Birds of Lizard Island
Learn about the resident and visiting birds that can be seen throughout your stay.
Varied Honeyeater
The Varied Honeyeaters can be found within and around mangroves, so keep a lookout around Watsons Bay and Mangrove Beach.
Varied Honeyeater
The Varied Honeyeaters can be found within and around mangroves, so keep a lookout around Watsons Bay and Mangrove Beach.
- The Varied Honeyeater is a medium-sized brown to green bird with pale yellow underparts
- The species is present year-round at Lizard Island. They are often found in groups, and are usually heard before being seen, with a wide range of calls
Bridled Tern
Our islands, specifically Osprey, South and Palfrey Islands are important nesting sites for terns.
Bridled Tern
Our islands, specifically Osprey, South and Palfrey Islands are important nesting sites for terns.
- The species is characterised by dark brown wings, a white underbody, black tail and a black cap. It also has a narrow white forehead stripe
- Terns will feed on small schooling fish, sighting their prey from the air, plunging downwards into the water and grabbing the fish with their feet
- Good fishing and generally predator-free habitats make the Great Barrier Reef the breeding choice for millions of seabirds
Crested Tern
This species can be easily identified by its long yellow bill, long crest and black cap which does not extend down to the bill.
Crested Tern
This species can be easily identified by its long yellow bill, long crest and black cap which does not extend down to the bill.
- The Crested Tern is Australia’s second largest large tern
- It’s highest numbers are present during the breeding season as it breeds in the Lizard Island area, especially at Eagle Island
- Laying starts in mid-December and the first chicks appear in late January
- Terns will feed on small schooling fish, sighting their prey from the air, plunging downwards into the water and grabbing the fish with their feet
- Good fishing and generally predator-free habitats make the Great Barrier Reef the breeding choice for millions of seabirds
- Our islands, specifically Osprey, South and Palfrey Islands are important nesting sites for terns
Silver Gull
The Silver Gull, also known as the Australian seagull, is abundant across coastal Australia.
Eastern Osprey
The plumage of the Osprey is generally brown above and white below, with a whitish head and a dark stripe through each eye.
Eastern Osprey
The plumage of the Osprey is generally brown above and white below, with a whitish head and a dark stripe through each eye.
- The Osprey forages almost exclusively for live fish, making up to 99 percent of their diet
- Hovering, it plunges down feet first from up to 40m in the air to snatch fish from the water’s surface, sometimes even completely submerging in the process
- Seem to fledge chicks year-round as there is a consistent source of food
- Osprey nests can be huge, as they are added to year after year by the resident pair
- Parental duties are clearly divided throughout breeding, the male doing all the hunting and the female staying at the nest to incubate, brood and care for the young
Beach-Stone Curlew
At 55 cm, the Beach-Stone Curlew is one of the world’s largest shorebirds.
Beach-Stone Curlew
At 55 cm, the Beach-Stone Curlew is one of the world’s largest shorebirds.
- The Beach-Stone Curlew is very distinctive in appearance due to the distinctive black and white patterning on the face, strong yellow colouration on its beak, large yellow eyes, long thick yellow legs, and a sandy-brown plumage
- Beach-Stone Curlews are secretive birds, and are easily disturbed by people. The birds can often be spotted around the Blue Lagoon and Casuarina Beach, especially early and late in the day
- They are mainly active at dawn, dusk and at night, and are known for their loud sounds which can be heard during the night while they rest all day
- They mainly eat crabs and other marine invertebrates
Eastern Reef Egret
The Eastern Reef Egret is also known as the Eastern Reef Heron and Pacific Reef Heron.
Eastern Reef Egret
The Eastern Reef Egret is also known as the Eastern Reef Heron and Pacific Reef Heron.
- There are two colour forms. The white form has a white body and wings and a yellow and grey bill. The dark form has a slate-grey body and wings, with a small white streak on
the throat. The white form is common on Lizard Island, the dark form is less frequently spotted - It is not known what determines the colour form, although some scientists theorise camouflage
- Studies have shown that the white morph feeds more in breaking surf, whereas the grey morph feeds more by hunting on reef flats. Both forms hunt day and night, feeding on small fish, crustaceans and insects
Pied Oystercatcher
The Pied Oystercatcher is a medium sized shorebird with striking black-and-white plumage, long orange legs and a vivid red bill.
Pied Oystercatcher
The Pied Oystercatcher is a medium sized shorebird with striking black-and-white plumage, long orange legs and a vivid red bill.
- The species inhabits sandy beaches and mudflats, probing into the sand with their long, chisel-shaped bills in search of their desired prey
- They mainly feed upon molluscs which they prize apart with their specially adapted bills, in order to eat the soft flesh inside
White-Breasted Wood Swallow
This species migrates to Lizard Island for winter, appearing around March.
White-Breasted Wood Swallow
This species migrates to Lizard Island for winter, appearing around March.
- The White-Breasted Wood Swallow is a small bird with charcoal grey plumage, contrasting sharply with white breast and underparts and a white chest. It has broad, triangular wings that aid in powered and gliding flight
- It mainly feeds on flying insects, catching them on the wing
- Like other woodswallows, it has a brush-tipped tongue that can be used to feed on nectar from flowers
- This species can be seen in flocks of 10 to 50, even up to 100 birds
Bar Shouldered Dove
These birds are the source of the constant cooing that you will hear around the resort.
Rose-Crowned Fruit Dove
This beautiful elusive dove is found on the island all year round.
Rose-Crowned Fruit Dove
This beautiful elusive dove is found on the island all year round.
- It is a small, compact dove, with a short tail and rounded wings
- Its name comes from the deep pink cap or forehead, which is bordered behind by a narrow yellow stripe. The upper body is bright green and the under-body orange and yellow with a rose-coloured patch
- When glimpsed in flight, it is often mistaken for a parrot due to its bright colouration
- Rose-Crowned Fruit Doves feed high in the canopy of various trees. They swallow fruit whole and particularly like figs and the fruit of other species of rainforest trees,
palms and vines - They take water from leaves or from dew, not from the ground
Pheasant Coucal
These beautiful birds are part of the cuckoo family and are often seen in the resort gardens.
Pheasant Coucal
These beautiful birds are part of the cuckoo family and are often seen in the resort gardens.
- They are part of the cuckoo family, but not very cuckoo-like. Unlike other cuckoos, it incubates and raises its own young instead of laying its eggs in the nest of another species
- The Pheasants are not very adept fliers and you will see them moving clumsily through the undergrowth in search of food
- Their diet consists of large insects, frogs, lizards, eggs, young birds and small mammals
Olive-Backed Sunbird
You will often see these sunbirds on your resort room balcony and in the restaurant’s front garden.
Olive-Backed Sunbird
You will often see these sunbirds on your resort room balcony and in the restaurant’s front garden.
- Australia’s answer to the hummingbird!
- The females have a bright yellow chest, whereas the males have a metallic blue chest
- Their diet consists of nectar from flowers and insects – predominantly spiders plucked from webs
- Sunbirds build their nests in close proximity to humans where their young can gain some form of protection from predators
- They have a beautiful song and will quite often sing while hanging upside down on wires or branches
Sacred Kingfisher
This species is seen frequently on Lizard Island during autumn and winter, arriving in March and leaving in September.
Sacred Kingfisher
This species is seen frequently on Lizard Island during autumn and winter, arriving in March and leaving in September.
- Sacred Kingfishers are some of the cutest birds in nature. Their beautiful bright, turquoise, and cream colours lend them a majestic appearance
- The Sacred Kingfisher perches on the tree’s highest branches where it can maintain a watchful, attentive eye out for its prey
- Although it is a species of Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfishers rarely eat fish, they prefer feeding on insects. The food is usually brought back to the perch, where it is eaten
- Sacred Kingfishers’ mate for life but the pair only meet for the breeding season. After mating, both male and female prepare the nest—a burrow in a sandy riverbank, termite mound or a large, empty branch. Both the sexes incubate the eggs
Rainbow Bee-Eater
Rainbow Bee-Eaters mostly eat flying insects, but, as their name implies, they have a real taste for bees. Bee eaters can consume up to 700 bees in one day!
Rainbow Bee-Eater
Rainbow Bee-Eaters mostly eat flying insects, but, as their name implies, they have a real taste for bees. Bee eaters can consume up to 700 bees in one day!
- The Rainbow Bee-Eater is a striking and colorful bird
- Unlike most other birds, Bee-Eaters build their nests underground. Natural enemies of Rainbow Bee-Eaters are monitor lizards, so they do need to keep a careful watch of their eggs
- They are immune to bee stings but they will still remove the stinger when eating a bee, while closing their eyes to avoid being squirted with bee venom
Leaden Flycatcher
The Leaden Flycatcher is a small, long-tailed and slender bird.
Leaden Flycatcher
The Leaden Flycatcher is a small, long-tailed and slender bird.
- This species is sexually dimorphic. Males are mainly dark blue - grey above and white below, with a small crest and a broad black-tipped blue bill. Females are a paler blue-gray above, with a distinctive reddish orange chin, throat and breast
- The species feeds on flying insects
- It is found in eastern and northern Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea in tropical mangrove forests