Month: May 2024

On the weekend just gone I was lucky enough to be invited to the wedding of good mate Peter Allen and his wonderful partner Andi down in Tasmania with a good group of other birder friends. When one is attending a wedding in one of the greatest wildlife areas in the country what is one to do aside from value add some wildlife experiences around the grand event? Lets see just how much I can cram into 2 days in Lutruwita. I arrived late afternoon into Hobart with Rohan and we picked up a car and checked into accommodation just past Sorrell before eating a decent Indian prawn curry. We decided to spotlight along Weilangta Forest Drive where I had good success last year with quolls and a Long-tailed mouse. Things got off to a good start with a Long-nosed Potoroo at the start of the drive but it got very quiet soon after with not even a pademelon to be seen.

Eventually we got to the “site” where Isaac and I had found Long-tailed Mouse last year and we poked around there with thermal for 15-20 minutes until I detected a small mammal on the ground. It was very cryptic and while I strongly suspected from what we could see in thermal it was a Long-tailed Mouse we just couldn’t be sure which was frustrating as it would be a new mammal for Rohan. It seemed to be centered around a burrow and would venture out then scoot back all the while in thick cover. We decided to let it be and would hit it again when we passed back later. Things continued to be pretty quiet with just common species until we stopped at a creek crossing up near Orford and played a quick Masked Owl call which had an immediate call back with a lovely pale male circling round before perching very high above us. I jogged…. ok I waddled up the road to see if I could encourage it to move to a nicer perch and we noticed in the moonlight that it was followed by a very silent and beautiful honey coloured female who just regarded us from a distance silhouetted in the moonlight. Beautiful!

Moving back towards Hobart we stopped at another creek crossing and got out for a poke around. I thermaled a few roosting birds including a nice male Scarlet Robin with the full moon making it almost like twilight. I saw a shadow of a bird pass over my head and swung the headlight around a bit wildly but could not find the bird. Eventually I looked straight up and there was a beautiful dark female Masked Owl looking at me curiously. A bit of a panic as I grabbed my camera from the car but she didn’t go too far and posed for a few nice pics. One of the nicest birds I have ever seen. We were absolutely stoked and realised there was only one thing left to do – get Rohan that Long-tailed mouse. Drove back to the “site” and immediately found it again on thermal but again was proving cryptic. I walked away and left Rohan to it and eventually he was able to get decent enough views to confirm what we already strongly suspected – it was a Long-tailed Mouse! We cruised back to the accom considering this a very successful nights work.

Up not too early we heading down the Tasman Peninsula stopping at the Dunnalley bakery for breakfast and coffee. Our targets were Buff-banded Rail and BT Native-hen which might not seem much to a mainlander but are Tassie megas. They were both at the Port Arthur lavender farm which was not yet open and after poking around the edges we poked in the car park and had both in about 30 seconds. Job done – how easy is that? From here we cruised down to the heath near the Remarkable Caves to look for Striated Fieldwren – it was a glorious morning with wall to wall blue sky and albatross cruising just offshore. Very birdy with lots of honeyeaters, we eventually found a pair of the Fieldwren about a kilometer in – LGA ticking FTW.

Now it was time to get ready for the main event – Peter and Andi’s wedding – so we scooted back to the accom with only a little birding on the way. After attempting to scrub up a little we arrived at the wedding which was a fantastic affair. I definitely did not shed a tear. Was great to share in the special day and to catch up with good friends. We even managed some cheeky spotlighting at the end of the night without success.

Up at stupid o’clock the next morning I dropped Rohan at the airport before heading back down to Eaglehawk Neck for the post wedding pelagic. We were under strict instructions from the groom to have a good day but not a great day – and so it proved. Was really good to be out on the water again on a very pleasant day. Birds were great with highlights including Blue Petrels, Southern Fulmars, many dozens of White-headed Petrels and a few Soft-plumaged Petrels as well as over a dozen various Wandering type albatross. The best part however was catching up with people. I was pretty tired as I got onto the plane home a little over 48 hours after arriving – a very productive couple of days.