Birding Bowra Part 1 – Road To Homestead Area

Since there are so many places to see birds, I am breaking this down into several parts.  The first area to explore is the part where you first enter Bowra Station at the letterbox and drive the main road to the homestead – about 5 or 6 km.  This is a fantastic area for parrots, as you can see from the photos below we saw many species just in this area such as Cockatiels, Mallee Ringecks, Galahs, Major Mitchell Cockatoos, Mulga Parrots and various Honey-eaters, an Emu and of course lots of kangaroos!  I also saw a Bluebonnet flying away at the speed of light near the gate.IMG_8570a IMG_8582a IMG_8583a IMG_8585a IMG_8561 IMG_8559 IMG_8554a IMG_8549a IMG_8544a IMG_8537 IMG_8834a IMG_8834b IMG_8840a IMG_8842a IMG_8852a IMG_8854a IMG_8870a IMG_8874a IMG_8881a IMG_8902a IMG_8905a IMG_8908a IMG_8911a IMG_8912a IMG_8916a IMG_8924 IMG_8925a IMG_8935a IMG_8936a IMG_8938a IMG_8947 IMG_8965a IMG_8970

Bring boots as sometimes you have to walk through the bush!

IMG_8971

Kangaroos Everywhere!

There’s no escaping them, not that most visitors to Yanchep would want to.  Western Grey Kangaroos are literally everywhere!

They greet you as you drive into the property.

IMG_6616

They are all over the lawn.

IMG_6621 IMG_6620 IMG_6476

They come close to your room!

IMG_6608This is where you come to get those up-close shots of wild kangaroos to make your friends jealous!  They are used to people taking photos and are pretty calm about it.

Kangaroos & Cockatoos – The Road To Yanchep

After leaving Kalbarri, we drove through the National Park and met up with route 1 headed south going through Gerladton.  Here are some of the highlights we encountered along the way.

Kangaroos still within the park boundaries.

IMG_6379 IMG_6382Red-tailed Black Cockatoos just south of the park.

IMG_6384 IMG_6386a IMG_6391a IMG_6395a IMG_6399a IMG_6400a

Carnaby’s Cockatoos – not sure of exact location but about 2 hours before we reached Yanchep.

IMG_6405a IMG_6406a IMG_6407a IMG_6409 IMG_6410a IMG_6413 IMG_6416a IMG_6422a IMG_6425a IMG_6432a IMG_6436

Dryandra Woodland, Western Australia

Dryandra Woodland offers amazing birding only a couple hours drive from PerthUse your miles to get here and then hire a car so you can explore this beautiful park on your own.

.

Although you could visit Dryandra Woodland as a day trip from Perth, I highly recommend staying a night or two here so you can visit all the water holes and birding areas.  You can stay either in the park or in Narrogin, about a half hour’s drive from Dryandra.

The Lion’s Dryandra Village has the advantage of being right inside the park so no commuting and you can easily do the night tour at Barna Mia.  You do need to be completely self-sufficient and bring your own food and bed linens.

IMG_4587 IMG_4588 IMG_4590Otherwise you can stay in the closest town of Narrogin where there are several options such as Bella’s Country Place (where we stayed-my review), Albert Facey Motel & Narrogin Motel.

The official park website has a brochure you can download.  I have marked some prime birding location in yellow on the screenshot below.  The Old Mill Dam was the best place, I personally saw several Western Rosellas, Australian Ringnecks, Rainbow Bee-eaters and more (see bird list links below).

Dryandra birding spots

The bird list is very impressive and Frank O’Connor’s website has some great location details complete with co-ordinates for your GPS.  Eremaea also has a bird list for Dryandra Woodland.

Here are some photos I took at Dryandra Woodlands.

IMG_4597 IMG_4599 IMG_4600 IMG_4596

Australian Ringneck

IMG_4579a

Common Bronzewing

IMG_4574a IMG_4571a

Scarlet Robin wants a bath

IMG_4531a IMG_4533a IMG_4550a IMG_4552a

Some New Holland Honey-eaters join in.

IMG_4565a IMG_4562a

TBD

IMG_4541

Western Rosellas wait for the chance to drink.  I was really happy to see them after I saw a video that they were disappearing.

IMG_4512 IMG_4514 IMG_4518

Although this Ringneck didn’t approach too close to the Rosellas, they still flew off when he was joined by others.  It’s clear the Ringneck is the dominating species.

IMG_4522 IMG_4524 IMG_4526a IMG_4528 IMG_4494

The Kookaburra wasn’t fazed by the Ringnecks at all or vice-versa.

IMG_4495 IMG_4508 IMG_4499

Rainbow Bee-eaters put on a great show diving down for a drink and quick bath.

IMG_4441 IMG_4445a

Willie Wagtails were everywhere!

IMG_4454 IMG_4455

A few kangaroos came down for a drink.

IMG_4458 IMG_4460 IMG_4463

More Bee-eaters

IMG_4467

Australian Magpies were also everywhere!

IMG_4470

More Australian Ringnecks

IMG_4474