Birdwatching on the Great Ocean Road

At point Addis as we looked over the ocean early in the morning an uncommonly bold Rufous Bristlebird  ran around the car park searching for his breakfast paying no attention to us. A delightful start to our day.

For those who love birds the Iron Bark Forest between Torquay and Anglesea via the Point Addis turn-off is well worth a stop. A small group led by Rob Ganly, a local bird expert, entered the forest with our binoculars hoping to see many birds. We stopped often to listen for bird sounds so Rob could identify the bird for us and then we could spot it. This proved a totally enthralling morning for all of us. A visiting Canadian bird observer commented on how much more she was able to identify with Rob’s help by following bird sounds than by just looking at birds that appeared. Some of the birds are quite small and blend in to the bush cover so the sound identification and Rob’s keen eyes helped us to really “see” the birds.

If you are a keen bird observer it is well worth your while having an expert guide. Rob himself went to the Galapagos recently with a local guide.

One of the highlights was seeing the droppings and parts of the kill of a Powerful Owl which we would have missed without Rob’s guidance. Our walk took us through the dry forest to the cliff edge amongst the coastal heath and back to our parking spot near the main road – around 5 kilometres. As it is Spring the tiny wild flowers are in full bloom so the usually dull forest is littered with bright yellows, reds and whites, with an occasional delicate blue too. While Rob said that there were many fewer birds than usual due to the drought and climate change we did see and identify many more birds than if we had walked without our guide.

Tags: bird observing, Great Ocean Road
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