Several days in Cairns (1 Viewer)

Hi,

I will be visiting Cairns in March and I will hopefully have 4 or 5 days to birdwatch in the area.

Since I cannnot drive and will be going on my own, I cannot visit places that are only accessible by car. (I could use a taxi but with my tight budget I'd rather not.)
I also don't plan to hire a guide since my schedule is currently unfixed.

Below are the places that I'm currently planning to visit:

Esplanade
Botanical garden & centenary lakes
Mt. Whitfield
Mangroves near the airport
Michaelmas cay

It's my first time visiting Australia so I'm hoping to enjoy as many species as possible.

I truly wanted to visit kingfisher park and the Daintree area but it seems difficult without a car. There seems to be several tours to the Kuranda area but I'm not sure if it's worth a visit.

I would really appreciate any advice on places that I should/shouldn't visit, and also any recommendations on when to go where, and what species to look out for.

Thanks in advance!

Mari E said:

Hi,

I will be visiting Cairns in March and I will hopefully have 4 or 5 days to birdwatch in the area.

Since I cannnot drive and will be going on my own, I cannot visit places that are only accessible by car. (I could use a taxi but with my tight budget I'd rather not.)
I also don't plan to hire a guide since my schedule is currently unfixed.

Below are the places that I'm currently planning to visit:

Esplanade
Botanical garden & centenary lakes
Mt. Whitfield
Mangroves near the airport
Michaelmas cay

It's my first time visiting Australia so I'm hoping to enjoy as many species as possible.

I truly wanted to visit kingfisher park and the Daintree area but it seems difficult without a car. There seems to be several tours to the Kuranda area but I'm not sure if it's worth a visit.

I would really appreciate any advice on places that I should/shouldn't visit, and also any recommendations on when to go where, and what species to look out for.

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Don't forget to have a look at the Cemetery in Cairns. Bush Stone-curlew shelter in the shade of the gravestones during the day,and if you are lucky you might fine Beach Stone-curlew in the mangroves at the end of the Esplanade.You should also consider a daytrip out to Michaelmas Key from Cairns which will give you Terns on the Key and snorkelling on the Reef.
Tom Lawson.

Tom Lawson said:

Don't forget to have a look at the Cemetery in Cairns. Bush Stone-curlew shelter in the shade of the gravestones during the day,and if you are lucky you might fine Beach Stone-curlew in the mangroves at the end of the Esplanade.You should also consider a daytrip out to Michaelmas Key from Cairns which will give you Terns on the Key and snorkelling on the Reef.
Tom Lawson.

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The Michaelmas Key trip is stunning, but it's also worth noting that some (all?) companies offer a pick-up bus from nominated points.
MJB

Mari,

You may want to check the eBird hot spot map of Cairns to give you more ideas and barcharts of what is seen at particular areas. (You'll need to zoom in to the Cairns area to see the individual hotspot markers in the link).

http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspots?env....554169&env.maxY=-9.22109899999998&yr=all&m=#

Click on individual hotspot markers for more info about particular spots.

Also consider checking the birdingpal site to connect with local birders.

I did the Cairns area a few years ago without my own transport, although I had quite a bit more time there than you're going to have!

A day birding based on bus timetables always ends up feeling a bit restrictive, and as Cairns has loads of excellent sites you could easily spend the whole 5 days there without running out of new birds to see. However if you fancy trying some other spots, and if you're happy doing a bit of walking (it could be pretty warm and wet in March!) then you can get to some other good spots using public transport too.

A number of rainforest species are scarce or absent from sites around Cairns, so a visit to this habitat would let you see some nice birds which you will struggle to find elsewhere. This is where a trip to somewhere like Kuranda would come in handy. I wasn't aware of Lake Morris/Copperlode Dam when I visited, but that looks like a really good area too and would get you in amongst the rainforest species. Kuranda is easily accessed without a car, although the better birding, e.g. along Black Mountain Road takes a bit of walking away from the town.

For dry-country species, which are also absent from Cairns, it's possible to get a bus up to Biboohra, which is opposite the entrance road to Mareeba Wetlands. The wetlands are something like 6km along the track, but even if you don't get there a day birding along the road (take plenty of water...) could produce species such as Black-throated Finch, Australian Bustard, Red-winged Parrot, Great Bowerbird etc. This bus only runs on certain days of the week, and there's only 1 journey each way per day, so don't miss the return trip to Cairns

Also, there are some tours from Cairns, usually advertised in the hostels, which spend the day visiting rainforest sites on the Atherton Tablelands. I expect that these might be very frustrating for birding - they don't spend much time at each site, and they're not particularly focussed on wildlife (I used one to get a lift up and spend a few days in the area). However, it would put you in range of some of the higher-altitude Atherton endemics. Tooth-billed Bowerbird, Grey-headed Robin, Bower's Shrike-thrush and Atherton Scrubwren are fairly common at tourist sites such as Lake Eacham & the Curtain Fig Tree. I haven't visited Mount Hypipamee and don't know what the tour visits involve there, but with a real stroke of luck you may even see Golden Bowerbird... If you're interested in mammals, I think these tours typically finish with a search for Platypus.

If it's of any use (it's a few years old, and pretty long-winded!) the Cairns sections of my trip report are here, and from post number 180 here. The first part (December) was just public transport, while the second (April) involved a bit of taxi, hire car, and a lot more cycling!

Thank you everyone for the great recommendations and advice!

Tom : Stone-curlew is one of the speices I've always wanted to see, so I will definitely look out for them!
MJB : Thank you for the information, I will do more research before departing.
Jim : I checked eBird and was surprised to see records of so many different speices! Thanks for the suggestion!
podargus : Thank you for the detailed advice, I read your trip reports and they were stunning!

Thank you again for all the help, I'm definitely looking forward to going there!

Mari E said:

Thank you everyone for the great recommendations and advice!

Tom : Stone-curlew is one of the speices I've always wanted to see, so I will definitely look out for them!
MJB : Thank you for the information, I will do more research before departing.
Jim : I checked eBird and was surprised to see records of so many different speices! Thanks for the suggestion!
podargus : Thank you for the detailed advice, I read your trip reports and they were stunning!

Thank you again for all the help, I'm definitely looking forward to going there!

Click to expand...

You might send a PM to Chowchilla, who lives in Cairns and is a Moderator on Bird Forum - he knows a huge amount about birds within a few km of Cairns, and he's good company!
MJB

MJB, thanks again for the suggestion!
Will definitely consider getting in touch with him.