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”

Adelaide to Port Augusta Trip, Oct 2023

A 12-day road trip made from October 14 to 25, 2023, starting and ending at Adelaide in South Australia, and driven by the (admittedly incredibly weak) excuse that we wanted to break up our flight from Brisbane to Perth. Call it a nearly two week layover, if you will… The Amazing And Truly Excellent BirdContinue reading “Adelaide to Port Augusta Trip, Oct 2023”

Mt Isa Long Weekend, Sep 2023

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea to jet away to the outback town of Mt Isa for a long weekend. It’s generally hot and there isn’t a whole lot to do as a tourist in the area – it is largely a mining town, after all. But there are some pretty cool birdsContinue reading “Mt Isa Long Weekend, Sep 2023”

NSW Coast and Hunter Valley Trip, Easter 2023

It was supposed to be a trip that was pretty light on birding, and more filled with good food and wine, and of course copious amounts of Easter treats. But somehow we saw a ton of birds along the way (“the way” being Brisbane down the coast to Newcastle and then inland to the HunterContinue reading “NSW Coast and Hunter Valley Trip, Easter 2023”

South-West WA Trip Jan 2023

Due to its geographical isolation, south-west WA has a lot of lovely endemic birds (including some from recent taxonomic splits), so we couldn’t wait to head there for an extended birding holiday. The idea was to trace a clockwise circuit starting and ending at Perth, heading far out east to Esperance and working our wayContinue reading “South-West WA Trip Jan 2023”