Red-tailed Hawk landing on nest, Bobst Library, NYU, New York City

Day 1 of Tasmania birding tour: Hobart – November 14th, 2012

11/21/12: I’m back in NYC and only now able to start going through my Tasmania tour photos to review, edit when necessary, and post on my blog! The tour was great.

Our delightful and knowledgeable leader Dion Hobcroft drove our small group around the whole island of Tasmania, taking us to specific areas where we could find particular birds (some of which are now on the threatened list so we were very lucky to see them). Dion, a lifelong ornithologist, also taught us much about the local towns, the various flora and fauna, and the history of the different regions as well so we were always learning something.

Birds were our main focus but we also got to see lots of other fabulous creatures like Echidnas, Wallabys, Platypuses, Red-bellied Pademelons, Wombats, Possums, Tiger Snakes, lizards, and Tasmanian Devils! I have photos of nearly all these animals to show in future posts but for now I’ll start with what we saw on day one.

We were lucky to see some Musk Lorikeets as soon as we stepped out of Hobart International Airport. Apparently, it’s one of the only areas in Tasmania where you can still see these birds:

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Having a fabulous time in Tasmania

Hi, the birding outings make for long days and I’ve yet to go through my photos in any substantial way so can’t predict when I’ll start posting again. But I’m having a great time seeing so many amazing places and birds and with a really nice and comical group! I’m eager to eventually share what I’ve seen. 🙂


Day two in Melbourne – November 13th, 2012

Because of my spotty internet in my second hotel, I’ll offer only the basic details of today’s activities. I only had a few hours to kill between hotels so I visited the nearby Royal Botanic Gardens again to see if there was anything new to see and because it was such a great place to spend time in yesterday.

Australian Wood Ducks:

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