Eastern Australia: Queensland and New South Wales Tuesday 14 October to Saturday 25 October 2008 Tuesday 20 October to Saturday 31 October 2009
Cost: £2830 (2009) In country price only - allow £1100 for return flights from London if booked by Sunbird Single room supplement: £290 Click here for explanation of price breakdown Maximum group size: 7 with 1 leader; 14 with 2 leaders. |
'The leaders were perhaps the most pleasant and personable guides we have ever had - and we hope to travel with them again in the future.' M & R Lystig 2002 |
Our Eastern Australia tour visits Queensland, a vast state including more than half the length of Australia’s east coast and fringed by the Great Barrier Reef, and Sydney in coastal New South Wales. The tropical rainforests around Cairns and on the Atherton Tablelands harbour a wealth of birds and mammals, and our days will be fully occupied with encounters with wonderful creatures. Flying to southern Queensland we’ll visit the world-famous O’Reilly’s Rainforest Guesthouse, where megapodes and bowerbirds come to the feeders and the lawns are covered in an array of kangaroos, pigeons and parrots. Finally three nights in Sydney will allow us to explore the best birding sites in the surrounding area and to take a pelagic trip rich in albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters. This tour can be taken in conjunction with our Central Australia tour, which can also be preceded by our Southeast Australia tour for those who wish. Because of this the dates refer to Cairns to Sydney and the tour price does not include the international airfare from London. This allows those people wanting to combine sections to calculate the total cost of their tour David Fisher first visited Australia in 1985 and this will be his 23rd Sunbird tour there. Day 1: The tour starts in Cairns where we’ll spend the morning familiarising ourselves with many of the tropical species that live in the town. We’ll visit parks near the Botanical Gardens in search of Bush Thick-knees, Rainbow Bee-eaters, Australian (White-rumped) Swiftlets and a variety of honeyeaters including Yellow and Brown-backed. Depending upon the state of the tide we may visit the world-famous Cairns Esplanade where extensive mud-flats host hordes of migrant waders, including Greater and Lesser Sandplovers, Terek Sandpiper, Grey-tailed Tattler, Eastern Curlew, and Great Knot. The mangroves at the northern end of the esplanade hold Varied Honeyeater at our only site for the species and the nearby Centenary Lakes are always worth a visit for a selection of freshwater species including Magpie Goose, Straw-necked Ibis and Azure Kingfisher. After lunch in town we’ll drive inland to Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge where we'll spend the night. We'll arrive in time to do some local birding in the afternoon. We'll watch the lodge's feeders that attract Blue-faced, Yellow-spotted and Graceful Honeyeaters, as well as delightful little Red-browed Finches. After an early dinner there will be an optional spotlighting trip. With luck we might find a Lesser Sooty or a Masked Owl, but both are very scarce birds. Night at Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge. Day 2: Before breakfast we'll do some more birdwatching around the lodge where Black-faced and Spectacled Monarchs should be easy to find and hopefully a Noisy Pitta might show itself. After breakfast we'll check out and drive into the dry eucalyptus country to the northwest in search of Australian Bustards at one of their few strongholds in this area. We'll then drive south to the Mareeba Wetlands, a superb man-made wetland reserve in the centre of a large area of dry bush. The wetlands should hold a good cross-section of the area's waterbirds, including both Green and Cotton Pygmy-Geese as well as Brolgas. In the surrounding woodland we'll search for Squatter Pigeons, Apostlebirds, Great Bowerbirds, Black-throated Finches and the very distinctive local race of Brown Treecreeper, which is almost certainly a good candidate for a split. In the late afternoon we'll drive south to Yungaburra on the Atherton Tablelands where we'll spend two nights. Day 3: The rainforests of the Atherton Tablelands are rich in birds, many of which will be new. Our day will be broken up into sections, providing all day birding for those who wish or a chance to opt out occasionally to relax and perhaps explore the picturesque town of Yungaburra. Before breakfast we'll visit one of the local patches of rainforest, itself a fully designated national park, where the fruiting trees around the car park attract a wealth of forest species that are likely to include our first bird-of-paradise - Victoria's Riflebird, our first bowerbird - Tooth-billed, the elusive Double-eyed Fig Parrot and highly localised Queensland endemics such as Grey-headed Robin and Bower's Shrike-Thrush. After breakfast we'll visit a higher elevation national park to search for species that don't occur round Yungaburra, including Australian Fernwren, Bridled Honeyeater and Mountain Thornbird. We'll also visit a bower of perhaps the most beautiful of Australia's bowerbirds, the magnificent Golden. In the afternoon, we'll visit yet another national park and walk a loop trail in search of the snazzy Yellow-breasted Boatbill (recently elevated into its own family), whose distinctive song gives away its presence high in the rainforest canopy. We'll walk quietly along the trail listening for the distinctive leaf-kicking and digging noises that give away the presence of the terrestrial Chowchilla and we may spot the world's smallest kangaroo as it thumps away from us through the undergrowth - the Musky Rat-Kangaroo. Two or even three Tooth-billed Bowerbirds have bowers along the trail and we'll have a good chance of seeing one singing as it sits just a few feet above its carefully arranged patch of leaves, all turned pale-side up! In the evening, we'll look for the shy Platypus at a quiet waterhole on the edge of town and, after dinner, a local spotlighting trip should reveal several species of possum and, if we are very lucky, Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroo. Night in Yungaburra. Day 4: Our pre-breakfast excursion today will be to a nearby local reservoir and, if there has been rain or heavy dew overnight, we'll watch the roadside verges for Buff-banded Rail and Brown Quail en route. The jaunty song of White-throated Gerygone may give away its presence in one of the well-wooded gardens and large numbers of Eastern Sarus Cranes may well be trumpeting around the reservoir edges. In the rank vegetation along the water’s edge Tawny Grassbird and Golden-headed Cisticolas should be singing and with luck may perch high enough for ‘scope views. Our second morning at Yungaburra will be left flexible to search for whatever species are still eluding us – traditionally this is likely to be Atherton Scrubwren or Australian Fernwren and should that be the case we’ll visit the Red Cedar Tree National Park, a good spot for both species. In the afternoon we’ll return to Cairns and will almost certainly schedule a second session on the Esplanade studying the waders once again and searching for local rarities such as Asiatic Dowitcher and Broad-billed Sandpiper. We’ll also visit a bustling colony of Metallic Starlings that build large communal nests reminiscent of weaver colonies in Africa. Their blood red eyes have to be seen to be believed. Night in Cairns. Day 5: We’ll leave Cairns early and drive up into the nearby hills, escaping the humidity once again and we’ll spend much of the day at Cassowary House and in the surrounding rainforest. Our main target is the much-hoped-for Southern Cassowary, one or two of which usually visit Cassowary House at some point most days – ‘most’ being the operative word as they don’t come in every day. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed and praying. Fortunately, there are many other birds to keep us entertained while we wait and these include a number that we seldom see elsewhere. Red-necked Crakes occasionally appear out of the rainforest in search of cheese, while the feeders on the veranda attract heaps of honeyeaters including Noisy Friarbird and Macleay’s Honeyeater – not to mention Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Emerald Dove, Spotted Catbird, Victoria’s Riflebird, and Black Butcherbird. If the cassowaries are kind and come in during the morning we’ll then wander slightly further afield in search of such delights as Fairy Gerygone, Lovely Fairy-Wren, and Superb Fruit-Dove. Night in Cairns.
Day 6: Today will be a total contrast to the previous five which will have been dominated by rainforest birding (albeit fairly easy stuff with lots of showy birds) as we’ll join one of the tourist boats on a cruise out of Cairns to the Great Barrier Reef – allegedly the only living structure visible from space. After a comparatively late start we’ll spend a very relaxing day on board a luxury catamaran visiting Michaelmas Cay, a low coral island where thousands of Sooty Terns and Common Noddies nest. We’ll also look for Brown Booby, Bridled and Black-naped Terns, and both Great and Lesser Frigatebirds. If we keep a sharp eye out it is possible to see up to 12 species of tern on this trip! For those who wish, there will be opportunities to inspect the corals and fish from a ‘glass-bottomed’ boat, go snorkelling from the beach, go swimming in the azure-coloured waters – and for anyone already suitably qualified even go diving. Night in Cairns. Day 7: We’ll catch an early morning flight to Brisbane. Remarkably, despite spending two hours in the air flying south, when we land we will still be in Queensland – such is the size of this vast state. Our first stop will be in coastal mangroves where we’ll search for Mangrove Honeyeater and we'll also visit a small wetland reserve to look at waders and in the surrounding scrub should see Tawny Grassbird. We’ll then drive inland to Lamington National Park, another area of montane rainforest with a delightful climate. We’ll pass through open farmland and eucalyptus woods broken occasionally by marshes and streams and should see Grey Butcherbird, Striped Honeyeater, Little Friarbird, and perhaps Glossy Black Cockatoo or Pretty-faced (Whiptail) Wallaby. By mid-afternoon we’ll enter the subtropical rainforest of the Lamington Plateau, a change of environment marked by flocks of Crimson Rosellas. We’ll arrive at O’Reilly’s in time for tea and some late afternoon birding. If we’re lucky we may be able to watch a Satin Bowerbird decorating his bower. In the evening Red-necked Pademelons graze on the lawns and during dinner Mountain Brushtail Possums come to the dining room feeders. Night at O’Reilly’s Guesthouse.
Day 8: O’Reilly’s Guesthouse is world-famous amongst birdwatchers for its amazing shows of multicoloured tropical species many of which are hand-tame and present fantastic photographic opportunities. Species that frequent the guesthouse feeders include bizarre Australian Brush-Turkeys, stunning Regent Bowerbirds (the guesthouse emblem) – the male being arguably the most beautiful Australian bird, more subtle but equally beautiful Satin Bowerbirds, chunky Wonga Pigeons, cheeky Lewin’s Honeyeaters and scratchy flocks of Crimson Rosellas and Australian King Parrots. But the feeding frenzies around the guesthouse are by no means the only ornithological attractions at O’Reilly’s. Set in the heart of the Lamington National Park lengthy trails take off in various directions through superb montane rainforest that contains a wealth of specialities that will be new for us. These include our second bird-of-paradise – Paradise Riflebird, , curious Green Catbirds, entertaining Logrunners, both Bassian and Russet-tailed Thrushes, remarkably confiding Eastern Whipbirds, three species of scrub-wren all so tame they will feed within feet of us and many, many more. Perhaps the ultimate prize is Albert’s Lyrebird – a species with a tiny world range – but also a very shy bird, usually heard singing, but not always seen – and even then often just a large dark shape bounding away through the undergrowth. And after dinner we’ll make a serious attempt to see Marbled Frogmouth, a seldom-seen denizen of the high rainforest canopy. Night at O’Reilly’s Guesthouse. Day 9: After an early morning at O’Reilly’s searching for any species still missing – more than likely Albert’s Lyrebird – we’ll drive to Coolangatta and catch an afternoon flight to Sydney. Night in Sydney. Day 10: The destination for today will be left flexible so we can make use of the up-to-date information provided by our local leader who lives in Sydney, but it is sure to include time spent searching for Superb Lyrebird, one of the world’s most fantastic mimics. We’ll also look for a wide cross-section of more southerly Australian species whose ranges we have only just entered such as Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Little and Red Wattlebirds, and New Holland Honeyeater. Night in Sydney. Day 11: Today we’ll take a pelagic trip into deep water beyond the continental shelf. We’ll cruise out through Sydney Harbour and have a view of the famous bridge with a glimpse of the Opera House beyond. During our day-long trip we should see many Southern Hemisphere seabirds which, depending upon sea temperatures, may include Little Penguin, Australasian Gannet, Wandering, Shy and Black-browed Albatrosses, Great-winged and other Pterodroma petrels, up to six species of shearwaters and several storm-petrels. We’ll feed the birds behind the boat and can usually draw in a selection of great seabirds to watch at arm’s length. Photographic opportunities are fantastic and binoculars are hardly needed. Tossing bits of fish to Wandering Albatrosses bobbing about behind the boat is a fabulous experience. Cetaceans may also be a feature of the trip and though none is guaranteed in previous years we have seen Humpback and Sperm Whales, and Common and Bottlenose Dolphins. Night in Sydney. Day 12: On the final morning there will be a choice of either sightseeing in Sydney (on your own) or visiting Sydney Royal National Park for some final birding, where we might see New South Wales’s only endemic bird – the Rock Warbler, and heathland specialities such as Southern Emu-wren, Chestnut-rumped Heathwren and Tawny-crowned Honeyeater We’ll also have another chance here for Superb Lyrebird. The tour ends at our hotel in Sydney at 1.00 pm.
E-mail or phone +44 (0)1767 262522 for availability.
Last updated August 2008. |
Azure Kingfisher
|
Bird List 
