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Visited: all year round
Recommendation: There is one spot in Mount Carbine worth visiting. That is the caravan park. The birds seem to just love it. Closed during the wet season, but always open to birders visiting, check in with the owners before you get there.
Mount Carbine is north from Cairns but also inland. It is on the way to Cape York and is only really a pub, caravan park and a mining operation. It is around a 2 hour drive from Cairns but plenty of people head up there just for the day. I prefer to stay a couple of days and always head to the caravan park. Even if you are not staying, the friendly owners will let you bird watch on their site (courtesy call beforehand appreciated).
And that is the main location in Mount Carbine to see birds as the park has some fabulous residents that can be relied upon for photographic opportunities.
The caravan park is a wonderful place to see the Great Bowerbird. They are resident here and sometimes you will see a few and sometimes there are dozens that gather around the water baths. My best experience was seeing a pair displaying in front of a bower. The male rushes around like a demented thing and flashes his pink crest while offering the female gifts of fruit or brightly coloured objects.
Great Bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis)
The Pale-headed Rosella are uncommon this far east but Mount Carbine is again, a good place to see them. They gather on the ground in small groups to feed. These colourful birds have 2 subspecies. The bird pictured here is the white-cheeked.
Pale-headed Rosella (Platycercus adscitus)
Before I reached the park, however, I stopped off at East and West Mary Roads to see if I could find the Bustards. The area surrounding these roads is known as Bustard Downs. Luck was with me as not even 100m down the first road and there were 4 of them standing in the road. They were wet, bedraggled and looked thoroughly pissed off (as only birds can). I, however, was delighted and took some photos from the van and watched them move on.
It is a must do drive along these roads, not only for the Bustards but there is always lots of other birds like parrots, cuckoo, eagles and finches to be found.
Australian Bustard (ardeotis australis)
Close by I also found a wet Pheasant Coucal drying out. It was only on processing my photos that I saw the colours on the wings. I have not touched up this photo at all. The sun was shining through its feathers and it almost glowed. I don't think birds are used to rain here, they couldn't seem to cope.
Pheasant Coucal (centropus phasianinus)
Apostlebird (struthidea cinerea)
With that done, I continued to the park and stayed there just wandering in circles all day long. I had some species in mind that I really wanted to see and over a couple of days got them all. The photographic opportunities at Mount Carbine Caravan Park are terrific. The birds seem to stay local and there is always something happening. I based myself (ie: lounged in my chair half asleep waiting) by the new chicken coop as there seemed to be a lot of activity there. It wasn't long before the Apostlebirds arrived, in numbers to raid the area. I wanted to get a shot of them all squashed together on a wire but this was the best I got. This is the best place local to Cairns to see these interesting and funny birds. They are not present on the coast or Tablelands.Â
You may not see the groups of Apostlebirds if you are visiting for the day but if you stay at the park, you are pretty much guaranteed to get a visit from this inquisitive birds.
The Blue-faced Honeyeater were competing with the Apostlebirds for who could make the most noise and I followed them around for a while as they fed in their inimitably acrobatic way.
Blue-faced Honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis)
On the periphery of the coop area was the Eastern Blue-winged Kookaburra and this was my only lengthy sighting on one so I was pleased to get such a clear shot. You can't quite believe this huge bird is a member of the kingfisher family! On another visit I was lucky and got another close up with rather comical results.
Eastern Blue-winged Kookaburra (dacelo leachii)
An unexpected sighting was of a Restless Flycatcher. Their buzzing call usually gives them away and this was the case here. I tracked it down and, again, walked around in circles (the other residents must have thought me a bit mad) until I could get a clear view. I always think this flycatcher to be very elegant and I'm glad the photo reflects that.
Restless Flycatcher (myiagra inquieta)
The main reason though, to come to the caravan park, is the resident Tawny Frogmouth. I was very lucky as they had been absent for a few days (relocating their juvenile apparently). I was so grateful to the owner Nikki who scoured the place looking for them and found that overnight they had returned having successfully persuaded the juvenile to leave home. I always forget how small they are, especially after seeing the huge Papuan species. They let me get close to them at dusk and it was wonderful to see them.
Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides)
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