Far South-west Victoria

A four day, three night excursion to the forests, heaths and coastline of the far south-western reaches of the state to try and find one of Victoria's most magnificent birds, race graptogyne of the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo.   This is a species commonly found throughout the northern part of the continent, but in south-eastern Australia is restricted to a small and threatened population straddling the Victorian-South Australian border.   We will endeavour to find this beautiful species as it sails over the forest uttering its brassy and evocative wail, as well as some other hard-to-find species such as Bush Stone-Curlew, Masked Owl, Barking Owl, Powerful Owl, Rufous Bristlebird, Beautiful Firetail, Shy Hylacola, Brown Skua, Southern Emu-Wren, Forest Raven, Sanderling, Hooded Plover, Satin Bowerbird, Grey Goshawk and Azure Kingfisher.

Day One.   Leaving Melbourne, we will travel out west of the Grampians, birding en route.   A spotlighting excursion in the evening will see us attempt to locate Bush Stone-Curlew, Barking Owl and any other nocturnal birds that may be about.

Day Two  Here we will traverse a vast area of Brown Stringybark forest interspersed with expanses of floristically diverse heathland in an attempt to locate Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo. Other birds here include Shy Hylacola, Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Hooded Robin, Square-tailed Kite(spring-summer), Black-chinned Honeyeater, Diamond Firetail and Southern Whiteface.   In the afternoon we will head south to Dergholm State Forest, and then on to Casterton if we still haven't found the Red-tails .

Day Three.   We will explore the beautiful Glenelg National Park in the morning and look for Azure Kingfisher, Masked Owl, Powerful Owl, Forest Raven, Olive Whistler and Long-billed Corella. In the afternoon we'll reach the coast and hope to see Brown Skua, Black-faced Cormorant, Kelp Gull, Rufous Bristlebird and Beautiful Firetail around the Portland area.   If conditions are favourable and there is a stiff onshore wind we will try for a bit of seabird-watching off Cape Nelson to pick up albatrosses, shearwaters and petrels.

Day Four.   We will commence our journey back to Melbourne, travelling along the magnificent Great Ocean Road and stopping en route for Sanderling, Hooded Plover, Southern Emu-wren, Striated Fieldwren, Crescent Honeyeater, Blue-winged Parrot, Grey Goshawk and Satin Bowerbird.

The Mighty Mallee

A five day, four night excursion through the wilderness areas in the far north-west of the state to experience the beauty and serenity of Victoria's mallee woodlands, as well as track down some of the special birds of this region.

We will visit the Little Desert National Park, Wyperfeld National Park, Murray-Sunset National Park and of course the world-famous Hattah-Kulkyne National Park.  

Birds we can expect to see include Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, Mulga Parrot, Blue Bonnet, Regent Parrot, Splendid Fairy-Wren, Chestnut Quail-Thrush, Gilbert's Whistler, Redthroat, Yellow-plumed and Purple-gaped Honeyeater, Shy Heathwren, Hooded Robin and Slender-billed Thornbill amongst others.   However the star attractions of this area are undoubtedly the skulkers of the mallee, and we will be doubling our efforts to locate Mallee Emu-wren, Striated Grasswren, Red-lored Whistler, Malleefowl and Black-eared Miner.

Day One We travel west from Melbourne, birding en route before arriving at the Little Desert Nature Lodge which is just south of Nhill for two nights. In the late afternoon we will have time for a bit of a look around, hopefully picking up some of the local species such as Southern Scrub-Robin or Mallee Ringneck.

Day Two We will have a full day to look around the Little Desert National Park, a huge reserve consisting of mallee, banksia heath and stringybark woodlands. Here we hope to connect with the main avian attraction of the park, the shy and elusive Malleefowl. With a bit of good fortune there may be pair actively working one of their huge nest mounds which we can observe from a distance. Other birds we're likely to come across include Variegated Fairy-Wren, Gilbert's Whistler, Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Little Corella, Crested Bellbird, White-browed Babbler, Inland Thornbill and Slender-billed Thornbill.   There is also a slight chance of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo in the areas dominated by Brown Stringybark trees.

Day Three We will leave first thing in the morning and head to Wyperfeld National Park where a search along the Discovery Walk will hopefully deliver Regent Parrot, Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, White-fronted Honeyeater, Chestnut Quail-Thrush, Southern Scrub-Robin and Redthroat.

In the afternoon we will drive a little further north to the Pink Lakes section of the Murray-Sunset National Park and have a look for two special birds - the Mallee Emu-Wren and Striated Grasswren.   These two skulking wrens inhabit the dense clumps of Triodia spinifex grass found around the vicinity of Pink Lakes and provide quite a challenge.

Day Four

On Day Four we will arrive early at Hattah-Kulkyne National Park and start birding immediately along the Old Calder Hwy and Nowingi Track.   If we missed the emu-wren and grasswren at Pink Lakes we have another chance here.   Also here we should pick up Striped Honeyeater, Hooded Robin, Splendid Fairy-Wren, Chestnut Quail-thrush, Yellow-plumed Honeyeater, Mulga Parrot and there is also another opportunity for Malleefowl.   If there have been good rains in the months prior to our visit we have a good chance of seeing   nomads such as Crimson Chat, Budgerigar, Cockatiel, Black Honeyeater, Pied Honeyeater or even Scarlet-chested Parrot.

Furthermore, if Lake Hattah has water in it we may see Freckled Duck, Red-necked Avocet, Yellow-billed Spoonbill, Black-tailed Native-Hen, Grey Teal, Black-winged Stilt, Red-kneed Dotterel, Pink-eared Duck and Glossy Ibis, to name a few.

Day Five Today we will head back to Melbourne, stopping at a few places on the way.   At Bronzewing we will look in at the mallee reserve there to see if we can locate any of the Black-eared Miners that were re-located here from South Australia a few years ago. From there we'll go across to Lake Tyrrell which is a dry salt lake with samphire and saltbush margins and a known haunt for Rufous Fieldwren, White-winged Fairy-Wren, Black-faced Woodswallow and the gorgeous Orange Chat.

Return to Melbourne where tour concludes.