I woke up at about 6:30 and immediately heard the dawn chorus. I got out to see several fuscous honeyeaters and lifer brown-backed honeyeaters singing. I could hear the noise of a bird being mobbed so I looked and saw several apostlebirds calling at a lifer Pacific baza. The apostlebirds flew off before I could photograph them but the sparrowhawk remained in place for about half an hour before Kevin, our guide again for the early morning walk, arrived in his safari jeep to take us through the park.
The Pacific baza sits in a tree, watching the ground below him
This brown-backed honeyeater was calling for about an hour
From there Kevin took us to a small farm with a garden filled with flowering plants, as well as a feeder. Kevin told us it would be a hotspot for birds and he was correct. A large eucalypt overlooking the feeder held silver-crowned friarbirds, helmeted friarbirds and red-winged parrots, as well as a single lifer Gould's bronze-cuckoo. In some bamboo a lifer yellow honeyeater was hiding. A spangled drongo perched on a wire, hawking insects. A flowering shrub was being used as cover by double-barred finches and chestnut-breasted mannikins, who were also visiting the feeder along with many of the aforementioned species. Peaceful doves and bar-shouldered doves were walking on the lawn. Finally, a brown honeyeater was drinking nectar from some flowers. All in all it was a great site that we would never have found without Kevin's help.
The yellow honeyeater, a specialty of Queensland's woodlands
Red-shouldered parrots, common but amazing birds
Gould's bronze-cuckoo was once considered a subspecies of the little bronze-cuckoo
Similarly the horn-billed friarbird was once a subspecies of the helmeted friarbird
Spangled drongos are known for bullying smaller birds
As we drove on we saw many eastern grey kangaroos and agile wallabies, watching our jeep with curiosity. Some bounded off, some stood and watched us as we passed.
An eastern grey kangaroo reaches out for some grass
An agile wallaby stares at our jeep, checking us out
We continued onwards into a patch of woodlands. Here we saw both species of kookaburra together: laughing kookaburra and my lifer blue-winged kookaburra. Kevin explained that the species didn't get along well, as kookaburras were highly territorial and would kill any kookaburra that flew into their territory and wasn't from their family group.
This blue-winged kookaburra would viciously murder any others in sight
Eventually we had to head back to our tent. We quickly packed our things as we had to drop off my sister and my mother in Cairns before driving back to Kuranda. We all arrived in Cairns and ate lunch at an Italian restaurant. While I was waiting for my food my father asked me to come with him to the Esplanade. I followed and he showed me a vast flock of terns and waders that had been forced towards the shore by the high tide. I spotted a variety of species among the flock. There were around 3 bar-tailed godwits, 2 grey-tailed tattlers and 6-7 whimbrels, but most of the flock was made up of curlew sandpipers, a few lifer great knots and sharp-tailed sandpipers. There was at least one red or greater knot in the flock as well 3 Caspian terns were furthest away, but the bulk of the terns were common terns and greater crested terns. To add to this all a varied honeyeater was calling from a nearby tree!
Two Caspian terns stand next to each other
A group of several whimbrels standing near the mud
A common tern drinking water from a stream
A group of sandpipers: here you can see curlew sandpipers, great knots, grey-tailed tattlers, etc.
A caspian tern calls at another, with a common tern in the foreground
I watched the flock before I ate my lunch and had to leave for Kuranda and Cassowary Lodge, a mere 25 minute drive from Cairns. Due to the time of day I didn't see much, and though I did do a walk around Kuranda I mostly heard birds instead of seeing them, though I did get decent views of two spotted catbirds in foliage.
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