Site Report: Cairns Esplanade

Visits

• 2012-11-06: After a night in the bush, my traveling companion was keen to check out the local horse racing track which was having races to coincide with the famous Melbourne Cup. I pretty much never gamble on horses, but I won 1 of the three races that I bet on (for a net loss of $5). My friend lost on all three races. The word on the street was that the esplanade at Cairns was good for shorebirds. I made the trip over there in the late afternoon to take advantage of good photography sunlight. My trip coincided with the high tide, and there were maybe 100 shorebirds roosting at the high tide line. 100 birds is not a whole lot of shorebirds, but they were all seen at very close range. Maybe there is a better spectacle when the tide is lower, but I did not get a chance to see this. Another possibility is that it is too early in the year for many of the migrants. After walking the esplanade, I walked around the neighborhoods nearby. As the sun was setting, there was a good showing of lorikeets, swiftlets, and especially the Spectacled Flying Foxes which were roosting by the hundreds in a small park a couple of blocks from the shore.

Species Seen

Lifelists

• Australasia
• World

Trips

• Eastern Australia