Trip Report — Australia Part 2 2024 (with optional Tasmania Extension)

On the other side of the globe, literally, is the island nation of Australia and it comes with a multitude of fascinating birds, an impressive array of mammals, and sights and sounds with no parallel in America.  Our trip, which was Part 2 of the Field Guides tour, looked to sample and track down as many bird species as we could in the Northern Territory and Queensland (and some on to Tasmania).  I know John and I had a great time exploring Australia with you all and we hope you enjoyed yourselves as well.

 

We got underway in the northern city of Darwin which sits right on the Timor Sea.  It wasn't long after we exited the airport and were met by the heat and humidity that we started with a couple of great sightings: Little Curlews were out on the runway!  Nearby, a troupe of Gray-crowned Babblers danced through airport grounds.  Next we visited Buffalo Creek and Lee Point where we collected a nice suite of mangrove and northern specialties.  We added a distant Brown Booby, but also Australian Yellow White-eye, Red-headed Myzomela, Mangrove Gerygone, and Black-tailed Whistler.  Grassy areas hosted Double-barred Finches while the skies were ruled by Black Kites, Whistling Kites, Brahminy Kites, and White-bellied Sea-Eagle.

 

The following day started at East Point where we tallied nearly 60 species in less than 4 hours.  The highlights were many:  Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Channel-billed Cuckoo, Terek Sandpiper, Gull-billed Tern, Lesser Crested Tern, Arafura Shrikethrush, Mangrove Robin, and Masked Finch, to name a few.  Nearby we tried our luck with Chestnut Rail and sure enough, the mangroves were hosting a couple of these sneaky rails (seeing them, though, was a challenge).  Speaking of sneaky, the Rainbow Pitta was indeed being tricky, but we'd catch up to one later on.  A visit to Knuckey Lagoons was productive as ever; hundreds of geese and ducks lined the swamp but mixed in were the likes of Comb-crested Jacanas, Pied Stilts, and Black-necked Storks.  Next was a brief stop at Howards Springs where, yes, we had better luck with the Rainbow Pitta!  Koels sang from the forest, Orange-footed Megapodes roamed the grounds, and a Silver-backed Butcherbird kept an eye on all of us.  What a fascinating avifauna.

Our final full day in the Northern Territory started at Fogg Dam where we encountered a Barking Owl before daybreak.  Meanwhile, dozens (hundreds?) of Black Flying-Foxes were eerily commuting back to their dayroost while the herons and waterfowl were commuting to the wetlands.  As dawn broke, the birdlife at Fogg Dam was great; we added Brolga, Wandering Whistling-Duck, Little Bronze-Cuckoo, White-browed Crake, Bar-breasted Honeyeater, Paperbark Flycatcher, Australian Reed Warbler, and Crimson Finch.  Up the road a bit to our next spot, on the banks of the Adelaide River, we added Green-backed Gerygone, Arafura Fantail, and Boat-billed Flycatcher.  Our luck continued that day and we even found a couple of tricky-to-find specialties like Silver-crowned Friarbird and Black-tailed Treecreeper!  We caught glimpses of Sahul Brush Cuckoo and even admired the bower of a Great Bowerbird.

 

Before long, it was time to move over to Queensland to continue our adventure.  We flew to Cairns (stopping briefly in Gove) and hit the ground running; right off the bat we added Metallic Starling right near the airport and then Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, Brown-backed Honeyeater, and Sahul Sunbird near Yorkeys Lagoon.  One of the highlights of Cairns is getting the chance to bird along the esplanade and we did this numerous times during our time in Cairns.  Getting up-close-and-personal views of Far Eastern Curlews, Bar-tailed Godwits, Great Knots, Gray-tailed Tattlers, Common Greenshank, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, and a variety of herons and terns made for fun visits.  Nearby woodlands gave us Yellow and Varied honeyeaters, Torresian Kingfishers, and the trees were lined with Torresian Imperial-Pigeons and Rainbow Lorikeets.

For several days on our trip, we stayed in the beautiful city of Cairns along the Queensland shoreline.  We visited many spots including Centenary Lakes where we were met with a wealth of new species for our triplist: Australian Swiftlets zoomed overhead, and Australasian Grebe bobbed in the pond, White-throated and Brown-backed honeyeaters worked some of the trees, and Sahul Cicadabird and Black Butcherbird were seen as well.  While in the area, we also visited the botanic gardens for point-blank views of a nesting Papuan Frogmouth, Cattana Wetlands where we enjoyed some Nankeen Night Herons, and also Speewah Gardens where we saw the sometimes-difficult Lovely Fairywren!  We also stopped at Hasties Swamp which was teeming with thousands of waterbirds, including Maned Duck, Gray Teal, and Hardhead, as well as some shoreline birds like Pied Stilt, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, and Buff-banded Rail.  However, it was the Oriental Reed Warbler that we found and photographed near the road that was the most surprising!  Lastly, one of the main highlights of the entire trip happened at the tiny Etty Bay.  It was there that we eventually connected with one of the most ancient species of birds in the world, the Southern Cassowary.  Although it took a while for them to show up, once they did, they had no qualms with walking right up to us!  Unbelievable views were had by all.

 

Our group also enjoyed staying at Chambers Rainforest Lodge which is at Crater Lakes National Park.  The grounds were great for birding and just around the lodge we saw things like Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Spotted Catbird, Lewin's Honeyeater, Victoria's Riflebird, Gray-headed Robin, Australian Spectacled Monarch, and many others.  Some of the nearby spots we visited included Lake Barrine where we added Yellow-breasted Boatbill and Tooth-billed Bowerbird, the Mount Hypipamee crater where we had point-blank looks at a Golden Bowerbird near its bower, and the stupendous Curtain Fig Tree where the ancient strangler fig has made one of the most memorable scenes.  We continued to add birds such as Macleay's and Bridled honeyeater, Large-billed Scrubwren, Pied and Black-faced monarch, and Bower's Shrikethrush.  Not all the highlights were birds though; we also saw Platypus swimming in a stream on multiple days.  Even as we started westward towards Georgetown, we stopped en route at Innot Hot Springs and enjoyed our first Squatter Pigeon, Dusky Moorhen, Red-backed Fairywren, White-winged Triller, and even saw a Magpie-lark on its mud nest. 

Georgetown is a unique outback town that we stayed in for a couple of days.  The weather was hot and dry but that was why the several waterholes and dams provided us with such a wealth of new species.  The water at Cumberland Dam had attracted hundreds of birds including Diamond Dove, Black-fronted Dotterel, Red-winged Parrot, Pale-headed Rosella, Yellow-tinted and Rufous-throated honeyeater, Rufous Whistler, Red-browed Pardalote, and even a few Masked and Black-throated finches.  A different nearby waterhole netted us 50+ species the following morning, which was a lovely time of day to be out birding.  Our triplist saw several new additions again such as Australian Bustard, half a dozen Channel-billed Cuckoos, Red-kneed Dotterel, both Royal and Yellow-billed spoonbills, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Olive-backed Oriole, finches such as Double-barred and Black-throated, and a myriad of honeyeaters including Yellow-tinted, Banded, Blue-faced, Brown, Yellow, and others.  At some other nearby spots, we tracked down some nesting Tawny Frogmouths, Weebill, Dollarbirds, and a pair of Gray Butcherbirds.

 

The final several days on the trip (excluding Tasmania) were spent in or near Lamington National Park which sits west of Brisbane.  There, the O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat sits dominantly at the end of a long and winding road.  All parts of this destination are magical; the colorful king-parrots, Regent Bowerbirds, fairywrens, doves, and finches which allowed stunning photos, or our beautiful rooms with patios that often hosted Satin Bowerbirds and Crimson Rosellas!  Tall trees near the lodge hosted Topknot Pigeons and White-headed Pigeons while the nearby open areas had Wonga Pigeons strolling about.  The forest was great too!  It was alive with Australian Logrunners, Eastern Whipbirds, the meowing Green Catbirds, Australian Rufous Fantail, two species of scrubwrens, various thornbills and gerygones, and even a couple of the quiet and beautiful Rose Robins.  Early one morning, we encountered one of the most prized birds in Australia, the Albert's Lyrebird, as it scratched around and fed a full-grown chick!  Nearby, Duck Creek Road proved to be great for Red-browed Treecreeper, Variegated Fairywren, Striated Thornbill, and Spotted Pardalote, while a roadside down lower also netted us great views of a White-eared Monarch and Fan-tailed Cuckoo.  But all good things must come to an end and it was eventually time for us to head back downhill.  But, before concluding the tour in Brisbane, we got in one or two more birding stops where we checked off Tawny Grassbird and even Mangrove Honeyeater.  At this point it was time to say goodbye to a couple folks before the rest of us continued to the island state of Tasmania!

 

This tour (excluding the Tasmania extension) had a number of mammals.  Here's our list: