AUSTRALIA - HOLIDAY/RECCE TOUR - DAY 16 - OCT 12TH - CAIRNS

PALM COVE - PORT DOUGLAS - LAKE MITCHELL - MAREEBA - KURANDA

 This morning's ‘Veranda’ birds included the usual mix of common species, a Kookaburra sat on a branch within a couple of meters of us and I got better views of both Graceful and Yellow-spotted Honeyeaters. An Orange-footed Scrubfowl appeared below us, it scratched its way through the leaf litter making a lot of noise.

Orange-footed Scrubfowl

I took a short walk down the lane and got a few pics of some nice birds, Pacific Baza, Streaked Drongo and more Figbirds were all added to pics album.

Pacific Baza



Streaked Drongo

 It was another non-birding day today, we decided to travel northward along the coast to visit some highly recommended coves and beaches. The first was Palm Cove which was truly gorgeous lovely white sand and turquoise blue sea. No-one swims here because of crocodiles and stingers, how nice.

 The rest of the day was spent in and around Port Douglas we had a lovely time, a really nice lunch and some beach time.

 We took the scenic route back driving inland, we drove up and over Mt. Molloy and down passed Lake Michell in the Northern Tablelands. We stopped to view the lake and added a few new species to the list. Alongside Black Swans we saw our first Magpie Geese, Comb-crested Jacana, Black Kite, lots of Great White Egrets and a single Intermediate Egret.

Pied Imperial- Pigeons

  We passed through Mareeba and headed towards Kuranda and it was just outside of Mareeba where I saw two Brolga Cranes sitting in a fields and a little further down the road I saw an Australian Bustard ‘strutting’ across a field. It was male and he paraded around in full-on display mode giving all he’d got, very nice, two good birds in the space of  kilometer!

 

a really bad picture of the Bustard

 

 The traffic was very heavy driving through Kuranda and it took quite a while to get back, the sky clouded over and it rained for a short while, we arrived back at the tree-house in the dark.

 New birds today:

COMB-CRESTED JACANA

MAGPIE GOOSE
INTERMEDIATE EGRET
BLACK KITE
ORANGE-FOOTED SCRUBFOWL
AUSTRALIAN BUSTARD
BROLGA