birding-aus

Tasmania- Flight problems getting there, Melaleuca (Flight tips) and Eag

To: birding aus <>
Subject: Tasmania- Flight problems getting there, Melaleuca (Flight tips) and Eaglehawk Neck Pelagic November 28-30th 2008
From: robert morris <>
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 01:09:31 +0000

Tasmania- Flight problems getting there, Melaleuca (Flight tips) and Eaglehawk 
Neck Pelagic November 28-30th 2008

I just had a pleasant long weekend in Tasmania which included a morning 
(Friday) in Melbourne when JetStar cancelled my onward flight on Thursday 
evening.

Friday am. Made the best of a bad job (my initial irritation turned into 
opportunity and then delight) as I decided to go and see the male Australian 
Painted Snipe at Edithvale. Great views of this bird for a few hours as well as 
Aus. Spotted & Spotless Crakes and Buff-banded Rail. I then drove back to the 
airport.

Friday pm. Travelled over to Hobart and looked, without success, in poor 
weather for Blue-winged Parrots and Satin Flycatchers. Picked up many of the 
endemics which I’ve seen before.

Saturday am. Excellent views of Satin Flycatchers – 5+ in the Meehan Range near 
Cambridge. Take Belbins Rd off the Tasman Highway and then walk up the wooded 
gulley.
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.843846,147.415581&spn=0.018691,0.045319&z=15

I then got the call from Par Avion cancelling my flight to Melaleuca due to the 
bad weather, which they said was predicted to get much worse. The low cloud was 
the problem. Pleased with my lifer, I was bitterly disappointed that I couldn’t 
get to Melaleuca. Being local and looking at the improving weather around me, I 
went down to Cambridge Airfield only to see Par Avion loading up a flight to 
Melaleuca. Despite having booked the trip 4 months in advance, it was clear I 
had been bumped off the flight. I challenged them on this and they said the 
weather was no good for scenic flights, only for bush walkers and the flights 
were full. I was very unimpressed – I wasn’t only going for the scenery!

I was then told by one of their passengers – try Tas Air. I did just that and 
they fitted me in on a flight an hour later! The moral of the story – 1) Don’t 
give up on things like this and don’t believe what you’re told by Par Avion. 
The flight cost me $8 more on Tas Air ($298) – but at least they took me there. 
The other thing which annoyed me was they didn’t have the courtesy to tell me 
about Tas Air and that I had alternatives – even though I stressed this was my 
only chance to get there on this trip. I also met 2 people at Melaleuca who 
were on the flight I was going on that was ‘cancelled’, and neither were bush 
walkers. MY TIP USE TAS AIR!

The flight down was fantastic – flying between the mountain tops and clouds. 
The flight back was even better as the cloud had lifted. The weather in SW 
Tasmania was great and not at all what I’d been led to believe. I spent 4 hours 
in the Melaleuca area seeing at least 10 Orange-bellied Parrots (4 unringed) as 
well as Striated Fieldwrens, Beautiful Firetails and Dusky Robins.

Sunday – all day on the Eaglehawk Neck Pelagic. I’m sure a full report will 
come out in due course. I was delighted to see 2 of my target species – 2 
White-headed Petrels and 2 Mottled Petrels, both out at the shelf or beyond. It 
wasn’t a classic pelagic with endless birds but we did also see Cambell and 
Black-browed, Shy, Wandering (Gibson’s?), Southern and Northern Giant Petrels, 
Great-winged Petrel, 1 Brown Skua, 1 Arctic Jagaer, a few Fairy Prions. Nothing 
could take away my delight at seeing 2 new Pterodromas on a single trip!

On the trip, Mike Double had told me about some Blue-winged Parrots in Kingston 
he’d seen a week or 2 ago. So, when we got to shore at 3.30pm, I drove back to 
Hobart and on to a packed Kingston Sports arena. I had a look round – as usual 
no Blue-winged Parrots. I started falling asleep watching a game of boys 
cricket when I heard a distinctive jingle and glimpsed a small parrot flying 
over. The field opposite the main sports centre had a lot of flowing / seeding 
plants amongst the low grass. During the evening I found up to 7 Blue-winged 
Parrots feeding here quietly and using the local fences when disturbed by local 
kids and dogs!

I was hoping for 3 lifers on the trip and got 6 which is great. I was back in 
the office in Brisbane at 9.30am on Monday morning!Rob Morris  Brisbane, 
Australia
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