Welcome to the search

Hi all,

I am beginning this blog with the express intent of recording my travels around Australia looking for birds. How can such a thing be worthy of a blog you might ask? Well, in the process of looking for birds (which are in and of themselves wonderful things), I have the chance to experience a great deal of Australian culture, history, scenery, and most importantly wildlife. But in the end it all comes back to the birds. There are well over 700 species of birds in Australia, and including the Australian Territories and vagrant birds that have blown in on storms and the like our country's total is approaching 900 species. Australia also has one of the highest rates of endemism - birds found only in Australia, of any country in the world. This is mostly because of our unique position of being both a continent and an island. We have many habitats and climates, and isolation over millions of years has led to a wonderful group of birds being present in our region.

I have already traveled to every state and mainland territory in my search for birds. I will, over the next few months, be posting historic posts from my journals, as well as a small assortment of images to accompany. Eventually I hope to turn this blog into a resource for those wanting to travel looking for birds in Australia - how to do it, where to do it, and perhaps even why.

For now I will leave you with the thought from Aesop, creator of fables: "It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds"