Cairns Esplanade

We got into Cairns (pronounced Cans, like Cans of Beer) a couple of nights ago but we slept too late to catch a good tide for shorebirds, so we did that today. Yesterday was for sightseeing around Cairns. We went to the Botanic Gardens, hung out at our Air BnB, really nice with a pool and no one around. Nice to be back in the tropics! 

We went to bed early and got up before first light, showered, and got down to the Esplanade by six. The high tide was set for 8:37 am. Mim took off for a run up the Esplanade while I strapped my binoculars and camera on. I was thrilled to see that the tide was still about a hundred yards from the boardwalk. I set up my scope and scanned the shoreline. 

                                    THE TIDAL FLATS AT THE CAIRNS ESPLANADE

                                                  THE ESPLANADE AT CAIRNS

The first birds I noticed were a few groups of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. I've only seen Sharp-tailed three times, so it was great to get a chance to study them. I can't tell you how many times I've given a Least or Pec a real long look and tried to make it in to a Sharp-tailed, with no success. Well if I ever do that again please suspend my birding license and write me a ticket for stringing because they are so distinctive. I can't think of another sandpiper that is so rich in color during its non-breeding plumage. With a chestnut crown and rich reddish brown tones with dark central feathers edged in white this is one of the most impressive sandpipers. 

                                                  SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER

When Sharp-tailed Sandpipers migrate to Australian from their breeding grounds in the Siberian Arctic, they make use of the entire coastline basically circling the continent. But in years when Australia experiences flooding, the Sharp-tailed will make use of the inland flooded fields and meadows and forgo the extra thousand miles of migration. 

As I looked through the flock of Sharp-tails I begin to see other birds that are trying to pass themselves off as Sharpies. I say not so fast as I pick out one that's just a little bigger and a little more chunkier. After a little head scratching I figure out that it's a Great Knot. I have seen it's counterpart, the Red Knot. In fact one was around for a while this fall at Fern Ridge. But the Great Knot was noticeably more hefty than the Red Knot. 

The Great Knot is a connoisseur of shell fish and it depends on having access to this food source during its long migration. Due to the destruction of its most important stop over point in Korea, the Great Knot has declined by over a third of its historic population. 

Right behind the Great Knot is another lifer bird for me. It's a Curlew Sandpiper. Too bad it's not in breeding plumage. I remember when I first started birding, I would lie in bed leafing through the pages of my National Geographic Field Guide and this is one bird where I would have to stop and just dream of seeing it. In breeding plumage they are a brick red color and mighty handsome. Still it's cool to see it in its relatively simple winter plumage. Or should I say summer plumage since we are in Australia. 

                           GREAT KNOT (front right) CURLEW SANDPIPER (3rd from right)

Coming up one of the tidal channels is a bird that I know the instant I see it, it's one that I have never seen. I studied it for a long time and I took several pictures and to be honest I didn't figure it out until later on in the evening when I was reviewing the pictures. I noticed that it had an ever so slightly upturned bill which would get me to consider Tarek Sandpiper, but upon closer inspection it's just too long legged and the bill is not up-turned enough. So then I think, maybe Marsh Sandpiper, but no, because the bill is slightly upturned and Marsh Sandpiper has a straight thin bill. Also this bird is a bit too long legged. Then I hit the page with Common Greenshank and BINGO, I know right away that it's a perfect fit. 

I scan the shoreline and see a familiar bird from the North America, the Whimbrel. There must be about thirty or more of them spread out along the tidal edge. Then I see the Whimbrel Deluxe model, a Far Eastern Curlew. It looks kind of like a Whimbrel but is much larger and with a significantly longer curved bill. Scanning the water's edge I notice that several more are spread out along the Esplanade. Seventy-five per cent of the world's population of Far Eastern Curlews winter in Australia. I didn't know it but the Far Eastern Curlew is the world's largest shorebird. Females have longer bills than males and their bills are on average about seven inches long and down curved. They use them to uncover crabs, their main source of food in Australia. 

                                                                  WHIMBREL

                                                    FAR-EASTERN CURLEW

At this point Mim runs up to me and we make a plan for meeting up later. She is going to take a swim in this large public pool that is free to everyone. It is located right beside the Esplanade and it's a really cool pool with fountains in the middle. She runs off and I resume birding. 

                                                 THE POOL ON THE ESPLANADE 

At this point the tide has come in about thirty yards and the birds are getting closer. I notice a couple of Black-fronted Dotterels probing the trickling waters of the rising tides. Dotterels are basically Plovers but even cuter. Like a Plover or a Robin, it doesn't forage with it's head down. It scurries along at a pretty good clip and then all of a sudden stops and pecks at some aquatic insect. 

                                                   BLACK-FRONTED DOTTEREL 

Also mixed in with the Sharp-tailed Sandpipers are a bird that every North American birder longs to find in their local coastline, sewer pond, or marsh. Of course I'm talking about a Red-necked Stint, which is basically a sandpiper. I give this bird a really good look over because if it shows up in Oregon I want to be able to pick it from the many Western Sandpipers that are common in our neck of the woods during times of migration. 

                                                         RED-NECKED STINT

Shorebirding is so cool. Well of course I would say that and yes it is true that I think all birding is cool, even sewer pond birding! But birders know that shorebirding is something special. The birds aren't deep in some thicket or high in the canopy. They aren't flitting around so that as soon as you can get an eye on them they are gone to another tree and you have no idea which one because they took off while you were raising your binoculars. Shorebirds for the most part are out in the open and for the most part aren't flitting around but staying relatively in one area. Yes you may have bad light or the tide may be out and thus they are far away, but usually you can do something about that. 

Now I'm not saying because they are relatively easy to view that they are easy to identify. It takes a well seasoned eye to pick out the subtle plumage variations. Some can only be identified by their call or by some pattern on a particular difficult area of the bird to see. But more than that it's just so awesome to see these birds as they complete their incredible journey across continents. For example the Red-necked Stint weighs about the same as a strawberry and it migrates from the Siberian Arctic to the southern most coast of Australia and then back again every year. But it doesn't just do that, it raises a clutch of chicks too! And it does so against all of nature's odds, but also all the crap that mankind has put in its way. When you look out at the mud flat in front of you and you feel the tide rising and see it in the movement of the birds, well you just witnessed a miracle 

Here are some of the other birds that I spent some time with today. Pictures are so good, the light was just too harsh.

                                                                    PIED STILT

                                              WHITE-BREASTED WOODSWALLOW

                                                TORRESIAN IMPERIAL-PIGEON

                                                        PIED OYSTERCATCHER

                                                        BAR-TAILED GODWIT