Western & Northern Australia

Rainbow Lorikeets by Ventures Birding

Parrots and Rock Paintings

September 1-21, 2022

Western Australia by Simon Thompson

Your place on this Venture is reserved when your completed registration form and deposit of $400/person has been received. Deposit may be made via the ‘book now’ button above, or by contacting the Ventures office. We accept credit cards for an additional fee (2.9% for MC, Visa, Discover; 3.9% for AmEx), but you may also pay by bank transfer, cash, check, or money order (payable to ‘VENTURES BIRDING’) sent to PO Box 1095, Skyland, NC 28776. This Venture is limited to 10 participants.

Cost of the Australia Venture $TBA per person from Adelaide, based on double occupancy ($TBA single supplement) Price includes: All transportation in Australia, accommodations, breakfasts, picnic lunches & evening meals, entry fees, taxes, gratuities (except tour guides) trip information packets, bird list & guide/leader service. Not included: Airfare to and internal flights within Australia, alcoholic beverages & drinks, laundry and other personal items. Also any meals not specified within the itinerary.

Western Australia, covering the entire western third of the country, is made up mostly of the arid Outback. Its population is concentrated in its fertile southwest corner, home to the Margaret River wine region and the riverside capital, Perth. In the far north, the Kimberley region is home to ancient Aboriginal rock art, the Bungle sandstone domes and Broome, with Cable Beach camels and a pearling industry. Our tour actually starts in Adelaide, South Australia, where we visit the Adelaide Hills and the wonderful Gluepot Preserve, for birds such as Red-lored and Gilbert’s Whistlers. We then fly to Perth to explore the amazing birdlife in the southwest corner. Some of our targets around Cheynes Beach are Western Bristlebird, Western Whipbird and Noisy Scrub-bird, before we continue up the coast to Broome- surely one of the wader hot-spots of the world. From Broome we fly to Kunnunura in the far NE corner of the state to search for some of Australia’s unique finches, as well as a boat trip on Lake Argyle. Timber Creek is just across the state line in the Northern Territories. We will spend the remainder of the tour exploring the wide-open spaces of Australia’s far north. From the coastal mangroves, freshwater wetlands, arid interior to Kakadu National Park (Australia’s largest) the birdlife is prolific. We will also have the opportunity to learn of the life and culture of the traditional Aboriginal owners of Kakadu National Park. Scattered throughout the rock shelters are paintings done by Aboriginal people and thought to be over twenty thousand years old. Our town finishes in Darwin, where we can either spend more time or fly home after our Australian adventure.

Some of the Birds We Hope to See

Freckled Duck, Australian Pratincole, Azure Kingfisher, Great-billed and Pied Herons, Black Bittern, Green Pygmy-goose, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Brolga, Black-necked Stork, Cape Barren Goose, Malleefowl, Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Major Mitchell Cockatoo, Western Ringneck, Adelaide Rosella, Hooded Parrot, Carnaby's (Short-billed) Black-cockatoo, Blue-breasted, Splendid and Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens, Southern Scrub-robin, Red-lored and Gilbert’s Whistlers, Chestnut Quail-thrush, Crested Bellbird, Red-capped & Hooded Robins, Crested Shrike-tit, Rufous Treecreeper, Spotted Scrubwren, Southern Emu-wren, Western Spinebill, White-breasted Whistler, and many, many more.