The Long Road South
The last segment of my Australia trip was a long road trip from Brisbane down south to Sydney, where I would fly back to the Philippines and Nikki would take a bus back to Canberra. The original plan was for it to be a full two-day trip with lots of stops along the way, but we ended up enjoying Brisbane so much that we spent an extra half day there. As we'd already seen a bit more of Queensland on our whalewatching trip in the Gold Coast, we actually didn't end up missing out on a huge amount, but got to spend a bit more time in Brisbane.
After our morning at the Tinchi Tamba wetlands, we stopped in downtown Brisbane for a visit to the excellent Queensland Gallery of Modern Art- an art museum so good even a complete philistine like me was able to appreciate the exhibits. After a lunch of fish and chips, it was time to start heading south for real. We were spending the night in the city of Coffs Harbour, about halfway between Brisbane and Sydney, but we did have time for one stop at Tamborine National Park, located in the Gold Coast hinterlands of far southern Queensland. It was to be our only stop in any proper rainforest areas in Australia, so there were a few birds I was hoping to see there, including Regent Bowerbird and Albert's Lyrebird, a relative of the more-famous Superb Lyrebird found only in a tiny section of southeastern Queensland.
The landscape changes dramatically driving south from Brisbane and west away from the coast, transitioning from flatland and rolling moraines to low, rocky hills covered in sparse eucalyptus forest or Old West-style ranchlands. The forest grew thicker and more attractive as we drove on the steep, winding road up Tamborine Mountain, until it started looking like proper rainforest at the Witch's Falls trailhead, our birding destination. It was late afternoon by the time we got there, so we set out quickly on trail to take advantage of the little light that we had left.
The Witch's Falls trail is known as a good location to get good forest birds that are otherwise only found in more remote areas. Unfortunately, it proved a bit underwhelming when we were there, probably because it was in the afternoon rather than the early morning. The first thing we had along the trail was a bunch of Australian Brushturkeys (not Albert's Lyrebird as we were hoping). Later on we had a quick view of a Green Catbird (not related at all to Grey Catbirds, but actually a kind of bowerbird), one of the typical east Australian rainforest birds. Much better were the views at the lookouts along the way, with great looks at the McPherson range, an assortment of eroded lava plugs and igneous intrusions from the activity of the East Australian Hotspot around 22 million years ago.
The trail first went to an overlook near the somewhat underwhelming Witch's Falls (probably more impressive during the rainy season), then down further into a valley before climbing up. It got quite dark near the bottom, which of course was when we started to see some more interesting birds, including a very gloomy look at an Australian Logrunner and a close encounter with a family of Pale-yellow Robins.
On the uphill portion of the path, Nikki saw another Green Catbird, and we had a quick flash of a ground-dwelling bird that may have been an Albert's Lyrebird but also could have been a chicken for all we know. We did get better views of a Large-billed Scrubwren and a Brown Cuckoo-dove, and much better views of the beautiful sunset.
After a nice hike, it was time for the long, long drive down to Coffs Harbour. In the daytime it may have been a nice drive, but in the nighttime it was... not, chiefly because, for some daft reason, there's no proper expressway going between Sydney and Brisbane, despite the fact that they're the second and third biggest cities in the country, and not even that far apart. Instead there's a very, very long stretch of driving on narrow, poorly-maintained roads with a draconianly-enforced speed limit of 50 kilometers per hour. It felt like driving on county roads in Michigan, except driving on the left and with speed cameras at every corner. It was nearly midnight by the time we finally pulled into our Airbnb in Coffs Harbour for a well-deserved full night's sleep.
The next morning, it was another hour's drive to the city of Port Macquarie. Our main birding destination in Port Macquarie wasn't any of the well-known birding sites in that area, of which there are many- instead it was the campus of Charles Sturt University, a public university that has one of its campuses (Campi? Campodes?) in Port Macquarie. Ordinarily it wouldn't merit a second glance, except for the fact that a local birder had discovered a flock of Swift Parrots there about a month ago, and based on eBird reports they were still around.
Inasmuch as I had any real target birds in Australia, this was one of them; partly because it's a nice, good-looking parrot, but mostly because it's nearly extinct. One of only two species of migratory parrots in the world (the other of which is the even-rare Orange-fronted Parrot, another Australian parrot), the population of Swift Parrots is in the midst of a steep decline, with an ever-shrinking population currently estimated at only 2,000 birds worldwide. The main causes of its decline are the continuing clearance of breeding habitat in Tanzania, as well as the predation on its nest by invasive Sugar Gliders. Snooty birders from the developed world like to shake their heads in disgust at developing countries for not doing an adequate job of protecting their wildlife, but cases like that of the Swift Parrot (or Ivory-billed Woodpecker or Bachman's Warbler or Eskimo Curley or...) are proof that we're not really much better.
Once we got to the campus it was a matter of searching various flowering eucalyptus trees for the appropriate-looking parrots. We found lots of Rainbow Lorikeets, Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, and Musk Lorikeets, but the Swift Parrots were nowhere to be seen. I was about to give up when I heard a distinctive "chit chit" from behind me. I looked up to find a small green-and-red parrot perched on an open branch. It flew into the tree before I could get a picture, but I saw it long enough to ID as a Swift Parrot! After a bit of searching, I was able to see a couple other birds feeding deep in the branches of a flowering tree. They were nearly impossible to photograph, especially as they were constantly being bullied by Rainbow Lorikeets, but it was still a huge privilege to see a few members of a quick-disappearing species, my fifth species of Critically Endangered bird.
Our next stop was for some sight-seeing at the Tacking Point Lighthouse, also in Port Macquarie. The building itself was a bit stubby and underwhelming as far as lighthouses go (though I may be spoiled coming from the Great Lakes), but there was a great view from the headlands of the Queensland coast and the beaches all around us- considering the strong wind and frigid weather I was amazed to see people still lying on the sand below and even braving the heavy surf for some swimming.
After the lighthouse, on a whim we decided to make a quick stop at the Sea Acres National Park, a tiny corner of remnant rainforest next to the Tacking Point Lighthouse. The "rainforest boardwalk" it advertised looked interesting, so we decided to give it a quick visit. There was indeed quite a nice walkway through the woods, and we actually ended up seeing some interesting birds, including Brown Gerygone, Large-billed Scrubwren, Australian Logrunner, Spectacled Monarch, and a heard-only Eastern Whipbird. Best of all, Nikki's sharp eyes spotted a Noisy Pitta scratching around in the undergrowth. Any pitta is a good pitta, and this was one that's not often seen in the winter, so we were very happy to see one, even if it took quite a bit of effort to get a clear view of it through the undergrowth.
Later we were joined by an old lady who was one of the volunteers at the national park. She knew only a bit about the local birds, but knew a fair amount about the local native plants and their medicinal uses which was interesting to learn about as long as we ignored the casual racism. Best of all, she knew where there had been a White-headed Pigeon hanging out, which helped us add another bird to our Australia list. Always nice to see another Columbidae, and this one was particularly good-looking.
After an enjoyable jaunt in the rainforest, we kept heading south towards Sydney. The expressway started for real south of Port Macquarie, which made for somewhat more enjoyable driving. In the late afternoon, we turned off the freeway to try to find a good spot for sunset. As were were doing that, we made another last-minute stop in the small coastal town of Tuncurry, where we saw a huge flock of Australian White Pelicans roosting on a sandbar near a little town park. Pelicans aren't exactly rare birds, but they're so absurd-looking that I'm always happy to get another chance to photograph them, as well as some of the other ocean birds that were loafing around on the sandbar. Not to mention that the golden-hour light was gorgeous.
After a fun break for pelican excursion, we continued on in search of a good spot for sunset. We ended up choosing the wonderfully-named Booti Booti National Park, a beautiful stretch of beach between two headlands. It was a perfect spot to watch our last sunset before entering the metropolis once more.
After a cold, windy, and beautiful sunset, we continued south to Sydney for yet another late-night arrival. Most of our time in Sydney was spent avoiding the rain and dealing with rental car problems (refreshingly not my fault, but rather the fault of an old car battery and my rental car curse), so I won't spend too much time talking about it- suffice it to say that Royal National Park is beautiful, the view of Sydney Harbour overrated, the Mexican cuisine overpriced and underwhelming, and the car repair guys impeccable.
I left Australia on June 20, after a great 10-day stay there. I'd seen a total of 150 species of birds, more than half Australian endemics- not nearly what a proper birding trip would have gotten me, but the trip was mostly an excuse to see Nikki and spend some time in beautiful landscapes. It was certainly enough to whet my appetite for seeing Australian fauna and make me look forward to a return trip! But for now, back to posting about Philippine birds...
The Witch's Falls trail is known as a good location to get good forest birds that are otherwise only found in more remote areas. Unfortunately, it proved a bit underwhelming when we were there, probably because it was in the afternoon rather than the early morning. The first thing we had along the trail was a bunch of Australian Brushturkeys (not Albert's Lyrebird as we were hoping). Later on we had a quick view of a Green Catbird (not related at all to Grey Catbirds, but actually a kind of bowerbird), one of the typical east Australian rainforest birds. Much better were the views at the lookouts along the way, with great looks at the McPherson range, an assortment of eroded lava plugs and igneous intrusions from the activity of the East Australian Hotspot around 22 million years ago.
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| Mount Lindesay, the remnant of lava flows from a nearby extinct volcano |
The trail first went to an overlook near the somewhat underwhelming Witch's Falls (probably more impressive during the rainy season), then down further into a valley before climbing up. It got quite dark near the bottom, which of course was when we started to see some more interesting birds, including a very gloomy look at an Australian Logrunner and a close encounter with a family of Pale-yellow Robins.
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| A terrible low-light picture of an Eastern Yellow Robin |
On the uphill portion of the path, Nikki saw another Green Catbird, and we had a quick flash of a ground-dwelling bird that may have been an Albert's Lyrebird but also could have been a chicken for all we know. We did get better views of a Large-billed Scrubwren and a Brown Cuckoo-dove, and much better views of the beautiful sunset.
 |
| Brown Cuckoo-dove |
After a nice hike, it was time for the long, long drive down to Coffs Harbour. In the daytime it may have been a nice drive, but in the nighttime it was... not, chiefly because, for some daft reason, there's no proper expressway going between Sydney and Brisbane, despite the fact that they're the second and third biggest cities in the country, and not even that far apart. Instead there's a very, very long stretch of driving on narrow, poorly-maintained roads with a draconianly-enforced speed limit of 50 kilometers per hour. It felt like driving on county roads in Michigan, except driving on the left and with speed cameras at every corner. It was nearly midnight by the time we finally pulled into our Airbnb in Coffs Harbour for a well-deserved full night's sleep.
The next morning, it was another hour's drive to the city of Port Macquarie. Our main birding destination in Port Macquarie wasn't any of the well-known birding sites in that area, of which there are many- instead it was the campus of Charles Sturt University, a public university that has one of its campuses (Campi? Campodes?) in Port Macquarie. Ordinarily it wouldn't merit a second glance, except for the fact that a local birder had discovered a flock of Swift Parrots there about a month ago, and based on eBird reports they were still around.
Inasmuch as I had any real target birds in Australia, this was one of them; partly because it's a nice, good-looking parrot, but mostly because it's nearly extinct. One of only two species of migratory parrots in the world (the other of which is the even-rare Orange-fronted Parrot, another Australian parrot), the population of Swift Parrots is in the midst of a steep decline, with an ever-shrinking population currently estimated at only 2,000 birds worldwide. The main causes of its decline are the continuing clearance of breeding habitat in Tanzania, as well as the predation on its nest by invasive Sugar Gliders. Snooty birders from the developed world like to shake their heads in disgust at developing countries for not doing an adequate job of protecting their wildlife, but cases like that of the Swift Parrot (or Ivory-billed Woodpecker or Bachman's Warbler or Eskimo Curley or...) are proof that we're not really much better.
Once we got to the campus it was a matter of searching various flowering eucalyptus trees for the appropriate-looking parrots. We found lots of Rainbow Lorikeets, Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, and Musk Lorikeets, but the Swift Parrots were nowhere to be seen. I was about to give up when I heard a distinctive "chit chit" from behind me. I looked up to find a small green-and-red parrot perched on an open branch. It flew into the tree before I could get a picture, but I saw it long enough to ID as a Swift Parrot! After a bit of searching, I was able to see a couple other birds feeding deep in the branches of a flowering tree. They were nearly impossible to photograph, especially as they were constantly being bullied by Rainbow Lorikeets, but it was still a huge privilege to see a few members of a quick-disappearing species, my fifth species of Critically Endangered bird.
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| Musk Lorikeet |
Our next stop was for some sight-seeing at the Tacking Point Lighthouse, also in Port Macquarie. The building itself was a bit stubby and underwhelming as far as lighthouses go (though I may be spoiled coming from the Great Lakes), but there was a great view from the headlands of the Queensland coast and the beaches all around us- considering the strong wind and frigid weather I was amazed to see people still lying on the sand below and even braving the heavy surf for some swimming.
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| The view from Tacking Point |
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| Australasian Gannet |
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| Silver Gull |
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| The Tacking Point Lighthouse |
After the lighthouse, on a whim we decided to make a quick stop at the Sea Acres National Park, a tiny corner of remnant rainforest next to the Tacking Point Lighthouse. The "rainforest boardwalk" it advertised looked interesting, so we decided to give it a quick visit. There was indeed quite a nice walkway through the woods, and we actually ended up seeing some interesting birds, including Brown Gerygone, Large-billed Scrubwren, Australian Logrunner, Spectacled Monarch, and a heard-only Eastern Whipbird. Best of all, Nikki's sharp eyes spotted a Noisy Pitta scratching around in the undergrowth. Any pitta is a good pitta, and this was one that's not often seen in the winter, so we were very happy to see one, even if it took quite a bit of effort to get a clear view of it through the undergrowth.
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| Noisy Pitta! |
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| Common Brown Ringlet |
Later we were joined by an old lady who was one of the volunteers at the national park. She knew only a bit about the local birds, but knew a fair amount about the local native plants and their medicinal uses which was interesting to learn about as long as we ignored the casual racism. Best of all, she knew where there had been a White-headed Pigeon hanging out, which helped us add another bird to our Australia list. Always nice to see another Columbidae, and this one was particularly good-looking.
 |
| White-headed Pigeon |
After an enjoyable jaunt in the rainforest, we kept heading south towards Sydney. The expressway started for real south of Port Macquarie, which made for somewhat more enjoyable driving. In the late afternoon, we turned off the freeway to try to find a good spot for sunset. As were were doing that, we made another last-minute stop in the small coastal town of Tuncurry, where we saw a huge flock of Australian White Pelicans roosting on a sandbar near a little town park. Pelicans aren't exactly rare birds, but they're so absurd-looking that I'm always happy to get another chance to photograph them, as well as some of the other ocean birds that were loafing around on the sandbar. Not to mention that the golden-hour light was gorgeous.
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| White-faced Heron |
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| Pied Oystercatchers |
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| Australian Pied Cormorants |
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| Little Black Cormorant |
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| Incoming! |
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| Eastern Osprey |
After a fun break for pelican excursion, we continued on in search of a good spot for sunset. We ended up choosing the wonderfully-named Booti Booti National Park, a beautiful stretch of beach between two headlands. It was a perfect spot to watch our last sunset before entering the metropolis once more.
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| Sunset at Booti Booti |
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| Australasian Gannet |
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| Little Wattlebird |
After a cold, windy, and beautiful sunset, we continued south to Sydney for yet another late-night arrival. Most of our time in Sydney was spent avoiding the rain and dealing with rental car problems (refreshingly not my fault, but rather the fault of an old car battery and my rental car curse), so I won't spend too much time talking about it- suffice it to say that Royal National Park is beautiful, the view of Sydney Harbour overrated, the Mexican cuisine overpriced and underwhelming, and the car repair guys impeccable.
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| Royal National Park |
I left Australia on June 20, after a great 10-day stay there. I'd seen a total of 150 species of birds, more than half Australian endemics- not nearly what a proper birding trip would have gotten me, but the trip was mostly an excuse to see Nikki and spend some time in beautiful landscapes. It was certainly enough to whet my appetite for seeing Australian fauna and make me look forward to a return trip! But for now, back to posting about Philippine birds...
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Fish and chips 😍 i missed those! Only tried 1x there cuz most times shops closed already by the time we finish birding
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