Check my birding map for specific locations.
Green Island is a 45 minute boat ride from the marina in Cairns. I visited with my friend Trudy and her lovely granddaughter Isabella in September 2023. It was a rather windy and wet journey over and while at times we felt battered and a little sick, it was very entertaining. Half the journey is taken clearing the headland south of Cairns so you aren't long in open water. We did see a few dolphin swimming by and terns circling.
Access to the island is from a long jetty. Later in the day, we saw the need for it at low tide when the water so was shallow the surrounding reefs were visible. The island itself is very small, taking less than half an hour to walk the perimeter. There are sandy beaches and rocky areas surrounding thick rainforest. It is quite an odd place.
After leaving the jetty, you enter the resort area which smells strongly of seabird guano. It is also present on the boardwalk areas around the small area of shops and coffee places. The resort looked a little run down on the outside but pleasant enough inside. All in all it looked like quite a hostile environment.
We headed to the northern beach where there was some shelter from the wind. There were several species of shorebird dotted around the island but it must have been tricky for them as they were continually disturbed by the tourists. The species were all those that can be seen on the Esplanade at Cairns but with care, you can get closer to them.
Grey-tailed Tattler
Pacific Golden Plover
Ruddy Turnstone
Throughout the island were lots of Buff-banded Rail. This usually shy bird appears to be quite feral here, scrounging scraps from the visitors. It was still interesting to watch them. We saw 2 leucistic birds, chicks and even some bathing in the sea.
Buff-banded Rail
We really loved seeing Reef Egret here and there were at least a dozen spread across the island. We first spotted them skulking in the undergrowth on the edge of the beach. More interestingly, there was both the white and dark morph here and they obviously belonged to the same family.
Eastern Reef Egret
The highlight of our visit was seeing a pair of Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove building their nest. The male bird would fly down, gather material and then return to the female who was beginning to weave it into a nest. It was quite amazing that these stunning birds were here.
