Speewah Campground

Visited: all year round

Recommendation: This is an inexpensive campground set right in the rainforest. You can see all the endemics here and it is just wonderful.

Speewah Campground was my first foray into the world of campervanning (well in Australia anyway). What you don't really realise until you get there, is that it is in the middle of the rainforest. The camping area and an adjacent patch of ground are cleared and grassy but all around you is rainforest. You can book through the Queensland Parks and Forests website or just visit for the day. As it is inexpensive and a great location, it is often busy and booked out.

I have visited Speewah at various times of the year and for birding, I would say that late in the wet season and late in the dry season is the best. It will be warm but probably not wet. So that is November and March, when the migratory exotic birds are here and everything is still very active, especially the juveniles. On each visit, my routine was the same each time. Early morning would be birding. The edges of the rainforest were very productive every time. After that, when it got too hot, I would sit in the shade and try to stay cool, drinking lots of water and eating watermelon.

My very first stay at Speewah was towards the end of the wet season. It was very productive with birds zooming about and calling from all directions. They obviously were not feeling the heat. Right next to my pitch I found a Victoria's Riflebird. This female was running up and down branches looking for bugs and I loved her acrobatics.

Victoria's Riflebird (Ptiloris victoriae)

This is a great place to find the Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher. They migrate from the Papua New Guinea islands to the tip of Queensland to breed. They are obviously spectacular but also so interesting. They build nests by burrowing into the giant ant mounds in the area. By sealing the intrusion, they protect the chicks from the ants and the mound itself protects the chicks from mammalian predators.

I also heard a Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher calling. And then another from the other side of the forest. I waited as they came closer to each other and eventually spotted one in the gloom. Not the best shot but I was just pleased to see it.

Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher (Tanysiptera sylvia)

The remarkable creatures, Southern Cassowary are resident throughout this area. You have to be quite lucky to see them, but they do show up at Speewah and are known to wander through the campsite. They are so silent that you probably won't know they are there until you trip over one or they walk right past you. I thought my chances were pretty small.

Then one afternoon I was just sitting in the shade and he just appeared silently from the forest. I had never been close to one before and was just in awe of how large and beautiful he was. He wandered around the side of my van giving me an opportunity to grab my camera and sneak around the back.

I saw him several times over my stays at the campsite and my encounters remain a highlight.

Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius)

At the top end of the site I found a juvenile Yellow-breasted Boatbill. I loved how fluffy it was in the transition to adult plumage.

These small birds have a truly unique and striking feature: the extraordinarily wide, flat bill. It is shaped remarkably like a small boat, hence the bird's name. This specialized bill is an adaptation for catching insects in flight. The wide gape allows the bird to snatch prey with incredible precision. It makes the Yellow-breasted Boatbill a fascinating and easily recognizable bird species.

Yellow-breasted Boatbill (Machaerirhynchus flaviventer)

I was a couple of days in before I realised I was sharing my site with the local thick-knees. There were so still and cryptic that I hadn't even seen. Some birder I am! There were 2 adults and a large chick and it was only when they had a domestic that I noticed them. Such strange looking birds. I went out of my way not to disturb them once I realised which part of the campsite they called home.

Bush Thick-knee (Burhinus grallarius)

I often heard the high pitched call of a gerygone above and around my van and it took me a while to track down the owners and identify them. It was a group of Fairy Gerygone. I loved these guys as they had a range of plumage variations, my favourite being the black bearded ones. I took many shots before I got anything with clarity in it but it was such fun watching them.

Fairy Gerygone (Gerygone palpebrosa)

Nothing was as remarkable, however, as the day I was sitting in my van processing my photos and a Great Bowerbird flew in. I was shocked and thrilled at the same time. The noise these birds make is a mix of hissing and growling. Not a pleasant noise and as they sound aggressive and it takes you back a bit. But, this was obviously a youngster and he was so endearing. He would gently bite my fingers and sit on my shoulder. A thrill for me but not really behaviour you would expect. I got him out of the van and he flew back in, I shut the doors and he howled at the windows. Thrill now became concern. The bird was obviously imprinted on humans.

Great Bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis)

Long story short was that a local person was in the habit of 'rescuing' young birds, rearing them to fledgling age and then just letting them go. A rescue volunteer came and got the young bowerbird and was hoping to de-humanise it (mainly by hitting it with his hat which did not fill me with joy) and then release it within a local population. I loved engaging with this bird but I felt very saddened by it's prospects.

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