Cape York Bird Trip Report

September 14-26, 2006

NOTE: For an extensive report with photos follow the links below. Otherwise the detailed bird report follows.         

I left Kingfisher Park in Julatten on Thursday, September 14 and returned there on Tuesday, September 26, 2006. My itinerary had me in the Musgrave/Artemis Station for 2 nights, Iron Range National Park for 5 nights, Weipa for 1 night, a night at Elliot/Twin Falls, two nights at Punsand Bay, and one night back at Musgrave/Artemis Station.

Road conditions were good (no problems) throughout. The road into Iron Range was just fine and 4WD wasn’t even needed except for the few creek/river crossings. The road to Portland Roads was basically perfect. It should be noted that the road to Chili Beach (and the campground) is closed except for local residents. It is deeply rutted though hard packed and dry for the last 1 km or so. I took the OTL north the entire way, bypassing only Gunshot Creek and then taking the Northern Bypass Road after Elliot/Twin Falls. While I have no previous experience to base my judgment, I feel like the road was in pretty good condition. Granted, it was the roughest road I have ever experienced but I had no problems with the road itself or any of the creek crossings. I also heard a rumor today that some construction took place at Gunshot Creek on 24/9 making the approach much better. Coming back south I took the bypass roads and while the corrugations were rough, again, there were no problems.

On to the birds…

The drive from Julatten up to Musgrave was fairly uneventful except for a couple nice birds including a trip of Bustards along West Mary Road south of Mt. Carbine, a flock of at least 20 Black Kites patrolling a brush fire a ways north of Mt. Carbine, and a lone Squatter Pigeon sitting in the road even farther north.

I started my trip with two nights (14-15 Sept) camping at Windmill Creek on Artemis Station just south of Musgrave Roadhouse. Here I hoped to see and, if I was really lucky, photograph the Golden-shouldered Parrots. Despite a combined 12 hours sitting and watching the pond over two evening and two mornings, I never glimpsed a single Golden-shouldered. In fact, the only parrot to come in to drink was a single Galah on the second evening. Both evenings I had Little Friarbirds and Blue-faced and White-throated Honeyeaters coming in to bathe but other than that and the resident 6 Forest Kingfishers I didn’t see a single bird come down to the water. Other birds that were in the area included 2 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos, tons of Rainbow Lorikeets flying over, a pair of Brolga, a Brown Goshawk, and a couple Double-barred Finches among others.

While in the area, I drove in to Lotus Bird Lodge during midday on the 15th just to see what the place was like. It was a very nice property with a lot of birds, notably 500+ Magpie Geese on their lagoon. The less numerous birds, though not at all less interesting, included Comb-crested Jacanas, Green Pygmy Geese, Wandering Whistling-Ducks, 3 Radjah Shelducks, a young Black-necked Stork, and 5 Brolga. I also had my first Red-winged Parrots that spooked from a tree as I walked around the lagoon.

After another unsuccessful morning looking for the parrots on the 16th, I headed into Iron Ranges National Park. The drive in was pretty uneventful as I was more focused on the driving then anything else not knowing really what to expect. I spent the next five days birding and photographing between Portland Roads and the Rainforest Campground with a few forays to places like the Smuggler’s Tree. I got all of my target birds except 3, Northern Scrub-robin, Yellow-legged Flycatcher, and Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo. I also missed the wet season birds that hadn’t arrived yet (Red-bellied Pitta, Paradise Kingfisher, and Black-winged Monarch). Below is a brief list of some of the better birds I saw and where they were.

Cook’s Hut: Australian Brush-turkey (purple wattled race), Rufous Owl (heard), Marbled Frogmouth (heard), Large-tailed Nightjar (just up the road on nest), Yellow-billed Kingfisher (heard), Noisy Pitta, Frill-necked Monarch, White-faced Robin, Yellow-breasted Boatbill (feeding very recently fledged young), Green-backed Honeyeater, Magnificent Riflebird,

Rainforest Camp: Australian Brush-turkey (purple wattled race). Frill-necked Monarch, White-faced Robin, Gray Whistler, Tropical Scrubwren

Smuggler’s Tree: Eclectus Parrot, Tropical Scrubwren

Chili Creek: Australian Brush-turkey (purple wattled race), Yellow-billed Kingfisher. Tawny-breasted Honeyeater, Black Butcherbird,

Chili Beach: Lovely Fairy-wren, Fawn-breasted Bowerbird, Waders

Portland Roads: Great Frigatebird, Lesser Frigatebird, Brown Booby, Black-naped Tern, Sooty Tern, Double-eyed Fig Parrots (excavating cavity in front of Portland Roads Beach Hut)

Other Birds Seen along Road: Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Palm Cockatoo, Red-cheeked Parrot, Trumpet Manucode, Magnificent Riflebird (calling everywhere)

On the morning of September 21st I headed back west to resupply and refuel in Weipa. On my way, outside of the national park but not too far, I found a mixed flock of honeyeaters that included White-streaked Honeyeater, a target bird, but I didn’t manage to get any photos. Only other interesting birds on the drive where a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles and a Whistling Kite feeding on a road killed Kangaroo. In Weipa there wasn’t much to report as I didn’t do much birding but I did get to see the hundreds of frigate birds (mostly Lesser, though both species were represented) that were coming in to roost in the evening (I assume). Also, a number of Black-winged Stilts and Radjah Shelducks were feeding at low tide along the shore of the campground.

I left Weipa on the 22nd and headed north along the Overland Telegraph Line track. Again, my focus was pretty much consumed by the driving and I have found that rough roads and traveling alone means I miss a lot of birds since I don’t get to look around as much. Anyway, the drive was an adventure in itself and one that I had been a bit nervous about. I am proud to report that everything went smoothly and I really enjoyed it.

By the 23rd of September, I arrived at the Tip and set up camp at Punsand Beach. A relaxing afternoon in the campground overlooking the beach yielded Crested Terns and Brown Boobies as well as more purple-wattled Brush-Turkeys and the ubiquitous Yellow-spotted Honeyeater.

September 24 had me making the trek up to the actual tip. On the drive up I flushed a trio of Palm Cockatoos but otherwise uneventful. Surprisingly, the rainforest boardwalk to the actual tip yielded some good birds. A fig tree was in full fruit and held both Wompoo and Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves, Pied Imperial Pigeons, a single Topknot Pigeon, a flock of Figbirds, and a lone Metallic Starling.

Here I would like to interpose a few questions. First, according to Simpson & Day, Topknots aren’t supposed to be this far north and Pizzey & Knight say occasional north of Cooktown I believe. This bird had very ragged plumage but clearly was a Topknot. Is it unusual to have one this far north? Are they north-south migrants and if so wouldn’t he be headed in the wrong direction?

Speaking of migrants, while at the campground and sitting at the tip, I witnessed at least 4 different flocks over two days of Rainbow Bee-eaters that seemed to appear over the ocean. The flocks contained upwards of 20 birds. Would these be birds migrating across the Torres Strait? I also saw a few Rufous Fantails arriving while on the tip, though the birds were arriving as singles rather than flocks. Any thoughts?

I was planning on spending 2 days traveling back south but the desire to try for the Golden-shouldered Parrots again got to me so I headed down the bypass roads and made it to Musgrave again on the 25th. Again, mostly driving and not much birding though I did manage to see a fair number of Whistling Kites and several Wedge-tailed Eagles feeding on the fairly numerous roadkilled hogs and kangaroos. After arriving at Musgrave and getting permission to bush camp near Windmill Creek I headed down there for the evening. There wasn’t much time before dark so I decided to go for a short walk. While in Iron Ranges, I had run into to Roy S. and he had suggested another location, just south of Windmill Creek across the road from the dam where he had seen a half dozen birds on the way north. I went for a short wlak here and sure enough, had a flock of parrots fly over that I couldn’t identify, meaning they were something new. A few minutes later I located three in the top of a tree and confirmed that they were Golden-shouldereds, 2 males and a female. Quite excited at seeing these birds (they were my 300th species for the year) I called it a night but not until I found a Black-backed Butcherbird.

The next morning (9/26), I had Golden-shouldered Parrots seemingly everywhere right along the road. My highest count was 25 (5 males) in a single flock feeding on the ground though I sure there were others around but out of sight. They were rather accommodating and I was able to photograph them to my hearts content. The birds were located just south of Windmill Creek and the turn off to the dams which is on the east side of the road. I found the birds on the west side of the road near a metal gate in the fence, probably 400-600 meters south of the actual creek itself (which isn’t signposted by the way). If anyone is interested in GPS coordinates feel free to email me. I was able to see the birds from the road, without actually entering the property. They were quite conspicuous flying around and calling for several hours in the morning.

Afterwards, I headed south to Kingfisher Park and concluded my trip to the Cape. I had originally planned to go into Lakefield National Park for several days but I got worried about my car making a strange noise and decided to have it worked on instead. I probably will be heading into Lakefield from the west and exiting to Cooktown sometime in the next week or two and will post that update here as well.

Species Observed: 127 Species

Species Photographed: 17 Species