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South Australia
South Australia offers some 450 species of birds. Habitats range from the dry red interior to the lush and green Mt Lofty Ranges; wetlands and mangroves around Adelaide and estuaries in the Coorong, floodplains along the Murray River, woodlands and tidal flats of Kangaroo Island, vast expanses of the famous semi-arid mallee, and outback deserts with spectacular mountain ranges. Some unique bird species including a small number of endemics can be found here. Over recent years an increasing number of Australian and international visitors have discovered the birding secrets SA has to offer.
Birdwatching Tours2 Day / 1 Night Kangaroo Island Birdwatching Tour – from AdelaideDay 1. Early this morning, you will be collected by a SeaLink coach to travel down the Fleurieu Peninsula to Cape Jervis, then board the ferry to Kangaroo Island. The ferry takes about 45 minutes and you might like to keep an eye out for some pelagic bird species along the way - regular encounters include Australasian Gannet, Flesh-footed Shearwater, Caspian Tern, Crested Tern, Silver Gull, Pacific Gull, Black-browed Albatross, Yellow-nosed Albatross (these latter 2 are season and wind direction dependent), and Southern Giant Petrel (winter).
Met on arrival by your guide and begin two days exploring this large and diverse Island. Start out by travelling to Murray Lagoon and into the back-blocks. Common encounters include: Wedge-tailed Eagle, Chestnut-breasted Shelduck, Musk Duck, Black Swan, White-fronted Chat, Richard’s Pipit, Grey Teal, Swamp Harrier, Peregrine Falcon, Red-capped Dotterel, and Black-fronted Dotterel. Summer visits will also include a range of migratory waders. From here travel to Seal Bay Conservation Park which protects the habitat of a range of wildlife species including Australian sea-lions, and a chance for Hooded Dotterel, Eastern Osprey, White-bellied Sea-eagle, Crested Tern, Sooty Oystercatcher and a range of bush birds.
Break for lunch and then travel to Lathami Conservation Park. Here sugar gums provide breeding hollows and drooping sheoaks provide the food source for the critically endangered Glossy Black Cockatoo. This park is also habitat for Superb Fairy-wren, Golden Whistler, Crimson Rosellas, Beautiful Firetail, tammar wallabies, echidnas and Kangaroo Island kangaroos. Next travel into Kingscote and the oxidation ponds – take quick visit to see who is on the ponds on the adjacent Cygnet River Estuary. Reeves Point provides a mix of shore-birds and usually 3-4 species of Cormorant. Final location for the day is American River which is a tidal inlet on the northeast coast.
The slopes above American River offer sugar gum forest and sheoack woodland which provides habitat for the Glossy Black Cockatoo, Galah, Beautiful Firetail, Scarlet Robin and Crimson Rosella. Along the waters edge the protected shores have great feeding habitat on the mudflats along the seafront and into Pelican Lagoon. Significant aggregations of Black Swan, Australian Pelican, Musk Duck and a range of waders are likely encounters.
Check in to Kangaroo Island Lodge at American River. Be sure to let the staff know that you are interested in birds and you would like to be notified if they hear Glossy-black Cockatoos which are often active in the early evening in the trees behind the lodge. There is a chance to take a nocturnal tour (optional) to visit a Little Penguin colony with opportunistic sights of other nocturnal species possible en route (Barn Owl, Southern Boobook, Bush Thick-knee). You should arrange this during the day with your guide as a reservation needs to be made to secure space for this experience.
ACCOMMODATION: Kangaroo Island Lodge
Day 2. Optional self-guided walk before breakfast exploring the sugar-gum forest, sheoak woodland and tidal mudflats in the vicinity of Kangaroo Island Lodge. Depart for Duck Lagoon on the Cygnet River: freshwater habitat for ducks (regular haunt for Freckled Duck when they disperse from outback waterways), swans and a range of other species. Classic Australian landscape with massive redgums reflected in still water, these large gums are frequented by Pardalote and Honeyeaters including the White-eared and Brown-headed.
Flinders Chase National Park is the main focus for the day. This large historic wilderness covers the entire end of the Island and provides habitat for a broad range of species. The journey down to the park is quite long and there is a chance we will encounter Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo feeding either in Banksias or Pinus radiata as we travel west. Rocky River is the location for the park headquarters amid an old farm where the pastures provide winter grazing and nesting sites for Cape Barren Goose.
Cape du Couedic provides occasional access to oceanic species such as albatross and shearwaters regularly produces Crested Tern, Caspian Tern, and Fairy Terns. In recent years there have also been Antarctic and White-fronted Tern here. It’s a great vantage point for annual shearwater migration in September.
Not far from Cape du Couedic in similar coastal heath grading into mallee is a natural granite sculpture known as Remarkable Rocks which provides a stunning backdrop for seeking out elusive Western Whipbird, Southern Emu-wren, and more commonly, Tawny-crowned Honeyeater. The rounded tors provide perches for both Australian Kestrel and Australian Raven.
Return to the east end of the Island to connect with the shuttle to the ferry for the return trip to the Australian mainland.
Tour Code: BS2KITo Book or Enquire: Email (Please include Tour Code) 6 Day / 5 Night Gluepot and Flinders Ranges Birding Tour – from AdelaideThis birding tour takes in a variety of habitats thereby maximizing the species list – expect around 200 species, including some highly sought-after species.
Day 1. We commence the trip this morning in Adelaide and move to the Adelaide Hills to look for Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Adelaide Rosella, Yellow-faced, White-naped and Crescent Honeyeater, Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, White-throated Treecreeper, Flame Robin and the White-throated Scrubwren. We also have a good chance of seeing a Koala. Further east, in low, dry eucalypt scrub we look for the ground-dwelling Southern Scrubrobin and Shy Heathwren, as well as Purple-gaped Honeyeater and the elusive Painted Button-quail. We follow the Murray river where Purplecrowned Lorikeet is for species as Cape Barren Goose, Freckled Duck, Baillon's, Australian Spotted and Spotless Crake, Little Grassbird and Golden-headed Cisticola. We spend the night in Waikerie.
Day 2. Very early this morning we visit Birds Australia’s Gluepot reserve, home of the critically endangered Black-eared Miner. We arrive at Gluepot just before sunrise. We look for Malleefowl, Red-lored Whistler, Gilbert's Whistler, Hooded Robin, Southern Scrubrobin, Black-eared Miner, Striated Grasswren, Shy Heathwren, White-browed Treecreeper and Major Mitchell Cockatoo, as well as Chestnut Quail-thrush, Crested Bellbird, Splendid Fairy-wren, and Striped Honeyeater. We have a chance of seeing the eastern race monarchoides of Regent Parrot and many of Gluepot's 10 species of Honeyeater. We leave the reserve late in the afternoon to be back at your accommodation in Waikerie around dusk.
Day 3. Today we will travel some 400 km to the Flinders Ranges, an impressive range of steep hills and soaring rock formations on the edge of Australia’s outback. We visit a Regent Parrot breeding site, and search for semi-open country specialists such as Redthroat and Black-eared Cuckoo. Once we arrive in the Flinders Ranges we search for the elusive Short-tailed Grasswren. We will certainly see plenty of Red, Western Grey and Euro Kangaroos. Overnight at the Wilpena Pound Resort.
Day 4. An early start to look for Southern Scrubrobin and Greyheaded Honeyeater and search for Short-tailed Grasswren again. Mid-morning we look for Elegant Parrot and Grey-headed Honeyeater. We’re also likely to encounter the endangered Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby. We will arrive at Mt Lyndhurst, on the edge of the Strzelecki desert, later in the day and will search for Chestnut-breasted Whiteface, another SA endemic, as well as Inland Dotterel, Thickbilled Grasswren, Cinnamon Quail-thrush, Chirruping Wedgebill and Rufous Fieldwren. Overnight at the Lyndhurst Hotel, a typical outback pub.
Day 5. We start with another visit to Mt Lyndhurst then the endless open stony plains of the Strzelecki desert looking for species such as Budgerigar, Crimson, Orange and Gibber Chat, Eyrean Grasswren, and if we’re lucky, Ground Cuckoo-shrike, Letter-winged Kite and Black-breasted Buzzard. We will spend the night again at Lyndhurst.
Day 6. Today we’ll travel the almost 700 km back to Adelaide with stops for White-winged Fairy-wren, Chirruping Wedgebill, Rufous Fieldwren and Redthroat, Banded Stilt, Slender-billed Thornbill, Elegant and Blue-winged Parrot and if we’re lucky, Rock Parrot. Time (and tide) permitting we pull in at the saltfields near St Kilda to scan through flocks of migratory waders and another chance of Banded Stilt. Arrival back in Adelaide will be late afternoon.
This tour will operate at any time, subject to availability, with minimum of 2 passengers – and will operate with one passenger at additional cost. This birding tour takes in a variety of habitats thereby maximizing the species list – expect around 200 species, including some highly sought-after species.
Tour departs on request, subject to availability. Includes private guiding & touring, entry fees, accommodation, meals from lunch on Day 01 to lunch on Day 06.
Tour Code: BA6GFTo Book or Enquire: Email (Please include Tour Code) Nature Tours4 Day / 3 Night Murray & Flinders Ranges Tour – from AdelaideDay 1: Adelaide to River Murray You will be picked up from the airport or your accommodation. While most of South Australia is characterised by a rather arid climate, the Mt Lofty ranges are an exception. The hills capture the rainclouds coming in from the Southern Ocean, resulting in a much cooler and wetter climate. There are many National Parks comprised of tall Eucalyptus forests. Small villages surrounded by grapevines and orchards dot the landscape.
While taking a scenic walk in one of the National Parks we look for that typical Australian marsupial, the Koala. We may also come across the shy, ground-dwelling Southern Bandicoot. In the treetops we look for the enormous yellow - and - black Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo and other colourful parrots, as well as various species of Honeyeater.
We visit the summit of Mt Lofty, which provides breathtaking views over the city and Southern Ocean as far as Kangaroo Island. Here we also delve into South Australian history as we visit some of the landmarks that commemorate the achievements of early explorers.
As we drive through the scenic Adelaide Hills we experience how the landscape changes to drier and more open. On the edge of the escarpment we have a chance to experience the typical dry Australian bush. From here we will have amazing views of the Murray plains stretching out ahead of us as far as the eye can see. The scrub covering this area is home to some rare ground-dwelling bird species, such as Southern Scrubrobin and Shy Heathwren.
Australia's largest river, the Murray, flows through these plains. We enjoy lunch at the riverside town of Mannum, and then take an optional cruise exploring the river and its wetlands, which are teeming with water birds.
We follow the river upstream, stopping at some remarkable cliff-top lookouts, until we arrive at a private sanctuary. Here we'll enjoy a three-course dinner while watching the sun set over river cliffs, whose colors change with the fading light. After dinner we head out on a spotlighting adventure to view the endangered Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat, kangaroos and other native wildlife that comes out to feed.
Overnight: Barossa Valley
Day 2: River Murray to Flinders Ranges We head north through fields of vineyards until we reach the town of Port Augusta. The Arid Lands Botanical Gardens contain a superb collection of indigenous plants, shrubs and flowers adapted to the semi-arid landscape. Set against a backdrop of red sand dunes and the coast of the Spencer Gulf, there are always flowering plants here no matter the time of year. The flowers attract many birds, in particular Honeyeaters.
After lunch we proceed to the Flinders Ranges through picturesque countryside, where we arrive in the Wilpena Pound region, our final destination for the day. We will see many kangaroos and with luck, the impressive Wedge-tailed Eagle. Emus are prolific in the National Park. Certain hills are covered in the quintessential Australian spinifex grass, which is home to the endemic Short-tailed Grasswren. After looking for these and other birds, we enjoy the rock formations taking on deepening shades of red as the sun sets.
Overnight: Wilpena Pound Resort.
Day 3 Flinders Ranges. The Flinders Ranges are an impressive range of steep hills and soaring rock formations on the edge of Australia’s outback. Erosion of this ancient mountain chain has led to the formation of a natural crater-like pound which is best viewed from the air. Participants are able to take an optional half-hour scenic flight around Wilpena Pound. Alternatively, we can walk to the edge of the pound, along a tree-lined creek, which takes about an hour, and take the shuttle bus back.
We then drive into the Flinders Ranges National Park to visit the Sacred Canyon with its Aboriginal rock carvings. From there we proceed along creekbeds and through narrow gorges cut deeply into geological layers that date back 800 million years. We visit the fossil site of the Ediacaran fauna, which lived a little before the great explosion of multicellular life at the beginning of the Cambrian Period.
In this area we're also likely to encounter the endangered Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby. After passing through a fantastic gorge the scenery of the true Australian Outback stretches out ahead of us as far as the eye can see.
Overnight: Wilpena Pound Resort.
Day 4 Flinders Ranges to Adelaide We will take most of the day to travel back to Adelaide, visiting a number of sites of interest along the way. One of these is the Yourambulla Caves with Aboriginal rock paintings. Further south we visit the coastline north of Adelaide, where a unique ecosystem of low mangroves and extensive samphire swamps harbours some interesting bird species such as an endemic race of the Slender-billed Thornbill and various parrot species.
We will also travel trough some real "ghost towns" to pretty Melrose, at the base of Mt Remarkable. From here it is not far to the wine region of the Clare Valley. After tasting some excellent wines we finish this fascinating journey back in Adelaide in the early evening.
Tour Cost: AUD $2,285.00 per person, twin share, 2 people. Tour departs daily on request, subject to availability. Includes private guiding & touring, meals from lunch on Day 01 to lunch on Day 04.
Tour Code: NA4MFTo Book or Enquire: Email (Please include Tour Code)
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