Trip Reports

Cape York/Iron Range Trip Report by John Seale

I have just returned from my first trip to Iron Range, Cape York, Australia, one of THE top birdwatching places to go for both overseas and Australian birdwatchers. Iron Range is about 800 km north of Cairns and 200kms south of the tip of Cape York on its eastern coast. Iron Range is a large area of lowland rainforest which is unique in Australia. It has more in common with the rainforests of Papua New Guinea than the Wet Tropics of southern Cape York.

The 9-day trip was from 27/11/04-05/12/04. We had a 2-day drive up, 5 full days at Iron Range and 2 days back. There were only 3 people on the trip. The trip was the inaugural trip for a new bird guide business, Cassowary Tours, run by Ben Blewitt. The birdos were myself, John Seale, John Crowhurst, a local well-known birdo, and guide/operator Ben Blewitt. Both John C. and Ben had been to Iron Range before. I was looking forward to getting all the endemics up there and others as well.

I had moved to Cairns 8 months earlier and was a relatively new birdo in the area. The trip was timed to get in and out before the December "wet" season started yet late enough to see the Red-bellied Pitta which usually arrives in November from PNG.

The first day's easy travel from Cairns consisted of tea and lunch stops at good birding locations en route and ended at Musgrave. Just prior to reaching Musgrave we stopped to look for the rare Golden-shouldered Parrot. The initial location turned up my first SILVER-CROWNED FRIARBIRD but NOT the parrot. We moved to another nearby location to await the waterhole visit. After 40 minutes, just as we thought about leaving, 7 GOLDEN-SHOULDERED PARROTS, two males and 5 females, arrived and sat in the top of a tall gum tree close to the waterhole.

During the next 40 mins they were joined by 8 other birds in the same tree. They did not come down to drink but spent the whole time preening and preparing for the evening. Great telescope views were had. After arriving at Musgrave, booking into our rooms and getting a quick meal, we departed for an evening of spotlighting in the nearby Lakefield National Park. This 3-hour diversion turned up many Agile Wallabies, a Northern Nailtail Wallaby, an Echidna, a Barn Owl, a Burton's Legless Lizard and a Freshwater Crocodile walking across a causeway. Next morning we birded around the Musgrave Hotel for an hour before departing for Iron Range.

During the morning tea and lunch stops on this part of the trip, I picked up 3 new birds, PIED HERON, WHITE-STREAKED HONEYEATER and BLACK-BACKED BUTCHERBIRD. We reached the entrance to Iron Range in mid-afternoon and birded our way to the accommodation at Portland Roads. During these brief stops, I picked up another 4 new birds, TAWNY-BREASTED HONEYEATER, FRILLED MONARCH, WHITE-FACED ROBIN and the ECLECTUS PARROT. Magnificent Riflebirds and Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfishers were calling but these would wait for another day. At Iron Range we stayed at a guest house which looked out over the Coral Sea which we could just glimpse through the tops of the blossoms of the frangipani, the bougainvillea, the coconut palms and the poincettias.

On most mornings while the car was being packed I spent 10 mins to wander down to the local wharf. Here I saw both GREATER and LESSER FRIGATEBIRDS drifting above. I also got BRIDLED TERNS from the wharf. While at Iron Range, we birdwatched along the roads in the National Park during the day taking sandwiches for lunch. Much of the habitat is lowland rainforest but much is also drier woodland country. We also had a nearby area of mangroves that produced some good birds, especially the FAWN-BREASTED BOWERBIRD. John C had never seen the bower of this bird and he was the one to find one being attended by the owner/builder. We managed to get most of the area specials in the first few days. I got TRUMPET MANUCODE, MAGNIFICENT RIFLEBIRD, TROPICAL SCRUBWREN (my 500th Australian species seen), NORTHERN SCRUB ROBIN, and BLACK-WINGED MONARCH.

The Black-winged Monarch was seen while we were having lunch at the Cook's Cabin camping area. This was a new Australian bird for John C, his last new bird being an Isabelline Wheatear at Mt Carbine, some several years earlier. A great celebration ensued. Garbage dumps (tips) are often a good place to see birds and the Portland Roads tip was no exception. The PALM COCKATOO seemed to be a regular and spectacular occupant of the tip area.

An evening of spotlighting produced LARGE-TAILED NIGHTJAR and the call of the Marbled Frogmouth. Some birds proved elusive. We went looking for the GREEN-BACKED HONEYEATER at several locations but eventually picked it up at a lunch stop where an unusual call was followed up and resulted in long, low views of this cryptic bird.

In the last 2 days we concentrated on getting the 4 birds that we had not seen. We heard the Yellow-billed Kingfisher nearly every day but could not get a view of it. Around lunchtime one day we heard YBK calls and decided to take chairs and sandwiches into the bush and spend our time there. We sat in the rainforest near an arboreal termitarium with a hole in it. The birds called all around us but would not show themselves. As I led the way out to the car after lunch, I, apparently, almost stepped on a MARBLED FROGMOUTH. I knew nothing about it. Ben and John C saw it fly into a nearby tree and it sat there for about 30 mins being mobbed by honeyeaters and we had good telescope views.

Our next stop was the Smugglers Tree to get photos of Eclectus Parrots nesting in it. As soon as we parked, a YELLOW-BILLED KINGFISHER flew across our path and perched nearby with enough time to get telecope views. Typically, from then on we saw lots of them. We had only one look at the CHESTNUT-BREASTED CUCKOO and fortunately it was a long look with telescope eta l. While driving along one morning it called and Ben said "That's it" Slamming on the brakes we all piled out and heard it calling but only when it flew over the road did we see it when it perched high above for about 20 mins and still called. The RED-CHEEKED PARROT flew quickly over us on most days but we finally had good views of perched birds near the mangroves. I only saw the brown headed female/immatures. By the end of our Iron Range stay I had only missed out on 2 birds. The Yellow-legged Flycatcher was not heard nor seen. The other one was the Red-bellied Pitta which probably had not yet migrated down from PNG.

We left on the 4th Dec and we heard that it was first seen there on the 10th by another bird group. On one memorable evening we witnessed the swirling flight of thousands of starlings over a nearby island group. We watched them for 90 minutes from the comfort of our chairs set up on the sand with our sandwiches and a single beer. We saw the gradual build up of numbers from the mainland rainforest, gradual exploratory visits out to the islands, only 500 yards away, and then once the main group had remained over the islands thay started to fly rapidly in huge swirling formations like a tornado. All the time their numbers were being added to by more and more flocks arriving from the mainland. As they swirled low some birds roosted in the tops of the mangrove trees and started twittering. As dark fell, most of the birds had roosted and the noise was easily heard on the beach. A GREAT happening of nature.

On the return trip we again stopped at Musgrave. We had a morning in the Lakefield National Park where we had spotlighted on the way up. I saw tropical lagoons, dry grasslands and remote mangroves. The only new bird for me was the RUFOUS-BANDED HONEYEATER. We looked for the Star Finch and the Zitting Cisticola and the Red-headed Honeyeater. There had benn NO recent sightings of these birds but we saw some great country and habitat. At one edge of a lagoon were Black-throated, Masked Finches and Chestnut-breasted Mannikins.

On the whole trip I saw 26 new birds in Australia. All travel was in a comfortable air-conditioned 4WD vehicle. The vehicle had a fridge which kept our food and drinks cool. The accommodation was casually comfortable with plenty of space and great views and Ben cooked for us every day at Iron Range. The tour library was well used especially the Fruits of the Rainforest book. I spent an hour or so each evening trying to identify the fruits, seeds etc that I collected during the day. Ben knows his birds, their calls and where to find them. I understand that future Iron Range trips will have an extra day in order to have one full day at Lakefield National Park. I can thoroughly recommend Cassowary Tours for a birwatching trip. They hope to have many itineraries starting in 2005 and may be contacted on (07) 4034 1202 or email info@cassowarytours.com.au or website www.cassowarytours.com.au

- John Seale