What's About: Cairns & Tablelands Birding, 8 - 14 October 2026

A busy, high-quality week across both regions, and plenty of people out to enjoy it. Cairns logged 139 observers and 660 checklists, the Tablelands another 93 observers and 558 checklists, a strong turnout that tells its own story about how much was about.

Our header image is a Little Curlew kindly supplied by Daniel Winters-McAppion from his own collection. It is not this week's bird, shared simply as a portrait of the species.

The Satin Flycatcher influx builds

Last week we flagged a Satin Flycatcher influx just getting going. A week on it has not faded, it has grown into the clear story of the week, the most-reported flagged bird across both regions by a wide margin. Birds are moving through right across the map, from the Cairns Esplanade, Centenary Lakes, Cattana and Thala Beach on the coast up to Gadgarra and the southern Tablelands. It is a passage migrant on its way through, a neat black-and-white flycatcher very like the commoner Leaden, so every one is worth a careful look. This is the window to catch them, and this year they are not being shy about it.

A Little Curlew on the turf farms

The pick of the shorebirds was a Little Curlew working the France Road turf farms out at Edmonton and Wrights Creek, and it settled in well enough to be seen by plenty through the week. A small, slim-billed curlew of short grass rather than mudflats, it is a scarce and sought-after bird at the best of times, and one this twitchable does not come along often. If you have been meaning to get down there, it has been showing well.

And a stint at Hasties

Up on the Tablelands, a Long-toed Stint at Hasties Swamp was the other real quality bird, a tiny, finely marked wader that always repays the walk to the hide. An Australian Masked-Owl was heard again out towards Ravenshoe, still unconfirmed, but a nice hint that the night birds are about for anyone willing to stay out late.

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. With the Satin Flycatchers still pouring through and a Little Curlew on the turf farms, it is a fine time to be out. See you Thursday.