Uluru, perhaps better known as Ayers Rock, is an icon of central Australia. Photo: David Fisher
The states of South Australia and Northern Territory contain vast tracts of desert wilderness - the outback - and the only cities of any size are located in the extreme south and the extreme north. We’ll explore the areas around both these cities - Adelaide and Darwin - and will also visit Alice Springs, smack in the center of the continent. After a visit to the famous saltpans near St. Kilda with their teeming hordes of wintering Palearctic shorebirds, we’ll travel via the vineyards of the Barossa Valley to the mallee around Glue Pot reserve in search of many special inland birds restricted to this habitat, including the fascinating Malleefowl. Then we’ll fly into the Red Centre around Alice, where spectacular desert scenery forms a backdrop to the many wonderful birds we’ll see. We’ll also visit world-renowned Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) to view these amazing geological features and watch the sunset at the Rock. Darwin in contrast is tropical—humid, lush and green with a rich and colorful avifauna. The suburbs are filled with exotic birds and other bizarre wildlife and well merit the three nights we will spend there before we travel to the World Heritage Area of Kakadu, known for its waterbird spectacles, crocodiles, water buffalo, and Aboriginal culture. This tour can be taken in conjunction with either or both of our tours Australia: The Southeast -Tasmania, Victoria and the Plains-wanderer and Australia: The East - Queensland and New South Wales.
Day 1: The tour begins at noon in Adelaide on Australia’s southern coast. After lunch at our hotel we’ll visit a local wetland reserve where good numbers of waterfowl may include Australasian Shoveler and the cute Pink-eared Duck. Depending on the state of the tide we may also visit the nearby mudflats for a selection of herons, egrets, ibises and waders, perhaps including Pied and Sooty Oystercatchers. Night in Adelaide.
Day 2: We’ll spend the morning at the St. Kilda Saltfields, home to masses of waterbirds including Musk Duck, Banded Stilt, Pied Oystercatcher and Fairy Tern. Thousands of Palearctic waders winter here and we should be able to study Sharp-tailed and Curlew Sandpipers and Red-necked Stints at close quarters. After lunch we’ll drive through the Barossa Valley, famous for its wines, and visit Altona Scrub, an area with a rich diversity of indigenous plants. Here we’ll search the mixed native pine forest for birds such as Yellow Thornbill, Rufous Whistler and the spectacular Diamond Firetail. Later we’ll travel beyond the Mount Lofty Ranges to Brookfield Conservation Park where at dusk we’ll visit a colony of the endangered Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat. Night in Waikerie.
Day 3: Today we’ll visit Gluepot, the jewel in the crown of Birds Australia, Australia’s main ornithological conservation organization, and home to no fewer than six nationally threatened species. We’ll have a good chance of seeing the highly sought-after Red-lored Whistler, Striated Grasswren and Black-eared Miner. Throughout the day we’ll visit the various habitat types that make the reserve so special, including mallee scrub, where we should have little trouble finding Southern Scrub-robin, Chestnut Quail-thrush, Gilbert’s Whistler and the local race of the dazzling Splendid Fairy-wren. While in the mallee scrub we’ll visit a mound of the Malleefowl, a distinctive member of the megapode family celebrated for its massive mound nests in which the eggs are incubated by rotting vegetation: the parent birds control the temperature by either piling extra sand on top of the mound or scraping it off, depending on the outside temperature. If we are lucky the birds themselves may be in attendance. In taller old-growth mallee we’ll find several species of honeyeaters that should include White-fronted, White-eared and the unique Striped. Later on we’ll look for White-browed Treecreeper and Crested Bellbird in mixed black oak woodland and search the more open woodland and grassy bluebush clearings in the western half of the reserve for birds such as Mulga Parrot, Chestnut-crowned Babbler and Southern Whiteface. The birdlist for the reserve is extensive and the possibilities are almost endless. Night in Waikerie.
David and Judy were the best. Their years of experience with clients and the venues in Australia were evident.
- Mic Wells
Day 4: We’ll briefly visit Eremophila Park to look for a Malleefowl mound if we missed it at Gluepot. We’ll continue on the back roads to Morgan searching for the gaudy Regent Parrot and the curious-looking Apostlebird, calling in at Hart’s Lagoon on the way to see the many species of waterbirds, perhaps including Freckled Duck. At Morgan we’ll cross the famous Murray River by ferry and after lunch look for Ground Cuckoo-Shrike and Redthroat. Then we’ll drive back to Adelaide, stopping for any birds we may have missed up to this point. Night in Adelaide.
Day 5: A morning flight will take us north to Alice Springs, at the center of the continent. This is desert country and contrasts strongly with the more temperate south. Known as the Red Centre for good reason, the local landscape is dominated by the rich red color of the rocks but the sparse vegetation provides a home for a surprisingly rich avifauna. After lunch in town we’ll visit Simpson’s Gap National Park, open scrub country with a wealth of central Australian birds including Pied Butcherbird, Crested Bellbird, Western Gerygone, Gray-headed Honeyeater, Zebra Finch and Black-faced and Little Woodswallows, and with luck Dusky Grasswren. Local rainfall determines the presence or absence of many nomadic species and some years we also see Budgerigar, Diamond Dove, Rufous Songlark and Painted Firetail. Among the marsupials Black-flanked Rock Wallaby is a local specialty. Night in Alice Springs.
Day 6: We’ll begin by visiting one of two spots farther away from town. Our choice will be determined by local conditions, but in either case we’ll be searching for many of the same species, including Spinifex Pigeon, Western Bowerbird and Red-browed Pardalote. In the afternoon we’ll visit the Old Telegraph Station next to the spring after which the town was named. If the waterhole is wet, various species may be coming in to drink, and this is also a good place to see Common Walleroo. In the evening we’ll visit a pool where Bourke’s Parrots come to drink at dusk. Night in Alice Springs.
Day 7: Today we’ll take a charter flight to Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) and Kata Tjuta (Mount Olga), dramatic geological formations known throughout the world. Much of the day will be spent learning about the formations, their natural history and their meaning and significance to the local Aboriginal people, but we’ll also keep an eye out for Crimson Chat, White-fronted Honeyeater and, depending on seasonal conditions, various other honeyeaters and woodswallows. We’ll stay to watch the sunset at the Rock, then fly back to Alice after dark. Night in Alice Springs.
Day 8: We’ll make a pre-breakfast visit to the ponds of the local sewage works to look for Hoary-headed Grebe, Hardhead, Red-necked Avocet, Black-fronted Plover and White-backed Swallow. Being the only extensive wetland in the middle of a vast desert the ponds attract any species that is passing through and most of our past visits have turned up something unusual. These have included such unlikely birds as Pied Cormorant, Freckled Duck, Gray-tailed Tattler, Pectoral Sandpiper, Long-toed Stint, Silver Gull, Orange Chat and Brown Songlark. Who knows what we may find!
After breakfast we’ll catch a late-morning flight north to Darwin for a three-night stay. Here in the tropics we’ll encounter many new and colorful species. Figbirds perch on roadside wires, White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrikes undulate overhead and Torresian Imperial-Pigeons sit in the treetops. After checking in to our hotel we’ll visit the nature reserve at nearby East Point. Orange-footed Scrubfowl, our second megapode, strut around the lawns that fringe the reserve and Agile Wallabies graze on the short turf. Depending on the tide we may check the exposed reefs for roosting waders, which are likely to include Greater and Lesser Sandplovers, Asiatic Golden-Plover, Gray-tailed Tattler, Curlew Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint and Red-capped Plover. If the tide is low, Eastern Reef Egrets and Striated Herons are sure to be fishing in the rocky pools, and the occasional Brahminy Kite will be drifting overhead. Night in Darwin.
Days 9-10: We’ll spend two full days visiting a variety of excellent birding spots around the town. At Howard Springs we’ll walk the nature trail in search of the brilliant and aptly named Rainbow Pitta. Most of the world’s pittas are skulking birds that are extremely hard to see, but this one is the exception. In addition to the pitta there are lots of other forest birds to look for including Australasian Koel, Spangled Drongo, Shining Flycatcher, Little Shrike-Thrush, Yellow and Olive-backed Orioles and a variety of strikingly patterned tropical honeyeaters. There is also a camp of Black Flying-Foxes as well as many exotic lizards, colorful turtles and exotic butterflies.
We’ll visit Buffalo Creek, where depending on the tide we have a slim chance of glimpsing a Chestnut Rail. It spends most of its time hidden in dense mangroves, but we’ll certainly hear it calling and with great luck might even see it. While we scan for the rail other mangrove species will entertain us perhaps including noisy Black Butcherbirds, musical Green-backed Gerygones, dainty Yellow White-eyes and dazzling Azure Kingfishers. On the nearby beach large flocks of migrant waders and terns may be roosting, among them many of the waders that breed in Siberia and winter in Australia. A few resident waders may also be present, best of which would be the massive but surprisingly elusive Beach Thick-knee.
The Palmerston sewage ponds may hold a few waterbirds to interest us (as well as our only real chance for a Freshwater Crocodile) but it is the fringing mangroves that will be our main focus as this is one of the few spots where we can hope to see Mangrove Robin, Mangrove Fantail and Mangrove Gerygone. The surrounding grassy patches can also be good for finches perhaps including colorful Crimson Finches and beautifully patterned Chestnut-breasted Mannikins.
A late afternoon visit to Knuckey’s Lagoon is always a delight as large numbers of waterbirds will be present including many herons, ducks and waders. We’ll search among hundreds of Pied Herons, Magpie Geese, Radjah Shelducks, Green Pygmy-Geese and Comb-crested Jacanas for scarcer species such as Wood Sandpiper and Long-toed Stint. In the past local rarities have included Garganey, Ruff, Little Ringed Plover, Oriental Pratincole and Yellow Chat, so who knows what we may find.
We’ll also visit a number of special stakeouts for such sought-after species as Little Whimbrel, Oriental Plover, Barking Owl, Tawny Frogmouth, Northern Rosella and Collared Kingfisher. Nights in Darwin.
Day 11: We’ll drive to Fogg Dam in the early morning, stopping along the way to look for Australasian Bush-Lark and Long-tailed Finch. The lagoons behind the dam were originally a rice-growing scheme but thousands of Magpie Geese quickly squelched that idea and the area was turned into a nature reserve instead. Now it is a mass of reedbeds and lily-covered ponds, home to thousands of waterbirds. Some of the scarcer species we’ll be searching for are Brolga, Black-necked Stork, Royal Spoonbill, White-browed Crake, Broad-billed and Restless (Paperbark) Flycatchers, Tawny Grassbird and Golden-headed Cisticola. Later we’ll drive on to Kakadu National Park, a vast World Heritage Site famous for its wildlife, scenery and Aboriginal culture. We’ll make various birding stops along the way to look for Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Partridge Pigeon, Mangrove Golden Whistler and Black-tailed Treecreeper. If we’re very lucky, we might even come across a Gouldian Finch or two. Night at Cooinda.
Day 12: Though most of Kakadu National Park is covered in dry eucalyptus forest, we’ll concentrate on its seasonally flooded waterways as we make an early morning boat trip on the Yellow Water. Most tourists come here to see Saltwater Crocodiles, the infamous man-eating beasts that still do that from time to time (though fortunately not in the park!). We’ll see plenty of “Salties” but our main focus will be the wealth of waterbirds all around us. Those who like to count or estimate their birds will be hard pressed this morning as we’ll cruise past hundreds, possibly thousands, of herons, egrets, Wandering and Plumed Whistling-Ducks, Magpie Geese, Green Pygmy-Geese, Comb-crested Jacanas and many other species. We’ll have some specific targets in mind, notably Great-billed Heron, Little Kingfisher, Rufous-sided Robin and Arafura Fantail as well as Bar-breasted Honeyeater, best found by looking in any flowering paperbark trees along the watercourse. Photographic opportunities from the boat will be superb.
Later in the morning we’ll visit Nourlangie Rock, famous for its Aboriginal rock paintings. While viewing the paintings we’ll also hope to see one or more of the local specialties, perhaps Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon, Great Bowerbird, Sandstone Shrike-Thrush, Silver-crowned Friarbird or White-lined Honeyeater. In the afternoon we’ll drive back to Darwin, where we’ll spend the night. We should have time to stop along the way to look for any species that we might still be missing. Night in Darwin.
Day 13: The tour ends in Darwin after breakfast.
Updated: 09 May 2008
Prices
- 2008 price about $5,830
- Single Occupancy Supplement $620
Notes
This tour is limited to seven participants with one leader; 14 with two leaders. If a second WINGS leader is needed, it will be Judy Davis.
Although the 2008 tour begins formally on the morning of October 2 with the arrival of the flight from Melbourne bearing the group and leaders from the Australia: Tasmania, Victoria and the Plains-wanderer section, participants taking just the Australia: South Australia and Northern Territory section will almost certainly want to arrive in Adelaide the previous day, October 1.
This tour is organized by our British company, Sunbird.