Day 16 – 21st March.
My final day away. My flight was due to leave Cairns at around 12:00, and ideally I wanted to be checked-in by 10:30, plus I had to go to the Post Office on the way, and return the car at the airport first which meant leaving the hotel by 9:00, or 9:30 at the latest. But most importantly, before all that I wanted to walk up the Esplanade for a bit and see if there were any more birds worth seeing. So, getting up at 6:00 I was hoping to be birdwatching by 7:00, back at 8:00 to change and finish packing, and checked-out by 9:00.
I was delayed in my packing, so didn’t get to the Esplanade until about 7:20, but I thought I could still spend an hour birding and not be rushed to get to the airport. The Esplanade itself, from the bottom to the top, is about three kilometres long. My hotel was about 750 metres from the southern end, and I planned on following the boardwalk along the beachfront from outside the hotel up towards the northern end for half an hour, and then back down again to the hotel. It is considered one of the birding hotspots in Far North Queensland, and I can understand why.
Despite the lack of tourists, the locals apparently enjoy the boardwalk and associated parkland areas and as this was a sunny Saturday morning it was very busy, with quite a lot of people jogging, cycling, walking their dogs, exercising on the equipment, just going for a morning stroll, or catching up with friends for breakfast. The tide was high and in some spots there was a thin strip of beach a few metres wide between the boardwalk and the ocean, in other areas the beach was completely submerged.
The first things I saw on the sand were four Bar-tailed Godwits, about 10 Silver Gulls, a pair of Masked Plovers, a single Lesser Sand Plover, and three Australian Pelicans cruising along in the shallows and eventually coming ashore. It was also interesting to see a few Peaceful Doves and a feral pigeon walking about on the sand as I don’t consider either to be habitual beach-type birds.
Bar-tailed Godwit
Silver Gull
Lesser Sand Plover
Australian Pelican
Feral pigeon on the beach
However, the trees and parkland that separate the boardwalk from the Esplanade itself were where I saw most birds. And the walk was so productive that after half an hour I kept going for a bit more. All the common species were there: twenty odd feral pigeons, 22 Masked Lapwings, 27 more Peaceful Doves, 16 Imperial Pigeons, 18 Magpie-larks, 16 Welcome Swallows, 8 Willie Wagtails and 19 Common (or Indian) Mynahs. Plus some little beauties like three Macleay’s Double-eyed Fig Parrots, two Varied Honeyeaters, twenty White-breasted Woodswallows, 18 Figbirds and 11 Metallic Starlings.
Peaceful Doves
Torresian Imperial Pigeon
Welcome Swallow
Macleay's Double-eyed Fig Parrot
Varied Honeyeater
White-breasted Woodswallows
Australasian Figbird
Metallic Starling
Reaching the end of the boardwalk at the Mangroves I continued on a little hoping to see a Mangrove Robin, but didn’t see any. A bit further along, at the top of the Esplanade, is a large grassy playing field and I was attracted to four red waders that were probing the ground with their beaks. Getting closer I realised they were another quartet of Bar-tailed Godwits, two of which were in breeding plumage. A movement of a smaller bird some distance away caught my attention – it was hard to see and I wasn’t sure at first it was a bird until I found it in my binoculars – an Australasian Pipit.
Bar-tailed Godwits in breeding plumage
Australasian Pipit
At this point it was 8:30, the time I wanted to be back at the hotel, but I was still more than two kilometres away. So I started hurrying back but kept my eyes open for anything else of interest. A group of four Sulphur-crested Cockatoos flew overhead, as did a number of Rainbow Lorikeets. I saw a couple of Spotted Pigeons, some House Sparrows, a single White Ibis, and a pair of Bush Stone-curlews. Just as I was approaching the hotel I heard a familiar loud creaking noise and found 13 Red-tailed Black Cockatoos feeding on the nuts in a Casuarina tree by the beach.
Rainbow Lorikeets
Bush Stone-curlews
Red-tailed Black Cockatoos
By the time I finished birding my planned one hour had been extended by 50 minutes. Back at the hotel, because of the humidity I had a quick shower to get the sweat off me and changed into some fresh clothes, finished packing and checked out of the hotel. There was a bit of a hassle when the Post Office I went to on the way to the airport was closed and I had to head in the opposite direction from the airport to find one that was open. On the way back to the airport I was passed by three police cars with lights and sirens blaring and I missed the exit to the airport and had to turn around again and head back, eventually arriving at 11:00 – and finding the rental carpark full so I had to wait a short while until they found somewhere for me to park.
But I checked in without any issues and had plenty of time before the plane started boarding. The flight home was uneventful and brought an end to my Torres Strait holiday, in a part of the world most birders (and most Australians) never get to visit.
Hix
My final day away. My flight was due to leave Cairns at around 12:00, and ideally I wanted to be checked-in by 10:30, plus I had to go to the Post Office on the way, and return the car at the airport first which meant leaving the hotel by 9:00, or 9:30 at the latest. But most importantly, before all that I wanted to walk up the Esplanade for a bit and see if there were any more birds worth seeing. So, getting up at 6:00 I was hoping to be birdwatching by 7:00, back at 8:00 to change and finish packing, and checked-out by 9:00.
I was delayed in my packing, so didn’t get to the Esplanade until about 7:20, but I thought I could still spend an hour birding and not be rushed to get to the airport. The Esplanade itself, from the bottom to the top, is about three kilometres long. My hotel was about 750 metres from the southern end, and I planned on following the boardwalk along the beachfront from outside the hotel up towards the northern end for half an hour, and then back down again to the hotel. It is considered one of the birding hotspots in Far North Queensland, and I can understand why.
Despite the lack of tourists, the locals apparently enjoy the boardwalk and associated parkland areas and as this was a sunny Saturday morning it was very busy, with quite a lot of people jogging, cycling, walking their dogs, exercising on the equipment, just going for a morning stroll, or catching up with friends for breakfast. The tide was high and in some spots there was a thin strip of beach a few metres wide between the boardwalk and the ocean, in other areas the beach was completely submerged.
The first things I saw on the sand were four Bar-tailed Godwits, about 10 Silver Gulls, a pair of Masked Plovers, a single Lesser Sand Plover, and three Australian Pelicans cruising along in the shallows and eventually coming ashore. It was also interesting to see a few Peaceful Doves and a feral pigeon walking about on the sand as I don’t consider either to be habitual beach-type birds.
Bar-tailed Godwit
Silver Gull
Lesser Sand Plover
Australian Pelican
Feral pigeon on the beach
However, the trees and parkland that separate the boardwalk from the Esplanade itself were where I saw most birds. And the walk was so productive that after half an hour I kept going for a bit more. All the common species were there: twenty odd feral pigeons, 22 Masked Lapwings, 27 more Peaceful Doves, 16 Imperial Pigeons, 18 Magpie-larks, 16 Welcome Swallows, 8 Willie Wagtails and 19 Common (or Indian) Mynahs. Plus some little beauties like three Macleay’s Double-eyed Fig Parrots, two Varied Honeyeaters, twenty White-breasted Woodswallows, 18 Figbirds and 11 Metallic Starlings.
Peaceful Doves
Torresian Imperial Pigeon
Welcome Swallow
Macleay's Double-eyed Fig Parrot
Varied Honeyeater
White-breasted Woodswallows
Australasian Figbird
Metallic Starling
Reaching the end of the boardwalk at the Mangroves I continued on a little hoping to see a Mangrove Robin, but didn’t see any. A bit further along, at the top of the Esplanade, is a large grassy playing field and I was attracted to four red waders that were probing the ground with their beaks. Getting closer I realised they were another quartet of Bar-tailed Godwits, two of which were in breeding plumage. A movement of a smaller bird some distance away caught my attention – it was hard to see and I wasn’t sure at first it was a bird until I found it in my binoculars – an Australasian Pipit.
Bar-tailed Godwits in breeding plumage
Australasian Pipit
At this point it was 8:30, the time I wanted to be back at the hotel, but I was still more than two kilometres away. So I started hurrying back but kept my eyes open for anything else of interest. A group of four Sulphur-crested Cockatoos flew overhead, as did a number of Rainbow Lorikeets. I saw a couple of Spotted Pigeons, some House Sparrows, a single White Ibis, and a pair of Bush Stone-curlews. Just as I was approaching the hotel I heard a familiar loud creaking noise and found 13 Red-tailed Black Cockatoos feeding on the nuts in a Casuarina tree by the beach.
Rainbow Lorikeets
Bush Stone-curlews
Red-tailed Black Cockatoos
By the time I finished birding my planned one hour had been extended by 50 minutes. Back at the hotel, because of the humidity I had a quick shower to get the sweat off me and changed into some fresh clothes, finished packing and checked out of the hotel. There was a bit of a hassle when the Post Office I went to on the way to the airport was closed and I had to head in the opposite direction from the airport to find one that was open. On the way back to the airport I was passed by three police cars with lights and sirens blaring and I missed the exit to the airport and had to turn around again and head back, eventually arriving at 11:00 – and finding the rental carpark full so I had to wait a short while until they found somewhere for me to park.
But I checked in without any issues and had plenty of time before the plane started boarding. The flight home was uneventful and brought an end to my Torres Strait holiday, in a part of the world most birders (and most Australians) never get to visit.
Hix
