Wonderful Western Australia

Late last November, and into early-December I spent some time in Western Australia. I focused on the southwestern area of the state and on the state endemics of that region, of which there's quite a few.

After arrival in Perth I headed south to the wonderful Dryandra Woodland, home of the gorgeous Numbat (a very rare carnivorous diurnal marsupial), and range of the target endemic birds. I then continued down to the Stirling Ranges before hitting the coast down at the gorgeous Cheynes Beach and Two People's Bay (magical landscape down there) and home of the 'Big Invisible 3' - three of Australia's toughest birds - Western Whipbird, Western Bristlebird, and Noisy Scrub-bird. I then drove north back to Perth via some inland water. It was a great trip, really enjoyable birding and interesting landscapes, the plants seemed more akin to Africa than the rest of Australia! I'll be heading back out to Western Australia at the same time this year so very much looking forward to that! Details here: http://birdingecotours.com/tour/birding-tour-australia-the-southwest-2017?type=country&where=Australia

I managed to get some photos of most of my target birds and I've included these below, along with some notes on those. There was also several species I saw but didn't manage photos of... I actually, eventually got views of all three of the 'Big Invisible 3' but sadly no photos. I had Western Whipbird at Stirling Ranges and Cheynes beach - these two birds are of different sub-species and may warrant full species status, Western Bristlebird was heard at Cheynes Beach and seen very well at Two People's Bay, with Noisy Scrub-bird heard a matter of feet away from me at Cheynes Beach, but no sign as it hid in the undergrowth, only for one to finally give up views later in the day at its usual spot!

But as for the ones I got photos of, see below..... the first set of photographs show some of the main specialist birds of Western Australia (some stretch just into western South Australia also - like the Blue-breasted Fairywren, and Rufous Treecreeper) but the others are totally restricted to Western Australia.

Blue-breasted Fairywren - got some incredible views of this really beautiful species,this male was very interested in my presence.

Carnaby's Black Cockatoo - several large flocks seen while in the south

Carnaby's Black Cockatoo - often found perched

Gilbert's Honeyeater - this one was coming to a waterbath!

Red-capped Parrot - a really beautiful parrot but rather shy when I had my camera to hand!

Red-eared Firetail - better pics required!

Red-winged Fairywren - great views but they weren't looking as flash as the Blue-breasted.

Rufous Treecreeper - very common

Western Corella (local Muir's Corella sub-species)

Western Rosella - a much smaller bird than the other rosellas of Australia

Western Thornbill - fairly common, a typical thornbill....

Western Wattlebird - not as commonly seen as I'd expected but still seen a few times (here with the very abundant Purple-crowned Lorikeet)

Western Whistler - A recent split from Australian Golden Whistler

White-breasted Robin - typically friendly robin but often in the shaded areas

The following species either are of interesting sub-species, and possible potential future splits (mainly with disjunct populations in the east), or just photos I'm pleased with!

Australian Ringneck (Twenty-eight Parrot)

Brown-headed Honeyeater

Bush Stone-curlew

Common Bronzewing

Fan-tailed Cuckoo - this young bird was being looked after by a White-browed Scrubwren

Nankeen Night Heron

Red-capped Robin

Shining Bronze Cuckoo

Splendid Fairywren

Tawny Frogmouth

Varied Sitella

White-browed Scrubwren (Spotted Scrubwren sub-species)

It wasn't all birds though, there were some great animals about too and I got great views of the very rare and localized Numbat, as well as Short-beaked Echidna and Kangaroos!

Numbat - a diurnal carnivorous marsupial specialized on hunting termites!

Short-beaked Echidna

Western Grey Kangaroo

Queensland Birding

I had a brief (4 day) stop-over in Brisbane, Australia on my way over to New Caledonia and managed to get some good bird and wildlife watching in with my mates Rob and Colin. We headed up into Lamington National Park (the Binna Burra section) for a night of sub-zero camping (it felt that cold anyway) where the clear highlight was actually seeing the Endangered (and incredibly secretive) Rufous Scrub-bird. We also had Paradise Riflebird, Regent and Satin Bowerbirds, Marbled Frogmouth, Logrunner and lots more.

Other sites nearer to Brisbane yielded White-eared Monarch, Masked Owl, Spotted Quail-thrush and a trip over to North Stradbroke Island gave good looks at Beach Stone-curlew and brief Wandering Tattler. However the highlight here was breaching Humpback Whales, porpoising Inshore Bottle-nosed Dolphins, and Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins.

All in all a great few days - a big thank you to Rob and Di for letting me stay with them yet again, and to Rob and Colin for a fun few days birding and camping.

Beach Stone-curlew

Paradise Riflebird

Spotted Quail-thrush

White-eared Monarch

Wonga Pigeon

Inshore Bottle-nosed Dolphins

North Stradbroke Island

Brisbane Sunset

Up near Binna Burra

Some Australia Tour Photos

Here is a selection of photos taken during the Birding Ecotours Australia tour that I guided... The trip report is online here, as well as a recce that was carried out in the South West.

The tour commenced in Hobart, Tasmania, moved across to Melbourne, Victoria where we completed a circuit of the state, briefly popping into New South Wales. We then flew up the coast to Brisbane, Queensland visiting the world famous O'Reilly's before continuing to Cairns in Tropical North Queensland where we completed another circuit.

As anyone who follows me on Twitter/Facebook the tour was really enjoyable and we saw some really incredible birds - some of these are shown in the photos below... If you're interested in joining the 2016 Australia tour please get in touch!

Australia is a wonderful place, not just for birds, but a wide range of other wildlife - as you can see from some of my recent posts on this blog and hopefully the following photos...

We had incredible looks at several of the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrots - a breeding endemic to Tasmania. This species is in serious peril with possibly less than 50 birds left in the world.

The Orange-bellied Parrots are thankfully taking up nest boxes provided but it is concerning just how few birds remain.

Forty-spotted Pardalote is another very rare bird. Endemic to Tasmania, global population is estimated at around 900 birds, maybe less, with a very restricted range on the island. Again this species is in severe need of help.

Plains-wanderer was yet another 'Mega' bird of the tour, this tiny bird is all in its own family and its closest relatives are the seedsnipes of South America! This adult female was the big highlight of a night-drive in New South Wales. 

And when it turned round and faced us you could hear a collective gasp as we saw how beautiful this bird was. Again, like the species above this species is in serious decline. We cannot afford to lose any species, especially something as unique as this bird.

Southern Cassowary was high on our hit list for our time in Tropical North Queensland, but I never dreamed we'd see an adult male with his two stripy chicks in tow! This is my favourite bird on the planet I think, and the more I see them the more that I agree with myself! An absolute stunning, prehistoric species that comes and goes like a ghost!

Here's a bit of a closer look at those cute and stripy Southern Cassowary chicks!  

It is always nice to see an owl - but to see a Lesser Sooty Owl as well as this, and manage to get a record shot of it was really pleasing. Sooty Owls have a crazy bomb-whistle call that is really scary when it decides to do it right overhead when you didn't know it was there!

Quail-thrush can be shy and skittish, so to get this Chestnut-backed Quail-thrush perched up out in the open  and singing was a real treat! What a beautiful and cryptically plumaged bird.

This Golden Bowerbird was very showy, seeing him attend his bower was pretty special.

This Great-billed Heron was seen during a really enjoyable trip along the Daintree River, such a wonderful place full of interesting wildlife. This bird had apparently just been in a fight with another Great-billed Heron, he got of lightly as the other bird got killed and eaten by a Crocodile that was attracted to all of the commotion!!!!  

A Hooded Plover at a nest in Tasmania was very nice to see. Another rare bird seen well.

Coming second-fiddle to the Plains-Wanderer on our night-drive in New South Wales were the Inland Dotterel. We saw several bird during the course of the evening. Yet another highlight!

A very nice surprise was seeing this Lewin's Rail in Victoria. This doesn't tell the whole picture though, because behind him in the vegetation were his two chicks and their mother! To see Lewin's Rail is good, to see it like this was fantastic!

We saw lots of different parrots during the tour, the Major Mitchell's Cockatoo surely has to be the best! That crest is just incredible. Just one of those birds you HAVE to see.

  

We saw lots of Pink Robins while in Tasmania, and these were a real treat, and certainly very popular. These dainty little birds were very approachable and showed well in their family groups.

Rufous Bristlebird was unusually showy as it basked in the cold morning sun. We weren't going to complain though.

This male Scarlet Robin was busy feeding up his chick that had very recently fledged from their nest in Tasmania. Yet another very popular Robin.

Superb Parrot was a nice find. This parrot has a fairly restricted global range and was a welcome addition to our trip list. It allowed very close views as it sat and preened in the midday sun.

Another parrot that is becoming rarer by the year - the Swift Parrot is another parrot that breeds only in Tasmania, wintering on the Australian mainland. We had good views at a good number of birds which was great to see. Lets hope that the management that is meant to be happening for these species actually happens so it doesn't go the way of the Orange-bellied Parrot.

Michaelmas Cay on the Great Barrier Reef was (another) real highlight of the tour with thousands of Sooty Terns and Brown Noddys on show.

We saw all Tasmanian endemics, and this flightless Tasmanian Native-hen was a bit of a brute of a bird. 

Victoria's Riflebird was a bit shy for the camera but we got some incredible views of displaying birds whilst in the rainforests Tropical North Queensland. 

I'll finish with Australia's largest owl - Powerful Owl. We saw a pair of birds on a day roost - seriously impressive, huge owls!

Common Brushtail Possum - this one was caught fighting in the street in Tasmania!

Greater Glider from Victoria

Koala - always a mammal highlight

Platypus - another highlight, we saw at least 3 on one night!

Short-eared Brush-tailed Possum

Sugar Glider from Queensland

Whiptail (Pretty-face) Wallaby from Queensland

Boyd's Forest Dragon from Queensland

The rare and restricted-range Chameleon Gecko from Queensland

Jungle Carpet Python from Queensland - full head shot

Jungle Carpet Python - head shot

Crucifix Toad - a huge highlight of the night-drive, almost as popular as the Plains-Wanderer for some!

Showing why it's called what it is! Crucifix Toad, also know as Cross Frog!

Whitep-lipped Tree Frog from the rainforest in Queensland