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Contact Call
Hasties Swamp Monthly Bird Survey: July 2025
Friday 4th July 2025 brought the first spell of cold on the Tablelands for this winter. The drive in towards Atherton was just magic, with the mountains wrapped in cloud glowing pink and gold with sunrise reflections and tall, pale-trunked Eucalypts rising from beds of swirling mist.
Lesley Deacon
4 hours ago3 min read
Warrina Lakes Parkland, Innisfail Monthly Bird Survey: July 2025
When you’re a birder – or a bird photographer – you inevitably check the weather before heading out. Sunday 6 July’s forecast wasn’t promising, and it sent me digging into the stats: on average, Innisfail gets rain on 196 days a year. That’s more than every second day – no wonder our group outings often battle gloomy skies!
Guest Contributor
Jul 212 min read
Hasties Swamp monthly bird survey: June 2025
It is always a bit of a shock when the cool weather starts. Although it was not super winter cold, it is the sudden winter change that makes it feel so chilly. The birds noticed it too and the carpark and surrounding trees were very quiet with a lack of birdsong at 7am. We suggested to Jen that we would have to drop the species numbers from the usual 50 for the biscuit reward.
Lesley Deacon
Jul 143 min read
Hasties Swamp monthly bird survey: May 2025
Friday 2 May saw another wet morning at Hasties. In fact we were down on birder numbers as a warm bed proved much more inviting than wandering in quite heavy rain. Fortunately, the rain eased somewhat and more people appeared as the morning progressed. Those with the fancy cameras, though, left them dry in the car, and if it was not for Sandy seeing the radar with no rain over Atherton and driving up from Cairns, I would have no photos at all.
Lesley Deacon
Jul 93 min read
Bornean banter and birds: Part 2
Two days of birding magic followed. The first of these was in a fancy hide (coffee, snacks, comfy chairs, toilet, cushions for our binoculars and cameras through the slats – only lacking cocktails) while we waited for his feathered Majesty to arrive. It wasn’t a certainty but Mr Bulwer, King of the Pheasants, had been a regular in the display area. While we waited, we were assailed with birding delight as the light gradually improved.
Denis Walls
Jul 23 min read
Vale Lloyd Nielsen, OAM
Lloyd's contributions to ornithology were exceptional. He received the prestigious J.N. Hobbs Memorial Medal from BirdLife Australia in 2014 for “Outstanding amateur contributions to Australasian ornithology,” and in 2020 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for “Service to Conservation and the Environment.”
BirdLife Northern Queensland
Jun 2511 min read
Warrina Lakes parkland, Innisfail monthly bird survey: June 2025
A major difference from our February, March, April, and May visits to Warrina Lakes Parkland was immediately obvious: no rain. The area was dry for a change: a welcome contrast after months of damp weather.
Guest Contributor
Jun 234 min read
Strengthening connections with Indigenous Rangers
BirdLife Australia’s Wetland Birds Monitoring Coordinator, Simon Kennedy, and BirdLife Northern Queensland Convenor, Denis Walls, attended the recent Indigenous Ranger Event at the Cairns Convention Centre: a gathering of Senior Rangers and Coordinators from across northern Australia, including Torres Strait.
BirdLife Northern Queensland
Jun 172 min read
Bornean banter and birds: Part 1
Stella and I recently returned from over three weeks in Sarawak and Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. We joined Birdtour Asia on a tour run by our friends James Eaton and Rob Hutchinson.
Denis Walls
Jun 134 min read
Hasties Swamp monthly bird survey: April 2025
We had been expecting the water birds to return by April, but the above average rainfall in the district has kept water levels higher than usual. Recent storms with heavy rain have water lying around the hide with the addition of swarms of mosquitoes.
Lesley Deacon
May 282 min read
Warrina Lakes parkland, Innisfail monthly bird survey: May 2025
Despite the morning rain, three keen birders explored Warrina Lakes Parkland, Innisfail on Sunday 11 May. Raincoats, umbrellas and gumboots were definitely essential, as were waterproof binos, but the perseverance of the team was rewarded.
Ceri Pearce
May 282 min read
2025 Wave the Waders Goodbye event at the Cairns Esplanade Foreshore
Hidetoshi Kudo (Mikey) | Cairns Area Coordinator Wave the Waders Goodbye is one of our longest-running annual north Queensland events...
Hidetoshi (Mikey) Kudo
May 282 min read
Five Years of Nordmann’s Greenshank: during Far North Queensland’s Wet Seasons from 2020–2021 to 2024–2025
Cairns has been quite fortunate in the last five years in having the opportunity to observe a rare migratory bird species, the Nordmann’s Greenshank. Since this individual is always single when observed at Cairns Esplanade foreshore (mudflat), we have the opportunity to monitor how the individual moults in each season.
Mikey (Hidetoshi) Kudo
May 193 min read
Hasties Swamp monthly bird survey: February and March 2025
With various celebrations and busy weeks, this report writer did not find time over February or March to write much. Not that there was much to write about. Having continuing rain and high water levels in the lagoon, the usual summer waterbirds are just not present. And wet weather does tend to discourage the bush birds. The February and March surveys were much the same as the January one.
Lesley Deacon
May 102 min read
Birds with Altitude 2024 Challenge Competition winner
We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2024 Birds with Altitude Challenge Competition is: 🏆 Margaret Muoio 🏆 As the competition winner, Margaret will enjoy a two-hour cruise on the Daintree River with the renowned Daintree River Boatman, Murray Hunt.
Ceri Pearce
May 92 min read
BirdLife Northern Queensland Annual General Meeting 13 April 2025
This year BirdLife Northern Queensland’s (BLNQ) Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on Sunday 13 April 2025 at the excellent facility of Cominos House on Greenslopes Street, Cairns. We had 20 attendees including our Secretary Renee who ‘Zoomed’ in from her home on the Central Coast of NSW.
Lindsay Fisher
May 23 min read
Conservation Matters
It was announced that another $250 million would be allocated to our Protected Areas to help reach the longer term target of 30% of our land and sea under protection by 2030. This is a laudable and essential step in trying to ensure most of our biodiversity might survive.
Peter Valentine
Apr 177 min read
Atherton Tablelands Bird Photography Group Report: February 2025
The Atherton Tablelands Bird Photography Group (ATBPG) has now been in existence for 18 months. The stated aim of the Group is: To become better bird photographers by bringing together those interested in birds and those interested in photography so that we may all benefit from their combined knowledge.
Alan Sweet
Mar 243 min read
Historical records of Peregrine Falcon attempts to catch prey at Cairns Airport
While conducting a regular bird survey at the Cairns Airport on 20 February 1997 at 5:25pm, I observed 48 Magpie Goose Anseranas semipalmata flushed whilst foraging in sedge ponding. As the geese rose into the air and began circling at a height of about 20m, a Peregrine Falcon took off from a nearby aerial tower where it had been perching.
Keith Fisher
Mar 242 min read
Despatches from across the ditch 3: Book reviews by Gary W Wilson
This book review considers the publication in 2023 and 2024 of autobiographies by Peter and Rosemary Grant that provide an overview of the
Gary & Robyn Wilson
Mar 243 min read
Contact Call archive
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