Best Birds and r u aussie? (1 Viewer)

[owleteyes]

Hi!
Is anyone here australian?
If not, what country are you from, and what are the top 3 birds you've seen in your country?
If yes, what state do you live in and what are the top 3 places you've been and top 3 birds you've seen in oz?
It would be great to make friends with heaps of you guys!

be my friend!
owleteyes:eek!:

 

[Adin 92]

My Country is Malta and i am from a small island called Gozo and i have relatives in Australia and i know there are alot of Maltese people in Australia

 

[kiwicraig7]

Hey Aussie,
I'm a Kiwi yes your neighbor to the south, well to the north I guess since I now live in Canada. This is very worldly bird forum probably the best one I've seen so far and I'm sure you'll find some fellow Aussie's here somewhere.

Enjoy your stay here on Bird forum.

 

[John_WA]

Yes, I'm an aussie, from WA. I haven't had the chance to do much birding over east, so my top 3s are pretty biased to the west!

Top 3 Places I've been (for birding)
1. Broome, WA
2. Lamington NP, QLD
3. Albany, WA

Top 3 Birds I've seen
Australasian Bittern (near Denmark, WA)
Wandering Albatross (off Albany, WA)
Albert's Lyrebird (Lamington NP, QLD)
Lots of other candidates though, Western Bristlebird & Whipbirds, huge wader flocks at Broome, Regent Bowerbird...

 

[chowchilla]

I'm an expat Pom living in Cairns. I agree with the previous poster on the wonders of the wader spectacle in Broome (specifically Roebuck Bay); probably the best place in Aus to see waders!

Top three birds on 'wow' factor have to be:

1) Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher (found in Cairns, but hard work to find usually).

2) Golden Bowerbird (another local speciality which is really worth the effort of finding).

3) Splendid Fairy Wren (I've only seen in WA, but on my list for its sheer jaw-dropping OMFG factor).

 

[mjh73]

Sorry, shameless thread bump from a newbie :hi:

I am in Melbourne's outer east.

My top birding spots in Oz so far (UK expat, only been here 3 years) are:

1) Western Treatment Plant (better than it sounds!)
2) Chiltern /Box Ironbark NP
3) Wyperfeld (didn't see much but an amazing place to spend some time!)

Top birds in Victoria for me have probably been
1) Shy Albatross
2) Powerful Owl
3) Dollarbird
But I'm still seeing new birds on a regular basis. These three have given me the biggest buzz at the time of sighting though.

Not much done birding in other states yet, but I am off to Sydney early next year hopefully to do a pelagic.

 

[canonrock]

I,m from Victor Harbor in SA,nice to hear from other Aussies'.
We have a large range of birds around here,some of the notables ;Australian Pelican and Ibis,Pacific Gull,Little Penguin,various cormorants and Terns and Dry land birds:Kookaburra,Rainbow Lorikeet,Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo,New Holland Honeyeater and many more.My main interest is the Raptors and my Top Birds have been a (certain in my own mind,but doubtful in everyone elses') sighting of a Grey Falcon in Victor Harbor which I witnessed capture a Red Wattle Bird and fly a short distance with its talons sunk in the Wattlebirds chest,rest for a couple of minutes on the ground about 10 metres from me,then fly off( with the still living Wattlebird) over some trees and out of sight.

Watching White Breasted Sea Eagles at Dampier in NorthWestern W.A and in Kakadu National Park was fascinating also.

Seeing Brown Falcons up close in what seemed like every second tree on the road to Ti Tree north of Alice Springs is something that sticks in my mind.

I have been fortunate to travel through and live in some great birding areas within SA,NT and WA.

 

[birdonawire]

Hi, yes another aussie, live adeliade south oz, from what i can gather, you live in the best state for birds owlet, i believe you have at any one time up to 400 species or so available in NSW (statewide within borders), ..here in S.A i think the most you can possibly have is (and some are migratory - so only certain times of the year) in the best location (Gluepot) is 200 or so species, at least that is what i have been led to believe, i could be wrong? but you have a lot more water, all types of terrains than we do..
my fave spots in S.A so far are anywhere along ol man Murray River, the stretch between Blanchetown and the border being the best? 'cept for closer to/ and at Murray Mouth? St Kilda Boardwalk (mangrove swamp area on coast close to port adelaide) and anywhere on the Fleurieu Peninsula, (where canonrock lives
most spots close-by here would be lucky to exceed potential 50-60 species at one time.
i lived lots of places around oz when younger, spent 2 and a half years in UK also, but wasnt a birder, couldnt of cared less! altho i do remember lots of birds from N qld when young, we had kingfishers in cages at one stage?
ah well, we do have the wonderful wonderful adelaide rosella, that is quite a special bird, see groups, an no two will be alike! they range from completely yellow althe way thru to fullcrimson red, and all rainbow combinations inbetween, very exotic looking bird, and the colours just wow! photos never do them justice IMO (as for most birds)
i'm mostly into the little 'bush birds' but slowly getting into water birds,
hey canonrock, mannum has some nice raptors, one of my fave raptors perigrine falcons live there also
cheers

 

[mjh73]

.... in the best location (Gluepot) is 200 or so species, at least that is what i have been led to believe, i could be wrong?

When I went to Gluepot (admittedly in September, possibly not the best time of year!) I got the impression there were more like 200 individual birds not 200 species.

Hardly saw a thing!

 

[birdonawire]

mjh73, thats interesting to know, ..never been there myself, but was not all that far away from it recently, and it was very healthy around those spots i visited, it seemed .. large flocks of pelicans and other water birds in fair numbers also .. dunno? have other locations in outback S.A that are supposedly pretty decent also anyways. so i'm told

 

[colonelboris]

Another from Blighty, but living in Australia.
I've got a thread on my birding exploits in Sydney:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=150432

I'd still say that my favourite bird here is the Crested Pigeon, though.

 

[chowchilla]

mjh73, thats interesting to know, ..never been there myself, but was not all that far away from it recently, and it was very healthy around those spots i visited, it seemed .. large flocks of pelicans and other water birds in fair numbers also .. dunno? have other locations in outback S.A that are supposedly pretty decent also anyways. so i'm told

Outback birding can often be very hard work. The birds just seem so hard to pin down at times. If there hasn't been any rain it can be even harder! Permanent water sources however can pay dividends. Mairee Pool in WA was a watery oasis in Spinifex Desert and was full of birds!

 

[birdonawire]

Outback birding can often be very hard work. The birds just seem so hard to pin down at times. If there hasn't been any rain it can be even harder! Permanent water sources however can pay dividends. Mairee Pool in WA was a watery oasis in Spinifex Desert and was full of birds!

thanks for the tips mate! i'm here to learn i heard northern flinders Ranges was ok? and K.I. mebbe?

just out of asking, is there any distribution map/list out there that shows amount of possible species in each state? only coz i just saw a statement that vIC has around 500 species, now i'm sure i heard a new south welshmen in that ABC twitchathon DVD say they had 400 available to them, just curious :-D

what are you guys sayin', the drought has killed them all? |8.|

 

[birdonawire]

Another from Blighty, but living in Australia.
I've got a thread on my birding exploits in Sydney:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=150432

I'd still say that my favourite bird here is the Crested Pigeon, though.

enjoyed reading you thread ....really, crested pidgeon? i do like that crazy Dr Seuss top knot, its from Suess world! :t:

 

[mattyj]

thanks for the tips mate! i'm here to learn i heard northern flinders Ranges was ok? and K.I. mebbe?

just out of asking, is there any distribution map/list out there that shows amount of possible species in each state? only coz i just saw a statement that vIC has around 500 species, now i'm sure i heard a new south welshmen in that ABC twitchathon DVD say they had 400 available to them, just curious :-D

what are you guys sayin', the drought has killed them all? |8.|

Birdata will give you lists for states, areas of states, etc

Great site

And im another aussie on here, from Far East Gippsland

 

[Stephen Powell]

Another Aussie from Victoria.
Too many special moments to choose:
Regent Bowerbirds on the breakfast table Lamington National Park.
Have had 8 species of parrots in view simultaneously at our home in the Dandenong ranges.
However the Lyrebirds in our local forest take some beating. Had the all singing and dancing display by two different birds this morning. Mimicked all the birds of the forest and some Lyrebird specialties thrown in.
If you want to know where birds are join Birdata: http://www.birdata.com.au
Bird sitings, Bird Distribution Maps and area lists available and you can add your surveys to help keep track of the birds of Australia.

mattyj - amateur bird photographer. Your gallery page is a bit empty!

 

[mattyj]

Another Aussie from Victoria.
Too many special moments to choose:
Regent Bowerbirds on the breakfast table Lamington National Park.
Have had 8 species of parrots in view simultaneously at our home in the Dandenong ranges.
However the Lyrebirds in our local forest take some beating. Had the all singing and dancing display by two different birds this morning. Mimicked all the birds of the forest and some Lyrebird specialties thrown in.
If you want to know where birds are join Birdata: http://www.birdata.com.au
Bird sitings, Bird Distribution Maps and area lists available and you can add your surveys to help keep track of the birds of Australia.

mattyj - amateur bird photographer. Your gallery page is a bit empty!

yeh i know ive only added recent stuff , need to add about 4 years worth of photos to it

 

[chowchilla]

thanks for the tips mate! i'm here to learn i heard northern flinders Ranges was ok? and K.I. mebbe?

just out of asking, is there any distribution map/list out there that shows amount of possible species in each state? only coz i just saw a statement that vIC has around 500 species, now i'm sure i heard a new south welshmen in that ABC twitchathon DVD say they had 400 available to them, just curious :-D

what are you guys sayin', the drought has killed them all? |8.|

I've not been to SA so I don't know anything about the sites there alas.

The most bird rich area in Aus (in terms of species diversity) is around Cairns. I don't know the exact total though. This is mainly due to the fact that it is tropical and that there's a large number of different habitats within a small area as well as about a dozen endemics only found here (Golden Bowerbird, Macleay's Honeyeater, Fernwren, Chowchilla, Pied Monarch etc).

The second most diverse area is probably the SE Qld and NE NSW area.

 

[birdonawire]

Thanks for linkys Matty and Stephen!, I cant seem to get much info as yet, maybe i will join and then i'll get it?

bloody 'ell Stephen, just checked your site, wow thats some serious talent/work there, beautiful paintings .. and as for your location and birds LOL, whew!

Thanks chowchilla, appreciate the info!, man i got a lot to learn :brains:

altho i'm used to being on an aussie astro/imaging forum for long time and seeing what you guys get bird wise on east coast, and where some lucky people live, in the terrestial photography section

i think i still have a few to go on my SA list, to put it mildly, maybe i have about 70-80 on my seen list, id have to read thru my book of scribble, er i mean logs - hmmmm, a daunting prospect! *scared* altho i do try learn mimicking a lot of their calls, and also via birdsinbackyards site audio and go 'phishing' i believe its called?
cheers

 

[canonrock]

Hi Guys,some interesting stuff.
Thanks Birdonawire,I haven't been to Mannum in a while,but on a recent houseboat holiday north from Renmark,there were Whistling Kites everwhere along the mighty Murray,nesting,fishing and generally enjoying themselves,as were we.The peace and tranquility of cruising along the river on a sunny day with Black swans,Pelicans and dozens of Cormorants on the water with you is a fantastic experience.

Chowchilla,your mention of Miaree Pool,just outside of Karratha,brought back a memory of a pair of Black Breasted Buzzards performing some sort of aerial dancing display around a largish hill a couple of hundred metres from Miaree Pool.I lived in Karratha from 2000-2002.

Hi Stephen,I too can vouch for Lamington NP,although my wife and I only spent a short time there while doing the tourist thing on the Gold Coast.We didn't see any Bower Birds in the small section we walked through,but there were plenty of Brush Turkeys and a beautiful Brown Tree snake.