Having a visitor gave us an opportunity to have a day out on the Great Barrier Reef with a trip to Michaelmas Cay. This is a fantastic coral sand island located on the western tip of Michaelmas Reef 43km north-east of Cairns. The cay is a National Park and a protected sanctuary for breeding and migratory seabirds.
We travelled out to the reef with Seastar Cruises, who are particularly aware of the birds and birdwatchers who want to see the thousands of birds here. The day was perfect with a calm mill pond like ocean and sunny skies. This was our first visit for many years. There were six other fellow birders on board, one Aussie and five Chinese bird photographers along with another 30 passengers. The trip out was uneventful, consisting mainly of safety briefings, collecting snorkelling gear and some watching for birds but few were seen. A few Sooty Tern were perched on the marker buoys or flying over the boat.
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| Sooty Tern |
Once we approached Michaelmas Cay the bird numbers increased dramatically with Sooty Tern, Brown Booby, Common Noddy and three Great Frigatebird flying overhead. The island which was once vegetated is now nearly all sand with little sign of plants. This has been due to king tides washing over the cay in recent years.
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| Michaelmas Cay |
Visitors are restricted to a small part of the cay, leaving the rest to the birds. Once on the cay the birds can be approached and not disturbed due to the restricted area for people.
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| Moored at Michaelmas Cay |
Brown Booby had been nesting and had white fluffy chicks with them.
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| Brown Booby - adult male |
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| Brown Booby - adult female with chick |
Brown Booby nests were among the Common Noddy and Sooty Tern colonies. There were some Common Noddy on nests with one egg and Sooty Tern with chicks and eggs.
Common Noddy
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Sooty Tern
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| Sooty Tern - chick |
