Alysse's Travel and Birding Adventures: South East SA

For my first trip of 2025 I wanted to cover some distance and hopefully see some birds that we don’t get closer to home. I have travelled to the South East of SA before, but not for several years, so decided to start there. What was originally going to be a trip to Robe, turned into a trip right down to Port MacDonnell and Piccaninnie Ponds CP in the bottom corner of the state, and back up through Naracoorte and Bordertown.

On the first day I stopped at Parnka Point on the Coorong, Kingston S.E., Robe, where I spotted a Latham’s Snipe - great spot for these at the moment, and Beachport, where I camped for the night in the conservation park.

On the second day I walked around Woolley Lake in the Beachport CP, visited Beachport Lagoon where I saw a pair of young Collared Sparrowhawks trying to catch Welcome Swallows for breakfast, as well as a Galah taking a drink. I walked around Lake McIntyre in Millicent, where I was delighted to find my first Musk Duck of the year, as well as a large group of Straw-necked Ibises, and a couple of Little Wattlebirds. I visited the conservation area at Valley Lake, Mount Gambier, before heading down to Port MacDonnell. I visited a couple of spots along the coast, went on to Piccaninnie Ponds including Pick Swamp, where I found a number of new species for the year, including Southern Emu Wren, Australia Hobby and Australia Pipit. I also got eaten alive at the beach and in the swamp but what I believe were March Flies, which had no trouble biting me through my leggings, leaving me with sore, itchy bites all over my lower legs. From there I travelled north to Naracoorte, where I camped overnight in the Naracoorte Caves NP, a nice spot with plenty of rosellas and kangaroos visiting (and hot showers!).

On the third day I visited Bool Lagoon, which was completely dry, but I still had a nice encounter with a Brown Thornbill and a pair of Black-shouldered Kites. I spent a bit of time driving along backroads outside of Naracoorte looking for water where birds might congregate. I found a nice pond on Old Kingston Road managed by SA water, which was being used by many water birds, including a Blue-billed Duck, a few Australasian Shovellers, Pink eared ducks and more. Next I drove further north to Bordertown. I had a specific target species I was hoping to see here, and I found it! A family of Bush Stone-curlews that calls the Bordertown Wildlife Park home. These are not captive birds, I guess they just like hanging out with the kangaroos here and it is a reliable source of food and water for them. I was very happy to spot a pair of adults with a chick. From here I headed towards home, but since I still had a few hours of daylight, I stopped at one of my favourite spots on the way home - the Monarto Woodlands on Browns Rd. I had been meaning to visit this spot sons anyway, and it was a very slight detour. Here I found Yellow Thornbills, Purple-backed Fairywren, Red-capped and Hooded Robins and more.

Altogether I saw 101 species on the trip, of which 41 were year ticks (I am up to 114 species this year so far). I really enjoyed the trip, despite the heat and the fly bites, and my first experience of car camping. I am already looking forward to my next trip! I have included some of my favourite photos from the trip below.