Birding South Australia Highlights Tour - 6 Days

An optional pre-tour excursion to Kangaroo Island is available.

The enormous island, located just off the coast of Adelaide, is home to a rich range of wildlife, specialised birds, stunning scenery, and vast nature. The endangered Glossy Black Cockatoo, Fairy Penguin colonies, Hooded Plover, Cape Barren Goose, the elusive Western Whipbird, and the rare Fairy Penguin, as well as many other sea and land species, are all important birds.

Those who are not participating in this excursion should make their own way to our hotel in Adelaide on September 22nd, where we will all meet for dinner and introductions that evening. Adelaide for the night (en-suite hotel room; meals included: D).

We're starting early for our adventure to the outback.

We head north along the coast in search of Adelaide Rosella and Slender-billed Thornbill. We visit the lovely Arid Lands Botanical Gardens in Port Augusta, where a variety of native flowers and bushes attract species such the Chirruping Wedgebill, Redthroat, White-winged Fairy-wren, and numerous species of Honeyeater, including the opportunity of seeing Pied and Black Honeyeaters. Banded Stilt can frequently be found in a neighbouring coastal lake.

At the conclusion of the day, we'll arrive at Mt Lyndhurst, on the outskirts of the Strzelecki desert. We marvel at the grandeur of the area while looking for Inland Dotterel while watching a stunning outback sunset from a vantage point. Lyndhurst appeared out of nowhere (en-suite cabins; meals included: B, L, D).

We leave early in the morning to begin birding at nearby Mt Lyndhurst, in which we will be able to view the final few Thick-billed Grasswrens with luck and patience. Cinnamon Quail-thrush, Rufous Fieldwren, Chirruping Wedgebill, Zebra Finch, Black-faced Woodswallow, and Budgerigar are all good outback species to explore for.

We'll go through the Strzelecki desert's unending open rocky plains, which are crisscrossed by primarily dry watercourses. Budgerigar, Redbacked Kingfisher, Crimson, Orange, and Gibber Chat are among the species to be found. After a picnic lunch at a billabong (waterhole) surrounded by coolabah trees, we'll bird our way back to Lyndhurst in search of Black-breasted Buzzard. If necessary, we will return to our sunset viewing location in the hopes of seeing another Inland Dotterel. Lyndhurst appeared out of nowhere (en-suite cabins; meals included: B, L, D).

Today, we'll continue south past the Gammon Ranges' stunning rock formations and into the Flinders Ranges, an outstanding region of steep hills and soaring rock formations on Australia's outback's edge.

We travel through creekbeds and into tight gorges cut deep into 800 million-year-old geological layers in the middle of the morning. Elegant Parrot and Grey-fronted Honeyeater are two of the birds we're looking for here. We go to the Ediacaran fauna's fossil site, which existed just before the huge expansion of multicellular life at the start of the Cambrian Period. The endangered Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby is also likely to be spotted here.

We'll look for the elusive Short-tailed Grasswren on spinifex-grassy slopes, and we'll see plenty of Red, Western Grey, and Euro Kangaroos. For dinner and an optional spotlighting session, we'll return to our magnificent base at Wilpena Pound resort. Wilpena Pound Resort is a great place to stay for the night (en-suite motel room; meals included: B, L, D).

Early mornings in the outback can be brisk as we search for Southern Scrubrobin and other honeyeaters on adjacent rocky outcrops. We'll leave the beautiful Flinders Ranges and head south, passing through Burra, a historic copper mining town, to search for Blue Bonnet, Redthroat, Black-eared Cuckoo, Brown & Rufous Songlark, and Australian Pipit on the vast Bluebush plains.

We arrive at Australia's greatest river, the Murray, later in the day. We go to a Regent Parrot nesting colony and look for waterbirds including crakes, rails, and Freckled Duck in a few wetlands. Berri Resort Hotel is where you'll spend the night (en-suite motel room; meals included: B, L, D).

We leave early in the morning for a short drive to Birdlife Australia's Gluepot reserve, which is home to six endangered bird species.

We seek for Malleefowl, Red-lored Whistler, Gilbert's Whistler, Hooded Robin, Southern Scrubrobin, Black-eared Miner, Shy Heathwren, White-browed Treecreeper, and Inland Thornbill as the sun rises over centuries-old mallee eucalypts and sand dunes covered in spinifex grass. We focus on species like the Chestnut Quail-thrush, Crested Bellbird, Splendid Fairy-wren, and Striped Honeyeater as the bird activity diminishes.

We may also see White-winged Triller, Pied and Black Honeyeater, and Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, depending on previous seasonal conditions. Mulga Parrot and many of Gluepot's 10 species of Honeyeater can be seen from one of the bird shelters that overlook a watering well. We leave the reserve late in the afternoon and return around dusk to your lodging. Berri Resort Hotel is where you'll spend the night (ensuite motel room; meals included: B, L, D).

We're birding our way back to Adelaide today.

We start by following the Murray River to search for species including Blue-billed and Freckled Duck, Baillon's, Australian Spotted and Spotless Crake, and Little Grassbird in a number of wetlands. We'll go to a raptor lookout with the hopes of seeing Little Eagle, Spotted and Swamp Harrier, Whistling and Black-shouldered Kite, and Black Falcon if we're lucky.

We stop for lunch at the Murray River, where Purple-crowned Lorikeets are frequently seen, before heading into the Adelaide Hills. The Adelaide Hills are an exception to the arid nature of most of South Australia's landforms. Many species that are only present in Australia's eastern states can be found in tall, dense eucalypt forests. Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Crimson Rosella adelaideae subspecies (often regarded as a full species: Adelaide Rosella), Yellow-faced, White-naped, and Crescent Honeyeater, White-throated Treecreeper, Scarlet Robin, and the localised maculatus subspecies of White-throated Scrubwren will all be on the lookout.

There's also a good probability we'll encounter a koala. The trip ends in the evening, and you'll be dropped off between 6-7pm at a hotel of your choice in the city centre, or at the airport if you're going home tonight (please don't book flights departing before 8pm.