Photo Gallery
Gavin Bieber and Peter Taylor (pt)
We’ll start the trip off with a visit to a wetland park in Perth, where we will look at Red-necked Avocets…
…handsome Chestnut Teal…
…courting Black Swans…
…the improbably large Australian Pelicans…
…and likely with our first Laughing Kookaburras for company.
The next day we’ll make for Dryandra Woodland, where…
…we should encounter a suite of special birds, like Crested Shrike-tit…
…inquisitive Western Yellow Robins…
…and dazzling Spotted Pardalotes.
With some luck we might spot our first Tawny Frogmouth, or…
…or if we’re really lucky perhaps even a Numbat.
On our way to the remote Stirling Ranges…
…we’ll keep an eye out for Kangaroos…
…or perhaps a roadside Echidna…
…or gaudy Red-capped Parrot.
At the coastal heathland around Cheynes Beach…
…our goals will include skulking Western Bristlebird (here a very young one)…,
…vocal but often hard to spot Western Whipbirds… (pt)
Photo: Peter Taylor
…and the stunning Red-winged Fairywren.
Around our lodge we should see Western Rosellas…
…honeyeaters like Western Wattlebird and…
…maybe even a Brushtail Possum foraging on Banksia flowers.
During the spring Southern Right Whales can often be spotted off the coast.
On one day we’ll turn inland, for the beautiful Mallee parkland…
…where we’ll seek out harder to find birds like Australian Owlet-Nightjar…
…and where we’ll look for the often elusive Malleefowl.
We’ll then head back to Perth, watching along the way for Red-eared Firetail… (pt)
Photo: Peter Taylor
…Western Corellas…
and the striking Hooded Plover.
Then we’ll head to the MacDonnell Ranges around Alice Springs, where outback waterholes…
…attract flocks of Budgerigars,…
…and Rainbow Bee-eaters.
We’ll seek out the amazing Spinifex Pigeons among the rocky bajadas…
…and at Simpson’s Gap we might spot a Black-footed Rock-Wallabies on the slopes…
…or a Western Bowerbird attending its bower.
The open spinifex covered plains south of Alice support…
an array of impressive lizards, from Bearded Dragons…
…to the huge Perentie….
…and some years beautiful (and nomadic) Crimson Chats abound.
On especially wet years the wildflower show can be spectacular.
Our next base for the tour is in the tropical North, where Rainbow Pittas bounce along the forest floor…
…Red-collared Lorikeets feed in the palms,…
and Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves call from the treetops…
…and with some luck Chestnut Rails lurk in the mangroves.
Or last base for the trip will be Kununnura, where wetlands support Black-necked Storks…
…vast numbers of Magpie Geese…
…Radjah Shelducks…
…majestic White-bellied Sea-Eagles…
..and Pied Herons…
Fiches abound here, and we’ll close the tour out seeking up to 11 species (here a Painted Finch) before heading back to Darwin.