Whilst re-vamping the Wildfowl page on my website, I thought about two of the strangest looking ducks in the world, which are both from Australia. There are several species of wildfowl in Australia, but it is easy to visit and not see them all. 

Australia is one of our favourite destinations, and over the years we've spent a total of over six months in the country. So many birders are put off, mainly by the distance, but also by the length of time needed to see a majority of its birds. Unlike many countries, the problem of not seeing particular species is due to the fact that a large percentage are nomadic and move in response to rains, which are erratic in nature to say the least (even before climate change). However in a three week trip you can still guarantee a good number of species, many being endemic, and a lot of other wildlife as well. What is not a good idea is trying to do as much as possible in a fixed time, which tour groups are often guilty of.  I have seen trips to Queensland which dash around the Atherton Tablelands for specialities, but miss Buff-bellied Paradise Kingfisher because the timing is a week before the birds return from PNG. 

It is a huge country, one of our early trips was for three weeks, based on a "three weeks for the price of two" package in a holiday complex in Cairns, Queensland. This was in 2002, but such offers are still available. We hired a car, didn't leave Queensland, ate mainly six-inch thick burgers or Barramundi (best fish in the world) at a restaurant within walking distance, and came home having seen about three hundred species. Petrol was cheap, and our only concern was washing the red dust from the hire car before returning it, as you're not supposed to go off tarmac roads. But the bug had bitten, and whilst our Australia list has only doubled, we have returned several times to other parts, culminating in a four-month adventure in a campervan, during which time we did two guided tours, one to Cape York and the other to the true outback. Whilst these were horrendously expensive they were really enjoyable, and we have now seen a flock of about 60 Letter-winged Kites, a (record) flock of 240-plus Inland Dotterel, Palm Cockatoo and all the wildfowl, waders and diurnal raptors on the Australian list. Whether we'll go again is up to the gods of ageing, but there are still things to be seen.

As much as anything the people make it a superb destination, their sense of humour is evident in the photos, and whatever is said about sport, us poms only need to mention football. I intend writing about our Australian travels on the website eventually. If you want to know why I was invited to drive a road-train around a roadhouse car-park, or what happened when we met a group of bikers in Daintree, it will be on there one day.

We would always in future hire a campervan, there are places you can't safely drive, but this is outweighed by being on the spot when others have gone home. Insurance companies stipulate you cannot take them off tarmac roads, except up to 12km to drive to a camp site. But provided you don't damage them they'll never know, so a bit of common sense is all that's needed. At dawn and dusk birds will appear and hop around just outside the van, birds you might otherwise rarely encounter. And you can't beat meeting the sunrise miles from civilisation.

Currently  there's not much on the website about Australia specifically, but try these links if you're interested- https://www.aabirdpix.com/australia/australia-queensland.html and https://www.aabirdpix.com/australia/w-australia.html. 

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