It’s whale season in far north Queensland – a time of year when your chances of seeing a whale up close are pretty good. The local reef and tour boat operators have a network of people who report sightings, and even a short boat journey […]

The far north Queensland wet season is over for another year and the start of the dry is a great time to see butterflies and moths around the region. During the wet, conditions are just too tough for these beautiful creatures to flourish in significant […]

Down south, a year has four seasons. Melbourne can have that many in a single day. Here in far north Queensland, indeed, right across tropical Australia, we tend to count just two seasons – the wet and the dry. In the wet, the monsoon brings […]

ABC Far North wildlife correspondent Martin Cohen and I have travelled far and wide this year to observe the amazing birds and animals of far north Queensland. One of the best things about living in FNQ is that you don’t have to travel very far […]

ABC Far North wildlife correspondent Martin Cohen has a visitor this week –  a man who’s travelled all the way from Ecuador to check out our frogs. OK – it’s a bit more than checking them out. Andres Merino-Viteri is an Ecuadorian herpetologist studying the […]

Our ABC Far North wildlife correspondent Martin Cohen is once again a published author – and if you’re thinking about a trip to the Great Barrier Reef, take a copy of his latest book with you. Martin launched 101 Animals of the Great Barrier Reef […]

As the gardeners of far north Queensland know, lots of plants love our tropical climate and do really well here. Some non-native or introduced species do well too, but some just can’t handle the weather. People choose plants and trees for their gardens for all […]

One of the reasons I write this blog is to introduce you to the people and places of my home, far north Queensland. As everyone who lives here knows, this region is so much more than what you read in the tourism brochures. The more […]

One of the best things about living in far north Queensland is that you don’t have to go far to see our wildlife in the wild. And one of the region’s favourite places for wallaby watching is Granite Gorge Nature Park. Head to Mareeba, follow […]

We hear lots of debate about our environment and the impact of human activity on our wildlife. In those discussions you’ll hear terms like “endangered”, “threatened”, “vulnerable”, and many other words and phrases. Their exact meaning is not always clear, and given the heat and […]