Fork-tailed Swifts in BIG numbers yesterday at Lower Daintree, FNQ

hello all,

FINALLY some big numbers of Fork-tailed Swifts have turned up on the Cairns-Port Douglas-Daintree lowlands.

as far as I am aware, these are the first seen near the coast up here since early Dec when Marie Tarrant saw a few around Cairns.

yesterday’s birds were MY first for the season, and their arrival coincided with the first day of gentle northerly influence in the weather here for 2 weeks. it was a clear, VERY hot, & sunny day.

from our office on the Daintree River near the car ferry crossing at around mid-morning yesterday, I saw more than just a few hundred Fork-taileds (+/- 1000) wheeling around at a height of about 40-100mtrs above ground. with them were tens of Aust Swiflets too.

Cairns resident and close friend of mine, Adam Arnold, spent the day with me and these were his first for the season as well. he and I bumped into my dear friend Del Richards last eve, and he saw what were probably the same birds not long after at Newell Beach. this was Del’s first record this season for Forkies on the lowlands around here too.

so it seems that these birds were quite likely to have been the first big influx of Forkies up here…

cheers,

martin cachard

solar whisper wildlife cruises,

Daintree River

& trinity beach, cairns