GAMBIA - 14-DAY TOUR DAY 2

KOTU STREAM - RICE FIELDS - SEWERAGE PONDS - GOLF COURSE - CASINO CYCLE TRACK - BIJILO FOREST NATURE RESERVE

Weather: wall to wall sunshine, 32C

I just love the first morning in the Gambia, we ate breakfast outside in a lovely temperature surrounded by lush gardens, serenaded by dozens of birds, it is magical. We watched Palm Swifts hawking above us with Yellow-billed Kites and Hooded Vultures ever present. We heard Common Gonolek and added Broad-billed Roller to our list, Cattle Egrets were coming down to feed on scraps from the breakfast tables.


White-faced Whistling Ducks

Our first birding venue was the Bridge over the Kotu Stream, we were blown away by the number of species seen there it was simply fantastic. Malachite and Pied Kingfishers showed down to 3 meters whilst the Giant Kingfisher stayed further afield. The usual crop of waders were present, several of them were familiar to us but Doug from Canada and Jeanne from South Africa were overwhelmed and bemused respectively.


Little Bee-eater

Little Bee-eaters stole the show along with our fifth Kingfisher, the Woodland variety. Bronze Mannikin, Senegal Coucal, Grey Woodpecker, Little Swifts, Lanner Falcon, Osprey carrying a fish and Rose-ringed Parakeets all went into the notebook.

The sewer farm adjacent to the rice fields was a bit of a disappointment, the pits had been dredged and cleared of 90% of its vegetation. In this barren environment we added Black-winged Stilt, Little Grebe, African Jacana, White-faced Whistling Duck, Common Sandpiper and not much else.


View of the Ponds at the SEWERAGE farm

Our walk through the golf course was mostly unproductive, it was getting hot now and light was quite harsh. We added Long-tailed & Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starlings, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird and the beautiful Blue-bellied Roller. A single acacia tree held seven species, Olivaceous & Subalpine Warblers, Fork-tailed Drongo, White-billed Buffalo Weaver, Vinaceous Dove, Village Weaver and Red-billed Firefinch!


Red-billed Firefinch

We were collected by our driver Ali and driven back to the Kotu area where we took a short walk along the 'Casino Track' and that is where our birding stepped up a level.

A small warbler was seen by Steve hopping about in an acacia tree, it looked at first like a Willow Warbler with a well marked supercillium, then it showed well and what a shock!! It was a full-on YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER, an outstanding find, I think the last sighting of one these in the Gambia was 2005, eleven years ago. We speculated that this bird was one of the recent influx to western Europe of this species, it should be wintering in East Africa and Southern Asia.


Grey Plantain-eaters

To follow that sighting would be hard, however, we enjoyed another hour looking around a pool where we found African Darter, Greenshank, Common Moorhen, Purple Heron, Spur-winged Plover and our target species the Black Crake.

From there we returned to the hotel for a long lunch, it really was hot and sticky by now.
We reconvened at 4pm, the heat had eased off and the light was not so harsh. A short walk from the hotel got us to Bijilo Forest nature reserve, we found Black-capped Babbler on the edge of the forest. Our second shock of the day came next. For some reason the government have given permission to uproot a large section of the forest for development, what a disaster! The bulldozers were in.


Fork-tailed Drongo

Far fewer birds were seen than on past visits the forest was eventually 'found' after walking for quite a way. We did eventually find a number of species including the beautiful Swallow-tail Bee-eater, also lots of Little Bee-eaters, Green Woodhoopoe, African Grey Hornbill, African Thrush, Black-necked Weavers and we heard Oriole Warbler. By far the best sighting was of Stone Partridge, a little beauty sat on a branch low to ground calling loudly. We returned to the hotel at 6:30pm just as it was getting dark. Dinner was taken an hour later, we added up the species total after calling the bird log, 92 seen today, terrific!

GAMBIA - 14-DAY TOUR DAY 1

LONDON - BANJUL - TRANSFER TO HOTEL IN KOLOLI - HOTEL GARDEN WALK

WEATHER:  hot, sunny all afternoon, 30C

We all arrived safely and on time at Banjul on two separate flights. Lamin our guide was there to meet us, he guided us to our bus for the journey to the hotel. It was hot, over 30C!


Red-billed Hornbill

From the airport apron we logged our first bird, Cattle Egret and from the car park we added Hooded Vulture, Yellow-billed Kite, Spectacled Pigeon, Barn Swallow, House Sparrow and Lesser Blue-eared Glossy Starling.

The journey to the hotel was delayed because we made several stops to see roadside species such as; Wattled Lapwing, Namaqua Dove, Vinaceous Dove, Laughing Dove, White-billed Buffalo Weaver and lots more Vultures.


Lesser Blue-eared Glossy Starling

Once we had settled in our rooms at the Senegambia Hotel we went for a walk in the lush grounds which was alive with bird calls and movement. On the main lawn we saw Red-billed Hornbill, White-crowned Robin-chat, Red-billed Firefinch and a large mixed flock of both Lesser and Greater Blue-eared Starlings, Grey Plantain-eater and an Olive Sunbird were seen in the trees. Green Vervet and Red Colobus Monkeys roamed the gardens and some extra bird species were seen by individuals in the group, these included Blue-breasted Kingfisher, Common Gonolek and African Thrush.


White-crowned Robin-chat

A brief sea-watch produced Caspian and Lesser-crested Terns and not much else.
A tired group ate dinner at 7pm out on the terrace in a lovely evening temperature, we all went to bed early.

AUSTRALIA - 21 DAY EAST COAST TOUR - DAY 4

Chambers Lodge – Lake Barrine – Yungaburra creek – Wongabel Forest – Nerada Tea Plantation

Weather: dry, sunny & warm all day. Top temp 28C

It was the mammals that grabbed the headlines today, over the last 24 hours we have seen a good selection of nocturnal animals with Platypus stealing the show and Tree Kangaroo coming a close second.

We had breakfast at 6am and met in the car park at 7am in preparation for our daily excursion, many birds were calling from the forest and feeding on nectar in the flowering shrubs in the gardens. We listed several Honeyeaters with Lewin’s, Bridled, Yellow-faced and Macleay’s being the most common. We also watched Black-faced Monarch and several species already listed, it was excellent birding before even before we set off!

Our first destination was the natural crater-lake at Barrine, we were hoping to see Victoria Riflebirds performing their incredible display but after searching the car park area we realised that none were there. However a number of other birds were, Eastern Spinetail was a beauty as was Golden Whistler, whilst Large-billed Scrubwren and some of the honeyeaters were not!


Dusky Honeyeater

We listed Great Crested Grebe (over 80 of them), Australian Pelican, Pacific Black Duck, Common Coot, Little Pied Cormorant and Intermediate Egret on or around the lake before we set off on a walk into the forest.

Many species could be heard deep in forest we managed to track down quite few, with Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Spotted Catbird, Tooth-billed Catbird (Bowerbird), Yellow-breasted Boatbill and Pale-Yellow Robin but the Riflebird remained elusive. We also had several sightings of the tiny Musky Rat-Kangeroo!


Tooth-billed Bowerbird

From lake Barrine we drove to Wongabel Forest stopping at the famous Curtain Tree along the way. This huge tree has route vines growing down from all its branches forming a spectacular ‘curtain’ around its base, it is a very popular tourist site with a boardwalk all around it. Several good birds were seen around the tree with Eastern Whipbird, Pied Monarch, Bower’s Shrike-Thrush, Grey Fantail and Pale Yellow Robin all showing well.

At Wongabel Forest we spent some time walking the main trail, again the forest was alive with bird calls, but birds were hard to see. We managed views of Grey Fantail, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Tooth-billed Bowerbird near its bower, both Atherton and Large-billed Scrubwrens, Brown and Fairy Gerygones were common and we found a flock of Red-browed Firetails in the car park on our return.


Lewin's Honeyeater

Just after leaving the forest we made a quick stop at Yungaburra Creek and to everyone’s great satisfaction we located a couple of local celebrities, the PLATYPUS, what show they put on, one of them came out of the water and sat on a log. Whilst there we also saw Laughing Kookaburra, Grey Goshawk, Cattle Egret, Nankeen Kestrel and we heard Scarlet Honeyeater but couldn’t find it.


Platypus

We drove to Nerada Tea Plantation for a late lunch and in the strip of woodland along the entrance drive we watched several butterfly species and to our great delight we located one of our ‘most-wanted’ mammals, TREE KANGAROO, it was such a delight to see this species.

After our late lunch we drove back to our lodge for a break we arrived at 4pm. Barry our guide suggested putting out bananas on our verandah to attract birds. Most of us pulled in a common bird local, I got Lewin’s Honeyeater but Helen & Jeff attracted a male Riflebird and had the photograph to prove it!


Tree Kangaroo

We left at 6pm to drive into Yungaburra for dinner but our birding wasn’t over yet! Barry took us to a site for Grass Owls and Black Shouldered Kite, we saw several kites in good light and a couple of owls in very bad light. We also had sightings of Golden-headed Cisticola, Nankeen Kestrel and Spectacled Flying Fox (no I hadn’t been drinking, I did see a Fox, flying, whilst wearing spectacles!!).


the amazing  Curtain Tree

After a typical pub dinner were drove back to the lodge noting Red-legged Pademelon and a Common-brushtail Possum along the way back.

AUSTRALIA - 21-DAY EAST COAST TOUR - DAY 3

Transfer from Cairns to Atherton Tablelands with stops at: Cairns Mangroves – Davies Creek – Hasties Swamp – Hypipomee National Park – Bromfield Crater

Weather: a bright start, cloudy later, Temp. ranged from 25C to 15C

After a very early breakfast we packed up the bus and set off on our way to Atherton, we made planned stops at the Mangrove Swamp, a small park and a shopping centre before we hit the road and left town at 10am. At the mangroves the target bird, Mangrove Robin, failed to turn up and our search in the park failed to produce a sighting of a Rufous Owl! Nevertheless we recorded many species including a few additions to our list including our first Laughing Kookaburra which actually did laugh!

We drove for an hour up over the hills inland towards Atherton, the landscape changed as we got up onto ‘tablelands, the habitat transformed too, from wet tropical forest to dry open forest. It was hot as we stepped off the bus at Davies Creek deep into a eucalyptus dry forest.


Northen Fantail - what a beautifully constructed nest


Another Northern Fantail nearby

A pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles circled high above us as we emerged from the bus and as we approached the boulder-strewn creek we saw a pair of Leaden Flycatchers. A short search produced our target species the White-browed Robin and a second search for Rufous Owl produced only a number of Northern Fantails, Pale-headed Rosella, but not the Owl.

We ate lunch at the picnic site adjacent to the car park before driving onto our next destination Hasties Swamp. Barry our guide drove us along a road where he regularly sees Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, we spent a while looking from the bus and eventually found a flock of about 50 of them. We also logged Australian Great Bustard, Pied Currawong, Crested Dove, Black Kite and lots of common species as we drove to Hasties Swamp.


Plumed Whistling Duck

What a great disappointment Hasties Swamp was, the water level was so low that hardly any ducks were present! Last time I visited it was chock-a-block with ducks. Despite the lack of water about a 1000 Plumed Whistling Ducks loafed in the water and we saw about 5 Whistling Kites, they were feeding on dead Whistling Ducks which seemed to be all over the place. We added Australian Swamphen, Buff-banded Rail, Pied (White-headed) Stilt, Silvereye, Eastern Yellow Robin, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin and several Australian Pelicans sat on the water.


Buff-banded Rail

We moved back into tropical forest as we approached Hypipomee national park, our target species was the Golden Bowerbird, Barry led us straight to its ‘bower’ and located the stunning male bird not far away, what a cracking bird! Our walk around the trails produced a number of new bird sightings for us, Bridled Honeyeater, White-throated Treecreeper, Top-knot Pigeon (fly over), Wompoo Pigeon (heard), Victoria Riflebird (heard), Grey Headed Robin and a flock of Pied Currawongs.


Grey-headed Robin

One trail led us to a hugh open sink hole, a small lake had formed at the base of this ‘pit’ and to our great surprize a Duck-billed Platypus was swimming around in it, fantastic!
Back on the road we saw a single Torresian Crow, several Crested Pigeons and more Pied Currawongs.

Our last stop before dark was a huge natural crater called Bromfield, the base of this magnificent caldera had a series of pools and lots of wet scrub. it is a well known roost site of both Sarus and Brolga Cranes. The viewing area on the side of the road was perfect for scoping the whole crater area, we found 7 Brolga Cranes, a dozen Swamphens, another Buff-banded Rail, Black Duck, Dusky Moorhen and half a dozen Australasian Grebes.


Barred Cuckoo-Shrkie, taken in bad light

We reached our lodge around 6pm, we watched Barred Cuckoo-Shrike from the car park before settling into our rooms. We then went into town, Maranda, for dinner. On our return to the lodge we saw Bandicoot in the road and from a purpose built viewing platform we watched several Possums before going to bed.

AUSTRALIA - 21-DAY EAST COAST TOUR - DAY 2

CAIRNS ESPLANDE - GREAT BARRIER REEF AT MICHAELMAS CAY

An early breakfast was followed by a short drive to the marina where we had time for a quick look at the low tide mud-flats. As usual the area was covered in birds, mostly waders but to our great delight we found White-faced Heron, Striated Heron, Great White Egret, Little Egret and Australian Pelican. Two Little Terns flew along the shoreline and several species flitted about in the park behind the beach.

White-faced Heron

At 8:30am we set off on the boat noting Crested Terns in the harbour and not much else, in fact, we didn’t see much for the first hour of the trip. As we approached the Cay we started seeing Brown Booby’s, Common Noddys, Sooty Terns and both Crested and Lesser Crested Terns.


Striated Heron

We arrived around 11:30am at the Cay which was covered in a mass of birds, the noise and the smell was quite noticeable as we were down wind, but the sky was alive with movement. A Greater Frigatebird was circling over the tern colonies causing quite a stir as this huge predator is likely to take chicks.


Australian Pelican

The Cay is just a raised bank of sand measuring about 800 meters long about 100 meters wide and just 3-5 meter high, very little vegetation grows on it. The birds nest in hollows amongst large dead-tree debris and allow a very close approach, human visitors are kept within a roped-off area.


Brown Booby

Over the next 5 hours we had a variety of activities to choose from, Scuba diving, Snorkeling, Glass Bottomed Boat cruises or just relaxing on the boat. A ferry service to the Cay run every 20 minutes we all opted for a visit to get a closer look at the birds. It was uncomfortable on the Cay as the strong wind whipped up the sand particles and sand-blasted us! But the close proximity of the birds by exhilarating and provided good photographic opportunities.


The Michaelmas Cay

Most of the group went on a glass-bottomed boat trip and we all went on a ‘Round-the-Island’ tour to get closer to the birds on the other side. Some great sightings were made from this boat-trip around the island. Terns especially, we added Black-naped Tern, Common Tern, and had great views of Lesser and Crested Terns. We also saw Bar-tailed Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone and a Sacred Kingfisher tried to land on our boat!


Black-naped Terns (showing a pink glow - this colouring is diet related)  with Common Terns - Bob Longhorn

Back on the main boat we scanned the terns for new species and found Gull-billed Tern and a Bridled Tern which was perched on a buoy, smashing.


Greater Frigatebird taken by Bob Longhorn

Our return trip was very choppy at times, many people suffered sea-sickness including one or two of our group. It was getting dark when we docked so we drove straight back to the hotel.

For dinner we walked to a restaurant on the Esplanade, many Flying Foxes (huge fruit-eating bats) were flying around and we saw several Bush Stone Curlews on our return walk around 9pm.
A short bird log followed but everyone had enjoyed the trip, it was quality today not quantity!

AUSTRALIA - 21-DAY EAST COAST TOUR - DAY 1

CAIRNS BEACH FRONT – MANGROVE SWAMP – REDDEN ISLAND – MACHAN BEACH – CAIRNS CENTENARY LAKES – CAIRNS CEMETERY

WEATHER: hot, dry, humid at times with some cloud cover. Top temp 30C.

The tour officially started at 6:30am as we all gathered in the foyer of the hotel in readiness for our first birding excursion. Most of the group had arrived a few days prior to today and despite a sizeable list of species being amassed we wiped the slate clean and began again from now, it was quite fitting that the first bird we saw as we made our way on foot towards the esplanade was the very common and most colourful Rainbow Lorikeet.

We arrived minutes later at the sea-front after watching White-rumped Swiftlets, White-breasted Woodswallows, Pied Imperial Pigeon and the tiny Peaceful Dove along the way. The tide was half way out and -the exposed mud-flats had hundreds of waders feeding on them. The giant Eastern Curlew towered above the diminutive Red-necked Stint whilst many Great Knot were used as a ‘yard stick to measure all the other mid-height species against.

White-breasted Wodswallow

Apart from the usual wader species which were made up of godwits, tattlers and sandpipers we saw Greater & Lesser Sandplovers, Pacific Golden Plover, Terek Sandpiper, Australian Pelican and an Osprey. The bushes in the parkland immediately beyond the beach were alive with bird calls and movement, we found Yellow and Varied Honeyeaters, Olive-backed Sunbird, Nutmeg Mannikin (aka Scaly-breasted Munia) and lots of Willy Wagtails, Magpie Larks and Masked Plovers.

We made our way to the mangrove swamp and found it to be far less productive than our previous visits over the last few days. But Barry our guide knew of a nest site of the tiny Double-eyed Fig Parrot and sure enough we had wonderful views of a pair. We also logged Collared Kingfisher, Large-billed Gerygone (also visiting a nest), Olive-backed Oriole, Figbird and the recently named Hornbill Friarbird ( a split from Helmeted Friarbird).


The smallest Parrot in Australia - Double-eyed Fig Parrot

From there we walked back into Cairns for breakfast at the hotel, we reconvened at 10am when we boarded our bus and drove north to Redden Island at Machan Beach. It was hot and sunny with a cooling breeze coming in off the sea. Our target bird was soon found as two Beach Stone Curlews were sighted across a river mouth. We also logged Black Kite, Common Greenshank, Terek Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Pacific Reef & Intermediate Egret and plenty of common wading birds. Our search for Red-capped Plover went unrewarded but we did see hundreds of other waders.


Redden Island - looking onto Machan Beach

The Cattana Wetlands Nature Reserve consists of a series of pools and surrounding scrub, woodland and mangrove swamp. We walked onto the reserve and spent a long time getting anywhere because so many birds were popping out from the scrub or sitting out on the water.


Little Bronze Cuckoo

I think the group mostly enjoyed Little Bronze Cuckoo, Comb-crested Jacana, Green Pygmy Goose, Little Pied Cormorant and Varied Triller. After a long walk we decided to head off the reserve along a back track which took us through some scrubland with small, open pools. It was there that we found the delightful Red-backed Fairy Wren, Black-banded Dotterel and a couple of superb Sharp-tailed Sandpipers.


Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in beautiful summer plumage


Black-fronted Dotterel

Back in Cairns we had lunch at a small restaurant in the suburbs and for the last couple of hours we visited the Centenary Lakes and the large cemetery. At the lakes we enjoyed watching a Mistletoe Bird visiting it nest, the nest was a hanging ball made of spider’s webs intricately woven into the most beautiful nest I have ever seen!


Mistletoebird and its nest below



Some of the group had previously found a Papuan Frogmouth sitting on its nest on the edge of the largest lake, it took a while to relocate it but when we did we all were amazed by cryptic camouflage of this strange bird’s plumage. During the remainder of the walk we added Brahminy Kite and not much else.


Papuan Frogmouth sitting on its nest

Our final hour was spent walking through the cemetery where good numbers of birds were seen, in particular we saw a dozen or so of Bush Stone Curlews, also lots of Rainbow Bee-eaters, Rainbow Lorikeets, Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Varied Triller, Olive-backed Sunbirds and some very aggressive Masked Plovers.

We jumped back on the bus after watching Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike near the exit gate, our last bird of the day. We drove back to hotel and dispersed for a break before dinner at 7pm.

AUSTRALIA - PRE-TOUR BIRDING - DAY 5 Saturday 22nd

CAIRNS NORTHERN BEACH AREA AND MANGROVE SWAMP

WEATHER: wall to wall sunshine, lovely breeze at the coast, top temp.  28C

This was my last pre-tour day, I had a lot of client-ferrying to do throughout the day so I had a nice leisurely morning and a wonderful breakfast with Dan and Gail on their terrace. We watched Horned Friar (formerly Helmeted Friar) and Yellow-spot Honeyeater at the bird bath and from the garden I watched a pair of Ospreys eating fish near their nest on a pylon, Dusky Honeyeaters feeding in a bottlebrush bush, White-rumped Swiftlet in the sky above me and I could hear Wompoo Pigeons calling in the forest.


The Horned Friarbird, a Queensland endemic now split from the Helmeted Friarbird - it's still ugly no matter what you name it!

At 10:30am I set off to the airport which is a 10-minute drive, I collected Tom, Steph, Reg and Dave who had just arrived from Singapore. They landed on time and within 15 minutes they were at our hotel in Cairns.


Yellow-spotted Honeyeater taken from Dan and Gail's terrace.

I went back to the airport and collected Mike who also arrived on time from Sydney, I drove him back to the hotel in Cairns. After a short settling in period we all met up to go birding, I ferried them all to the northern beach area in the car, it was high tide and a narrow strip of mud remained adjacent to the mangrove swamp.

We soon listed several waders including Terek Sandpiper, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits and a Caspian Tern, it was great to see both Godwits standing close together, here is an identification tip to separate the two if you are struggling, look at the legs!


Both Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits standing side by side


look at the legs! Shorter from the 'knee' up on the Bar-tailed Godwit

We then walked on the grass parkland looking into the mangroves as we went, several birds were flitting about, we connected with Mangrove Robin, four different honeyeaters, Nutmeg Mannikin, Figbird, Magpie Lark, Willy Wagtail, Spotted Turtle Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove, Pied Imperial Pigeon, Horned Friarbird (recently split from Helmeted Friarbird) an endemic to N. Queensland.


Caspian Tern

After an hour or so we met up with Bob, Mike and Lorna, the three members of our group who had arrived a day or so earlier, so now I had a group of eight with two more arriving later this evening. We stayed for another hour enjoying many of the common species and adding Little Bronze Cuckoo to the list.


a close up of the strange-looking Northern Masked Plover it has larger facial-wattles than its counterpart in the south!

I left the group back at the hotel at 4pm and drove back to the airport a to collect Barry Davies, our guide for the Queensland section of the trip. Barry flew the shortest distance but he arrived 30 minutes late. By the time he was settled into the hotel it was time for me to go back to the airport and collect Helen and Jeff, the final two members of the group who flew in from Ayers Rock!


Grey-tailed Tattler taken this morning from Cairns' esplanade

 At 7pm the whole group went off to eat along the esplanade but I returned to Dan and Gail’s and picked them up so we could go out for our final dinner together. We sat on a terrace looking over the marina eating deliciously cooked ribs at their favourite restaurant in Cairns, yummy!

I was shattered and by 10pm I was in bed, I don’t want to see another airport for a while, thank you!

AUSTRALIA - PRE-TOUR BIRDING - DAY 4 Friday 21st October 2016

CATTANA WETLANDS – CAIRNS MANGROVES – CAIRNS CEMETERY

WEATHER:  CLOUDY TO START THEN FULL-ON SUNSHINE. TOP TEMP 30C WITH A FAIRLY STRONG BREEZE

I had a super breakfast with Dan and Gail on their open terrace, Dan made his speciality crepes  the view over the forest and down to the coast is to die for, Kookaburras were laughing and Orange-footed Scrubfowl called loudly. I saw Brush-Turkey in the garden and both Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Pied Imperial Pigeon flew over.

My return visit to Cattana Wetlands was as good as the first two years ago, even the mozzies were delivering quality bites!  Though not brimming with birds there was enough to keep me occupied, it took a while to get out of the car park because so many birds were flitting about. As for calls, well I’m never going get on top of all of those!


Comb-crested Jacana - 'walking ​on water'

Flocks of Metallic Starlings shot over me whilst Olive-backed Orioles called and Figbirds ate figs, I spent a while sorting out the martins, hirundines and woodswallows that were hawking insects over the trees, then I set off onto the reserve. A series of large ‘tanks’ hold large bodies of water covered in lilies, ideal habitat for the Comb-crested Jacana, Green Pygmy Goose & Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants. I was a little disappointed with the lack of ducks, herons and egrets etc. but the smaller passerines were good.


Green Pygmy-Goose

I had excellent views of both Nutmeg & Chestnut-breasted Mannikins, Crimson Finch, Golden-headed Cisticola, Brown-backed Honeyeater, Black Butcherbird and lots of common birds. I left after about 3 hours because I wanted to get to Cairns beach before high tide.


A male Figbird - a beauty, eh!
At Cairns the tide was almost at its highest just as I got there so not many birds were left on the fast disappearing mud. However, one goodie remained with the godwits and the Great Knots and that was the Terek Sandpiper, my best views ever of this enigmatic bird. An Eastern Curlew was fairly close too. Just then I bumped into Bob Longford and we walked along the grass verge to the mangroves. Many birds were feeding there, we caught up with a number of good species, Mangrove Robin was one of them, Spangled Drongo was another, Collared Kingfisher, Restless Flycatcher, Brown Honeyeater, Spotted Turtle Dove, Peaceful Dove and many more.


Mangrove Robin

From there we split up, I drove to the Cemetery whilst Bob walked into town for a late lunch. At the cemetery I watched many birds for a couple of hours, Rainbow Bee-eaters and Bush Stone Curlew were two of my targets and both showed well. I never added further species to the list but enjoyed a good hour with the birds and the dead people.


another beauty - the Rainbow Bee-eater


Bush Stone-Curlew

I was back at Dan and Gail’s house by 3pm, I watched the garden for a while, finding Laughing Kookaburra, Dusky Honeyeater and more Sulphur-crested Cockatoos.


Terek Sandpiper is the bird on the right with Great Knots


Terek Sandpiper - taken though the heat-quiver​ with Great Knot and the larger Bar-tailed Godwit

Five o’clock found me at the airport collecting Lorna & Mike Taylor, they arrived on time and I transferred them to our ‘group’ hotel in the centre of Cairns where I left them with Bob Longhorn.

For dinner Dan, Gail and I went into Cairns and ate at their favourite Japanese restaurant, yummy, we were back home by 9pm and I went straight to bed.