Day 1: The tour starts with a 6 p.m. introductory meeting at our hotel in Perth. Night in Perth.

Day 2: We’ll spend a bit of time this morning visiting one of Perth’s many city parks, where we’ll be introduced to some of the more common wetland birds of Australia. Stately Black Swans, lumbering Australian Pelicans, Pacific Black Ducks, Gray Teal, Blue-billed Duck, and perhaps the bizarre Musk Duck will be paddling around in the lake. Reedbeds should host Australian Reed Warblers and Little Grassbirds, and, with luck, perhaps Buff-banded Rail or Spotless Crake. In the open parklands around the lake we’ll encounter our first (of many) species of honeyeaters, such as Red Wattlebird and New Holland, Singing, and Brown Honeyeaters.

Leaving Perth behind, we’ll make our way to Narrogin, birding en route through the Darling Ranges and Dryandra Forest where we might encounter our first southwest endemics, such as Blue-breasted and Red-winged Fairy-wren, Western Yellow Robin, Rufous Treecreeper or Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo. The brushlands around Narrogin should produce our first Australian Ringnecks and perhaps Dusky or Black-faced Woodswallows. Night in Narrogin.

Day 3:  Our hotel in Narrogin abuts a small but very nice wildlands park, and we’ll enjoy a pre breakfast walk across the road. Here we often encounter Red-capped Parrot and Western Rosellas, and if the local Eucalypts are in blossom there will be a host of honeyeaters and thornbills feeding in the trees. Later in the morning we’ll make our way to the vast Stirling Ranges National Park, stopping at the Wagin sewage ponds where the oddly proportioned Pink-eared Duck, the striking Australian Shelduck, and waders such as Black-fronted Dotterel are often present.

Our lodge is nestled on the north side of the Stirling Ranges, within easy reach of the national park. We should arrive in time for lunch at the local cafe. After checking into our rooms we’ll venture out into the park where the forests should hold Canaby’s Black-Cockatoo, Purple-crowned Lorikeets, Sacred Kingfisher, Restless Flycatcher, Western Shrike-Tit and a host of other new birds. Night at Stirling Range Retreat.

Day 4: We’ll spend the morning exploring some of the many dirt roads that bisect the national park. Keeping an eye on the skies as we drive, we might bump into a soaring Square-tailed Kite (more common in the southwest portion of Australia than in the east) or perhaps a Little Eagle. Western Rosellas and Red-capped Parrots should be foraging along the roadsides, and we will keep an eye out for circling Wedge-tailed Eagles, Emus out in the fields and perched up Tawny-crowned Honeyeater and Western Fieldwren out in the heath.  The heathland south of the Stirling Ranges hosts over a thousand plant species, including some wonderful terrestrial orchids, many of which should be in full flower.

Our goal for the afternoon is to reach the coast at Cheynes Beach. Here our comfortable lodge offers excellent access to the coastal heathland and sandy stretches of beach that ring the southwest corner of the continent. In the late afternoon we’ll explore the roads around Cheynes, looking for Brush Bronzewing, Southern Emu-wren, Red-eared Firetail, and Western Wattlebird. Night at Cheynes Beach Caravan Park.

Day 5: We’ll concentrate on finding the three skulking heathland birds endemic to the area. Western Whipbirds should be quite vocal, and with some patience we should locate one perched low in the heath. Western Bristlebirds can sometimes be quite tame around the heathland behind the lodge, often coming out in the morning along the edges of the artificial firebreaks. The third species is Noisy Scrub-bird, which can be heard singing all over the reserve but will likely take a significant amount of time and patience to see as it scurries across a firebreak or forages on the ground in dense cover. This species was thought to be extinct until its rediscovery in 1961 at Two Peoples Bay and is one of two species in the endemic Australian family Atrichornithidae.

We’ll have time in the afternoon to bird some of the headlands around Albany, where given favorable winds we might spot Indian Yellow-nosed or Black-browed Albatrosses, Great-winged Petrel or Flesh-footed Shearwater. Mammals abound here as well, and with some luck we could find a diminutive Honey Possum foraging in flowering heath. Luck will not be required for us to spot Western Grey Kangaroos, which are nightly visitors around the cabins. The estuaries around Albany will offer our first groups of waders, with migrants from Asia joining the local specialties like Pied Oystercatcher, Red-capped Plover and Australian Fairy Tern. Offshore in October it is often possible to see Humpback Whales and Southern Right-Whales, and occasionally Sea-lions or Fur Seals haul out on the beaches. Night at Cheynes Beach Caravan Park.

Day 6: After an early start we’ll drive inland to the northeast of Cheyne’s Beach and an area of mallee (thin, multi-stemmed species of Eucalyptus that form open but dense forests along a latitudinal band in southern Australia). Although at first glance mallee forest can often appears nearly lifeless, an amazing diversity of wildlife uses these scrubby forests. We’ll seek out birds such as the appropriately named Shy Heathwren, Southern Scrub-Robin, and the odd Crested Bellbird (recently elevated to a nearly monotypic family). We’ll also visit a (hopefully active) mound of the impressive Malleefowl; the world’s southernmost megapode. In the afternoon we’ll either return to Cheyne’s or head south to the coast to explore some of the estuaries and headlands for waders and seabirds. The brilliant blues of the Southern Ocean, offset by high bluffs and gleaming white sands make for a most attractive backdrop to the birding. Night at Cheynes Beach Caravan Park.

Day 7: Today is largely a travel day as we return to Perth. We’ll stop en route to look for Western Corellas near the Ramsar-listed Lake Muir Wetlands. Our actual route will be determined by our chances for new bird species before we arrive back at our hotel. Night in Perth.

Day 8: A morning flight will take us to Alice Springs, in the center of Australia. This is outback desert country and contrasts strongly with the more temperate southwest. Known as the Red Centre for good reason, the local landscape is dominated by the rich red color of the rocks, and its sparse vegetation provides a home for a surprisingly varied avifauna. After lunch in town we’ll visit Simpson’s Gap National Park, open scrub country with a wealth of central Australian birds, including Pied Butcherbird, Western Gerygone, Gray-headed Honeyeater, Zebra Finch, Black-faced and Little Woodswallows, and Dusky Grasswren. Local rainfall in these deserts determines the presence or absence of many nomadic species, and some years we also see Budgerigar, Diamond Dove, Rufous Songlark, and Painted Firetail. Among the marsupials, Black-flanked Rock Wallaby is a local specialty. Night in Alice Springs.

Days 9–10: During these two days we’ll visit several spots farther away from town. Our choice will be determined by the local conditions, but whichever we choose we’ll be searching for many of the same species, including Spinifex Pigeon, Dusky Grasswren, Rufous-crowned Emu-wren, Spinifexbird, Western Bowerbird, and Red-browed Pardalote. One afternoon we’ll likely visit the Old Telegraph Station next to the spring after which the town was named, a good spot to see Common Walleroo, and the small but well-laid-out Olive Pink Botanical Garden, which often contains some very confiding Western Bowerbirds tending their grass bowers. On one evening we’ll visit a remote water hole where Bourke’s Parrots and Spotted Nightjars sometimes come at dusk to drink. Nights in Alice Springs.

Day 11: This is largely a travel day, though we will fit in as much birding as feasible given the flight schedule.  If we have time in the morning, we will likely visit the margins of the Alice Springs Sewage Works, a fantastic spot for waterbirds in the parched red center, but one that has recently closed access to visitors.  Just birding from outside the fence though can reveal a wealth of birds including perhaps Red-necked Avocets, Whiskered Terns, various migrant shorebirds and a nice selection of raptors.  We’ll plan to catch a late morning flight to Darwin for a three-night stay. 

In Darwin we’ll enter the true tropics, encountering many new and colorful species: Australian Figbirds perch on roadside wires, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes undulate overhead, and Torresian Imperial-Pigeons sit in the treetops. After checking into our hotel we’ll visit a nearby nature reserve at East Point. On a short walk along the coast on a brush-lined trail we should encounter Orange-footed Megapode as it struts around the lawns that fringe the reserve. Mobs of Agile Wallabies should be grazing on the short turf, and Bush Thick-Knees should be resting under some of the shade trees in the field. Depending on the tide, we may check the exposed reefs for roosting waders, which are likely to include Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers, Pacific Golden Plover, Gray-tailed Tattler, Curlew Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, and Red-capped Plover. If the tide is low, Eastern Reef Egrets and Striated Herons are sure to be fishing in the rocky pools, and the occasional Brahminy Kite will be drifting overhead. Night in Darwin.

Days 12–13: We’ll spend two days visiting a variety of excellent birding spots around town. These are sure to include the following:

At Howard Springs we’ll walk the nature trail in search of the brilliant-colored and aptly named Rainbow Pitta. Most of the world’s pittas are skulking birds that are extremely hard to see, but this one is an exception. There are lots of other forest birds to look for as well, including Australian Koel, Spangled Drongo, Shining Flycatcher, Little Shrike-thrush, Yellow and Olive-backed Orioles, and a variety of strikingly patterned tropical honeyeaters. There is also a camp of Black Flying-Foxes here, as well as many exotic lizards, colorful turtles, and unusual butterflies.

We’ll visit Buffalo Creek, where, depending on the tide, we have a chance of glimpsing Chestnut Rail. It spends most of its time hidden in dense mangroves, but we’ll certainly hear it calling and with luck might even see it. While we scan for the rail, other mangrove species will entertain us, perhaps including noisy Black Butcherbirds, musical Green-backed Gerygones, dainty Yellow White-eyes, and colorful Azure Kingfishers. On the nearby beach large flocks of migrant waders and terns may be roosting, and these should include many of the waders that breed in Siberia and winter in Australia. A few resident waders may also be present, including perhaps the massive but surprisingly elusive Beach Thick-knee.

The mangroves that line Adelaide Creek should host Arafura Fantail, Broad-billed Flycatcher and Black-tailed Whistler, and in the creek itself we have a reasonable chance at spotting a lurking Saltwater Crocodile. Along the Marakai Track we’ll encounter a range of species more common in the drier interior forests such as Black-tailed Treecreeper, Northern Rosella, and with luck Gouldian, Long-tailed and Masked Finches.

A late afternoon visit to Knuckey’s Lagoon is always a delight as large numbers of waterbirds are sure to be present, including many herons, ducks, and waders. We’ll search among hundreds of Pied Herons, Magpie Geese, Radjah Shelducks, Green Pygmy-Geese, and Comb-crested Jacanas for scarcer species such as Wood Sandpiper and Long-toed Stint. In the past, local rarities have included Garganey, Ruff, Little Ringed Plover, Oriental Pratincole, and Yellow Chat, so who knows what we may find.

One day we’ll drive to Fogg Dam in the early morning, stopping along the way to look for Horsfield’s Bushlark and Black-faced Woodswallow. The lagoons behind the dam were originally a rice-growing scheme, but thousands of Magpie Geese quickly put an end to that idea and the area was turned into a nature reserve instead. Now it is a mass of reedbeds and lily-covered ponds, home to many waterbirds. Among the scarcer species we’ll hope for are Brolga, Black-necked Stork, Royal Spoonbill, White-browed Crake, Broad-billed and Paperbark Flycatchers, Tawny Grassbird, and Golden-headed Cisticola. Nights in Darwin.

Day 14: We’ll take a morning flight to Kununurra. This remote outpost town has experienced a great tourist boom in the last few years, making it comfortable and easily accessible from Darwin. Kununurra sits in an agricultural plain where irrigated fields are interspersed with vast wetlands and tropical dry forest. The mix of habitats here leads to a wonderfully diverse avifauna, with up to ten species of finch being perhaps the stars. We’ll spend the afternoon exploring near town, seeking out some of the rarer species such as Star Finch, Long-tailed Finch and Yellow-rumped Mannikin, in the vast network of agricultural fields in the Ord River floodplain. Night in Kununurra.

Day 15: We’ll have a full day to explore around Kununurra, and our destination will depend on what we are still looking for. One area we may visit is Lily Creek Lagoon, where we should encounter colorful Green Pygmy-Geese and White-browed Crake. At the nearby Hidden Valley Springs a walk along the roads and marked trails should produce White-quilled Rock-Pigeon, Sandstone Shrike-thrush, and Northern Rosella. And on the Weaber Plains we’ll seek out Australian Bustard, Brolga, and Australian Pratincole in the fields, various finches and cisticolas in the roadside scrub, and maybe Brown Quail. We might go farther afield in the afternoon, toward the coastal town of Wyndham, where Mangrove Gray Fantails occur in the mangroves, with stops along the way to look for Spinifex Pigeon and Gouldian Finch. Night in Kununurra.

Day 16: We’ll start early start for a comfortable morning cruise around the huge Lake Argyle. During the dry season, this giant lake supports simply stunning numbers of birds with hundreds of thousands of waterfowl and a good number of wading birds. Our chief targets, though, are three other birds: the nomadic and poorly known Yellow Chat, for which Lake Argyle is perhaps the most reliable spot; White-quilled Rock Pigeons which tend to sit unobtrusively on small rocky ledges; and Sandstone Shrike-thrush, which breeds on some of the lakeside sandstone bluffs. With luck we’ll see Short-eared Rock-Wallaby hopping about on the lakeshore, and we should have excellent views of Freshwater Crocodiles. After a pleasant lunch we’ll head back to the airport in Kununurra for a late afternoon flight back to Darwin. Night in Darwin.

Day 17: The tour ends this morning in Darwin. Those joining the Australia: The East - Queensland and New South Wales tour will catch an early morning flight to Cairns (not included in tour cost).

2025 Narrative

IN BRIEF: The weather during the Australian spring of 2025 was quite unusual, with lingering wintery conditions around the Southwest, quite dry and windy conditions around Alice Springs, and unusually warm across most of the north of the country. In addition, the winter had brought significant rainfall across swaths of inland Australia with a corresponding movement of waterbirds from coastal sites to the largely roadless interior. Irrespective of the weather conditions though, our tour covered an amazing breadth of habitats and birds. We spent the first week around the Southwestern corner of the country, where we explored towering Marri and Karri forests, mallee, coastal heathland and windswept seaside cliffs and beaches. Here we found all twenty of the SW endemics and enjoyed great views of Noisy Scrubbird and Western Bristlebird. We then spent a few days around Alice Springs, a small city nestled into the ancient MacDonnell Ranges which rise from the surrounding desert and contain permanent water sources and dry creekbeds lined with bone-white Ghost Gums. Here the birdlist was shorter, but many truly special species kept us amply entertained. Spotted Bowerbirds displaying over their bowers, Little Woodswallows soared over ancient red-rock cliffs, busy flocks of Zebra Finches and Budgies appeared along the roads, and Spinifex Pigeons paraded around our feet. Our nocturnal trip to the north was productive this year, with a lone Pink Cockatoo, a pair of Mulga Parrots, a few Bourke’s Parrots and a Spotted Nightjar visiting an outback waterhole at dusk. Of note was a patch of still flowering Eremophila bushes along Santa Theresa Road where we encountered nomadic Pied and White-fronted Honeyeaters (both write-ins for the tour) as well as a little group of Banded Whiteface and (nearby) a cooperative, if hard to access, pair of Dusky Grasswren. 

Leaving the arid interior behind we then flew up to the humid and tropical Top End, which was also quite dry this year. Here the bird diversity shot up, with new species at every turn. Rainbow Pittas preformed wonderfully, and we enjoyed masses of waterbirds (Whistling-Ducks, Pygmy-Geese and Magpie Geese, colourful Black-necked Storks around Knuckey’s Lagoon. Day-roosting Barking Owl in a patch of coastal woods and a family group of Rufous Owls at a private house were an especially nice treat. At Buffalo Creek we enjoyed an excellent showing of migrant shorebirds and terns, along with a wonderfully perched Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Azure, Sacred and Forest Kingfishers and a pair of spritely Arafura Fantails. For the last leg of the tour we spent a day exploring the Ord River Floodplain near Kununurra, where we found Long-tailed, Star, Masked, Crimson and Double-barred Finches in patches of seeding grasses, a beautiful pair of Buff-sided Robin in a dry hedgerow and Sandstone Shrikethrushes and White-quilled Rock Pigeons scurrying about on red sandstone cliffs. Also here we spent our last full morning out on the vast Lake Argyle, where our highlights included about a half-dozen beautiful Yellow Chats, a dainty Australian Pratincole, flocks of Oriental Plover and Little Curlew and, at the caravan park at lunch, a multi-hued Northern Rosella. All too soon the tour wrapped up, with a triplist of 311 species, and an impressive 18 mammals including nursing Southern Right Whale from the shoreline and six species of Kangaroo! The diversity of wildlife and birds to be found in this less traveled and more wild western side of the country is simply staggering, and I can’t wait to return in 2027!

IN FULL: We started our tour with a visit to nearby Herdsman Lake, one of the premier waterbird spots around Perth and an excellent spot to ease into our exploration of Australia’s birdlife. The morning was generally overcast and breezy, punctuated by a bout of quite intense band of rain that was coming in off the Indian Ocean as a result of the recent passage of tropical cyclone Mario. We managed to stay dry using the roof of the small nature center though, and for our walk around the lake margins we somehow avoided the rains. Due to the unprecedented rainfall over the winter months across the southwest corner of the country the lake was 

considerably higher than normal, with sections of the main trail and the entirety of the marsh boardwalk underwater. The grassy and often flooded verges of the lake were liberally sprinkled with hulking Australasian Swamphens, Dusky Moorhens and Eurasian Coots, many with fuzzy babies in tow. Waterfowl were particularly well represented, with family groups of Black Swans and Maned Duck, quietly foraging Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, a single Australasian Shoveler and a wonderfully cooperative family group of Pink-eared Ducks. This is a truly bizarre species with a huge and highly curved bill, zebra striped flanks, black eye patches and a small neon pink flash on the cheek. The chicks were particularly cute, already with their oversized bills attached to their still fuzzy bodies. 

Along the open patches of shore, we located a few gigantic Australian Pelicans loafing with a pair of Australian Shelduck and several handsome Black Swans, a pair of unusually cooperative and handsome Buff-banded Rails and a lovely Straw-necked Ibis that was rather incongruously lounging about on the cushions of a large leather sofa that had been dropped in one of the fields. Flowering bottlebrush and Eucalyptus trees along the path were hosting dozens of gaudy and raucous Rainbow Lorikeets (actually introduced to SW Australia) glowing brightly in the morning sun, and a smattering of Honeyeaters including numbers of quarrelsome Red Wattlebirds and Singing Honeyeaters as well as a few New Hollands. The open lawns along the walking path were full of a suite of black and white birds; with Willie Wagtails, Australian Magpies, Magpie-Larks and Australian Ravens all marching along the grounds looking like they owned the place. In the paperbark forest patches around the lake we spent some time watching a pair of flitting Western Gerygone, as well as a quick-moving flock of Silvereye.  

At another nearby section of the lake, we found a staked-out Tawny Frogmouth stoically resting right next to the busy walking and jogging trail that encircles the wetland. This loggerheaded birds with their massive orange eyes and huge bills are quite imposing, somewhat of a cross between a large nightjar and an owl. For such a large bird, sitting in such open trees, frogmouths can be remarkably difficult to spot by chance, so having such approachable and staked out bird is always a boon.  We finished off our visit to Herdsman with a stop in at the nature center, where along with the by now appreciated restrooms and coffee shop we spent some time under the cover of the patio roof watching as an incredibly strong band of rain washed over the scene. During the deluge we spotted a single male Blue-billed Duck (a striking stiff-tailed duck with an electric blue bill) and our first Australian Grebes and Little Pied Cormorants.  

Once the rains abated, we made for the vans and then drove a short way to the south for a brief stop at a small wetland adjacent to the Swan River. Happily, the rains ended just as we arrived, which allowed us to enjoy a few Musk Ducks out on the main lake. This is another bizarre species, slate gray and sporting a heavy and quite un ducklike bill, and particularly robust body which makes them ride quite low in the water. Our first bird was an adult male, with its unique pendulous wattle dangling down below its bill. A small section of emergent reeds along the front of the pond kept us occupied for some time, with a very tame family group of Dusky Moorhen, several close and photogenic Australian Grebes, and a pair of furtive but eventually well seen Little Grassbirds. Perhaps the star of the show though was a very territorial Australian Reed Warbler that sat out completely in the open for almost 5 minutes, occasionally giving bouts of song and switching its position to show itself off from all angles. This is normally a flighty and skulky species that is much easier to hear than see, and we chalked up this birds bold nature to the sudden burst of sunshine. As we prepared to depart, we paused to scope a couple of Hardheads and a Little Black Cormorant out on the lake, and a group of Singing and New Holland Honeyeaters that were foraging in a showy Bottlebrush hedge. 

Leaving greater Perth behind we headed out to the Southeast, and after a stop for lunch in Armadale started to drive inland and uphill into the Darling Ranges. A short comfort stop in the whimsically named town of Wandering stretched out a bit as we tracked down our first perched Australian Ringnecks and a remarkably tame pair of Western Rosellas that were foraging in the town’s gardens. By mid-afternoon we reached our main birding area for duration of the day; the Dryandra Woodland National Park. This recently designated area protects a large native patch of drier wandoo eucalypt forest that is surrounded by a vast agrarian landscape with paddocks filled with sheep or the odd cow, and fields of flowering rape and seeding wheat. Arriving in the forest we started to slowly make our way across the reserve, stopping wherever activity seemed to dictate. Within minutes of our arrival the second van scored perhaps the highlight of the day with a brief but close view of a Numbat that was fossicking around a large fallen log. This sighting marked only our second for the species on our WINGS tours! Numbats are diurnal marsupials that specialize in eating termites. They resemble a cross between a squirrel, a mongoose and a small anteater, and with their banded bodies, bushy tails and long nose they are quite a unique animal. The species is critically endangered species with fewer than 1000 remaining in the wild. Their once large range is now confined to just a few small areas around Dryandra and adjacent parks. Happily, though, within this tiny area the population seems to be slowly increasing due to the intensive trapping efforts of cats and foxes by the local park service. 

A bit to the east we stopped when we heard the telltale songs of several territorial Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters. As we started to track them down though we were soon sidetracked by a pair of Painted Buttonquail that were quietly walking across the lush but still open understory. One of the birds flushed, but the other (the more brightly patterned female) stayed close to us, showing off its intricate plumage to excellent effect. To make the stop even more amazing we had a quick flyover of a hunting Square-tailed Kite and a lovely pair of Western Yellow Robins which lingered near the road.  

A bit to the East we found an area with flowering shrubs that were attracting a little mixed group of small birds. We were soon surrounded with our first Weebills, Dusky Woodswallows, Inland Thornbills, vocalizing Spotted Scrubwrens and Gray Fantails. This was a marked change from the rest of the day, where we found birds smaller than honeyeaters to be quite scarce. Around the metropolitan area of Perth (and indeed many other communities across Australia) there is an artificially increased population of predatory birds and mammals due to the ornamental plantings adorning suburban lots. This increase in birds such as Magpies, Ravens, Currawongs and the larger honeyeaters (along with possums and feral cats) puts significant pressure on small bird populations. This fact has contributed to the general zeitgeist against bird feeding throughout Australia.  

At out final stop in the park, we added a second quintessentially Australian mammal to our day list with a mob of Western Gray Kangaroos that were hopping around in some open fields. Most were females with young in tow and another joey in their pouches; their fecundity likely in response to the heavy plant growth due to the consistent rains through the winter. Here too was a calling Striated Pardalote that was perched up in some bare branches over the road. It was truly a magnificently rich day, and a great kickoff to our two-and-a-half-week tour through Australia’s magnificent west. 

On our second day we started with an optional pre-breakfast walk to a parkland across from our hotel. Although this patch of woodland has not yet fully recovered from a recent burn and the effects of Eucalypt die-back (a fungal pathogen that has recently been badly affecting large areas of Southwestern Australia) we found it to be productive. Most of the taller eucalypts were not flowering but the hakeas and dryandras in the understory were nicely in bloom. Their flowers were attracting about a dozen Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos that were busily plucking the flower heads off the shrubs like a rabid team of feathered pruning shears. It took a bit of time before we had clear views as the birds were mostly in the understory but eventually, we obtained scope views of several individuals and could make out the convex and shallowly tipped upper mandible that cemented their identification. The flowers were attracting honeyeaters as well, with loads of garrulous Red Wattlebirds, New Holland and White-cheeked Honeyeaters chasing each other around in the flowering shrubs. Parrots put on a good showing as well, with gaudy Red-capped and Australian Ringnecks, a single perched Elegant Parrot on a nearby snag and excellent views of a couple of Western Rosellas vying for our attention in the treetops. Red-capped Parrots have to be one of the most intensely colored birds on the planet, clad in electric hues of purple, green, red and yellow, and one male showed off for us with extended scope views in good light. 

At one point we stopped to call in a responsive Fan-tailed Cuckoo, and while watching the bird as it sat on a bare limb in front of us were treated to our first clear view of a Brown Honeyeater that was intent upon driving the cuckoo away. Nearby we stumbled onto a nice mixed flock of little birds, picking up excellent views of several Striated Pardalotes, our first Yellow-rumped and Western Thornbills some Silvereye and a very vocal Western Gerygone. The Western Thornbills were particularly welcome as they are thinly distributed across the SW corner of the country. Although their largely unmarked yellowish-buff plumage will likely not contribute to a victory in any upcoming thornbill beauty pageant they are sprightly and charismatic little birds that can be hard to consistently locate. Our final find of the walk was a pair of quite cooperative Scarlet Robin, a showy species clad in bold red, black and white with a brilliantly white forehead. These western birds are quite different from those in Eastern Australia, with the female sporting a large red chest patch. Given the distance and length of separation of the two subspecies, and the markedly different plumage the complex is ripe for a split! We headed back to our lodge for a well-deserved breakfast; there’s nothing better than a half-dozen or so life birds to whet the appetite!  

After breakfast we decided to return to a separate section of the park, acting on a tip from a passing ranger that there was an active Square-tailed Kite nest close to the trail. Our planned short walk down to check the area outstretched to well over an hour, as we found lots of bird activity in the area under the suddenly sunny and warmer conditions. New species came thick and fast, from the gaudy male Mistletoebird that was perched near a large clump of its preferred and namesake food to the more staid female Red-capped Robin that came in at eye level, showing off its small red forehead to great effect. Here too we tallied our first Brown-headed and Gilbert’s Honeyeaters and a small flock of Varied Sitella. The last is an undeniably cute nuthatch-like species, here of the southwestern “Black-capped” subspecies which sports a dark cap and bold orange wingbar. Although widespread, this species is never particularly numerous, and over the course of our annual month-long pair of tours we tend to find them at some random spot only once or twice. Our good luck held as just a bit further down the road we were treated to a close flyby from one of the kites, a view that was significantly better than our brief glimpse the previous day in Dryandra. Along with the birds we spent a bit of time enjoying a range of terrestrial orchids and a beautiful climbing sundew.  

Eventually we pulled ourselves away from Narrogin and began the journey south towards the Stirling Ranges, roughly 200KM to the SSW. Our first stop was in the small town of Wagin, whose claim to fame is undoubtedly the “Home of the Giant Ram” roadside attraction; an oversized white (and anatomically correct) statue that towers over a park in the center of town. We made the obligatory stop at the roadside attraction, where in addition to the statue we were found a few more White-cheeked and Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters, and were able to puzzle over the rather random selection of national flags that had recently been painted on the walkway to the restroom block. Just a bit further down the road we stopped in at the Wagin Sewage Works, where apart from a couple of Silver Gulls and Little Pied Cormorants we found very little actually inside the fence. In the surrounding fields though we spotted a distantly perched White-faced Heron and a hunting Black-shouldered Kite. Just as we were preparing to leave a flock of about a dozen Regent Parrots swept past, thankfully landing in a nearby tree and remaining there long enough for everyone to take in their chartreuse and yellow bodies and pinkish-red wing patches. Leaving Wagin behind, we continued south, stopping to admire a pair of admittedly distant Wedge-tailed Eagles that were soaring over a small wetland near the Arthur River. We took our lunch in a surprisingly upscale café built in the renovated old flour mill building in downtown Katanning. 

In the afternoon we headed for our lodge, taking a series of small backcountry highways through huge fields of rape and wheat. At one completely random spot a Pied Butcherbird flashed across the road and when we turned around to see if we could locate the bird we realized that there were quite a few other species lurking around a grove of trees near some largely abandoned farm buildings. Roadside wires were hosting four handsome Black-faced Woodswallows, and in the trees we found our first pugnacious Yellow-throated Miners (here of the somewhat distinctive Dusky subspecies that is restricted to the SW corner of the country). Here too were some more cooperative and clearly visible Regent Parrots that perched up on some high bare limbs. A fuel stop in Gnowangerup revealed well over a hundred Galah and a few Little Corellas foraging out on the lawns, as well as a rather spectacular mural that prominently featured a rampant Western Shriketit! As we neared our destination the Stirling Ranges that rise up from the surrounding lowlands to heights just above 3000ft. began to dominate the landscape. Long famous for its rich floral diversity (with over 1500 species of plants known from within the National Park boundaries) and scenic beauty the park was one of the first protected areas of Western Australia, and is well known in the state as the sole location where snow can (very) rarely occur. After checking into our cozy cabins we went on a brief walk around the grounds, lamentably under blustery and unseasonably cold conditions. Despite the weather (which was, at least, dry) we drummed up a couple of cooperative Grey Butcherbirds, a lovey pair of perched Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos and a group of five Banded Lapwing. The latter species is irruptive in the area, and is not predictably found anywhere on the tour itinerary. It’s a striking shorebird, sporting a thick black belly band, red forehead, blazing white supercilium and bright yellow eyering. At one point all five birds were up in the air in front of us and calling as they wheeled over a large short-grass field behind the retreat grounds. We had to drive a bit to the west to a local pub for dinner, a meal which provided some excellent people watching as well as hearty fare. 

We awoke the next day happy to be able to see what the lodge grounds actually looked like. The property sits just to the north of the Stirling Ranges; a small series of peaks that rise up from the plateau to heights just above 3000ft. Long famous for its rich floral diversity (with over 1500 species of plants known from the National Park) and scenic beauty the park was one of the first protected areas of Western Australia. We met up for a relaxed half-hour or so walk around the grounds and over the highway into the park. The weather had improved somewhat from the prior afternoon, with no rain and a marked decrease in wind (though no increase in temperature), but even in the unseasonably cold conditions we located a few interesting species. Near the registration building we were thrilled to spot a couple of perched Regent Parrots, close enough to us that we could really enjoy their odd chartreuse plumage with red/pink centered coverts. Across the road we spent some time around the carpark, where we finally obtained lengthy views of a pair of Grey Currawongs as they bounced around the margins of the clearing. Here too was a cooperative pair of Scarlet Robins that were happily bouncing around just above the ground; showing off to great effect in the overcast conditions. We spent a bit more time looking at busy groups of Yellow-plumed and New Holland Honeyeaters around a couple of flowering eucalypts, and then as we walked back past the still sadly owlet-nightjar-less tree cavity we were treated to quick views of a fast-moving flock of Purple-crowned Lorikeets winging overhead; oddly our only group sighting of this often relatively common species this year. Since the grounds didn’t really feel that they were surging with life in the lingering winter-like conditions we opted to pack up early, so that we could devote more time to birding along the northern edge of the park where some large saline lakes and short heathland often provide excellent birding. We reached the first of the saline lakes just as a strong band of rain hit, so we elected to keep going down the road for more general car-based birding. This proved a good strategy as the skies kept vacillating between being partly sunny and raining. We stopped at a small roadside pond where we were happy to connect with a pair of swimming Hoary-headed Grebes and a single Black-tailed Native-hen that was stalking around the back of the wetland looking like a jet-black fan-tailed chicken with a fluorescent lime-green upper mandible and scarlet legs. A bit further west the road starts passing through more open pastureland, and here we tracked down a couple of foraging Australin Pipits, a responsive Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo and a pair of Brown Falcons that were (rather oddly) running around in the field seemingly chasing down large insects on foot! It was in this field too that we located a trio of hulking Emu slowly stalking across the grass. The rains started up again so we headed back to the first lake, this time arriving in fairly sunny conditions. This is usually an excellent area to walk out on one of the many firebreak trails in order to access the low heathland, but on this occasion, we found much of the ground thoroughly flooded. Even the lake, which normally sports a wide sandy shoreline was swollen out of its banks, leaving scant open shoreline for our hoped-for Hooded Plovers to ply. We gave both sections a cursory check, stopping to admire several perched Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters and a pair of soaring Wedge-tailed Eagles as we walked around part of the lake’s periphery but soon realized that everything was simply too soggy for us to effectively bird.  

We decided to head south of the Stirling Ranges to try a different area for our main heathland target; the enigmatic Western Fieldwren. Once we arrived, we were happy to see that the ground on the south side of the mountains was significantly less flooded, with a vigorous floral show on offer. A host of interesting Sundews, odd ant nests and gaudy flowers greeted us as we slowly walked a bit off the road in search for Fieldwrens. Everywhere we turned it was just very apparent that we were in another world, far removed from our normal haunts in the northern hemisphere. We almost gave up on our quest when another rain band buffeted us, but just as we started to turn back to the vans a distant fieldwren started to sing. After a quick repositioning we were soon looking at the bird as it sat up in a spindly Eucalyptus. This attractively pattered bird, with streaked yellow underparts and a touch of rufous on its forehead is a recent split from the more widespread Rufous Fieldwren, making it another southwestern endemic.  

Once back at the road we turned the vans further south, to explore another low set of hills called the Porongurup Ranges. Here stately Karrii trees (stretching upwards of 200 ft high) grow atop a dense understory of shrubs and small Eucalypts. As it was near midday by the time we arrived and there was a stubborn drizzle in the air we elected to stop in at the local tea house for lunch. The café is in a wonderfully idyllic country setting, with lush grounds full of flowering plants, a local art gallery and local gift shop, and some of the friendliest proprietors around. Often, they are hosting rescued orphan animals which they nurse (a near round-the-clock operation) before releasing them as adults. During our visit they didn’t have any animals on show, so we made do with the excellent sandwiches, quiches, and sumptuous scones.  

Later, we moved into the nearby national park, where we investigated the road up to the trailhead carpark. By slowly walking around the margins of the carpark clearing we were treated to excellent views of several family groups of inquisitive and smartly dressed White-breasted Robins as they bounced around the understory or open ground. Here too were chattering pairs of Spotted Scrubwren, a seemingly inexhaustible number of Grey Fantails and a few Inland Thornbills and Gilbert’s Honeyeaters.  

As the afternoon was beginning to wane, we turned southwards towards the coast, travelling along little used back highways that passed through some rich agricultural land, often with flooded wetlands scattered about in the lower areas of the fields. Travelling by back road allowed us to frequently stop, and we made the most of that ability, stopping to admire things such as a lovely, perched flock of Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos that were feeding in a small hakea bush with some Red-capped Parrots and Yellow-throated Miners providing company. Flowering Grass Trees caught our eye as well, and we even located a recently deceased (and a live but too active to admire) Tiger Snake! Eventually we reached our base for the next three nights at the Cheynes Beach Caravan Park. Although the park has ample options for tent, caravan and trailer camping we take advantage of their free-standing and very modern chalets that are perfectly positioned to provide easy access to the coastal heathlands and scrub in this remote corner of the country. The view of the sweeping white sand beach, with the azure waters of the Southern Ocean is superlative. Our principal reason for visiting this corner of Australia was, as always, to spend some time looking for a trio of scarce and generally retiring birds that are resident in the dense coastal heathlands. Virtually all Australian birders make the pilgrimage out to Cheynes at some point in their lives, hoping for glimpses of Western Scrubbird, Western Bristlebird and Western Whipbird. After checking in and a bit of time to get organized we met up and headed to a known Scrubbird territory near the coast. On the postcard-perfect powdery white sand beach we located a sedately swimming adult Pacific Gull, a large black-backed species that possesses an almost comically oversized bill which seems purpose built for splitting hapless crabs into tiny bite-sized bits with ease. Here too was a hunting Osprey (here of the eastern subspecies group with shorter and more hawk-like wings, and a bulkier body than that of their northern cousins) and a single Caspian Tern. 

We finished our birding for the day with an obligatory vigil along a short dirt road leading to the beach that cuts through a small patch of dense heath. The road bisects the territory of a Noisy Scrubbird, and many a visiting birder has waited patiently here for the bird to cross over the road, briefly forced out of its preferred dense cover. Incredibly, while we were discussing our strategy for finding the bird (which we could hear calling off to the left of the track in the dense undergrowth of the thicket) a darker bird, likely a juvenile, crossed the road at the exact predicted spot! Although quick, the bird had to slow down to navigate around a large puddle that had collected in the roads’ low spot, which gave many participants time to get it into their binoculars before it completed the passage. Since this bird was heading to the left, and the bird we were hearing was calling from the left we decided that we were likely dealing with two individuals and given how dark this bird appeared underneath further deduced that it may well have been a juvenile bird. We lingered, and about fifteen minutes later were rewarded with views of the adult male scooting to the right across the road! Quite pleased with ourselves we headed back to the cabins, with the trailing group of birders being treated to good views of a Quenda (Southwestern Brown Bandicoot) as it moved along and then across the road near the main office. Dinner, prepared by the cooks at the caravan park office was excellent, and we enjoyed it on the covered back deck of the hosts house, paired with some local wines. 

We met up the next morning early and started up the trail that leads into the sandy heathland above the chalets just a bit after sunrise. The winds were slight, and the skies overcast, making for excellent birding conditions, despite the intermittent drizzle. The heathland along the coast here is stunning, with a myriad of showy and unique flowers and shrubs scattered all along the sandy tracks. Likened to the cape region of South Africa these coastal heaths of southwest Australia are one of the richest sites of floral endemism on earth. In accordance we punctuated our walk with many a stop to admire various flowering sundews, Banksias or showy flowers. Around the edge of the heath were prodigious numbers of very active New Holland Honeyeaters, which soon gave way to White-cheeked Honeyeaters as we progressed further into the habitat. Near the beginning of the tract, we stopped to watch our first Western Wattlebird that was foraging in a flowering Scarlet Banksia a bit off the trail. This localized species lacks a wattle and is smaller and darker than the by now familiar Red Wattlebird. Western Bristlebird appeared with very little effort once we were up on the higher ridges of the heathland, with several birds feeding along the verges of the sandy road. A bit further up the track our attentions were shifted to mammal watching when Greg spotted a Honey Possum that was running up the main trunk of a nearby Banksia shrub. These tiny marsupials feed on the flowering plants in the heathland, and although somewhat common in the immediate area are very hard to see; being largely nocturnal and weighing a mighty 7 grams. This little guy put on an amazing show for us, staying up on the bare limbs and flowers for several minutes and virtually posing for photos! We mentioned to our hosts our sighting later that day and they remarked that the Honey Possum population was recovering well. Apparently, the predator control measures that were put in place soon after the rediscovery of the Scrubbirds are working, and populations of the area’s small mammals are benefiting too. After the possum sighting things seemed to get rather more difficult, with nary a sound from the third of our main heathland targets, the enigmatic Western Whipbird. We wandered around the firebreak trails for some time, stopping to listen for any possible calls and eventually heard one bird sounding off from a taller patch of trees. Unfortunately, it only gave one song bout before clamming up and likely dropping back into the dense understory. This species is well known for being elusive, although in spring the males tend to perch up on semi-prominent perches while singing. We decided to try again later and started heading back towards the cabins, picking up our first snazzy Western Spinebill (a particularly mobile but attractive small species of Honeyeater) as we dropped down towards the caravan park. Once back at the lodge most participants were treated to views of a pair of Brown Quail that were scuttling around the lawn at the back of the property, and during our time off before lunch several people enjoyed close-up views of a Brush Bronzewing out on the lawns.  

After lunch at the local café and a bit more time off to rest or enjoy the surroundings we decided to drive out to the nearby city of Albany to look over some estuaries and bays for waders and other more open country birds. As we neared Albany, a small but pretty city that houses around 30000 people and is set in one of the largest natural harbors in the country we passed through an area of open ranchland, with healthy looking herds of cows or horses grazing bucolically with Straw-necked and Australian Ibis in tow. Our main stop for the afternoon was Rushy Point, a small promontory that juts out into the western side of Frenchmen’s Bay and is surrounded by extensive mudflats and eelgrass and Neptune’s necklace (an odd beaded species of algae) beds at low tide. Around the carpark we scanned the bay to the south, finding a nice comparison of all four species of local cormorants, including our first (distant) Pied Cormorants. We then walked along the short beach out to the actual point, soon reaching the protected area of beach that is set aside for roosting and foraging birds. 

Although our tour is timed in the early spring; a generally too-early date for peak wintering northern Hemisphere waders this far south in Australia we did find a few species of interest around the point. A small flock of Red-necked Stints was out on the exposed mudflats, with a couple of distant Pacific Golden Plovers, a single Bar-tailed Godwit and one Great Knot rounding out the migrants. Several Pied Oystercatchers were a bit further out as well, providing a bit of colour among the more understated wintering waders. Pacific and Silver Gulls, White-faced Herons, Great Egrets and Australian Pelicans were liberally sprinkled around the bay, foraging on small crabs among the eelgrass beds. Right out at the point we found a Caspian Tern, this time sitting with some Great Crested Terns. AS the tide was dropping and birds seemed to be arriving as the flats became more exposed, we decided to wait around a bit. This proved an excellent decision as we spotted a pair of distant adult White-bellied Sea-Eagles that were slowly crossing the bay. While watching them our attentions were captured by a small tern that flew in front of the eagles, and we followed that bird as it foraged over the bay for a few minutes before dropping onto the sand flats to join a few other small terns that had recently settled there. We zoomed the scopes up and were happy to be able to see that these new birds had white foreheads, orange-yellow bills and orangey legs, all requisite fieldmarks for Australian Fairy Tern. This is a patchily distributed tern that occurs around the coasts of the southern half of the country. It’s listed as vulnerable in Australia and is endangered in New Zealand as it prefers to breed on sandy beaches, and is easily disturbed by people, pets and vehicles. With the prized species now achieved we walked back to the cars through the small woodland patch near the base of the point, which allowed us to play with two separate family groups of Red-winged Fairywrens that bounced around in the underbrush like little multicolored ping pong balls bouncing down the stairs. After seeing no fairywrens at all the first three days of the tour (which is highly unusual) these Red-wingeds were doubly appreciated by the participants. Of particular interest was one of the males, which seemed to lack the red wing patch, possessing instead a much wider blue mantle.

Our last stop for the day was at Lake Seppings; a large suburban freshwater lake with extensive fringing reedbeds. The water level was high, and we had to drive around to the backside of the lake for access due to flooding over the trails, but the birdlife was spectacular. Of particular interest were the very close Musk Ducks that were happily diving and swimming just offshore from our vantage point. The male sported a particularly fine wattle, and we admired his ungainly beauty even if the adjacent female seemed to spend much of her time avoiding his attentions. Coots and Swamphens were tending to their fuzzy chicks around the margins, and everywhere we scanned we found numbers of nesting Australian and Straw-necked Ibis. We made a quick calculation and decided on a minimum of 1000 birds! Cormorants were tending chicks too, with close views of nesting Little Pied and Great Cormorants and a few swimming Pied Cormorants. Rounding out the cast were some cooperative Blue-billed Duck and Hardhead, and just as we were leaving several passing flocks of Eastern Cattle Egrets that were going into the reedbeds to roost for the night. By this point the afternoon was waning, so after a comfort and fuel stop (where we also briefly ogled a large and black King’s Skink that was sunning on a roadside rock) we headed back to Cheyne’s for a delicious dinner prepared by our hosts. 

We started our last full day down on the southern coast with a morning departure for the mallee forests of the Corackerup Nature Reserve, about 120KM East of our base at Cheyne’s Beach. Unlike most mallee forest in eastern and central Australia that have a bed of patchy Spinifex in the understory this western mallee has a heathy understory, rich in flowering shrubs. Our first stop was in the town of Wellstead, where a planned short stop for bathrooms stretched into a bit of a birding bonanza. Flowering trees around the small botanical gardens were attracting a few New Holland Honeyeaters and Red Wattlebirds, and Laughing Doves and Crested Pigeons trotted along the roadside edge. Some bright birder established a (basically) unused hotspot for Wellstead, and we often make a point to put a list together during our brief stopovers here. This year we turned up a cooperative pair of Western Spinebills (a first for the slowly growing hotspot list) that showed much better than the pair out in the heath the previous day.  

Once we reached Corackerup Nature Reserve we spent the rest of the morning walking along a wide firebreak access road through the forest, choosing this particular track as it passes by an occasionally active Malleefowl nest. Malleefowl are the only temperate Megapode in the world, and unlike their more tropical cousins in Australia are scarce, shy, and unpredictable in their habits. Early October is traditionally a good time for the species to begin tending their giant mound nests. The timing varies with the years though, with individual birds commencing their daily nest tending only once the temperature and rainfall regime is to their liking. On the walk out towards the mound we drummed up a nice selection of mallee specialties, with Southern Scrub Robins calling virtually our entire walk. These large and long-tailed Robins are in a different genus than most of the Australian “Robins” and actually quite closely resemble some of the African Scrub Robins (though they are not closely related). The first pair we heard performed well, with one of the birds coming out into the track and remaining in the open for a minute or two. Later we spotted another individual perched up and singing on a completely exposed bare limb; a rare occurrence for what is essentially a skulky bird of the undergrowth. A little further along a Shy Heathwrens responded to our proffered calls, but rather frustratingly not sitting still out in the open for us to enjoy its intricate plumage details. In the patches of slightly taller mallee, we found Purple-gaped Honeyeaters to be quite common, with small flocks attending any of the groves that had a bit of blossoming trees. 

We slowed our pace when we approached the mound, and even from quite a distance away could see that the nest was probably active, with recently piled up sand and scratch marks around the top. We walked a bit closer and amazingly the male Malleefowl popped off the back side of the nest and strode off into the bush! Backing off a bit to give him space, we commenced a vigil in the hopes of his return, and in about 20 minutes were rewarded with a second round of views as he came back into the open and then started to excavate around the back side of the nest mound. After a few minutes the bird walked off again, this time standing briefly in the road and showing off its brightly reflective tertials and mantle feathers which glowed copper-bronze in the morning sun. As we walked past the mound we took a moment to briefly inspect the structure. Many were (I think) surprised at the size of the nest, which was about about 3.5 feet high and easily 10 feet in diameter. The males work hard to maintain a near-constant temperature of 33 degrees C while incubating eggs using the heat produced from composting organic matter buried in the center of the mound. Truly an engineering feat that surpasses the ability of most humans!  

Once well past the nest we waited around again from much further away, and were treated to scope views of the bird as it returned for another 10 minutes or so of mound maintenance. While we waited and enjoyed the show, we also located a cooperative pair of Spotted Pardalotes that came into the trees just overhead. Once the Malleefowl seemed to be finished with his morning visit we started the walk back, picking up a little family group of Blue-breasted Fairywrens along the way. There were a couple of nicely coloured males in the group, and we were able to see their darker purplish-blue crown and cheeks (in comparison to the similar Red-winged). We reached the trailhead in the late morning, attacking the snack bags with gusto before starting our drive the coast at Bremer Bay. The drive was interrupted a few times by roadside reptiles that were active in the rapidly warming weather. Most were Shinglebacks; a large and corrugated skink that is widespread in Australia and quite active in the early spring but we also found a large Southern Heath Monitor that uncharacteristically stayed put on the roadside as we stopped to take photos. At the small “town” of Boxwood Hill we paused to admire a little group of Black-faced Woodswallows that were sitting on the roadside wires. While doing so we noted and tracked down a singing male White-winged Triller that was perched up on a recently burnt treetop. It proved a bit of a bird-rich area, with several Australian Pipits and Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters also investigating the burnt ground and a couple of passing Black-faced Cuckooshrikes.  

Leaving Boxwood Hill behind we drove a further 60K to the southeast bound for the coast at the small town of Bremer Bay. Our principal reason for visiting the area was to look over the masses of waders and waterfowl that tend to congregate on the flats near the mouth of the Bremer River but the shaded and comfortable picnic area with public toilets was a close second! After lunch we took a quick look at the stunning white sand beach at the head of the bay before driving a bit back up the estuary to look at the exposed mudflats. Here we found our first Chestnut Teal and Red-capped Plovers as well as close views of Pacific Gull and Caspian and Great Crested Terns and a trio of very vocal and active Shining Bronze-Cuckoos. Over on the west side of the bay we were able to take a look at the rocky peninsula opposite Glasse Island. This proved a better-than-expected stop, as within a minute of our arrival we were staring at a mass of several hundred more Great Crested Terns our first wintering Common Sandpiper and a very handsome pair of foraging Sooty Oystercatchers along the rocky shore. By walking around the headland, we were able to ogle some of the coastal wildflowers before we turned our attention out onto the Southern Ocean. Scanning further out to sea we picked up several passing Australasian Gannets but the largely offshore winds were keeping any tubenoses too far out to detect from land. Perhaps the star of the show here though was a mother and calf Southern Right Whale that we spotted initially well out in the bay. Over the course of fifteen minutes or so the whales moved progressively closer to our position, eventually lolling around on the surface of the water close enough to shore that we could virtually have jumped onto their backs. Several times the whales seemed to lift a bit up in the water to give us an appraising eye, even keeping pace with us as we started the walk back towards the carpark! On our return drive to Cheynes we made another stop in at the public convenience in the tiny town of Wellstead, where we managed to add a few more birds to our rapidly topping the eBird charts Wellstead hotspot lists, and where we enjoyed an ice cream or cold drink from the local store. Back at Cheynes most participants elected to see if Noisy Nick felt like reappearing down by the beach at dusk. We waited patiently, and eventually (after a false start with several visits from a little Tropical Scrubwren we were treated to another view of him dashing across the gap.  

On our last morning on the coast, we took an early walk back up into the national park. Unfortunately, we once again struck out on Western Whipbird, with only one bird heard (once). I suspect that the wetter than usual conditions led to the birds changing their breeding timing this year. We usually are in the area when males are quite vocal and perching up out of the dense heath, but I suspect that in the excellent conditions this winter and early spring the birds started breeding earlier, and our visit coincided with either post-breeding moulting or incubation. The walk did produce a couple of visible Brown Quail that scuttled along one of the sandy firebreak trails in front of us, as well as some very photogenic Western Grey Kangaroos, a perched Peregrine Falcon and even a quick view of a Noisy Scrubbird that ran out in front of us! All too soon we bade farewell to our gracious hosts and started the all-day drive back to our hotel in Perth, picking a route that would take us well west before starting north so that we could look for Western Corella on the way.  

Our first stop was back in the Porongorup Ranges, where we found conditions to be vastly better than on our first visit, with sunny skies and no rain in sight. A short walk out on one of the trails near the Granite Skyway Walk was very productive with a family group of quite tame Splendid Fairywrens greeting us right in the carpark! Several males showed exceedingly well, glowing a luminous purple-blue from just a few feet away from our rapidly clicking cameras. The trail was quite busy with birds, with little groups of Inland Thornbill and Grey Fantail joining the occasional Scarlet or Western Yellow Robin, Australian Golden Whistler or Gilbert’s Honeyeater. At a small creek crossing lined with thick sedges we were thrilled to locate a pair of Red-eared Firetails that were gathering nesting material. Amazingly the birds perched out in the open for quite some time, allowing for multiple scope views and a thorough study of their bright red bill and ear coverts, ocellated underparts, pale blue eyering and barred vents. We stopped for a picnic lunch in the small town of Rocky Gully, an area where we often locate the last two SW endemic species, Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo and Western Corella. Both were notaby absent from the region this year, so we headed further west, arriving in the Lake Muir region by the early afternoon. Here we drove down a farm road that runs near the western side of the lake. In the open fields along the road here we enjoyed several dozen Western Corellas foraging on the rich grass bulbs. A few were perched up above the road, with one pair even sitting by an apparent nest cavity and showing off their tall crests, long upper mandibles and crimson throat feathers. 

The rest of the afternoon was largely reserved for driving back the several hundred kilometers to Perth, passing through a mix of agrarian and forested landscapes, and tidy quaint villages all with seemingly thriving downtown cores. A brief stop in a neat historical park in Manjimup revealed tame Common Bronzewings, a perched Western Rosella, an epically large (6 story) slide in the playground, and a passing Wedge-tailed Eagle). Our only other brief stop was for a couple of pairs of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos that flew over the road, showing well for only a fraction of the group (though we would see them well later in the tour). We arrived back to our hotel just in time for dinner. Over the meal we reflected upon our week in the southwest, a week filled with a great selection of special birds, and 142 species overall.

Despite all the best arrangements and intentions there are sometimes vagaries involved when using airplanes on tour. Unfortunately for us this year the promised regular service Perth to Alice flights that had been cancelled during COVID were still not operating, resulting in us having to route through Adelaide. As an added insult, the early morning Adelaide flight was rescheduled to a few hours later, meaning that our arrival into Alice would not be until the early evening. Noting that this schedule was less than ideal, but a darned sight better than driving the several day-long drive between the two cities, we dutifully spent the day in transit, with just a bit of birding around the Adelaide airport which gave us views of a few new species such as European Starling, Eurasian Skylark and some very distant Little Ravens.  

Our flight on to Alice went smoothly and we touched down at just after 5:30pm. Stepping off the plane at Alice Airport is like entering a new world. Far removed from the pastoral greenery and rocky coasts of the Southwest we found ourselves in an arid landscape, with ancient rocky ridgelines in the distance, and bright red earth underfoot. We could see a substantial amount of dried and seeded grasses (mostly introduced species sadly) covering much of the landscape. This is indicative of a good period of rain in the recent past, and indeed for much of the early half of the year Alice experienced a wetter than usual period. The last rains had fallen about four months before our visit though, with water holes beginning to dry up and a lot of the nomadic birds that frequent the area when conditions are good departing for distant parts of the country that had better and more current rainfall. We didn’t have much available light once we picked up our bags, and the hire cars took longer than expected to pick up so we spent a few minutes birding in the small park near the airport, picking up our first White-plumed Honeyeaters (a species we would get to know well during our visit here), some Yellow-throated Miners, here of the more widespread subspecies and also visited a nicely constructed but not currently attended Western Bowerbird bower. Then it was off to our hotel for dinner and gearing up for our first of two full days around Australia’s famous Red Center. 

Our first full day around Alice Springs was reserved for traveling west of town through the MacDonnell Ranges National Park. The land feels (and is) truly ancient, with some of the oldest extant geological formations on the globe, and a timeless feeling to the air and even to the vegetation. For much of the morning, we explored the main highway through the range, stopping wherever we detected birds along the roadside. It proved an excellent strategy. Even before we left Alice Springs we had to stop to admire a few Fairy Martins that were flying around the petrol station, and a Black-shouldered Kite just off the road. Our first stop once we left town was in a recent roadside burn with fresh regenerating grasses. Here we found several small flocks of Zebra Finches feeding in the grass clumps just off the road. This diminutive and colorful finch is a species that most non-Australian bird people first see behind bars. Here in the outback, surrounded by the vastness of the landscape the tiny birds take on an entirely different persona, as busy little flocks cover huge areas in search of seeding grasses. Here too we noted a few Black-faced Woodswallows and Black-faced Cuckooshrikes flying over the area and when we scanned to investigate further soon detected two small groups of Budgerigars foraging around the mostly bare ground. Budgies are surely one of the iconic species of inland Australia and a familiar bird across the world in pet stores, it’s a special treat for the visiting birder to see that not all the Budgies in the world are surrounded by a cage with a small mirror and millet bell. Numbers of these familiar tiny parrots fluctuate wildly in the red center, with tens of thousands occurring when conditions are good, and none at all when conditions are poor. A couple of Brown Falcons were in the area as well, and after admiring them for a bit we headed a touch further west to look at the first kilometer or so of the side road to Simpson’s Gap. Here we scoped a few Rufous Songlarks as they perched up on bare snags or occasionally lifted to the skies to perform their lovely flight displays. A small raptor sitting in a huge Red Gum tree revealed itself to be a handsome Australian Hobby, and several nearby bushes were sporting little groups of Crested Pigeons. Moving further west we made an impromptu stop when our first Black Kite soared over the road. Once out of the car we tracked down a singing male Rufous Whistler, and spent some time watching a family group of Splendid Fairywrens feeding their chicks in a tangle of dead branches. Several times the male popped up to show off in the morning sun, glowing an intense multi-hued blue and black (quite a different and more varied colour pallet than the subspecies in the Southwest of the country). 

Our main stop for the morning was Serpentine Gorge. This almost kilometer long trail eventually terminates at a small pool tucked between some high cliffs and surrounded by a grove of tall gums. Since swimming isn’t allowed and it’s a bit of a walk in from the carpark this waterhole tends to be less attractive to tourists, and can often serve as an important permanent water source for the local birdlife. On the walk in we stopped a few times to soak in some of the local flowering plants, as well as a few Singing and White-plumed Honeyeaters and our first good looks at Grey-headed and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters. The pool was as attractive as ever, with the Macdonnell Ranges Cycads (a botanical holdover from when the red center of the country wasn’t arid desert) in the sunny canyon north of the gap lit up wonderfully behind the deep shade of the gap. Small flocks of Zebra Finches were repeatedly coming down to drink, so we decided to wait a while to see what other birds might turn up. This proved fairly productive, with a few pairs of Little Woodswallows soaring overhead, an inquisitive Grey Shrikethrush bouncing around the rocks above the pool and a single Diamond Dove (a truly tiny species with a pale orange eyering and a dusting of white spots on its brownish mantle) appearing at the water. We looked in the water as well, failing to find any apparent fish, although the presence of a quietly snoozing Little Pied Cormorant suggested that at least some fish were probably lurking in there. On the walk out we found some very nice species around the carpark, including a pair of Hooded Robin, a single Red-browed Pardalote which proved hard to keep track of as it moved around the canopy of some smaller Eucalyptus. A single Rainbow Bee-eater played hide-and-seek with us as it zipped around the wash, staying low in the somewhat blustery winds.  

A tad bit later we stopped in at Ormiston Gorge, where we were able to easily spot about a dozen Spinifex Pigeons that were loafing around the tables of the café. For a usually shy bird of relatively inaccessible habitats these birds behaved fantastically. Spinifex Pigeons could easily have been designed by a committee of 6 year-olds with a large box of randomly selected crayons in hand. Tall spindly blonde crests, a bronzey-buff body bisected by curved black and white bands, and bright red bare skin around their yellow eyes combine to form a quite unlikely looking beast, and watching such a bird literally walking between your legs is not a bad deal. After a picnic lunch near the Ormiston café we walked the short distance down to the postcard-perfect Gorge, where huge Ghost Gums towered over the sandy wash that contained a deep and large water hole full of Desert Rainbowfish, hawking dragonflies and a few stalking Magpie-Larks. Oddly there was no sign of the usual throng of eager bathers from around the world that normally line up around the water, sunbathing on towels as if they were attending the strands of the French Riviera. The red cliffs soar over a thousand feet above the canyon floor here, and the entire scene evokes the heart of the MacDonnell Ranges; simply a perfect outback scene which we had virtually all to ourselves. Although stunning the spot wasn’t heaving with birdlife, so we drove on to the Finke River crossing where we located a pair of Black-fronted Dotterels that were walking around the rocky section of the still flowing riverbed. As we drove back eastwards towards Alice we stopped to look at a pair of crows that were sitting up near the road. Happily for us the birds called, giving the low-pitched truncated calls that marked them as Little Crows. Australias covids are a complicated bunch, and around Alice one can find Little and Torresian Crows as well as the occasional Australian Raven making a careful study necessary.  

We had a short break back at the hotel, and then met up again for a quick visit to the nearby Olive Pink Botanic Gardens. The undoubted highlight here was an active bower of a male Western Bowerbird. A huge bifurcated grassy structure tucked under the shade of a small shrub, with a few collected white bits and bobs, some fresh green fruits and a large silver Christmas tree ornament decorating the entrance. To our elation the male was actually attending to the bower when we arrived, busily redecorating the inner walls of the bower and then perching back to take in his handiwork with an appraising eye. Field guides do this species a disservice. Far from being beige and uniform they possess a stunning mosaic pattern of black and gold, with an electric purple-pink nuchal crest. A bit of a wander around the grounds revealed a few more bowerbirds, some lovely Australian Ringnecks and a small family party of Grey-crowned Babblers. The latter is not actually a true babbler, but rather a member of a small Australasian family which exhibits lots of social interaction and chattering.  

Our final stop for the day was back at Simpson’s Gap, this time though right at the end of the road. Simpsons Gap is one of the several cleft through the main MacDonnell Ranges, a spot where rain events and flash floods have carved a path through the otherwise solid red cliffs. On the drive in we stopped to admire a perched Pied Butcherbird and a few passing honeyeaters, and then once parked, we walked down to the gap, with the reddish cliff face glowing in the sun, and white-trunked Murray River Red Gum trees lining the sandy riverbed. There was still a substantial amount of water in the riverbed and the reflections in the water of the stark but beautiful landscape were stunning. While scanning the cliffs we noted a few circling Little Woodswallows (which roost in crevices in the rocks), a courting pair of Nankeen Kestrels and a hunting Peregrine that was carrying some long-tailed prey item. In the scree slope behind the pond, we were thrilled to spot a couple of Black-flanked Rock Wallabies (a largely nocturnal small wallaby that usually spends the day tucked into crevices in the nearby scree slope, only occasionally bounding out into view) peering down at us with a bit of a quizzical air. Several animals were bounding across the scree field with remarkable agility, or sitting up on larger boulders allowing for close study in the scopes. As the heat began to recede and the shadows lengthened, we made the short drive back to Alice, arriving in time for a hearty dinner.  

Our second full day around Alice Springs found us exploring along the Santa Teresa Rd. This generally little trafficked route winds well out into the desert, eventually passing through the small community of Santa Teresa about a hundred Kilometers out of Alice before becoming a sandy track out through the Simpson Desert and on into South Australia. The road is usually a bit rough, with corrugations and sandy patches, but this year we were happily surprised to find a substantial part of our trip to be recently paved! A few kilometers past the airport we stopped in a section of lightly forested mulga where a few birds sitting up on roadside wires catching our attention. These proved to be perched Black-faced Woodswallows and Rufous Songlarks, with a few more flocks of Zebra Finches zipping around in the undergrowth below them. We pressed on about thirty kilometers to a spot where the road crests a small rocky ridgeline that is covered with spinifex grasses. The spinifex around Alice has been hard-hit by the combination of more frequent and more severe fires and the creeping invasion of introduced bufflegrass. As a result, patches of mature spinifex, which provide an interlinked virtually closed canopy brush have become rare. We spent about an hour walking among the spikey clumps of grass, quietly stalking two of the special birds that call these old growth spinifex groves their home. Unfortunately, perhaps due in part to the blustery morning winds, we didn’t hear any Rufous-crowned Emu-Wrens or Dusky Grasswrens during the walk. Even without the targets birds though the habitat that we had to walk through here is fascinating, and the experience of stepping around the spiky clumps of grass is one that any visiting birder must have at some point in their journey around Australia. We did drum up a cooperative pair of Purple-backed Fairywrens here (our 5th fairywren species of the trip), with the male showing off his long tail and bright colours to good effect as it bounced around in a small gully below us. While walking along one of the higher rock lines I noticed a lot of bird activity out on the valley floor to the north, generally around and over a grove of small flowering shrubs. So once we gathered back at the cars we moved back northward a bit to investigate.  

This stop proved incredibly productive, as the area was hosting the most bird activity that we detected during all our time in the red center. Many of the bushes that were flowering proved to be Eremophila, which is the preferred food resource for several species of arid-land nomadic honeyeaters. Soon after we started our walk we picked up a few White-fronted Honeyeaters, a streaky black, white and yellow species which was a write-in for the tour. With White-fronted in the area we scoured the shrubs and soon located an even bigger prize when we spotted a male Pied Honeyeater (also a write-in, and a smart looking species which is scarce throughout its wide range) perched up in another nearby flowering Eremophila. Some nesting Singing Honeyeaters (with 4-5 fuzzy chicks begging in their too-small looking cup nest) were chasing the nomads around, but with some patience everyone obtained good views of both species. While watching the honeyeater show a wheeling flock of Masked Woodswallows descended upon the grove, with dozens flying past and lots more circling overhead. Still not done, we tracked down a trio of handsome Banded Whiteface (a species of largely terrestrial thornbills which frequents the arid central regions of the country), and tangled with a maddeningly uncooperative Crimson Chat which kept flushing before we could get an angle to see it on the ground through the clumps of vegetation.  

Leaving this hive of activity behind we headed a bit further to the south, stopping to admire another Red-backed Kingfisher that was sitting up on a tall dead roadside tree. This is a somewhat enigmatic arid-land Kingfisher which undergoes often dramatic movements in response to rain. As the landscape dries out grasshoppers, a favored food of kingfishers, tend to proliferate (and during our visit there was certainly no shortage of them). We watched the bird for some time as it showed off its dazzling array of colours (a pleasing combination of turquoise green, black, white, and chestnut) perfectly in the early morning sun. We diverted a bit off the main road to check out a grove of taller trees around one of the many stock dams that dot the landscape. We found the water hole to be dry, but the woods around it provided us with substantially better views of Rainbow Bee-eater, another family group of Grey-crowned Babblers that were busy bringing in grasshoppers to their nestlings, and two new species for the trip. The first was a responsive Chiming Wedgebill that clambered dutifully up into a nearby tree; showing off its short but jaunty crest. Wedgebills are rather dull coloured whipbird relative with a ringing repetitive song. The roads south of Alice mark the northern limit of their range, with the birds not consistently in the area. Our second new species was a pair of strikingly coloured and shaped White-backed Swallow that circled overhead several times before disappearing in a twinkling of wings and forked tail up into the clear blue late morning sky.  

On the way back towards Alice we again stopped along the rocky ridgeline, this time walking to the other side of the road. Most of the group stayed down along the spinifex edge in the valley, but Gavin took a higher route through the loose rocky ridge. As luck would have it a pair of Dusky Grasswrens appeared right along the top ridgeline. Most participants elected to pick their way up to Gavin’s position, and after a bit of quiet searching we found the pair of birds bouncing around on a patch of bare rock. Grasswrens may not be as brightly coloured as some of the more obvious members of Australia’s avifauna but their hyper alert and very interactive manner makes them very charistmatic. Many an Australian birder holds their Grasswren tally in high esteem, as most species live in very remote and often difficult to access areas. Once back down on the road we congratulated ourselves for a job well done and headed back into Alice for lunch. We made good time, with only one stop to admire a pair of roadside Wedge-tailed Eagles, and soon enough were enjoying lunch at a local café downtown. The café was conveniently located adjacent to a small (and surprisingly free to access) paleontological museum. Over the last few decades more and more digs have unearthed a trove of new information about the Australian megafauna that largely died out roughly 50,000 years ago (a timeline suspiciously close to the suspected arrival of people on the continent). This museum has a nice array of articulated skeletons and life-sized renditions of some of these charismatic species. I suspect that if Dromornis (a massive 700kg bird dubbed the demon duck of doom) Diprotodons, meat-eating 8-foot-tall kangaroos and huge crocodiles were still roaming around the Alice area visiting birders would stay quite close to their cars! 

After a siesta back at the hotel we spent the late afternoon and evening exploring the roads around Kunoth Bore and the Hamilton Downs Rd which lie to the Northwest of Alice Springs and north of the MacDonnell Ranges. We started by slowly driving down a side road that leads back south from the highway through a good stand of mulga. It’s an uninviting and somewhat barren looking forest that is somehow reminiscent of a post-apocalyptic Christmas tree farm. We didn’t spot too many birds in the denser sections of mulga, although we did stop once when a pair of Mulga Parrots flashed across the road. The parrots continued on, but once out of the cars we picked up another pair of Purple-backed Fairywrens, a few Australian Ringnecks, and a female Hooded Robin that was perched up on a tall snag. Our passage also disturbed a young male Red Kangaroo that only narrowly avoided colliding with our lead car as it rapidly crossed the road. Once we were out on the grassy plain, we headed for a waterhole near a sandy wash lined with tall Red Gums. We set up near the fenceline around the dam, enjoying a picnic dinner while watching the edges of the pond for birds coming in to drink in the early evening. Our first customer was a gorgeous pair of Mulga Parrots that came in and happily landed on the close edge of the pond. This is a particularly attractive species, with the male sporting a resplendent color palette of emerald and yellow, with blue and red highlights. Shortly thereafter we were treated to views of another stunning parrot, when a single Pink Cockatoo came wheeling by our vans. Initially it came down to drink but then flew up and sat on the fenceline like a fashion model looking for an audience. This is arguably the most attractive of the countries Cockatoos, snowy white with a pink blush to the chest and head, bright salmon pink underwings and a showy bicoloured crest. Numbers fluctuate around Alice from year to year, as the birds preferred food source (terrestrial gourds) need rain to germinate. Although there were a smattering of recent reports around Alice it didn’t seem like there were many around this year, and for us, this bird was a very welcome discovery.  

We were not the only creatures interesting in watching birds coming in to drink, and at one point during our vigil we were joined by a hunting Peregrine that circled us several times, made a few passes around the pond and then perched on a nearby fenceline. Perhaps due to the presence of this rapacious bird we found very few other birds (beside some obviously wary Common Bronzewings) willing to come down for a drink. Happily for us though the falcon soon tired of waiting, and soon thereafter we detected a couple of Bourke’s Parrots as they quietly moved down to the waterline on the back side of the pond. These largely crepuscular (even nocturnal) parrots are unobtrusive during the day, as they roost in dense mulga. Typically, the flocks come out as dusk falls and take advantage of the permanent water at the dam before heading out to feed during the night, and to our relief this night proved quite typical. The views were initially good, but as the daylight waned, we had to strain to make out their small shapes moving along the pond edge. A much more obvious species appeared just after dark, with a Spotted Nightjar hawking insects over the water and passing through our torchlights as it repeatedly passed by our position. We waited around for a bit admiring the celestial show unfolding above us, picking out Saturn, the Milky Way, the moon (showing incredibly crisp relief in the dry desert air) and the Southern Cross in the rapidly darkening sky before heading back to our hotel for the night. 

Our flight up to Darwin was in the early morning this year, and that was just as well since our normal activity for the third day; a visit to the world-famous (in birder terms at any rate) Alice Springs Wastewater Treatment Facility, was no longer possible due to the closure of the site to the public. Apparently, a visiting birder had injured themselves earlier in the year and the site managers had taken that as a valid excuse for simply closing down the site to all visitors. After packing up the vans we did make a little detour to the fenceline of the facility, and by scanning from this outer road we could see into several of the closer pond cells and berms. Here we picked up several species that were new to the tour including a few pairs of Pied Stilt, lots of Masked Lapwing, two distant Red-necked Avocets and a small group of foraging Whiskered Terns; not bad for 10 minutes! 

The flight went smoothly and we were able to pick up the vans in Darwin and check into the hotel before lunch, which allowed us to gear up for an afternoon in the humid and hot tropics of the country. Having lunch in a new area on an outside patio is always a tricky affair, and our delicious meals were frequently interrupted when new birds like Bar-shouldered Dove, Torresian Imperial-Pigeon, Australasian Figbird and the stunning and Blue-faced Honeyeater appeared around the lawns. After polishing off the meals we went on a brief walk around the nearby parkland, finding a pair of Orange-footed Scrubfowl hopefully scratching in the leaf litter along the trail. Here too was a flowering octopus tree that was hosting our first Rufous-banded and White-gaped Honeyeaters and Little Friarbirds, and a colourful group of chattering Red-collared Lorikeets. Along the shoreline, we picked out a couple of Pacific Reef-Herons striding around the low tide line and were happy to spot a soaring White-breasted Woodswallow drifting overhead. Eventually we decided to leave our lunch spot, heading a few kilometers down the shoreline where we were quickly successful at locating a staked-out Barking Owl that was tucked away in a small patch of woods near downtown. The area produced some cooperative Green Orioles, a signature species in humid tropical spaces in Australia, a busy Northern Fantail and a soaring Brahminy Kite. 

Acting on the suggestion of a local contact in Darwin we then drove over to the mouth of Buffalo Creek to take advantage of a rapidly incoming tide. When we arrived, there was still a substantial amount of open beach at the river mouth, with a few people fishing with cast nets or poles lining the shore. Over the course of our visit the tides swallowed virtually all of the open sand, with the current causing rapids as the ocean streamed up the riverbed, reversing the flow of the river in quite dramatic fashion. We scanned the diminishing beaches picking up a smattering of waders including distant Far Eastern Curlew, Black-bellied Plover, Great Knot and Terek Sandpiper as well as a lovely trio of Black-necked Storks that were slowly walking around the shore, often seeming to join the groups of fishermen to see if there might be any scraps of food available. Over the thick mangroves that line the river channel we enjoyed views of all three common local kites, with Whistling, Black and Brahminy all periodically circling overhead. At the boat ramp our undoubted highlight was the single Beach Thick-Knee that flew by calling from somewhere up the creek. This hulking species is not common around the tropical coastline of Australia, and seeing one by happenstance happens quite rarely. Kingfishers put in a nice appearance as well, with perched Azure and Sacred Kingfishers lining the mangroves and several Forest Kingfishers along the road. One particularly cooperative Azure perched just a few meters away from the ramp, fairly glowing in the scope as it scanned the water below its perch for unlucky little fish. By early evening it became apparent that the rapid tides were not conducive to rails frolicking along the mudflats, so after studying several buzzing flocks of Varied Lorikeets that were zipping overhead bound for their chosen roost sites, we headed back to the hotel for dinner.  

We started our next day around Darwin with a return visit to Lee Point and Buffalo Creek, this time concentrating on forest birds. Along the road a thin strip of monsoon forest abuts a wide sandy beach and connects to thick mangroves forests along Buffalo Creek. We parked near the end of the road and spent the next two hours or so birding, covering a grand total of perhaps 400 meters in the process. Right where we parked we lingered for at least 15 minutes, taking in our first busy Australian Yellow White-eyes, Varied Trillers, snazzy Bar-shouldered Doves, White-gaped and Rufous-banded Honeyeaters and a surprising number of Red-headed Myzomelas that were bouncing around as well, the males showing off their dazzlingly bright red heads. In some South Pacific cultures these tiny red feathers were actually used as a form of currency; they are certainly bright enough to evoke envy! A bit down the track we stopped to admire a calling Little Bronze-Cuckoo which then performed quite well for us as it remained perched in some bare tangles (with three of its friends) on the edge of the road for several minutes, with their red orbital ring clearly evident in the morning sun.  

New birds popped up seemingly everywhere, from dull-colored Gray Whistlers peering down at us in their characteristic lazy way, to intensely bright and flashy Arafura Fantails swishing their tails around as they swooped through vine tangles. Even with this wealth of new birds surrounding us our attention became laser focused though when we detected a Rainbow Pitta walking down the center of the forest track in front of us. Pittas are, in the estimation of many a birder, the holy grails of the bird world. Pleasingly plump and short tailed they bound around on their long legs as they feed in the leaf litter. The several dozen species spread across Africa, Asia and Australasia are clad in an amazing variety and intensity of colours, each seemingly trying to outdo the others in some sort of international fashion show. Rainbow Pittas are generally easier to see than many of the Asian species but are no less spectacular. Inky black, with an emerald green back, bright blue wing patch, red vent and a semicircular chestnut crown stripe they are a treat for the senses. This bird behaved perfectly, hopping around in the trail, and occasionally even staying put in patches of full sun!  

The tides proved quite favorable for waders, with a seething mass of birds foraging along the beach or resting up on the drier sands. With so many birds to look at we took a bit of time slowly working through the flock. Along with the species mentioned from the previous day we were happy to find little groups of Bar and Black-tailed Godwits, quite a few Red Knot mixed in with hundreds of Great Knot, both Whimbrel and Far Eastern Curlew, Greater and Siberian Sandplover, a few more Terek Sandpiper and Gray-tailed Tattlers and some loafing Common Greenshank. A large mixed flock of terns occupied us for a while also, and with a bit of effort we located a few (longipennis) Common Terns, single Australian, Lesser Crested and White-winged Black Terns and dozens of Little and Great Crested Terns. It was hard to tear ourselves away, but eventually we headed back to the buses and moved on to the nearby Holmes Jnge=ke Reserve, where we were overwhelmed by the number of Black Kites around the nearby dump, and where we managed to track down a pair of Double-barred Finches, a few Torresian Crows and our first Royal Spoonbill. 

Our next stop was a bit inland and east of town, at Howard Springs. This is a small park that contains an excellent tract of monsoonal forest, with large fig trees, vine tangles and brush along a shallow creek. Before exploring the parks trail system, we took a short walk into a patch of forest just off the car park where we quickly found several dozen Black Flying-Foxes hanging out and being remarkably noisy in some of the taller trees. Several individuals even flew around a bit, showing off their broad and remarkably large wings. Once on the short rainforest trail we found conditions to be fairly hot and quiet. We did manage to locate our hoped-for Arafura Shrikethrushes (a recent split from Little Shrikethrush), as well as a very showy and vocal male Shining Flycatcher, a calling Rainbow Pitta and two different Pacific Koels, one of which actually shot over the trail allowing some of the participants to actually glimpse this often frustratingly elusive cuckoo. 

As we left the forest, we stopped for some non-bird related wildlife in the form of a large Merten’s Water Monitor that was lounging along the bank and which allowed us close approach. The pond held a nice selection of native fish and dragonflies, and the figs around the carpark were attracting a busy flock of Red-collared Lorikeets, some handsome Torresian Imperial-Pigeons and another calling Pacific Koel. We then enjoyed lunch at a local tavern, soaking up a bit of rural Australian culture (as it was the day of the all-important Australia Rules football grand final) and some remarkably tasty food before taking a siesta back at the hotel, following the lead of the local wildlife in the unseasonable heat.  

For the remainder of the day, we drove a few kilometers out of town and spent a few hours slowly birding around the wetlands of Knuckey’s Lagoon. These three small wetlands hold water right through the dry season, and as the season progresses they get more and more full of waterbirds. At the first pond we found a few hundred lounging Magpie Geese, our first Wandering Whistling Ducks, Green Pygmy-Geese and Rajah Shelducks and a nice selection of wading birds including our first Pied and Pacific Herons, and Wood and Marsh Sandpipers. At the second (and closest) pond we lingered for some time picking through the impressive throngs of Magpie Geese, finding mostly the same species as the first pond but in much larger numbers. A few different species were present though, with a pair of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, some Whiskered Terns (in a bewildering array of plumages), a passing White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Black-necked Storks and a group of giant Australian Pelicans. We moved over to the final pond in the complex, finding it to be relatively devoid of birds. A passing employee of the nearby nursery told us that a few kids had just put the birds up, which likely explained the big influx of Magpie Geese that we had seen flying into the second pond. There were a few dozen Plumed Whistling-Ducks here though, with some dark-capped Wanderings providing an excellent comparison.  

With a little bit of daylight left we decided to finish our first full day off in the tropics with a quick visit to the nearby Marlow Lagoon. This small city park boasts a set of two small ponds, one with a nicely vegetated and inaccessible central island and the other with thick stands of hyacinth and lily. Around the ponds are some very mature paperbarks and bottlebrushes, which, when flowering, act as a real magnet for birds. The park sits in a suburban setting but along two sides is bordered by a stand of drier eucalypt forest, making for quite a varied set of habitats in a small area. We made a short loop along the margins of the pond, finding that (as with everywhere else around Darwin this year) the paperbarks and figs were not producing as hoped. Right near the carpark we found a group of four Silver-backed Butcherbirds that were busily starting construction on a new nest. This is a somewhat recent split from Gray Butcherbird and the adults are quite handsome, looking like a combination of a Pied and a Grey Butcherbird with some of the best features of each. We walked along the waters edge, picking up a cooperative Bar-breasted Honeyeater and a pair of Paperbark Flycatchers as we went. A passing Hobby scared up an impressive flock of Galah and Masked Lapwing, with a few Red-winged Parrots mixed in. As we prepared to leave, we stopped to admire a trio of luminously blue Forest Kingfishers that were perched up in a short bare tree. The lighting was simply perfect, and the moment was made even better when a White-bellied Sea-Eagle flew overhead and all three kingfishers raised their heads up to keep an eye on its progress. 

Usually on our second full day around Darwin we head straight east along the Arnhem highway, but Clive had scouted the region a few days prior to our visit and found conditions to be extremely dry, with a recent burn through what is generally the most productive area. So instead, this year we headed south from town, stopping first at a remote boat ramp on the banks of the Elizabeth River. Here we found easy access to the dense short mangroves that line the river. Our hoped-for suite of mangrove associated species performed incredibly well here, with a pair of Mangrove Gerygones reeling out their piercing sound as they bounced around some eye-level mangrove shrubs. Here too we teased out a trio of cooperative Mangrove Robins that obligingly sat right next to the road, saw a pair of Helmeted Friarbirds skipping along in the crowns of some taller mangroves and had a good study of a single impressively large Black Butcherbird as it sat up in a tall bare snag. Leaving the mangroves behind we continued on southwards, stopping in an open patch of drier forest when we spotted our first Blue-winged Kookaburra perched up along the roadside. Happily, for us the bird stayed for us to enjoy in the scopes, peering back at us with its piercing yellow eyes. The stop stretched out a bit with a break for snacks, a perched Great Bowerbird and two passing Red-winged Parrots. A bit further south we stopped to bird a riparian stretch of comparatively lush vegetation below the dam on the Darwin River. A nice mixed flock was foraging in a few flowering trees along the riverbank, and among the by-now-more-familiar White-bellied Cuckooshrikes, Green Oriole and Brown Honeyeaters we encountered a couple of Olive-backed Oriole, and flock of White-throated Honeyeaters. Nearby we were happy to spend a bit of time with large flocks of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos and Little Corellas that were foraging in the understory of some open forest and staked out a small pool in the road in an unsuccessful bid for visiting finches.  

For the rest of the morning we explored the Marrakai Track, a well- maintained dirt road that takes off to the north of the Stuart Highway passing over the floodplain of the Adelaide River before ascending some rolling hills covered in dry Eucalypt forest and then eventually reaching the Arnhem Highway. These drier forests typically host a wide array of birdlife, especially so if the Eucalypts are in flower. We found the area to be bone dry and with temperatures nearly 8 degrees higher than average the activity through the morning was limited. The country here is pretty though, with one of the most obvious features being the many huge termite mounds, some towering over 15-feet tall that dot the grassy forest understory. We started off with a short walk along a stretch of the road with dense tropical foliage lining a shallow but flowing creek. Here we enjoyed a bit of non-bird activity with several damsel and dragonflies and even a few butterflies (which had generally been very scarce this year). Of course, there were also birds, with a cooperative pair of Green-backed Gerygones that showed much better than those along Buffalo Creek the prior day, an Arafura Shrikethrush bounding along through a thick patch of vines, and solid views of foraging Dusky Myzomela, White-throated Honeyeater and Silver-crowned Friarbird. Much of the rest of the road was uneventful but scenic, although near the Adelaide River crossing, we stopped at a bonafide Billabong and took in a smattering of waterbirds, a host of odonates including lots of Graphic Flutterers, a very showy Australian Tiger, several Black-headed and Slender Skimmers and Chalky, Scarlet and Pygmy Perchers, and some attractive fuzzy flowers that we later found out were called water snowflakes.  

Once back on the main highway we stopped in at a nearby roadhouse, where Lunch and cold drinks were well received. The café was filled with Territory Kitsch; a terrifyingly large Saltwater Crocodile skull and pelts, photos of fishermen and party goers, the latest gambling news and racks of tourism brochures and caravanning gear, and a video was playing on a television that showed the regions flooded nature in the wet season. After lunch we spent a bit of time scoping out the small and vaguely fetid-looking pond at the end of the carpark. In addition to a portly black pig and two Water Buffalo we were happy to find a pair of Radjah Shelduck, a species that really shines with burgundy and copper in good light. Here too was our first Nankeen Night-Heron lurking around the shady edge of the pond. The roadhouse is attached to a sprawling caravan park with well-watered lawns that often attract an array of local birds from the surrounding arid region and we walked a bit further back into the property where we found a large roost of Little Red Flying-Fox (with some larger Blacks in for comparison), and we also walked over to view the “pet” Saltwater and Freshwater Crocodiles in their respective pens.  

After lunch Clive had arranged a special treat for us, with a staked-out family group of Rufous Owls at a friend’s house in the wonderfully named town of Humpty Doo. Clive’s friend’s house was set well back in the bush, with a lush and huge garden. We accidentally parked right under one of the adult owls (not that the bird seemed at all disturbed by our presence) and within a minute or two of greeting our hostess we were starting at this imposing bird as it glanced in our direction. We then walked back to a particularly large tree where we found the other adult and two large white-headed juvenile sitting just a bit above eye level on completely open branches! We watched them for a bit, and they glared back at us in a surprised and occasionally irate manner, and then as we left the host family gave us a veritable wild kingdom animal show, with their pet dogs, and a very handsome Black-headed Python!  

Our next stop was along the mangroves lining the Adelaide River. This river has perhaps the highest density of “Salties” in the world, and with an estimated crocodile every 150m of riverbank it is widely rumoured that it would be impossible to swim across successfully! Although it was now squarely in the heat of the afternoon, we were successful in tracking down a female Broad-billed Flycatcher, a rather subduedly coloured female Black-tailed Whistler and a very responsive Sahul Brush Cuckoo and happily we avoided the rapacious swarm of mosquitoes that Clive had projected would greet our arrival.  

Leaving the Adelaide River behind we drove back westwards along the Arnhem Highway. This road crosses through huge floodplains, patches of tropical savannah woodland and a succession of mangrove-lined rivers draining into the Arafura Sea. All along the road are posted signs that indicate flood depths, a reminder that in a month’s time, with the arrival of the summer wet season much of the surrounding countryside will lie inundated with water (rain in this part of the world can be measured in feet rather than inches in the wet season). Our destination was the wetlands and open savannah around Fogg Dam. This large dam sits in the middle of quite a big lake in the wet season, but during our visit the grasslands to the right were bone dry. In the lily-choked pond upstream from the dam there was still substantial water, and we stopped to admire Comb-crested Jacanas as they obligingly trotted over their lilies with their flared chicken-like red crests on full display. Here too were a good assortment of waterfowl, including some close Radjah Shelducks and Magpie Geese and some perched up cormorants, darters and Paperbark Flycatchers. It was out on the largely dry plain below the dam though that we found most of the more interesting birds. Out in the distance were uncountable numbers of Plumed and Great Egrets, as well as nearly a dozen huge Brolga, our first Glossy Ibis, and at least two families of Black-necked Storks. Further out on the plain we could also see a surprisingly large herd of hulking Asian Water Buffalo; a feral species in this region of the country, and an imposing creature. A nicely constructed two-story blind at the end of the road gave us an excellent overlook on a small pond which was being visited by both Wandering and Plumed Whistling-Ducks, a few Royal Spoonbill and a half-grown Saltwater Crocodile that was spotted by a young but keen kid from the top deck (and which had been overlooked by our entire group of optically enhanced birders for over 10 minutes!). On the way out we stopped to admire a large flock of Crimson Finches that were zipping back and forth between the reedbeds of the marsh and the open plains. Happily, several males sat up in near perfect light, providing a good opportunity to really study their striking plumage and long tails.  

As our flight to Kunnunura was scheduled for the late morning the next day we took advantage by fitting in some more birding inside Darwin’s city limits. We began with a visit to the nearby airfield where some judicious scanning from a safe position away from the airport fence produced about a dozen Oriental Plovers scampering about in the short grass between runways. I suspect that a few participants had mental images of this species only in breeding plumage, so these birds, which resemble fine-billed Mountain Plovers dressed in a conservative buff and off-white might not quite have matched expectations (though they were still a welcome sight). A trio of Little Curlews further out proved too elusive in the taller grass, so we headed out and made a return visit to the forest strip along the shoreline near the mouth of Buffalo Creek. Here we were quickly successful with our main quarry for the morning, the stunning Pacific Emerald Dove. It’s a remarkably colorful bird, with an emerald-green mantle and almost plum-coloured underparts. Here too we enjoyed better views of Australian Yellow White-eye, Grey Whistler, and Red-headed Myzomela than on our first visit. All too soon it was time to bid the Northern Territory farewell, and by a little after eleven we were winging our way to the southwest, bound for the much more arid tropical savannahs of the northeastern corner of Western Australia.  

Kununurra is a small town well situated for tourist access into the Kimberley’s and Bungle Bungles and serves as a base for mining and agricultural concerns around the east Kimberleys. As such it has regular air service and a wide range of hotels sprinkled around the scenic Lake Kununurra (far more infrastructure really than a town of it size would normally have). After landing we took our lunch in a small café specializing in coffee and mangoes, and then had a short rest at our hotel during the heat of the day. In the late afternoon we struck out for our first foray around town. We started along the shores of Lake Kununurra, a small lake connected to the nearby Ord River, lined with reedbeds and covered with emergent dead trees. Most of the trees held roosting cormorants, either Little Black, Pied or Little Pied, or perhaps a Darter with its wings outstretched. We primarily birded around the small Celebrity Tree Park which provides picnic access to the lake and protects a particularly large crop of baobab trees. These baobabs are common around the region, looking for all the world like upside down sprouting turnips, with huge swollen trunks and bare spreading branches.  

The grounds are well irrigated, and the abundant water and green lawns were attracting a wealth of birdlife. Some sprinklers were on around the margin of the park and these were attended by a busy family group of Gray-crowned Babblers, lots of Magpie-Larks, Purple Swamphens and even a couple of sitting Black Kite. Along the edge of the lagoon we heard (and glimpsed) several Australian Reed Warblers that were quite vigorously singing despite the nearly 100 degree temperatures. Near the far point in the park we found a small grove of Eucalypts that were in good flower (oddly the first real blossom that we had encountered the entire trip). These flowering trees were heaving with birds, and we spent an enjoyable half-hour teasing apart the identification features of Brown, Rufous-throated, Yellow-tinted, Banded, White-gaped and Blue-faced Honeyeaters. The trees held several dozen cooperative Red-collared Lorikeets and a pair of perched Red-winged Parrots as well, and some nearby sprinklers here were bringing in several Great Bowerbirds and a noisy crop of Masked Lapwing, making for quite a diverse avian spectacle.  

Leaving the park behind we set off to the north, passing through some of the large fruit, grain and cotton fields that benefit from the influx of water from the Ord River irrigation scheme. The area around Kununurra is certainly one of the best spots for finch diversity in the country, with up to 10 species possible under optimal conditions. As such, finch finding was a high priority for us during our three days in town. Our destination was a small stretch of road along an irrigation ditch which was the site of the only recent reports of one of the areas more tricky finches; the Yellow-rumped Munia. We spent a half hour or so slowly walking along the road here, finding a nice array of birds using the seeding grasses and dense shrubs on the verge of the canal. Golden-headed Cisticola eventually showed well, with a bird that obligingly sat up on an exposed limb for several minutes. Also here was a creaking flock of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos, a pair of very vocal Paperbark Flycatchers and a few fast-flying flocks of Chestnut-breasted Munias that came out of the adjacent farmfields but then rather frustratingly zipped off to parts unknown. The Yellow-rumpeds often hang out with Chesnut-breasted, but our views were far to brief to search them out. A little group of Star Finch were slightly better, with a few keen-eyed participants picking them out as they landed briefly before diving down into the dense underbrush. A bit further to the south we stopped at a smaller irrigation channel that is nicely lined with patches of reeds and seeding grasses. Conditions looked perfect but no finches were around. We made up for their lack in style though, with great views of a pair of Buff-sided Robins; a simply stunning species clad in apricot, black and white. Although most visiting birders will likely remember the red robins, or perhaps the yellow ones, it is Buff-sided that I find the most attractive member of the bunch. A local riparian species in the territory and northern Western Australia, the field guides really fail to do its bold patterning and bright contrasting tones justice. Dinner at the hotel went well, with a truncated menu offered due to the celebration of the King’s actual birthday. 

For our one full day around Kununurra, we decided to make the most of it with an early start to the morning, especially given the abnormally high temperature in the forecast. As Kununurra sits in the far east of the time zone the day breaks before 5am, and when we hit the road at a bit after 5am it was already quite light out. We started the drive up the Great Northern Highway towards Wyndham, passing up a few of our normal stops in a bid to arrive along the King River Road as early as possible. This long unpaved road snakes along the west arm of the King River, passing across an amazingly flat and barren salt pan before entering some extensive tropical savannah woodlands and eventually reaching the base of a rocky escarpment where the mangrove-lined river nearly abuts the road. It’s a little traveled route, and each time we have birded along it a few avian surprises have popped up in the grasses. Our principal reason for the visit was to find and stakeout a small pond near the road where multiple species of interest had been regularly coming in to drink over the past two weeks. Luck was with us as just as we neared the area the bird activity really picked up. By standing under the shade of a large tree we could see a veritable parade of birds coming in to drink. As hoped, many were finches, and we soon became acquainted with Star, Long-tailed, Masked, Double-barred and Crimson Finches as they appeared near the puddle. Lots of diminutive Diamond Doves were about as well, looking like tiny toys as they came in with their larger Peaceful and Bar-shouldered cousins. A few honeyeaters were here too, with particularly excellent views of Rufous-throated and Yellow-tinted.  

We moved a bit further down the tract, stopping at another, much larger waterhole with some dense shrubs and pandanus palms around it. Here we found nearly a dozen huge Brolga and a pair of Black-necked Storks stalking for trapped fish in the rapidly evaporating pool. Some bubbles under the surface looked a bit ominous, and after a few minutes a couple of the participants noted ripples as well, which briefly revealed part of a large crocodile lurking under the surface. We stayed well back and surveyed the area, flushing a pair of Brown Quail and an unreasonably uncooperative Pheasant Coucal in the process. Happily, a displaying Singing Bushlark perched up for us on a bare limb after a brief bout of song flight. We lingered for a while hoping for finches, and eventually a small group of Crimson Finch appeared at the water’s edge, glowing crimson even in the deep shade. Further to the south we crossed an arm of the King River, spotting a Striated (Little) Heron on a sandbank and yet another Stork that was investigating some small pools near the roadbed. We arrived at the locally famous Prison Tree; a huge and very old Boab with a hollow core that, rumor has it, was used by the local constabulary to lock up the local people enroute to the courthouse in Wyndham in the 1890s. The accounts are rather grim, a reminder of the gross mistreatment and dehumanization of the local population. The tree is a tourist attraction now, and after looking in the hollow base and taking a few photos, we pressed a short distance into more open grazed ranchland with cattle. A flash of crimson and black just off the road revealed itself to be a family group of Red-backed Fairywren that were busily foraging at the base of a large tree. We walked over and were treated to excellent views of two bright males flashing their mantles and quivering their tails at our approach. It also turned out that our chosen parking spot was directly underneath a nesting Brown Falcon which kept close tabs on our progress.  

Heading back northwards we took a detour down a short road that leads to the dam for the town of Wyndhams water supply. Here short cliffs flank a well forested creekline with extant surface water. The shade and available water often attract interesting birds, and this visit revealed nearly a half-dozen White-quilled Rock-Pigeons coming down from the ledges for a midday drink. This is a handsome dark brown, oddly shaped dove with disproportionally short legs and a striking horizontal posture that frequents the sandstone escarpments of the Kimberley. One of the birds made a short flight back up the hill, which allowed us to see its namesake white primary flashes. The red stone cliffs above the creek held a pair of Sandstone Shrikethrush, another local specialty of the Kimberley and Arnhem escarpments. It’s a large and long-tailed species with a rollicking whistled call, which one participant likened to a giant Canyon Wren. A return visit to the small waterhole near the road revealed our only Bar-breasted Honeyeater of the day and brief views of a Grey-fronted Honeyeater that unfortunately took off too quickly for people to get a decent view of.  

A bit further north we pulled into Wyndham and enjoyed lunch and ice creams at the only small café operational in town this year. This little hamlet had in the past served as a major player in the western Australian Cattle markets, being the end point of the drover runs to the coast, and hosting a large meat packing plant. In more recent times mining export concerns became the important economic driver, but with the downturn in mineral prices and loss of much demand in the Asian market not much was going on in the small port at the end of the road. 

After lunch and a brief bathroom stop at the town’s sports oval and nearby sewage ponds (where we found a large loafing flock of Plumed Whistling-ducks and a few Pied Stilts) we made a short visit to the short mangrove forest that lines the bank of the river near the city wharf. The mangroves often produce sprightly Mangrove Grey Fantails bouncing around in the denser patches of woods, but on this occasion, we found lots of winds and some uncomfortable heat. We gave it twenty minutes or so, spotting a few Common Sandpipers, Whiskered Terns and Silver Gulls along the shore but very few birds (save some Brown Honeyeaters) in the trees. On our way out of town we stopped to admire the giant, perhaps even the world’s largest, crocodile statue that proudly sits along the highway verge greeting incoming and outgoing travelers.  

Our last area for the day was to be the Parry Lagoons Nature Reserve. This sprawling reserve protects a massive grassy plain, that in months’ time will become a truly vast wetland complex with the onset of the wet season rains. As we started to slowly cross over the bumpy plain, we encountered a large flock of Cockatiel that were milling about in a patch of small trees. The large flock broke into smaller groups and several of those obligingly came closer to the road perching on some bare trees. After not as much as a sniff of this species around Alice we had expected to miss it this year, so this sighting was doubly welcome. Continuing northwards we drove up onto an isolated hill to take in the view of the largely treeless terrain, and noted the existence of an old ranch house atop the hill, an isolated spot even in the dry season, but an island surrounded by swampy water for much of the rest of the year; people were made of a hardier stock back then I suppose. Dropping down from the hill we headed a bit to the north, soon reaching the RAMSAR designated Marglu Billabong which still held a significant amount of water. As it was still quite hot in the late-afternoon sun we decided to basically do a big sit from the comfort of the shaded boardwalk and blind thoughtfully provided by the state. In about a 45-minute vigil we tallied an impressive 45 species! More than the diversity though I suspect most participants will remember the hot but tranquil sit, with foraging Whiskered Terns patrolling the lily-choked pond just feet away from us, or the little family group of Paperbark Flycatchers engaged in feeding bouts from an adjacent tree, the towering Brolga who looked like they ruled the entire half of the billabong or perhaps the sheer number of foraging wading birds and Pelicans crowding the corners of the billabong. We even spotted a large (impressively so) Saltwater Crocodile that was sunning himself with an open mouth, making a good imitation of Wyndham’s famous statue. With an early morning on offer the following day we headed back to Kununurra for dinner, accompanied by a rapidly darkening inky-black and star-filled sky. 

On our final full day of the tour, we arose extra early and made the one-hour drive to the southeast of town to meet our boatman Captain Greg for the Lake Argyle Cruise. The road into the lake is windy and passes between many dramatic but low ridges before ending at a steep boat ramp. It isn’t until the very end of the drive that the lake becomes visible, which is perhaps surprising given that this truly vast lake could perhaps be better termed an inland sea. It’s roughly 75KM long and 40KM wide and was created by a single dam across the Ord River in 1971. The isolated mountaintops protruding from the flooded valleys are now sandstone islands, creating a unique vista for boating. We took off with the rising sun at our backs, casting beautiful light on the sandstone walls all around us. This scenic beauty only improved once we were out onto the calm open water, surrounded by distant rolling hills, and little groups of Cormorants and Darters sitting on islets. We stopped in a shallow bay with many dead emergent trees along the sandy bank. The water levels of the lake were quite a bit higher this year, which enabled us to get a bit further into the cove than usual. We motored around a grove of drowned bushes and were elated to spot both Baillon’s and White-browed Crakes clambering around in the bare emergent bushes. It was amazing watching them move through the habitat, regularly hiding in tiny patches of vegetation that looked far too small to make such large birds nearly invisible. Seeing rails so easily was a bit of an unexpected treat, and just around the backside of the same patch of emergent trees we had another, with a quietly perched Black Bittern. This marked only our second sighting of this reclusive species for the Western Tour, and the bird performed well, eventually popping out onto an open branch where it quickly attracted the attention of a pair of Willie Wagtails. Leaving the first cove behind we motored around a small headland and pulled into another sheltered beach where we could enjoy breakfast. Our meal was accompanied by an array of birds including dozens of Magpie Geese, Rajah Shelducks and Wandering Whistling-Ducks. Comb-crested Jacanas and a family group of Black-fronted Plover (with tiny ping-pong ball sized chicks) patrolled the shoreline in front of us, and on the emergent dead trees were perching White-breasted Woodswallows and White-throated Honeyeaters. A few minutes into our meal a flock of finches appeared in the taller grasses just upslope from our craft. A quick glimpse of them as they settled into position revealed bright red heads, and sure enough we were soon looking at a group of Gouldian Finches sitting just a few meters away. Gouldians are perhaps the most prized of the array of Australian finches, and their population has suffered greatly from habitat alteration (especially the sharp increase in fires) and from trapping for the pet bird trade. Conservation efforts have included captive breeding and release, and the source birds for that effort have largely been taken from the Western Australia population, which is the most stable. Most of our birds were full adults, clad in their gaudy livery, a mix of green, blue, red and yellow that might make even a member of the pontifical Swiss guard look dull in comparison. 

After breakfast was complete and the finch flock had moved on to some other patch of seeding grasses we pulled out of the cove and turned southwards again, making our way out to a small archipelago roughly in the middle of the lake. With the slightly lower water levels this year compared to our last visit the target island (dubbed Chat Island by ornithological tourists), had significantly grown in size. Generally, we visit the island chiefly to look for the small population of Yellow Chat that have made this area home for well over a decade, consistently breeding on the islands and persisting on them year-round. Yellow Chats have an odd and poorly understood distribution, with small ephemeral populations and only a handful of reliable sites in the country. As we neared our target island our excitement grew, with hundreds of Magpie Geese and Plumed Whistling-Ducks lining the shoreline. Dozens of Green Pygmy-Geese were paddling around in the shallows around the island, and even from the boat as we circled around to the leeward side, we could detect significant number of waders and a large group of Caspian Terns plying the shoreline. We had to anchor a bit farther off the island than usual this year due to the shallowness of the surrounding water. This meant that our disembarkment process was a trifle more exciting than normal. Our progress was hampered by some soft sediment spots underfoot, which had a tendency to grab hold of feet (and shoes) with an impressive tenacity. All this meant that our progress in wading onto shore resembled he worlds least aggressive and more comical beach assault rather than a well-organized military campaign. In fact, one of our leaders (who shall remain nameless) left a Keen sandal behind, safely ensconced by the soft welcoming sediment in roughly a foot deep water. Perhaps it will fossilize, giving some future archaeologist an insight into twenty-first century footwear choices… At any rate, once the remaining shoes and socks were back in place we started to slowly walk around the perimeter of the island. 

Over the course of our hour walk we enjoyed excellent views of about five Yellow Chats, with several males in fine feather; bright yellow with a tinge of orange, and with a sharp black breast mark. Other passerines included the obligatory Magpie-Larks (the only species that we recorded daily on the tour), hawking Rainbow Bee-eaters, and a couple of skylarking Horsfield’s Bushlark. The shorebird diversity was excellent, highlighted by at least 25 Oriental Plovers, our first Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, single Long-toed Stint and Australian Pratincole, and a rather flighty group of Little Curlews. The more common species were interesting too, with Black-fronted and Red-capped Plovers, Sharp-tailed, Marsh and Wood Sandpipers and a decent number of Red-necked Stint. The wade back to the boat was a bit more straightforward after Greg repositioned slightly, and soon enough we were bound northwards, sampling some cold drinks and freshly cut melons as we headed over to another, much taller island with some steep lakeside cliffs. Here we quickly connected with another pair of Sandstone Shrike-thrush and our only Common Wallaroo of the trip as well as passing Ospreys and a beautiful adult White-bellied Sea-Eagle. 

Before returning to the dock, we made a couple more stops back near the dam. Here we enjoyed excellent views of a small flock of Spinifex Pigeons that were running up a shallow slope just above the water line (a much more wild setting than the picnic grounds back in Alice Springs). Nearby we spotted a White-quilled Rock-Pigeons scampering around on some wonderfully red sandstone cliffs before disappearing behind a boulder. Nearby we stopped at a little cliff pockmarked with small caves and a quick scan revealed a couple of cooperative Short-eared Rock-Wallaby. Much cuter than their larger Kangaroo cousins these highly specialized animals make their home on Sandstone escarpments, hiding in the small caves during the day to escape the oppressive heat. These particular animals seemed acclimatized to people, and two hopped right down to the waters edge, perhaps hopeful for a handout.  

Once back on dry land we drove over to the nearby caravan park where we enjoyed not only a tasty lunch in air-conditioned comfort but also a perched Northern Rosella in one of the flowering trees in the irrigated section of the complex. Most rosellas are quite straightforward to see, being common in their respective ranges, but this species seems to be undergoing a rapid population decline and it is one of the harder top end endemics to pin down.  

Our flight back to Darwin was supposed to be in the early afternoon, but Air North had moved the flight time back an hour, which gave us a bit more birding time than usual once to play with after lunch. We stopped a few times on the way back to Kununurra wherever bird activity dictated. At one stop we saw a small herd of wild horses (or Brumbies in local parlance) that were enjoying the shade of a particularly large Boab tree. At another we picked up a rather furtive pair of Pheasant Coucals and a curious Buff-banded Rail around a couple of small water holes along the road. Once back in town we acted on a tip from some birders who had recently visited the area and went for a walk behind the rather uninspiring (from a golfing perspective) golf course. Here we were successful at tracking down a pair of stunning Purple-crowned Fairywrens as they moved through the trailside vegetation. Initially they were below eye level, an angle that allowed us to really appreciate the intensity of the males bright purple head. Of Australia’s 10 species of Fairywrens only two, the Lovely and the Purple-crowned are particularly range-restricted. The Lovely lives up to its name, with the female being particularly noteworthy, but the Purple-crowned is truly a stunning bird, more similar in plumage to some of the New Guinea fairywrens, and unique in Australia with its corded iridescent crown stripes. In addition, its range is largely remote, involving a significant drive out from any of the major birding areas. In recent years the species has popped up a few times around Kununurra, but its presence there is only ephemeral, so we were fortunate to have this as our final new bird of the trip. The flight back to Darwin was a bit further delayed, but eventually we were back at our familiar hotel, enjoying dinner and reminiscing about the trip.  

Over the course of the 17 days we tallied 311 species of birds (roughly half of the mainland Australian avifauna) across a wonderful cross-section of habitats. Of the three regular WINGS tours it is this Western Tour that I most look forward to every other year, simply because of the remote and beautiful nature of many of the landscapes, and the remarkable differences in habitat condition from year to year.  

-Gavin Bieber

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