Birding Tours in Australasia (Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands)

The Australasian biogeographical realm is coincidental, but not synonymous (by some definitions), with the geographical region of Australasia, of which there are also several definitions. The Australasian realm includes Australia, the island of New Guinea (including Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian province of Papua), and the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago, including the islands of Sulawesi, the Moluccan islands (e.g. Halmahera) and the Lesser Sunda islands of Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, Komodo Flores, and Timor – all also part of the Wallacea transition zone. The region also includes several Pacific island groups, including the Bismarck Archipelago, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, and New Zealand and its surrounding islands. The Oceanian realm includes the islands of the Pacific Ocean in Micronesia, the Fijian Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, and Polynesia, including Samoa, with the exception of New Zealand, considered part of Australasia.

The Australasian realm has a common geologic and evolutionary history with a long period of biological isolation. The westernmost boundary is defined by the Wallace Line. Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia are all fragments of the ancient Gondwana supercontinent, all separated from other continents, and one another, for tens of millions of years. Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania are separated from each other by shallow continental shelves and were linked together when the sea level was lower during past ice ages. At least eight different ecoregions occur in the Australasian realm, ranging from tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, to temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, to desert and xeric shrublands. Oceania is geologically the youngest realm and is composed mostly of volcanic high islands and coral atolls that arose from the sea in geologically recent times. Three ecoregions occur in Oceania, tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, and tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests.

Following International Ornithological Congress (IOC) taxonomy, v10.2 (December 2020), the bird list of Oceania (including Australasia and Antarctic and Pacific Islands) stands at an impressive 2,203 species, 294 of these are globally threatened and over 70 species have become extinct relatively recently (mainly from Polynesia). Numerous endemic families occur in the region, including the monotypic families (all found on our tours outlined below) of Magpie Goose, Plains-wanderer, Kagu, Stitchbird, Mottled Berryhunter, Hylocitrea, Wattled Ploughbill, Crested Shriketit, and Blue-capped Ifrit.

We have an extensive range of exciting tours covering the breadth of this huge region, which is an endemic bird hotspot, these are outlined below with links provided to more specific details such as the detailed tour itinerary, trip reports, client testimonials, and photo/video galleries. These tours make an ideal bird holiday:

Papua New Guinea Birdwatching Tours

Our Papua New Guinea bird tour is all about the stunning birds-of-paradise, with highly sought-after beauties like Blue Bird-of-paradise, Ribbon-tailed Astrapia, King of Saxony Bird-of-paradise, Twelve-wired Bird-of-paradise, Queen Carola’s Parotia, Princess Stephanie’s Astrapia, and Raggiana Bird-of-paradise to list a few. This tour also offers many New Guinea endemic species and families, with additional highlights including Brown-headed Paradise Kingfisher, Crested Satinbird, Sclater’s Crowned Pigeon, Mottled Berryhunter, Flame Bowerbird, Blue-capped Ifrit, and Wattled Ploughbill. This is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure not to be missed.

Australia Birdwatching Tours

We are really proud of our Australia bird tours, they offer a well thought out approach to birding the vast country in a way that will give you the most value for your time and money and importantly, will connect with the best birds and animals possible. Eastern Australia is a great starting point, a list of 400 species on the tour is likely, including greats like Southern Cassowary, Plains-wanderer, Malleefowl, Shy Albatross, Mallee Emu-wren, Golden Bowerbird, Regent Bowerbird, Splendid Fairywren, Superb Lyrebird, Paradise Riflebird, and many more, along with Red Kangaroo, Koala, Platypus, and Short-beaked Echidna. The Northern Territory – Top End tour offers Gouldian Finch, Hooded Parrot, Rainbow Pitta, Magpie Goose, Beach Stone-curlew, and Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon, along with amazing ancient rock art, reminding us of the human presence on this land dating back thousands of years. Western Australia has been cut off from the rest of the world for a long time and so has developed many regional endemics — the focus of this tour. They include some tough birds like Noisy Scrubbird, Western Bristlebird, and Black-throated Whipbird (we have a great track record on views of these). Plenty more endemics await here like (Western) Crested Shriketit. If desert birding is your thing, our Northern Territory – Alice Springs and Uluru tour is for you. Spinifex Pigeon, Gibberbird, Australian Pratincole, Bourke’s Parrot, Spinifexbird, and Budgerigar are some of the big draws. A much greener place in Australia is the island state of Tasmania. Here, once more, it is about local endemics including the Critically Endangered (BirdLife International) Orange-bellied Parrot, Swift Parrot, Forty-spotted Pardalote and lots more! You can watch a virtual tour on our Eastern Australia tour page covering this tour and our Tasmania tour.

New Zealand Birdwatching Tours

One of the most stunningly beautiful countries on the planet, our comprehensive New Zealand bird tour will satisfy your endemic bird requirements and let you soak in the amazing views all along the way and includes several pelagic boat trips. This tour goes after all of New Zealand’s kiwis, as well as the Critically Endangered (BirdLife International) New Zealand Storm Petrel, along with Stitchbird, Blue Duck, Kea, New Zealand Kaka, Wrybill, Black Stilt, and more albatrosses and other exciting seabirds than you can imagine. This is a once-in-a-lifetime endemic-filled trip, not to be missed.