Kuranda, Queensland, 27 July 2022
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Click on any image to see it larger (If you are on a PC at least).

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Say forty years ago, Kuranda would have been a pretty little village near Cairns.  In many ways it still is but now it’s also a tourist trap.  We mainly visited so we could get the Skyrail up and the Historic Train down and this meant we had about four hours to occupy in town.  We went to the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary (last post) and also Birdworld Kuranda (this post).

I take little to no photographic credit for the images in this post.  It’s essentially a zoo and a bit like shooting fish in a barrel, as the saying goes.  It’s not at all like photographing animals in their natural habitat, learning about where and how they live and approaching them in a way that does not disturb them as they go about their lives.

I also have reservations about the existence of places such as this.  There can be positive aspects like caring for injured wildlife or wildlife who have lost much of their habitat but I don’t think this is much the case here.  There is far too much capture of animals from the wild to be caged or pets to satisfy human egos and far too little preservation of their natural environments.  This is worst in the US where people can have almost any wild animal they want as a pet no matter how inappropriate that is.  This results in massive wildlife smuggling operations, motivated by greed and certainly not animal welfare.  For example, the Scarlet Macaw we will soon see has become extinct in some of its Central American range due to poaching for the pet trade.

We are in an acute crisis caused by unsustainable development including World overpopulation, poisoning & polluting the environment and climate change, though most may be blissfully unaware and still hopeful of perpetual economic progress. Even progressive governments are not doing nearly enough.  “Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation.” (The Guardian 30/10/2018, citing a report by WWF).

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Alexandrine Parakeet (India, South East Asia).

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King Parrot (Eastern Australia).

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Alexandrine Parakeets.

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Alexandrine Parakeet.

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Gouldian Finch (north of Australia).

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Southern Cassowary (Far north Queensland).

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Mandarin Ducks (China and Japan).

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intermediate Egret (eastern and northern Australia.

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Rose-Ringed Parakeet (Africa and India).

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Pied Heron (northern coastal Australia).

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Scarlet Macaw (South and Central America) and Blue and Yellow Macaw (South America).

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Scarlet Macaw and Blue and Yellow Macaw.

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Major Mitchell Cockatoo (arid inland Australia).

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Southern Cassowary.

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(The cassowary was clearly not happy with being cooped up in a tiny space and exposed to the prying eyes of humans).

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