Cairns and Wet Tropics birding tours
From a half-day around the lakes to eight days through endemic territory. Small guided groups.
From a half-day around the lakes to eight days through endemic territory. Small guided groups.
Highlights from some of our trips
What we actually saw, written up by the guides after each day out.
167 species across our last 7 field reports
Full day bird and mammal tour
Cairns, coastal foothills, Trinity, Spectacled Flying Fox roost, Kuranda Range, Mareeba savanna, Granite Gorge Nature Park, Mareeba, Hasties Swamp, Yungaburra and Peterson Creek, Gillies Highway, Cairns
82 bird species
- Mistletoebird
- Spangled Drongo
- Forest Kingfisher
Photo: Kingfisher Birding
Birding Blitz: a day of photography and birding
Kuranda, Gilmore Rd, Biboohra, Mareeba backroads, Barron River bridge, Lake Mitchell, Mount Molloy, Abattoir Swamp, Kay Rd Mareeba, Kuranda
56 bird species
- Australian Bustard
- Brolga
- Black-necked Stork
Photo: Luke Clements
Savannah Birding Blitz
Kuranda, Red Hill, Biboohra, Mt Molloy and Mt Carbine
55 bird species
- Australian Bustard
- Black Kite
- Great Bowerbird
Photo: Kingfisher Birding
Wet Tropics specialties we look for
Half of Australia's bird species live in our region, including the 15 Wet Tropics endemics. These are some of the birds people travel here for. Nothing in the rainforest is guaranteed, and we'll always tell you honestly what the odds are on the day.
Endemic · Atherton Tablelands
Victoria's Riflebird
Our own bird of paradise. Males display with wings thrown up into a black fan, often from the same stump for weeks.
Endemic · Atherton Tablelands
Tooth-billed Bowerbird
Clears a court on the forest floor and lays fresh leaves on it pale side up, then calls from a perch just above.
Endemic · Upland rainforest
Golden Bowerbird
The male is gold and olive and builds a tall twin-tower bower from sticks. Quiet and easy to miss.
Endemic · Upland rainforest
Chowchilla
A ground bird that works the leaf litter in noisy family groups. Usually heard well before it is seen.
Endemic · Rainforest edges
Macleay's Honeyeater
Streaky, busy and often one of the first endemics of the day around rainforest edges and flowering trees.
Endemic · Atherton Tablelands
Grey-headed Robin
Sits low on trunks beside upland tracks and drops to the ground for insects. Often quite confiding.
Endemic · Upland rainforest
Lesser Sooty Owl
A night bird with a call like a falling whistle. We look for it after dark when conditions suit.
Specialty · Wet Tropics rainforest
Southern Cassowary
Endangered and wary. We keep our distance and never share where we see them.
What a day out with us is like
We pick you up at 7am, and we're usually birding within minutes. Pickup is part of the experience. The first stops work the rainforest edge while the morning is still busy. From there we climb onto the Atherton Tablelands for upland rainforest, crater lakes and open country, following whatever the conditions are doing that day. The pace is slow on purpose. We stand still, we listen, and we'll give one bird twenty minutes if that's what it takes for everyone to see it properly. Groups are small, so you get real time on the scope instead of a glimpse past someone's shoulder. There's a lunch stop along the way, and you're back at your accommodation late in the afternoon with a long list and a few birds you won't forget.
Join a Guided Expedition
8 days. Around 250 species, including all 15 endemic targets. Small guided groups. Led by Clayton Smith, who has spent over 25 years birding these rainforests.
View Expedition Details →Every Season Brings Something Different
There's no bad time to bird the Wet Tropics. There are different times. The dry season brings clear mornings and active bowerbird displays. The wet season delivers breeding plumage, nesting behaviour, and summer migrants from New Guinea and the Torres Strait.
Vagrants turn up without warning. A rare migrant appears over the Tablelands. A seabird gets pushed inland by a cyclone. Conditions change week to week, and the real picture comes from being on the ground every day.
This is a place worth returning to. I've been doing it for twenty-five years and the list keeps growing.
Clayton Smith, your lead guide
Learn more about Clayton →
Planning a birding trip to the Wet Tropics?
You're probably here for the endemics. So are we, and so is every minute of the day we spend in the field. But the region doesn't stop at 15 species. Half of Australia's birds live here, and on any given day we might be watching a Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher when a Little Kingfisher drops in below it. That's just how birding works up here. Tell us when you're coming and what you're hoping to see. We'll build the days around it.