Australia Birding Tours

Introduction to Australia

We have a range of exciting Australia birding tours which visit Australia’s top birding sites and target most of this island continent’s bird endemics while also encountering a multitude of fascinating mammal species. The Commonwealth of Australia (“Australia” hereafter) is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous other smaller islands. Australia is the largest country in Oceania and the sixth-largest country by total area. It has a population of 26 million people found in the major cities, primarily along the east coast, these including Canberra (the capital), Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, with Perth being the largest city in the southwest.

Australia has six states (most of which we visit on our Australia birding tours) – New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia, and two mainland territories – the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. Several external territories are also administered by the commonwealth – these include Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and the MacDonald Islands, and Norfolk Island. Two other islands are part of mainland states, Macquarie Island (part of Tasmania) and Lord Howe Island (part of New South Wales). Australia is surrounded by the Indian and Pacific Oceans but nearby countries include New Zealand, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia.

Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soil and is made up of a variety of landscapes ranging from deserts (“The Outback” and Uluru/Ayers Rock) to tropical and temperate rainforests. The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s longest coral reef and is located just off the northeast coast. The Great Dividing Range runs down the east of the country, the fertile Atherton Tablelands providing some great birding.