Australia: The Southwest

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2026/08/11: Rottnest Island, WA

Took a fast catamaran from Hillarys to Rottnest, with large swells from yesterday’s storms making the 45-minute crossing uncomfortable. Had one Australasian Gannet. Greeted by our principal target, the adorable Quokka, two minutes after landing. Had arranged a one-hour private tour via electric vehicle, to cover all the saline ponds for Banded Stilt, but none were around. Also checked the small sand beach on Dyer Island for Australian Sea Lion, which are occasionally present there, but no luck. But we saw the handsome Australian Shelduck, a lifer. Back at camp after a shopping trip, we saw 4 Corellas, which Eileen’s photos showed to be Western Corella, another lifer. Many of the Western Gray Kangaroos in camp were mothers with joeys in their pouches.

2026/08/12: Herdsman Lake, Perth, WA

Braved rush hour traffic in Perth in both directions to bird at Monger Lake (virtually birdless) and Herdsman Lake (very good). Found only one of three targets, Blue-billed Duck, but also enjoyed many Pink-eared Ducks and a gorgeous paperbark swamp. Also found Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoo near the campground, another tough ID based on upper mandible length, which strongly affects foraging efficiency for various foods. Recorded Gould’s Wattled and White-striped Free-tailed Bats.

2026/08/13: Dryandra Woodland NP, WA

Got the bad news today that the Western Treatment Plant at Werribee, west of Melbourne, has been closed to visitors indefinitely due to the threat of avian flu. This is the best waterbirding site in Australia, and not being able to enter it may cost us about half a dozen life birds.

Got to Dryandra in time for a late lunch. Added two easy lifers in our campsite at Gnaala Mia, Rufous Treecreeper and Yellow-plumed Honeyeater. Drove to Lions Village at 15 kph looking for Numbats, picking up one last new bird, Dusky Woodswallow. Recorded bats, with relatively few passes but two new species, South-western Free-tailed Bat and Southern Forest Bat.

2026/08/14: Dryandra Woodland NP, WA

The day started off with a bang, with three colorful lifers in our campsite: Red-capped Parrot, Blue-breasted Fairywren, and Purple-crowned Lorikeet! Worked on our long list of bird targets in the morning, with the high point being great looks at a singing Western Tit-shrike. [The three shrike-tits constitute a family found only in Australia; formerly considered a single species, they resemble nothing else.] Much of the warmer afternoon was spent looking for Numbat, my most wanted Australian mammal, but no luck, though Eileen spotted 4 Short-beaked Echidnas. After dark, we hiked the Wandoo Walk and drove the Darwinia Loop looking for mammals, seeing 8 Common Brush-tailed Possums, a Western Gray Kangaroo, and one Brush-tailed Bettong, our top priority target, but a rather poor view.

2026/08/15: Dryandra Woodland NP, WA

Spent the whole day except early afternoon looking for Numbat, finally connecting twice in the late afternoon! In my opinion, this is the most beautiful mammal in Australia, and we saw the second one well, showing off in low-angle golden sunlight. It took about 8 hours of focused effort to find the first one. This activity was great for detecting Australian robins; we had all three species normally found here, and added another 3 Echidnas to the tally. The only other thing we did was look for honeyeaters in heath at Lol Gray, where we got two lifers: Tawny-crowned and Gilbert’s.

2026/08/16: Dryandra Woodland NP, WA

Up at 3 a.m. to try for a number of difficult mammals. With many cold hours since it got dark, I hoped for ideal conditions for thermal imaging [everything cooled off and at about the same temperature], but the trees were still surprisingly warm. The only real success was getting much improved views of Brush-tailed Bettong, representing a new mammal family for us. With the large majority of our target birds found, we came back to camp, got some more sleep, and took the rest of the day off. But while eating lunch, I glanced out of the open camper door, and to my astonishment, briefly saw a Numbat in the distance! We went tearing off after it, getting a few glimpses through the brush. Just as we started back, Eileen saw a small bird walking on the ground. We tracked it and a second bird for about five minutes before getting a clear enough look to realize they were buttonquail, a mythical lifeform!! Another five minutes and we both could add Painted Buttonquail to our life lists.

Dryandra may be my favorite location of the trip so far, with lovely trails and dirt roads through beautiful forest, few other vehicles, a wonderful campsite, and great birds and mammals. In our campsite alone (not campground, just the individual site) we added six life birds and two new bats! In the area as a whole, we had 14 life birds and 4 life mammals.

2026/08/17: Victoria Dam, SE of Perth, WA

As we approached our first birding spot in late morning, rain started up, and it continued for most of the rest of the day. soon accompanied by gusty winds. We squeezed in less than one hour of birding, but did get Red-winged Fairywren and Square-tailed Kite. We found a public parking lot with good Telstra signal and spent a long time there downloading Google Maps, putting books on our  Kindles, etc. Were going to bush camp but got a site in a caravan park so we could have heat overnight. [Unbelievably, the RV has a propane stove but no propane heater; you must be plugged in to warm the camper.]

2026/08/18: Rockingham, S of Perth, WA

A lot of things did not work out today. The first site we visited was closed, apparently permanently. The second thing we tried to do was see Australian Sea Lion on Seal Island, exactly a kilometer offshore, a telescope challenge. We had been booked on a boat trip to see them but it was canceled without explanation about six weeks beforehand. When I saw no sea lions, I called the visitor center and was told that they were all farther north at this time of year, and none remained locally. We next visited Richmond Lake to look for a single Musk Duck seen recently, no longer a shoe-in because of the closure of Werribee. This was successful, and we thought while we were there we would check out the thrombolites [rare, early life forms], but had trouble finding any parking. No matter, we were visiting an even better site (according to AI), Lake Clifton, late in the day.

Returned to the beach for lunch, where Eileen had a blast hand-feeding Willie Wagtails, one of which sat in her hand and sang! As we were leaving, I took one last look at Seal Island in binoculars, and there was a new dark lump on the beach! I set up the scope again and watched continuously for about 40 minutes until the lump finally woke up, stretched, and slumped back to the beach. That ten seconds or so was enough to see the golden nape of a male Australian Sea Lion! Fortunately, Eileen only had to wait five minutes or so before he repositioned himself.

Onward now to Lake Clifton. Arrived to find it closed with a large flashing sign saying no access to the thrombolites. Frustrated, we drove an hour to our campsite in higher elevation forest, and upon arrival, found it completely closed off, either being renovated or destroyed, it was hard to tell. Retreated and camped nearby. Quite a day.

2026/08/19: Maidens Reserve and Tuart NP, WA

Headed back to the coast, and on the way lucked into a flock of Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo, feeding on Eucalyptus at eye level! I was worried about finding this species as its range is so small and eBird records at this time of year are rather sparse, with no consistently good locations. At the coast, hiked in Maidens Reserve, which protects high dunes covered with Kwongan Heathland, rather resembling coastal California chaparral. Here we found two lifers in short order, White-breasted Robin and Southern Emuwren. The latter was a particular thrill as it can be difficult to find, and we saw three birds, really well, two of them striking males!

Finished the day in Mandalay Holiday Resort, possibly the nicest commercial campground we’ve stayed in here, finding 5 Western Ring-tailed Possums in 10 minutes! This species occupies a miniscule fraction of its original range; the Busselton area is now probably the best place left to find it.

2026/08/20: Cape Naturaliste, WA

Had light west winds this morning, so somewhat optimistic heading towards Cape Naturaliste despite intermittent rain. This promontory, with both rocky shores and sandy beaches, can be excellent for seabirds during strong onshore winds. Although the winds were weak, they were from a reasonable direction, and we did quite well, with at least half a dozen Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses, a White-capped Albatross, and a few Great-winged Petrels. The latter were distant but I was able to add the species to my life list as I was familiar with the flight characteristics of other dark tubenoses in these waters, but Eileen did not count it. Other new birds were the utterly adorable Red-eared Firetail and Brush Bronzewing, which I missed.

The whole morning Humpbacks Whales passed by and were more acrobatic than we have seen in a long time, or maybe ever; they were constantly raising their long pectoral fins out of the water and then crashing them down, making a big splash. Quite a few times we saw them breach, coming completely out of the water and twisting to land on their back, making a simply massive splash.

The day finished at the Underwater Observatory at the end of Busselton Jetty, which was rather disappointing due to poor water visibility; there is also less to see there in winter.

2026/08/21: Cape Leeuwin, WA

Spent most of the morning getting the oil changed in the camper, which cost over $250 US. After a quick and unproductive stop at Hamelin Bay, we drove to Cape Leeuwin, the southwestern “corner” of WA, where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. Our key target for the day was Rock Parrot, and when I asked the fellow collecting admission to the lighthouse trail about them, he said he had just seen a flock this morning and to follow him. He quickly ushered us inside the site and pointed to where they had been, and remarkably, seven birds were still there! Once we had studied and photographed the birds, I went back in and paid, and thanked him for his help. We had a nice walk to the lighthouse in beautiful weather, seeing a few more parrots in the coastal scrub. The day’s itinerary was too long originally, and with the oil change added in, we stopped well short of our intended bush camp.

2026/08/22: To Tone-Perup Nature Reserve, WA

Spent a little time in camp in the morning; I worked on the vehicle while Eileen photographed a nearby Emu and enjoyed coffee with some kangaroos. We walked a bit at Big Brook Dam near Pemberton to see Karri Forest, which was superb! Then drove to Lake Muir, part of a botanically remarkable bottomland including some peatlands. Made a couple of additional stops on our way to the Tonebridge bush camp, our home for the next two nights. Saw Western Rosella twice, a species I thought we were likely to miss.

2026/08/23: Tone-Perup Nature Reserve, WA

Drove a 96km loop through Jarrah-Marri Forest twice, once in daylight, and once in the dark. Highlights were Western Spinebill, close encounters with Varied Sitellas, Western Thornbill, Restless Flycatcher, more Western Rosellas, and 4cm diameter Drosera [sundew] rosettes. Our campsite, a riverside rest area maintained by volunteers, had the best birding of all, with about 20 spp in a tiny area. The night drive was a dud, though we got another mediocre view of Brush-tailed Bettong.

2026/08/24: Albany and Cheynes Beach, WA

Drove to Cheynes Beach, where we will spend four nights, giving us three full days in Kwongan Heathland. Stopped at Rushy Point in Albany to look for an Australian Fairy Tern reported on eBird and found it! A bonus was seeing two Yellow-billed Spoonbills. At Cheynes Beach, Eileen found a Brown Quail with three chicks, a new bird for us, and we finally caught up with Western Wattlebird, thanks to numerous flowering Banksias. After dark, got Southern Brown Bandicoot, a lifer, with the thermal imager.

We’ve now been in Australia for 16 weeks. The bird list is at 411 spp; Eileen has 130 lifers and I have 117. The mammal list is 79 spp; Eileen has 63 lifers and I have 66.