Daintree National Park, which includes Daintree Village and the entire length of the Daintree River, is located in what is considered to be one of the world's premier birdwatching destinations.

A number of factors have played a significant role in reinforcing the Daintree region's already distinguished reputation.  These include its safety, the presence of an international airport close by in Cairns, a variety of accommodation and restaurants facilities, convenient vehicle hire services, and other support infrastructure, and above all, its vast array of wildlife habitat resulting in an extraordinarily diverse range of bird species.

In the introduction of his bird-watching itineraries, Daintree's Chris Dahlberg comments on this diversity:

"From some of the world's smallest parrots and kingfishers to the largest of cuckoo's, to birds that can see in the dark and pigeons more colourful than Amazonian parrots the Cairns region is central to many of the most exciting birds in the world.  After breeding in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere  shorebirds and waders fly longer distances than the international traveller to be here in summer..."

With a diversity of bird habitats, the region boasts over half of Australia's bird species as residents.  As well, birds arrive here on their regular annual pilgrimage from places as far away as Alaska and Siberia, and other traditional international feeding and breeding grounds.