I did warn you that there would be more about birds. This is a summing up of our month in Oz (Australia). Before arriving I remember the itch to twitch, given a year in the the rather limited feathers of New Zealand. There are many ways to do birding. There is the fun of counting species (135, if you wish to know and see the list below). There is the awe of seeing hundreds of bird at one time and so revel in the abundance of nature (see video below). There is recognizing how habitat niches in one continent are filled differently in another. For example, there are no hummingbirds in Oz but an abundance of different kinds of honeyeater. There is seeing how populations thrive or struggle over time depending on such matters as human encroachment or climate change. With only a month, this is not an angle we could understand; rather, we were there for the moment and the seemingly endless permutations that nature can throw up. And it is only through a window such as this can we ultimately save this world of ours from ourselves.
Cockatiels over a rare lagoon in the outback
Click here for the video
The learning from our wrestling with the multitude of species in Oz is that while we struggled in the opening days, flipping through our app time and time again to identify this or that, this wrestling was our learning curve such that when we arrived for our guided tour of Yellow Waters in Kakadu, we were ready. We had a foundation to build on as the guide pointed to bird after bird. It is a learning that we now take into southeast Asia, where the variety of our feathered friends is truly awesome. So we are scheduling our guided birding tours toward the end of our stays in both Cambodia and Thailand to allow for our learning curve.
Comb-crested Jacana
For the record in Australia:
Apostlebird
Babbler, White-browed
Bee-eater, Rainbow
Bird, Dollar
Bowerbird, Great
Bowerbird, Regent
Butcherbird, Black
Butcherbird, Grey
Buzzard, Black-breasted
Cockatiel
Cockatoo, Major Mitchell’s
Cockatoo, Red-tailed Black
Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested
Cockatoo, Yellow-tailed Black
Coot, Eurasian
Cormorant, Little Black
Cormorant, Little Pied
Cormorant, Great
Cormorant, Pied
Corella, Little
Coucal, Pheasant
Crane (Brolga)
Cuckoo, Fan-tailed
Cuckoo-dove, Brown
Currawong, Black
Currawong, Pied
Darter, Australiasian
Dotterel, Black-fronted
Drongo, Spangled
Duck, Australian Wood
Duck, Pacific Black
Duck, Pink-eared
Duck, Plumed Whistling
Duck, Wandering Whistling
Eagle, Wedge-tailed
Egret, Great
Fairy-wren, Superb
Falcon, Brown
Fantail, Grey
Figbird, Australian
Finch, Double-barred
Finch, Red-browed
Finch, Zebra
Flycatcher, Lemon-bellied
Flycatcher, Restless
Flycatcher, Shining
Friarbird, Silver-crowned
Fruit-dove, Wompoo
Galah
Goose, Green Pygmy
Goose, Magpie
Goshawk, Brown
Grassbird, Little
Grebe, Great-crested
Grebe, Hoary-headed
Gull, Kelp
Gull, Pacific
Gull, Silver
Heron, Great-billed
Heron, Nankeen Night
Heron, Pied
Heron, White-necked
Honeyeater, Blue-faced
Honeyeater, Crescent
Honeyeater, Grey-fronted
Honeyeater, Grey-headed
Honeyeater, New Holland
Honeyeater, Spiny-cheeked
Honeyeater, White-plumed
Honeyeater, Yellow-throated
Ibis, Austrsalian White
Ibis, Glossy
Ibis, Straw-necked
Jacana, Comb-crested
Kestrel, Nankeen
Kingfisher, Azure
Kingfisher, Little
Kite, Black
Kite, Whistling
Koel, Eastern
Kookaburra, Laughing
Lapwing, Masked
Lorikeet, Rainbow
Magpie-lark
Martin, Fairy
Miner, Noisy
Miner, Yellow-throated
Mistletoebird
Monarch, Spectacled
Native-hen, Tasmanian
Oriole, Live-backed
Pardalote, Spotted
Parrot, Australian King
Parrot, Red-rumped
Pelican, Australian
Pigeon, Crested
Pigeon, Pied Imperial
Pigeon, Spinifex
Plover, Hooded
Plover, Red-capped
Raven, Forest
Ringneck, Australian
Robin, Flame
Robin, Hooded
Robin, Scarlet
Rosella, Crimson
Rosella, Eastern
Rosella, Northern
Scrub Fowl, Orange-footed
Scrubwren, Tasmanian
Sea Eagle, White-breasted
Shelduck, Australian
Shelduck, Radjah
Shrike-thrush, Grey
Spinebill, Eastern
Starling, Metallic
Stilt, Banded
Stilt, Pied
Stone-curlew, Bush
Stork, Black-necked
Sunbird, Yellow-bellied
Swallow, Welcome
Teal, Chesnut
Tern, Crested
Tern, Sooty
Tern, Whiskered
Thornbill, Striated
Wagtail, Willie
Wattlebird, Little
Wattlebird, Red
Wattlebird, Yellow
Whimbrel
Whistler, Olive
Whistler, Rufous
Green Edges 