Spring Bird Survey at Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve - FREE to Attend

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Mon 01 Sep 2025

Stop and listen!

A Noisy pitta stands on the forest floor of dark, damp leaf litter. In its beak, it holds a large, glossy rainforest snail. The bird's head and nape are black with a chestnut crown. It has a distinctive black facial stripe over the eye. Its underpart is a dull yellow and it has a small, blue shoulder patch. The tail is black, with a small red patch under the tail.


Showcasing fifty-five hectares of some of Australia's best sub-tropical rainforest, Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve is one of the Sunshine Coast's must-visit destinations. This gem of remnant rainforest in the heart of Jinibara Country is a living, breathing menagerie of plants and animal life, an oasis of tranquillity and serenity.

Stop and listen! Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve is a haven for a variety of bird life. There are more than one hundred different species of birds that call Mary Cairncross home, all of them playing essential roles in the delicate ecosystem, whether it's eating insects, spreading plant seeds, turning the soil or raising their young.

Commonly seen in the forest is the Yellow-throated Scrub Wren, a small, ground-dwelling bird with a distinctive black face mask and forehead, which is bordered by a white and yellow eyebrow above and a bright yellow throat below.


Join bird enthusiast Rob Kernot and a team of volunteers to help survey the Summer birds at the spectacular Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve. The team conducts regular seasonal bird surveys in the Scenic Reserve to monitor the different types and numbers of birds and how this changes with the different seasons.

The Spring Bird Survey takes place over thirty minutes on two sections of track. If you are familiar with local birds and their calls, it’s a bonus, but definitely not a requirement, to attend the Spring Bird Survey. Anyone with an interest in birds is welcome to join, and a pair of binoculars (if you own a pair) will be very useful.

Often seen perched sideways on the trunks of trees, the Eastern Yellow Robin is a common inhabitant of forests and woodlands in eastern Australia. They are seldom noisy, but their penetrating piping call is one of the first of the morning chorus, often well before dawn.

Numbers for the Spring Bird Survey are limited, and even though it is FREE to attend, registration is essential.

Please meet in front of the Rainforest Discovery Centre at 7.30am - remember, the early bird always catches the worm, and the earthworms at Mary Cairncross are biggies!

The shy Regent Bowerbird lives in rainforests in southeastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales.  It feeds on fruit in the canopy and mid-storey, including native tamarind and giant stinging tree.


Location : Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve, 148 Mountain View Road, Maleny
Day and times : Monday 1st September, 7.30am
Please follow this link to reserve your FREE spot.

Images as indicated
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