Cape York Birdwatching Safari

Early morning we depart for the Cape York Peninsula, travelling across a vast expanse of tropical woodland. A fairly long drive today but we stop regularly to stretch our legs, at viewpoints or for incidental sightings of priority bird species. We’ll have lunch en route at a roadhouse in Lakeland or Laura and also visit an Indigenous Rock Art site at Quinkan. The sandstone escarpment here hosts a wealth of rock art sites, only some of which are accessible. Later this afternoon we settle in at our accommodation, Musgrave Roadhouse. Lunch and Dinner provided.

We have a full day to explore the vast and diverse Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park. At 537,000 ha this is Queensland’s second largest national park, protecting diversity of habitats like tropical woodlands, riparian forest, wetlands and grassy plains dotted with termite mounds. In these mounds is where the endangered Golden-shouldered Parrot nests. Some other key species we search for today are Pale-headed Rosella, Red-winged Parrot, Red Goshawk, Black-backed butcherbird, Yellow-tinted Honeyeater, Red-browed Pardalote, Northern Fantail, Great Bowerbird, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher, various waterbirds and Star, Crimson, Masked and Black-throated Finch. Mammals we may see include Agile Wallaby, Northern Nail-tailed Wallaby, Antilopine Wallaroo and Little Red Flying-fox. At dusk we will try our hand at finding Large-tailed and Spotted Nightjar and Australasian Grass-Owl (rare). Accommodation: Musgrave Roadhouse. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner provided.

After some morning birding in the Lakefield / Musgrave area we continue up the Peninsula Development road, stopping for lunch and a rest at the Archer River Roadhouse. From there we continue to the Iron Range, crossing through the northern part of the Great Dividing Range at Tozer’s Gap. Here we enjoy the stunning views of the ranges, heathland and forest and look out for the carnivorous tropical pitcher plants and other interesting flora growing here. This is a great habitat for the endemic White-streaked Honeyeater. After this it’s only a short drive before we cross the West Claudie River and check in at our lodge. Greenhoose is located adjacent to the Kutini-Payamu NP and is surrounded by its own private-access rainforest with several walking trails. We have a short leg stretch to orient ourselves and enjoy the bird specials often viewable in the lush tropical gardens and adjacent forest. Accommodation: The Greenhoose. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner provided.

We have three full days to uncover the diversity of this wonderful national park and biodiversity hotspot. Taking our time we visit a mosaic of habitats - lowland rainforest, towering riparian / gallery forest, tropical woodland, drier heathland on rocky ridges, mangroves and stunning palm-fringed beaches overlooking islands in the Coral Sea. High up on the list of species we’ll be looking for are the iconic Palm Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot and birds-of-paradise family Magnificent Riflebird and Trumpet Manucode. Two restricted range bowerbirds occur here too, the Fawn-breasted Bowerbird and Black-eared Catbird. Other key northern Cape York specials we’ll target include Spotted Whistling-duck, Red-cheeked Parrot, Yellow-billed Kingfisher, Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, Frill-necked Monarch, White-faced Robin, Northern Scrub-robin, Yellow-legged Flyrobin, Tropical Scrubwren, Green-backed, Tawny-breasted and White-streaked Honeyeater. Many other birds with a wider Australian distribution are also often seen here like Wompoo, Superb and Rose-crowned Fruit-dove, Noisy Pitta, White-eared Monarch, Grey Whistler and Yellow-breasted Boatbill. Yet other birds are noteworthy in being ‘Cape York’ sub-species, like Double-eyed Fig-parrot (ssp. marshalli), Australian Brush-turkey (ssp. purpureicollis), Little Bronze-cuckoo (ssp. russatus) and Red-browed Finch (ssp. minor). Accommodation: The Greenhoose. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner provided.

These three full days are flexible and we will visit several key sites in Iron Range National Park - like Gordon Creek, West Claudie Creek, Old Coen track and Cook’s Hut campground. Night spotting excursions on a couple of the nights might reveal Marbled and Papuan Frogmouth, Large-tailed and White-throated Nightjar and sometimes Rufous and Masked Owl. Some mammals we may see include Agile Wallaby, Dingo, Common Spotted Cuscus, Common Southern cuscus, Striped Possum, Krefft's (Sugar) Glider, Cape York Melomys, Cape York Rat, Northern Brown Bandicoot, Bare-backed Fruit Bat and Spectacled Flying-fox. Some reptiles we look out for include the stunning Green Tree Python, Scrub Python and several dragon and monitor species. Accommodation: The Greenhoose. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner provided.

In addition to extensive birding in Iron Range NP during our stay, we will also visit the mangroves and beaches in the Portland roads area and around Chili Beach. The beaches and rocks are great foraging and roosting areas for numerous waders and terns. We also scan any fruiting palms and beach almond trees for Palm Cockatoos quietly feeding. Accommodation: The Greenhoose. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner provided.

After some morning birding and breakfast we check out and visit the Lockhart River Art Gallery, showcasing artworks from the region’s Indigenous artists. After this it’s time to bid farewell to your guide/s and Cape York as you board the flight back to Cairns (flight not included)