Welcome Waders Return to Cairns
Sat, 05 Sept
|Cairns Esplanade (opposite RSL)
Celebrate the safe arrival of waders with friends, locals and visitors. This event is a part of Cairns Birding Festival.
Time and location
05 Sept 2026, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm AEST
Cairns Esplanade (opposite RSL), Esplanade, Cairns City QLD 4870, Australia
About the event
Welcome Waders Return to Cairns
Each year, one of nature’s most extraordinary journeys ends right here in Cairns.
Thousands of migratory shorebirds – known as waders – arrive on our coastline after flying thousands of kilometres along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway, one of the world’s great bird migration routes. Many have travelled from breeding grounds in Siberia, Alaska, Mongolia, and northern China, stopping at wetlands across Asia before reaching the rich feeding grounds of northern Australia.
The Cairns Esplanade mudflats are internationally significant. Their vast intertidal flats teem with worms, crabs, molluscs, and other invertebrates that provide the fuel these remarkable birds need to survive our tropical summer before making the return journey north to breed.
From tiny Red-necked Stints weighing little more than a matchbox, to elegant Bar-tailed Godwits, Great Knots, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Whimbrels, and the iconic Eastern Curlew – the world’s largest migratory shorebird – these incredible travellers depend on…