Endemic Birds of Tasmania

Arrive at your own time today and make your way to Motel 429 in Sandy Bay. Check in is available from 2pm. We’ll meet at 6pm this evening in the hotel lobby before heading out to dinner. Meet your guide and fellow travellers and chat about the upcoming tour over dinner. Overnight: Motel 429, Sandy Bay, Hobart. Meals - Dinner.

This morning we head up Kunanyi / Mount Wellington, with several short birding walks on the way to explore various habitats. We search for some of the secretive skulkers, like Scrubtit and Tasmanian Scrubwren, and others like Black Currawong, Pink Robin, Olive Whistler and Tasmanian Thornbill. On a clear day the 1271m summit of Kunanyi / Mt Wellington provides fantastic views over southern Tasmania. From here we descend and visit the Waterworks Reserve for a picnic lunch. Birding in the forest and reservoirs here is usually good for a mix of waterbirds and honeyeaters, like Yellow Wattlebird, Strong-billed, Yellow-throated, Black-headed and Crescent Honeyeaters. After this we continue south to catch the ferry over to Bruny Island for the next two nights. While crossing the d’Entrecasteaux Channel we keep a look out for White-bellied Sea Eagle, Kelp and Pacific Gulls, Black-faced Cormorant and Australasian Gannet. We check into our lodge accommodation at Alonnah, overlooking Sunset Bay, Satellite Island and the distant Hartz mountains. Overnight: Bruny Lodge. Meals - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner.

Today we explore Bruny Island, home to all 12 endemic bird species, visiting dry forests, coastal heathland, beaches and farmland in search of these and other birds. We hope to find Forty-spotted Pardalote, Dusky Robin, Tasmanian Native-hen, various honeyeaters and robins as well as Hooded Plover, Brush Bronzewing and Swift Parrot. Scanning the ocean may produce Shy and Black-browed Albatross, australasian Gannet and Short-tailed Shearwater. After dark we’ll try our hand at finding Tasmanian Boobook and elusive nocturnal mammals like Eastern Quoll and Long-nosed Potoroo. Overnight: Bruny Lodge. Meals - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Another morning of birding on Bruny Island before we catch the ferry back to the big island. We continue up to Hobart, and depending on time and species that have eluded us, we may stop at some great birding locations en route like Peter Murrell and Truganini Conservation Areas. We check into our accommodation and later head just north of Hobart to the Gould’s Lagoon Wildlife Sanctuary - a great location for spotting waterfowl and rallids. We may see Latham’s snipe, Australian, Spotless and Baillon’s Crakes, Little Grassbird, Tasmanian Native-hen and various ducks. Overnight: Motel 429, Sandy Bay, Hobart. Meals - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

An exciting day lies ahead of us today. After breakfast we travel to nearby Cambridge Airport for a scenic flight down to Melaleuca in the remote Southwest Wilderness area. One of the most remote wilderness areas in Australia it is only accessible by air, boat or a very long and arduous hike. Not only is it one of the most scenic flights in all of Australia but the buttongrass moorlands around Melaleuca are the only place where the critically endangered and migratory Orange-bellied Parrot breeds. Through concerted efforts over decades and captive breeding programs the numbers are slowly increasing. Summer of 2024 has been the best for a long time with around 90 birds arriving! Not too long ago the total wild population was less than 30 birds. We spend time birding in the buttongrass moorlands, tea-tree scrubland and woodland and visiting the feeding table and hide. During the day we have a chance to see Orange-bellied Parrot, Beautiful Firetail, Straited Fieldwren, Southern Emu-wren, Ground Parrot, Olive Whistler, among others. We’ll have a lovely lunch provided and enjoy another scenic flight back in the mid-afternoon. [Note: This flight is entirely weather dependent. If the trip is not possible we will reschedule to the following day (subject to availability). Should rescheduling not be possible we will visit Mount Field NP instead and refund the flight costs.] Overnight: Motel 429, Sandy Bay, Hobart. Meals - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today we travel to the east coast and take a 45-min ferry ride to the ‘car-free’ and rugged Maria Island. The whole island is a national park and has no permanent residents, apart from some park rangers. On a couple walks here we will enjoy the rugged mountain and coastal scenery and hope to see some of the mammals and birds living here (almost all the endemics occur here). We hope to see Cape Barren Goose, Tasmanian Native-hen, Pied and Sooty Oystercatcher, Hooded Plover, various gulls and terns, robins, various honeyeaters, and if lucky Swift Parrot and Forty-spotted Pardalote. Mammals include Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Tasmanian Pademelon and Wombat. A population of Tasmanian Devils were released here a decade ago as an insurance population. Numbers have increased but they are rarely seen in daylight. In the afternoon we board the ferry again and return to Hobart, and if water levels and conditions are right, stopping at some wetlands or mudflats en route to look for waders. Overnight: Motel 429, Sandy Bay, Hobart. Meals - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast we bid farewell to our guide and fellow travellers. The tour ends at Hobart Airport. Overnight: n/a. Meals - Breakfast