Western Queensland: Birding the Outback’s World of Wild Habitats

Western Queensland is considered off the beaten track for many bird tours, but this is not your normal tour. This “habitat” tour will not only get you into areas not normally seen, but you will leave with an undertsanding of how and why the inland Australia ecosystems are like non other from other parts of the world. We target all the different savannas, spinifex environments, tussock grasslands and desert mulga woodlands. We will chase Opalton, Kalkadoon and Carpentarian Grasswrens are all possible by combining visits to the mining town of Mount Isa with the “dinosaur capital” of Winton. Along with these prized birds, we will also seek out the local Hall’s Babbler, spectacular Painted Finch (Firetail), Spinifex Pigeon, Spinifexbird, the handsome Rufous-crowned Emuwren, endangered Black-throated Finch and some more widespread, iconic Aussie species, like Emu and Budgerigar, in addition to Australian Bustard. This trip is designed to link with the eastern Australia trips, so we don’t spend much time in the rainforests, but will drop into a “Dry Rainforest” on the way out west.