After our stay in Papua New Guinea we flew to Cairns, Australia, and began our journey down the east coast to Melbourne. Along the way we saw many birds, such as cassowaries, cockatoos, lyrebirds, and more! We also got to see some of Australia’s most iconic mammals, such as koalas, platypuses, and echidnas. Here they are.
We started off our Australian birding with walking down the Cairns Esplanade, which provided a very good introduction to the more common birds, such as this Red-capped Plover.
As I mentioned before, there are two species of birds-of-paradise endemic to Australia, and we got to see one. This Victoria’s Riflebird came to a tray of cheese in Kuranda, northwest of Cairns.
In Kuranda we stayed at Cassowary House, a small lodge run by a birding company called Sicklebill Safaris. This is a Pacific Emerald-dove seen from the balcony.
As the name suggests, Cassowary House is one of the best places for Southern Cassowaries in the world. There are three species of cassowaries; all live in New Guinea, one, the Southern Cassowary, also lives in Australia. Cassowaries are the most dangerous birds in the world, with over 150 recorded attacks on humans, and several deaths. They attack with their feet and the inner toe, which is long and razor-sharp. A single kick can dismember a person.Luckily, it did not attack us.
At Cassowary House we saw in total 4 cassowaries: one adult female, named Gertie, one adult male, named Dad, and two chicks. This is Gertie.
On the chicks you can see the little wattle stubs and the beginning of the large casque (helmet-like growth) on the top of the head.
This rat-kangaroo dropped in after the cassowaries had left. Although it looks like a rat, it hops somewhat like a kangaroo.
Australia has an abundance of parrots, most of which are not afraid and do not fly away when you try to get a photo. This Scaly-breasted Lorikeet posed on the patio of a restaurant.
Like the Maleo from Sulawesi, this Orange-footed Scrubfowl is a megapode. We saw it excavating in the sand, so it could be building a nest mound.
Australia is also famous for the cockatoos, and one of the first ones we saw was a huge flock of Red-tailed Black-cockatoos.
In the town of Yungaburra just south of Cairns we got lucky enough to see at least two platypus! You can see the bill and the head, just above water.
This baby Bush Stone-curlew was seen on the side of the road with two parents at a lake near Yungaburra.
Nerada Tea in Queensland has a line of trees near the road that, for some reason, a group of Lumholtz’s Tree-kangaroos have moved into, and they are now probably the easiest tree-kangaroos to see in the world. This is one of the three we saw.
Here is another angle on the same tree-kangaroo.
One of the most characteristic birds in Australia are these Rainbow Lorikeets, which look like there was a sunrise in their bellies.
These Agile Wallabies were the first kangaroo-like mammals for us to see. Since it was very hot, they just sat in the shade to stay cool
Off the coast of Townsville we took a ferry to Magnetic Island. This is a famous Laughing Kookaburra, seen on a street.
The Forts Walk on the island is famous for the likelihood of koala spotting, and this one gave us incredible views just below the World War Two installations that give the trail its name.
Since this koala was asleep I was able to explore different angles of photography and get close without disturbing it at all.
Here you can see the specially adapted hands. Instead of one thumb and four fingers, it has two thumbs and three fingers to help grip.
In the evening we also visited Magnetic Island’s Rock Wallaby colony, a type of very small kangaroo that lives among the large rock near the beach. They are occasionally fed, so are very used to the presence of humans.
One of the more common cockatoo species in Australia are these pink-and-gray Galahs, one with its crest raised, and although they are seen flying over easily, I didn’t get many chances to photograph them perched.
Emus are one of Australia’s two species of ratites (a group of birds that includes ostriches, cassowaries, kiwis, rheas, and the extinct moa and elephant birds), and are actually easily seen in fields near the road. However, these two crossed in front of us and headed down a side road. When I later updated my life list, they were found to be my 1000th species ever!
Although not our first kangaroos, this mob included our first joey. We approached using the cover of a tree trunk, and got great views.
At one campsite, there were kangaroos almost everywhere, and I couldn’t resist getting some more photos.
The classic cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are very common, but don’t usually get close. We were inside when this bird landed, but I got pictures through some windows.
Lamington National Park is one of the best birding sites in Australia, and O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat provides feeding stations for many birds, such as this Australian King-parrot.
Crimson Rosellas are also very common around the lodge, and are easily seen inside the gift shop (not kidding).
One of the park’s rarest birds is the Albert’s Lyrebird, closely related to the more famous Superb Lyrebird. Albert’s only live in a very small area around the border between Queensland and New South Wales, so I was ecstatic when this female just walked by our room and across a parking lot, where it foraged for at least 15 minutes.
This eventually turned out to not be the only lyrebird sighting for us! The next morning we saw another female Albert’s (potentially the same bird) in a different part of the lodge grounds.
The foraging method of the lyrebirds is to scratch large holes in the leaf litter to find insects, and this female was accompanied by smaller birds such as scrubwrens, presumably to feed on insects disturbed by the scratching.
O’Reilly’s also has a canopy walkway, and we climbed a ladder to a platform where you could see into a cavity with baby Brush-tailed Possums, a type of arboreal marsupial.
O’Reilly’s also offers a great chance to see Australia’s two most famous bowerbirds, such as this Satin Bowerbird, which we spotted from our balcony.
O’Reilly’s other bowerbird is the Regent Bowerbird, which is more common near the restaurant and at the feeders by the entrance. This male was seen on the morning bird walk.
Australian Brushturkeys are a very common type of megapode, but this was the only chick we ever saw.
Superb Fairywrens are frequent visitors to the lawns outside various buildings, especially outside the main area.
A less common sight are Red-necked Pademelons (a type of forest wallaby) like this one, which occasionally come out to the roads.
In Sydney we went on the opera house tour and got to go inside the many theaters of the landmark.
My favorite birds that we saw in Australia were a flock of Gang-gang Cockatoos, seen driving up to the trailhead for Mount Kosciusko.
Gang-gangs have a crest like no other bird, made up of thin, wispy, curled feathers. Personally, I would love to pet it.
This Eastern Rosella was just walking by our driveway in Jindabyne, and it ended up being the only one we saw.
This echidna was spotted crossing the road, and we stopped and walked back to try to find it. We did, and watched it forage for maybe 10 minutes.
Echidnas were the one classic Australian mammal that we had given up on seeing, but it made an appearance anyway!
Green Cape Lighthouse has a group of wombats that come out almost every evening, and we saw three of them.
We described wombats as small bear-ewoks, and that seems very accurate.
