PETER MURRELL RESERVES, TASMANIA

Peter Murrell Reserves stretch across several suburbs south of Hobart  - Kingston, Tinderbox and Blackmans Bay. We visited the area closest to Kingston, and reckon it was one of the best birding spots we visited in Tassie...

Officially known as the Peter Murrell Conservation Area, this place is massive. We walked several firetrails, and could have covered far more ground if our legs had not started complaining.

It's hard not to be happy when the first bird you see is a grey goshawk (white morph) winging overhead. At first, we thought it was a sulphur=crested cockatoo, but we became more curious when this 'cockatoo' was deathly silent. Sure enough, it was something far more exciting. It's a distant shot, but we were pretty darn happy to get it at all.

Next, and nearly as good, we heard then saw three yellow-tailed black cockatoos. We ventured into the undergrowth to see them, and we were rewarded with pics of the adult feeding their young.

There were varying habitats in the area, and as we neared the end of the Scarborough  Firetrail, we came upon Heron Pond. There were a few waterbirds here, though not as many as we had expected.

We ambled on, and spent quite a while at the intersection of Coffee Creek Trail and the Sandblast Fire Trail. This was a very busy place, bursting with little wattlebirds and a variety of honeyeaters.

We turned left on to the Middle Fire Trail, and the bird sightings continued: kookaburras, pardalotes, scrubwrens, robins and - joy of joys - golden whistlers.

We continued on our path, and met with black-faced cuckooshrikes, dusky woodswallows and (how exciting) another unidentified raptor. Only the cuckooshrike obliged with a photo opportunity.

We headed home, tired but happy, as we had revelled in this large expanse of bush.