Hi all,
As part of regular surveys to Redden Island (16 51 32S 145 45 27E) I visited
it today with Fred Van
Gessel and Brian Chaffey. Redden Island is situated at Machans Beach, just
north of Cairns Airport
adjacent to Barron River and is accessed via a road bridge over Redden Creek.
The Cairns Port
Authority own 68ha which is nearly all the island, and have fenced and cleaned
out truck loads of
rubbish from it. There are walking tracks and no access restrictions.
The habitat is diverse with at least 12 habitat types in this small area -
woodland, rainforest
riverine and mangroves are a few. Surveys had turned up 132 species over 4
years. The visit today
turned up 3 new species - Azure Kingfisher, Great Bowerbird - which was a great
surprise as I know
of no other records in Cairns (correct me if I'm wrong), they are usually found
up on the Atherton
Tablelands in the drier country north of Mareeba. The other bird was a
Torresian Crow again an
unusual bird for Cairns. We also saw a Buff-banded Paradise Kingfisher in the
mangroves, unusual
habitat and a least 20 Dollarbirds, again unusual to see such numbers on the
coast here. Other
interesting sightings seen here previously include Great-billed Heron, Ruff,
Double-banded Plover,
Red-winged Parrot and Little Kingfisher. Its also a reliable spot for Collared
Kingfisher and
Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove. A visit to Cairns should include this area as it is
close to the city,
15min and has a very diverse habitat in a small area. If anyone wants the full
species list (135) I
can email it out as a word attachment.
Cheers
Keith Fisher
PO Box 2209, Cairns QLD 4870
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