Tasmania Endemic Birds and Mammals Tour 12-21 October 2019

Trip Report – Mark Holdsworth, Inala Nature Tours.

November 2017

Six clients joined me on a nine-day tour of Tasmania, covering a diverse range of habitats across the state. A total of 145 species were encountered during the tour (see list attached) including all 12 Tasmanian endemic species. Apart from the first and last day, the tour was conducted in warm to hot weather and we experienced very little rain. The crew was a joy to guide and everyone got on famously. Below is a summary of each day of the tour.

Day 1. Friday 17 November 2017. Hobart local to Eaglehawk Neck
Our first day on tour was greeted by some inclement weather for our planned drive to the summit of kunanyi (Mount Wellington) so we headed to a Lagoon for some waterfowl action. Coincidently, soon after our arrival at this pocket-handkerchief sized wetland, we were greeted by my Orange-bellied Parrot mentor Peter Brown who was out birding with William (Bill) E Davis Jr. (author of Contributions to the History of Australasian Ornithology) on another visit to Tasmania. As we have become accustomed in recent years, there is still a handful of freckled duck loitering in the usual spots. It took me a couple of decades to observe this elusive bird on the mainland and yet, here they are, quietly going about their business in my backyard. We also had excellent views of the usual suite of waterfowl including Chestnut and Grey Teal, Australasian Shoveller, Pacific Black Duck and Hardheads. A highlight was seeing a Great Egret in breeding plumage – not a common sight in Tasmania. The Lagoon also provided us with close encounters with the endemic Tasmanian Native-hen, Musk Lorikeet and Little Wattlebird, the latter showing off their distinctive copper-coloured back in the morning light. We were also treated to some wonderful views of Greenfinch and Goldfinch bathing in a nearby pool and, to the delight of some locals passing by, they pointed out a Striated Pardalotes nest inside a storm-water drain. Other interesting sightings were glimpses of Little Grassbird, a Kelp Gull nesting in a clump of reeds in the middle of the lagoon and several Great Crested Grebes in the main channel of the DerwentRiver. We then made our way to a Reserve for lunch and some bush-birding. Here we had good sightings of Dusky Robin, Laughing Kookaburra, Grey (Clinking) Currawong and Brown Thornbill. After lunch we made our way to the summit of kunanyi to take in the spectacular views, dramatically framed as clouds swept past on unusually warm winds. On our descent we glimpsed the endemic Yellow-throated Honeyeater and had some excellent views of a male Crescent Honeyeater. On the way to our overnight destination at Eaglehawk Neck, we stopped at a Lagoon to look for waders, but unfortunately strong northeasterly winds and low tides were against us with Pied Oystercatcher, Australian Wood Duck, distant views of Musk Duck and a large flock of Grey and Chestnut Teal the features. We were, however, lucky enough to see a male and female Australian Hobby displaying over a potential nest site. On our arrival at our accommodation, we were greeted with views of Australasian Gannets in Pirates Bay and some of our party observed the distinctive blow of a Humpback Whale just offshore.
Chestnut Teal (MH)

Day 2. Saturday 18 November 2017. Eaglehawk Neck pelagic trip
At 07:15 we put to sea to check out the pelagic seabirds off the Tasman Peninsula. We were joined by other bird observers in the company of Inala guides and renowned seabird experts Paul Brooks and Karen Dick for the expedition. On our way out of Pirates Bay, we were treated to passing flocks of Short-tailed Shearwater flashing their silvery underwings as they wheeled across the sea in the morning light. As we headed east we saw Black-faced Shag, Greater Crested Tern, distant views of Shy Albatross and a brief fly-by of a Buller’s Shearwater. After steaming for an hour or so we commenced burleying at 230 fathoms and we were soon joined by a plethora of seabird species including seven species of Pterodroma petrel, three albatrosses and three storm-petrels. The highlight of the trip was the occasional Black-bellied Storm Petrel amongst the Wilson’s and White-faced “stormies”. We were also treated to good views of mottled, white-headed, Cook’s and Gould’s petrels with the occasional providence petrel. We were accompanied throughout the day by White-chinned Petrels competing for morsels in the burley trail with Shy, Wandering (Snowy and Gibbson’s) and Campbell Albatrosses. Sooty Shearwater, Grey-faced Petrel and Fairy Prion occasionally made an appearance, while two Northern Giant Petrels lumbered past. At one point the albatross were startled by a Mako Shark, which had been attracted to the burley. On our return, we briefly saw two Humpback Whales off Pirates Bay. For more detail, check out Paul Brooks’ species list and trip report at http://ebird.org/ebird/australia/view/checklist/S40676539. Following the pelagic trip, we tracked down Cape Barren Goose, including one on a nest in the grassy paddock on the Tasman Peninsula, and headed back to Hobart to our accommodation.

Day 3. Sunday 19 November 2017. Melaleuca, south-west wilderness birds
Today we travelled to Melaleuca on the southern shores of Bathurst Harbour in Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area. Our pilot tracked south from Hobart to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, taking in spectacular views of Bruny Island and Southport Lagoon along the way. The sea was so calm we could see fur-seals, small pods of dolphins and rafts of Australasian Gannets on the surface of this majestic waterway. Once we reached Recherche Bay we headed west, flying over the southern ridges of Precipitous Bluff and then across New River Lagoon, The Ironbound Range and then over Cox Bight to a smooth landing at Melaleuca. The target species for the day was of course the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot (OBP). With a wild population of only 15 at the time, including just two females, the OBP is teetering on the edge of extinction. Even so, it wasn’t long before we had our first sighting of a wild-bred bird in the eucalypt on the southern end of Denny King’s garden. The day was quite hot and windy, so birds were very quiet; nevertheless, we had further good sightings of OBPs, tree martins busily taking over nest boxes, glimpses of southern emu-wren at the airstrip and brief appearances of the spectacular Beautiful Firetail. One firetail was discovered entangled in a spider’s web and was gratefully released by one of our crew. We had a pleasant wine luncheon with the OBP volunteers Nick and Ryan at Barbara Wilson’s house and then we went in pursuit of the other two target species for this area – the eastern ground parrot and Striated Fieldwren. Strangely enough the fieldwrens did not make an appearance but we managed to rustle up a ground parrot along the northern edge of the airstrip for some fleeting but good views of this elusive bird. After a long, hot day we flew west to the southern side of Port Davey taking in spectacular views of South West Cape and the Breaksea Islands, and then tracked across the Western Arthur Range back to Cambridge airport.

Day 4. Monday 20 November 2017. Hobart, waders and Bruny Island
The tides and weather were much more conducive for wader spotting this morning, so we headed from Hobart to several Lagoons. We saw several hundred Red-necked Stint and 11 Bar-tailed Godwit. The next Lagoon was almost devoid of waders, but we did manage to have good views of Red-capped Plover and White-fronted Chat along the foreshore. Common Greenshank and more stint were observed at a further Lagoon, along with all four species of Tasmania cormorants (Great, Little Black, Little Pied and Black-faced). Travelling south through Hobart to Bruny Island, we stopped to look for Peregrine Falcons on the sandstone cliffs. The falcons didn’t make an appearance, but we had an enjoyable time observing Satin Flycatcher, Golden Whistler, the ubiquitous Superb Fairy-wren, Grey Shrike Thrush and the endemic Black-headed and Strong-billed Honeyeaters. We then travelled on the Bruny Island ferry from Kettering and travelled south to The Neck where we caught our first sightings of the endemic Forty-spotted Pardalote. These bold little birds were also in company with a handful of Striated Pardalote but a lone Spotted Pardalote kept its distance. Also at this site were Tasmanian Scrubwrens and the raucous but shy Yellow Wattlebird. A surprise was excellent views of an olive whistler, which was not expected in this drier habitat. We then drove to our accommodation including Inala. Prior to dinner, our guests settled in and enjoyed the local birding around the cabins. After a sumptuous meal, we drove to north Bruny Island to search for some nocturnal animals, while it was a bit quiet, we did see Tasmanian Pademelon, Bennett’s Wallaby, Brush-tailed Possum (including two golden forms) and both colour forms of the Eastern Quoll. Later we checked out The Neck observatory and saw quite a few Little (fairy) Penguins within the colony including some advanced stage chicks. Unfortunately, our visit coincided with the pre-breeding exodus of Short-tailed Shearwaters when all the birds are at sea before they return 24-27 November to lay eggs.

Day 5. Tuesday 21 November 2017. Bruny Island
This morning we spent some time acquainting ourselves with the birds on the Inala property. The Forty-spotted Pardalotes were busy feeding nestlings near the pardalote observation platform and there was the usual procession of honeyeaters, robins, thornbills and fairy-wrens at every move. Dusky and Flame Robins were highlights but there was no sign of the Pink Robins who had recently bred on the property. We then travelled to the Cape Bruny Lighthouse to take in the spectacular views of The Friars, sea cliffs and the Southern Ocean. The warm conditions were not conducive to birding apart from the omnipresent New Holland Honeyeaters with the occasional Superb Fairy-wren, Tasmanian Scrubwren and Dusky Woodswallow. Some in our party were lucky enough to come across a mountain dragon basking on the lighthouse track. Our next destination was Adventure Bay to look for the Hooded Plover and during our travels we saw several echidnas foraging along the roadsides. It wasn’t long before we found the “hoodies”. These birds were very comfortable with our presence, so much so they proceeded to copulate indicating they are nesting again for the season. We then headed for the nearby rainforest to find the elusive Pink Robin and Scrubtit. Eventually we found several Scrubtits in the tree fern glades but no sign of the Pink Robin. However, just as we were departing a single male Pink Robin appeared at the car park and provided a brief tantalising view before he disappeared into the forest. Later we had good sightings of a variety of honeyeaters at Lunawanna and one of our party discovered a Scarlet Robin nest, precariously placed high up on a horizontal branch of a eucalypt tree.
We again set off after dark to search for nocturnal animals. Our target for the evening was the Tasmanian Morepork, which was soon heard calling south of Alonnah and appeared above us calling strongly from the canopy of white gums fringing the road. We of course came across many possums and wallaby, particularly on the Inala property.

Day 6. Wednesday 22 Nov 2017. Bruny Island to Mt Field
Just as we were packing up to leave the island we bumped into the resident male white morph Grey Goshawk doing his rounds along the creek at Inala. We left Bruny Island and made our way to Mount Field National Park, stopping on the way along the Derwent River in search of Platypus, and then to Lake Dobson to experience the sub-alpine habitats. Here we had excellent sightings of Yellow-throated Honeyeater and Black Currawong. The Richea scoparia was just starting to flower and many Macleay’s Swallowtails were busily foraging around the lake edges. We then travelled down the mountain to the Tall Trees Walk listen out for Superb Lyrebirds along the way without luck. We were then treated to the sight of a family group of Pink Robins including a magnificently coloured male. As we were leaving National Park, we spotted a group of Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo foraging on the cones of Radiata pine and then we stopped to inspect a potential peregrine nest site on the cliffs above the Derwent River. To our delight we could see three near-fledged nestlings on a ledge and the female soon appeared, flying past several times tempting them to take their first flight. The site has not had breeding for many decades, so it was great to see it being used once again.

Day 7. Thursday 23 November 2017. New Norfolk to Cradle Mountain area
Today we travelled from New Norfolk up the Derwent Valley to the Central Plateau via Bronte Park, stopping to see the usual suite of waterfowl plus our first sighting of Australian Shelduck. Despite our best attempts we could not find Striated Fieldwren, and it was looking as though this species would elude us for the trip. We did, however, have some excellent views of Flame Robin and Shining Bronze-cuckoo in the sub-alpine woodland. We stopped off at the picturesque Pine Lake before descending off the plateau to Deloraine bumping into the occasional Brown Falcon and Swamp Harrier foraging in nearby paddocks. We then travelled to Ulverstone where we came across the introduced Rainbow Lorikeet along the coastal reserve. There were also Galah and Yellow Wattlebird active at this site. Wending our way south along the regions back roads, we checked out the various farm dams along the way for waterfowl and Platypus without much luck. However, one site proved to be more productive. Pacific Black Duck, Chestnut Teal, Purple Swamphen, Hoary-headed Grebe and Eurasian Coot were seen on this reedy dam but the most exciting find was a couple of Latham’s Snipe. From here we travelled further up the Leven River, bumping into another echidna, and then arrived at our accommodation. On dusk the crew had excellent viewings of platypus and visits of Brush-tailed Possum, Tasmanian Pademelon, Tasmanian Devils and Spotted-tailed Quoll throughout the evening.

Day 8. Friday 24 November 2017. Cradle Mountain area
In the morning we were treated to the sights of some of the local bushbirds including a close appearance of Eastern Spinebill and the morning chorus of whistlers, Grey Shrike-thrush and Crescent Honeyeaters. Our first task for the day was to track down the elusive Swift Parrot which has been observed recently at Wynyard on the northwest coast. This year most of the population is absent from one its preferred haunts on Bruny Island, so tracking them down has been much harder. We managed to find just two “swifties” in flowering Tasmanian Blue Gums but, as their name suggests, we only had fleeting glimpses during fly-bys. At our lunch stop near Burnie where we were treated with the sight of a White-bellied Sea-eagle attempting to grasp gum leaves from the canopy of a tree, presumably to line its nearby nest. We also managed to have reasonable views of a male Satin Flycatcher and discovered a Kookaburra nest. Our next objective was to visit Cradle Mountain National Park, the northern most part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Along the way we managed to avoid the spectacular thunderstorms brewing to the east and we were treated to warm conditions at Lake Dove and Waldheim. The highlights of our visit were close encounters with Common Wombat at Cradle Valley and, finally, an appearance of the elusive Striated Fieldwren. Black Currawongs were typically inquisitive and bold companions during our stay. We returned to our accommodation where were again treated to views of possum, devils and quolls late in the evening.

Day 9. Saturday 25 November 2017. Cradle to Launceston/Hobart
The last day of the tour so it was an early start to make our way to Launceston and Hobart for onward connections. However, we still had time for some last-minute species and we were not disappointed with close views of Little Grassbird and a displaying Musk Duck near Port Sorell, and finally some Blue-billed Duck on a farm dam along the Bass Highway. We finished up at Queechy Park in suburban Launceston where Royal Spoonbill and Little-pied Cormorants are busily nesting. Here we were treated to stunning views of a Spotted Pardalote to finish a successful tour of Tasmania’s birdlife and other natural wonders.
MH