I spent about 3 days on King Island from 6 to 9 March, on a holiday with my
wife. I did not spend the entire time birdwatching, but because it is a
natural place there was a lot of birding. I saw 52 species.
We flew into King Island from Melbourne in about 50 minutes and stayed at
Naracoopa on the eastern side of the island. This is a good location for
birding because it is near both Sea Elephant for Orange-bellied parrot and
theoretically, Californian Quail (obviously introduced) and to the Pegarah
Forestry for most of the Tasmanian endemics. In Naracoopa, there are a
couple of places with motel-type accommodation and restaurants, but not
much else.
There are no rabbits or foxes (but there are feral cats) on King Island and
so introduced game birds are relatively common. We saw Common Pheasant,
Wild Turkey and Peafowl but missed the Californian Quail although I spent
some time in the suggested location at Sea Elephant. Other introduced
birds were Blackbird, Starling, House Sparow, Greenfinch and Goldfinch.
Tasmanian endemics or near endemics seen were Little Penguin, Black-faced
Cormorant, Cape Barren Goose, Tasmanian Scrubwren, Strong-billed
Honeyeater, Yellow Wattlebird, Dusky Robin, Olive Whistler and Forest Raven.
Other interesting birds were Nankeen Night Heron and Bassian Thrush. I did
not search for the Orange-bellied Parrot at Sea Elephant. They had arrived
for their March stay and access looked to be easier than some of the places
in Port Phillip Bay.
If anyone wants more information, please E-mail me.
Regards,
Gil Langfield
Melbourne, Australia
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