It’s whale season in far north Queensland – a time of year when your chances of seeing a whale up close are pretty good. The local reef and tour boat operators have a network of people who report sightings, and even a short boat journey from Cairns might get you a whale moment or several. It is a breath-taking experience, seeing these huge creatures in their environment. But big as they get, they are still vulnerable, with climate change, collisions with boats, and hunting being the major threats.
The humpback whale is the one you’re most likely to see in far north Queensland waters – LISTEN our wildlife correspondent Martin Cohen talk about what we know – and don’t yet know – about humpbacks: their diet, their migration, their love-life:
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The far north Queensland wet season is over for another year and the start of the dry is a great time to see butterflies and moths around the region. During the wet, conditions are just too tough for these beautiful creatures to flourish in significant numbers, but as the seasons change, you’ll see plenty of Cairns Birdwing and Ulysses butterflies, and many more.
Our wildlife correspondent Martin Cohen introduces you to the many butterfly and moth species of Cairns and FNQ.
Here in far north Queensland, indeed, right across tropical Australia, we tend to count just two seasons – the wet and the dry. In the wet, the monsoon brings huge amounts of rain and the possibility of cyclones – and it’s all that water that makes this place such an attractive home to our wildlife. During the dry, the days are hot, nights are warm and the place is chockers with tourists. Of course, it can rain during the dry, but the rain comes from a different direction and in usually much smaller amounts. But within those two broad “seasons”, there are subtle changes, periods when change is on its way and signs of what’s next become more apparent. Indigenous people in tropical Australia identify several distinct seasons – in the lush wetlands of Kakadu, in the Northern Territory, the local mob recognise six distinct seasons.
COMB CRESTED JACANA
Our wildlife correspondemt Dr Martin Cohen is in Kakadu this week, working with a Japanese film crew who are documenting the region’s most famous wetland – Yellow Waters – and some of its wildlife, including Norm the comb crested jacana, who Martin reckons should get the dad of the year award. LISTEN to Martin explain the critters and the seasons of Kakadu
Dr Martin Cohen is ABC Far North wildlife correspondent. Hear him on radio Wednesday afternoons at 445 or search for him on your podcast app
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ABC Far North wildlife correspondent Martin Cohen and I have travelled far and wide this year to observe the amazing birds and animals of far north Queensland. One of the best things about living in FNQ is that you don’t have to travel very far from home to see wildlife. In fact one of the best spots is right in the heart of the Cairns CBD – the Cairns Esplanade.
The Nard, as old time Cairns locals call it, is famous the world over as a great birdwatching spot. On any day you’ll meet bird-watchers from many nations there, equipped with some amazing cameras and scopes, marvelling at the birds that come in looking for food in the mud flat when the tide is just right. Pelicans, egrets, terns, all sorts. LISTEN to Martin talk about what you might see here
Dr Martin Cohen is ABC Far North wildlife correspondent. Hear him on radio Wednesday afternoons at 445 or search for him on your podcast ap
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ABC Far North wildlife correspondent Martin Cohen has a visitor this week – a man who’s travelled a long way to get to far north Queensland. He’s come all the way from Ecuador to check out our frogs.
OK – it’s a bit more than checking them out. Andres Merino-Viteri is an Ecuadorian herpetologist studying the physiological thresholds of Microhylid frogs in the wet tropics. There are about 500 species of Microhylids – small frogs found in tropical zones, including here in FNQ.
ANDRES MERINO-VITERI
Andres worked at the Museo de Zoología at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador, hoping to find causes of the unexpected disappearance of several species of frogs along the Ecuadorian Andes during the 80s and 90s. Climate change was a key suspect, and some of these species are now possibly extinct. He’s working on his PhD project here, modelling the impacts of climate change on the range of Microhylid frogs and looking for ways to keep the frogs from extinction.
Martin and Andres met in Cairns six years ago – LISTEN to them talking about frogs and threats to frog populations here
Dr Martin Cohen is ABC Far North wildlife correspondent. Hear him on radio Wednesday afternoons at 445 or search for him on your podcast app.
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Our ABC Far North wildlife correspondent Martin Cohen is once again a published author – and if you’re thinking about a trip to the Great Barrier Reef, take a copy of his latest book with you.
Martin launched 101 Animals of the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns this morning. It’s the latest in a series of field guides to the creatures of tropical far north Queensland put together since 2009 by Martin and his late partner Julia Cooper.
All the birds, mammals, fish, corals & reptiles you’ll see on the Reef are illustrated and there’s information and stories about them. It’s about to become available at tour operators and book shops in Cairns and Townsville, and will be available online here
LISTEN to my interview with Martin here
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THE BUMPY SATINASH MARTIN BOUGHT WILL LOOK LIKE THIS WHEN IT GROWS UP
As the gardeners of far north Queensland know, lots of plants love our tropical climate and do really well here. Some non-native or introduced species do well too, but some just can’t handle the weather. People choose plants and trees for their gardens for all sorts of reasons – appearance, fragrance, reminds them of somewhere else, easy to look after, low maintenance.
Our wildlife correspondent Martin Cohen would like you to think about native plants for your garden. He was in a plant buying kind of mood when we drove along the Kennedy Highway south of Mareeba, and as we got close to Walkamin, Martin said “there! Over there, pull in there”. The there he was referring to is the Yuruga Native Plant Nursery. He bought some plants, and we had a yarn bout the virtues of native plants with Marcus Achatz.
LISTEN
Dr Martin Cohen is ABC Far North wildlife correspondent. Hear him on radio Wednesday afternoons at 445 or search for him on your podcast app.
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One of the reasons I write this blog is to introduce you to the people and places of my home, far north Queensland. As everyone who lives here knows, this region is so much more than what you read in the tourism brochures. The more you get off the well-worn tourist track, the more rewarding your travels will be.
It’s always amazed me that so few of our visitors venture far from the east coast of FNQ. The furthest inland most of them get is Kuranda, just 30 minutes from Cairns. Yes, there’s plenty to see and do in Cairns, the reef, and the Daintree are stunning, but there’s so much more to our region and much of it is inland.
The long road trip up Cape York Peninsula, or to the Gulf Country might not be for everyone, but you don’t have to go very far to find somewhere that gives you a taste of those places. It’s barely an hour’s drive from Cairns to the Mareeba Wetlands
It’s full name is the Mareeba Tropical Savannah & Wetland Reserve – about a ten minute drive north of Mareeba. It’s a 5000 acre community conservation project offering environmental education and research, & nature based tourism. It’s a not for proft enterprise run by the Wildlife Conservancy of Tropical Queensland
If you go back about 20 years, there were plans to use this area for sugar cane farming, making use of left-over water from the Mareeba Dimbulah Irrigation Area. That didn’t proceed but the then Mareeba Wetland Foundation came up with the idea of a series of gravity-fed wetlands in the tropical savannah. The result is the Mareeba Wetlands – a typically tropical ecosystem but completely different to the Great Barrier Reef or the rainforests.
Among bird-watchers, this place is renowned. But there’s plenty of other wildlife to be seen. You can camp here or stay at the Jabiru Safari Lodge
ABC Far North wildlife correspondent Martin Cohen has been coming here for years – today’s he’s taken me with him. LISTEN to our visit to the Mareeba Wetlands
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One of the best things about living in far north Queensland is that you don’t have to go far to see our wildlife in the wild. And one of the region’s favourite places for wallaby watching is Granite Gorge Nature Park. Head to Mareeba, follow Chewko Road for about 12 kilometres and you’re there.
This former tobacco farm has long been home to a large colony of Mareeba rock wallabies – and for a small fee you can buy a bag of tasty and appropriate treats to hand feed these wonderful little critters. They’re free to come and go – they’re not captive, but they’re certainly used to the company of humans. They’ll come and sit right next to you and have a munch. And you can observe them in their natural habitat, behaving pretty much as they would in the wild.
The nature park is a short journey from Mareeba, about an hour from Cairns, and fits easily into a day trip around the Atherton Tablelands. LISTEN Click on the red arrow to hear ABC Far North wildlife correspondent Martin Cohen and I feeding the wallabies.
We hear lots of debate about our environment and the impact of human activity on our wildlife. In those discussions you’ll hear terms like “endangered“, “threatened“, “vulnerable“, and many other words and phrases. Their exact meaning is not always clear, and given the heat and the politics that accompany environmental debate, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what the experts, the campaigners and our elected representatives are actually saying.
LISTEN Click on the red arrow to hear ABC Far North wildlife correspondent Dr Martin Cohen talk about threatened, endangered and vulnerable species here in far north Queensland and around our planet.
You can hear Martin regularly on Wednesdays at 445pm on ABC Far North.
It’s whale season in far north Queensland – a time of year when your chances of seeing a whale up close are pretty good. The local reef and tour boat operators have a network of people who report sightings, and even a short boat journey from Cairns might get you a whale moment or several. It is a breath-taking experience, seeing these huge creatures in their environment. But big as they get, they are still vulnerable, with climate change, collisions with boats, and hunting being the major threats.
The Mojowire 