Every birdwatcher and bird photographer is different and Perth Birds and Bush is knowledgeable enough to meet these different needs. Let me tell you about three different bird tours for each of Donna, Grace and Geoff. They were all keen bird photographers but all very different in what they wanted from their tour.
Geoff is from the UK and was more of a birder who takes photographs when the opportunity arises. He happy to see the birds and photographs are a secondary but still important part of his hobby. He booked a five hour tour with the primary focus being local endemic species as he had not visited Perth before. On the five hour tour we visited 3 bush bird locations in the Darling Range and one wetland location. The wetland spot was included as he had not seen Tawny Frogmouth and was keen to see some raptors. Geoff definitely photographed more bird species than Grace or Donna but we did not spend time letting the birds get closer to us or trying to move around the birds for better light. We saw at least 53 species on the tour.
Donna from Melbourne wanted to see and photograph 5 bird species that she had not yet seen on her many visits to Perth. These were Western Spinebill, Western Wattlebird, Western Thornbill, Western Yellow Robin and Gilbert’s Honeyeater. We visited three locations during her 5 hour tour and she saw and photographed Western Spinebill, Western Wattlebird and Western Thornbill from her target list. In total we only saw 23 birds but it was the species which mattered. Donna is keen to see her birds but wants to also get photographs of each one. But she does not need to get perfect photos, that is an amazing bonus! She was thrilled to have photographed three of her target species and the next day she went back on her own to one of the spots we visited and managed to take a beautiful photograph of a Western Yellow Robin.
Grace from Canada booked a 4 hour tour and wanted to get fabulous photographs of a fairy-wren and possibly a robin. We went to a location where there are two species of fairy-wren and two species of robins present. She uses a tripod and likes to spend time letting the birds get close to her so that she can take stunning crisp photographs. She got amazing photographs of several Splendid Fairy-wrens, Scarlet Robin and White-breasted Robin, as well as some other species. Several times during the tour the Splendid Fairy-wrens were within 2 meters of us and similarly the Scarlet Robins and White-breasted Robin were within 2 meters of us at least once. We only saw 14 species in the four hours but only need to walk about 100 meters to find the species at the location we were at!
These tours were all very different but all three people were very happy with their tours. Communication when booking a tour is the key thing to ensure Perth Birds and Bush will plan the best tour for you. When you book using the booking form please include a comment about what you want from the tour. I always send a bird list back to you from the initial bird tour booking to check what you want to see to make sure that I can plan your tour to meet your wishes!
