What's About: Cairns & Tablelands Birding, 22 - 28 October 2026

A quieter but still rewarding week across both regions, with good numbers out in the field as the spring rush eases off. Cairns logged 125 observers and 417 checklists, the Tablelands another 100 observers and 581 checklists, so plenty of eyes on the birds even in a settling week.

A Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo on Mt Lewis Road

The pick of the week was up on Mt Lewis Road, where a Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo came through on three separate reports from the lower rainforest section. It is one of the real Wet Tropics prizes, a scarce and often elusive rainforest cuckoo that most people have to work hard for, so a run of reports from an accessible stretch of road is well worth paying attention to. Mt Lewis is reliable habitat for it, and an early start along the lower track gives you the best chance of connecting. Listen as much as you look, because it will often give itself away by call before you ever set eyes on it.

From our own notebook: Ashy-bellied White-eyes on Green Island

Out on Green Island on Monday 26 October we had three Ashy-bellied White-eyes working through the island vegetation. In Australia this is a bird of the offshore islands, mostly the Torres Strait and a handful of reef cays like Green Island and Low Isles, so it is one you have to get your feet wet for. Look for the paler, greyer underparts and stronger yellow throat compared with the Silvereyes you will see on the mainland. If you are heading out to the reef, keep an eye on the trees around the island as well as the water.

A Wandering Tattler on the coast

Sharing top billing for reports was a Wandering Tattler, logged along the southern end of the Cairns Esplanade and at the East Trinity boat ramp. It is an uncommon visitor here and easy to wave off as the commoner Grey-tailed Tattler, so it pays to check the call, the plain grey upperparts and the leg colour before you call it. Worth a careful scan if you are working the Esplanade mudflats on a falling tide.

Good birds out past Herberton

The dry country near Watsonville, out past Herberton, turned up a couple of crackers. A Spotted Quail-thrush was reported twice, with up to two birds, a secretive ground bird that is always a treat to pin down in the open woodland out there. A Satin Flycatcher was logged from the same area too, a late straggler from the passage that filled the reports a fortnight ago. Further west near Chillagoe there was a small party of Masked Finches of the white-eared inland form, a nice reward for anyone making the drive.

The Little Curlew thins out

Last week's star, the Little Curlew on the France Road turf farms at Edmonton, has quietened right down to a single report, so the little flock that drew the crowds looks to be moving on. If you still need it, go sooner rather than later, and do not bank on it being there.

Thanks as always to everyone logging their sightings to eBird, it is your checklists that make this wrap possible. Get out while the mornings are still cool and see what you can turn up.

See you Thursday.