by Andrew Stafford (sponsored by Swarovski)
I COULD go to Australia’s so-called Red Centre another 10 times in my life, and never see a drop of rain. So to visit it for four full days and not have a single one of blue sky was in some ways a little sad – it certainly wasn’t always ideal for birding – but in others, an experience to be cherished.
Desert oaks and flowering acacias, reinvigorated by passing rain showers, inject a mix of vibrant colours, textures and scent into the red desert. Photo by Simon Mustoe.
Midnight Oil once said “The western desert lives and breathes in 45 degrees”. For mine, it’s closer to the mark to say it only&hellip Read more
Articles
Seeing 700 the hard way (continued)…
IN the previous piece I penned for this website, I revealed my purist’s vision for seeing 700 birds on Australian soil. It was clear [that] anyone with sufficient time&hellip Read more
The Art of Dipping … Four in a Row
We took a two week break in New Zealand in June ostensibly to explore “a camper-van tour of the South Island in Winter” for which we had the use of&hellip Read more
The man with the Golden Bowerbird
We got home to the latest National Geographic magazine and an article about bowerbirds. Just a couple of days before and we’d had the pleasure of watching a Golden Bowerbird&hellip Read more
How to see 700 species – the hard way
I REMEMBER getting a letter from a birding friend, back in 1987 or so. Among other things, it told me that Mike Carter had just seen a Citrine Wagtail, his&hellip Read more
In without a bang: Semi-palmated Plover finally turns up in Australia
The first occurrence of a species in Australia is usually something of a news event in birding circles and thrilling for the person who finds it. The first circulation of&hellip Read more
Pic of the week is chosen from the best images in trip reports on the Aussie Birding website.
ID Features
Identification feature: Ringed-type plovers in Australia
There are three small migratory plovers from the northern hemisphere&hellip Read more
Little-ringed Plover is the simplest of these three species to&hellip Read more
Identification of Australian “Yellow” Wagtails
Yellow Wagtails Motacilla sp. are beautiful birds, amazingly adapted for&hellip Read more
