Photo Gallery
Photos: David Fisher, Jim Bangma, David Stevens and Trevor Quested
We start the eastern section of our Australia tour in northern Queensland where we’ll spend three days on the Atherton Tablelands, a patchwork of rainforest reserves, agricultural fields and attractive small towns.
Giant fig trees in the rainforest are home to many new species of bird, whose calls echo all around us. Some are easy to see and to photograph….
….such as this Australian Brush-Turkey, a species of megapode or mound builder,….
….some can be hard to find, but easy to photograph, such as this Southern Cassowary,….
….while others, such as this gorgeous Golden Bowerbird, can be hard to find and hard to photograph!
In the more open habitats on the tablelands Sarus Cranes are common,….
….Australian Bustards are scarce,….
….and the curious Apostlebird is a local speciality.
We’ll then drive down to Cairns, a holiday resort town on the coast that is an access point for the Great Barrier Reef.
We travel out there in a luxurious catamaran, watching for seabirds on the voyage, and….
….we’ll spend the day on Michaelmas Cay, a sandy atoll covered in nesting seabirds, including….
up to ten species of tern, two frigatebirds, and two boobies….
Many of the birds are very approachable,….
….allowing excellent photographs to be taken with just a standard lens – as was this juvenile Sooty Tern.
The cay is surrounded by coral reefs and those who wish can go snorkelling from the beach, but those that prefer to stay dry can still view the reef extremely well from the semi-submersible boat that does regular cruises out from the Ocean Spirit,….
….and many wonderful reef creatures, such as this giant clam can be seen that way.
In contrast our next stop is the famous O’Reilly’s Guest House in southern Queensland. Here the tameness of the birds is as famous as the quantity and quality of the food,…
….and both can be enjoyed at the same time, as the dining room is built around the feeding station! Regent Bowerbirds are the O’Reilly’s emblem and stunning males visit the bird tables.
Away from the guesthouse there are miles of trails through pristine rainforest to be explored, and….
….even here some of the birds are tame – this is a friendly Eastern Yellow Robin,….
….though others, such as this secretive Noisy Pitta, are not.
Our tour finishes in Sydney, where we’ll depart from the harbor for a pelagic trip out to the continental shelf.
The highlight of the trip is usually Wandering Albatross, but we also see many other seabirds including….
….Pterodromas such as Great-winged Petrel, and….
….if we’ve not seen it up this point, once back on dry land this day often ends with a trip to see a Powerful Owl.
Our final morning is spent in Sydney Royal National Park in search of the world’s greatest mimic – the Superb Lyrebird,….
….New South Wales’s only endemic bird – the Rock Warbler, and….
….sometimes there are surprises, such as during the 2004 tour when we saw this Echidna sniffing the early morning air, and….
….shortly afterwards these Sulphur-crested Cockatoos mobbing a massive Lace Monitor Lizard. You just never know what wonderful creatures are awaiting you around the next corner in Australia.