It's spring in Melbourne, Australia and it was a wonderful time for birding. We saw 106 species in 5 days (16-20 Sep) that we could positively ID, with 102 of them being Life Birds in and around the Melbourne/Geelong/Philip Island area.

Here are some common cute ones you'll all recognize. It was so cool seeing them interact and nesting in the wild.

Rainbow Lorikeets setting up house in a Eucalyptus tree


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Galah inspecting a nest hole in a gum tree.

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A Kookaburra watching us walk by.

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And I couldn't resist including Mama teaching Baby to each the leaves.

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Candy in Utah
Panasonic FZ30
The Early Bird gets the worm, but the 2nd mouse gets the Cheese...

Hello Candy,

Wow! What a collection of photos...and quite an addition of lifers to add too!! The bonus was seeing the Koala bears...What fun!!! Thanks for sharing...

BTW, "The Early Bird gets the worm, but the 2nd mouse gets the Cheese..."...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Congrats on your lifers Candy, hey good to see you here too! I absolutely LOVE those Koala's, my favorite!!

Ruth
Everett, WA
Zone 8

Very nice photos!

I have been to Australia three times and I haven't come close to getting 102 birds combined and I have never seen a Kookie! I am sooooo jealous! Not fair! LOL Maybe December is the wrong time to go LOL

DuckWatcher
No California -- Zone 9b
Olympus SP-560 UZ

Duckwatcher,

I have to admit that we did hire a birding guide for one day (gobirding.com.au). Barry spent 11 hours with us on that Tuesday and helped us ID over 40 new birds. Up to that point, we had only ID'd 63 birds on our own. Barry was incredible and often led us to the exact habitat of certain birds, like the Rufous Bristlebird, Shy Albatross, Satin Bowerbirds(even saw their nest with blue trinkets all around), White-throated tree creeper, Australian King parrots, Wedge-tailed Eagle, and so many others. He was the only reason we saw over 100 species. I was pretty proud to have ID'd 63 on our own in such a short time regardless. But hiring the guide was definately an asset.

Candy in Utah
Panasonic FZ30
The Early Bird gets the worm, but the 2nd mouse gets the Cheese...

OIC, I will have to do that next time :D. It's been a couple years since our last trip, it's time to go again :D

DuckWatcher
No California -- Zone 9b
Olympus SP-560 UZ