Australian Wood Duck – Roger

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:

Continue to the full post… “Day 1 of Tasmania birding tour: Hobart – November 14th, 2012”

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:

Continue to the full post… “Day two in Melbourne – November 13th, 2012”

Hello from Melbourne, Australia – November 12th, 2012

I’m in the first of two legs of my vacation. The first leg is Melbourne, Australia. My second leg (and ultimate destination) is the Australian island of Tasmania, where I’ll be a member of a small, guided birding tour. We’ll be trekking primarily around Tasmania’s forest reserves and bodies of water.

It was a six hour flight from NYC to LA, a two hour layover, then a fifteen hour flight from LA to Melbourne. I got off the plane ten hours ago and am doing alright jet lag-wise so far. Melbourne is currently 16 hours ahead of NY time.

This is actually my fourth visit to Australia but first time this far south. I adore the country’s more laid-back attitude, remoteness, and beautiful natural world. When I heard about this birding tour I knew I had to come!

View outside my hotel window (South Yarra neighborhood):

Continue to the full post… “Hello from Melbourne, Australia – November 12th, 2012”