East Australian bird families. Cassowary and Lyrebirds. Intense birding.
Tour Date:
January 16-21, 2026 (Barrier reef pre trip Jan 15-16)
Tour Price (Per Person):
2024 USD: $2900 Pre-trip: US$700.
Includes flights Cairns-Brisbane and Brisbane-Sydney with checked-in bag or cabin bag, plus personal item (Both checked-in bag and cabin bag results in an additional cost) and meals mentioned in the description.
Tour Type:
Hardcore birding maximising the time to get most Australian bird families and special birds.
Description
Eastern Australia with the Great Dividing Range gives the best birding with the highest diversity of the continent, as one can access both the coastal lowlands and the highlands, as well as a short side trip to the plains of the west.
We are setting off for five very intense days in three areas. Two days from Cairns, two days from Brisbane and one day from Sydney.
During these five days, there shall be two owling sessions on two of days with 12 hours birding.
On the other hand, if you consider to join us for 12 or 14 days in Australia, you should know that the 2 day pre-trip is very relaxed, the main Tasmania/Melbourne trip also quite slow-paced and ending with the last two days with intense birding to try to find Plainswanderer
Here are the goals set up for this tour.
- See as many endemic and close to endemic bird families as possible.
- See and photograph iconic birds such as Southern Cassowary, Riflebird (Bird of Paradise), Bowerbirds, Apostlebird, Crested Honeyeaters, Fairy-wrens, various colorful Cacatuas, Parrots and Rosellas, Lyrebird, Gray-crowned Babbler, Australian Owlet-Nightjar, Logrunner, White-throated Treecreeper, Rufous Scrubbird, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, White-winged Chough and many more.
- Two nights of night birding
Selfie at Sydney Opera House.
All this in only 5 days. Lot’s of bang for the buck.
Although the birding is easy, it is quite an intense tour with long days. It could lay your base for a fast introduction to Australian Birds and later you can explore on your own, or you may want to add the Tasmania program to maximize your time in Australia. The tour also connects well with 5-10 days in New Zealand that is scheduled prior to this itinerary.
The 2-day pre-tour focuses on the Great Barrier Reef for snorkeling and some introductory typical Australian Bird-families representatives with Magpie Goose, Megapodes, many Honeyeaters, and Cockatoos, as well as many shorebirds.
ITINERARY OUTLINE:
Pre-tour.
Day 1. Arrive Cairns at 8.15 AM the latest. Check in at hotel of your own choice. At 10 AM-6 PM Birding coastal cairns surroundings.
Day 2. Full day on the Great Barrier Reef. Birding, Snorkeling and Diving. Back in Cairns at 4.15 pm.
Main Tour
Day 1. Pickup at your hotel or airport between 3-4 pm and meet up with Great Barrier Reef pre-tour people at the Harbour at 4:15 pm for some afternoon birding in Cairns.
Day 2. Kuranda (Cassowary House) – Mt Hypipamee and Lake Barrine
Day 3. Chambers-Mareeba-Mt Carbine-Flight to Brisbane
Day 4. Inglewood / Coolmunda / Durikai
Day 5. Gold Coast Hinterland Border Ranges (Lamington NP) and Brisbane Wetlands & Mangroves.
Day 6. Royal National Park and Sydney Opera House.
DETAILED ITINERARY:
Cairns Pre-tour - Great Barrier Reef and Australia introduction.
Day 1. Arrival in Cairns. Coastal and park birding.
We shall spend this first day getting familiar with the birds in the parks and the coast. Targets include Magpie Goose, the Megapodes Australian Brush-Turkey and Orange-footed Scrub-Fowl, Pheasant Coucal, Scrub and Beach Thickknee, other shorebirds like Lesser and Greater Sand-Plover, Red-capped Plover, Black-fronted Dotterel, Comb-crested Jacana, Far Eastern Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Great Knot, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint and Terek Sandpiper, Silver Gull, Great Crested Tern, Laughing Kookaburra, Rainbow Bee-eater, Red-tailed Black Cuckatoo, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, Rainbow Lorikeet, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Yellow-spotted, Yellow, Varied, Brown-backed, Brown and White-throated Honeyeaters, Dusky Myzomela, Helmeted Friarbird, White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike, Varied Triller, Common Cicadabird, Green Oriole, Australian Figbird, Black Butcherbird, Willie-Wagtail, Spangled Drongo, Magpie Lark, Golden-headed Cisticola, Mistletoebird, Olive-backed Sunbird, Crimson Finch and Scaly-breasted and Chestnut-breasted Munia.
Day 2. Full day on the Great Barrier Reef.
We board the Catamaran for a full day on the Great Barrier Reef with two guided snorkeling outings and a delicious lunch onboard. Scuba Diving for beginners and more experienced divers is also available. On the way to the reef, we pass Michaelmas Cay – a large and stable coral sand island with a grassy area where there are breeding seabirds. We shall see species such as Greater and Lesser Frigatebirds, Brown Booby, Common and Black Noddy-Tern, Sooty, Black-naped, Little, Great Crested, Lesser Crested, Bridled, Gull-billed and Caspian Terns during the day.
We shall also do our first snorkeling exercise in the shallow waters in front of Michaelmas and after lunch a second snorkel activity further out of the Great Barrier Reef.
One of the highlights will be finding Nemo for real – the clownfish that live among the sea anemones.
We are back at shore at around 4:15 pm to head out for some additional birding near Cairns.
Main tour - East Australia Bird families
Day 1. Arrival Cairns.
After picking up people at the Cairns airport, Cairns hotels or at the Cairns port in the late afternoon we shall do some birding in Cairns. Hotel in Cairns. Dinner not included.
Day 2. Cassowary House-Mt Hypipamee and Lake Barrine
An early start to reach the Cassowary House /Black Mountain Road areas. The main target here is Southern Cassowary and at this time of the year the chance of an early arrival and good views is high as the young cassowaries are very mobile and will no longer be shy. Brush-turkey is common here, and Victoria’s Riflebirds are also fairly common. Yellow-breasted Boatbill can usually be found along the driveway and down around Catbird Cottage. Other interesting birds may include Spotted Catbird, Macleays, Cryptic and Yellow-spotted Honeyeaters, Spectacled, White-eared and Pied Monarchs, Double-eyed Fig Parrots , Fairy Gerygone, Pale-Yellow Robin and if you are very lucky Red-necked Crake.
Later head up to Mt Hypipamee in the high-altitude rainforest at the southern end of the Tablelands above Cairns. Here live a number of important local endemic species including Golden Bowerbird, Grey-headed Robin, Fernwren, Atherton Scrubwren and Mountain Thornbill.
Later in the afternoon you will travel down to the mid altitude levels around Lake Barrine and the Curtain Fig. Here, with luck, some late displaying Tooth-billed Catbirds can be observed singing above their display stages. Bower’s Shrikethrush and White-throated Treecreepers can also be seen.
Today might also be a good day to see Platypus and Lumholtz’s Tree Kangaroo if there is time and people are interested.
O/N Chambers Rainforest Lodges. Dinner not included.
Day 3. Chambers-Mareeba-Mt Carbine-Flight to Brisbane
After some early birding around Chambers head to the dry country around Mareeba, where Great Bowerbirds can be found and with luck there may be one still at the bower. Other birds seen in the Mareeba area may include Squatter Pigeons, Brown Treecreeper, Red-tailed Black Cockatoo and Red-winged Parrot. Grey-crowned Babbler might be possible but if a trip up to Mt Carbine might be necessary. Australian Bustards can usually be seen up here and Tawny Frogmouth, Pale-headed Rosellas and Apostlebirds are also often seen. The afternoon will be spent heading back to Cairns in time for the 4pm flight to Brisbane. We stay the night at a hotel near the airport. Tomorrow is a very early start. Dinner not included. |
Day 4. Inglewood / Coolmunda / Durikai
We start at 3 AM to be able to reach the plains to the west for some high-quality birding.
There are a bunch of great birds lined for the day. For example: Spotted Bowerbird, Eastern Bluebonnet, Red-winged Parrot, Cockatiel, Red-rumped Parrot, Plum-headed Finch, Emu (unlikely but have seen in past in this region), Speckled Warbler, Woodswallow sp., Hooded Robin, Galah, White-winged Chough, Yellow-tufted Honeyeater, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Fuscous Honeyeater, Weebill, Yellow Thornbill, Cicadabird, Inland Thornbill, Apostlebird, White-winged Fairywren, Galah, Grey-crowned Babbler, Buff-rumped Thornbill, Restless Flycatcher, Jacky Winter, Pale-headed Rosella, Yellow-throated Miner, Purple-backed Fairywren, White-throated Gerygone, Crested Shrike-tit etc.
At night we shall be checking a number of stake-outs for owls and other nightly creatures.
Powerful Owl, Australian Boobook, Sooty Owl (Greater), Marbled Frogmouth, Barking Owl, Australian Owlet-nightjar, Eastern Grass Owl, Australian Masked Owl, Eastern Barn Owl, Tawny Frogmouth. (Note that not all are possible in one evening).
Non-bird possibilities include Greater Gliders, Yellow-bellied Gliders, Possums.
Night at Gold Coast hotel. Dinner not included.
Day 5. Gold Coast Hinterland Border Ranges (Lamington NP) and Brisbane Wetlands & Mangroves
We have about 40 minute drive to the Border ranges with the famous O’Reilley are in Lamington National Park where we shall start the birding. There are a lot of great species here: Glossy Black-cockatoo, Bell Miner, King Parrot, Crimson Rosella, Wonga Pigeon, Brown Cuckoo-dove, Noisy Pitta, Green Catbird, Paradise Riflebird, Rose Robin, Australian Logrunner, Alberts Lyrebird, Rufous Scrubbird, White-throated Treecreeper, Red-browed Finch, Superb Fairywren, White-headed Pigeon, Eastern Yellow Robin, White-browed Scrubwren, Yellow-throated Scrubwren, Bassian & Russet-tailed Thrush, Brown Gerygone, Large-billed Scrubwren, Satin Bowerbird, Regent Bowerbird, Pied Currawong, Lewins Honeyeater etc.
In the afternoon we head towards the coast again for wetland and mangrove birding closer to Brisbane. Here we find Mangrove Gerygone, Mangrove Honeyeater, Comb-crested Jacana, White-throated Honeyeater, Scarlet Honeyeater, Wandering Whistling-duck, Sacred Kingfisher, Eastern Osprey, Red-backed Fairywren,
NON BIRD Possibilities include Koala, Eastern Grey Kangaroo.
In the evening we fly to Sydney arriving at 8 PM to check-in at a hotel near the airport. Dinner not included.
Day 6. Royal National Park and Sydney Opera House
We start at 5 AM to be at Royal National Park at dawn. Today’s targets are Superb Lyrebird, the New South Wales endemic Rockwarbler and Spotted Quail-thrush which we have likely missed previously on the tour. We should also have time to swing by downtown Sydney, to get a bucket list selfie with the Sydney Opera House, before going to the airport. Many people in the group will undoubtedly connect with our Iconic Mammals and Tasmania itinerary. Flight for Hobart, Tasmania leaves Sydney at 5.30 pm.