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 moreContinue reading “Top End Revisited, Jul 2024”

Birding in the Pacific Northwest, 2024

We were never going to pretend that this leg of our epic Central and North America trip was going to be a comprehensive tour of the Pacific Northwest; that would probably take months to do properly. But we would dabble here and there: fly into Seattle, explore a few parks and places around there, headContinue reading “Birding in the Pacific Northwest, 2024”

Birding in Chicago, 2024

Chicago, the windy city, hosts many migrating birds in spring and in May 2024 also hosted two Australian bird enthusiasts. Was it windy? Yes, and it was sometimes rainy, but fortunately we had a few sunny days to explore some major hotspots as well as appreciate the impressive city architecture and a few of theContinue reading “Birding in Chicago, 2024”

Birding in Arizona and Nevada, 2024

The next region on our epic five-week North American birding tour started with big ole Arizona. We flew into Tucson from Texas (another state that experiences an influx during migration) and drove straight to Portal way down in south-east Arizona. We then worked our way back west and north, in what came to be theContinue reading “Birding in Arizona and Nevada, 2024”

Birding in Costa Rica, 2024

Costa Rica has long been known as a birder’s paradise and is one of the best, if not the best country in Central America to spend some time birding in. We flew direct from Brisbane, Australia to Los Angeles and then after a mere six hour layover, into San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica.Continue reading “Birding in Costa Rica, 2024”

Green Island, Nov 2023

Summary: Lovely rainforest island not far from Cairns with some interesting birdlife Date of visit: Nov 18 2023 Green Island is a small island of 12 hectares in the Great Barrier Reef, accessible in around 40 minutes by ferry from Cairns. It is the only coral cay on the reef that has rainforest, and itContinue reading “Green Island, Nov 2023”

Lake Argyle Cruise, Aug 2023

Summary: Terrific trip with bird and wildlife spotting on a huge man-made lake; guaranteed Yellow Chats Date of visit: Aug 4, 2022 The completion of the Ord River Dam in the 1970’s created Lake Argyle, one of the largest freshwater lakes in Australia, lying about 60km to the south-west of Kununurra in WA. It isContinue reading “Lake Argyle Cruise, Aug 2023”

Iron Range and Cairns, Nov 2023

One of the last great frontiers for Australian birding is tropical Cape York in far north Queensland, and the jewel in that crown belongs to Iron Range National Park, a low-level rainforest where the birds and plants are more influenced by nearby Papua New Guinea than by Australia. Our birding group had booked for AugustContinue reading “Iron Range and Cairns, Nov 2023”