What's About: Cairns & Tablelands Birding, 15 - 21 October 2026

A steady, rewarding week across both regions, with plenty of people out making the most of the spring birding. Cairns logged 135 observers and 532 checklists, the Tablelands another 66 observers and 432 checklists, a healthy turnout and a fair bit to show for it.

The Little Curlew hangs on at France Road

The bird most people wanted this week was the Little Curlew on the France Road turf farms at Edmonton. We flagged it last week as it arrived, and it has settled in nicely, with up to three birds logged and eighteen separate reports, comfortably the most-reported flagged bird of the week. The turf farms are classic habitat for it, short grass and open sightlines, and good access has made this a very twitchable bird. If it is still on your list, this is the week to go and get it.

White-eyes out on the cays

For sheer quality the pick of the week was offshore, an Ashy-bellied White-eye reported from both Green Island and Low Isles. It is a bird of the far northern islands and cays rather than the mainland, so a record out on the reef cays is a proper treat and well worth the boat trip for anyone keen to chase it. Grey below with a clean yellow throat and a bold white eye-ring, it is distinctive once you get a decent look, and the cays are a fine place to be doing the looking.

A wagtail and a stint keep the passage going

Spring migration kept ticking over with a couple of good shorebird-season birds. An Eastern Yellow Wagtail turned up on the France Road turf farms at Edmonton, a scarce passage migrant and always a nice one to connect with on the short grass. Up on the Tablelands, a Long-toed Stint was again at Hasties Swamp near Atherton, carrying on from recent weeks, a small, fine-billed stint that repays a patient scan from the hide.

Thanks as always to everyone putting their sightings into eBird. It is your checklists that make this wrap possible each week, and this one leant heavily on the turf farm regulars and the folks heading out to the cays.

Get out there while the passage is running. See you Thursday.