Birding from N Queensland to , Oct-Nov 2019 - practical logistics, guides, locations, and - by Steve Johnson and Lynn Rafferty (stevejohnson2 at verizon dot net)

Contents of this report: 0) Overview. 1) General trip planning. 2) International flights. 3) Domestic flights. 4) Driving and rental cars. 5) Navigation. 6) Lodgings. 7) Food. 8) Birding destinations. 9) Guides and Tours. 10) Birding planning. 11) Resources. 12) Phones and Internet. 13) Packing. 14) Sightseeing. 15) Birds seen / heard, selected notes. 16) Other taxa seen.

0) Overview. We visited Australia for 5 weeks starting in late October 2019, primarily for birding but also some general tourism. We stayed in these locations: New South Wales: Sydney and Kiama; Queensland: Julatten, Yungaburra, Cairns, and O'Reilly's (near Brisbane); : Healesville (east of ); Tasmania: Cradle Mountain, , and Richmond (near ). Our birding was mostly self-guided, with several one-day guides hired along the way. Much thanks to Kurt Gaskill, who was on a long stay in Victoria, and kindly showed us around some of his favorite spots.

1) General trip planning. Travel agents and travel insurance are both a good idea. We did not use the first and if we had, we might not have needed the second. We have purchased insurance for this and several other trips from Travel Insured International (underwritten by United States Fire Insurance Company). This is the only time we've made a claim and they paid it in full, no problem. We will use them again.

We relied heavily on other birder's trip reports published online. I owe a lot of thanks to many birders for those.

If you have a critical connection, such as an international flight, either book all connections on a single ticket - so the airline is committed to get you to your final destination that day - or else book in a full day layover at the connection, to accommodate unexpected and unavoidable delays. We might have avoided such an “amateur error” if we’d used a good travel agent.

In our case, we had (we thought) a comfortable 5-hour layover in Sydney between our domestic Australian flight, and our international flight home on a different airline. The domestic flight was canceled with little notice, and that carrier’s later flight would have made us miss our connection home. So we had to purchase much more expensive tickets at the last-minute, which left very little time to make the critical connection.

Many of our eco-lodgings, tours, and birding guides became heavily booked even 12 months out. Several of them (listed below) were close to full booking when we reserved them about 10-11 months in advance. Plan and make reservations well in advance.

After planning your trip, continue to monitor the latest local conditions. You may want to change plans. We planned one lodging largely to visit Bunyip State Park in Victoria, but the Park was closed due to a large bushfire which occurred about 6 weeks before our trip began. If we'd been monitoring news from that area, we might have re-booked that lodging.

We prefer to stay longer at each location, then many other birders do. It means spending less of your time packing, unpacking and traveling. It means having a second and maybe a third chance to see birds you missed on your first attempt. And it provides a little chance to “get to know” the birds there, more than a brief look and a tick mark.

Traveling often means spending your mornings traveling instead of birding; or else, traveling late in the day after birding, which can be problematic in several ways.

As we changed time zones etc., our phone, camera, computer, etc. all developed incorrect date and time settings. At the time it seemed like a lot of work to reset them. But it would have been worth the effort to reset them immediately – easier than deciphering later when all those photos, videos, etc. were really taken. Either that, or make copious notes connecting your digital information with the correct date and time.

2) International flights. We used United for the trans-Pacific legs to and from Australia. Everything was similar to their domestic U.S. service except for more free TV and movie options, and three meals included with an economy seat instead of one meal costing extra. So each 13-14 hour flight to/from San Francisco began with a hot dinner followed by a sandwich, and ended with a hot breakfast.

We were surprised to experience fairly little “jet lag”. We were able to function fairly well on the first day, after each long flight and time zone change of 16 hours (or 8, depending on how you view it). The main effect seemed to be some uneven sleep during the subsequent 2-3 days.

3) Domestic flights. Checked baggage and carry-on baggage rules are very different on all Australian airlines compared with U.S. carriers. All of the limits were tighter (lower) than we were used to. We also misunderstood the limits described at the carrier's web sites before our trip. So when we arrived at the airport, we had to frantically rearrange our stuff, and paid higher last minute baggage fees.

So for several reasons, you should study the rules carefully (maybe even review the specifics with an airline agent), before you pack and before going to the airport. Plan what you'll bring on board with you, given the low limits on carry-on weight, keeping in mind that if you change airlines, the lowest limits will apply.

Jetstar failed to put one of our checked bags on one flight. However they did put it on the next plane, and a courier promptly delivered it to our lodging.

Qantas cancelled their flight to our crucial international connection (on a different airline). But to be fair, it was due to unusual and extreme weather, and they did grant a full refund when we had to switch to a different carrier to make our connection.

We also flew twice on Virgin Australia. In general all three domestic airlines had a similar level of comfort, cabin service, etc. Our choices of carrier for each leg were based strictly on schedule convenience and ticket cost, and we found nothing to support any other preference between the three.

4) Driving and rental cars. We rented 5 cars from Apex in 5 different cities. They are much less expensive than most of the major car hire companies, the cars were all excellent, unlimited mileage, and top rate customer service in every case. The one negative thing is that they are all located off-airport. You call them for shuttle pickup after collecting your baggage; and after returning the car, they shuttle you back to the airport.

For after-hours return (e.g. before an early flight), they rely on a third-party parking service. We used that twice, and in one case it took over a half hour to get us to the airport. Our other 9 shuttle rides to/ from the airports all went very quickly.

If you are comfortable planning for an extra 10-15 minutes for their off-airport locations, Apex is a great bargain. Or, if you already have to get up early because of an early flight, it might be worth using a more expensive on-airport company to get 15 minutes more sleep.

Note that most rental companies have restrictions on where you can drive. Check on that for your planned routes. Apex has some restrictions too; but they do permit their cars on Bruny Island, which some companies do not.

5) Navigation. In the past we have successfully navigated in foreign countries, driving in remote areas without a network connection, by pre-loading local maps under Google Maps in the Offline Maps section. That mostly worked again on this trip, except that both the brand-new Telstra cell (local phone, see below) and also our old iPad seemed to have frequent problems with their GPS navigation. It appeared the problem was that the devices couldn't correctly determine our location. (i.e. a hardware issue, not the Google Maps software).

I don't know the reason for this, or a good solution, other than navigating the old way: with a paper map.

6) Lodgings. We highly recommend the following 4 lodging options. O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat (near Brisbane) deserves its reputation as a great place to see birds, both accustomed to people and also wild ones. But plan ahead how you will eat there. Three meals a day at their restaurants was well beyond our budget. Instead we stayed at a self-contained villa. More expensive lodging of course, but we more than recouped that by cooking for ourselves. And of course, we were able to cook and eat on our own schedule which was quite different from the times at the restaurants. (The restaurant breakfast appeared to be quite sumptuous and the one dinner we ate there was excellent).

Kingfisher Park Birdwatchers Lodge in Julatten in North Queensland. Besides hiring Carol or Andrew Iles to provide excellent guiding, it also really pays off to stay there at least 2-3 nights. Because one, you will receive a daily wealth of current gen on the birds in the area, and advice on where to find them. And two, many good birds (and platypus and pademelons) are to be found around their property.

"43 Degrees" is the name of a unique eco-lodging (cottages) in Adventure Bay on the south portion of Bruny Island. Quiet, comfortable, very eco-friendly with daily hand-delivered, very good, fresh-baked continental breakfast. One block to the beach and 10-15 minutes drive to any of 3 good birding trails.

Every Man and His Dog Vineyard, a bed-and-breakfast in Richmond, a suburb of Hobart. Convenient to the airport and roughly equidistant between the birding destinations west of Hobart such as Peter Murrell Reserve, and to the east such as the Tasman Peninsula. Delightful friendly welcoming family place, with -friendly gardens near quaint rural town of Richmond. Excellent local home-cooked breakfast provided the night before, convenient to eat before or after early morning birding.

Besides these four, we also were very comfortable and satisfied at the following:

Meriton Suites has several locations in Sydney; the Waterloo location is convenient to grocery, pharmacy, cafés, and restaurants. Kiama Shores Motel (New South Wales) is convenient if you're going to the Barren Grounds, Budderoo National Park, or to a pelagic trip out of Kiama. The Comfort Inn in downtown Cairns is relatively inexpensive and convenient to the Esplanade and restaurants. In Yungaburra in the Atherton Tablelands, the Yungaburra Hotel is comfortable and very conveniently located near birding and platypus viewing opportunities, as well as an adorable small town, shops, and restaurants.

In the foothills east of Melbourne, the Sanctuary House Retreat Motel is comfortable and quiet. The adjacent small town of Healesville has small town charm. The Motel has a restaurant for dinner but only some nights, not all seven. To visit Cradle Mountain in Tasmania for more than a day, you'll save a lot of driving by staying at the park. All of the accommodations there are expensive, and book up long in advance. Again, we saved money by getting a self-contained cottage there and cooking for ourselves.

7) Food. .. was excellent everywhere we went. Not cheap, but we always felt it was worth the money. There was usually something available for a vegetarian, choices limited about the same as we typically find in the United States. Beef entrees (steak, pies, etc.) were good and relatively inexpensive. Many items both in restaurants and grocery stores (mangos, eggs, coffee, Arnott’s brand shortbread biscuits, etc.) were much better quality and flavor than we are used to.

8) Birding destinations. It helped us a lot to spend our first 1-2 days “in country” not at a key birding destination, but rather at our arrival city (Sydney, in our case). That was a good match-up of tired, slightly jet-lagged travelers, and (relatively) easy-to-learn common birds. We got our first lessons in Aussie avians comfortably seated on a suburban sidewalk, and strolling in a city park. That meant we arrived at our first “real” birding destination with more energy; and we could quickly tick off the common birds and focus on the local specialties.

New South Wales: The Mirramulla Rainforest Track (-34.6346, 150.7276) at Budderoo Nat'l Park may be overlooked as a birding destination, at least compared to nearby Barren Grounds. In any case it was far more productive for us, later on the same morning. We easily found two Lyrebirds along the track there, and many other birds, as well as our first echidna of the trip.

At the Royal National Park south of Sydney, the ranger suggested we walk on the Lady Carrington Track beginning at the south end, rather than from the parking lot at the north end near the visitor center. We did so, and it was indeed very “birdy” in the south section, parking at (-34.1488, 151.0303) and walking the trail N from there. (The visitor center area itself was also very good.)

Near Kiama, recent eBird reports led us to a good location not mentioned in Dolby & Clarke, the Jerrara Dam. Enter park at (-34.6743, 150.8044).

North Queensland: My initial research gave me the impression that Granite Gorge Nature Park could be something of a "tourist trap". But when you get past the feeding of the "wild" wallabies there, the property has a wealth of good birds. Several of our life birds were only found there. Enter at (-17.0488, 145.3509), and check along the entrance road as well as inside the park itself.

Many other destinations in N QLD, recommended by Dolby and Clarke and by many birders’ online trip reports, were also productive for us. Those included the Cairns Esplanade; Cairns’ Centenary (not so much, the nearby Botanic Gardens); Cattana ; Newell Beach boat ramp; Daintree River, north of the ferry; Rifle Creek rest stop near Mt. Molloy; Mt. Lewis; Mt. Carbine caravan park; Hasties ; Mt. Hypipamee; Curtain Fig NP; and Cradle Lakes NP ( Eacham and Lake Borrine).

Of that list, the two most productive for us were probably the Esplanade and the Hasties Swamp bird hide. But all of the above were worthwhile. We saw different birds along the Esplanade at different tides; as others have written, the best approach is to visit during rising tide (starting 3-4 hours before high tide). Check the whole beach (about 1 km long) including both ends, and the middle section (near Muddy’s Café). At any given time, some of the birds there were only present at one section.

Mt. Lewis was fantastic too but then again, we were with a fantastic guide. The road was easy to drive under dry conditions but check first of course; it’s probably much worse when wet.

At Mt. Carbine, you should check in first with the friendly camp host. It is a private park and we birders need to be polite when we visit, and offer to pay. Enter at (-16.5320, 145.1385).

As for many birders, Etty Bay was productive for our close-up Cassowary experience.

Abbatoir Swamp per se is mostly dried up, but people still recommend checking the car park area there. (We were there on a very windy day.) The Mareeba Wetlands has been closed for some time; check ahead before planning to go there. Ditto the boardwalks on the north side of Cairns, south of the airport – also closed.

Southeast Queensland: I certainly hope this information becomes irrelevant very soon. But we were amazed by the amount of smoke in the air in the SE region, due to recent bushfires. The O’Reilly’s resort was open for business as usual; but sadly, the nearby Binna Burra resort was burned down in September.

What should have been a magnificent view inland from our villa on the mountain ridge was a very hazy scene, with even the nearest ranges obscured in the afternoons. We had a slight cough and sore throat while staying there, clearly caused by the smoke in the air. So check ahead of time about the recent fire conditions.

The great birding at O’Reilly’s may have been impacted by the dry conditions and smoke but we still found most target species there – wonderful place to stay and bird.

Victoria: The Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) near Werribee (west of Melbourne) is a well-known destination for birding. The Dolby and Clarke book also recommends nearby regional park for birding. We did not visit You Yangs. But also close by is Serendip Sanctuary, and that was a fantastic place to see birds. I suspect it is much newer and less well-known (if you rely on older references, as I did.) But we highly recommend Serendip either before or after your visit to Werribee. Park near (-38.0058, 144.4121).

Note, foreign visitors can apply for a free short-term permit to visit the WTP. If you apply online ahead of time, this is easy. The only drawbacks are 1) you can only pick up the entry key after 9 AM, and must return it by 4 PM; and 2) the key pickup and drop-off are at Werribee Park, a zoo some distance from the WTP.

Bunyip State Park has been an increasingly popular destination, barely mentioned by Dolby and Clarke; but unfortunately is now mostly closed due to a bushfire which occurred in September 2019. Check ahead before planning to visit there - see if it has reopened, and also how much of the park is degraded by the fire.

If you are staying in the Melbourne area, our friend Kurt Gaskill showed us a real gem of a suburban park, Shepherds Bush, located in Glen Waverley in the east suburbs. Many goodies there such as Cuckoos, Powerful Owl, Sacred Kingfisher, and others. We parked at (-37.8847, 145.1903).

The popular Wirrawulla Rainforest Track in Toolangi State Forest was unaccountably unproductive for us. We saw more birds briefly stopping along the road to the track, than we did in an hour intently birding along the boardwalk and an adjacent track uphill from there.

Tasmania: After spending 24 days in mainland Australia and listing 289 species, in Tasmania we added 40 more. My point is that Tasmania can be quite productive for your overall Australia list. Our time in Tasmania added twice as many non-endemic birds to our list, as it did with all of its endemics.

Bruny Island deserves its reputation as a spectacular destination for birds, , and pristine natural beauty. But plan ahead how you will eat there - the options are limited particularly for breakfast. We found all the Tasmanian endemic birds (most but not all on Bruny) without hiring a guide (such as Inala). Of those, we were lucky to briefly get on the Swift Parrot and 40-spotted Pardalote without a guide - the others were easier. All of the eBird “hot spots” we tried on both North Bruny Island and South Bruny were nicely productive for us.

If you can stay at least one night on Bruny Island, you can go to “the Neck” at sunset. At the end of dusk, the Little Penguins return from their day in the ocean and you can view them (barely, in the dark) from a platform next to the beach. Park at (-43.2703, 147.3475).

We found some good birds at Cradle Mountain, but the main attractions there were the mammals and the scenery. It is probably not worth a trip strictly for ticking off bird species. We did however find it well worth 2-3 days there, just to see the and unique high-elevation rainforest and heath landscapes. It was quite cold there in mid November!!

Gould’s (upriver, north-northwest of Hobart) was wonderful, including the only Freckled Ducks we saw. The place to park is on the west side, at the northeast end of Presnell Street (-42.7648, 147.2399).

At the Peter Murrell Reserves south of Hobart, some reports suggest there is access along the northwest boundary e.g. off Huntingfield Avenue. Google Maps does show two “roads” or tracks into the Conservation Area from there. We found that both of those are gated, private properties. It may be possible to park in the nearby school property and walk in from there, but we were unsure about parking there.

We found it easy instead to park on public streets along the northeast boundary, along either Scarborough Avenue or Lady Penrhyn Drive, e.g. (-42.9987, 147.3007).

The well-known Ferntree track (at the base of Mt. Wellington, southwest of Hobart) produced very little for us. It was a nice spring day, but we started late, at 10:15 AM. Maybe it’s better as an early-morning place; or we just happened to be there on a slow day.

9) Guides and Tours. We cheaply only hired three guides and two pelagic tours (each for a single day) during our visit of 5 weeks staying at 10 different lodgings. However, for various specific reasons we felt we didn't really need to hire guides at 3 of those locations. All three of our guides were excellent. Carol and Andrew Iles hardly need any more recommendation, but we happily add ours. The same is true of Alan Gillanders. Both Carol and Alan offer a stunning depth and breadth of knowledge about nature in Queensland - geology, flowers, , reptiles, etc. - as well as the birds. Alan is also a very good nocturnal guide, and I suspect Carol is too.

We had a great boat trip on the Daintree River with local expert Ian "Sauce" Worcester. All three operate in North Queensland, are incredibly knowledgeable, very pleasant to be with for a day, and gracefully accommodated our unique wishes.

Our other two "guides" were the tour leaders for our two pelagic trips. Lindsay Smith was great on the cruise out of Kiama, New South Wales, sponsored by SOSSA (Southern Oceans Seabird Study Association). Then at the end of our trip we went out of Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania, on the Inala tour brilliantly led by Karen Dick.

Both of these pelagic trips found us many great life birds and unique sightings. Both guides were excellent. I won't compare the two trips because we only went once on each one, a poor sample size. I think people generally find more total birds out of Eaglehawk Neck. One qualitative difference is that the SOSSA folks capture and band sea birds. It was a big added attraction to watch their team take turns handling an Albatross and several Petrels.

I became one of the many birders who have never previously had any motion sickness on any boat, but found themselves badly needing Dramamine on these Australian pelagic cruises.

10) Birding planning. Because Australia has so many possible species, I made up a checklist of "fairly likely" and "barely possible" birds for each of our destinations, ahead of time, using eBird historical data. That was a lot of work, but it helped in two ways. One: At each of our locations, we held in our hands a customized checklist showing what was likely, or rare, or (by omission) unheard of, at that specific location. Much more useful than the broad, generalized maps and notes in the field guide. With that in hand, we spent much less time considering which species we were seeing, on many occasions. And Two: We had a much shorter list of species to study, both before the trip, and the night before each birding day.

It will help to pre-study some of the species you might encounter. As an example, I knew ahead of time that we would likely see in several areas, before arriving in Tasmania where we would need to distinguish it from the endemic (and very similar) Tasmanian Thornbill. Armed with this knowledge, we made extra effort to photograph and study the Browns on the mainland.

11) Resources. For long-term trip planning, we relied on birders’ online trip reports, and the Dolby & Clarke book about where to find birds in Australia. Once we’d set up our itinerary, I put Dolby & Clarke on the bookshelf, and relied mostly on others’ trip reports and on eBird.

Of course eBird is a great tool both for recent bird sightings and for historical statistical data. I spent some time investigating sites unique to Australia (Eremaea, Birdline, etc.), because many Aussie birders don't use eBird. In several ways, Eremaea and Birdline are nicely tailored for data collection and bird conservation efforts, and “good on them” for sure. But I found eBird more useful for getting us onto good birds.

Several people including very serious Australian birders agreed with me that the illustrations in Pizzey & Knight leave a lot to be desired, and at least one of them said that about "the field guides", implying there is no superb option. Two visiting birders opined that "the blue book" was better.

We also made heavy use of the Pizzey&Knight app. It was fairly equivalent to the book, with some shortcomings. It is missing the two page comparison of "hawks in flight", which is a disastrous omission if you see a hawk only in flight. The logic also completely escapes me, of how one's specific location affects the list of birds presented, and also how one manages that input.

The "similar birds" feature really offers nothing over the paper book edition. It simply brings up the field guide's page with the basis bird. I.e. there is no species-specific listing of similar birds, other than the (often limited) text in the Similar Species section of each bird's description, identical to that in the book. Often, to get to the field guide page for a similar bird you want to study, you must 1) independently know that it is a similar possible species; and then 2) go back through the home page to find it.

The app is very helpful however, for the large database of bird vocalizations. That helped us ID many of the birds we encountered. I was glad to spend the extra $$ for both paper book and app, just for that. Other than the vocalizations, I found the heavy paper book much more useful than the app on my phone.

My recommendations after birding in Australia for five weeks and relying on Pizzey & Knight are: 1) investigate alternate field guides; 2) find photographs online of some of the species more difficult to identify; and 3) rely less on field guide illustrations to ID a bird than you normally would. For one example, we saw Gerygones everywhere which matched no illustration - they had completely plain gray heads and faces. We could only guess they were a female or immature, possibly Brown G, not shown in the book or app.

The other fantastic resource available to you in Australia is other birders that you meet - and even "normal" people - everyone seems to know a lot about their local birds and where to find them. With everyone being so friendly and helpful, all we had to do was to respond similarly, and we were rewarded with lots of helpful "gen" (a British / Aussie term for "useful information"). Our innkeeper at 43 Degrees on Bruny Island shared very useful insight on several key species, for example.

12) Phones and Internet. After determining that our AT&T and Verizon (USA) phones would not work in Australia, we decided to buy a Nokia phone ($120 US) at Harvey Norman (chain electronics store), and a pre-paid cell plan from the largest comms company in Oz, Telstra ($28 US for 35 days). The plan provided unlimited calls (even international) and a set amount of data (texting and Internet) for a limited time, enough for our holiday there. We spent a little more on the phone to get one that was unlocked - so it will still be useful at home, and also on any international trip. (It supports all the protocols - WCDMA for the USA, GSM around the world, and LTE anywhere.)

It worked very well for the first few weeks but then for some reason stopped sending texts to any foreign cell (i.e., outside of Australia). We were still well under the data limit. Telstra was unable to solve the problem over the phone - we never got it fixed.

The country has widespread Internet infrastructure – WiFi at McDonald's, local cafés, etc. - and most of our lodgings had Wi-Fi. So generally we could communicate with family, and connect with eBird, with some inconvenience. But as in any country, remote locations are less reliable. There was no Internet or cell network at Cradle Mountain in inland Tasmania, for example.

13) Packing. Besides the obvious items like appropriate clothing, medications, etc., a couple of less-obvious items include waterproof bags for a pelagic trip; and copies of your itinerary, passport, and other important info. If like us you decide to switch to an Aussie cell phone, you might want to bring a written list of contact info from your home cell phone. (Unless you remember all of your contacts' phone numbers better than we do!)

Australia uses different voltages and different electrical plugs than those used in the U.S. We bought a converter and added our own “power strip” plugged into one of the U.S.-style outlets. That provided us with plenty of compatible outlets for our (many) devices - battery chargers, etc.

Australia is a great place for “spotlighting”. We brought along an expensive high-powered flashlight, and used it successfully in two different locations to find nocturnal mammals. With more effort I suspect we would have eventually gotten an owl or two with it, too. It is recommended you put red cellophane or something similar over the light to reduce impact on wildlife.

Also: we learned that higher power laser pointers (often used by birders) are prohibited. We were detained at the airport for carrying a pointer (in our carry-on bag) rated over 1.0 milliwatt. We were informed that you might be OK with one in your checked luggage, but we will definitely leave ours home next time. One tense interview with the federal police (and a confiscated $100 pointer, and very nearly missed international flight) is plenty enough for this birder.

See above, under Domestic flights, regarding different limits on checked and carry-on luggage.

14) Sightseeing. Besides birding per se, we enjoyed and recommend the following.

At Cairns, instead of a "typical" boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef for snorkeling, many birders opt for a trip to Michaelmas Cay for both birding and snorkeling. Our variation on that was a short plane ride over the reef combined with a (relatively) short boat trip to the much closer Green Island for snorkeling or island birding. This provided us with a view of a sizable portion of the reef from the air, a stunning aerial view of the birds on the Cay, and almost 3 hours of island birding on Green Island.

At Sydney, the harbor ferries are a fine and affordable way to see a lot of the city sights.

In Launceston, the “second city” of Tasmania, the beautiful Cataract Gorge park was worth a visit and provided our first few Tassie life birds. Park at (-41.4464, 147.1241). You can visit the park with just a parking fee; the chair lift is optional.

We found every small town to be delightful. Those included Kiama (New South Wales); Yungaburra (Queensland); Healesville (Victoria); and Deloraine and Richmond (Tasmania).

The southern stars, in particular the southern Milky Way, are magnificent. If you get away from the big cities, a lot of Australia has wonderfully dark skies. We saw both Magellanic Clouds (the nearest galaxies beyond our Milky Way) quite easily with our naked eyes, from two different locations. The “Clouds” and the southern Milky Way are fantastic in binoculars under a dark sky.

A unique and quirky cultural feature is Australia's "Big Things", found all over the country. We researched the list at wikipedia.org and succeeded in seeing several that were convenient to our itinerary. Our "Big" list included the Big Barramundi (a species), the Big Rubik's Cube, the Big Captain Cook, the Big Peanut, the Big Cone Shell, the Big Watermelon Slice, etc.

15) Birds seen / heard, and selected notes. We found 333 bird species in Australia, including 308 life birds. The following is based on eBird/Clements August 2019 version, selected notes on a few species. When a location is given, that is the only place we found that species. Species shown here with no note were either easy to find, easy to identify, or both.

species notes 1 Southern Cassowary - Casuarius casuarius Daintree Nat'l Park (Jindalba trail) and Etty Bay (caravan park at beach) 2 Emu - Dromaius novaehollandiae Serendip Sanctuary (near Werribee, Victoria) 3 - Anseranas semipalmata 4 Plumed Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna eytoni Tablelands day tour with Alan Gillanders 5 Wandering Whistling-Duck - Dendrocygna Tablelands day tour with Alan Gillanders arcuata 6 Cape Barren Goose - Cereopsis Western Waste Treatment Plant (Melbourne) ("WTP") novaehollandiae 7 Freckled Duck - Stictonetta naevosa Gould's Lagoon (Tasmania). Nomadic; check latest eBird reports 8 Black Swan - Cygnus atratus 9 Radjah Shelduck - Radjah radjah Daintree River boat trip 10 Australian Shelduck - Tadorna tadornoides 11 Green Pygmy-Goose - Nettapus pulchellus Cattana Wetlands (near Cairns) 12 Maned Duck - Chenonetta jubata 13 Australian Shoveler - Spatula rhynchotis Gould's Lagoon (Tasmania) 14 Pacific Black Duck - Anas superciliosa 15 Mallard 16 Gray Teal - Anas gracilis 17 Chestnut Teal - Anas castanea females are very similar to Gray Teal 18 Pink-eared Duck - Malacorhynchus membranaceus 19 Hardhead - Aythya australis 20 Blue-billed Duck - Oxyura australis WTP 21 Musk Duck - Biziura lobata 22 Australian Brushturkey - Alectura lathami 23 Orange-footed Scrubfowl - Megapodius reinwardt 24 Stubble Quail - Coturnix pectoralis WTP (heard only) 25 Australasian Grebe - Tachybaptus novaehollandiae 26 Hoary-headed Grebe - Poliocephalus poliocephalus 27 Great Crested Grebe 28 Rock Pigeon - Columba livia 29 White-headed Pigeon - Columba leucomela Lake Eacham (QLD) 30 Spotted Dove - Streptopelia chinensis 31 Brown Cuckoo-Dove - Macropygia phasianella 32 Pacific Emerald Dove - Chalcophaps Kingfisher Park (QLD) longirostris 33 Common Bronzewing - Phaps chalcoptera 34 Brush Bronzewing - Phaps elegans Tasmania 35 Crested Pigeon - Ocyphaps lophotes 36 Squatter Pigeon - Geophaps scripta Granite Gorge (QLD) 37 Wonga Pigeon - Leucosarcia melanoleuca O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat 38 Peaceful Dove - Geopelia placida 39 Bar-shouldered Dove - Geopelia humeralis 40 Wompoo Fruit-Dove - Ptilinopus magnificus Daintree River boat trip, and night tour with Alan Gillanders 41 Torresian Imperial-Pigeon - Ducula spilorrhoa 42 Topknot Pigeon - Lopholaimus antarcticus 43 Australian Bustard - Ardeotis australis 44 Pheasant Coucal - Centropus phasianinus 45 Pacific Koel - Eudynamys orientalis 46 Channel-billed Cuckoo - Scythrops novaehollandiae 47 Shining Bronze-Cuckoo - Chrysococcyx lucidus Tasmania 48 Fan-tailed Cuckoo - Cacomantis flabelliformis 49 Tawny Frogmouth - Podargus strigoides N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles 50 Papuan Frogmouth - Podargus papuensis Daintree River boat trip 51 Australian Owlet-nightjar - Aegotheles night tour with Alan Gillanders cristatus 52 White-throated Needletail - Hirundapus O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat caudacutus 53 Australian Swiftlet - Aerodramus terraereginae 54 Buff-banded Rail - Gallirallus philippensis 55 Black-tailed Nativehen - Tribonyx ventralis Serendip Sanctuary (near Werribee, Victoria) 56 Tasmanian Nativehen - Tribonyx mortierii Tasmania 57 Dusky Moorhen - Gallinula tenebrosa 58 Eurasian Coot - Fulica atra 59 Australasian Swamphen - Porphyrio debatably a subsp of Purple Swamphen found melanotus elsewhere 60 White-browed Crake - Amaurornis cinerea 61 Sarus Crane - Antigone antigone Tablelands day tour with Alan Gillanders 62 - Antigone rubicunda Serendip Sanctuary (near Werribee, Victoria) 63 Bush Thick-knee - Burhinus grallarius 64 Beach Thick-knee - Esacus magnirostris 65 Pied Stilt - Himantopus leucocephalus 66 Red-necked Avocet - Recurvirostra WTP novaehollandiae 67 Pied Oystercatcher - Haematopus longirostris 68 Sooty Oystercatcher - Haematopus fuliginosus 69 Pacific Golden-Plover Green Island National Park 70 Masked Lapwing - Vanellus miles 71 Lesser Sand-Plover - Charadrius mongolus Cairns Esplanade 72 Red-kneed Dotterel - Erythrogonys cinctus WTP 73 Hooded Plover - Thinornis cucullatus Bruny Island, Tasmania 74 Black-fronted Dotterel - Elseyornis melanops 75 Comb-crested Jacana - Irediparra gallinacea 76 Whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus Cairns Esplanade 77 Far Eastern Curlew - Numenius Cairns Esplanade madagascariensis 78 Bar-tailed Godwit - Limosa lapponica 79 Black-tailed Godwit - Limosa limosa Cairns Esplanade 80 Great Knot Cairns Esplanade 81 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - Calidris acuminata 82 Curlew Sandpiper - Calidris ferruginea 83 Red-necked Stint - Calidris ruficollis 84 Terek Sandpiper - Xenus cinereus Cairns Esplanade 85 Common Sandpiper - Actitis hypoleucos 86 Gray-tailed Tattler - Tringa brevipes 87 Common Greenshank - Tringa nebularia 88 Sandpiper - Tringa stagnatilis WTP 89 Brown Skua - Stercorarius antarcticus pelagic 90 Parasitic Jaeger - Stercorarius parasiticus pelagic 91 Silver Gull - Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae 92 Pacific Gull - Larus pacificus 93 Kelp Gull - Larus dominicanus 94 Black Noddy - Anous minutus pelagic 95 Bridled Tern - Onychoprion anaethetus pelagic 96 Australian Fairy Tern - Sternula nereis Tasmania 97 Gull-billed Tern - Gelochelidon nilotica Cairns Esplanade 98 Caspian Tern - Hydroprogne caspia 99 White-winged Tern - Chlidonias leucopterus WTP (Western Waste Treatment Plant) 100 Whiskered Tern - Chlidonias hybrida 101 Black-naped Tern - Sterna sumatrana 102 Common Tern - Sterna hirundo Cairns Esplanade 103 Great Crested Tern - Thalasseus bergii 104 - Eudyptula minor Tasmania several of our pelagic birds listed here actually represent multiple species (according to our trip leaders), if we were to use the Australian taxonomy, which splits up many of these. Here I'm only showing the (merged) eBird/Clements species. 105 Buller's Albatross - Thalassarche bulleri pelagic 106 White-capped Albatross - Thalassarche cauta pelagic 107 Salvin's Albatross - Thalassarche salvini pelagic 108 Black-browed Albatross - Thalassarche pelagic (we also saw Campbell's A. subspecies) melanophris 109 Royal Albatross - Diomedea epomophora pelagic (Southern Royal A. subspecies) 110 Wandering Albatross - Diomedea exulans pelagic (we also saw Shy A. subspecies) 111 Wilson's Storm-Petrel - Oceanites oceanicus pelagic 112 Northern Giant-Petrel - Macronectes halli pelagic 113 Gray-faced Petrel - Pterodroma gouldi pelagic 114 Providence Petrel - Pterodroma solandri pelagic 115 White-chinned Petrel - Procellaria pelagic aequinoctialis 116 Wedge-tailed Shearwater pelagic 117 Sooty Shearwater - Ardenna grisea pelagic 118 Short-tailed Shearwater - Ardenna tenuirostris pelagic 119 Hutton's Shearwater - Puffinus huttoni pelagic 120 Black-necked Stork - Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus 121 Australasian Gannet - Morus serrator 122 Australasian Darter - Anhinga novaehollandiae 123 Little Pied Cormorant - Microcarbo melanoleucos 124 Great Cormorant - Phalacrocorax carbo 125 Little Black Cormorant - Phalacrocorax sulcirostris 126 Pied Cormorant - Phalacrocorax varius 127 Black-faced Cormorant - Phalacrocorax fuscescens 128 Australian Pelican - Pelecanus conspicillatus 129 Pacific Heron - Ardea pacifica 130 Great Egret - Ardea alb 131 Intermediate Egret - Ardea intermedia study neck length to ID from Great Egret 132 White-faced Heron - Egretta novaehollandiae 133 Little Egret - Egretta garzetta 134 Pacific Reef-Heron - Egretta sacra 135 Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis 136 Striated Heron - Butorides striata 137 Rufous Night-Heron - Nycticorax caledonicus 138 Glossy Ibis - Plegadis falcinellus Hasties Swamp, Queensland 139 Australian Ibis - Threskiornis molucca 140 Straw-necked Ibis - Threskiornis spinicollis 141 Royal Spoonbill - Platalea regia 142 Yellow-billed Spoonbill - Platalea flavipes WTP 143 Osprey - Pandion haliaetus 144 Black-shouldered Kite - Elanus axillaris identical appearance and behavior to N. American "White-shouldered K" (which was formerly called "Black-shouldered K") 145 Pacific Baza - Aviceda subcristata 146 Little Eagle - Hieraaetus morphnoides Serendip Sanctuary 147 Wedge-tailed Eagle - Aquila audax 148 Swamp Harrier - Circus approximans 149 Spotted Harrier - Circus assimilis Tablelands day tour with Alan Gillanders 150 Gray Goshawk - Accipiter novaehollandiae 151 Black Kite - Milvus migrans the default raptor in many places, analogous to Red-tailed Hawk in California 152 Whistling Kite - Haliastur sphenurus 153 Brahminy Kite - Haliastur indus Daintree Village 154 White-bellied Sea-Eagle - Haliaeetus leucogaster 155 Barn Owl - Tyto alba night tour with Alan Gillanders 156 Powerful Owl - Ninox strenua Shepherds Bush park (Melbourne) 157 Azure Kingfisher - Ceyx azureus Daintree River boat trip 158 Laughing Kookaburra - Dacelo novaeguineae 159 Blue-winged Kookaburra - Dacelo leachii N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles 160 Forest Kingfisher - Todiramphus macleayii 161 Torresian Kingfisher - Todiramphus sordidus Centenary Lakes (Cairns) 162 Sacred Kingfisher - Todiramphus sanctus Shepherds Bush park (Melbourne) 163 Rainbow Bee-eater - Merops ornatus 164 Dollarbird - Eurystomus orientalis 165 Australian Kestrel - Falco cenchroides 166 Australian Hobby - Falco longipennis Tasmania 167 Brown Falcon - Falco berigora the giss with this bird always seemed like a Buteo, not a Falco 168 Peregrine Falcon - Falco peregrinus Your time with parrots is usually very limited. Always, *always* be listening for parrot voices and when you do hear them, instantly scan the sky, naked eye. Even if you don't get field marks in flight, you'll have more time to view them during a brief perch. This is essential to see and ID more parrot species. 169 Red-tailed Black- - Calyptorhynchus banksii 170 Glossy Black-Cockatoo - Calyptorhynchus O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat lathami 171 Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo - Calyptorhynchus funereus 172 Galah - Eolophus roseicapilla 173 Long-billed Corella - Cacatua tenuirostris 174 Little Corella - Cacatua sanguinea Kiama, New South Wales 175 Sulphur-crested Cockatoo - Cacatua galerita ubiquitous and deafening bird. I nicknamed it for its flight style "Sulphur-crested Battering Ram" 176 Australian King-Parrot - Alisterus scapularis 177 Red-winged Parrot - Aprosmictus North Queensland tour with Carol Iles erythropterus 178 Blue-winged Parrot - Neophema chrysostoma Bruny Island, Tasmania 179 Swift Parrot - Lathamus discolor Bruny Island, Tasmania 180 Green Rosella - Platycercus caledonicus Tasmania 181 Crimson Rosella - Platycercus elegans 182 Eastern Rosella - Platycercus eximius 183 Pale-headed Rosella - Platycercus adscitus Your time with parrots is usually very limited. Always, *always* be listening for parrot voices and when you do hear them, instantly scan the sky, naked eye. Even if you don't get field marks in flight, you'll have more time to view them during a brief perch. This is essential to see and ID more parrot species. 184 Red-rumped Parrot - Psephotus WTP haematonotus 185 Double-eyed Fig-Parrot - Cyclopsitta Lake Eacham diophthalma 186 Musk Lorikeet - Glossopsitta concinna Tasmania 187 Rainbow Lorikeet - Trichoglossus moluccanus 188 Scaly-breasted Lorikeet - Trichoglossus Lake Eacham chlorolepidotus 189 Albert's Lyrebird - Menura alberti O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat 190 Superb Lyrebird - Menura novaehollandiae 191 Spotted Catbird - Ailuroedus maculosus 192 Green Catbird - Ailuroedus crassirostris 193 Tooth-billed Bowerbird - Scenopoeetes N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles and Tablelands day dentirostris tour with Alan Gillanders 194 Golden Bowerbird - Amblyornis newtoniana Tablelands day tour with Alan Gillanders 195 Regent Bowerbird - Sericulus chrysocephalus O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat 196 Satin Bowerbird - Ptilonorhynchus violaceus O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat 197 Great Bowerbird - Chlamydera nuchalis 198 White-throated Treecreeper - Cormobates I found it difficult to spot this species, heard in many leucophaea places, only seen once. 199 Lovely Fairywren - amabilis Rifle Creek rest area (Mt. Molloy, Queensland) 200 - Malurus cyaneus compare Lovely Fairywren 201 Red-backed Fairywren - Malurus melanocephalus 202 Eastern Spinebill - Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris 203 Yellow-spotted Honeyeater - Meliphaga compare Graceful HE, Lewin's HE notata 204 Lewin's Honeyeater - Meliphaga lewinii compare Yellow-spotted HE, Graceful HE 205 Graceful Honeyeater - Meliphaga gracilis Granite Gorge (Queensland) 206 Yellow Honeyeater - Stomiopera flava 207 Yellow-faced Honeyeater - Caligavis chrysops 208 Noisy Miner - Manorina melanocephala 209 Bridled Honeyeater - Bolemoreus frenatus 210 Little Wattlebird - Anthochaera chrysoptera 211 Red Wattlebird - Anthochaera carunculata 212 Yellow Wattlebird - Anthochaera paradoxa Tasmania 213 Varied Honeyeater - Gavicalis versicolor 214 White-plumed Honeyeater - Ptilotula penicillata 215 Brown-backed Honeyeater - Ramsayornis N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles modestus 216 White-fronted Chat - Epthianura albifrons 217 Dusky Myzomela - Myzomela obscura 218 Scarlet Myzomela - Myzomela sanguinolenta 219 Brown Honeyeater - Lichmera indistincta N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles 220 Crescent Honeyeater - Phylidonyris Tasmania pyrrhopterus 221 New Holland Honeyeater - Phylidonyris novaehollandiae 222 White-cheeked Honeyeater - Phylidonyris N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles niger 223 Yellow-throated Honeyeater - Nesoptilotis Tasmania flavicollis 224 Blue-faced Honeyeater - Entomyzon cyanotis 225 White-throated Honeyeater - Melithreptus albogularis 226 White-naped Honeyeater - Melithreptus lunatus 227 Black-headed Honeyeater - Melithreptus Tasmania (compare White-naped) affinis 228 Black-chinned Honeyeater - Melithreptus Rifle Creek rest area (Mt. Molloy, Queensland) gularis 229 Strong-billed Honeyeater - Melithreptus Tasmania validirostris 230 Macleay's Honeyeater - Xanthotis macleayanus 231 Helmeted Friarbird - Philemon buceroides 232 Noisy Friarbird - Philemon corniculatus 233 Spotted Pardalote - Pardalotus punctatus 234 Forty-spotted Pardalote - Pardalotus Bruny Island (Tasmania) quadragintus 235 Striated Pardalote - Pardalotus striatus 236 Yellow-throated Scrubwren - Sericornis citreogularis 237 White-browed Scrubwren - Sericornis frontalis 238 Tasmanian Scrubwren - Sericornis humilis Tasmania 239 Atherton Scrubwren - Sericornis keri N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles 240 Large-billed Scrubwren - Sericornis magnirostra 241 Scrubtit - Acanthornis magna Tasmania 242 Striated Fieldwren - Calamanthus fuliginosus inland Tasmania (heard only) 243 Mountain Thornbill - katherina N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles Brown T. is the most common of the Gerygone/Thornbill family. All are hard to identify because 1) they are very active (no view lasts more than 1 second); and 2) the species are very similar; diagnostic field marks are very subtle. 244 Brown Thornbill - Acanthiza pusilla 245 Tasmanian Thornbill - Acanthiza ewingii Tasmania 246 Yellow-rumped Thornbill - Acanthiza chrysorrhoa 247 Large-billed Gerygone - Gerygone magnirostris 248 Brown Gerygone - Gerygone mouki some birds can look much plainer than shown in field guide 249 Gray-crowned Babbler - Pomatostomus Granite Gorge (Queensland) temporalis 250 Australian Logrunner - Orthonyx temminckii O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat 251 Chowchilla - Orthonyx spaldingii N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles 252 Barred Cuckooshrike - Coracina lineata 253 Black-faced Cuckooshrike - Coracina novaehollandiae 254 White-bellied Cuckooshrike - Coracina papuensis 255 White-winged Triller - Lalage tricolor female is tricky to ID 256 Varied Triller - Lalage leucomela female looks like a cuckoo species!! 257 Common Cicadabird - Edolisoma tenuirostre N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles 258 Eastern Whipbird - Psophodes olivaceus one of the oddest of all bird vocalizations. 259 Bower's Shrikethrush - Colluricincla boweri 260 Gray Shrikethrush - Colluricincla harmonica provided most of the wonderful bird song during our entire trip 261 Little Shrikethrush - Colluricincla Kingfisher Park (QLD). Relative size helps ID from megarhyncha Gray ST. 262 Olive Whistler - Pachycephala olivacea Tasmania (heard only) 263 Golden Whistler - Pachycephala pectoralis 264 Rufous Whistler - Pachycephala rufiventris 265 Olive-backed Oriole - Oriolus sagittatus O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat; compare Figbird, Green O

266 Green Oriole - Oriolus flavocinctus compare Figbird, Olive-backed O 267 Australasian Figbird - Sphecotheres vieilloti 268 Yellow-breasted Boatbill - Machaerirhynchus flaviventer 269 White-breasted Woodswallow - Artamus leucorynchus 270 Dusky Woodswallow - Artamus cyanopterus Tasmania 271 Gray - torquatus 272 Pied Butcherbird - Cracticus nigrogularis 273 Black Butcherbird - Cracticus quoyi 274 - Gymnorhina tibicen 275 Pied - Strepera graculina 276 Black Currawong - Strepera fuliginosa Tasmania 277 Gray Currawong - Strepera versicolor Tasmania 278 Northern Fantail - Rhipidura rufiventris N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles; similar to Gray F, study marks ahead of time 279 Willie-wagtail - Rhipidura leucophrys "Allo, Willie !!" was our frequent refrain on many outings. 280 Rufous Fantail - Rhipidura rufifrons 281 Gray Fantail - Rhipidura albiscapa 282 Spangled Drongo - Dicrurus bracteatus easily confused with other all-black birds unless you see the tail - then it's easy 283 Paradise Riflebird - Ptiloris paradiseus O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat 284 Victoria's Riflebird - Ptiloris victoriae 285 Black-faced Monarch - Monarcha melanopsis 286 Spectacled Monarch - Symposiachrus trivirgatus 287 Pied Monarch - Arses kaupi Kingfisher Park (QLD) 288 Magpie-lark - Grallina cyanoleuca 289 Leaden Flycatcher - Myiagra rubecula 290 Satin Flycatcher - Myiagra cyanoleuca tough to distinguish from Leaden - study field marks ahead of time, take photos if you can 291 Shining Flycatcher - Myiagra alecto Daintree River boat trip 292 White-winged Chough - Corcorax Serendip Sanctuary melanorhamphos 293 Apostlebird - Struthidea cinerea N. Queensland tour with Carol Iles 294 Torresian Crow - Corvus orru O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat 295 Australian Raven - Corvus coronoides 296 Little Raven - Corvus mellori 297 Forest Raven - Corvus tasmanicus Tasmania 298 Scarlet Robin - Petroica boodang Tasmania 299 Flame Robin - Petroica phoenicea 300 Rose Robin - Petroica rosea 301 Pink Robin - Petroica rodinogaster Tasmania 302 Dusky Robin - Melanodryas vittata Tasmania 303 Pale-yellow Robin - Tregellasia capito 304 Eastern Yellow Robin - Eopsaltria australis 305 Gray-headed Robin - Heteromyias cinereifrons 306 Australasian Bushlark - Mirafra javanica WTP; compare Skylark, Pipit 307 Eurasian Skylark - Alauda arvensis compare Bushlark, Pipit 308 Golden-headed Cisticola - Cisticola exilis 309 Australian Reed Warbler - Acrocephalus WTP australis 310 Little Grassbird - Poodytes gramineus WTP (Western Waste Treatment Plant) 311 Brown Songlark - Cincloramphus cruralis WTP 312 Welcome Swallow - Hirundo neoxena 313 Fairy Martin - Petrochelidon ariel 314 Tree Martin - Petrochelidon nigricans 315 Red-whiskered Bulbul - Pycnonotus jocosus 316 Silvereye - Zosterops lateralis 317 Metallic Starling - Aplonis metallica 318 European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris 319 Common Myna - Acridotheres tristis 320 Bassian Thrush - Zoothera lunulata Tasmania 321 Russet-tailed Thrush - Zoothera heinei O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat 322 Eurasian Blackbird - Turdus merula 323 Mistletoebird - Dicaeum hirundinaceum 324 Olive-backed Sunbird - Cinnyris jugularis 325 Red-browed Firetail - Neochmia temporalis 326 Crimson Finch - Neochmia phaeton Cattana Wetlands (QLD) 327 Double-barred Finch - Taeniopygia bichenovii Granite Gorge (Queensland) 328 Scaly-breasted Munia - Lonchura punctulata 329 Chestnut-breasted Munia - Lonchura castaneothorax 330 House Sparrow - Passer domesticus 331 Australasian Pipit - Anthus novaeseelandiae compare Skylark, Bushlark 332 European Greenfinch - Chloris chloris Tasmania (Hobart area) 333 European Goldfinch - Carduelis carduelis Tasmania (Hobart area) abbreviations:

HE Honeyeater ID identify O Oriole QLD Queensland ST Shrikethrush WTP Western Waste Treatment Plant (Werribee, near Melbourne)

16) Other taxa seen monotremes: Platypus - upstream from the viewing platform in Yungaburra, and at Kingfisher Park Echidna - near Minnamurra Rainforest Centre in Budderoo Nat'l Park, along roadsides in two places in "mainland" Tasmania, and one on Bruny Island (5 total, forgot location of one) marsupials: Antechinus - one on Bruny Island Wombats - many at Cradle Mountain nocturnal marsupials near Atherton with Alan Gillanders: Green Ringtail Possum Lemuroid Ringtail Possum Herbert River Ringtail Possum Agile Wallaby - N Queensland Black Wallaby - Serendip Sanctuary near Melbourne Eastern Gray Kangaroo - near Sydney airport, and at Serendip Sanctuary Red-legged Pademelon - throughout

(quasi-feral: Tasmanian Devils, Spotted-tail Quolls, and Eastern Spotted Quolls - only seen at sanctuaries such as Healesville, Devils at Cradle, etc. - did not see any completely wild ones.) placental mammals: Fur Seals – pelagic cruise Spectacled Flying Foxes - hundreds of them in downtown Cairns!! smaller bats - ditto (introduced, feral) deer, cats, reptiles, amphibians, fish: Lace Monitor – Mossman-Mt. Molloy Highway (route 44, Queensland) Blue-tongued Lizard - O’Reilly’s Rainforest Resort, along the Border Track Boyd’s Forest Dragon - Kingfisher Park Birdwatcher’s Lodge Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko - night tour with Alan Gillanders Frilled Agama – Granite Gorge park (Queensland) aka Frilled-necked Lizard Scrub Python - Kingfisher Park Birdwatcher’s Lodge Tiger Snake - boardwalk in Cradle Mountain National Park Mudskipper – Newell Beach (Queensland) Saw-shelled Turtle - Lake Eacham with Alan Gillanders sea turtles - aerial view over Great Barrier Reef Opah (sunfish) – pelagic cruise Tilapia (introduced) – Lake Eacham (Queensland) invertebrates: many funnel webs of funnel spiders (no spiders themselves) Ulysses Butterfly (aka Blue Emperor) - Daintree National Park Black Geometrid – Bruny Island (Tasmania) largest ants we’ve ever seen

I'll be happy to share any more info, but please be specific about what you want. -- -- stevejohnson2 at verizon dot net