Tropical Birding in North Queensland

Morning pickup from your Cairns hotel and drive north to the Daintree River for a private wildlife cruise. The rainforest grows to the water’s edge here, and the small mangrove creeks running from the main river are the best places on the tour for great-billed heron, little kingfisher, azure kingfisher, Papuan frogmouth and black bittern; saltwater crocodile, green tree snake and water dragon are also possible. Lunch at the Daintree Tea House, then cross to Cape Tribulation (Kulki) to walk the mangrove and rainforest boardwalks, watching for southern cassowary, Wompoo fruit-dove, yellow-breasted boatbill, pied monarch, shining flycatcher and white-bellied sea-eagle. Late-afternoon arrival at Kingfisher Park. Overnight: Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge, Julatten. Meals: L/D.

Spend the morning working the Kingfisher Park grounds and the surrounding Julatten area. The property is a Land for Wildlife sanctuary and holds a resident platypus in the creek. Resident and nearby species include red-necked crake, pale-vented bush-hen, noisy pitta, red-browed finch, Macleay’s, yellow-spotted and graceful honeyeaters, pale-yellow robin, and black-faced and spectacled monarchs. In the afternoon, drive 30 minutes to Mount Lewis for Victoria’s riflebird, Bower’s shrike-thrush, bridled and Lewin’s honeyeaters, mountain thornbill and the region’s fruit-doves. Optional spotlighting after dark for barking owl, sooty owl, barn owl, Papuan frogmouth, Boyd’s forest dragon and northern leaf-tailed gecko. Overnight: Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge. Meals: B/L/D.

Check out of Kingfisher Park and move onto the Atherton Tablelands, watching the country shift from highland rainforest through savannah woodland to Mabi forest. Work the backroads, farms and creeks around Mareeba for magpie goose, black-necked stork, brolga, sarus crane, Australian bustard, jacanas, and both laughing and blue-winged kookaburras. Visit Granite Gorge in the afternoon for the endemic Mareeba rock-wallaby, with birding for red-backed fairywren, squatter pigeon, crested pigeon, rainbow bee-eater and dollarbird along the granite outcrops and grasslands. Late-afternoon arrival at Chambers Wildlife Lodge. Overnight: Chambers Wildlife Lodge, Lake Eacham. Meals: B/L/D.

A day on the Atherton Tablelands, the upland counterpart to the coastal Daintree rainforest. Spend time in the Hasties Swamp bird hide, where more than 220 resident and migratory species have been recorded across the seasonal wetland. In the afternoon, walk in Mount Hypipamee National Park for golden bowerbird at its bowers, southern cassowary, eastern spinebill, grey-headed and pale-yellow robin, Lewin's and bridled honeyeaters, chowchilla, spotted catbird and tooth-billed bowerbird. Evening spotlighting at Mt Hypipamee for green ringtail, Herbert River ringtail, lemuroid ringtail and brushtail possums, with the chance of Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo. Overnight: Chambers Wildlife Lodge. Meals: B/L/D.

Check out of Chambers Wildlife Lodge. Walk the crater lakes country around Lake Barrine and Yungaburra, where there are several tracks that range from 30 minutes to two hours. Species in this area include tooth-billed bowerbird, spotted catbird, Victoria’s riflebird, double-eyed fig-parrot, Australian king-parrot, white-throated treecreeper, yellow-throated scrubwren, chowchilla, eastern whipbird, and pale-yellow and grey-headed robins. Walk the Peterson Creek Wildlife and Botanical track in Yungaburra for platypus and, with luck, Lumholtz’s tree-kangaroo. Return to Cairns (Gimuy) around 5pm. Meals: B/L.