tonyk38

One of my principal motivations for moving to Aus is the wildlife. I particularly wanted to watch birds when there, but the odd thing about birding in Aus is that it can be rather predictable. The unpredictable migration movements of maritime Europe which make it so interesting for birds, are much less apparent in Aus and I have been struggling to uncover areas in the country which would keep my interest over many years.

Luckily I am interested in all wildlife and am enjoying the challenge of discovering and learning about other Aussie wildlife, so my question is this....

Can anyone recommend areas to live in, in which they have found to be particularly good for reptiles, frogs and native mammals, or just wildlife in general? Doesn't have to be all three, and I'd rather it was outside the tropics which I would find too hot to live in.

Any advice or comments much appreciated.

Badge

I'm not answering your question, but any chance of a primer on birds Tony?

I was looking at 2 books the other day.One was the standard field guide that has been mentioned before, but I found a very narrow one that has lots of coloured-coded lists by family. My fav family is lorikeets, parrots, and cockatoos.

A new friend of ours is an expert on flora and fauna, which I am trying to get into, apparently we have kaika something or other grass in our yard - it's African?!...I'm also trying to work out what all our trees are.

cheers

Badge

Stormz

Just when I thought all the questions on this forum were being constantly recycled.... an original one

I`d be interested to know too.

I know when I lived in Perth before there were quite a few swarms of Budgies. As for much else, apart from a Kookaburra or 3, not alot going on there.

http://www.frommers.com/destinations...212020325.html

http://www.birdwatching-australia.com/

http://www.wildwatch.com.au/

http://www.oceania.org.au/wwwlinks/watch.html

tonyk38

Hi Badge!

The two Aussie bird guides which I would recommend are the ones by Peter Slater (slim, blue cover) and a rather larger tome by Simpson and Day. I don't have either to hand since all of my stuff is still in storage until I get my flat back, so I can't quite remember the titles, but suffice it to say that they are field guides to the birds of Aus. These authors do other similar books, so try not to get them mixed up.

I use Slater's guide all the time. It's a lot more portable than Simpson and Day, though the quality of the illustrations in both ranges from fair to excellent. I wouldn't recommend any other guides, these two are the best to my knowledge.

If you're interested in identifying the birds you see, I always recommend to folks to get a good pair of binoculars and take notes in a little book instead of frantically thumbing through a field guide only to look up and see that the bird has gone. Make a note of it's overall size, any distinctive features such as patches of colour in certain areas, crests, long tails, that sort of thing. If it's an LBJ (Little Brown Job), you may be less interested in what it is, especially since you like parrots, but these are often my favourite birds as they present more of a challenge. Experience I admit does count for a lot, and it enables you to identify little silhouettes high in trees just from their shape and behaviour. Their call is also very important, plus it's very satisfying being able to instantly identify something without actually seeing it! So make a note of this where poss.

In the general vicinity of Emerald, I found the typical common parrots to be Crimson Rosellas (common as sparrows), Eastern Rosellas, Sulphur-crested and Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, Galahs, King Parrots, and with luck, Gang Gang Cockatoos. Lorikeets are trickier because they fly extremely fast and need quck reflexes sometimes to separate the different species. In January I saw Rainbow and Musk Lorikeets in that area. It's also a good area for Brown Goshawk, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Cuckoo Shrikes, Whipbirds (with a very distinctive call), various Honeyeaters, and loads more.

Having African grass in your yard doesn't surprise me. There so many introduced species in Aus, it's really quite staggering. I want to ID the trees too, I'm just a beginner, so lots to keep me happily engrossed when I go back.

tonyk38

Some very nice links there, thanks!

Nice to meet fellow forum members with this interest. I think I'll just explore the area I hope to go to (North East NSW) and find the best areas by myself. I might make some really interesting discoveries, plus I know that the whale watching trips from Coffs come highly recommended and are supposed to be very good for pelagic seabirds too.

HiddenPaw

Yep, Kakadu or Lichfield National Parks :rainforest as far as the eye can see, prolific birdlife, tropical flora, reptilians galore, amazing wildlife and spectatcular natural beauty 24/7. (Oh just realised you said outside the tropics...d'oh!)

Top End is definately a wildlife lover's dream tho. You must get up there for a holiday.

ProofReader

You've obviously not had many encounters with emus! Bloody unpredictable critters, they are!!

HiddenPaw

LOL - yes, so true. They have an amazing ability to chage direction rather rapidly. (I saw a roadkill emu once...not a pretty sight )

possoms

aww when we were in Exmouth, we saw an Emu taking his babies for a walk on the beach, they just trotted along in a line I couldn't believe my eyes.

Sitting here at the moment with the window open there are about 200 jackdaws flying around (no i'm not exagerating) they live in the rock and trees above us, its like something out of Alfred HItchcock :scared:

There have been 2 kestrals around for a couple of weeks could hear them last night about midnight the jackdaws were going mental.

We have a resident owl who starts up about 9pm and goes on until early hours no wonder i'm knackered.

I can't wait to get back to Oz to see all the wildlife again.

Kay

Piscivorus

This is part of the same reason I'm emigrating to Aus, although for me its the reptiles. I used to be a herpetologist and Aus is hard to beat for Squamate reptile diversity. The entire top 3rd of the continent is particularly great for herps in terms of species richness, but even South Australia and parts of Victoria have a lot of good herp wildlife. I understand that Adelaide has high snake pops. though I'm not sure about species diversity. Kangaroo island off the coast of SA is supposed to be awesome for wildlife in general & is one of my top goal destinations.

P.

Koza

Of areas I know are excellent for sure - Lamington NP, off Gold Coast. It's 2.5 hr drive from Brisbane.

tonyk38

Yeah, the Top End is a Must-Do when I go back.

tonyk38

I've had no encounters with emus! Amazing really. Still a paddock with 10 Australian Bustards in it in Qld was really amazing.

I look forward to large flightless unpredictable birds on my return.

tonyk38

Ah, a herpetologist! I'll have to pick your brains whenever I need advice.

Much thanks for the reptile location tips. An Aussie friend of mine heard I was thinking about Armidale as a place to live and she said, "But it's full of snakes!"
"Excellent!" I said!

tonyk38

I went to Lamington back in the 90s and must agree that it was absolutely amazing. Saw loads of native mammals including Mountain Brushtail, Whiptail Wallaby and two species of Pademelon. Also, huge skinks (which might have been Land Mullets) on the walking trails. Loads of birds too!