Michaelmas Cay
Tiny coral and sand cay roped off as a seabird rookery, home to thousands of nesting terns.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Michaelmas Cay, a sand and coral cay off Cairns, unpacks a strange numbers problem: why over one percent of the world's crested terns choose to nest on a spit barely bigger than a football pitch, crowded alongside sooty terns, noddies, and nesting green turtles. It traces how Queensland turned the cay into a national park in nineteen seventy-five and why rangers still rope most of it off from visitors. Stand at that rope line, and listen for the racket before your boat even reaches it.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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