Cassowary Tours Newsletter March 2010
Hi everyone, welcome to the latest newsletter.
In February, we had a lovely family holiday to the South Island of New Zealand. Penguins, Dolphins and the Albatross Encounter were some of the highlights. After this I went on to Western Australia where I finally caught up with the Noisy Scrub-bird and others, and then to Christmas Island. This island is fascinating, the birds, the jungle ecology, and the marine life.
2009 was a solid year for Cassowary Tours with a number of private tours and a smattering of scheduled departures.
In July I took the Komi family from Finland on a private tour to Iron Range, it was a very successful trip with great sightings of the special birds including Northern Scrub-robin and Yellow-legged Flycatcher.
The Kalkadoon Grasswren tour in August again produced some rare sightings, with Carpentarian and Kalkadoon Grasswren, Rufous-crowned Emu-wren and Painted Honeyeater some of the highlights.
There was an epic East Coast of Australia tour in September with Bill Clark and his crew from the US. This group enjoyed fantastic birding but also appreciated seeing a great range of other wildlife and spectacular scenery.
Another private tour in October for Stu Wilson's group saw us visit Darwin and Kakadu, Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands, and Cape York/ Iron Range. These tropical regions are so rich in interesting species! Some highlights include Banded Fruit-dove, Gouldian Finch, Golden Bowerbird, Southern Cassowary, Golden-shouldered Parrot and Palm Cockatoo.
The season finished with back to back Cape York/ Iron Range trips in late November early December. It was very dry and unfortunately the Red-bellied Pitta did not show. However, both trips produced excellent sightings including Golden-shouldered Parrot, Red Goshawk, and Magnificent Riflebird display . Spotted Whistling Ducks were seen on the later trip.
There is a very busy schedule ahead for 2010, June will see the first Cassowary Tours trip to PNG. I'm very excited to be leading another tour to this fascinating island and can't wait to catch up with all the incredible Birds of Paradise again.
Cape York/ Iron Range tours are well booked for July, September and October. The East Coast tour is running in August and I'm looking forward to the arid country birds on the Kalkadoon Grasswren tour in September.
Please keep an eye on the web site for all the scheduled departures and for new tours to be added in 2011, including The South West and possibly Christmas Island.
Good birding to all
Regards, Ben
Past Newsletters:
Royal Spoonbill
Victoria's Riflebird
Toothbilled Bowerbird
Latham's Snipe
