What's About: Cairns & Tablelands Birding, 29 October - 4 November 2026

A solid week across both regions as the spring birding keeps ticking along, with plenty of eyes still out in the field. Cairns logged 117 observers and 468 checklists, the Tablelands another 88 observers and 536 checklists, so a healthy turnout even as the season settles.

Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo holds on at Mt Lewis Road

The most-reported flagged bird again this week was the Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo up on Mt Lewis Road, with five reports and up to four birds logged in a day. It was our pick last week too, and a second week of steady reports tells you this is a settled, findable run rather than a one-off. It is one of the real Wet Tropics prizes, a scarce rainforest cuckoo that most people have to work hard for, so to have it reliable on an accessible stretch of road is well worth making time for. The lower rainforest section near Julatten is the place to be, get there early, and let your ears do as much of the work as your eyes, because it will often call well before it shows.

Masked Finches out at Chillagoe

Out west at Chillagoe a party of Masked Finches came through, with up to ten birds together and three reports across the week. This is dry-country finch habitat, a long way in feel from the rainforest, and Chillagoe is about as handy a spot as we get for it in the region. A tidy, well-marked finch with that clean black face and heavy pale bill, it is always a treat to connect with, and ten in a group is a proper little flock. A good one for anyone chasing the drier-country species.

The Little Curlew still on the turf farms

The Little Curlew is still being logged on the France Road turf farms at Edmonton, with three reports this week and a single bird hanging on. It has been a fixture on the turf for a few weeks now, and the short grass and open sightlines there make it an easy one to line up if you have not caught up with it yet. A good reminder that the turf farms stay worth a look right through the season.

Thanks as always to everyone putting their sightings into eBird across Cairns and the Tablelands. These weekly wraps only work because of the hours you all put in out in the field.

Get out there while the weather holds. See you Thursday.