Hi Greg,
Good trip report for Mission Beach and Cairns areas.
White-gaped Honeyeater in Cairns must be a typo as the nearest
white-gape population is north of Mt. Carbine on the Peninsula
Development Road (Mt. Mulligan Highway) at the McLeod River (on the way
to Cooktown/Cape York).
Cheers,
Keith & Lindsay.
Keith & Lindsay Fisher
Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge
RN 6 Mt. Kooyong Road
Julatten QLD 4871
Ph : (07) 4094 1263
Fax : (07) 4094 1466
Web Site: www.birdwatchers.com.au
Blog: http://kingfisherparkbirdwatchers.blogspot.com/
Greg Oakley wrote:
Hi all,
Just returned from a pleasant family holiday for 9 days at Wongaling
Beach Qld (a small area between North and South Mission Beach). In all
my years of finding destinations that juggle birding and family, this
would have to be the best so far! The weather here in winter is
spectacular – between 25º and 29º + sunny every day. The beaches are
excellent and remarkably quiet - I have 2 young kids who spent most of
the time on the beach. There is a wide range of accommodation and there
are plenty of restaurants in the area. The thing I liked about Mission
Beach was that it is very quiet and thus lacks the big over-tourist feel
of Port Douglas and Cairns. And the birding is surprisingly good, with
many excellent sites very close to your accommodation.
Cassowary was one of my main targets, having eluded me on many prior
trips up to FNQ. This would have to be the best area to see them -
although you do need an element of luck & plenty of time walking around
their main haunts. I managed to see 2 separate birds (one was a male
with a young stripy chick) at Lacey Creek and Tam O'Shanter N.P. I also
tried Clump Mountain NP and Licuala State Forest. Early morning or late
afternoon are the best times.
The walking track between El Arish/Mission Beach Road and Licuala SF
(Tam O'Shanter N.P) is an excellent birding area. The rainforest here is
in good shape, and being not one of the main tourist tracks it is nice
and quiet.
Along this strip I managed to get on to some really good birds –
Cassowary, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Chowchilla, Victoria’s Riflebird,
Spotted Catbird, Brown Cuckoo-dove, Wompoo Fruit-dove, Superb
Fruit-dove, Rose-crowned Fruit-dove, Yellow-spotted, Graceful,
Macleay’s, and Dusky Honeyeater, Grey Whistler, Rainbow Pitta, Emerald
Dove, Little Shrike-thrush, Pale-yellow Robin and Barred Cuckoo-shrike
among the best.
I also checked out many unmarked rainforest tracts and some more open
forest/tall rank grass etc. I lucked on a Bush-hen which flushed from a
swampy/rank grass area near Wongaling Beach. It ran several metres
straight past me, allowing good enough views to tick!
Below is a trip list (around 121):
Southern Cassowary (2 separate sightings – Lacey Creek and Tam O'Shanter
N.P) Orange-footed Scrubfowl (common in rainforest) Grey Teal (near
Tully) Pacific Black Duck Rock Dove - I (Cairns) Spotted Turtle-dove - I
(Mission Beach) Brown Cuckoo-Dove (several - Tam O'Shanter N.P) Emerald
Dove (several - Tam O'Shanter N.P)
Peaceful Dove (common everywhere – classic café bird under tables on
Cairns Esplanade) Bar-shouldered Dove (Mission Beach) Wompoo Fruit-Dove
(several Mission Beach area) Superb Fruit-Dove (several - Tam O'Shanter
N.P) Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove (several - Tam O'Shanter N.P) Pied
Imperial-Pigeon (couple of small flocks around Mission Beach) Australian
Swiftlet (common over forested areas) Brown Booby (single bird, pelagic
waters out from Dunk Island) Little Pied Cormorant Little Black
Cormorant Pied Cormorant Australian Pelican White-necked Heron (Mission
Beach) Eastern Great Egret (Cairns Esp) Intermediate Egret (Cairns Esp)
Cattle Egret (literally hundreds in recently cultivated cane fields from
Tully to Innisfail) Striated Heron (Cairns Esp) White-faced Heron
(Mission Beach) Little Egret (Cairns Esp) Eastern Reef Egret (Cairns
Esp) Nankeen Night-Heron (Cairns Botanical Gardens) Glossy Ibis (Mission
Beach) Australian White Ibis Straw-necked Ibis Royal Spoonbill (Cairns
Esp) Whistling Kite Brahminy Kite (Common Mission Beach) Black Kite
Brown Goshawk Nankeen Kestrel Brown Falcon Australian Hobby Bush-hen
(single bird flushed, ran from tall cane grass near Wongaling Beach)
Bush Stone-curlew (common around Mission Beach) Beach Stone-curlew
(resident bird at Wongaling Beach) Red-capped Plover Red-kneed Dotterel
Masked Lapwing Whimbrel (Cairns Esp) Eastern Curlew Gull-billed Tern
(Cairns Esp) Lesser Crested Tern (2 loafing on rocks at Clump Pt boat
ramp) Crested Tern Laughing Gull - R (Cairns Esp) Silver Gull Galah
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Rainbow Lorikeet Double-eyed Fig-Parrot (Cairns
Bot Gardens) Little Bronze-Cuckoo (1 calling, Tam O'Shanter N.P)
Fan-tailed Cuckoo (1 calling, Lacey Creek) Laughing Kookaburra
Blue-winged Kookaburra (1 near Tully) Forest Kingfisher (common on
telegraph wires, Mission Beach) Sacred Kingfisher (Mission Beach)
Collared Kingfisher (Cairns Esp) Rainbow Bee-eater Noisy Pitta (common
in rainforest habitats) Spotted Catbird (several, Tam O'Shanter N.P)
Satin Bowerbird (single female, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Large-billed
Scrubwren (Tam O'Shanter N.P)
Brown Gerygone (only a couple in Tam O'Shanter N.P) Large-billed
Gerygone (Tam O'Shanter N.P, Cairns Bot gardens) Fairy Gerygone (Lacey
Creek, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Yellow-spotted Honeyeater (common most
rainforest habitat) Graceful Honeyeater (single bird, near Wongaling
Beach) Varied Honeyeater (Cairns Esp) White-gaped Honeyeater (Cairns)
Yellow Honeyeater (El Arish) Dusky Honeyeater (Tam O'Shanter N.P)
Scarlet Honeyeater (single bird, near Wongaling Beach) Brown Honeyeater
Blue-faced Honeyeater Helmeted Friarbird (common around Mission Beach)
Little Friarbird Macleay's Honeyeater (several rainforest sites around
Mission Beach) Eastern Whipbird Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike Barred
Cuckoo-shrike (small flock of 6-10, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Varied Triller
Grey Whistler (several, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Little Shrike-thrush (Tam
O'Shanter N.P) Bower's Shrike-thrush (rainforest near Wongaling Beach)
Grey Shrike-thrush Australasian Figbird Yellow Oriole White-breasted
Woodswallow Black Butcherbird (several around Wongaling Beach)
Australian Magpie Pied Currawong Rufous Fantail Grey Fantail Willie
Wagtail Leaden Flycatcher Shining Flycatcher (Cairns Bot gardens in
mangroves) Spectacled Monarch (common around Mission Beach rainforest
areas) Magpie-lark Yellow-breasted Boatbill (several, Tam O'Shanter N.P)
Victoria's Riflebird (single female, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Lemon-bellied
Flycatcher (cleared areas near rainforest sites) Pale-yellow Robin
(beginning of track, Tam O'Shanter N.P) Mangrove Robin (Cairns Esp)
Australian Reed-Warbler Welcome Swallow Fairy Martin Metallic Starling
(only a couple, Cairns Bot Gardens) Common Starling - I Common Myna - I
Mistletoebird Olive-backed Sunbird Red-browed Finch Nutmeg Mannikin - I
House Sparrow - I
Keith & Lindsay Fisher
Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge
RN 6 Mt. Kooyong Road
Julatten QLD 4871
Ph : (07) 4094 1263
Fax : (07) 4094 1466
Web Site: www.birdwatchers.com.au
Blog: http://kingfisherparkbirdwatchers.blogspot.com/
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