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Western Bristlebird in song and showing its stiff rictal bristles for which it is named (amazing photo by participant Max Rodel)

It’s no exaggeration to exclaim--confirmed by the sobering length of three moon-passings--that this wonderful tour to the land Down Under simply brightened our existence! Our group of exceptional participants numbered 12, eight of whom had joined Kingfisher and Pepper on our stellar Invitational to eastern Australia two years ago, another three of whom we were delighted to introduce to the land of honeyeaters and parrots, and another of whom, already knowledgeable of Aussie ways, added a sharp eye and botanical expertise. In order to make this Invitational as different as possible from the last adventure, our itinerary began in Tasmania, continued from there to Alice Springs, thence to Perth and the wild southwest, before concluding with a full day back across the continent out of Sydney, making it a humdinger of a trip!

Meeting up in Launceston, we enjoyed our first Tasmanian endemic, the Yellow Wattlebird, our first Little Wattlebird, and our first Gray Butcherbird. We drove south to lovely Mountain Valley Lodge where we had sympathy for the Devils for two nights, along with some relaxed yet exciting birding in beautiful surroundings. Kingfisher and Pepper stayed 15 minutes up the road at the Kaydale Lodge Gardens B&B with Daryl, our driver, and the voluptuous farmer’s daughters. Afterward, we headed south to Hobart, having encountered all the endemic birds except Forty-spotted Pardalote, which we saw nicely on Bruny Island. Among the highlights on Bruny were nesting Hooded Plovers and the remarkable Swift Parrots at Adventure Bay.

Our flight to Alice Springs, connecting through Melbourne, set us down in the middle of the country where we met our driver, Ian, and immediately visited the Olive Pink Botanic Garden to see Western Bowerbirds, Red-browed Pardalotes, and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters. After checking into the Aurora Motor Inn, we went to the famous sewage treatment facility where we had arranged to have the key for the gate. We arrived to find the gate double locked and a “closed” sign warning of a pack of wild dogs. Though we saw a few birds through the fence, we cursed the luck that cost us entry and several species. We then drove a loop birding Honeymoon Gap, where Marsha spotted a bird sitting out on the edge of the cliff that remained in the scope just long enough for a few in the group to glimpse a Dusky Grasswren! On the way back to town four Major Mitchell (Pink) Cockatoos were drinking along the roadside and we ended up watching them perched in trees in a residential area--our only ones. Birding Simpson’s Gap the next morning, we found one Budgie, Gray–headed Honeyeater, Black-footed Rock-Wallabies, and a single Pied Honeyeater. On the entrance road to Ormiston Gorge we stopped for a Red-backed Kingfisher and Lisa spotted a bird that turned into a Golden-backed Honeyeater. We went on to Glen Helen as it got hotter for a nice lunch and a few birds along the waterhole including Baillon’s Crake. We returned to Ormiston Gorge where we studied a splendid pair of Spinifex Pigeons in the campground.

The next morning we headed out the Santa Teresa Road to track down some specialties that Chris and Jesse had on Part 1, a month earlier. To our delight, we found about eight Chiming Wedgebills right along the road, along with Crested Bellbirds, Cockatiels, and Southern Whiteface. We dipped on a couple of species before getting to the spinifex ridge where we found the only decent habitat on the south side of the road. It was getting hot-hot before we came upon a great pair of Dusky Grasswrens skittering along the ground in front of us. This was the way to see them! On the way back we stopped again at Chris’s Gray-fronted Honeyeater spot and one bird, responding to playback, came blasting right in! Where had it been two hours earlier? We also had a soaring Black-breasted Kite here and a brief White-backed Swallow for some. After a break in the afternoon we drove north to the Tanami Highway and Hamilton Downs, where we came upon a couple of Crimson Chats. There were a few birds around the dry Kunuth Bore, including a nicely perched Little Eagle, our only group of Gray-crowned Babblers, and a fly-by Bourke’s Parrot that only Robert managed to nab. Walking in to the mulga we had fleeting looks at Slaty-backed Thornbill and some got on a Gray Honeyeater. We then hurried to Hamilton Downs where we beat a pink sunset and saw scores of Crested Pigeons and Galahs drawn to water at the Bore.

We were met in Perth by Diane Webster, Field Guides’ traditional driver in the southwest. After a quick lunch we headed to the roadside park at Glen Eagle. We got into our first of the twenty-or-so southwestern specialties with Western Spinebill, Gilbert’s Honeyeater, Red-winged Fairywren, and Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo. We drove on to Narrogin where we were staying for two nights to make the following day more relaxing. Diane showed us a pair of displaying Common Bronzewings (which were not only playing) behind the hotel, and we snagged our first Red-capped Parrots in the trees just across the street. Following that travel day we had a full day in the Dryandra State Forest where we got to see Rufous Treecreeper, several Elegant Parrots, a fascinating western form of Crested Shrike-tit at the nest, many Western Rosellas, and Blue-breasted Fairywren. It took some looking to find Western Yellow-Robin, and though there was no Numbat for us, Diane had seen one cross the road while we were robining. After a picnic lunch we got back to the hotel in time for a break before going across the road to Fox’s Lair Reserve, a nice county park where we saw our only Red-capped Robin. That evening we celebrated Rita and Max’s birthdays together, though Max’s fell on the following day--that was the only way to surprise him!

“With nothing left to see” we loaded up and left Narrogin for Albany to look for Regent Parrots along the way. A pit stop in Wagin (of Giant Ram fame) yielded as many laughs as White-cheeked Honeyeaters, and we had a few close fly-by Regent Parrots before Katanning, where we also saw Brown-headed Honeyeater and White-browed Babbler. We went on to the Stirling Range and birded the entrance area where we found separate groups of black-cockatoos, finally deciding that most, if not all, were Carnaby’s. There at the ranger’s house we found perched a magnificent pair of Regent Parrots. We went to the café in Porongurup for lunch where we saw our only Varied Sittella of the tour, along with Gilbert’s Honeyeater, White-breasted Robin, and more Red-winged Fairywrens. We drove on to Albany and the Ace Motor Inn (for three nights), then stopped at Lake Seppings in town where we had Musk and Blue-billed ducks, more Western Rosellas, Great Cormorants, and a heard-only Little Grassbird.

Our first morning here was a very important day for some hard-to-see specialties. We did breakfast trays in the rooms, then were off at 5:30am to Cheyne’s Beach. We heard no Noisy Scrub-birds where Jesse and Chris had had them so we headed up the sandy track and could hear one way up the hill. We were fortunate that it was close to the track and after many minutes we got it to scurry across the sandy track. The scrub-bird continued to sing as we scoped a brilliant Western Whipbird sitting up and singing in the coastal scrub. And this after enticing a Western Bristlebird to approach us and finally sit out! The scrub-bird, a notoriously difficult bird to see, kept singing as it moved to the base of a runty tree: after much intent looking most were able to watch it belting out its rich song through the scrub. Several of us saw it sing three times--an amazing feat. A thrilling trifecta, just like that!

After a brief but stinking encounter with Red-eared Firetails near the restrooms and some great Splendid Fairywrens, we went to Torndirrup National Park where we knew from Chris that the road to the lighthouse was closed for bridge repair. We arrived to find the place had just had a large fire that had burned a lot of the vegetation. The Blow Hole road was closed so we only got a peak at a sea-watch from the Salmon Hole overlook.

We went to Two People’s Bay the next morning and found the entrance road closed for fire danger, though we were in a light rain. We birded along the road and found Southern Emu-wren and more Red-capped Parrots and a large group of magnificent Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos. Once Diane had called and learned that Two People’s Bay had just reopened, we blasted back only to look around and find the whole western hillside at “John’s Beach” burned up from a very recent fire. At least the beach was still intact! Kingfisher heard a Western Bristlebird singing from the few bushes that were still green at the top of the ridge and gave it some playback just to make the poor thing feel better. But by golly, not ten minutes had elapsed before it was right in the car park singing away. Surely it must have been lonely to have come from so far. We went back to Albany for lunch at the Dome Café in town before going toward Muttonbird Island. We stopped at Lake Powell where Rita found proper Red-eared Firetails for us, one male carrying Pepper’s long stalk of grass which was presented before the female. Really cool.

On the 25th we headed out to Mt. Barker, then to Rocky Gully, and our first Emus and Western Corellas, which we found early in a light rain before seeing the corellas again at Rosella Corella’s house. Recovering from Kingfisher’s small-world story of Rosella Corella, we did an early lunch at the Déjà vu Café in Manjimup and headed on west with a stop at the Four Aces giant eucalypts. We encountered a few groups of Emus along the roadsides which gave us good views. We went in to Hamelin Beach in hopes of picking up Rock Parrot in the afternoon but found none. We blasted on to Cape Leeuwin and the lighthouse, arriving just as the inner gate was closing. We walked the area and had some Rock Parrots fly over in the high wind before heading north to Margaret River and The Grange Motel, which featured the name of a different type of wine above each room’s door. As we walked back to our respective vineyards, the moon’s pull was enchanting.

A bit tipsy perhaps, we had made plans to return, pre-breakfast, to Hamelin Bay for the parrots. After covering the area Kingfisher spellbound us by finding a single, mesmerized Rock Parrot on the sand under the vegetation along the beach. We had fabulous studies as it was slow to wake, then deliberate about eating the Senecio fruit it had found. We returned to Margaret River for breakfast at another Dome Café. We headed on to Sugarloaf where we spent some time sea-watching from the overlook. We saw a single Humpback Whale, Bottle-nosed Dolphins, and a few Australian Gannets, but no tropicbird. From here it was back to Perth and the Bel Eyre Inn where we had dinner under the watchful eye of a magnificent, unforgettable ripe moon.

Our final foray of a couple of days in Sydney kept us from flying straight through from Perth to Sydney to LAX. Our long flight to Sydney arrived at 2:30pm with the three-hour time change. We transferred to the Holiday Inn where we repacked and rested up for our last day in the field. After an early buffet breakfast, we met Geoff, our driver, to set off for Royal National Park. We did Lady Carrington Drive on a Saturday and were fortunate there were not more people walking, running, and biking. It was birdy along the way with many first-time, eastern-forest species including Green Catbird and Channel-billed Cuckoo. Kingfisher got us close to a fancy, long-tailed Superb Lyrebird singing in dense vegetation, finally getting it to cross the track--twice--before us! This amazing lyrebird was imitating every bird in the forest. We had no satisfactory luck with Rockwarbler along the cliffs here, so after lunch we went to Wattamolla, where we found two Rockwarblers precisely where Jay had found them on the NAZ Field Guides tour. We had fabulous studies as these two hopped around the rocks in front of us! A subsequent stop in the heath produced a nice, if brief, look at Tawny-crowned Honeyeater and a heard-only Chestnut-rumped Heathwren; and a final stop near the south end of Lady Carrington yielded Scarlet Honeyeater, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, and Crested Shrike-tit. We enjoyed a lovely final dinner which concluded with Laura’s arrangement for witty limericks to be read by several participants, herself included, and Kingfisher’s arrangement for a birthday celebration for Pepper with his favorite dessert: “cheese cake”!

Once again, each of you richly deserves our gratitude for your many contributions to our remarkable Invitational. You are the kind of birders that make tour-guiding the greatest career, as well as the toughest to leave. An aesthetic thanks goes to Max and Robert for their great photos that adorn the html version of this triplist and to Laura, Steve, Kathe, Marsha, and Allison--our limerick mates--whose endless wit adorns the tail end of the list!

Neither of us wishes to close here, so let us simply say that with these words we acknowledge no more than an interruption of our convivial birding, to be resumed on the next tour we can enjoy together.

--Pepper and Kingfisher

KEYS FOR THIS LIST
One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

In addition to the mammals, we had a few reptiles: one, a Stumptail Lizard; another unidentified lizard; and a venomous snake at Simpson's Gap.

Then, of course, we can't neglect the tour limericks, instigated by Laura and Steve Roberts! Let us just say...

These two Roberts (among the tour’s four)

Had been to the west of Australia before.

But pros though they were,

Lyric verse they'd defer

Till sending up the guides evermore!

Four by Laura and Steve Roberts

1)

There once was a bird guide named Coons, 

Searching forests, ponds, and lagoons

With hands to his ears, 

He says y'all come here

And plays calls on his i-Pod, not tunes. 

2)

A bird guide who's name is Rowlett,

Each bird on our list he must get. 

With each and each squeak, 

The birds take a peek

And into the scope they are set.

3)

There once were two bird guides named John, 

Of whom we have all grown quite fond. 

Their knowledge of birds

Isn't told in few words, 

And their fervor goes far beyond. 

4)

A young man named Robert McNab,

Into birds he didn't just dab.

They're huge in his life

And Caryn, his wife 

Thinks he might have to go to rehab.

One by Kathe Rodel

Two guides of an avian passion

Packed a bus full of gear and contagion.

Y’all, said the Lead,

To the Gates of Hell! With great speed,

We’ll go anywhere for a Spinifex Pigeon!

One by Marsha Salett

Australia with Pepper and Kingfisher,

The finest of spotters and pishers,

Gave us fine birds and `roos,

And Tas Devils, too—

Gee, what more can you wish for?

One by Allison Barnes

Our leaders, we followed their word

Through states of which we had heard

Devil, Wombat, Roo,

Chat and Cockatoo

High Five for both mammal and bird!

Totals for the tour: 244 bird taxa and 21 mammal taxa