What's About: Cairns & Tablelands Birding, 27 July - 2 August 2026

A quieter week in the field, and a wetter one. Both regions ran well below their recent average, the Tablelands down to 63 observers over the week and Cairns to 100, off sharply from the fortnight before. The rain through the week is the likely reason; fewer people out, fewer checklists logged. It happens, and the birds do not mind a wet week one bit.

The migration keeps building

The season is still turning in our favour. The best of the week was a run of fresh arrivals as more spring migrants filtered in. A Papuan Eclectus near Craiglie and a Dollarbird in the Daintree were the pick of them, alongside a Pacific Koel up on the Tablelands and a Siberian Sand-Plover on the Barron River mouth. On the wetlands, a Great-billed Heron, a Common Greenshank and a Pied Heron all showed, and the Cairns Esplanade shorebird build-up carried on with Latham's Snipe now at more than one site. It is a good time to be watching the coast.

Where everyone was

Up on the Tablelands the Julatten patch and the Mount Molloy country did the heavy lifting, with Crater Lakes and Hasties Swamp steady as always. On the coast the Cairns Esplanade and the Daintree cruises drew the crowds. Even in a quiet week the good sites keep producing.

Flagged as unusual by eBird

Four records were flagged as unusual by eBird over the week. As always, we treat these as provisional until they are confirmed:

• Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo - multiple reports from the Tablelands, near Mount Molloy.
• Latham's Snipe - reported at two sites on the coast.
• Ashy-bellied White-eye - reported from Green Island, off Cairns.
• Satin Flycatcher - a single report from the Tablelands.

These records are flagged as unusual by eBird's automated filters and may be reviewed, corrected or withdrawn afterwards.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.

Our thanks, as ever, to everyone who got out in the wet and logged what they saw; the whole picture is built from those checklists, and a quiet week still adds to the record.

That was the week around Cairns and the Tablelands. Wet or not, the migration is only building from here, so it is a fine time to be out.