Birding in the Lima Coastal Region, Peru
After birding in a few places in inland Peru, it was time to hit the coast… the capital Lima! I had nine days there, and managed to fit a few day trips in up and down the coastline to visit a few choice nature hotspots. This blog post covers the spots on the map: birding…
Birding in the Colca Valley, Peru
The Colca Valley, and in particular the Colca Canyon, is on the tourist trail in Peru, though it doesn’t quite garner the kind of accolades of say, Macchu Pichu or other well-trodden historical/scenic Peruvian sites. The altitude here is about 3600m, and the region’s main population centre, Chivay, has about 5,000 residents. It’s about 3…
Birding in the Eastern Galapagos, Ecuador
The Galapagos: the crucible for Darwin’s theory of evolution, isolated for millions of years and an equatorial home to a variety of birds and animals found nowhere else… it’s no wonder it’s on many people’s bucket lists of places to visit. We journeyed there in December 2025, taking an 8-day boat cruise on the eastern…
Birding in the Sacred Valley, Peru
The Sacred Valley of the Incas is somewhere you might travel to because of that rather well-known historical site, Macchu Picchu. There are a bunch of other places worthy of your tourist attention in the valley too. But it also has some really, really good birding. This post covers a few key sites in the…
Birding at Manu Biolodge, Peru
After the twists and turns of upper Manu Rd, it is a relief to hit some flatter and straighter sections of road as you drop in elevation. This is lower Manu Rd, which keeps going a long way, all the way into the Amazon! Our tour only took us as far as Manu Biological Station,…
Birding at Upper Manu Rd, Peru
After our five days in Pisac, north-east of Cusco, we embarked on a birding tour of the famous Manu Rd, courtesy of Kolibri Expeditions. We chose the five day tour as a short “taster” taking in three lodges along Manu Rd staying at elevations between 2900m and 600m; there are longer expeditions one can opt…
Birding in Pisac, Peru
As mentioned in our post on Planning our South America Trip, we decided to initially stay in the town of Pisac, about an hour north-east of the city of Cusco (which was our entry into Peru, from Australia via Santiago). This decision was made largely to help mitigate the effects of altitude, which can be…
Peru-Ecuador-Chile 2025 – The Planning
In which two of the Bird Spots crew undertake an epic four month birding and cultural tour of South America. Goals of the Trip Long-time followers of this website will know that our international birding adventures are usually accompanied by mostly breezy photo-driven summaries with cheeky captions. We’re changing tack now as we embark on…
Knuckey Lagoons Conservation Reserve, Jul 2024
[A stop on the Top End Revisited Jul 2024 trip] Knuckey Lagoons CR is a nature site just east of Darwin airport, and is a convenient location to pop into on your way to or from other places. Being a wetland style of place, it attracts a decent number of birds. There are a few…
Lee Point, 2022 and 2024
Summary: Terrific bush and grassland birding spot in the north of Darwin Dates of visits: 29 Jul 2022, 8 Aug 2022, 25 & 27 Jul 2024 Muirhead Bushland is a nature area in the Darwin suburb of Lee Point, in the Northern Territory. It’s an unexpectedly rewarding spot for birding, with many excellent species to…
Buffalo Creek, 2021 and 2024
Summary: Excellent site for desirable birds, especially if explored by boat Dates of visits: 28 Aug 2021, 29 Jul 2022, 26 & 27 Jul 2024 Buffalo Creek is a tidal creek located at the very north of Darwin in the Northern Territory and is a great spot to find lots of interesting birds. If you’re…
Noosa Botanic Gardens, 2022-2024
Summary: Lovely underrated gem of a location with some surprisingly good birding Dates of visits: 30 Apr 2022, 13 Jul 2024 Noosa Botanic Gardens comprises eight hectares of lush gardens on the shores of Lake MacDonald on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. It’s a good 15 kilometres west of Noosa Heads, and about an 8…
Fingal Head, 2022 & 2024
Summary: Attractive coastal landscape with a section of remnant coastal rainforest Dates of visits: 19 Nov 2022, 17 Nov 2024 Fingal Head is the northernmost of New South Wales’ many impressive coastal headlands, just 1km south of the Qld/NSW border. It’s a pleasant spot to watch for seabirds and has some good coastal bush as…
Sir John Chandler Park, 2021-2024
Summary: Small pleasant park with potential for stunning Rainbow Bee-Eater encounters Dates of visits: 27 Oct 2021, 30 Aug 2022, 6 Sep 2024, 24 Dec 2024 Sir John Chandler Park is a small nature spot commanding a big sweeping bend of the Brisbane River, and has a claim to fame as one of the best…
Birding in Penang and Singapore, 2025
Where to go for a climate break holiday in the midst of an Australian summer? Probably not Malaysia or Singapore, which are basically hot all year round, being tropically located rather near the equator. And yet two of the fearless Bird Spots crew did just that, jetting into the island of Penang on Malaysia’s west…
Banks St Reserve, 2021-2024
Summary: Pale-Vented Bush-Hen and a surprising array of other birds at this inner-city nature oasis Dates of visits: 8 Sep 2021, 4 Apr & 2 Sep 2023, 18 Oct & 26 Dec 2024 Banks St Reserve is a 30 hectare nature site that packs quite a punch in terms of wildlife for a location that…
Venman Bushland NP, 2024
Summary: Super pleasant forest for walking with some good bush bird encounters possible Dates of visits: Aug 23 2021, Nov 18 2022, Dec 27 2024 Long-time readers of this blog will know that we prioritise locations with satisfying bird encounters in beautiful natural settings. Sure, sites like Sandy Camp Rd Wetlands may yield upwards of…
Rottnest Island, Dec 2022
[A stop on the South-west WA Trip Jan 2023] Summary: A small island which is a popular day trip from Perth, for the beaches, the quokkas, and as it turns out, the birds! Date of visit: Dec 27, 2022 Rottnest island (Wadjemup) is not far from Fremantle off the west coast of Australia. The island is…
Atherton + Cairns mini-break, Nov 2024
What to do when your birding buddies nick off to southern states for the weekend without you? (How dare they!) Why, make a last minute solo trip to birding paradise, a.k.a. the Atherton Tablelands in north Queensland! The lure of riflebirds, catbirds, robins and many others – with a chance for the odd lifer -…
Springfield Lakes
Summary: Classic suburban birding with three lakes to choose from Dates of visits: 8 Mar 2022, 24 Aug 2024, 14 Oct 2024 Springfield Lakes is a suburb in Ipswich, south-east Queensland, which is notable to the bird-lover for its three large lakes – Spring Lake, Regatta Lake and Discovery Lake. I don’t rate these quite…
Finland Rd, 2021-2023
Summary: Terrific high-diversity birding hotspot well located on the Sunshine Coast Dates of visits: May 16 2021, Nov 4 2022, Aug 20 2023, Dec 3 2023 Finland Road in the suburb of Paradise Waters is a pretty weird spot to be the Sunshine Coast’s #1 eBird hot spot. It brings to mind Cairns Esplanade, another…
Varsity Lakes, 2022-2023
Summary: Enjoyable location with better bird habitats than you might expect in Gold Coast suburbia Dates of visits: 20 Aug 2022, 13 Aug 2023, 25 Dec 2023 Varsity Lakes is a locality on the Gold Coast which, like many suburbs on the Goldy, is dominated by waterways (canals and lakes). In this case the largest…
Lytton Wader Roost and Wynnum Boardwalk
Summary: Unique and interesting birding site providing a few different habitats in close proximity Dates of visits: Eight or more visits between 2021 and 2024. You’d have to think a nature site that encompasses grassland, bushland, tidal wetland, a bird hide and Brisbane’s best mangrove boardwalk would be pretty good, right? This is such a…
Top End Revisited, Jul 2024
We made a ten day trip made from July 19 to July 28, 2024, mainly visiting nature sites around Darwin and Kakadu National Park, a journey very similar to one we made back in 2021. So we knew what we were getting ourselves in for… rainless – usually cloudless – days, tropical heat, and more…
Hardings Paddock, 2020-2024
Summary: Great site for a good variety of bush birds, especially in winter Dates of visits: Several from 2020 to 2024 Hardings Paddock is an excellent birding site in the Ipswich city area. It is a little hard to make generalisations about this location, as it tends to vary quite a bit from season to…
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