Bruny Island

My wife and I had the delight to spend three wonderful days on Bruny Island in Tasmania, staying at the beautiful Inala, a 500 acre property on South Bruny Island. The property is owned and operated by biologist and wildlife tour operator Dr Tonia Cochrane and is the home to 94 species of birds including all of Tasmania's endemics (for more information see www.inalabruny.com.au). While our time there was not primarily aimed at birding, I did manage to sneak in a few hours on our first day.

In an hour walk around the property, I saw 24 species including 8 of the 12 endemics. Unfortunately, the windy conditions kept many of the small bush birds, including the Forty-spotted Pardalote (which I did see, so another lifer for me!), high in the canopy of a small patch of Eucalyptus viminalis out of range for any sensible photography. However, I did manage to capture a few birds:

Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Inala, Bruny Island

Tree Martin, Inala, Bruny Island

Scarlet Robin (female), Inala, Bruny Island

Also on the property are Bennett's Wallabies including the rare "albino" wallabies. They are not actually albinos but are almost pure white.

Red-necked (Bennett's) Wallaby, Inala, Bruny Island

Late in the afternoon I drove to Jetty Beach following the tip from Tim Dolby in his report of a recent trip to Tasmania. Tim is absolutely spot on - the campground at Jetty Beach is a fantastic place for birds. I stayed in the one location for about 30 minutes and saw more than 20 species of birds including these that made easy photographic subjects:

Dusky Robin, Jetty Beach, Bruny Island

Black-headed Honeyeater (immature), Jetty Beach, Bruny Island

Green Rosella, Jetty Beach, Bruny Island

Yellow-throated Honeyeater, Jetty Beach, Bruny Island

On the way back to Inala, I stopped at Cloudy Bay Lagoon

and found a Pacific Gull fishing in the offshore shallows

Pacific Gull, Cloudy Bay Lagoon, Bruny Island

I've seen other birds, particularly herons and egrets using this technique (flying low over the water flapping wings) to stir up fish but this was the first time I've seen a gull doing it.