Tasmania, South

5/12/2011

We made an early start at Peter Murrell Reserve, accessing it from Huntingfield Avenue, Kingston, via a track beside the Vodaphone call centre. Immediately beside the cark park in a stand of white gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) we heard Forty Spotted Pardalotes calling, but they were too high and the light too dim for us to distinguish them from the Striated Pardalotes that were also calling. A photo was out of the question so we wandered on to the dam where there were Australasian Grebe, Pacific Black Ducks, Chestnut Teal and Maned (or Australian Wood) Ducks. I don’t know if it was love or war, but the male was repeatedly attacking the other bird. Lots of Tasmanian Native Hens at the edges of the dam, Yellow and Little Wattlebirds in the trees, Welcome Swallows and Superb Fairywrens. A group of Yellow-throated Honeyeaters foraged in the trees alongside the second dam, the path was higher up the hill, so the birds in the top of the trees were conveniently at eye level.

Continuing south on the Channel Highway as the rain started to fall, we pulled in at the Bruny d'Entrecasteaux monument at Gordon, where several of the Tasmanian race of the Dusky Woodswallow sat about in the rain, looking as miserable as we felt.

A large group of Silver Gulls and Great Crested Tern were fishing at the edge of the channel, so we tested the waterproof qualities of the cameras and filled a card with mainly shots of sea and sky, but sufficient successful captures to make the soaking worthwhile.

It was a very pretty drive, with English gardens, apple orchards and stone cottages on one side of the road and the channel on the other with Bruny Island on the horizon. We did stop at Ninepin Point Marine Reserve, and walked down to the water, and paused again at Randalls Bay where we caught a glimpse of birds in the roadside trees. They didn’t hang around, so nor did we.

We detoured to have a look at the Arve River creek walk, and if the weather held, a glimpse of Hartz Mountain National Park. The Look-in Lookout was wonderfully unexpected, a pull off on the left of the road where you could peer into the forest – should be more of them. The Arve River Picnic Ground was the start and end of a ten minute loop walk, absolutely amazing .

Hartz Mountain brought our first sightings of the Black Currawong, but there was snow on the ground and the rain felt like sleet. We reflected on the changes in habitat we had driven through in a single day, and the incredible alpine plants that now surrounded us – from the comfort of the car.

The rain finally started to clear around Kingston, so we turned south again heading for the Inverawe Native Gardens at Margate. Cups of tea with Tasmanian cheddar and biscuits restored us sufficiently and we wandered up and down the paths of the gardens with pleasure. Ninety-one species of birds have been seen at the gardens including all twelve endemics, and we saw a good number in the short time we were there, although conditions were less than perfect for birding. Green Rosellas gathered in the trees, New Holland Honeyeaters zipped through the Grevilleas, Eurasian Blackbirds picked through the mulch, and a Laughing Kookaburra failed to be amused. We also saw White-faced Heron, Great Egret, Welcome Swallows, and Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike.

Tasman Penninsula

4/12/2011

We woke to sunshine on Sunday, so headed east to the Tasman Penninsula. We were on the lookout for waders as we passed through Sorrel, but apart from gulls,  Crested Terns, Pied Oystercatchers, Black Swans and the ubiquitous Masked Lapwings, the edges of the water bodies held little of interest. Stopping for breakfast at Dunalley, Black-faced Cormorants, Little Black Cormorants, Australasian Darters and Silver Gulls were lined up on the jetty. We took a detour before Eaglehawk Neck to see the tessellated pavement but were side-tracked by some spectacular native gardens alongside the road that were filled with Golden Whistler, Eastern Spinebill, Little Wattlebird, Superb Fairywren, Grey Fantail, and Yellow Wattlebirds.


A homeowner came out to see why we had huge lenses trained on his bedroom windows, and told us that at Devils Kitchen we could look down on albatross circling below, so we left the tessellated pavement for the next trip and headed off while I remembered his directions.


The scenery was spectacular along the stretch of coast that contains the Tasman Blowhole, Tasman Arch and Devil’s Kitchen, but no albatross circled below for us. A lone Australian Gannet flew past, and Silver Gulls launched themselves from the cliffs. Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Beautiful Firetail, Tasmanian Silvereyes, Eastern Spinebills and Tasmanian Thornbills were seen on the walk. We had been told by our first-day birding friend that the way to tell the Tasmanian Thornbill from the Brown Thornbill was to remember that the Tasmanian Thornbill wore white undies!

With the weather closing in, somewhere sheltered seemed like a good idea and the Blue Seal Cafe presented itself on the coast road as a likely spot. With a fire lit, and excellent tea and scones we comfortably waited out the worst of the rain.

The rain continued, a little heavier than drizzle, so we pulled into the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park. The park was designed by renowned zoo landscape architect, John Coe, and includes four large habitats that demonstrate the devil's adaptability to a number of environments, including: a farmyard where the devils live among hay bales and farm machinery, which is where they are increasingly seen; a rainforest area; a eucalypt woodland; and an inside-out area where visitors now walk into the centre of a display with trees and grassland all around.


The park also had a great free flight show with birds that had been rescued or rehabilitated, including a Peregrine Falcon that had a wing amputated after colliding with a power line, and a Galah that had been surrendered by its long-time owners.


While I am interested in the history of Australia, and visiting historic sites, I didn’t think I could cope with the combination of encapsulated misery and tourist consumerism at Port Arthur, so we went to the Coal Mines Historic Site (the Coal Mines formed part of the system of convict discipline, and ruins of accommodation jails and offices remain).

We finished the day on the Tasman Peninsula at Lime Bay, were we saw sodden Green Rosellas, Grey Butcher Birds, Magpies and damp Bennet’s Wallaby and where a Pacific Gull snacking on a crab gave us the idea of heading back to Hobart for a seafood dinner on the Wharf.

Jetty Beach, Bruny Island

The Labillardiere Peninsula Circuit is a seven hour walk starting at the Jetty Beach
campground, the highlight of which is a view of Partridge Island, which protects one of the largest populations of the endangered forty-spotted pardalote, from the top of Mount Bleak. We decided we didn’t need to climb the peak as we had Beach Bleak, Road Bleak and everything else Bleak right where we were. We walked a little way along, attracted by the Christmas bells (Blandfordia punicea) brightening up the recently burned scrub.

In the area immediately around the campground we saw Dusky Robins, including an immature, Yellow-throated Honeyeater, Strong-billed Honeyeater and Black-headed Honeyeater. It was looking as though we were not going to get another break in the rain, so we headed back to the ferry.

Mavista Nature Walk

3/12/2011

We headed inland along Resolution Road to the Mavista Nature Walk, stopping on the way for a Scarlet Robin that had young in a nest in one of the Eucalypts by the roadside. One of the local birders that we’d met earlier was standing off the road in the undergrowth a little further along, his back to us.  We met up again at Mavista, where he explained that the particular call of nature that he was responding to was a Pink Robin, a species that then eluded us for the rest of the trip. The walk is an easy twenty minutes alongside a very pretty creek, but it was raining again so we chatted to our new mate for a while under the picnic shelter, and then drove on to the West coast, stopping only for an introduced Goldfinch on the wires.

Adventure Bay

It was raining solidly as we skirted Adventure Bay, but we pulled over to check out the memorial at the spot where Captain Cook landed. Two Pacific Gulls were also pondering how different things might have been (the Dutch, French and Spanish also ‘discovered’ Australia). The garden across the road was a riot of cottage plants and New Holland Honeyeaters were taking advantage of the nectar on offer. Baby birds were demanding their share from the shrubs on the other side of the road.

As we watched the honeyeaters a group of parrots flew into the beach-side trees and pushing our way through the wet undergrowth we came across a group of feasting Green Rosellas. Not sure what the plant is, but it certainly occupied the Rosellas, and we were able to watch for some time and leave them still munching.

The sun came out so we made our way down to the beach, where a sign warned us of nesting Hooded Plovers. There were White-face Heron perched on an abandoned boat and European Starling pecking at flotsam. A fenced off area announced that that section of beach was reserved for the Hooded Plover, but either the plovers had not read the sign, or they didn’t appreciate the gesture.

Another heavy shower sent us to the nearby Bruny Island Berry Farm where we were able to while away the time working through the menu: berry coulis and fresh yoghurt, scones with home-made jam and cream, toasted focaccia filled with local smoked salmon and Tasmanian brie, and mixed berries in champagne jelly. Tasmanian Native Hens scratched around on the sodden lawn. A movement in a blackberry bush turned out to be an introduced Greenfinch.

The Neck, Bruny Island

The rain was as short-lived as it was heavy, and we were able to get the cameras out again at the Neck. On the Isthmus Bay side Silver Gulls, Kelp Gulls and Pied Oystercatchers foraged in the shallows. Superb Fairywrens bustled about among the Fairy Penguin burrows, but the adults were out to sea and the young stayed tucked up in the burrows. A Tasmanian Scrubwren scolded us from its bush beside the boardwalk.

Big Lagoon, Bruny Island

3/12/2011

Pulling into a parking area just before the airstrip, we walked down to the Big Lagoon, the first part of a track to Cape Queen Elizabeth. Grey Shrike Thrush were calling and dislodging insects from bark crevices, Grey Fantail were everywhere, lots of Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos flying overhead, and a Brush Bronzewing flushed from the edge of the track. Striated Pardalotes were high in the trees. A Flame Robin foraging and returning to a fence perch gave us regular, if distant photo opportunities. The high mesh fence was some metres behind a standard barbed-wire fence and inside the enclosure were half a dozen Emu – Emu are farmed in Tasmania.

Back at the carpark we met a group from the local Birdwatchers Club, they confirmed that the itinerary we’d drawn up was going to give us the best chance for good birding, and as the rain came down we shared the spot to find the Flame Robin.