WILSON'S PROM: TIDAL RIVER

Tidal River is the main settlement in Wilson's Prom and it is where we stayed. We stayed in Wilderness Retreat tents at the top of Tidal River, which were very comfortable and out of the way. Though Tidal River's wildlife wasn't as amazing as that of the surrounding area, the birds were extremely tame. In the mornings I spotted grey shrike-thrushes, crimson rosellas, brown thornbills, white-browed scrubwrens, Superb fairy-wrens, laughing kookaburras, rainbow lorikeets, silvergulls, welcome swallows, eastern yellow robins, grey fantails, red wattlebirds and galahs in the area. There were also often pied currawongs and forest ravens on the roadsides. A big surprise was seeing two olive whistlers make their way past our tent, birds supposed to be extremely secretive.

This is one of the two olive whistlers I spotted near the tent

Two of these grey shrike-thrushes were running around while we ate breakfast 

This immature crimson rosella was feeding next to the general store

This puddle was being used as a bath by this brown thornbill and superb fairy-wren

The forest raven can be told apart from other ravens by its much deeper call

Several galahs were hanging around in the lawn near the caravan park

The roads near Tidal River were also pretty good for birds, and I mention them because I spotted one of the 4 lifers of this trip along one. Early in the morning of our last day, I saw a brush bronzewing walking along the road. Other roadside birds included forest ravens, pied currawongs, grey fantails, black-faced cuckoo-shrikes, grey butcherbirds, yellow-faced honeyeaters, a bassian thrush in an area of wet forest and, of course, both species of wattlebird.

This sad excuse for a photo was the best I could get of the brush bronzewing

Finally, Tidal River was also rather good for mammals. Throughout the day there were often swamp wallabies around, with eastern grey kangaroos on the roadsides. Most importantly there were wombats everywhere. The grassy lawns of Tidal River were being used as grazing areas for many wombats.

Swamp wallabies like this one can be found throughout southern Victoria

In my opinion the common wombat is one of Australia's most adorable animals

This eastern grey kangaroo was watching our car from the roadside

We did most of our birding at Tidal River around our accommodation and at Norman Beach (a beach where the Tidal River flows into the ocean).

The mouth of Tidal River. Notice the brown water- that colour is caused by a compound named tannin.

I saw a variety of birds in Tidal River, and they were all rather photogenic.
SPECIES SEEN:
1. Brush Bronzewing
2. Silvergull
3. Pacific Gull
4. Galah
5. Rainbow Lorikeet
6. Crimson Rosella
7. Laughing Kookaburra
8. Superb Fairy-Wren
9. White-Browed Scrubwren
10. Brown Thornbill
11. New Holland Honeyeater
12. Red Wattlebird
13. Little Wattlebird
14. Yellow-Faced Honeyeater
15. Magpie-Lark
16. Australian Magpie
17. Forest Raven
18. Grey Butcherbird
19. Pied Currawong
20. Grey Shrike-Thrush
21. Black-Faced Cuckoo-Shrike
22. Olive Whistler
23. Willie Wagtail
24. Grey Fantail
25. Welcome Swallow
26. Eurasian Starling
27. Blackbird
28. Bassian Thrush
TOTAL: 28
LIFERS: 1