Trip Report: Cairns, Julatten, Mossman River, Georgetown, and Karumba
on the Gulf of Carpentaria, Mid-September 2004 (Part 1.1)
(Please note in order to get this report into the B-Aus I have broken
Part 1 into two seperate parts, Part 1.1 and Part 1.2).
Hi All,
I've just spent a couple of weeks birding with Greg Oakley in Far-North
Queensland around Cairns, Julatten, Mount Lewis and the Mossman River.
We then headed west to Georgetown and Karumba on the Gulf of
Carpentaria. The following trip report is essentially a summation of
the main areas we visited during mid-September. I have also included a
selected annotated bird list at the end of this report for future
reference, including local information status and subspecies
differentiation.
Basically we treated the trip as a bit of a Twitchathon, which meant
that we birded continually from dawn to dusk (and beyond), which was
incredibly rewarding but also extremely tiring. Overall we travelled
2500 kilometres and saw an impressive 261 bird species. I hope you
enjoy the read.
1. Cairns
As our plane touched down at Cairns Airport our first bird for the trip
(from the plane window) was a White-breasted Woodswallow, a good bird
for Victorians but perhaps the most conspicuous bird around Cairns.
>From the airport we picked up our hire car and headed straight to the
Cairns Esplanade, seeing Graceful Honeyeater and Spangled Drongo along
the way. The mudflat along the Cairns Esplanade was teeming with waders
including Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Curlew
Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Pied Oystercatcher, Striated Heron, Red-
necked Stint, Pacific Golden Plover, and Bar-tailed Godwit. There were
also several Eastern Reef Egret, good numbers of Gull-billed Tern,
Crested Tern and the odd Caspian Tern. Also seen here were Brown and
Lewin's Honeyeater as well as Varied Honeyeater calling from flowering
Frangipani along the boardwalk, Helmeted Friarbird, Pied Imperial-
Pigeon and Nutmeg Mannikin.
We visited the Esplanade both at the beginning and the end of our trip.
On our second visit to the Esplanade we concentrated our birding around
the mangroves to the north of the Esplanade. We were able to whistle in
a pair of Mangrove Robin, and Collared Kingfisher hunted on the mudflat
near the mangroves. And just for good measure an Osprey flew south down
the boardwalk.
I had received a report of a pair of Papuan Frogmouth at Centenary
Lakes, so we headed to the south side of the lake. As we parked beside
the lake we heard honeyeaters calling from bottlebrush across the road
in the gardens of James Cook University. Theses were literally jam-
packed with honeyeater, including Brown-backed, Dusky, Yellow and
Graceful Honeyeater, and Yellow-spotted and White-throated were seen
nearby. Not a bad way to start our passerine list! Not surprisingly,
as a general rule we found that wherever there was flowering
bottlebrush (or Grevillia) it was worth stopping because they were
usually stocked full of honeyeater.
With little trouble we found the reported Papuan Frogmouth on the
rainforest boardwalk (go to the third crick in the boardwalk when
entering from the south, look right and up) and nearby we also got
onto several fast flying Double-eyed (Macleay's) Fig-Parrot and White-
rumped Swiftlet, both of which were seen with regularity throughout our
trip. A Black Butcherbird was calling loudly in Flecker Botanic Gardens
and Metallic Starling was seen in a suburban street nearby. From Cairns
we headed North to Kingfisher Park at Julatten.
2. Julatten and Kingfisher Park
We arrived at Kingfisher Park just before dusk, and the first bird we
saw was Pale-yellow Robin. I had searched long and hard for the
southern race of the Pale-yellow Robin capito in North-Central NSW
earlier in the year, and yet here was the northern race nana flittering
around our campsite. During the night we heard Barking and Barn Owl,
and Bush Stone-curlew hollered in the distance. In the morning we awoke
to a dawn chorus full of intriguing calls for Victorians. We heard the
call of a Grey Whistler, which we tracked down to the entrance drive,
Little Shrike-thrush were the common shrike-thrush, Macleay's, Yellow-
spotted, Graceful and Dusky Honeyeater where plentiful, particularly in
a flowering Grevillia next to our campsite, and Metallic Starling moved
in unison like the Peloton of the Tour de France. Other birds at
Kingfisher Park included Gould=92s Bronze-cuckoo, Emerald Dove, Brown
Cuckoo-Dove, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Brush-turkey and Orange-footed
Scrubfowl (surely Australia silliest bird with a head far too small for
its body), which bustled their way around the Park, White-bellied
Cuckoo-shrike, Spectacled Monarch, Fairy Gerygone, a Noisy Pitta
patrolled its territory next to the main drive, a Red-necked Crake was
seen on dusk at the small dam near the orchard, and a pair of Pacific
Baza were seen roosting in the gum trees in the northern corner of
Park.
>From our base at Kingfisher Park we then headed to the Mossman River to
do Peter Cooper's birding boat trip.
3. Mossman River
We were particularly looking forward to this trip. From all reports it
had become one of the best birding boat trips in Australia, and it
certainly lived up to all expectations!
The short river cruise travels up the Mossman for several kilometres,
passing through a number of different environments: beaches and coastal
estuary, mangroves and reed beds, and finally coastal rainforest and
mangrove thickets. Our first bird was an Osprey that circled the boat,
Common Sandpiper (or Uncommon Sandpiper as it is known in Victoria)
teetered on the banks of the river, and Large-billed Gerygone and
Varied Triller called from the mangroves. We managed to get onto a few
Mangrove Robin and Shining Flycatcher, both responding well to pishing,
and we saw five species of kingfisher: Forest Kingfisher (seen earlier
near the car park), Sacred, Azure, Collared and superb views of a
Little Kingfisher in reeds half way up the river. In an area intermixed
with rainforest and mangroves the icing on the cake was a Great-billed
Heron, which took flight and landed like a tetradactyl on a branch over-
hanging the river. On the way back a pair a Grey-tailed Tattler sat
quietly on a log, while a large flock of a Greater Sand Plover
nervously circled the beach looking for somewhere to land.
>From Mossman we drove to the small township of Daintree. Alan Gillanders
had given me information on a Lovely Fairy-wren site behind the water
tower near the centre of town. We eventually found a smallgroup of
birds, approximately100 meters up the track that leads north, with
several males giving us excellent views of their lovely fairy-wren
plumage.
4. Mount Lewis State Forest
Although it was the wrong time of year to see Blue-faced Parrot-finch
at Mount Lewis (they tend to turn up around early November), it is an
excellent place to see many of the local endemics. We visited the
mountain several times concentrating on the well documented clearing 10
kilometres up the track. At this clearing there was Grey-headed Robin,
Mountain Thornbill, Atherton Scrubwren and Bridled Honeyeater. From the
clearing we hiked up the track which lead southwest. Along the way we
saw Golden Bowerbird, Tooth-billed Bowerbird, Spotted Catbird,
Victoria's Riflebird, Chowchilla, which like Logrunner bustles loudly
in the undergrowth, Fernwren, Yellow-throated Scrubwren, Grey and
Golden Whistler, Bower=92s Shrike-thrush, Bridled Honeyeater, Spectacled
Monarch, Rufous and Grey Fantail, Pied Imperial and Topknot Pigeon and
Brown Cuckoo-Dove.
5. Other birding sites within a stone's throw of Kingfisher Park
While staying at Kingfisher Park we visited a number of good bird spots
in the area including Abattoir Swamp, Mount Molloy, Mount Carbine, Big
Mitchell Creek, and Lake Mitchell. Further a field we also visited
Emerald Creek Falls and the Curtain Fig Tree. All these areas proved
excellent birding sites with each containing a few additional target
birds for our trip.
i. At Abattoir Swamp we got onto a single White-browed Crake on the
waters edge near a clump of small gum (10 metres) as you look north
through the hide.
ii. In bush at the end of Wessels Road (between Abattoir Swamp and Mt
Malloy) we saw Northern Fantail and flushed a pair of Large-tailed
Nightjar, with their distinctive white tail feathers and looking like a
pair of large black butterflies. In many ways the nightjar were the
birds of our trip, being unexpected (especially during the day) and
entirely delightful. Scarlet Honeyeater was also common here.
iii. At Mount Molloy we had excellent views of a pair of nesting
Square-tailed Kite, distinguished with their beautiful white face,
immediately to the east of the two sports fields.
iv. There had been recent reports of Painted Snipe at the dam near Mt
Carbine. We did not see the Painted Snipe but we did see half a dozen
Latham's Snipe, large numbers of Plumed Whistling-Duck, Great-crested
Grebe (uncommon in this part of Queensland), Australian Pratincole,
Red-kneed Dotterel, Greenshank and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.
At Mt Carbine we also nearly rolled the four-wheel drive down the wall
of the dam; any further and we would have been in the drink! After the
appropriate curses, Greg and I walked to the pub, had several middies
with Jonesy, a local hero who was renowned for pulling people's cars
out during the wet, before we headed back to our car and he pulled us
out. Nice bloke, although most of the time he complained about birders
peering into the backyards of the locals, and he was particularly upset
about all the people who came to see "some bloody warbler" (referring to
last year's Isaballine Wheatear). "They even bloody flew in from
overseas!" he said.
v. At Big Mitchell Creek we searched several times for White-browed
Robin. On our first visit we walked a kilometre or so up-stream with no
success. On our second visit, we pulled into the car park, dropped
immediately into the dry creek bed, pished several times and out popped
the bird. Lemon-bellied Flycatcher was also fairly common at this site.
We also saw a pair of distant friarbird, which took flight before we
had a chance to get a good look. Based on very brief views, by colour,
size and facial features, we speculated Silver-crowned Friarbird,
although this bird needs verification this far south, being more common
around Cooktown. So if anybody has had recent sightings of SCF at this
location please let me know?
vi. Mitchell Swamp (if that's the right name), which is just north of
Big Mitchell Creek, is a tremendous wetland area, looking distinctively
like the Camargue with horses feeding in amongst the lilies. The swamp
was literally covered with thousands of waterbirds, including
Comb-crested Jacana, Wandering Whistling-Duck, Magpie Geese, Green
Pygmy-Goose and it was the only site we saw Cotton Pygmy-Goose.
vii. Emerald Creek Falls Picnic area. We were unable to locate the
Rufous Owl that Peter Waanders had recently reported; however there was
several Squatter Pigeon and Scarlet Honeyeater were calling on mass.
viii. The Curtain Fig Tree was the only place we saw Yellow-breasted
Boatbill where they proved to be quite common in the under storey of
the upper canopy. We also had good views of Pied Monarch and Gould=92s
Bronze-Cuckoo.
ix. On the second last day of the trip we visited the Cairns
Crocodile Farm, which despite being fulling staffed was closed. My
guess is that someone has been eaten? With some irony we did not visit
the farm to see White-browed Crake (which we had seen at Abattoir
Swamp) but to add Crimson Finch to our trip list. Despite the farm
being closed we did investigate the mangrove areas around the farm i.e.
those areas in front of the farm. This area proved to be a good birding
spot, particularly for Shining Flycatcher, which responds well to
pishing. We also managed to get onto Crimson Finch (and Chestnut-
breasted Mannikin) in cane fields along nearby Thomson's Road.
Cont. in Part 1.2
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