Australia (Western & Northern Territory)

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Trip Report – March-April 2025

NOTES

Australia is an interesting country to bird because it lacks really harsh winters and has few land barriers; and because it has irregular rainfall and periodic drought, bird migration differs from North America and Eurasia with many species making shorter migrations, with much irregular nomadism as birds roam in search of food and water resources.

Almost all Australian bird species, to a greater or lesser degree, are bound to this unpredictable rainfall which makes Australian birds unique in many ways and difficult to find in others!

Our travels initially took us to Sydney to see family before heading to bird Western and Central (Northern Territory) Australia for 14 days. As this was our sixth trip to Oz, we were familiar with the birds and knew the species we wanted, so we drove ourselves and did not use a guide.

As usual I only list our life birds – see the full bird list below.

Western Australia

Day 1

 

We left the QT Hotel in Perth around 5.30 am and drove to Rose Heritage Café, (now named something else but you can still locate it with that name). It is a site known for good bird diversity and we weren’t disappointed with thousands of New Holland Honeyeaters among a ton of other species, and we managed to ID everything we saw which was a great start.

You can’t access the café’s property, but the adjacent property and the road were great. We were happy to start with Western Corella, Red-tailed Cockatoo, Gilbert’s Honeyeater, Blue-breasted Fairy Wren, Western Wattlebird, Inland Thornbill, Western Rosella, White-breasted Robin and Red-eared Firetail.

From there was drove south to Armadale Settlers Common to find Western Gerygone but it was really quiet so we continued to Bibra Lake. It was quite dry but in a small area of water found our target species (Banded Stilt).

Night at the QT

Day 2

We packed up and left the QT very early and drove 2 hours south-east to Dryrandra Forest. It was stunning  and there was no-one else around. We got our first target (Western Yellow Robin) quite quickly followed by Western Thornbill but then we were entertained with a number of other species while we hunted for our third lifer. It took a while but eventually we had great views of Rufous Treecreeper.

Drove south to Towerinning Lake for a picnic lunch overlooking the lake and to enjoy the birds around the lake. On the way we came across a huge flock of Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo.

We continued on towards Pemberton, stopping in Manjinup to stock up on food and wine before arriving at our accommodation for the next 3 nights.

Night at Forest Lodge Resort.

Day 3

Luckily one of the best birding spots was only 10 minutes from our accommodation so we spent most of the day going in and out of Big Brook Dam Park. The weather was drizzly and the birding wasn’t great but we eventually managed 3 lifers for the day – Western Gerygone, Red-winged Fairy Wren and a surprise Little Eagle, which we were really excited about.

We really wanted Red-capped Parrot, and we had just about given up when we found 2 juveniles on the ground at the entrance to out lodge.

Night at Forest Lodge Resort.

Day 4

Decided to go in search of Emus today – not new for us but we had only seen them once before so we thought it would be nice. We drove east to Kodjinnup Nature Reserve and found them immediately – but they were incredibly skittish so we couldn’t get a photo. There was also a huge herd of kangaroos, the biggest we had ever seen.

The weather wasn’t’ really cooperating again so we hung around for a bit and then, as we started to work our way out of the park we got Baudin’s Black Cockatoo – not easy to distinguish but we got great photos, which helped.

Night at Forest Lodge Resort

Day 5

Took our time packing up because today was really about driving east to Albany Bay. We planned a picnic lunch at Porangurrup Park because one of our targets,  Western Shriketit, had been seen there – but no luck. So it was on to Albany Bay to get settled in for the next couple of days.

Night at Pelicans.

 

Day 6

Today was Arpenteur Park where our targets were the elusive Western Whipbird and Noisy Scrubbird. Unfortunately, despite several hours hiking and intensive birding we were not successful. Tons of White-cheeked and New Holland Honeyeaters which gave great photo ops – and plenty of flies!!

Night at Pelicans

Alice Springs & Uluru

Day 1

We arrived in Alice Springs at lunch time and had our binoculars ready to bird as we drove into town. And glad we did because we got Little Crow on the way.

It was hot but we couldn’t resist trying our luck so stopped at both Olive Pink Botanical Gardens and Alice Springs Desert Park before checking in to our hotel. It was quite birdy but the only life for us was a Black-faced Woodswallow along the road.

We even checked out the Clay Pans and the Water Treatment plant (you still can’t go in) but lifers are getting harder to find.

Night at Crowne Plaza

Day 2

We started early and took the fairly short drive to Simpson’s Gap in the W. McDonnell Park. It was a stunning spot and we had it to ourselves. We really enjoyed a number of birds and added a few more life birds

Zebra Finch, Gray Honeyeater, Gray-headed Honeyeater, Diamond Dove . Western Bowerbird and Red-backed Kingfisher.

We wanted to go to Wrigley’s Waterhole but the road is really unpassable so, as it was starting to get hot so we went to the Telegraph Station Café. There was still a fair bit of activity here – including Pied Butcherbirds, Crested Pigeon and Yellow-throated Miners on our table while we ate and Grey-capped Babblers in the car park – but nothing new.

Later in the afternoon we went to check out Santa Teresa road – it was understandably quiet – and there were tons of flies but we did get Little Woodswallow on the way and then Brown Songlark at the ‘Tyre in the pole’ location. (identified that way on eBird)

Night at Crowne Plaza

Day 3

An early start to get to the Tyre-in- -the Pole site- on the Santa Teresa Road before sunrise. That particular spot turned out to be very quiet in terms of our targets but it was beautiful and felt very remote as the sun came up.

We hung around for a while and then decided to drive slowly back towards town – and we were glad we did because we got great views of 2 Bourke’s Parrots – which was a real surprise.

Also enjoyed Pied Honeyeater and Banded Whiteface.

There was an incredible thunder storm in the afternoon which we thought might create some good activity later in the day but it was actually very quiet.

Night at Crowne Plaza

Day 4

Decided to spend the morning at the Alice Springs Dessert Park because it was supposed to be really good but it really didn’t deliver any of our targets. On top of that there are loads of birds in aviaries, which we didn’t realize, and we found it quite upsetting.

Lots of honeyeaters and good photo ops but nothing really exciting.

Night at the Crowne Plaza.

Day 5

We packed up and left before day break for the long drive south on the Stuart Highway and then west along the Lasseter Highway to Yularu and the national park of Uluru Rock (Ayers Rock).We had anticipated making a number of birding stops along the way but the weather had other plans. It was windy and rainy practically the whole way and just ended up being a bit of a disappointment.

In one pot we heard Chiming Wedgebill and hunted for about an hour to find it but, despite its loud and prolonged calling, we just could not locate it!

Night at the Sails, Yulara

Day 6

Today was all about Uluru – we rented bikes and rode around the base – it was stunning and we really loved it.

Birded on the way back to the hotel and really lucked out with a Black-breasted Buzzard.

Night at the Sails, Yulara

Day 7

We got up really early to watch the sunrise over Uluru and the Kata Tjuta rock formations from the designated Sunrise Viewing spot. It was fabulous – but cold!

Our plan was then to drive slowly towards Walpa Gorge and bird along the way. Turned out to be a good strategy and we go Rufous Song lark and White-winged Triller in one spot followed by a single Budgerigar . It is not easy to stop on this road, but we were happy with the sightings we had.

The downside of our strategy was that by the time we got to Walpa Gorge a coach of people had arrived which made it very busy. Still it is a lovely spot and worth the effort.

Night at the Sails, Yulara

Summary:

We managed 116 species on this leg of the trip of which 37 were new for us – our target was 40 so overall we were pretty happy.

Australia is an amazing country with great infrastructure, nice hotels, excellent food, good roads, and realistic speed limits which means you can set adaptive cruise control to 120 kph which eats up the distances between locations which are substantial.

Hotels

QT Perth

Forest Lodge, Pemberton

Pelicans, Albany

Crowne Plaza, Allice Springs

Sails, Yulara

Guides & Resources

Guides:

Self-guided

Field Guide:

Birds of Australia – Graham Prizzey  & Frank Knight

Bird Lists:

Western Australia: 

Northern Territory (Central Australia):