Birding the land of cassowaries

The glossy black creature that stepped off the road into the dense rainforest was something that I’d never seen before, but I needed no field guide to identify it. It stood 6 feet tall on two powerful legs, and its naked, red and blue face and neck had two “wattles” of loose skin hanging down. On top of its head was a bizarre, horn-like crest, or “casque,” that added to its formidable, prehistoric appearance. Several signs posted along this quiet road in northern Queensland contained the animal’s unmistakable silhouette, but, with as few as 1,500 Southern Cassowaries remaining in the wild, I never expected to encounter one. I stepped quietly out of the car and cautiously approached the flightless, 150-pound giant as it swallowed fallen fruit picked from the rainforest floor. Then I noticed the 5-inch, dagger-like claws on each of the innermost of its three toes and remembered its reputation as “the world’s most dangerous bird.” (Although rare, there have been instances of cassowaries maiming and killing dogs and even people in self-defense.) At a safe distance, with a tree between us, I took a few photos and then left the phenomenal bird alone in its rainforest home.

This was one of many unforgettable experiences during a month-long adventure Down Under. Queensland is a state of remarkably varied environments. The mountains of Australia’s Great Dividing Range extend like a spine down its length, separating the western dry outback from the eastern rainforests and coastal beaches. Its mountainous gorges, waterfalls, ancient forests, mangrove swamps, and sandy beaches couldn’t be more different from the parched, desert-like images of Australia’s outback so often portrayed in movies.

My wife, Felicia, and I arrived in Brisbane,