On Two Weeks in Queensland

TravelBirding

Jun 14

Planning for a trip to Australia started not long after my wife and I returned from Italy and Greece last summer. Eventually, we settled on a cruise starting and ending in Brisbane. The cruise was relatively short, and we wanted to have time on our own to see things at our own pace, so we tacked on multiple days in Brisbane both before and after the cruise. We were also going to be traveling with my mother-in-law and my adult stepson. With me being the only birder of the bunch, my wife was fine with my idea to hire a birding guide for two days. For once, I was going to travel to another country on a family/non-birding trip and actually get a chance to do some serious birding.

My first Koala sighting. Taken on March 1, 2026 outside of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia by Marcus C. England.

Choosing a Guide

There are quite a few individuals and companies who provide bird guide services in Brisbane. I didn’t see much agreement in online forums about who is “best”, so I spent some time perusing websites to try to get a feel for what was out there. I reached out to a handful, and received a response from one (yes, just one!), Kris McBride at Rosella Adventures. Once we confirmed guiding dates (one day before and one day after the cruise), he was very communicative with me on what my wants were, and setting up a plan to maximize the number of life birds observed during the trip.

The Flight

Qantas made flying from LAX to Brisbane and back easy.

Day One

We arrived in Brisbane before sunrise, feeling surprisingly rested for such a long, overnight flight, though losing a whole calendar day due to crossing the International Date Line was a bit disorienting. Getting through immigration and customs was straight-forward and mostly automated. Despite arriving so early, we were allowed to check into our house rental ahead of schedule.

When we arrived at the rental, the bird song was almost overwhelming. I spent some time on the deck figuring out was around, largely with the assistance of the Merlin app (note: never assume the Merlin app is correct and submit eBird records solely based on its ID without confirming it yourself, as it is often incorrect!) As we didn’t have a car, we walked to the nearby business district for lunch. Later, we walked the opposite direction to the Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk, where I picked up 19 bird species, including life birds such as Australian Brushturkey, Far Eastern Curlew, White-faced Heron, White-bellied Sea-Eagle and others. That checklist, which includes photos, is available here.

Wynnum Mangroves. Photobomb by an Australian Magpie.

Day Two

Early the next morning, I returned on my own to the Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk. This time, I picked up 31 species. Life birds on this outing included Brown Quail, Channel-billed Cuckoo, Royal Spoonbill, Torresian Kingfisher, Superb Fairywren, and others.

Later, with the family, we toured downtown Brisbane where I picked up a couple new species. At dinner, later in the evening, we saw the first of many Flying Foxes.

Day Three

Day three was my first big birding day. Kris picked me up before sunrise. We greeted the sun at the Sandy Camp Road Wetlands where the new species came at a fast and furious pace, including Magpie Goose, Comb-crested Jacana, Plumed Egret, Brahminy Kite, Rainbow Bee-eater, Sacred Kingfisher, all three potential fairywrens, Black-faced Cuckooshrike, Mistletoebird, and others for a total of 60 species.

Next, we visited the Toohey Forest. The highlight here was my first Koala (see featured image). For birds, it was Australian Boobook and Striated Pardalote.

We ended the day at the Eagleby Wetlands, where we picked up 45 species. Highlights here were Tawny Frogmouth, Little Corella, and the spectacular pink parrot called the Galah.

At the end of this day, I had 96 bird species for the trip, with 89 being lifers.

Days Four and Five

Day Four was the start of the cruise. I had zero new landbirds. As we got away from land, I did a series of “pelagic protocol” eBird lists on Day Four and Day Five. Most of the pelagic birding was not productive, but I picked up Wedge-tailed Shearwater as a lifer (this bird turned out to be extremely common)

At the Brisbane Cruise Terminal, with our ship in the background.

Day Six

Day Six was our first cruise stop at Airlie Beach. We were supposed to visit the Great Barrier Reef on this day, but the excursion was canceled because of an incoming tropical system. We toured the town with Just Tuk’n Around and did some general relaxing. Bar-tailed Godwit was my only new species.

Day Seven

We are now where the cruise became “un-fun”. We were supposed to spend this day in Townsville, the next day in Cairns, and the day after in Port Douglas. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas. As the tropical weather system charged toward us, the ship initially acted as if we were docking in Townsville. We then turned and start heading back south, with the captain announcing Townsville was canceled because of the storm. We spent Day Seven (scheduled Townsville) and Day Eight (scheduled Cairns) at sea, where conditions were often pretty rough. Besides large numbers of Brown Boobies and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, birding wasn’t all that interesting.

Day Nine

Day Nine was supposed to be Port Douglas, but we ended up in Cairns, just as the tropical storm was wrapping up. Here, we did get to do our planned excursion. It started with a trip on the Kuranda Scenic Railway, which was a spectacular trip into the mountains, especially with the extreme waterfall flows due to the storm. We spent several hours in Kuranda, where we had lunch, then returned to Cairns via the Skyrail. Barron Falls, which was impressive after the rains, was the absolute highlight of this outing. Birding on this day was fairly lackluster, except for the Great Crested Terns zipping around the ship when we arrived in Cairns, Australian Swiftlets on the bus ride to the train, my wife spotting a Crimson Finch at the train station, and several Black-necked Storks at close range on the bus ride back into Cairns from the Skyrail station.

We spent some time as a family walking the stunning Cairns coastline. Everyone wanted to return to the ship with about two hours left before the ship departed. With my wife’s blessing, I stayed ashore to look for birds. This ended up being a highlight of my solo outings with Torresian Imperial-Pigeon, Bush Thick-knee, Australasian Figbird, and Sahul Sunbird, as well as the opportunity to get up close views and photos of flying foxes.

Barron Falls, the day after a tropical depression.

Days Ten and Eleven

Days Ten and Eleven were at sea days, making our way back south to Brisbane. Day Ten was the only interesting day for seabirds, as picked up large numbers of ship-following Red-footed Boobies (along with Masked and Brown) as we head toward Willis Island. Willis Island was loaded with seabirds, many of which flew out to the ship as we passed, including Bridled Tern, Lesser Frigatebird, and Great Frigatebird.

During this period, the tropical system we had been avoiding turned back out over the water at Brisbane. For us to return to Brisbane, we had to continue straight into the storm. The evening of Night Eleven saw amazing large seas with the most significant ship movement I’d felt in quite some time.

Willis Island, far off the Queensland coast.

A female Great Frigatebird attacks a Red-footed Booby over our ship as we pass Willis Island.

Day Twelve

Day 12 saw us arrive at Brisbane early. From the cruise terminal, we took an Uber into the hills south of Brisbane for our stay at a rental home in Mt. Cotton. The property was large and wooded, with a pond, and featured large numbers of Red-necked Wallabies, as well as life birds such as Common Bronzewing, and Australian King Parrot.

Day Thirteen

On Day Thirteen we took a family trip to North Stradbroke Island, getting there by fairy, where we took a bus to Point Lookout. This island was spectacular, with a lot of wildlife, including Gray Kangaroos and lifers such as Forest Kingfisher, Noisy Friarbird, and Shining Bronze-Cuckoo.

Big surf along a coastal trail at Point Lookout, Stradbroke Island.

Day Fourteen

Day Fourteen was the last full day of our Australia trip, and my second with Kris as my guide. I woke up with a scratchy throat and a bit of a cough. I thought there was a good chance it was allergies. I felt fine. We started at Enoggera Reservoir, picking up 68 species. Life birds here included Hardhead, Pacific Baza, White-throated Treecreeper, Scarlet Myzomela, Spotted Pardalote, Fairy Gerygone, Barred Cuckooshrike, Sahul Cicadabird, and many others. Our last stop was at D'Aguilar National Park--Maiala Loop Walk, where we picked up 27 species including Green Catbird, Satin Bowerbird, and Paradise Riflebird. By the end of this outing, I was not feeling well, and realized I was probably getting sick. Kris intended to take me on a couple more stops, but while driving I was speaking to my wife, and they had managed to get lost on their own outing, and with my deteriorating condition, I had Kris take me back to Mt. Cotton. Emily and the family returned much later.