Photo Gallery
Gavin Bieber
We’ll start our tour around the cosmopolitan city of Melbourne, where Laughing Kookaburras…
…dazzling Rainbow Lorikeets…
…Splendid Fairy-wrens…
…and perky Red-browed Finches will be our introductions to Australian birdlife.
For our first full day we’ll head to the extensive wetlands of Werribee, where a wealth of waterfowl like Chestnut Teal…
…and Fairy Terns might be joined by…
…Australian Spotted Crake or…
…Buff-banded Rails lurking around the reedbeds.
A side trip to some nearby parks might reveal Long-billed Corellas in the fields…
…a Powerful Owl on its day roost, or even…
…a Koala perched up in a gum tree.
Near our base for the next two days at Healesville…
,,,adjacent to large blocks of protected temperate rain forest…
…we should encounter our first Satin Bowerbirds…
…punk but cute Gang-gang Cockatoos…
…metallic Common Bronzewings and hopefully…
…Superb Lyrebirds stalking the picnic areas in the early morning.
Parrots like Crimson Rosella and…
…Sulphur-crested Cockatoo can be remarkably tame here.
A night trip out might reveal gliders, possums, owls or even a passing Wombat.
Then we’ll head north towards the agricultural valleys surrounding Chiltern…
…where our comfortable hotel offers…
…close access to the adjacent National Forest, with its Turquoise Parrots…
…as well as a drabber species with one of the most whimsical bird names, Jacky Winter…
…perhaps even an inquisitive Echidna.
The mallee forests around Deniliquin will offer…
…Superb Parrot…
…Regent Parrots seeking out nesting cavities…
…while Apostlebirds shuffle around the hedgerows.
With some luck we might spot our first Tawny Frogmouth, or…
…Australian Owlet-Nightjar peering down from the trees.
The fields around town shelter Emu by day…
…and the unique Plains-Wanderer by night.
We’ll then visit some of the large mallee and desert parks in NW Victoria…
…perhaps finding Malleefowl along the way…
…or such beautiful birds as Variegated Fairywren while…
…seeking out harder to find if less spectacular birds like Southern Scrub-Robin.
As we reach the south coast the birds will change again…
…with Pied Oystercatchers and…
…the endangered and striking Hooded Plover on the coast…
…and Rufous Bristlebirds lurking in the coastal heath.
The next day we’ll fly to Tasmania and then take a ferry out to Bruny Island…
…where the scenery is nothing short of spectacular.
Black-faced Cormorants are often at the docks to greet us…
…and our base for the next few nights is spectacular.
We’ll take picnic lunches that will allow for full days in the field.
Tasmanian Native Hens are impressive beasts…
…and the extraordinary male Pink Robins…
…Beautiful Firetails…
…and shockingly large-billed Pacific Gulls are in their own way equally impressive.