Abattoir Swamp is just off the Rex Highway, which runs between Mount Molloy and Mossman. It's only a few minutes drive from Kingfisher Park (more of which later). A boardwalk leads to a hide overlooking a small wetland with reeds and paperbark and a Persian carpet of Azolla.
There wasn't much in the way of avian life when I first visited, which made me wonder whether the sign saying 'bird hide' was actually an instruction. Still, the paperbarks and grevilleas were in flower so I switched my attention to them. They can't play hide and seek, after all.
View from the hide
Paperbark
Grevillea pteridifolia
Grevillea that I should be able to name but can't
Callistemon
Yellow-faced honeyeater
Intermediate egret
Forest kingfisherThat first trip was in the early afternoon and most birds were having a siesta somewhere. But I went back early the next day and the place was ringing.
Rainbow bee-eaters at dawn
White-throated honeyeater on mistletoeAlso present but not posing for the camera were dusky honeyeaters, which make up for their lack of colour (they're lignite brown all over) with their delicate curved beaks and boisterous nature, and scarlet honeyeaters, with their Christmas red front ends. So not a bad haul.
