This post actually covers an older trip. Near the end of 2012 I decided to head down to Tasmania for a week to visit the breeding grounds of one of Australia's rarest species, the Orange-bellied Parrot.
Just a little background info, this species breeds in south-west Tasmania and migrates up the west coast to spend the winter feeding along the Vic and SA coastlines. Sadly this species has been declining recently and at the time of this trip it was estimated that there were less than 30 individuals left in the wild.
With much anticipation I left hot and sunny Perth and landed in cold wet Melbourne with a few hours to spare before the boat was due to set sail for Devonport. At this point I have to say a big thanks to my parents for not only letting me borrow their 4WD for the week but also for packing a lot of the camping gear for me and meeting me at the airport! Unfortunately we didn't get much time to catch up before it was time to board the boat.
Thankfully, the boat ride was very smooth as I get seasick at a wet forecast. The boat docked around 5:30am and by 6 I was drowning myself in maccas coffee in Devonport and waiting for the local camera shop to open to pick up a new flash for my camera. Quickly getting bored of coffee and the local paper I went down to the foreshore to do a little birding. Down at the breakwater in Devonport the birds were just starting to move about, naturally the first bird added to the list for the trip was the ubiquitous Silver Gull! closely followed by Common Starling, Welcome Swallow, House Sparrow and a Little Wattlebird feeding in the shrubs along the path. Along the edge of the water were two species of Oystercatcher, the Sooty and the Pied along with a lone Pacific Gull. By this point it was time to head back to the car and pick up the new flash! The walk back added three new species, Superb Fairywren, Masked lapwing and a pair of European Goldfinches.
I arrived at the camera shop to gut wrenching news, the model that I had ordered was not available.. to his credit, the manager of the camera shop in Devonport is a deadset superstar and set me up with a more advanced model than I was first looking at and great deal on the price so thankyou very much!
The drive to Launceston from Devonport was relatively quiet, only adding Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Black Swans and Tasmanian Native Hens (the first endemic of the trip!). I stopped off in Launceston for more coffee with family friends before heading out to the airport to pick up Jordan, Brendon and Jason. With a quick stop for more coffee and supplies we headed off to our first overnight stay, Cradle Mountain National Park.
The drive up took a little longer than expected and we ended up arriving about an hour before dark, adding White-winged Triller, Great Cormorant, Laughing Kookaburra, Olive Whistler and White-faced Heron to the bird list and Tasmanian Pademelon, Common Wombat and Short-beaked Echidna to our mammal list. When we arrived at the national park there was Just enough time to drive down to Dove Lake and grab a few photos of Cradle Mountain among the clouds and tick a Grey Currawong hanging around in the carpark.
Dove Lake with Cradle Mountain
After setting up camp at the local campground we had a quick feed and then headed off down some of the roads and walking tracks, saying hello to some of the local furries.
Joey
Pair of paddies Sprung!
Cool temperate rainforest near camp.
We found this strange looking fungi in the forest above, any help with an ID would be great!
Tasmanian Native Hen near Dove Lake.
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos near Cradle Mountain National Park
Overnight the heavens opened up and it rained solidly for several hours. I woke up the following morning to see the outside of the tent covered in leaches. Probably my least favourite creature on the planet. After carefully extracting myself from the tent we had a quick breakfast and then headed back into the national park where we ticked Grey Goshawk, Swamp Harrier, Crescent Honeyeater, Australian Magpie, Forest Raven followed by a few endemics, the Yellow Wattlebird, Green Rosella, Yellow-throated Honeyeater, Tasmanian Scrubwren and the endemic herps Crinia tasmaniensis and Cyclodomorphus casuarinae.
Tasmanian Scrubwren
Tasmanian She-oak Skink
Tasmanian Froglet
The highlight of Cradle Mountain definitely came from our second night, while out spotlighting we came across a sight that no longer appears on mainland Australia, an Eastern Quoll and its fair to say it didn't really hang around!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it's gone!
The following morning we set off from Cradle Mountain, destination Hobart!
Stay tuned for Part 2.
Cheers
Chris
