Australia - Brisbane, Sydney to Melbourne & Tasmania - 12th to 29th November 2023 (2 Viewers)

[Paul Chapman]

I have been using the eBird Trip Report functionality to pull together some rudimentary lists for my previous trips:-

https://ebird.org/tripreport/305522

In total, I recorded 354 species photographing 334 of them. If you click on Show All Details on the report link, it brings up the individual sightings and the photos. Hopefully some inspiration in there for people considering a visit. A couple of compromises made on the itinerary but I was happy with the outcome overall.

We had the Birding Down Under cruise booked to visit the Subantarctic Islands from 5th December 2023 and we decided to spend three weeks birding in Australia and New Zealand beforehand. We constructed an eighteen day itinerary to cover South East Australia from Brisbane south to give us as wide an introduction to Australian birds within that area as that time allowed. We then had a few days in New Zealand before the cruise started.

We landed in Brisbane early morning on 12th November and set about a day's birding. We had booked Rob Morris' services through Bellbirds for two days and had his assistance on the evening of 12th November as well as 13th and 14th November. In total, we recorded 168 species with my highlights being Australian Masked Owl, Marbled Frogmouth, Sooty Owl, Noisy Pitta & Regent Bowerbird. We stayed our first night in Brisbane and the second with Rob at O'Reillys.

On 15th November, we flew to Sydney & travelled from there to Melbourne via Deniliquin for a Plains Wanderer weekend with a Mallee extension with Phil Maher from 18th to 23rd November. We covered the usual sites en route to Deniliquin with Wattamolla. Budderoo & Chilterns. We met a friend on 16th November who joined us for the period with Phil Maher. After the Mallee, we headed via the Bendigo area before birding The Nobbies, Angelsea area and Western Treatment Plant around Melbourne. Highlights included Rockwarbler, Turquoise Parrot, Plains-wanderer, Superb Parrot, Australian Pratincole, Red-lored Whistler, Mallee Emuwren, Australian Painted Snipe, Little Penguin, Rufous Bristlebird & Australasian Bittern.

On 27th November, we flew to Tasmania spending three days on Bruny Island before flying to New Zealand on 30th November. We were successful on the available Tasmanian endemics and my highlights included Forty-spotted Pardalote, Hooded Plover, Pink Robin & Swift Parrot.

All the best

Paul

 

[Paul Chapman]

I do like the way the Trip Report functionality maps the Checklists and the way that the Show All Details element incorporates the pictures.

All the best

Paul

 

[Richard G]

Thanks Paul - you've just given me the inspiration I needed to do a report on my own 6 week trip to Brisbane which took place not many weeks after you were there.