Gillies Highway

Cairns Birdwatching

430 bird species*

CAIRNS BIRDING ITINERARIES
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Special car hire from $27 per day.

Driving Tip: if you are driving on the left hand side of the road for the first time, after you pick up your rental car at the Cairns airport, go north. The airport is in the northern outskirts of Cairns and the traffic considerations are much easier driving away from the city than driving into it. By the time you come back to Cairns you will have a lot more experience and in any case you do not need to go into the city to return it.

Where to go first.
Drive north from Cairns. Northern places include Daintree (sea-level) and Julatten (northern tablelands). 
The Daintree Village is on the south side of the Daintree River and the reputation that Daintree now has for birdwatching can largely be attributed to early morning boat tours and walks at dawn.

*430 Bird Species?
"When I wrote the book "Birds of Queensland's Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef "about 12 years ago, the number of species recorded for the entire Wet Tropics area which runs from Cooktown south to Townsville, totalled 430 species. This included those northern species which just reach the northern boundaries around Cooktown, some southern species which just reach the southern boundaries about Townsville, some inland species which occasionally reach the drier western boundaries, seabirds, vagrants and so on." Lloyd Nielsen 4 May 2008.

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Getting around. The public transport system in the Wet Tropics area is poor, for serious birdwatching think of it as being non-existent. From Cairns an itinerary can be made to cover all the special species without traveling very far in a conventional 2 wheel drive car. Author Google