Great Barrier Reef

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Michaelmas Cay

You can’t be in Cairns (pronounced “cans”) without heading out to the natural wonder that is the Great Barrier Reef.

I chose a trip on the Ocean Spirit to Michaelmas Cay, a sandy island on the reef.

While I am a certified SCUBA diver and I love marine life, I was here for the birds.

I checked in and walked out to the dock under a light, warm drizzle. It rains almost everyday in Cairns. I was early so I headed to the breakwater to try to pick up a lifer.

I scanned the nearby trees for roosting birds, I was looking for a night-heron. I found one foraging at the breakwater. I guess no one told it that it was a night-heron, a Nankeen night-heron.

I headed back to the dock and boarded the Ocean Spirit.

While waiting for the Ocean Spirit to depart I sketched the mountains to the south and the boats moored in the foreground.

During the two hour cruise to the cay, we stopped to look at a few humpback whales.

This is a continuous-line sketch of the Ocean Spirit looking towards the bow as we head to the cay.

We arrived at the cay and anchored to the buoy. The launch began to take snorkelers to the sandy cay.

I headed over and walked on the vibrant sands. The cay is a bird sanctuary and various pelagic birds nest and roost here. The most prominent breeding bird at this time of year is the brown booby.

This a semi-regular vagrant to the west coast of California but I had never seen one this close and in it breeding plumage. I sketch one on it sandy nest (featured sketch).

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Great Barrier Reef

On my visit to North Queensland, I couldn’t be near one of the seven wonders of the natural world without having a look-see.

From the coastal town of Cairns, boats depart on day trips to the Great Barrier Reef.

The reef system runs mostly parallel along the northeastern coast of Australia for 1,400 miles, making it the largest reef system in the world.

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is what a tropical rainforest is to biodiversity. Here are a few facts that highlights the mega diversity on hand.

The GNR supports 1,500 species of fish, 4,000 species of mollusks, 400 species of coral, 6 of the 7 world’s species of sea turtles, 14 species of sea snakes, 133 species of sharks and rays, and 242 species of birds. The GBR also contains 25% of all known marine species!

I am planning to dip into a bit of this biodiversity with a snorkeling trip to Michaelmas Cay. While I’m a certified SCUBA diver, I want to spend some time topside, to see some of the breeding seabirds of this cay.

The cay supports 23 species of seabirds and at the height of the breeding season (our summer) there can be up to 20,000 birds on Michaelmas Cay.

Some of the lifers I hope to see on the cay are: brown (common) noddy, sooty, little, great crested, black-naped terns, and masked booby. I also hoped to get great looks at some birds I’ve seen before such as great frigatebird and brown booby but in breeding plumage.