If you think you may have only one chance to visit Australasia, and you're looking for a good sampling of the region's unique wildlife, this tour is designed for you. We'll be visiting two great birding sites in New Guinea (including Kumul Lodge with its amazing birds-of-paradise) and some of the best sites in eastern Australia (including the Cairns area and the diverse Atherton Tableland, O'Reilly's at Lamington National Park near Brisbane, and Royal National Park near Sydney). This tour not only offers a sample of many of the bird families endemic to the region (including lyrebirds, bowerbirds, fairywrens, berrypeckers, and more) but is also excellent for a variety of iconic Australian mammals, and there should be excellent photo and video opportunities.
We'll begin in Cairns, in tropical northern Queensland, where beautiful rainforest reserves of the coast and the Atherton Tableland harbor such fabulous natural symbols of Australia as the huge Southern Cassowary, mound-building megapodes, Australian Bustard, Victoria's Riflebird, Great and Golden bowerbirds, Chowchilla, possums and bandicoots, and even the wonderfully exotic Platypus. We'll also take the time to visit the city's famous Esplanade, which is not only a wonderful place for a stroll, but also one of the Australia's premier shorebird sites.
From Cairns we'll fly across the Coral Sea to Port Moresby, capital of Papua New Guinea, evolutionary showcase of the birds-of-paradise. In the Astrolabe Mountains foothills near Port Moresby we'll visit Varirata National Park, haven for Raggiana Bird-of-paradise, Growling Riflebird (recently split from Magnificent Riflebird), the striking Brown-headed Paradise-Kingfisher, and a multitude of other birds. Then we'll continue to the highlands near Mt. Hagen and the rustic charms of Kumul Lodge, an ideal site for exploring the surrounding montane forest. In this region, we could find a variety of birds-of-paradise, including such incomparable species as King-of-Saxony, Blue, and Lesser birds-of-paradise, Greater Lophorina (formerly Superb Bird-of-Paradise), Brown Sicklebill, and Ribbon-tailed Astrapia. Other spectacular possibilities include Stella's Lorikeet, Brehm's Tiger-Parrot, Black-capped and White-winged robins, the extraordinary Wattled Ploughbill, Eastern Crested and Tit berrypeckers, Blue-capped Ifrita and Regent Whistler. Enga Province itself, first touched by western influence only a little more than sixty years ago, is a remarkable backdrop for our birding, with many people still practicing their traditional subsistence lifestyles.
From Papua New Guinea we'll return to Australia, flying to Brisbane to visit O'Reilly's (Lamington National Park), perhaps the single most famous birding spot on the continent. Here such fantastic species as Regent and Satin bowerbirds, Australian Logrunner, Australian King-Parrot, and Crimson Rosella are easily seen at close range, and in our two days there we'll also have time to search for some more challenging ones, including Noisy Pitta, Albert's Lyrebird, Paradise Riflebird, and Australian Owlet-Nightjar. Then on to Sydney and a visit to Royal National Park--home to many birds typical of Australia's eucalypt woodlands, from cockatoos and kookaburras to Superb Lyrebird, the world's largest passerine--before returning home.
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