AABIRDING & TRAVEL

Private Tours

Tour Schedule

AUSTRALIA
The Other Half

AUSTRALASIA
Papua New Guinea

AUSTRALASIA
New Zealand, Oceania,
Moluccas.

SOUTH ASIA

EURASIA

AFRICA

N. AMERICA

S. AMERICA

aabirdblog

NEWaabirdblog
-----------------
CLUBS
Birding Cairns

The Australasian Bird Club
--------------------
CONTACT INFO

Andy Anderson
AABirding 
tours@aabirding.com
tel +64+33441319
tel +61+40318803
77D Carmen Rd, 
Christchurch, 
New Zealand.

ASSOCIATED CONTACTS
 - AUSTRALIA

Ben Blewitt
Cassowary Tours
<benblewitt@yahoo.com>

John Crowhurst
tel 61+740514194
Cairns.

Kate Prynne
<kateprynne@zoomnet.com.au>

John Seale
<johnsealeoz@yahoo.com>

SOUTH ASIA
Jan 3 -24  North India, 
West Nepal, Sri Lanka. 
with Ben Blewitt

AUSTRALASIA
Jan 30 - Feb 22. New Zealand

NORTH AMERICA
Apr 15 - May 6.USA - Across the South. 

EURASIA 
June 21 - 30. Kuril Islands Pelagic Cruise.
July 1 - 8. Kamchatka. 

AFRICA
Oct 10 - 24.   Central & South-east Madagascar
Oct 24 - 31.   North-east Madagascar

AUSTRALASIA
Nov 3 - 21. S.E. Australia.

2008 

EURASIA
May  13 - 26. Birding West-Central China.
May 27 - Jun 9. The Old Silk Road, Birds & History. Part I, West China.
June 9 - 16. Birding Xinjiang.

AABirding & Travel has something for almost every one. But wildlife is king. So our motto could well be - "Around the block or around the world as long as we're looking at wildlife."

AUSTRALIA - Cairns-area Birding, the Esplanade.

      The real centre of the Australasian Avifaunal Area is the Cairns Esplanade.
This is the northern end. In the middle foreground is a pair of Beach Thicknees. The tide is half-way out but still 20-30 species of mudflat birds, including pelicans, ibis, and herons, are usually present during the day. 
       A 1.5 hr morning walk along the foreshore could produce 40 species, as many as 20 species being land birds.

    This Asian Dowitcher photo (© to Andrew P Anderson) was taken in October 2004. The other two,  Red-capped Plover and Black-fronted Dotterel are Australasian endemics.

    The Esplanade, where John Crowhurst still reigns King even after (especially after?) 30 years of almost-daily bird observations (he has personally recorded nearly 240 species from the Esplanade in that time, mostly of course, from the land side), is rightly known world-wide as one of THE places to watch shorebirds from. With the new board-walk now, it is even better than it was, the birds sometimes coming almost underneath the watchers!

        Some wide-ranging species that are vagrants where most European birders come from, are regarded as easy to see at Cairns. Two specialities, found there all year round, are Terek Sandpiper and Great Knot, with Sharp-tailed Sandpiper very common from mid-August to start of April. A few Broad-billed Sandpipers arrive early November and stay until late March. One or two Asian Dowitchers can also sometimes occur in late November and may stay until mid-January. 

Some of the best shorebird watching in the world?
  To illustrate how tame Cairns shorebirds are, here, only 20 metres away, is a non-breeding Red-necked Stint surrounded by a group of sleeping Great Knots and Bar-tailed Godwits.They are relaxed because they are conditioned to hundreds of people walking past every day. 
 
 

AUSTRALIA - Cairns-area Birding, the Centenary Lakes.

   The #2 major birding hotspot in Cairns City is the Centenary Lakes area.  A 3-hour stroll around here could  produce over 60 species, many of them endemic to Australia but some, like Black Bittern, Little Kingfisher and Rufous Owl, are widespread in three or more countries and much sought after. Red-necked Crakes can be seen along the boardwalk between the freshwater lake and the Botanic Gardens.

Orange-footed Scrubfowls, pictured here, and Australian Brush-turkeys are the region's representatives of the mainly-Australasian family of Megapodes. Both species are easily seen in the Centenary Lakes area.

A pair of Papuan Frogmouths, on their non-breeding season roost, have been regualary seen about 50m from the eastern end of the boardwalk in the first halves of 2005 & 2006. Although rufous forms occur, see how cryptic this grey form can be. 

This Little Kingfisher is one of a pair whose non-breeding territory is centered on the east end of the fresh-water lake at the Centenary Lakes in the city of Cairns.