! Looking forward to hearing more. I'm already feeling the need to go visit my sister in Brisbane 
.This was my first trip to Australia so almost everything was new and "kid in a candy store" exciting. With the exception of a night in Lamington National Park I did not try to get to top birding sites, but made the best of wherever my wife and I were staying. Having said that it was a terrific introduction to a country which obviously has a huge amount to offer.
Australia: 2-12 October, 2008
Sydney & the Blue Mountains,
Brisbane, North Stradbroke Island & Lamington NP
Sydney – Balls Head Reserve, Manly & Taronga Zoo
After picking up a few bits and pieces (Silver Gull, Australian Ibis, Welcome Swallow, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Little Pied Cormorant, White-faced Heron) from the airport and a late afternoon ferry trip to Manly my birding really kicked off with a couple of morning trips to Balls Head, a headland reserve composed primarily of Sydney Redgum, with some under-storey, which was thicker along the northern shore.
I quickly realized that the most visible birds, and most of the noise, were being made by Noisy Miners, Rainbow Lorikeets and Pied Currawongs. Birds of interest included a couple of Red Wattlebirds, two briefly seen King Parrots, a single Yellow-faced Honeyeater, a calling Koel a roost of 50-odd Pied Cormorant on the island opposite Balls Head and a couple of Little Black Cormorant in the water. The only small birds were White-browed Scrubwren and the rather phylloscopic Brown Gerygone. The birds I enjoyed most were a Fantailed Cuckoo that came in to my pishing, a flyover Channel-billed Cuckoo, identified by its distinctive long-headed, rather prehistoric silhouette, and a silent, watchful Laughing Kookaburra.
The Blue Mountains – Leura, Katoomba and Wentworth Reservoir
A couple of days later a trip with our friends Greg and Kate in the Blue Mountains produced a curious mix of birds. Several forest birds were fully expected in this beautifully forested upland– with highlights including two wonderful honeyeaters – New Holland Honeyeater and the superb Eastern Spinebill and, Eastern Yellow Robin, and Crimson Rosella, which showed spectacularly along the contour walk beneath the red sandstone cliffs near the Valley of the Waters. Generalists that appeared during the day included a couple of Black-faced Cuckooshrikes a flock of Galahs and Pied Butcherbird. The strange balance to the list was down to a 20-minute stop at Wentworth Reservoir, where a surprisingly good array of waterbirds included Pied, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants and an Australian Darter, Australasian and Hoary-headed Grebe, Common Coot, Hardhead and Pacific Black Duck. We also enjoyed an excellent late lunch in Leura at a terrific restaurant at the bottom of the main street (desserts and pasta highly recommended) and seeing the Three Sisters (a rock formation at Katoomba) emerging out of a vast sea of mist in the late afternoon sunshine was much more dramatic that normal views on a clear day.
I'd welcome any comments/corrections from anyone who knows Australia's birds better than I do.
I'll post on Queensland in a day or so.
Cheers
Mike
Sounds good, Mike ! Looking forward to hearing more. I'm already feeling the need to go visit my sister in Brisbane .
Nice one Mike, looking forward to seeing what Queensland brought in.