GRAND AUSTRALIA PART I: NEW SOUTH WALES & THE NORTHERN TERRITORY SEPTEMBER 20–OCTOBER 6, 2019 Spangled Drongo © Max Breckenridge LEADERS: MAX BRECKENRIDGE & BARRY ZIMMER LIST COMPILED BY: MAX BRECKENRIDGE VICTOR EMANUEL NATURE TOURS, INC. 2525 WALLINGWOOD DRIVE, SUITE 1003 AUSTIN, TEXAS 78746 WWW.VENTBIRD.COM VENT’s Grand Australia tour has been a staple offering for almost two decades now, led by the insatiable Dion Hobcroft. Dion’s skills as a tour leader and his extensive knowledge of Australia, his home country, meant that the tour has grown immensely in popularity over the years. As such, in 2019, for the first time, VENT offered two subsequent trips for both Part I, Part II, and the extension to Tasmania. I was the primary leader for the first run of Grand Australia, with Dion to follow a week later (and David James in Tasmania). My co-leaders were the two Zimmer brothers, Kevin and Barry, who are two of VENT’s long-serving and most popular tour leaders. Barry joined me for Part I and Kevin was with me for three weeks during Part II and Tasmania. I learned a great deal from both and enjoyed their company immensely, making the whole five weeks of touring very enjoyable. Thanks are definitely in order to both Barry and Kevin, but also to Dion and David for their work in creating these tours. Of course, I must also thank Victor and Barry Lyon for their foresight and for putting their trust in me, as well as the office staff, in particular Erik and Rene, for making it all happen. Lastly, thank you to those of you reading this – the tour participants – you make these trips possible, and I hope you enjoyed your time down under just as much as I enjoyed showing you around! Part I of Grand Australia visits the southeastern state of New South Wales (NSW) and the wild Northern Territory (NT) during the southern hemisphere spring. In NSW we focus our time around the harbour city and state capital, Sydney. A wide variety of habitats, pleasant weather, and unique birds, coupled with good food and lodging, make this an excellent start to any tour. Our first afternoon was spent in the Royal Botanic Garden, with views of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, and just a short walk from our fine hotel. A pair of roosting Powerful Owls were the undoubted highlight, and we savored our time with these hulking beasts as they peered down at us through talons formidable enough to take down possums, flying foxes, and even the odd cockatoo! One of two Powerful Owls from the Royal Botanic Gardens (L) and a male Spotted Pardalote (R) in the Royal NP © M Breckenridge. One of my favorite aspects of Sydney is its proximity to extensive and untouched wilderness that almost encircle the sprawling suburbia. The Royal National Park was designated in 1879, making it one of the world’s oldest national parks, and marks the southern border of Sydney. We spent a great day here visiting riparian forest, sandstone ridges, and coastal heathland. One of our primary targets was the ancient and massive passerine, so famous for its repertoire of mimicry, the Superb Lyrebird. We experienced close views after a very short walk that also featured a male Satin Bowerbird with his carefully tended bower and collection of blue items. Members of other endemic or Australasian families came thick and fast, such as pardalotes, fairywrens, honeyeaters, whipbirds, thornbills, and treecreepers, as well as the only NSW endemic – Rockwarbler, on the cliffs overlooking the Tasman Sea. Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 2 Grand Australia Part I, 2019 Our time in Sydney was also highlighted by a pelagic trip in benign condition, but with a good array of southern seabirds. Our tally of 14 seabirds included four species of albatross amongst a decent variety of tubenoses, as well as encounters with Humpback Whales and great looks at a small pod of the scarce Risso’s Dolphin. A Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (L) from Royal NP and a flyby Parasitic Jaeger (R) from the Sydney Pelagic © M Breckenridge & S Gorta. Heading west of Sydney and over the Blue Mountains, part of the Great Dividing Range, we first stopped at the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. This area of reclaimed parkland has become a well-established refuge of remnant woodland and wetlands. We had great looks at the strange Tawny Frogmouth on a nest, as well as the beautiful Buff-banded Rail, regal Red-necked Avocet, and a curious Brown Quail. An afternoon visit to Lake Wallace on the western side of the mountains allowed for great photographic opportunities of a good variety of waterfowl, parrots, and two new species of thornbill. Our day in the famous Capertee Valley is always action-packed. This year would be no exception, starting off with a bang when a male Spotted Quail-thrush strutted around us in the grass-sloped woodland beneath towering sandstone cliffs it calls home. Enigmatic species of the temperate woodlands fell quickly with fantastic views of dapper Hooded Robins, petite and striking Turquoise Parrots, lovely Diamond Firetails, the unique Crested Shrike-tit, a songful Speckled Warbler, Jacky Winters galore, Brown Treecreepers piping away, and a welcome encounter with a flock of scarce Plum-headed Finches. The Capertee, as it is simply referred to, is known for a great array of honeyeaters (we recorded 14 species), but none are more coveted than the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater. Once a bird known to descend on flowering eucalypt trees in flocks of hundreds, its population has crashed to below 350 individuals. For this nomad that follows the flowering of specific trees, the Capertee had always been a historic stronghold, but fewer than eight individuals had been recorded in the valley over the last two years. Therefore, it was with much surprise and ensuing jubilation that we came across a singing male Regent Honeyeater, thanks to the efforts of a good friend and researcher who happened to find one minutes before we arrived at a certain location deep in the valley. Our day couldn’t have gotten much better from there, but we continued to tick up new species for the rest of the afternoon, as well as a close encounter with a friendly Common Wombat and a mob of Eastern Gray Kangaroos. Soon it was time for the drive back to Sydney, ready for our flight to Darwin the next morning. Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 3 Grand Australia Part I, 2019 Two ‘flower nomads,’ the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater (L) and a Noisy Friarbird (R) from the Capertee © M Breckenridge. The northern region of the NT, including Darwin, Kakadu National Park, and Arnhem Land, is typically referred to as the ‘top end.’ We would explore this wonderfully diverse and very Australian landscape for the next week before we flew to Alice Springs and Uluru. Darwin is a tropical city, with two well-defined seasons – the ‘wet’ and the ‘dry.’ Monsoon rains fall from December to March and flood much of the top end, bringing a bounty of life which then does its best to cling on through the oppressive heat of the dry season until the following monsoon. Our visit is timed towards the end of the dry season, when birds and other wildlife are concentrated around what water remains, but before the humidity and threat of tropical cyclones arrive. We enjoyed exploring a variety of parks, wetlands, and coastal locations around Darwin during the following days. Strange species like the wailing Bush Thick-knee, the mound-building Orange- footed Scrubfowl, partially bald friarbirds, stately Torresian Imperial-Pigeons, raucous lorikeets, and bright-yellow figbirds were all common residents around our hotel. Further afield, we kicked off a great morning at Howard Springs with a resplendent Rainbow Pitta calling from an exposed perch – most unlike the rest of what is a typically secretive, yet desirable Old World family. Both leaders breathed a sigh of relief when the checklist cover page bird, a beautiful Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, flew into view! A pair of the ever-wary Bush Thick-knee sticking to the shade and camouflaged leaf litter in Darwin © M Breckenridge. Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 4 Grand Australia Part I, 2019 We enjoyed two visits to a very birdy Knuckey’s Lagoon, a freshwater wetland, while we were in Darwin. The inviting mud and promise of easy fishing had brought thousands of birds here, including several hundred Pied Herons, at least a thousand Magpie Geese, and a great variety of waders, but best of all, a small party of the incredibly rare Yellow Chat! We soaked up our time with these striking little birds as they fed along the water’s edge, while amongst hundreds of Black and Whistling kites overhead, we picked out Black-breasted Buzzard and a Black Falcon. In the afternoon we made the most of the hightide and headed for the coast, where we enjoyed a great array of East Asian waders, here on their wintering grounds. The rocky shoreline at East Point featured Terek Sandpipers, Black-bellied and Pacific golden-plovers, both species of sand-plover, ridiculous Far Eastern Curlew, and Gray-tailed Tattlers, as well as a nice comparison between Great and Lesser Crested terns. A quick dash up the road to the sandflats of Buffalo Creek revealed a spectacle of thousands of Great Knots with a few Red Knots and Curlew Sandpipers mixed in. Pairs of both Pied and Sooty oystercatchers could also be seen further up the beach. Leaving Darwin behind, we ventured south to the regional town of Katherine.