Bird Watching in North Queensland

So you are into the gentle art of Bird Watching ??? And you want to see a Cassowary in North Queensland ?? Well look no further - you have found the Elysian Fields, the Celestial City, Avalon, Valhalla, the Garden of Eden, Utopia, Shangri-la, nirvana.

It doesn't matter whether you are just a birder or a serious twitcher - Mission Beach has something to offer you in the way of Bird Watching. By the way - what is the difference between a birder and a twitcher ??

If you are a birding couple or one birder and a long-suffering partner, Mission Beach here in North Queensland offers you a multitude of different bird species. I have even started a guest page dedicated to Birders - go on have a look, you may recognise someone !!

I have got to say, that neither Sue nor I are bird watchers, but we are grateful to have guests that can recognise all the various birds, so that we can then look extremely knowledgeable in the face of other guests. We are pretty good at recognising the Cassowary, and we can answer pretty much any Cassowary question that the guests throw at us.

Below is a list of Bird life in the area (from Mission Beach to Bramston Beach) compiled from observations by Park Rangers and the general public. I've put the list into alphabetic order - it may not be the best order, but it sort of makes sense to me. All the birds below in RED have been spotted by several birding couples whilst here in November of 2005. Special thanks to Nicky and Colin of Verwood, Dorset and John and Brenda from Forfar, Scotland. Isn't North Queensland just an amazing place ??

Australian Brush-Turkey, Australian Grebe, Australian Hobby, Australian Kestrel, Australian King Parrot, Australian Magpie, Australian Magpie-Lark, Australian Owlet Nightjar, Australian Pelican, Australian Pratincole, Azure Kingfisher

Back Swan, Barn Swallow, Bar-Shouldered Dove, Bar-Tailed Godwit, Barred Cuckoo-shrike, Beach Stone-Curlew, Beach Thick-Knee, Black Breasted Buzzard, Black Butcherbird, Black Kite, Black Necked Stork, Black Shouldered Kite, Black-Eared Cuckoo, Black-Faced Cuckoo-Shrike, Black-Faced Monarch, Black-Fronted Plover, Black-Naped Tern, Black Winged Stilt, Blue-Winged Kookaburra, Brahimy Kite, Bridled Honeyeater, Bridled Tern, Brolga, Brown Cuckoo Dove, Brown Falcon, Brown Gerygone, Brown Goshawk, Brown Honeyeater, Brown Quail, Brown Treecreeper, Brown-Backed Honeyeater, Brush Cuckoo, Buff-Banded Rail, Buff-Breasted Paradise Kingfisher, Buff-Rumped Thornbill, Bush Hen, Bush Thick-Knee

Caspian Tern, Cattle Egret, Channel-Billed Cuckoo, Chestnut-Breasted Mannikin, Chowchilla, Cicadabird, Collared Kingfisher, Comb-Crested Jacana, Common Koel, Common Mynah, Common Noddy, Common Sandpiper, Common Tern, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Crested Tern, Crimson Finch

Darter, Dollarbird, Double-Eyed Fig Parrot, Dusky Honeyeater

Easter Curlew, Eastern Reef Egret, Eastern Whipbird, Eastern Yellow Robin, Emerald Dove, Eurasian Coot

Fairy Gerygone, Fairy Martin, Fan-Tailed Cuckoo, Feral Pigeon, Figbird, Forest Kingfisher, Fork-Tailed Swift

Glossy Ibis, Golden Bowerbird, Golden-Headed Cisticola, Gould’s Bronze Cuckoo, Graceful Honeyeater, Great Bowerbird, Great Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Great Egret, Greenshank, Grey Fantail, Grey Goshawk, Grey Shrike-Thrush, Grey Teal, Grey Whistler, Grey-Headed Robin, Grey-Tailed Tattler, Gull-Billed Tern

Hardhead, Helmeted Friarbird, Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoo, House Sparrow

Intermediate Egret

Large Sand Plover, Large-Billed Gerygone, Large-Billed Scrubwren, Large-Tailed Nightjar, Laughing Kookaburra, Leaden Flycatcher, Least Frigatebird, Lemon-Bellied Flycatcher, Lesser Crested Tern, Lesser Golden Plover, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Little Black Cormorant, Little Eagle, Little Egret, Little Kingfisher, Little Pied Cormorant, Little Shrike-Thrush, Lovely Fairy-Wren

Macleay’s Honeyeater, Maned Duck, Mangrove Gerygone, Mangrove Robin, Marsh Harrier, Masked Lapwing, Metallic Starling, Mistletoebird, Mongolian Plover

Noisy Friarbird, Noisy Pitta, Northern Fantail, Nutmeg Mannikin

Olive-Backed Oriole, Orange-Footed Scrubfowl, Osprey

Pacific Baza, Pacific Black Duck, Pacific Heron, Pale-Yellow Robin, Papuan Frogmouth, Peaceful Dove, Peregrine Falcon, Pheasant Coucal, Pied Cormorant, Pied Currawong, Pied Imperial Pigeon, Pied Monarch, Purple Swamphen

Rainbow Bee-Eater, Rainbow Lorikeet, Red-Backed Fairy-Wren, Red-Browed Firetail, Red-Capped Plover, Red-Kneed Dotterel, Red-Necked Crake, Red-Necked Stint, Red-Winged Parrot, Restless Flycatcher, Richard’s Pipit, Rose-Crowned Fruit-Dove, Royal Spoonbill, Ruddy Turnstone, Rufous Fantail, Rufous Night Heron ??, Rufous Whistler

Sacred Ibis, Sacred Kingfisher, Satin Bowerbird, Satin Flycatcher, Scaly-Breasted Lorikeet, Sharp-Tailed Sandpiper, Shining Bronse Cuckoo, Shining Flycatcher, Silvereye, Sooty Owl, Sooty Oystercatcher, Southern Boobook, Southern Cassowary, Spangled Drongo, Spectacled Monarch, Spotted Catbird, Spotted Turtle-Dove, Square Tailed Kite, Squatter Pigeon, Straw Necked Ibis, Striated Heron, Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo, Superb Fruit-Dove

Tawny Grassbird, Terek Sandpiper, Tooth-Billed Catbird, Topknot Pigeon, Torresian Crow, Torresian Imperial-Pigeon, Tree Martin, Tropical Scrubwren

Varied Honeyeater, Varied Triller, Variegated Fairy-Wren, Victoria’s Riflebird

Wandering Tattler, Wandering Whistling Duck, Welcome Swallow, Whimbrel, Whiskered Tern, Whistling Kite, White Faced Heron, White-Bellied Cuckoo-Shrike, White-Bellied Sea-Eagle, White-Breasted Woodswallow, White-Browed Crake, White-Browed Woodswallow, White-Eared Monarch, White-Gaped Honeyeater, White-Headed Pigeon, White-Rumped Swiftlet, White-Throated Gerygone, White-Throated Honeyeater, White-Throated Needletail, Willie Wagtail, Wompoo Fruit-Dove

Yellow Billed Spoonbill, Yellow Honeyeater, Yellow Oriole, Yellow-Bellied Sunbird, Yellow-Breasted Boatbill, Yellow-Eyed Cuckoo-Shrike, Yellow-Spotted Honeyeater