9 August 2011

**You can now view the map of results from the inquiry into Aussie birders’ top birding destinations!**

You know what people are like when they’re asked about their TOP10 birding sites … everything has to be special, rare and elusive. “It was incredible …  an amazing place … so much to see for the ‘twitcher’… Red-browed Finches, rare Glossy Yellow Cockatoos and … ” (yawn).

Here’s Bird-O’s “no-frills guide” to our TOP10 Australian birding sites. We invite you to add your 1-10 sites in the comments below this article, suggest why yours are better than ours … and if necessary add an opinion too … the more outrageous the better. Prizes will not be awarded for most creative : )

So here we go….

The Capertee Valley.

Surely the most famous birding destination in Australia? Anyone who’s ever thought of coming to Australia has Capertee at the top of their list. The trip starts at the Capertee General Store for an excellent bacon & egg roll.  It’s great to be down before dawn for plenty of birding action but what makes this spot so brilliant is that the road lies in the lee of the Blue Mountains. You can start at 07.00 as the sun crests that little dividing range running the length of Australia. Often birds at the Capertee start their dawn chorus around 07.30 ….

Even with a late start you can notch up 100 birds in a day quite easily and still be back in Sydney by mid-evening. Such gems as Turquoise Parrot, Plum-headed Finch, Diamond Firetail, Spotted Quail-thrush, Australian Owlet-Nightjar, Regent Honeyeater (best in spring or when their favourite trees are flowering or when they decide you may be permitted to look at them); a superb selection of mammals are often on show too. Add to that, what’s reputed to be the largest enclosed valley (leading to the narrow gorge formation at Glen Davis) in the Southern Hemisphere – it’s simply stunning scenery and quite similar to the smaller Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA!

Western Treatment Plant, Werribee

It’s inevitable that any TOP10 is going to contain some poo. As unlikely as it may seem, the Western Treatment Plant at Werribee has birders clambering over each other for access.

Thanks to Melbourne Water and the toilet habits of the people of Melbourne, this is on a close par to Capertee as the top birding spot in Australia. Home to internationally significant numbers of Pink-eared Duck that have bills like upside-down dustpans to sift through murky water (oh yes indeed!), the close-to-extinction Orange-bellied Parrot (winter only) and other birds too numerous to mention. You can easily spend a whole day here and only see a fraction of what’s on offer.

Start at the famous Spit Nature Reserve and T-Section lagoons for things like Fairy Tern, Little Penguin (no point checking the ponds … try offshore), Zebra Finch, Blue-winged Parrot and Royal Spoonbill. A Stilt Sandpiper took up residence last year and most years ‘The Farm” is blessed with a rarity or two. Next follow your nose to Lake Borrie, a hotspot for Freckled Duck. With thousand of hectares of open farmland, wetland and coastline, it’s an extraordinary place just a stones throw from Melbourne CBD. Note, access is by permit only and strictly controlled. Contact Melbourne Water for advice or find your friendly neighbourhood birding man. Don’t forget to wash your hands before eating.

Royal National Park

It might sound silly to many experienced birders but this bustling National Park on Sydney’s doorstep is capable of delivering some ‘megas’. If you doubt that, stay a little longer next time you hear a Superb Lyrebird singing. Listen also for the gentle contact calls of Sulphur-crested Cockatoo as they fight for their lunch. It’s a terrific spot for the electric grey Cicadabird, colourful Satin Bowerbird (it’s where Attenborough filmed one of his sequences), Green Catbird, Eastern Yellow Robin, Rose Robin and Grey Shrike-thrush. Colourful birds indeed. Look for many cuckoos, honeyeaters, Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, some owls and Tawny Frogmouth also with luck a couple of Sydney specialties: Rock Warbler and another birders’ delight, Pilotbird (though, these are ever harder to find here since the fires).

Darwin

Starting at East Point. How many places in the world can you catch a bus to see an easy pitta (Rainbow varietal), see a Beach Stone-curlew by turning around and if late enough in the afternoon cop a Large-tailed Nightjar calling overhead with the last of the Green-backed Gerygone’s singing over the gentle cooing of Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves!? You don’t even need to move for this to happen some days! Adding in Red-headed Honeyeater, Rufous-backed Honeyeater and a Little Bronze-cuckoo too, makes it all the more difficult to look at the Agile Wallabies around you! Eee-eck, it were a grand spot that one! It beats that Kakadu place hands down.

If you are inclined to travel further than this one short street, there are many cool birding sites in Darwin itself: Lee Point and Buffalo Creek being two of the hottest (I mean coolest … whatever!) although Knuckey’s Lagoon on the way out of Darwin is also brilliant. A little south of the city finds Palmerston S**t Pits (or sewage ponds for the under 18s) and further on is the delightful Howard Springs – also good for Rainbow Pitta but remember to lock your car. For some reason Darwin has more than it’s fair share of tea-leaves patrolling the car parks.

Alice Springs Sewage Works

When I told the family we were going to Central Australia they were so excited. All those amazing red rocks that catch the early morning sunlight so beautifully.  I have to say even I was surprised by the number of rocks around the Alice Sewage Farm (location) and was at a loss to see why this didn’t satisfy them – they had waders and ducks all over them. They apparently wanted to see a bigger one! No pleasing some people.

However I was wrapped with the waterfowl on display. Who would’ve guessed there are so many ducks in Alice Springs. With a bit of effort too we turned up a few waders, including some devastating Red-necked Avocets, some neat Fairy-wrens, lots of raptors including Black Kite, Brown Falcon and Australian Hobby. On top of that, the lovely people at the Power & Water Authority (who you need to get a permit off in town) have kindly provided a neat hide offering shelter from the Central Aussie sun …  you don’t get that at the bloody rock!

Other Alice sites to be done on the same day: Visit the Mt Gillen Walk which is about 80 metres past the Alice Springs Desert Park entrance. Dusky Grasswren may be found a little over half way up in the rocky areas.

Simpsons Gap is a prime spot for Redthroat in Alice. Walk around Cassia Hill and a pair is often in the north-eastern section of the walk. Down and onwards to the gap you’ll find Splendid Fairy-wren. When you’ve recovered and adjusted your eyes from the garish blue of that one, try the slopes on both sides of the gap for Painted Firetail (tasty and slightly less garish) and more Dusky Grasswren. Nowhere near as common as they used to be, patience will often be rewarded though. On the eastern slope check for Black-footed Rock-wallabies. Occasionally Little Woodswallow appear feeding above you in the winds of the gap.

Finally a visit in town is never complete without a trip to the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens and its fantastic tea room (if it’s open!) Not least because Grey Honeyeater is recorded here occasionally but it’s got Western Bowerbird bowers, Red-browed Pardalote and big fat hairy Wallaroos (a type of kangaroo). Check the hills for more mammalian residents and because it is a Bot Gardens it has some really nice habitat sections which will allow you to get your eye in on types of Eremophila.

Hobart, Mt Wellington

Fact! You can see all of Tasmania’s endemic birds in a day. What better place to start than the slopes of Mt Wellington, literally on the suburbs of the city. The Fern Glade track about 6km from Hobart has a pub (bonus) and birds like Yellow Snotbird (Yellow Wattlebird), Pink Robin, Tasmanian Thornbill, Scrubtit and Tasmanian Scrubwren. Start walking from the track that leads from the side of the church. After this, take the road to the summit. If it’s winter, you can gawk at the odd local custom of building snowmen on the bonnet of your car, then driving downhill in an attempt to balance / see past the windscreen, weaving precariously and taking out cyclists with lumps of snow and flying carrots and sticks. Higher up the mountain are Black Currawongs.

To be honest, all the endemics are scattered liberally around. Dusky Robins sometimes crop up in the parks including Waterworks Reservoir. Forty-spotted Pardalote are also found here but much easier at the Peter Murrell Reserve, where Platypus is also commonly seen at any time of day though best bet is late afternoon. At night, any of the suburban roads around the base of Mt Wellington are good for Eastern Barred Bandicoot, Southern Bettong and Eastern Quoll. Eastern Quoll by the way responds very well to a half decent ‘squeaking” (not lame “pishing but serious ‘squeaking’). Tassie Devils used to be here too but sadly they’re very rare now.

Brisbane: Manly area.

Included here because of the quality of the fish & chips on the waterfront, the Manly Esplanade offers some splendid birding opportunities – you never know, you might even attract a rare ‘seagull’. One of Australia’s earliest Laughing Gulls (a North American bird) was discovered here. Quality chips!

One of the few sites in the east / south-east where Asiatic Dowitcher has turned up reasonably regularly it also hosts a massive wader roost on high tide. Couple this with a neat Mangrove Boardwalk for Mangrove Honeyeater and Mangrove Gerygone, Eastern Osprey and White-bellied Sea-eagle overhead, this is a terrific birding spot. A visit to the salt pans at Lytton is always good too but regular works mean this is a never ending challenge finding the birds here: mostly waders though crakes and rails are sometimes around.

 

 

 

Other things to do in Brissie: Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens. For a site at the western edge of a major city, this is a terrific spot. Not a great number but oh, what quality. Visit late afternoon for Bush Stone-curlew on the way in to the parking area at the end of the road. Walk along the sometimes dry creek and track to the small grassy knoll. Along the way you may have seen a collection of lorikeets including Scaly-breasted, Rainbow as well as Little if you’re really lucky; several honeyeaters, Mistletoebird, etc. It’s best to come as the sun sets on a spring / summer evening though, as White-throated Nightjar circle the knoll calling while Powerful Owl and Australian Owlet-Nightjar may be heard too and then lit up as darkness descends and exposes a silhouette or two. Don’t get locked in!

Broome Town + Roebuck Bay

What can one say about a town with birds and a boutique brewery all within a very short walk of each other. The Matso’s alchoholic Ginger Beer served icy cold on a 35 degree afternoon under ceiling fans is bliss.

In the bay behind the hotel and just along from the brewery one can find mud, mozzies, mangroves and in them White-breasted and Mangrove Whistler. One will be high up on the outside edge of the mangroves, the other a little lower and further in … extra points if you can guess which one is which.

Red-headed Honeyeater is another town bird as are such occasional cosmopolitan cripplers as Asian ‘swiftlets’, vagrant Red-throated Pipit in the town (twice now – always check the ovals), Semi-palmated Plovers down at the s*** pits (yes, the poo ponds again) and many other seasonal visitors all around. Watch for Salties (crocs) here too as well as Mangrove Robin, Dusky Gerygone and Broad-billed Flycatcher to name but a few. Stand at the town jetty opposite the Esplanade Hotel and scan for endemic Australian Snubfin Dolphins. They are always present … you need to check the creek mouths along the lines of dirty muddy water. Basil the Brown Booby will be on one of the pontoon poles.

A little way out of town and you’ll find yourself in one of the few places in Australia where you can get Common Redshank and Asian Dowitcher in every month of the year: the stunning Roebuck Bay offers this along with some of the largest concentrations of shorebirds to be found in Australia. There’s a bird observatory here and organised trips out to Roebuck Plains can be awesome.

In the afternoon maybe enjoy a movie at Broome’s stunning Sun Studios Picture Theatre as the planes land and take off above you. Now you know why they invented noise-cancelling headphones!

Rottnest Island

If you have to catch a ferry to go birding and you can notch up a shearwater and albatross or two, as well as some neat terns before you even arrive, then it needs to be on the list. I know some birders are going to object to including this place but I challenge any birder to admit they didn’t head to Rotto on their first trip to Perth … and saw it as a highlight!

After all … it has Indian Peafowl (ooh), Common Pheasant (ahh) and the occasional Red-necked Phalarope or Long-toed Stint amongst a plethora of White-fronted Chat. Top that off with a little hand-feeding of the local Quokka population then you’re surely in heaven? While in Perth itself, the delightful Wungong Gorge lies near Armidale, just south of the city. Featuring a couple of endemic cockatoos at times, it is a hotspot for Red-eared Firetail, Western Yellow and White-breasted robin, Red-winged Fairy-wren. Red-capped Parrot, Western Spinebill, Western Rosella (ooh, we’re getting excited now, eh) and Elegant Parrot are also a chance here and around the adjacent Bungendore Park.

(By the way, another really cool ferry should be the one to Bruny Island, under Hobart above but we ran out of space).

Cairns: Botanical Gardens, Centennial Lakes & Waterfront

Three absolutely must go spots and you can walk to them all if necessary. If that doesn’t constitute a hotspot for cheap birders (we all know birders are cheap) I don’t know what does. Visit the Waterfront on a rising tide as it pushes the waders in – nothing worse than a ventral (bum) view of a Broad-billed Sandpiper walking away from you as it feeds eagerly in the mud (hard to get those cute little head-stripes in). Some great concentrations here but remember Red Knot is not common so double check those big numbers you are getting.

Hit the northern edge of the Esplanade where the mangroves start for Mangrove Robin. I stopped for a sneaky bush break here once and almost splashed one … they’re that easy. No excuses for missing but watch where you tread. If you have children with you, have some fun and keep them amused as you compare the size of the mosquitoes here to the ones on the boardwalk at the northern edge of Centennial Lakes. Speaking of the lakes, they can hold Saltwater Crocodile so don’t be too complacent while looking at some sparkling honeyeaters, taking a bush break, or checking out Little, Sacred and Azure kingfisher – possibly Forest Kingfisher too if lucky. Check the fairy-wrens and bronze-cuckoos for more than the one variety. Ask the locals for the latest Papuan Frogmouth roost, check under the boards for Red-necked Rail and see if Oriental Cuckoo is around the fire station just south of the lakes.  While walking around you should see Bush Stone-curlew here, while Beach Stone-curlew is possible on the way to the Mangrove Robin site.

Article written by Simon Mustoe & Alan McBride.

Further Reading

There are a number of site guides available from top-notch birders around the country; Darwin, Cairns, Perth, South Australia, etc., all will provide some hot birding very close to our sites above.

Post the links if you know them?

Get these as books or search out the web pages too, particularly for WA and SA. Don’t forget also the new TimTAM (Thomas & Thomas of old)

http://bird-o.com/2011/03/09/book-review-the-complete-guide-to-finding-birds-of-australia/