As a follow up to Simon's posting, I too was lucky enough to visit Tasmania
for three days a couple of weeks ago. On the middle day on Bruny Island,
with the help of Tonia Cochran, I managed all the endemics except Black
Currawong (heard but not seen) in one day without too much difficulty, and
during my three days saw all but Scrubtit on more than one occasion.
A great place for a short visit, and an even better one for a long trip!
GRUFF DODD
Barri, Cymru/Wales
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> Behalf Of Simon Mustoe
> Sent: 16 February 2002 01:02
> To:
> Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] Birding in Tasmania (and some mammals)
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> Just came back from a short break in Tasmania. As usual, not
> specifically a
> birding trip (mainly family stuff) but I managed to find some time to get
> out and about.
>
> The bad news first - I didn't find Dusky Robin. I imagine that these birds
> are not too difficult but in three days birding I failed to come
> across any.
> However, I did see all the remaining endemics and a number of
> good mammals.
> My thanks go particularly to Bill Wakefield for a few handy tips and an
> afternoon of birding after the pelagic.
>
> A trip to the Peter Murrell reserve near Blackmans Bay on the 9th yielded
> good views of 40 Spotted Pardalote as well as Black-headed and
> Yellow-throated Honeyeaters (both species widespread and common in all the
> places I visited), Scarlet Robins and Fan-tailed Cuckoo. We also
> saw 40 spot
> on Maria Island where we spent a night. Other highlights on Maria
> included a
> group of 20-35 Common Dolphins on the ferry crossing, Hooded Plovers near
> the jetty, Satin Flycatcher, Flame Robins at the reservoir and loads of
> Black Currawongs.
>
> With the obvious exception mentioned earlier, the other endems were quite
> easy to pick up just by travelling around.
>
> I attended the pelagic off Eaglehawk Neck on the 10th which was a roller
> coaster ride in 3m+ swells and not ideal conditions to see
> anything. But as
> a newcomer to the southern hemisphere Wandering Albatross and Gould's
> Petrels were welcome additions to the list.
>
> Now onto some mammals. Sadly the density of mammals in Tasmania is most
> clearly demonstrated by the quantity of roadkills. I only saw
> dead Tasmanian
> Devils and Eastern Quoll. A few hours driving along roads below Mount
> Wellington proved very profitable with Rufous-bellied Padamelon, Bennett's
> Wallaby and the ubiquitous dark morph Brush-tailed Possum (all the
> individuals we saw on Maria Island were grey). The highlights that evening
> were undoubtedly Southern Bettong which was feeding on the edge of the
> ridgeway road in grassy open forest and Eastern Barred Bandicoot.
> The latter
>
> species was very easy to find - I saw 5 in about 20 minutes driving around
> the Tinderbox peninsula.
>
> Maria Island is also a good place to see mammals but I think one night is
> not enough. It was a bit disappointing but only in the sense that we saw
> stacks of Rufous-bellied Padamelons, Bennett's Wallabys and Eastern Grey
> Kangaroos but little of anything else. A Wombat and Brush-tailed
> Possum were
> nosing around the bins in the campsite but the wind picked up in
> the evening
> so it was difficult to locate anything else.
>
> In summary, there is a lot to see in and around Hobart and
> Tasmania is not a
> daunting prospect for quick visits. I'll be going back at some
> stage to try
> and see Dusky Robin as well as the mammalian predators that eluded me.
>
> Regards,
>
> Simon.
>
> _____________________________________________
>
> Simon Mustoe - Principal
>
> AES Applied Ecology Solutions Pty Ltd.
> 59 Joan Avenue
> Ferntree Gully
> Melbourne
> Victoria 3156
> AUSTRALIA
>
> Telephone 03 9762 2616
> International Telephone +61 (0) 3 9762 2616
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> Email
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>
>
>
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