Three friends and I will be spending 3 weeks birding in SE Australia prior to a
short visit to New
Caledonia. None of us have been to this part of Australia, although 3 of us
have been to
Queensland. We will have a car and have used Thomas & Thomas (and recent
postings on
birding-aus) to work out a provisional itinary (we also have Bransbury?s book).
The trip splits
into 4 parts, but is flexible within each part (depending on what has been seen
at the time!):
July 21-26: Sydney-Canberra-Deniliquin
July 28-Aug 1: Deniliquin-Melbourne-Portland
Aug 3-7: Portland-Victoria Malle-Adelaide
Aug 8-14: Adelaide-Birdsville-Adelaide (with 4WD)
We would be grateful for any further information, recent sightings or specific
sites, comments or
advice on any part of the trip. I will not have access to e-mail after 17 July.
The places we
intend, or are considering, visiting (and, drawn heavily from Thomas & Thomas,
the birds we
might hope to see) in the second part of the trip are:
July 28-Aug 1: Deniliquin-Melbourne-Portland
Chiltern State Forest: Regent & Black-chinned Honeyeaters, Painted Button-Quail
Phillip Island: Hooded Plover, Sooty Oystercatcher, Cape Barren Goose
Geelong: Striated Calmanthus
Swan Island: Orange-bellied Parrot
Laverton Saltworks: Banded Stilt, Red-necked Avocet
Werribee SF: Pacific Gull, Fairy Tern, Blue-winged Parrot, Lewin?s Rail,
crakes, Blue-billed
Duck
You Yangs FP: Swift Parrot, Musk & Purple-crowned Lorikeets, White-browed Wood
Swallow
Brisbane Ranges NP: Powerful Owl, Koala
Barwon Heads: Hooded Plover, Fairy Tern
Great Ocean Road: Rufous Bristlebird, Blue-winged Parrot, Brush Bronzewing,
Olive Whistler
[Bool Lagoon: Freckled & Blue-billed Duck, waterbirds, crakes?]
We are particularly interested in any recent info on Cape Barren Geese and Bool
Lagoon (as it
is a significant detour). Any good sites for Powerful Owl or Owlet-Nightjar
would also be
excellent. We have most of 15 Aug in Melbourne prior to flying to Noumea,
hopefully a last
chance for things we?ve missed first time around.
Many thanks in advance for any information,
Richard Fairbank
West Sussex, England
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