We’ll start our Kimberley trip at the gateway to this wonderful region, Broome. This town is a mecca for Australian and international birdwatchers and offers so much diversity and excitement for the birding world. Our timeline for our stint in Broome will vary depending on tides. Roebuck Bay, on the edge of Broome is an area of international significance for migratory shorebirds and is dominated by some of the largest tides in the world. These tides provide huge expanses of mud for birds to forage on at their lowest. We’ll visit the bay and the increasing number of migrants when the tides are right. We will look for Common Redshank, Asian Dowitcher, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Tibetan Sand-Plover and many many more at hight tide roosts. When the tide is appropriate for a visit to the mangroves, we’ll venture onto the mud to search out the Western Australian endemic Dusky Gerygone as well as White-breasted Whistler, Red-headed Myzomela and Broad-billed Flycatcher. Depending on our schedule we may take some opportunities to head out onto the plains for Yellow Chat and possibly even Flock Bronzewing. These same plains hold Australian Grass-owls which we may be able to track down before retiring to our comortable accommodation in town for the evening.

There is still an enormous amount to see and do in Broome and depending on what we managed to achieve the day before on the tides schedule, we’ll endeavour to clean up anything we missed and visit some brand new sites. There are sites close to town for the Kimberley race of Lemon-bellied Flyrobin and Mangrove Whistler. Smaller local parklands and bush reserves offer opportunites to see Northern Australian specialties like Double-barred Finch, Red-collared Lorikeet & Red-winged Parrot. If we clean up everything early in Broome, we have the chance to head up the Dampier Peninsula where Rose-crowned Fruit-Doves and Mangrove Robins are specialties. There is also an opportunity for Chestnut-breasted Buttonquail and various finch species including Gouldian Finch in this area.

After a fun-packed time in the Broome area, it will be time to move into the Kimberley proper, up to Mount Hart. We’ll move up towards the town of Derby, along the way checking small wetlands for Black-necked Stork, Plumed Whistling Duck and who knows what else we may find! From the Derby Jetty we will attempt to find Great-billed Herons while we hang out with the Yellow White-eyes and Mangrove Grey Fantails. Mangrove Gerygone and Striated Heron should also keep us entertained. After lunch and our last fuel stop before we head onto the famous Gibb River Road, we’ll venture on towards the Wunaamin Conservation Park and the beginning of what many consider to be the true Kimberley. Black-tailed Treecreeper can be seen as we drive through the more open wooded plains while the densely vegetated creeklines will give us opportunites to see Masked, Long-tailed and Crimson Finches. We’ll stop intermittently at a few locations before reaching our final destination at the beautiful and well appointed Mount Hart Station.

Today we will be exploring Mount Hart Station. Our big targets will be the local race of Purple-backed Fairywren and Green-backed Gerygone. Australian Bustard are sometimes found prowling the tall grasslands inbetween the gorges and waterholes and Yellow-tinted Honeyeaters and White-throated Honeyeaters fill those trees that are flowering. The waterholes and creeks provide us with fantastic opportunities for close encounters with Azure Kingfishers as well as Northern Rosellas. Barking Owl can be seen arond the area our accommodation is situated before we retire for another fantastic meal and a well earned rest.

With our bird lists filling up rapidly, we’ll be making our way north along the Gibb River Road towards Drysdale River Station. We have a fair amount of ground to cover today but still opportunities for important birds along the way. Northern Shrike-tit are a chance at some locations along the way as are Chestnut-backed Buttonquail. Black Bittern inhabit many of the creeks we will cross and of course many many finch species do too. The walls of the gorges holding those creeks and waterholes often have White-quilled Rock-Pigeons loafing on their namesakes habitat too. We’ll roll into Drysdale Station after a bumpy drive, greeted by Red-winged Parrots and Mistletoebirds to rest for the evening before an early start the next day.

Rock Parrots will be our first call of the day. They’re found foraging on the pure white beaches of Esperance alongside Western Grey Kangaroos. Sometimes they take a bit of finding but the search is often well worth it if not only for the scenery of the Recherche Archipelago in the background of Cape Le Grand and Cape Arid. The coastal heath also holds Southern Emu-wrens, Western Fieldwrens and Red-eared Firetail which we will search for before continuing west to Bremer Bay. On the edge of Bremer Bay is the Fitzgerald River National Park. Western Whipbirds and Malleefowl call this park home though they are difficult to see. In the afternoon we will focus on finding a Western Whipbird before preparing for our pelagic trip in the morning.

The trip out to Bremer Canyon is one of the best single day pelagic experiences on the planet. The cetacean diversity is incredible from Long-finned Pilot Whales to Sperm Whales, the slim chance of beaked whale species and of course Orca stealing the show. The birds aren’t bad too. The regulars are Great-winged Petrel, Flesh-footed Shearwater, Shy Albatross and Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross but this pelagic has also turned up rare sightings of Barau’s Petrel, Cory’s Shearwater, Great Shearwater and Amsterdam Albatross. All eyes will be peeled for cetaceans and seabirds in an action-packed day. On the way back in, we have a chance for Rock Parrots on an island that Australian Sea Lions use to rest and bask. This island also supports a Crested Tern and Bridled Tern colony in the right season. By the evening, we will be well and truly in the Southwest at Cheynes Beach listening to Noisy Scrub-birds call.

We’ll get stuck straight into the skulkers this morning. Starting with Noisy Scrub-birds, we’ll walk the trails between the heath and visit the territories of various individuals. These birds are the star of the Southwest and are known well by Birding Southwest guides. Along the way, Western Whipbirds and Western Bristlebirds may be heard and traced down over their larger territories. Add to that, Red-eared Firetails, Red-capped Parrots, Wester Spinebill, Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters, Western Wattlebirds and much more - the soundscape throughout this heath is unbeatable! We have plenty of time here so we will spend it getting the best views of the skulky and not so skulky residents and visitors to this special place. A home-cooked meal awaits us at our cabins where we may still be able to hear the last calls of the heath for the day.

If we’ve missed anything the day before or need to upgrade our views, we still have the morning at Cheynes to chase those skulkers down before breakfast. After we’re fed, we’ll pack up and head north to some of the best Mallee spots. Southern Scrub-Robin, Purple-gaped Honeyeater and Shy Heathwren await. We may even bump into a Malleefowl not far from a known nest mound. Blue-breasted Fairywren and White-browed Babbler are residents in this area too so we will pick them up as needed before heading to the Stirling Ranges. Along the roads we will look for Baudin’s Black Cockatoo, Western Rosella and Regent Parrots. They regularly forage along the sides of the roads or use them as flight corridors. Our comfortable retreat for the evening has very birdy grounds which contain Western Thornbills amongst many others.