birdwatching

Beautiful Bird Broods

| perthbirdsandbush

Summer in Perth brings sunshine, heat and some beautiful bird broods! A lot of Perth birds breed in late winter, spring and early summer and so once we get into summer – young birds abound! Some may have just hatched while others will be strutting around confidently like teenagers.

Some of them are still reliant on Mum and Dad for protection, guidance and comfort.

Western Corellas – Mum, Dad and their youngster, 20 February 2026.
Hardhead mother and juvenile, 24 January 2026

Some are off on their own exploring the skies and looking for something to eat!

Juvenile White-Bellied Sea-Eagle, 4 February 2026
Juvenile Swamp Harrier, 24 January 2026

We came across a group of juvenile Striated Pardalotes in mid January 2026 that were very curious about what we were! They were very curious about what we were and came up very close to get a good look at us! This was an hour out of Perth in Wandoo forest.

While young birds often don’t look as glamerous as adults, its wonderful to be out birding in Summer as there are more birds around and it’s nice to see the different plumages of the youngsters.

Immature Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, 4 February 2026.
Juvenile Western Rosella, 9 February 2026

Nyoongar people have six seasons and Birak is roughly in December and January. It is sometimes known as the first summer and it is the time of the young birds and other animals. While Bunuru is roughly February and March and is known as the second summer and the season of adolescence. Find out more about the six seasons at: https://www.thewetlandscentre.org.au/blog/the-six-seasons-of-the-nyoongar-calendar/

All these young birds are aging into beautiful adults now that we are well into Bunuru! They are filling the ground, wetlands, trees and skies with colour, beauty and wonderful songs!

A day at the Bremer Canyon

| perthbirdsandbush

If you love an ocean adventure and nature then I highly recommend a day aboard the Naturaliste Charters boat from Bremer Bay between late January and early April. Their web page can be found here. The food, boat and crew are excellent. They have an on board Marine Biologist and a very knowledgable crew.

The tours leave at about 8 am and return about 4 pm. This is a good way to see a variety of sea mammals and sea birds. It’s good to look at their facebook posts to get an idea of what species are around at different times of the year. A few years back I went on the tour in early April specifically looking for Black-bellied Storm-Petrel and South Polar Skua. On that trip we saw several sea bird species, including Black-bellied Storm-Petrel and we also saw Sperm Whales.

Sperm Whale blow hole Bremer Canyon – Photograph Perth Birds and Bush
Sperm Whale tail Bremer Canyon – Photograph Perth Birds and Bush

Recently I went on a fabulous tour in late February. The mammals we saw were Orca, Australian Sea Lions and New Zealand Fur Seals. The Orca were near the boat for most of the day!

New Zealand Fur Seal – photograph Perth Birds and Bush
Australian Sea Lion – photograph Perth Birds and Bush

It was a very lucky day for the birds and we saw: Wandering Albatross, Shy Albatross, Black-browed Albatross, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, White-faced Storm-Petrel, Great-winged Petrel, Flesh-footed Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater and a mega rarity in this area – Great Shearwater. Most of these were called out by the staff so that everyone could see them. However as the staff didn’t have binoculars, some of the trickier to identify species were not mentioned. So birdwatchers are best to have some knowledge prior to boarding or photograph the birds themselves for later identification.

Black-browed Albatross – Photograph Perth Birds and Bush
Shy Albatross – Photograph Perth Birds and Bush

In Western Australia there are some other boat trips organised to specifically view sea birds, however, these are only organised a few times a year and are often booked out by the regular attendees before any advirtising is required. So the Bremer Canyon boat trips are probably the best way to see a variety of sea birds and sea mammals in the south west of Australia.

Wilson’s Storm-Petrel and a male and female Orca – Photograph Perth Birds and Bush
Flesh footed Shearwater (left) and Great Shearwater (right) – Photograph Perth Birds and Bush

Perth Birds and Bush and the author of this article have not received any payments, gifts or discouts from Naturaliste Charters.