What's About: Cairns & Tablelands Birding, 10 - 16 September 2026

These records are flagged as unusual by eBird's automated filters and may be reviewed, corrected or withdrawn afterwards. We re-check each one against eBird before posting, but a flagged sighting is provisional until it is confirmed.

If last month belonged to the Redshank, this one belongs to the Kelp Gull. The bird that turned up on the Cairns Esplanade a fortnight ago has not only stayed, it has become the most-watched bird on the coast, logged day after day by a steady stream of birders. For one stretch of foreshore to host two genuine mega-rarities back to back is a remarkable run of form, and word has travelled well beyond Cairns.

The gull that stayed

A Kelp Gull is a serious rarity for tropical Queensland, and this one has settled in beautifully. Through the week it was reported right along the Esplanade, from the northern end to the southern, morning and afternoon, and even from a balcony or two overlooking the water. It is still being seen as we go to press. If you have not been down yet, it has been reliable, and the northern end at a falling tide remains the best bet. Coming so soon after the Redshank, it is turning the Cairns foreshore into the place to be this spring.

And a quiet farewell

While the gull holds court, the bird it succeeded has bowed out for good. The last lingering Common Redshank report was reviewed and withdrawn this week, which closes the book on a three-week stay that will be talked about for a long time. From one world-class vagrant straight into another, the Esplanade has had a spring to remember.

Spring is pouring in

Behind the headline birds, the migration is at full tilt. The waders led the way with a Broad-billed Sandpiper on the Esplanade, a Grey Plover and a Double-banded Plover, a Common Sandpiper up around Mount Carbine and a Sanderling on the Barron River mouth. A Satin Flycatcher turned up near Port Douglas, a Papuan Eclectus at the Wildlife Habitat, and White-browed Woodswallows are moving through. Up on the Tablelands the rainforest and dry-country edges are busy, with plenty of movement through Julatten, the Crater Lakes and out towards Chillagoe. After the winter lull, there is a lot about.

Our thanks, as ever, to everyone who got out and logged what they saw, and to the local photographers who share their shots; the whole picture is built from all of it.

That was the week around Cairns and the Tablelands. A Kelp Gull holding court, the shorebirds arriving daily, and the coast in the form of its life. See you Thursday.