Work, Travel, and Birding: Napranum and Weipa 2023

I am currently working in Napranum for 6 weeks. It is the wet season and so far we have recorded 861mm (34 inches) of rain since January 1st. The biggest benefit here is that it has cooled off a little. Napranum is a community on the west coast of Cape York, Queensland. Situated six kilometres south of Weipa and 800 kilometres north west of Cairns. Normally I would drive to a contract, but during the wet, the roads become impassable and so I have flown to work this time.

Napranum and the nearby mining town of Weipa are surrounded by a large bauxite mine and the Mission and Embley Rivers. Flying in at the start of the month I could see just how much ground water was lying around. I can only imagine what it is like now from the air.

The whole landscape is teeming with life and I awake in the mornings to the cacophony of dawn birdsong. It starts at 5.30am with the Blue-winged Kookaburras, before the Blue-faced Honeyeaters, Australasian Figbirds, and occasional Papuan Frogmouth begin. Amongst them I hear the Green (Yellow) Orioles and Black-backed Butcherbirds. Then as the tempo increases, the Rainbow Lorikeets, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Bar-shouldered Doves, and Great Bowerbirds add to the symphony.

Sunset Gonbung

Red-browed Finch

Bar-shouldered Dove

Beach Morning Glory

My weekends are pretty quiet, however I have had the great opportunity to get out and explore on my days off thanks to the generosity of friends. I have been to Red Beach, Uningan Nature Reserve, Mission River bridge, Napranum, Gonbung, Lorim Point, and Evan's landing.

Scar tree on the left

Red Beach

Red beach is named for the bauxite that makes up the majority of the geology. There are scar trees that have been installed at Red beach as they were cut down during mining. They are a reminder of the traditional hunting and gathering methods - in particular the "scars" from honey collection.

Taking any opportunity to do some birding, I find myself distracted by the number of butterflies and dragonflies around. Last Saturday we counted eleven species of butterfly that were attracted to a single plant and I managed to photograph a few.

Cane Toadlet

Caper Gull

Tawny Coster

Swamp Tiger

Eichhorn's Crow

Grass Yellow

Lesser Wanderer

Graceful Honeyeater

Brown-backed Honeyeater

The biggest disappointment up here is the amount of rubbish that is dumped in the bush - every side road seems to lead to a dumping point despite the local tip being free to access. If you look past it though it is beautiful here. The red colour of the bauxite, the shell middens, the yellow sand beaches, the swamp paperbarks, the sedges, the remnant rainforest and the billabongs all stunning and a pleasure to be amongst all the while remaining aware that I am in croc country.