The advent of the third decade of the twenty first century has delivered
overlapping health and climate crises. These have impacted on our birding and
travel activities.
Covid restrictions have ruled out overseas travel, and interstate ventures are
uncertain. The repeated experience of trips cancelled at the last moment means
that travel planning has become a bit more of a last minute affair.
Recently, Lee and I bit the bullet and had a two week holiday in far north
Queensland - a region hard hit by the loss of tourism and a nice place to be
this time of year. By good fortune, we managed to get a good hire car deal -
picking up Subaru Forester in Cairns and dropping it off at the Brisbane
Airport for less than $1200 for 15 days.
When we are planning our itinerary and booking accomodation, some of the places
we wanted to book - e.g. Cassowary House in Kuranda and Red Mill House in
Daintree were booked out. When we flew to Cairns, NSW and Victoria were firmly
in lockdown and SEQ was coming out of restrictions. At some of the places we
stayed, we were the only guests there, and indeed, the only guests in a while.
There were tales of mass cancellations. The caravan parks and the like
favoured by grey nomads were doing alright (lots of refugees sitting out the
pandemic in a pleasant environment), while the niche out of the way places
suffered more. There was a vacancy sign out the front of Red Mill House.
One of the things that stood out on this trip was the frequency with which we
saw and heard Bush Thickknees. They seemed to be everywhere in FNQ, from the
centre of Yungaburra (which they shared with fig parrots), to our accommodation
in Wonga and the caravan park at Mission Beach.
Our stay at Kingfisher Park (Julatten) was enjoyable as always. The house
platypus put on a good display and the Papuan Frogmouths were hanging out in
the bamboo patch as usual. The road up Mt Lewis was in very good condition,
the Ho Chi Min Track was clear and we had nice views of a Pied Monarch at the
dam. There were plenty of Chowchillas about (including a family of five) and
we had nice views of a Cassowary and his (second stage) chick near the carpark.
We saw another cassowary near the mangrove boardwalk near Cape Tribulation.
We quite enjoyed Murray Hunt’s early morning bird cruise on the Daintree River.
We had nice views of Little and Azure Kingfishers, as well as a Great-billed
Heron (the motivation behind many birders patronage of the service). It was
also nice to watch sunbirds flying to a nest hanging over the next table while
we enjoyed coffee and smashed avocado after the trip.
Finally we enjoyed nice views of the Golden Bowerbird at Mt Hypipamee - he was
using moss to decorate his bower.
The trip out to Agincourt was far less enjoyable. Virtually all the hard coral
there was dead, and finning about the devastated environment created a deep
sense of solastalgia. A dead reef, like a burnt rainforest, is another in your
face manifestation of climate change. While I would pick a different reef to
visit next time, it was important to witness the impact of humanity’s actions
on the biophysical environment.
Another sad observation was the complete absence of Ulysses Butterflies.
Other than that, it was nice getting away from the cross-border Covid
incursions (we’ve learnt that a stitch in time saves ninety nine). But for the
pressures of work, I would happily spend more time up there.
If you are free of travel restrictions and feel like hitting the road, the
birds of FNQ are calling.
Regards, Laurie
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