Colourful bird is tops in Cairns

A snapshot of Cairns’ birdlife has revealed you are most likely to see the striking colours of the Rainbow Lorikeet in our skies.

In a seven-day period last October, 338 observers in a bird survey by Birdlife Australia, counted more than 27,000 birds from 217 species in the Cairns region.

The count was dominated by the Rainbow Lorikeet (5488 birds counted), Torresian Imperial-Pigeon (3256), Metallic Starling (1665), Sulphur Crested Cockatoo (1434) and the Common Myna (912).

Several endangered and vulnerable species were identified and maps were provided showing the location of the sightings in the Cairns area.

The bird count is a citizen science project with members of the community invited to participate, identify bird species, count bird numbers and record data over a seven-day period.

Twenty schools took part in the Cairns survey. One school had 217 participants, who counted 1,895 birds and sighted 86 different species.

Council intends to participate in the 2019 Aussie Backyard Bird Count.