| Birding
On My Own - Australia and New Zealand 2002 Emmalee Tarry |
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The ferry to Tasmania leaves from downtown Melbourne. The ferry sails to Tasmania 7 nights a week. On Saturday and Sunday there are morning sailings. You can't see any birds during the night so I took the morning. It cost AU$200 for a round trip for the car and 1 passenger.
I stayed at the Ashely Gardens Caravan Park on the south side Melbourne. The Masters World Championships are going on in Melbourne and the campground is filled with athletes. There are 25,000 athletes here competing for 28,000 metals in all kinds of events from swimming, track and field, baseball. My neighbor is a volunteer in charge of awards.
The day before the ferry trip I drove to Station Pier so that I would know where it was and picked up my ticket. I had made reservations several weeks in advance. Willy was due for another oil change and I also got my hair cut.
This is a huge boat with restaurants, sleeping cabins, stores, gambling, elevators, and swimming pool. Once aboard I took the elevator to deck 8 which is an open deck with lounge chairs and a swimming pool closed until summer. On this cold, damp day the glass walls on either side are welcome shelter. You cannot see directly forward, but there are plenty of space on either side. The trouble is that looking down from 8 stories the birds are very small.
We sailed out Port Phillip Bay using the channel down the eastern side. Mount Martha is on the left side of the boat. I saw 17 Straw-necked Ibis on the bay, Pied Cormorants, White Ibis, Australasian Gannets.Once outside the narrow entrance I began to see flocks of Short-tailed Shearwater.
You are warned that you cannot bring any fruit or vegetables from Victoria to Tasmania and when the boat docks, customs inspects every camper with a sniffer dog and opens every refrigerator. By the time I got off the dock it was dark. I drove directly to the Abel Tasman Campground in Devonport. .
Tasmanian Endemics
While you are on the ferry take the time to review the Tasmanian endemics and specialities. I was able to see all the Tasmanian endemics and saw most of them several times. Here is a table of the Tasmanian Endemics according to Thomas and Thomas and the location where I saw them. The Forest Raven should perhaps be moved to the list of endemics since the Forest Raven found around Coffs Harbor is now a separate species.
| Tasmanian Endemic | Location where I saw them |
| Tasmanian Native-Hen | Bruny Island campground |
| Green Rosella | Brady Lake |
| Forty-spotted Pardalote | Peter Murrell, Bruny Island |
| Brown Scrubwren | Mt. Wellington |
| Scrubtit | Mt. Wellington |
| Tasmanian Thornbill | Mt. Wellington |
| Yellow-throated Honeyeater | Cradle Mountain south |
| Black-headed Honeyeater | Peter Murrell, Brady Lake |
| Strong-billed Honeyeater | Cradle Mountain south |
| Yellow Wattlebird | Snug Campground |
| Dusky Robin | Bruny Island, Cradle Mountain |
| Black Currawong | Mt. Wellington, Cradle Mountain south |
Tasmanian Specialities according to Thomas and Thomas
| Black-faced Cormorant | Bruny Island, Kettering ferry dock |
| Masked owl | |
| Hooded Plover | Phillips Island, Victoria |
| Pacific Gull | Bruny Island |
| Kelp Gull | Bruny Island |
| Musk Lorikeet | |
| Crescent Honeyeater | Victoria |
| Tawny-crowned Honeyeater | |
| Pink Robin | Cradle Mountain South |
| Satin Flycatcher (summer) | |
| Forest Raven | Mt. Wellington |
| Beautiful Firetail | Barren Grounds NSW, |
| Orange-bellied Parrot ( breeds exclusively in Tasmania but winter on the mainland) | |
| Swift Parrot ( breed exclusively in Tasmania but winter on the mainland) | Abel Tasman campground in Devonport |
It took me all day to drive from Devonport to Hobart on the southern end of the island. I saw lots of European Goldfinch, Masked Lapwing, Common Blackbirds. I spent the night at the Sandy Bay Campground in Hobart. The next morning I set off for Mt. Wellington making a very bad wrong turn which forced me to go 11 km before I could turn around and go back the way I came..
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To find Fern Tree mentioned in
Thomas and Thomas follow
these directions. After you see the turn off for Mt. Wellington go around
another curve and park near the pub on the left. This is Fern Tree. On the
other side of the road is a small church with a park on the left. I walked up a
steep track from the park. This is the Fern Glen track. One of the first birds
I saw was the Black Currawong a Tasmanian Endemic. Notice the yellow eye
and long tail. There are also Forest Ravens which have a white eye and
no white on tail or wings. In a flock of noisy active birds I pick out Scrubtit, Tasmanian Scrubwren, Tasmanian Thornbill. I drove toward the top of Mt. Wellington stopping at the Springs parking lot. There are toilets, picnic tables and several walking tracks here. Again I saw Forest Raven, Tasmanian Thornbill, and Superb Fairywren. I walked up the road to the site of the old hotel. There is a great view from what used to be the hotel front yard. Daffodils were blooming in old flower bed. |
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