top of page
Contact Call
The Birds With Altitude Project: Citizen science monitoring in the Wet Tropics
In June 2022, BirdLife Northern Queensland, with the support of BirdLife Australia, secured a $10,747 Queensland Government Sustainability Action Grant to initiate bird monitoring activities in Wooroonooran National Park, which spans 114,900 hectares of pristine rainforest.
Ceri Pearce
6 days ago5 min read
Conservation Matters
Concerns for Australia’s migratory Swifts: For many years the observations of citizen scientists and birders have been compiled by Michael Tarburton, who would generously produce annual reports on each species, and occasionally write updates and other information summaries. This year Michael announced that he is no longer going to compile the data as the evidence he was seeking is now clear: both species are in serious decline.
Peter Valentine
Oct 17 min read
Old friends and new places - Our Grasswrens in May 2025
In late October–November 2023, extensive wildfires swept through the core areas for Carpentarian Grasswrens, north-west of Mount Isa in outback Queensland. BirdLife Northern Queensland has been monitoring both Carpentarian and Kalkadoon Grasswrens in that area for several years now, so we have a good baseline of just where we can find groups of both species.
Kath Shurcliff
Sep 14 min read
Where are our Cranes?
The Crane Count is one of the longest running citizen science projects in Australia, now entering its 27th year. The Atherton Tablelands has hosted both species of Australia’s cranes with records dating back to around the 1920’s for Brolga and 1967 for Sarus.
Ed Bell
Aug 54 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
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
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
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
Grasswren survival?
Call for volunteers to survey grasswrens in western Queensland – April/May 2025
Kath Shurcliff
Feb 282 min read
Convenor's report: February 2025
Many of you know me from other roles I have had in Far North Queensland, perhaps more as an environmentalist than a birdwatcher. For your interest, I grew up in a birding family and my father was well-known in the Scottish birding community. We had a huge aviary in our back garden although, nowadays, they tend to be frowned upon. My father, brother and I also had big bird egg collections before those, understandably, became infra dig.
Denis Walls
Feb 264 min read
Recent literature about north Queensland birds: December 2024
This compilation features a particularly high percentage of articles produced by local ornithologists, and includes four published in Australian Field Ornithology; two in the North Queensland Naturalist; and two in Emu; along with four other journals or magazines.
Don Franklin
Jan 248 min read
Multi-species cluster nesting – some north Queensland observations
Many people will have observed finches building their nest in the base of a raptor’s nest. In such cases it does seem obvious that the protection afforded the tiny finch comes from them being too small to be prey for the raptor, and the raptor being large enough to keep any nest predator away. I recall an early sighting of Zebra Finches (two pairs) building their nests in the base of a Wedge-tailed Eagle nest in the Diamantina National Park in Outback Queensland.
Peter Valentine
Dec 11, 20243 min read
Conservation Matters
The change of leadership in the USA will make little difference to many victims of oppression around the world: the global poor have long ceased viewing the USA as a country that cares, clearly borne out by the USA internal policies and actions. But one area in which global leadership fears will be affected is in action on climate change.
Peter Valentine
Dec 5, 20246 min read
Globally decreasing bird numbers: Part 5 – Entomopathic Fungi
In Part 5, the final in this series, I discuss entomopaths – specialised fungi that are parasitic on insects and other invertebrate food sources that insectivores, including many bird species, depend upon. Entomopathic fungi are becoming more prevalent in the environment because of climate change, and causing greater loss of insectivores’ food sources.
Barry Muir
Oct 22, 20244 min read
Globally decreasing bird numbers: Part 4 – Mangroves and flyways
Barry Muir | Guest Contributor In Part 1 of this series (Muir 2024a), I dealt with climate change myths. In Part 2 (Muir 2024b) I...
Barry Muir
Oct 3, 20244 min read
BirdLife Northern Queensland honoured with the Chair’s Award at the 20th Cassowary Awards
Ceri Pearce | Birds With Altitude Project Leader Ceri Pearce and Amanda Freeman were extremely honoured to accept the Chair’s Award on...
Ceri Pearce
Sep 30, 20245 min read
Conservation Matters
Peter Valentine | Conservation Officer Is there perhaps a sense of hope in the air? Have we turned the corner on wilful discounting...
Peter Valentine
Sep 11, 20245 min read
Birds With Altitude Campout: 23–25 August
Ceri Pearce | Birds With Altitude Project Leader Six participants enjoyed the wilds of the Misty Mountains during the recent Birds With...
Ceri Pearce
Sep 10, 20245 min read
Book review: Peter Hitchcock – Defender of Forests. His story protecting tall eucalypts and rainforests.
Denis Walls | Guest Contributor Peter Hitchcock – Defender of Forests. His story protecting tall eucalypts and rainforests. Edited by...
Denis Walls
Aug 30, 20244 min read
Contact Call archive
Contact Call has been our quarterly newsletter full of great articles about birds, birding, conservation, and opportunities to get involved since 1994. Even though Contact Call is 'going digital', you can still access a full archive of past editions here:
Subscribe
Enter your email below to sign up to our mailing list. We send out regular monthly emails to let you know what's on that month, as well as sharing Contact Call news and editorial articles. We won't share your details or spam you!
Get involved
Contact Call is emailed to, and shared by, hundreds of bird lovers locally and around the world. Full of quality content, its the perfect opportunity to promote your business at an affordable price to a highly targeted audience. Contact us today to find out more.
Do you have a great birding, travel, or conservation story you want to share? We're always looking for great editorial submissions. Please note, all submissions are subject to editorial approval and are not guaranteed.
bottom of page