Welcome to the home page
of BirdLife Northern Queensland!
Pied Imperial-Pigeon, Icon of BNQ.
(Courtesy Ian Montgomery, Birdway)
CONTENTS
ABOUT Birdlife Northern Queensland
On the 1st January 2012, Birds Australia and Bird Observers and Conservation Australia merged to form a single entity called BirdLife Australia. The outcome of the merger is the formation of two BirdLife Australia branches in northern Queensland that cover the geographic areas around the Townsville region, including Ayr, Charters Towers and Ingham and the Northern Queensland region covering west to the Northern Territory border, the Gulf and far northern from Cardwell to the Torres Strait Islands. The branches will be known as BirdLife Townsville and BirdLife Northern Queensland respectively.
BirdLife Northern Queensland (BNQ) is a regional branch of BirdLife Australia, and before the merger was known as Birds Australia North Queensland (BANQ).
You can contact us by email or write to: BirdLife Northern Queensland, PO Box 531, Port Douglas, Qld 4877.
NEWSLETTER
The March 2012 issue of Contact Call, the Quarterly Magazine of BNQ/BANQ is now available in colour as a pdf file. Download it by clicking on the image on the left.
Visit the Newsletter page to obtain earlier versions of Contact Call and to download Adobe Reader. Members may choose to have a black and white printed version mailed to them.
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NEWS
A new version of the Lake Eacham brochure has been linked to the Brochures page (posted 24 April 2012).
Read the report on the annual Wave the Waders Goodbye, at Cairns Esplanade on 31 March 2012 (posted 24 April 2012).
Read the report on the outing to Gourka Road, Atherton Tableland, on 19 February 2012 (posted 4 March 2012).
The March Issue of Contact Call by our Editor Karen Doyle is now available from the Newsletter page (posted 2 March 2012). This is the first edition to be published as the newsletter of BirdLife Northern Queensland and features Victoria's Riflebird, a characteristic and beautiful endemic of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.
Read the comprehensive report on the Buff-breasted Button-quail. It gives detailed information about the successful BANQ survey held in December 2011 and a review of information about the species and recent sightings. (Posted 17 February 2012)
Read the beautifully illustrated report on the inaugural BirdLife Northern Queensland outing to Michaelmas Cay on 14 January 2012. (Posted 20 January 2012)
Read the report on the October 2011 weekend outing to Mount Surprise, Georgetown, Minnamoolka Station and 40 Mile Scrub (posted 8 January 2012).
A new brochure of the Cattana Wetlands north of Cairns has been added to the brochures page (14 December 2011).
The final report of the 2011 Survey on Carpentarian Grasswrens has just been published. Visit the new Grasswrens page to read about this and earlier grasswren projects and to download a copy of the report. (Posted 19 October 2011)
Keith Fisher of Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers' Lodge and former secretary of BANQ has tracked down a copy of the missing issue of Contact Call from March 1996. Thank you, Keith! (Posted 1 October 2011)
Karen Doyle, indefatigable editor of our newsletter Contact Call, has tracked down all except one of the missing issues from the 1990s. They give interesting insights into the history of BANQ: check them out on the Newsletter page. (Posted 28 September 2011)
Check out the details of the search for the Buff-breasted Buttonquail on the weekend of the 3-4 December 2011 (posted 20 September 2011).
The Links Page has just had a major make-over to fix broken links and remove out of date ones (14 September 2011).
A preliminary report on the Annual Crane Count, Atherton Tableland, 3 September 2011 has been posted (8 September 2011).
A report on Birding at Daintree, August 20 2011, has been posted (8 September 2011).
A new brochure on Tyto Wetlands in Ingham has been added to the Brochures page (8 September 2011).
A new version of the Mt Isa brochure has been linked to the Brochures page (posted 8 May 2011).
A copy of the 2010 Progress Report has been linked to the Black-throated Finch Recovery page (posted 29 April 2011).
Read the report on Wave the Waders Goodbye, 2011 (posted 7 April 2011)
A new project page has been added for the Black-throated Finch Recovery Team (31 March 2011)
The Atherton Tableland brochure has been updated (30 March 2011)
A new brochure of the Iron Range area on Cape York has been added to the brochures page (27 February 2011).
Minor updates to the brochure of the Cooktown District have been made (27 February 2011)
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COMING
EVENTS
May 2012
Saturday 5 to Monday 7 May
The proposed campout at White Mountains National Park has been cancelled. Instead members are being encouraged to join the BirdLife Townsville weekend at Ingham. There will be trips to Tyto Wetlands and Lucinda. Contact Ian Boyd for information and a list of options for accommodation in Ingham by email or phone: 07 4778 1945.
June 2012
Mungkan Kandju Survey
Dates to be advised. Contact Alan Gillanders 0408 853 786.
September 2012
Saturday 1 September: Crane Count
Leader: Virginia Simmonds. Contact her by email or phone: 07 4095 8126.
October 2012
Friday 12 to Friday 19 October: Proposed 20th Anniversary Campout at Silver Plains
Graham Harrington is trying to get permission from the owners to get into the area.
November 2012
Pied Imperial-Pigeon Count and Christmas Party
Date to be decided.
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PAST
EVENTS
Wave the Waders Goodbye, Cairns, 31 March 2012.
Outing to Gourka Road on 19 February 2012.
Inaugural BirdLife Northern Queensland outing to Michaelmas Cay on 14 January 2012.
Successful Buff-breasted Button-quail Survey, December 2011.
Weekend outing to Mount Surprise, Georgetown, Minnamoolka Station and 40 Mile Scrub, 1-3 October 2011
Annual Crane Count, Atherton Tableland, 3 September 2011
Daintree Weekend, Daintree Village, 20-21 August 2011
Wave the Waders Goodbye, Cairns, 26 March 2011
BANQ
Pied Imperial-Pigeon
Survey at Mission Beach on 21 November 2009»
Report on AGM 2009 Weekend in Paluma, 2 - 4 May
2009
Report on Easter 2009 Campout at Mount Surprise
Report on Shorebirds 2020 Workshop and Wave the
Waders Goodbye, Cairns 21 March 2009
BANQ
Australia Day Long Weekend at Kingfisher Park 23rd - 26th
January 2009»
BANQ
took part in the
latest Crane Count on 4 October 2008»
Birding report from Cardwell, 13 - 14 September 2008»
Birding
and AGM reports from Innisfail, June 21-22 2008»
BANQ
May Long Weekend at Mt Surprise, 3-5 May 2008»
BANQ
and visitors "Waved
the Waders Goodbye" on Cairns Esplanade, March 30th 2008»
BANQ
Australia Day Long Weekend at Kingfisher Park 25th - 28th
January 2008»
BANQ
Southern Christmas
Party at Hidden Valley on 17 November 2007»
BANQ
Pied Imperial-Pigeon
Survey at Mission Beach on 10 November 2007»
BANQ
outing Cardwell to
Kennedy on 9 September 2007»
BANQ
Outing to the
Southern Atherton Tablelands on 29 July 2007»
BANQ
was at the opening of
new Tyto Wetlands Interpretive Centre in
Ingham»
BANQ
was present at the
David Suzuki Presentation in Townsville»
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