Hello Aussie Birders,
Here are my plans for the third part of my Aussie birding trip, which is
planned for October-November this year. I am an American and I will have a
car and be travelling alone.
The first two parts of the trip, posted within the last week, covered
Sydney, Barren Grounds, Mallacoota, East Gippsland, Wilson's Promontory, the
Great Ocean Road, the Grampians, Little Desert, Wyperfeld/Hattah-Kulkyne, and
Deniliquin. I have heard from a number of Aussie birders, and I greatly
appreciate all the information they have provided. I am hoping to meet
some of them when I am there.
After Deniliquin, I plan to spend two nights in Chiltern (5th and 6th
of November), to see what birds I can find in the Chiltern-Mt. Pilot
NP. I have the excellent birding information found at
http://www.tourisminternet.com.au/chbird.htm (Chiltern
Bird Trails), but if anyone has any additional or supplemental information, I
would love to get it.
From Chiltern, I will go to Bright, on the Great Alpine Way, staying there
for two nights also (7th and 8th of November). I am interested in seeing
the Australian Alps from a purely sightseeing point of view, but I suspect that
there could also be some interesting birding in that area. I don't have
any particular birding sites to seek out in that area, at this point, so any
suggestions would be most welcome. I would also be interested in knowing
how the terrible fires of a couple of years have affected this area, especially
in terms of where I should go and what I should expect. Another thing that
would be helpful would be a list of birds I should look for there, in
November.
Finally, I will finish the trip with five nights (9th through 14th
November) in the east Melbourne area, basing myself in Ferntree Gully, and
expecting to cover the Yarra Valley, the Yarra Ranges, the Dandenongs, the
Mornington Peninsula, and Phillip Island. I have found lots of information
online about various birding sites in those areas, but I would welcome anything
else I could learn, and I would love to meet some Aussie birders and do a little
birding with the benefit of local experience. I already have arrangements
to visit Werribee with a local birder, the first time I go through Melbourne, in
late October, and I expect that to be one of the highlights of the trip.
Thanks again for all the information and help that I have gotten from the
members of this list.
Barry Brugman
USA