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

Last day in Tasmania

As promised, at long last is my account of Day 6 of my Tasmania birding tour (a trip taken in November of 2012!).

The evening of Day 5 left me at Mountain Valley Wilderness Reserve where we got to see Tasmanian Devils eat fresh meat left for them on our cabin porches.

In the morning I awoke to the sight of a wild Tasmanian Native Hen family outside:

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Day 3: Tasmania birding tour: Orielton Lagoon, Cradle Mountain

Day 3. Waking up in Hobart with a rainbow out the window:

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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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