#4 Cape York Specials Tour 14 - 21 Aug 2023

Inala’s Cape York # 1 Queensland Tour ( Drive Up - Fly Back ) Trip report 1-8 June 2021

Guided by Tonia Cochran and Steve Davidson
Written by Steve Davidson

The recent Inala Cape York Tour was a drive up and fly back affair for our team of intrepid and faithful participants. With a wet season that didn’t seem to want to end we were treated to unusual conditions on the Cape, the likes of which we hadn’t experienced in previous trips. However, the rainforest at Iron Range post-Cyclone Trevor is showing good signs of recovery, and we weren’t disappointed in the calibre of wildlife we encountered along the way.

Trip summary:

Day 1. Tue 1 June 21. Arrive Cairns.
Day 2. Wed 2 June 21. Cairns to Musgrave.
Day 3. Thu 3 June 21. Musgrave-Lakefield National Park.
Day 4. Fri 4 June 21. Musgrave to Lockhart River.
Day 5. Sat 5 June 21. Lockhart River.
Day 6.  Sun 6 June 21. Lockhart River.
Day 7. Mon 7 June 21. Lockhart River.
Day 8. Tue 8 June 21. Lockhart River to Cairns, depart.

Day 1 Tuesday 1 June 2021 involved the logistics of arrival in Cairns and the group meeting and getting acquainted and settling into our accommodation. Some of us arrived together from Mt Isa on our Outback Queensland tour. The afternoon allowed a bit of sneaky birding along the Esplanade, with 2 Black-necked Storks, Australian Swiftlets and a lone Eastern Curlew the highlights, followed by a beautiful dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Day 2 Wednesday 2 June 2021 and we were on the road, leaving Cairns relatively early after breakfast and making our way over the Kuranda Range toward Mareeba, driving onto the mighty Peninsula Development Road (PDR), and then stopping for lunch further on at Palmer River Roadhouse. Here in the tropical savannah woodland surrounds we started racking up a few birds, with Forest Kingfisher, Great Bowerbird, Grey-crowned Babbler, Apostlebird, Australasian Darter, Bar-shouldered Dove and Blue-faced Honeyeater all lending themselves well.

Butterflies were in abundance too and we enjoyed stonking looks at Blue Argus, Chocolate Argus, Orchard Swallowtail and Yellow Albatross.

Further north along the PDR we stopped for our first Black-backed Butcherbird – one of several birds found only here on Cape York Peninsula and in Papua New Guinea. Also here were Red-browed Pardalote, White-throated Honeyeater and Little Friarbird. At the end of a pretty epic drive, we made it into Musgrave Roadhouse where we were booked to stay for two nights. After dinner it was early to bed as tomorrow, we had another day packed full of goodness…

Day 3. Thursday 3 June 2021. With a quick coffee & muesli bar we left camp pretty jolly early this morning as we needed to be at a particular site just after dawn for one of the specialties of the Cape, if not the entire continent – the beautiful and endangered Golden-shouldered Parrot. With increasingly fragmented habitat and a shrinking population, this bird has become harder to find over the years, however the owners at Artemis Station, as always, came up with the goods. Right at first light we saw a small party of first and second-year birds led by a fine pair of adults.

Heading east into the wilds of Lakefield National Park we soon picked off some of the specials of the area in the tropical woodlands, wetlands and vast open grasslands Lakefield is famous for, including Black-throated Finch, Diamond Dove, Green Pygmy Goose, Comb-crested Jacana, Azure Kingfisher, Red-backed Fairywren, Bar-breasted Honeyeater, Brolga, Star Finch, Dollarbird and a pair of day-roosting Papuan Frogmouth that showed well. However, the bird of the day had to go to the incredible Red Goshawk spotted by none other than the inimitable Tonia Cochran herself, late in the day whilst on our way back to Musgrave. A true highlight of the tour, this bird gave us incredible walk away views, and topped off an amazing day.

Day 4. Friday 4 June 2021 was a bit of a driving day, but as always, we needed to stop for birds, plants and all manner of critters along the way. In our first hour we had Freshwater Crocodile and a hulking Yellow-spotted Monitor under the belt, and a bit further up the road a dainty Two-lined Dragon. At Archer River, a stroll down to the lagoon gave us a big flock of Spotted Whistling-ducks, even with ducklings, as well as Plumed Whistling-duck, Radjah Shelduck and Eastern Cattle Egret. Turning off the PDR onto the Lockhart River Road was an adventure in itself, punctuated by endless creek crossings and dips, as well as fording the mighty Wenlock & Pascoe Rivers en route to the Iron Range itself. We stopped briefly to here in the strange, other-worldly heathlands to view Mt Tozer and the surrounding peaks, before dropping down into the vast sea of lowland rainforest that comprises Iron Range National Park, and our base for the next four nights.

Days 5 to 7 inclusive. Saturday 5- Monday 7 June 2021. Situated as we were at the brilliant Iron Range Cabins near Lockhart River township, meant we could radiate outwards in various directions to see the variety of habitats and ecotones in this region, consisting of primary lowland rainforest, vine scrub, tropical woodland, beaches & mudflats and some tropical wetlands. Primarily the focus was on finding the specialties of the Iron Range NP that occur in Australia only here on this part of Cape York, as well as having wider ranges in PNG and parts of Indonesia.

Over the course of the four days, we managed great views of Palm Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot, Magnificent Riflebird, Yellow-billed Kingfisher, Fawn-breasted Bowerbird, Yellow-legged Flyrobin, Frill-necked Monarch, White-faced Robin, Green-backed Honeyeater, Tropical Scrubwren, Tawny-breasted Honeyeater, Graceful Honeyeater, Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo, White-eared Monarch and brief fly-over views of Red-cheeked Parrot. A very distant Trumpet Manucode gave us exceedingly poor views, and Northern Scrub-robin remained resolutely stubborn, being heard on several occasions but refusing to show.

A supporting cast of birds like Spectacled Monarch, Lovely Fairywren, Shining Flycatcher, Pacific Reef-heron, Wompoo Fruit-dove, Fairy Gerygone – the distinctive northern ssp personata,

Little Bronze-cuckoo, Brown Goshawk – northern ssp didimus, Dusky Myzomela, Yellow-spotted Honeyeater, Australian Brush-turkey – the distinctive Cape York ssp purpureicollis, Green Oriole, Grey Whistler, Leaden Flycatcher, Olive-backed Sunbird, Red-browed Firetail – the beautiful northern ssp minor, Mistletoebird and Rufous Shrike-thrush all added to the allure. Mammals included better-than-normal looks of a few flying foxes, with Black and Little Red Flying-foxes seen wonderfully well feeding in low blossom on two occasions.

We struck a rich vein with reptiles here too, the absolute highlight being the two Green Tree Python we saw one night, a first for every one of us including the author, and an amazing experience to see this incredible animal. Other snakes included Orange-naped Snake, Brown-headed Snake and Spotted Python, and skinky things like Littoral Snake-eyed Skink and Rainbow Skink were also pretty cool. The former lives on rocks and in the wrack right on the waterline, often scrambling out of the way of the breaking waves…

On the plant front, the outright winner was finding several Tropical Pitcher Plants (Nepenthes mirabilis)- thanks Jude! - and several other carnivorous plants including Utricularia ssp (bladderworts-all in flower!) and Drosera petiolaris (sundew) at Tozer gap. Tonia and Liz in particular, were beside themselves with joy at seeing these amazing plants in the wild.

Day 8. Tuesday 8 June 2021. This morning we headed to Iron Range airport for our departure flights back to Cairns and beyond. Liz, Bron and Jude co-piloted with Tonia as she drove the second vehicle back to Cairns while Steve continued with another group who arrived on the incoming flight.

As usual Iron Range NP and the surrounding areas do not disappoint, and this trip was another example of how fortunate we are to have this incredible place to explore. However, excellent company and great rapport with the participants also goes a long way toward creating a successful tour, and the author cannot remember such a well-rounded, engaged and co-operative group. 

We finished the tour with 165 species of birds, and 15 reptiles.