Australia Birding Tours
Australia has around 360 endemic birds, including some of the most evolutionarily unique species in the world. Our suite of birdwatching tours here are carefully designed so that by covering all routes, participants can expect to see every realistic endemic species and specialty from the intimidating Southern Cassowary to the diminuitive Mallee Emu-wren.
Two flagship itineraries (The Outback and The South) are the first trips that any birder new to the country should be considering. In addition to covering extremely large regions which are remote and somewhat difficult to visit alone, these two tours combined target 70% of Australia's endemic birds (including most of the trickiest desert nomads).
While Ornis is a global company, we are headquatered in Australia and know the continent better than anyone else! All our tours use large 4WDs with a maximum of three participants in each vehicle.
Australia: South-West & Christmas Island
Targeting all the endemics around Perth, this is our best tour on which to see the much-wanted Noisy Scrubbird. We will also target some awesome mammals like Numbat and Echidna. This pleasant itinerary doesn't have too much driving, and we have thrown in Christmas Island too!
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Australia: The Kimberley & Pilbara
Birding from Darwin and Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory all the way across the Kimberley to Broome and down into the remote Pilbara provides stunning encounters with all the key endemics at the best time of year for birding in Australia's remote tropical north.
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Australia: The Outback
Birding in some of the remotest parts of outback Queensland, this tour goes from Golden-shouldered Parrot and Red Goshawk in the woodlands Cape York, past Carpentarian Grasswren and Budgerigar in the spinifex savannahs of Mount Isa, all the way to Letter-winged Kite, Grey Grasswren, and Gibberbird of the expansive Channel Country.
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The Ornis Birding Strategy in Australia
Modern science now considers the ancient landmass of Gondwana to be the birthplace of passerines, with present-day avifauna like the vocally miraculous Superb Lyrebird and notoriously secretive Rufous Scrubbird very closely linked to these early birds. Our bird quests will take us on tour to the country's most exciting habitats in search of fascinating species, including a few places that even local birders rarely venture!
The South is our best bird tour to see all but one of Australia's endemic bird families, these being Plains-wanderer, Lyrebirds, Whipbirds, Bristlebirds, Pardalotes, Shriketits, and Mudnesters. The outstanding Scrubbird family requires just a couple of extra days in either Sydney or Perth. This particular trip also offers very high chances for encounters with Short-beaked Echidna, Koala, Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat, Red Kangaroo, and Yellow-footed Rock-Wallaby, some of Australia's most evocative mammals.
The Outback is a specialised itinerary covering some of the remotest corners of the continent. Birding across tropical savannah and vast gibber plains, we use roads on which only a handful of vehicles pass by each day. Highlights include six species of grasswren, all the endemics of far nothern Cape York, plus most of the trickiest desert nomads like Letter-winged Kite, Grey Falcon, Inland Dotterel, and Flock Bronzewing.
The Kimberley & Pilbara focuses on birding Australia's remote north-west, covering the endemics from Darwin to Broome and beyond. Highlights include Chestnut Rail, Rainbow Pitta, Black Grasswren, Yellow Chat, Western Quail-thrush, Star Finch, Gouldian Finch, plus some excellent mammal and reptile diversity.
The South-West & Christmas Island is our shortest Australian birding tour, covering an exciting corner of the contient around Perth which holds 18 true endemics, including the much-wanted Noisy Scrubbird (the only endemic bird family not seen on our other regular tours), Red-capped Parrot, Red-eared Firetail, and more. Then on the isolated outpost of Christmas Island, there are some more endemics plus breeding Abbott's Booby and the stunning golden form of White-tailed Tropicbird.
