipbird, two members of the whistler family - Golden Whistler and Little Shrike-thrush; Black-faced and Spectacled Monarchs, Grey Fantail and Spangled Drongo; Cicadabird, Figbird, Victoria's Riflebird, the local bird of paradise, and Spotted Catbird, one of five local bowerbirds.
    And from the forest edge, two tree kingfishers - a Kookaburra and a Forest Kingfisher, a hooting Pheasant Coucal, Red-backed Fairy Wren, Pied Currawong, and Silver-eye. From 2 to 40 in half an hour. A good start. Look! Topknot Pigeons flying over! And a Fan-tailed Cuckoo. "What Fan-tailed Cuckoo?". Incredulous looks from two of the younger members. "Can't you hear it?". We cupped our ears. "Yes!", cried one more of us with relief. Then they ALL looked at me. Alright you guys. You'll be over 50 years old one day.

    Lake Barrine failed to produce a Cassowary, but the Great Crested Grebes were there, and by the grace of God, an Azure Kingfisher sped low over the lake for all to see. Lake Eacham produced a calling Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Barred Cuckoo-shrike, and a very noisy Tooth-billed Bowerbird. Back through Yungaburra and toward Atherton. And didn't the brakes go on as we turned into Mark's Lane! We tumbled out of the car and scoped some Little Whimbrels, Australian Pratincoles
and Pacific Golden Plover. Raptors began their appearance - Black-shouldered, Black and Whistling Kites, Spotted Harrier, Brown Falcon and Nankeen Kestrel. Australasian Pipit and Singing Bushlark joined the rapidly growing score.
                                                            
    "How many now?", from eagle-eyes in the front seat. How do I know? I'm looking for the birds instead of marking them off! But on the run to Nardello's Lagoon for Black Swan and Comb-crested Jacana, (What! The Sea Eagle isn't here! What'll we do now?), the score slowly emerges - 81. Now 84 with the Nardello's species added on and a small flock of Red-tailed Cockatoos plaintively crying their way past. It's 0720 and we're ahead of schedule.
      Chewko Road starts around the corner. "What are we going to see here that we can't see somewhere else?". Is this the start of a mutiny? Better nip it in the bud. "Stop here. At the top of that tree there's a bird." Rebellion gives way to delight as we all recognise a large Great Bowerbird in commanding position above his bower, crying out his love for anything that passes. I know a few birders like that. Then two Pale-headed Rosellas and three of the newly-lumped Artamids (Currawong Family) in a row - White-breasted Woodswallow, Pied Butcherbird, and Australian Magpie. A Blue-winged Kookaburra calls out, Noisy and Little Friarbirds and a Yellow-faced Honeyeater. Blue-faced Honeyeaters fly by to poke their sticky beaks into some body else's business and we all finally get to see a Torresian Crow.
    Into Mareeba for Pacific Baza, Galah, Bar-shouldered Dove, Brush, Little, and Channel-billed Cuckoos, Rainbow Bee-eater, Dollarbird, Striated Pardalote, Fairy Warbler, Brown and Dusky Honeyeaters, White-browed Robin in one of the many new places; Leaden Flycatcher, Magpie Lark and Rufous Fantail; Black-faced and White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike and Varied Triller; Olive-backed Oriole, Double-barred Finch, Yellow-bellied Sunbird and Mistletoe Bird. On the outskirts of Mareeba, Tinaroo Creek Road has long been a birder's destination. Famous for Squatter Pigeon, Red-winged Parrot, Brown Treecreeper and Black-throated Finch. We got them all in the time allotted - just. And on the way out to the main road again, saw both Masked and Banded Lapwings. 137 species so far and it's nearly 0900 hrs. Not bad for the first 4 hours. It's going to be a cracker of a day!
                                                            
    But we're 15 minutes behind schedule so we simply leave Kuranda out and arrive at Mckenzies Pocket on Black Mountain Road on time. Grey Goshawk floating over! A pair! Red-necked Crake calling! What luck! Two flukes in a row. A Shining Bronze Cuckoo calling once. But where are the area's specialities, Noisy Pitta and Northern Fantail? Neither a "walk to work" nor a "toot,toot,toot" anywhere. We move nearly 100 metres from the vehicle, as far as we had been from it so far, and there's the Fantail, typically sallying from a bare twig about 3 metres up. No Pitta though. Maybe they don't go to work on a Sunday. Mckenzies Pocket is one of our local birding hotspots, good for Yellow-spotted, Graceful and Dusky Honeyeaters, and we hear all three.
    Then we zoomed down the hill and onto the lowlands just north of Cairns. Crimson Finch straight away at Vic's Pond. And Chestnut-breasted Munia. Fairy Martins around their nesting culvert. Golden-headed Cisticolas in the longer grass beside the waterhole. Isn't it easy when you don't have to even get out of the car? We all see the Metallic Starlings at their nesting colony as we drive along. The Mangrove Boardwalk by the airport is different though. We have to walk 200 metres AND back! Very fast. Collared Kingfisher, Large-billed Warbler, Shining Flycatcher, and - wait for it - there it is! - Mangrove Robin. All on calls alone.
    The Red Arrow walk to Mt Whitfield is next, for Torresian Pigeon, and Lovely Fairy Wren. The second is neither seen nor heard, the first heard only and then by just three of the four of us. Which is astonishing because there are hundreds flying and feeding and breeding around Cairns. But that's birding for you. Magpie Geese are lounging by the freshwater pond at Centenary Lakes, and a Striated Heron in the saltwater pond. The Little Kingfisher is not evident here today, but the Brown-backed Honeyeaters, Yellow Orioles, and Black Butcherbirds are. It's midday, the score is 160, and the tension is still with us.
                                        
    Now the big one. The world-famous Cairns Esplanade, possibly the best shorebird-watching in the world. The tide is going out; we're perhaps an hour from the optimum time when we would have been able to see them all less than 40 metres away. But you can't complain because within 20 minutes we have four Egret/Herons and a Rufous Night one roosting in a tree; an Australian White Ibis and a Royal Spoonbill, an Osprey, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits, Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew, Common Greenshank, Terek Sandpiper, Grey-tailed Tattler, Great Knot, and Red-necked Stint. Sharp-tailed, Curlew, and Broad-billed Sandpipers, Black-winged Stilt, and several Plovers - Pacific Golden, Large Sand, Mongolian, and Red-capped. The only Gulls we have up here are Silver; they were
with the Caspian, Gull-billed, Greater Crested and Little Terns. Peaceful Doves, Helmeted Friarbirds, Varied and Yellow Honeyeaters, are some of the new land birds to the list.
    Forty new species in 20 mins at this stage of a bird race is remarkable and reflects the bird food-factory value of the estuarine mud that Cairns sits beside.

    The next bird will be number 200. At the southern sewage treatment plant, we peer through the fence. There it is! Pied Heron! Wow! What a neat little bird. And an unexpected Rajah Shelduck. There's only one about and it's come back here especially for today. We really are having a lucky day. Thompson Road is the next stop. Still no Lovely Fairy Wren and no chance in the time allotted to go further in for another chance at the Little Kingfisher. But there is a much-needed Bar-shouldered Dove beside the road on the way around to the first turf farm. Nothing there either. (Two days later I was to photograph a Pectoral Sandpiper at the other end of this farm! If we'd driven a few hundred yards further ---??). Around again, to the second turf farm (which is no longer there); the Yellow Wagtails aren't in yet - keep going.

    Now, the Cairns Crocodile Farm. Extraordinarily good habitat for Crakes and Rails. And there they are, wandering around in the middle of the day as usual, the little darlings. White-browed and Buff-banded. It's a big place, so we put on the pace to walk around it. This is not like us! This walk must be nearly a mile! But we're Little Kingfisher-less and this is the last chance for it. We all stop to scope some now-forgotten object through a gap in the trees. But there's the Little Kingfisher! Sitting very quietly right in front of us! It was so close we nearly missed it. Exalted, we walked quickly to the car and sped up the Gillies Highway toward the Southern Tablelands again. Near the bottom of the long climb from sea level to 700 metres a.s.l. we stopped briefly for a Rufous Whistler, then further up for a Spotted Pardalote and the last chance for the Noisy Pitta. Nope. Simply not noisy today. At the top, we stop a little longer. Time is still on our side. Can we hang about in this patch of rainforest long enough to hear a White-eared Monarch? Ten minutes goes by. Yes! That's its call! And off we go again.
    We've driven in a large circle around Lake Tinaroo and confident now of a big score, we tried Lake Barrine again for the elusive Cassowary. Well, we tried. He must be having his afternoon nap. On, to the penninsula of Tinaburra Waters. Waterfowl galore. This is where we came up to seven of the eight duck species in the area by adding Plumed and Wandering Whistling Duck, Australian Wood Duck, Cotton Pygmy Goose and Pink-eared Duck. An up-to-now elusive White-bellied Eagle soared over the lake as we turned to leave.
                                                           
    A private farm near Malanda, mostly used for cattle breeding and fattening, has two or three large ponds on it and patches of adjacent swamp. The owner is a bird-watcher. We politely asked if we could come in for a 'casual' look. After a moment’s hesitation, the caretaker agreed. We sighed with relief. It's a bonny place. One of us heard a Little Grassbird, about the northern extremity of their range, two-only made a call for Pallid Cuckoo, and three of us saw a Clamorous Reed Warbler. We all saw the lovely Red-kneed and Black-fronted Dotterels, Wood and Marsh Sandpipers, and Latham's Snipe. Spotless Crake "purred" in response to man-made noises and a Baillon's Crake flew quickly into a clump of grass for the same reason. Great Cormorant filled out the local tally of three cormorants and one lone Green Pygmy Goose helped us clean up on all of the local ducks. Two Glossy Ibis were a bonus.
    We were now sitting on 222,John Grant's Australian record. He was so happy to be with us to help break it. And what with? A Brolga, scoped in the distance of Bromfield Swamp. We already had Sarus Crane, and were well pleased for the Sarus are displacing the Brolga from the Atherton Tablelands. At Mt. Hypipamee, the Crater, we added Satin Flycatcher last year but this year must have been a little early. In fact we added nothing at all, not even a Satin Bowerbird called. Still higher we drove, up to nearly 1000 metres a.s.l. on the main road to Ravenshoe. Just before we entered the rain forest again a Wedge-tailed Eagle was seen soaring high above the road.
                                                            
    At the Longlands Gap State Forest sign we turned off the road and parked; and walked ANOTHER 300 metres! To the most famous of the Golden Bower Bird bowers. Will the owner be home? We waited impatiently. Not a sign, not a peep. Four days later, I was there again and the beautifully golden owner perched nearly above us - very photogenic. But he wasn't there on the day and wasn't counted. Nearly all the higher altitude endemics that we hadn't seen were there though. Fernwren, Mountain Thornbill, and Bower's Shrikethrush. Another brief stop at a likely place finally produced a female-plumaged Satin Bowerbird.
    North-east Queensland tropical rainforests give way to a band of wet schlerophyll, mainly Eucalyptus- Casuarina forest, at these higher altitudes. Here, along Kaban Rd and The Bluff State Forest to the west of Longlands Gap, we picked up Koel, Sacred Kingfisher, Buff-rumped and Yellow Thornbills, Noisy Miner; Fuscous, White-naped, White-cheeked, and Banded Honeyeaters; Jacky Winter, Grey Shrike-thrush, Grey Butcherbird, Red-browed Finch, and just on dusk, a White-throated Nightjar sailing above us on long pointed wings. Shortly afterwards a Savanna Owlet-nightjar called, bringing our total to well over 240.

    Nightbird time. We already have two or three. Back in the rainforest we listened for Rufous Owl. Two claimed a distant `hoo', but two refused to acknowledge any bird sound at all. We went back to Atherton to listen again for the nightjar that wouldn't call this morning. It still wouldn't. But a Barking Owl barked - just the once - and a Barn Owl was spotted at the nest. Time for a meal and a tally-up. 245. Really! Yes, really. Well then, lets try for 250! We drove several miles across the Atherton Tablelands and began a long search with a spotlight. There! Back up a little! Tawny Frogmouth! We ended up at John's place, tiring quickly. Three or four Southern Boobooks called; number 247. The Lesser Sooty should call any moment. Or the Large-tailed Nightjar. We waited, had another coffee, and strained our ears. Nothing. Midnight came and that was that.

    But some of the exuberance stayed with me as I left the others for the one and a half hour drive home down that horribly long hill back to Cairns. A new Australian Big Day record, and now Australia is up in the top six countries in the world, in front of South Africa by one but behind Panama by seven.
    This bird racing can be exhilarating when you have extra luck and a good tail wind! But, can we do better? Can you do better? Look out Panama!

Cairns Esplanade mudflats:

A copy of a letter to Birding Aus on 5th July 1997 about the threat against, and possible action to
ensure retention of, part of this important estuarine habitat.

    Cairns BOCA, almost on its own and lacking significant support from either RAOU and AWSG, has been active for nearly two years in trying to have these mudflats from being destroyed. We have a multi-pronged campaign plan, consisting of peruasion and education of local people, tourists, Cairns City Council, Cairns Port Authority and Queensland State Government; funding of an educational structure; and occasional direct attack on the Mayor and City Council.
    Probably half of any western civilation population doesn't care about the environment and the people of Cairns are no exception. They dislike estuarine mud and don't care if half of us like it or not. The majority of people aspiring to councils are of this persuasion. In Cairns, for most of this century, nearly all City Councils have tried to fill the mudflats in. And they are slowly succeeding. But at least two grandiose plans to get rid of the entire flats by fill or flood, backed by the council of the day, have been thwarted by the local people. A strong local conservation group wants the mangroves to be allowed to grow back again right along the front. It can be seen that the public opinion situation is a little complicated, but we worry away at other points of view and hope we can wear them down to
agreeing with us.
    Because these flats are "owned" by the Cairns Port Authority (State legislation), and have been weeded of mangroves every year for over 100 years, they cannot be protected by any normal conservation measures. One of our plans is to have them declared a Ramsar site on two grounds. One
is as a public education facility; the other, which we pushed very hard, was on the basis of over 1000 Whimbrels overwintering here. Unfortunately, everyone else across the State has their own agenda for
Ramsar sites. Our case never even got past the State Government departments in Brisbane to the Ramsar coference there last year. And until our proposal has hefty outside-the-State support from the RAOU and the AWSG it will remain in the pigeonhole behind the Moreton Bay and Gulf of Carpentaria
proposals.
    Successive Queensland Governments, including the past Labour one, are powerfully lobbied by Cairns Port Authority and City Council to be allowed to "develop" these mudflats and by law, the Port Authority can do what it likes to them. We have tried to counter this influence by our own lobbying.
The latest is this. The local federal member for Leichardt, Warren Ench, has written to the Federal Minister of the Environment, who has in turn written to the Queensland Minister of the Environment, Brian Littleproud, emphasising the importance of the mudflats, and asking him to consider Ramsar listing.
    So we are working from the top as well as the bottom, where we continually ask tourists to write to the Mayor and the local paper. We regard the paper to hold a position to the right of Gengis Khan, but they do often publish these letters; one appeard today. The Mayor and his Council are well aware of the situation. Shortly after their attaining office, we invited the Mayor and the councillor from the
Esplanade area, to front up to three TV news crews and the local paper, on the Esplanade, to have explained to them and all news watchers and readers, the importance of the high mud along the Esplanade wall.
    The publicity was excellent. The elected officials listened to our well-put case attentively. The Mayor then acknowledged the importance of the mudflats for wildlife and as a wildlife-watching area. He said that it was ideal for marrying the rainforest and the reef together.
"But if the Council wants to fill it in for street widening, you'll be the first to know".
    Since then, he has announced that the Council wants a 30-40 metre strip right along the wall, and most of the S.E. corner. For street widening and more parkland for tourists, and a swimming pool and artificial beach for the locals. We are hoping he will be voted out next election, but it might be too late.
    In conclusion we ask, that if you write, write to the RAOU and AWSG in particular, and to BOCA and QOS, to put pressure from on high to the Queensland State Government. We locals can handle local pressure points but we need extra pressure from the Brisbane area and from national bodies,
based further south. From listing as a Ramsar site (not enough in itself to save it), we hope to have the State Government conserve the "Esplanade mud" with special legislation.  The State Government is the key.
    As one international birder was told by a annoyed city councillor,
"These mudflats would have been filled long ago, if it wasn't for you bird watchers."

Andy Anderson
Cairns.
 
 
 

The current position (2002) is this:

    The Queensland State Government, run by the right wing National Party, agreed to give the Cairns City Council the first A$7 million, of a total of A$23 million to begin the filling over of the Trinity Bay estuary beside the Esplanade. The plan, which has had considerable local input, is to fill in the south-west corner to start with and then to put a swimming pool and sound shell on it. This second stage is being completd right now with a further A$9 from the next Queensland Government, this time run by the supposedly left wing Labour Party.
    On the face of it, both major parties in Queensland don't seem to give a damn about conserving the natural environment and this is re-enforced by the State policy on clearing woodlands at the rate of over 4000 square km each year. Only at half the rate of Brazil but Queensland is only one fifth the size and most of the state hasn't any woodlands; it's a very serious attack on our environment.
    The degree of Cairns Esplanade enroachment on the exposed mudflats is similar but on a much smaller scale and fortunately with minimal imact on wildlife, thanks to a couple of local birders who just happened to be in on the planning stages and were able to influence the planners even though the politicians haven't changed their views.
    So now we have some more of the mudflat filled in, the least productive corner by far. We think it is OK. The next step will be to protect that with a substantial new seawall stretching diagonally across the south east corner, but allowing the tide to ebb and flow through it. This will be topped with a walkway to soften the visual impact of all those big rocks and so we can all walk across and be closer to the birds. The reaction of the birds will be very interesting.
    In conjunction with this seawall, another row of rocks is to be put along the outside of the existing concrete wall bordering the Esplanade, for re-enforcement, and a walkway to be put on top of that, again to hide the rocks. Two small wildlife observation and interpretation buildings will be placed along the new walkway. Again, the birds may react warily and not come in quite so close.
    We think that the final 'development' will be quite a good compromise between the two opinions and with the large amount of money needed to add all this protective superstucture along the sea-side will mean that the State Government will not readily destroy it to fill in more mudflats in the future.
    We hope that all this will give the high mud beside the Cairns Esplanade some of the protection we have been seeking for it and that this estuarine destruction will be the last.