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Australia Tasmania

Tasmanian Native Hen Gallinula mortieriihttp://birdway.com.au

Tasmania, the smallest state of Australia, is a heart-shaped island about 180 miles long by 190 miles wide. Many who find their way to it are so captivated by its beauty, variety and abundances of history and nature they return again and again. It is easily accessible by daily vehicular ferries from Melbourne, and several direct flights daily from both Sydney and Melbourne into Hobart, Launceston and the North West. Tourism is a major industry, with high standards in many styles of accommodation, historic sites, wildlife parks, many and varied attractions and nature-based tours.There are birds to greet you when you step from the aircraft - parrots flash among flowering eucalypts in the airport precincts, and ten minutes after leaving Hobart Airport you could have seen about half of the endemic birds.

Twelve endemic bird species, fourteen if you include the migratory parrots which breed only in Tasmania, and several subspecies are among over 230 species which have been recorded in the state. If you stay overnight in country accommodation you will be woken by bird song, and birds may be the first thing you see when you look through your window - honeyeaters in the garden shrubs, Grey Fantails and Scarlet Robins watching for insects at the forest edge, a family of Superb Fairy-wrens hopping across the lawn. Tasmania is a small island but because of its hilly terrain and indented coastline, it has a range of habitats not found in many larger regions. Some of the best birding spots are set out below.

top sites

Bridport/Waterhouse

Bridport/Waterhouse is on the Northeast coast. The mild climate here encourages over-wintering by some of the migratory species, so even in winter you might see Welcome Swallows, Fan-tailed Cuckoos, Black-faced Cuckoo Shrikes and on the beaches and sandspit, Red-necked Stints along with the resident shorebirds. Between Bridport and Waterhouse Point the improved pastures provide for many species such as Egrets, Australasian Shelduck, Masked and Banded Lapwings, Pipits and raptors. The dune-locked lakes hold Black Swans, Grebes, most species of duck, Black-fronted Dotterels, Tasmanian Native Hens etc. and a good chance of spotting an Australasian Bittern. The coastal heathland of Waterhouse Protected Area is a stronghold of the Tawny-crowned Honeyeater and many other species.

Bruny Island

Bruny Island is off the South East coast and accessible by vehicular ferry several times a day; it has all 12 endemic species, plus a penguin viewing area. There is plenty of variety in accommodation, and you`ll probably want more than a day to spend on this lovely island, which has the biggest population of our rarest endemic, Forty- spotted Pardalote, in the drier Northern half.

Melaleuca/Port Davey

Melaleuca/Port Davey is difficult to get to but worth every dollar and day waiting for the right weather for the flight in by light aircraft. The heart of the true wilderness of Tasmania`s South West and home to the tin-mining King family for many years (read King of the Wilderness by Christobel Mattingley for the fascinating story); it is now a vital part of the Orange-bellied Parrot Recovery Plan. The only place you are likely to see these beautiful little parrots (but only in summer and early autumn) is at the feeding station and observation area set up at Melaleuca. The Beautiful Firetail, our only native finch, will probably show up for a snack too. Even if you don`t see the parrots, the flight over the mountains or along the coastline is magnificent.

Narawntapu National Park

Narawntapu National Park is a coastal park between Launceston and Devonport in the North. Much of it was previously farmed and it now has the most extensive bird checklist of any Tasmanian National Park. There is a good bird hide on the lagoon - I used it three times in one morning and saw several new birds on each visit. Narawntapu also has a huge population of marsupials including Tasmanian Devils.

Tasman Peninsula

Tasman Peninsula is part of the Southeast best known for the Port Arthur Historic Site. Lots of accommodation, and things to see and do. All 12 endemics are recorded here, and it is a favourite place for pelagic bird trips, being near to the continental shelf. The eastern half, most of which is in the Tasman National Park, has wet forest with rainforest gullies (Pink Robins, and Tasmanian Scrubwrens) and spectacular sea cliffs (Wedge-tailed and White-bellied Sea Eagles, Peregrine Falcon, etc.). In the Northwest of the Peninsula a special place is the Coal Mines/Lime Bay State Reserve. Birds abound among little-known convict era ruins, and nearby an ephemeral lagoon can provide thrills for birders. The Peninsula is the best area in the state for year-round hiking, and has superb, often deserted beaches on all coasts.

contributor

Ruth Brozek
Inala Nature Tours
brozek@southcom.com.au

numbers

Number of bird species:316

numbers

Number of endemics:12
Green Rosella Platycercus caledonicus Tasmanian Native-hen Gallinula mortierii Yellow-throated Honeyeater Lichenostomus flavicollis Black-headed Honeyeater Melithreptus affinis Strong-billed Honeyeater Melithreptus validirostris Yellow Wattlebird Anthochaera paradoxa Forty-spotted Pardalote Pardalotus quadragintus Brown Scrubwren Sericornis humilis Scrubtit Acanthornis magnus Tasmanian Thornbill Acanthiza ewingii Dusky Robin Melanodryas vittata Black Currawong Strepera fuliginosa

There are also four endemic sub-species:
Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster Swift Parrot Lathamus discolor and Wedge-Tailed Eagle Aquila audax Tasmanian Masked-Owl Tyto castanops

useful reading

Field Guide to Tasmanian Birds

Dave Watts, David Baker-Gabb Paperback - 200 pages (New edition 2002) New Holland Publishers (AUS)
ISBN: 1876334606
Buy this book from NHBS.com

Fieldguides, CDs etc.

For general guides to Australia as a whole please see the Fatbirder Australia page

useful information

Nature-based Tourism

http://www.tourismtasmania.com.au/research/naturebased.html
This information is of potential value to Tasmanian tourism operators in tailoring their activities and services towards satisfying visitors' requirements for participating in nature-based tourism and in more effectively marketing this type of travel product...

clubs

Birds Australia

http://www.ausbird.com/tas.html
Birdwatching in Tasmania - A directory of Tasmanian birdwatching tours, birdclubs, freelance-guides, bird-orientated accommodation and reference information...

Burnie Field Naturalists

http://www.burniefieldnats.com/
Bird observations from a house at Table Cape, for Birds Australia Atlas Record, from October 1999 to 31st July 2001...

North West Bird Club

http://www.northwestbirdclubtasmania.org.au/
The North West Bird Club was established in 1972 in our home Town of Wynyard in Tasmania Australia. Club meetings are held on the second Friday during the month of September through to May and we do not meet during the months of June, July and August each year...

Tasmanian Conservation Trust

http://www.tct.org.au
The Tasmanian Conservation Trust is a voluntary organisation working on conservation issues, especially those that directly affect Tasmania. The TCT was formed in 1968 and aims to foster and assist in the conservation of flora, fauna and important natural, archaeological and cultural features...

museums

Tasmainia University

http://www.utas.edu.au/
Faculty of Zoology...

Tasmania Museum

http://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/
The zoology department is due on line...

reserves

Flinders Island

http://focusonflinders.com.au/birdwatching.htm
The Furneaux group of islands has more than 150 bird species some that are common and other rarer birds maintain a stronghold in the Furneaux group. Being isolated from both Tasmania and the Mainland some of the more common species have distinct sub-species living on the islands. There are many and varied habitats for viewing birds from coastal beaches, heath land, swamps, lagoons and eucalyptus forests.

Notley Gorge State Reserve

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/reserves/notley/notleyfern.html
The pristine forest of the reserve is similar to that which faced the early settlers of the West Tamar. About a century ago the Notley forest provided timber for boatbuilding at Rosevears (on the Tamar River) and hiding places for bushrangers...

South Bruny National Park

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/natparks/sthbruny/
South Bruny National Park lies at the southern tip of Bruny Island off the southeast coast of Tasmania. The park encompasses all of the coastline and some of the hinterland between Fluted Cape and the southern part of Great Taylors Bay.

Tamar River Conservation Area

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/reserves/tamar/
The Tamar River Conservation Area stretches through the upper part of the Tamar Estuary from St Leonards to the Batman Bridge. The Interpretation Centre and the boardwalk leading to Tamar Island are just a ten minute drive north from the centre of Launceston on the West Tamar Highway, just north of Riverside...

Tasmania National Park

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/
In the south east of Tasmania, the Tasman and Forestier Peninsulas are an ideal place to stay a while and discover the natural world. Being a peninsula it is almost an island, without the inconvenience of ferry access. With its low altitude and mild maritime climate it is ideal all year for outdoor interests such as walking and nature study...

Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/natparks/index.html
Tasmania has a rich bird fauna, including several species which are confined to the State (i.e endemic). See our pages on our endemic birds for further details. Tasmania is also home to a number of threatened bird species. To discover more about some of our bird fauna, choose a species from the following complete Tasmanian bird list

trip reports

Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you cant find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page give them a try!

1996 [February] - Dr John Leonard - All the Endemic Species in One Morning

http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/tripreports/Tasmania96.html
The island of Tasmania lies off the south coast of Australia, and is a destination well worth the visit of anyone visiting Australia. Not only is the island wetter and greener than most of Australia (and is reminiscent of New Zealand, or even Britain); but it holds many interesting bird species. There are twelve species endemic to the island, several species commonly found on the island which are more difficult to find on the mainland, and a number of species which have distinct subspecies from mainland forms.

1999 [August] - Susan Myers

http://users.wired.net.au/susan/tasmania.htm
A three day trip is all you need to see the Tassie endemics - even without rushing terribly much! Recently a group of seven Melbournites ventured over the Bass Strait (in a plane) for a three day weekend in August. I wanted to see all the endemics, a couple of others were in quest of one or two and yet others just wanted to refresh their memories. A Swift Parrot in the airport carpark was a good omen. I`ve certainly never seen a Swifty like that before. Best bird for me was the Masked owl.

2002 [February] - Gruff Dodd

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/australia/se-aus/report-se-aus-2002.htm
Two weeks may seem too short a time for such a long-distance trip, but after this experience we would not hesitate to do it again. However, the secret is not to try to cover too big an area travelling distances in Australia are large and you could easily waste a large percentage of your trip travelling...

2002 [November] - Rob Grimmond - Eastern Australia - Queensland, eastern New South Wales and Tasmania

http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/trips/australia-rg-0503.html
My wife, Kay, and I were undertaking a trip to Australia and New Zealand. We had four weeks to allocate to Australia so we restricted our travels to Queensland, eastern New South Wales and Tasmania. It was our first trip Down Under.

2003 [February] - Tom & Marie Tarrant

http://www.aviceda.org/tas/tas2003a.htm
The idea of taking a trip to Tasmania was conceived after our original plans to go to northern Thailand were thwarted by the travel-agency collapsing. This and the possibility of terrorism and war in the middle-east made us turn our attention closer to home and as the Queensland climate can be rather humid and unpleasant in February we made a decision to go to visit the Apple Isle...

2004 [March] - Philip Maher

http://www.philipmaher.com/main.htm
...more a checklist really...

Tasmania

http://www.skof.se/lank/oceanien/tasmania.htm
Trip Report: All the Endemic Species in One Morning Tasmania (Australia); February 1996 etc...

local guides

Australian Ornithological Services

http://www.philipmaher.com/main.htm
Philip Maher was born in Deniliquin, in south-western New South Wales in 1954. His interest in natural history was fostered by his parents from a young age. While Philip is an authority on Australian birds generally, his name is synonymous with the Plains-wanderer, a bird of the open plains in inland Australia. In 1980 Philip was with a party of local birders when they came across the Plains-wanderer. He went on to study the species extensively, banding about 600 birds and has shown the species to great numbers of Australian, American and European birders...

Chris Rhodes - Bird Guide

http://focusonflinders.com.au/bird_watching_tours.htm
Chris Rhodes can guide you on an experience to watch birds in many different habitats that Flinders Island has to offer from coastal beaches, to temperate rain forest. Having live on Flinders Island and grown up with an appreciation of the natural environment you will be in the best hands to discover the diversity that Flinders Island has to offer. There are over 150 different species of birds in the Furneaux group ranging from Wedge Tailed Eagles (our largest birds) to the Tasmanian Thornbill (our smallest)...

Discover Tasmania

http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/home/index.cfm?siteid=974&display=product&productid=9000693
A number of birding outings listed such as Penguins at Bicheno...

Fieldguides

http://www.fieldguides.com/australia.htm
Tasmainia is just an extensiohn of the main tour...

Inala Nature Tours

http://www.inalabruny.com.au/business.html
...a family owned and operated company that specializes in designing and organizing personalized wildlife tours for groups such as birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts...

places to stay

Inala

http://www.inalabruny.com.au/accom.html
Accommodation at INALA comprises a self-contained, 3-bedroom farm cottage, which is set in idyllic surroundings next to a tree-lined stream in a private setting, with views of the South Bruny Ranges and tall eucalypt forest. The cottage combines modern facilities with old-fashioned comforts, facilities include television, VCR, electric blankets, washing machine, clothes dryer, a bath, a log fire, a slow-combustion woodheater and a microwave oven...

Tasmania Wilderness Lodges

http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/home/index.cfm?SiteID=161
From Tasmanias wilderness lodges, you can experience ancient ecosystems, cruise to a seal colony, follow your footprints back along the tideline of an ocean beach, climb a mountain peak, visit a vineyard or a salmon farm and still be home for candlelit dinner at eight...

Bruny Island Checklist

http://www.inalabruny.com.au/birdlist.html
Checklist...

Eleven Endemic Birds and the Orange Bellied Parrot

http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/home/index.cfm?SiteID=600
Bushwalkers and people who fly into Tasmania`s southwest have a good chance of seeing orange bellied parrots at Melaleuca in the Southwest National Park, where a bird hide has been especially built for observing the birds...

Endemic birds of Tasmania

http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/f688771216358a7fca256ccf0083d519?OpenDocument
Article by Mr D. G. Thomas, President, Bird Observers Association of Tasmania.

Nature Sound - David Stewart

http://www.naturesound.com.au/cd_birds_tasmania.htm
Australian Bird Calls - Tasmania has 12 endemic bird species and a feature of the CD is the presentation of a range of calls for this unique group. The endemic species are the Tasmanian Native-hen, Green Rosella, Forty-spotted Pardalote, Tasmanian Scrubwren, Scrubtit, Tasmanian Thornbill, Yellow Wattlebird, Yellow-throated Honeyeater, Strong-billed Honeyeater, Black-headed Honeyeater, Dusky Robin and Black Currawong. A further 68 species are included and many of these have calls which are different to their mainland cousins and particular attention has been paid to this aspect. The CD contains calls of 80 species...

Penguin Conservation in Tasmania

http://www.tct.org.au/jumper.htm
The Penguin Jumpers Project has now finished. Over 15,000 jumpers were collected, which will be stored in Oil Spill Response Kits around Tasmania. In the case of a major oil spill, these jumpers will be used to help rehabilitate Little penguins (Eudyptula minor) that have been oil affected. Oil clogs the feathers of these tiny seagoing birds, and reduces their insulating and waterproofing qualities. Even worse, the penguins attempt to clean themselves by preening, and rapidly become poisoned...

Rainbow Lorikeets

http://www.rainbow.org.nz/tasmania.htm
Tasmania contains Australia`s largest tracts of cool temperate rainforest, which grows mainly in the north west and west of the island, and in patches in the north east highlands. Many species of this flora are derived from Gondwana, as is the flora of New Zealand. The dominant species is Beech Nothofagus cunninghamii, and includes some other species similar to those occurring in New Zealand such as Manuka Leptospermum scoparium and Tree ferns Dicksonia species. The east of Tasmania is largely covered by dry sclerophyll eucalypt forest, although substantial parts of the lowland areas have been greatly modified for agriculture.

Tasmanian Birds

http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/ThemeNodes/SJON-54B6J2
Tasmania has a rich bird fauna, including several species which are confined to the State (i.e endemic). See our pages on our endemic birds for further details. Tasmania is also home to a number of threatened bird species. To discover more about some of our bird fauna, choose a species from the following complete Tasmanian bird list.

Tasmanian Native Hen

http://www.northern.edu/tallmand/hen/tnh.html
The Tasmanian Native Hen is found only on the island of Tasmania, Australia, where it is very common. It is usually seen grazing in open grassy areas and will run to cover immediately if disturbed. This flightless bird is found primarily in the northern and eastern portions of the island. A management program by the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service has seen the bird introduced to Maria Island National Park, off Tasmania`s east coast. This home page will be continually updated with news, facts and information on this fascinating polyandrous bird.

Tasmanias Endemics

http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/SJON-54G647?open
A list with photos and info about the endemics of the Isalnd...

artists

Photographer - Sean D Ansorge

http://www.seanansorge.com/tasmania/birds/index.html
Some excellent images...

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