BIRDING IN AUSTRALIA

Western Australia

Western Australia

Birding in Western Australia

“Wild horizons, feathers and salt air.”

Western Australia stretches from the Kimberley’s tropical dusk to the wild southern coast where sea winds carry birdcalls. With towering gorges, remote islands, heathlands ablaze with wildflowers, and migrant waders along the coast, WA offers extraordinary birding. Visit places like Broome’s shorebird spectacle, the Southwest’s forest enclaves, Rottnest Island, the Pilbara, the Fitzgerald River, and the Carnarvon region. Endemic parrots, cockatoos, fairywrens, honeyeaters — there’s colour and song around every bend.

Western Australia covers one-third of the continent, boasting over 550 bird species, including many endemics found nowhere else. From Broome’s migratory waders to the southwest’s parrots and honeyeaters, WA is a birder’s treasure chest.

Fun Facts

The southwest hosts several unique species, including the Western Ground Parrot and Red-capped Parrot, found nowhere else.

These swans perform synchronized head-dipping and neck-arching dances that look almost choreographed.

WA’s emu chicks are surprisingly fast runners within days of hatching, helping them avoid predators.

Top 6 Birding Locations

Gateway to Roebuck Bay’s incredible migratory shorebird spectacle.

Red gorges alive with spinifexbirds, zebra finches, and kestrels.

Urban wetlands buzzing with grebes, coots, and black swans.

Quokkas on land, shearwaters and oystercatchers on the shore.

Flower-rich peaks home to rare honeyeaters and parrots.

Where white sands meet flocks of spoonbills and sandpipers.

Seasonal Birding Highlights

Thousands of migratory waders.

Parrot and honeyeater activity.

Waterbird spectacle.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Books

Books to inspire your trip to the arid west

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Birdwatching isn’t just a hobby — it’s a passport to Australia’s wildest places. • Australia has 850+ bird species. How many have you met? •Birdwatching isn’t just a hobby — it’s a passport to Australia’s wildest places. • Australia has 850+ bird species. How many have you met? •

Western Australia Groups

>>Gouldian Finches of Western Australia
Dedicated to sightings and conservation of Gouldian Finches in WA.

>>Christmas and Cocos Keeling Birds
Focused on birdwatching and species from Australia’s remote Indian Ocean islands.

BirdLife WA

>> BirdLife – Western Australia (State Branch)

Covers the entire state of Western Australia, including the outlying territories of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, and Ashmore Reef.

Functions as the principal State Branch, coordinating excursions, comprehensive surveys, and major conservation projects across WA, while directly overseeing six operational regional sub-groups.

Botanic Gardens WA

>> Kings Park and Botanic Garden – Perth

Overlooking the Swan River and city skyline, Kings Park is one of the world’s largest inner-city parks — and a haven for birdlife. More than 80 species call its bushland and gardens home, including Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos, Red Wattlebirds, and Splendid Fairywrens. With walking trails weaving through native flora, it’s a superb place to enjoy Perth’s wild birds up close.

>> Araluen Botanic Park – Roleystone

Tucked into a forested valley in the Perth Hills, Araluen Botanic Park combines cool-climate gardens with natural bushland that teems with birds. Scarlet Robins, Western Rosellas, and White-cheeked Honeyeaters are regular visitors, adding bright flashes of colour among the towering gums and spring blossoms.

Explore Australia and its birding destinations

Northern Territory

From the wetlands to the red desert, the NT dazzles with Rainbow Bee-eaters, Black-necked Storks, Gouldian Finches, and Red-tailed Black Cockatoos — each more vivid than the outback sunset.

Queensland

Tropical Queensland is alive with colour — Southern Cassowaries, Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfishers, Rainbow Lorikeets, Paradise Riflebirds, and the exotic Palm Cockatoos shimmer beneath the rainforest canopy.