|
Inland Australia - birding the outback Monday 7 to Saturday 26 September 2009
Cost: £4440* (2009) * Price reduced* In country price only - allow £1100 for return flights from London if booked by Sunbird
Maximum group size: 10 with 2 leaders. |
|
|
Australia is a continent of contrasts and adventure, of isolation and stark beauty. The outback of Australia is for most, the unknown of Australia - a legendary land steeped in history with vast deserts, immense cattle and sheep ranches, and the dreamtime of the Aborigines. For birders, mention of the Australian outback evokes images of nomadic birds seeking water holes, mythical grasswrens and Gibber Chats, and rarely seen parrots and raptors. As we journey north from Melbourne, we’ll encounter geographical diversity that will include vast plains, grasslands, varied woodlands, swamps and riverine forests, sand dunes, mallee scrub, the Strzelecki and Cobbler deserts, and towns whose names will leave our tongues tied in knots. As we travel from one habitat to another, our focus will be on the birdlife of each area. At any given moment we may have the opportunity to see a falcon streaking across the sky, or a flock of pink-hued Major Mitchell’s Cockatoos contrasting with their surrounding desert colours. There will be diminutive grasswrens or skulking quail-thrushes playing hide-and-seek or vividly-plumaged chats on desert plains. Throughout the tour our accommodation will be as diverse as the birds and geography and range from comfortable hotels to guesthouses and the uniqueness of a couple of nights spent on a Cattle Ranch. We will have an opportunity to cross the historical Dog Fence, reputedly the longest fence in the world. This tour will offer unrivalled experiences including opportunities to see many of Australia’s rarely seen inland species in seldom travelled areas of the continent. Day 1: The tour begins this morning in Melbourne. Travelling north to Deniliquin from Melbourne, we will spend time in the foothill forests around Heathcote searching for species that will not be seen elsewhere on the tour including Speckled Warbler, Scarlet Robin, Fuscous and Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters, and Purple-crowned and Musk Lorikeets. In Deniliquin, we’ll head to the plains surrounding the town where our focus during a spot-lighting trip will be locating the enigmatic Plains-wanderer with Stubble Quail and Little Button-Quail also being possible. Night in Deniliquin. Day 2: The box woodland around Deniliquin offers opportunities to see the stunning Superb Parrot and Australasian Bittern may be found in the surrounding swamps. Following some morning birding, we’ll head across the vast Riverine Plain. Once covered in saltbush, these plains are now predominantly grassland and home to Black Falcons, Banded Lapwings and that quintessential Australian bird, the Emu. Near Hillston, the plains give way to pine and wilga trees, offering excellent opportunities to see Mallee Ringneck and Blue Bonnets - two parrots associated with this habitat. Night in Hillston. Day 3: This morning we’ll travel north of Hillston to the vast Nombinnie Nature Reserve where we’ll seek many skulking species including Southern Scrub-robin, Shy Heathwren, and Yellow-plumed and White-fronted Honeyeaters. Later, travelling through woodlands timbered with wilga, belah, rosewood, box and pine, we could be thrilled by a ‘blush’ of Major Mitchell Cockatoos whirling through the trees. Other species of note today could include Spotted Bowerbird, Mulga Parrot and Grey-fronted Honeyeater. Night in Cobar. Day 4: The woodland around Cobar will offer opportunities to seek out the uncommon red-vented race of Blue Bonnet that inhabits this area as well as Spotted Bowerbird, Brown, Striped and Blue-faced Honeyeaters and Double-barred Finch. If the colourful Emu Bush is in bloom, we have a chance of sighting Spiny-cheeked, White-fronted and possibly Black Honeyeaters feeding on the pollen. As we travel north to Bourke we’ll pass through some of the most picturesque woodland in inland Australia. Stunning trees with names like wilga, beefwood, leopardwood, ironwood and whitewood occur in this area and birds to look out for include Splendid Fairy-wren, Chestnut-crowned Babbler, Crested Bellbird, and the breathtaking Red-winged Parrot. Night in Bourke. Day 5: We’ll hope to encounter flocks of the primitive-looking Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo during an early morning birding excursion along the Darling River. The excellent swamps nearby offer opportunities for an assortment of ducks with Australian, Spotless and Baillon's Crakes also possible if water levels are right. Further north the woodland becomes more stunted and our journey will take us through large areas of mulga shrub where we’ll look for White-browed Treecreepers feeding quietly on the trunks. Crossing into Queensland the scrub country gives way to the open flood plains of the Warrego River where Spotted Harrier, Australian Bustard and Brolga may be sighted. Near Cunnamulla the habitat changes once again with the open plains yielding to sand ridges covered with native pines where, at times, four species of large cockatoo including flocks of Major Mitchell’s can be sighted feeding together. Night in Cunnamulla. Day 6-7: We'll spend the morning birding the mulga thickets around Eulo for Hall's Babbler and Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush. Bourke's Parrot, the most delicately hued of all the Neophema parrots will be our main quarry along the gidgee flats. Time allowing, we'll stop at the Eulo Store to buy some of the excellent Yapunyah honey and a pause at Lake Bindigolly may reveal Freckled Duck and other water birds. To the west of Thargomindah the country becomes much more desert-like with trees and shrubs becoming sparser and more stunted. We'll see towering mesas as we cross the Grey Range and the first of the open gibber country. We’ll search flowering Eremophila bignoniflora that will offer our best chances for Black and Pied Honeyeaters and possibly Painted Honeyeaters feeding in the mistletoe. If the rains have started, we have opportunities of sighting flocks of Budgerigars and Crimson Chats. Nights in Noccundra. Day 8: Along the Wilson River we may encounter spectacular flocks of White-browed and Masked Woodswallows. If seasonal conditions are right we may see the enigmatic Flock Bronzewing and Gibber Chat on the huge gibber plain that we’ll traverse on route to the old gold mining town of Tibooburra and we’ll keep watch along the tree-lined watercourses for Grey Falcon, one of the rarest Australian raptors. Night in Tibooburra. Day 9: Today we’ll be searching for the Grey Grasswren that inhabits the lignum and canegrass swamps of the Bulloo Overflow, vast habitats where the grasswren lived undetected until the 1960’s. In addition we’ll look for the delightfully named Chirruping Wedgebill. We’ll spend the rest of the day exploring the rolling gibber downs of Sturt National Park where careful scanning of the gibber plains may yield the cryptic Inland Dotterel, and offer another chance for Gibber Chat or hefty Red Kangaroos. Night in Tibooburra. Day 10: The rolling sand dunes west of Tibooburra can be good for Crimson Chats and Black Honeyeaters if there have been recent rains. Along Frome Creek we’ll watch the sky for Black-breasted Buzzards and search the hollow redgums for an Australian Owlet-nightjar. The thick coolabah around Lake Pinaroo offers opportunities for our first Red-browed Pardalotes and will give us another chance for Bourke's Parrot. Later in the afternoon we’ll cross the Dog Fence, an eight-foot high barrier built to keep Dingos out of the sheep country on the eastern side of the fence. To complete the true outback experience, we’ll spend the night on a working cattle station. Day 11: We'll spend most of the day in the sand dunes of the Strzelecki Desert. The key bird today is the Eyrean Grasswren that lives on top of the dunes in thick sandhill cane grass. That this species was undetected for most of last century gives some idea how secretive it can be. Rabbits have destroyed much of the sandhill cane grass on the dunes so the species is now restricted to those that carry a good cover of cane grass. Other species we’ll be seeking today include Cinnamon Quail-thrush, which lives around the base of the dunes, and Banded Whiteface, a species that likes the areas of bluebush in between the dunes. White-backed Swallows can also usually be seen in this area. Night at the Cattle Station. Day 12: We will have an early start today for the long journey down the Strzelecki Track to Lyndhurst, crossing the starkly beautiful Cobbler Desert and across the vast gibber plain. The bird to look out for today will be the nocturnal Letter-winged Kite, which often roosts during the day in the coolabah-lined watercourses that thread the sandy deserts. A nomadic species, this is one of the three most difficult raptors to see in Australia. We’ll also scan the gibber plain for Gibber Chat and Inland Dotterel if we have not seen these two species earlier in the trip and Australian Pratincole can also be plentiful if the area has had rain. Night in Lyndhurst. Day 13: The modestus race of Thick-billed Grasswren and the Chestnut-breasted Whiteface, two of the most elusive inland birds, will be the main species we are seeking today on the bluebush-covered hills at the eastern end of the Strzelecki Track. While the whiteface has never been common and the grasswren's distribution has diminished, the Lyndhurst area is their stronghold and, with luck and probably hard work, we should see both species, as well as Rufous Fieldwren. We plan to leave Lyndhurst after lunch, arriving at the historic Parachilna Hotel, famous for its wild food, in time for dinner. Night in Parachilna. Day 14: Today we’ll explore the ruggedly beautiful Flinders Ranges. The redgum-lined watercourses hold a good breeding population of Elegant Parrots with Redthroats and Black-eared Cuckoos usually present in the adjoining patches of scrub. We should see the Flinders Ranges form of Ringneck and raptors, including Little Eagle, which are often seen in the area. We’ll have another chance here for Grey-fronted Honeyeater and we'll scan the rock faces for Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies, which have their last refuge in this area. Night at Flinders Ranges. Day 15: We’ll spend the morning seeking out the Short-tailed Grasswren that lives in the spinifex covered slopes and ridges. This species was previously regarded as a race of Striated Grasswren but is now considered a species in its own right. Powerfully built Common Wallaroos are often seen bounding away in the spinifex-covered hills. After lunch we’ll leave the ranges behind and travel through farmland to the historic mining town of Burra. Spotted Harrier can often be seen hunting over the paddocks and Brown Songlarks can be common. Night in Burra. Day 16: Adelaide Rosella, a distinctive subspecies of Crimson, should be easily seen around the township of Burra. Birding around the Morgan area will provide us with second opportunities to locate Redthroat, Black-eared Cuckoo and Black Honeyeater and Purple-crowned Lorikeets often adorn the flowering eucalypts around the town. After ferrying across the Murray River we'll check out the trees for Regent Parrot, a resident in this area before carrying on to Lameroo, checking out lakes and swamps along the way. Night in Lameroo. Day 17: We'll spend the whole day in the mallee scrub in Billiat Conservation Park. This extensive tract of mallee contains good populations of most of the specialised mallee species including Malleefowl, Striated Grasswren, Gilbert's Whistler, Chestnut Quail-thrush, Southern Scrub-robin, Shy Heathwren and Purple-gaped Honeyeater. There is also a good chance of the difficult Red-lored Whistler in the low mallee scrub and a small population of the endangered Western Whipbird also occurs in the Park. Night in Lameroo. Day 18: This morning we’ll visit Ngarkat Conservation Park. This Park contains large areas of low banskia heath and is an excellent area for honeyeaters with White-fronted and New Holland often present. Slender-billed Thornbills also occur here. We'll then continue east into Victoria where we will visit the Murray Sunset National Park for the secretive Mallee Emu-wren. Night in Ouyen. Day 19: Today we travel back to Melbourne looking for birds as we go. The forests of yellow gum and box around Charlton can be good for Musk Lorikeet if these eucalypts are blooming. Around Inglewood, the low cut mallee may yield Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters while White-eared Honeyeater should also be in the taller mallee. We’ll also be on the lookout for raptors along the road including Brown Goshawk and Little Eagle. Night in Melbourne. Day 20: The tour ends this morning in Melbourne after breakfast.
E-mail or phone +44 (0)1767 262522 for availability.
Last updated November 2008.
|
|
