Tropical & Far North Queensland Birding Tour

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Papuan Pitta Birding Tours Birdwatching Australia

North Queensland Birding

Tropical & Far North Queensland (the area around Cairns and all the way up the Cape York Peninsula) is without doubt one of Australia’s top birding destinations. A variety of tropical habitats including rainforests, palm-fringed beaches, mangrove-lined mudflats, tropical savannahs and cool mountain ranges result in a bird diversity unparalleled elsewhere in the country. During this tour we start and finish in Cairns, where we aim to find all local specialties including the 13 endemic birds of the Cairns region, plus many other great rainforest, woodland, wetland and grasslands inhabitants.

Birdwatching in North Queensland

We’ll look for birds such as the sought-after Cassowary, the beautiful Golden Bowerbird and the rare Blue-faced Parrot-finch, Double-eyed Fig-parrot, Lovely Fairy-wren, Tooth-billed Bowerbird, Bridled Honeyeater, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Spectacled and Black-faced Monarch, Spotted Catbird, Victoria’s Riflebird, Mountain Thornbill, Pale Yellow and Grey-headed Robin, Papuan Frogmouth, Sooty Owl and many more. We’ll also look for mammals such as Bandicoot, Sugar Glider, Northern Striped Possum, Red-necked Wallaby and Tree Kangaroo. The tour traverses the unique Cape York Peninsula where we aim to find all Far North Queensland specialties. Expect up to 200 species including all the important birds this area is well-known for such as Magnificent Riflebird, Frill-necked Monarch, White-streaked Honeyeater, nesting Red Goshawk, Palm Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot, Yellow-bellied Kingfisher and more. We’ll stay a couple of nights at a well-known birding lodge; we’ll visit the Cairns coastal area; the Daintree Rainforest and Daintree River; we’ll have rare access to Golden-shouldered Parrot nesting sites; explore Rinyirru – Lakefield National Park; we’ll go night spotting for owls and mammals; and we’ll spend three days in Kutini Payamu – Iron Range National Park, one of Australia’s most important ecosystems. At the end of the trip, you can expect well over 200 species including all the important birds this area is well-known for!

Featured Birds

  • Southern Cassowary
  • Golden, Tooth-billed Bowerbird
  • Grey-headed Robin, Noisy Pitta
  • Squatter Pigeon, Great-billed Heron
  • Double-eyed Fig-parrot
  • Blue-faced Parrot-finch
  • Lesser Sooty Owl, Papuan Frogmouth
  • White-eared, Pied Monarch
  • Spectacled, Black-faced Monarch
  • MacLeay’s, Yellow Honeyeater
  • Black Noddy, Black-naped Tern
  • Red Goshawk, Eclectus Parrot
  • Golden-shouldered Parrot
  • Mangrove Robin, Frill-necked Monarch
  • Fawn-breasted Bowerbird, Palm Cockatoo
  • Northern Scrubrobin, Marbled Frogmouth
  • Trumpet Manucode, White-faced Robin
  • Little & Yellow-billed Kingfisher
  • and many more.
Papuan Pitta Birding Tours Birdwatching Australia
Papuan Pitta Birding Tours Birdwatching Australia