Enderby Island was a morning landing. I chose the full circuit walk because it covered all habitats and offered the best chance for Subantarctic Snipe. The passengers that did the circuit walk also got to land first and spend the most time on the island. I'm confident that this option was the best choice for photography having covered the ground permitted on the other options.

I was on the first Zodiac out. We landed at the research huts, changed to hiking shoes and waited for the other groups. We had previously been briefed on the animals and told that knowingly approaching within 50 meters of Yellow-eyed Penguin was not permitted.  This resulted in us waiting on the beach for around an hour and a half watching a group of them repeatedly approach the beach and retreat in response to the slightest movement by a Sea Lion.

Carnley Harbour

Carnley Harbour offered two zodiac cruises, the first departing early enough that the light was a genuine improvement on the previous day at the Snares. We entered through the eastern passage, flanked by tussock-covered cliffs, and headed first to a cave area on the northern wall where Auckland Island Shags were nesting on ledge formations. Antarctic Terns also perched on the exposed rock nearby. The light was flat but even, and with the 300 mm f/2.8, sometimes extended to 420 mm with a 1.4× converter, conditions were calm. A Light-mantled Sooty Albatross appeared close on the water at one point, it was great to be down at eye level in the zodiac.

Megaherbs were in full flower across the slope - the spectacle that the botanist Joseph Hooker called second to none outside the tropics, and the description holds. The vegetation was denser and more varied in colour than anything seen at Enderby Island or on the approach to Mt Honey's mid-slopes.

Southern Royal Albatross were nesting almost immediately once we cleared the lower tussock, and further up, groups of four or five birds were engaged in courtship, calling and spreading their wings, lifting into the wind above the ridge. They climbed to considerable height, then swept back down in slow arcs over the sea. I stayed approximately 100 to 150 metres below the summit, choosing to spend the time working compositions - landscape framings with the bay visible below, closer portraits of nesting birds, and the courtship groups in flight - rather than continuing to the top.

On the return we paused at the feral Sitka Spruce, reportedly one of the most isolated trees in the world and a notable artefact of the island's pastoral history, and briefly observed a Campbell Island Teal that had been spotted near the meteorology buildings. Campbell Island Shags were passed at pace on the zodiac return and not photographed, but missing any photographs of those was an acceptable trade for the great time I had on the hill.

I spent a considerable amount of time planning what gear to bring for this trip. I wasn’t operating from direct Subantarctic experience, so I relied on research reading  trip reports, analysing other photographers’ images. The conditions were more mild than winter in Tasmania, so I used that as a reference point for clothing.

From a photography gear perspective, it is useful to think in terms of four operational modes:

1. Photography from the Ship

There were always pelagic birds around the vessel, both offshore and near land, but they didn’t always approach closely. The largest lens you can comfortably handhold is the right choice here. I used my 400mm f/2.8 most of the time; it was my bread and butter. A 100-500mm or 200-600mm would also have been fine.

Wider focal lengths were occasionally useful. I made some “bird in landscape” frames with a 70–200mm, particularly when birds passed nearer the hull in good light. The fast aperture of my lenses was nice at sunrise and sunset.

2. Photography from the Zodiac

In zodiacs you’re often relatively close to the action, but not always - sometimes something interesting is a bit distant. I most frequently used a 300mm f/2.8, sometimes with 1.4× or 2× converters (420mm or 600mm equivalent). That combination worked well for individual portraits and small group compositions. Probably a zoom lens like a 100-500 would be easier to handle. 

Overall, the experience was exceptional. Seeing nesting seabirds and a slice of the Southern Ocean in this context was deeply rewarding.  Bird photography on a Subantarctic cruise is a constrained optimisation problem -  limited access, imperfect light, crowd dynamics, and permit restrictions all shape what is possible. Despite those constraints, there were many moments that will remain vivid for years, and I’m very glad I made the trip.

For a bird list see my eBird trip report.

Recently I published a trip report about birding for a few days in Timor. This was part a trip that involved travelling to both West Timor and Sumba in Indonesia. This blog post covers the Sumba part of the trip. See this previous post for the Timor part.

After giving up on the buttonquail we made our way to Lewa where we stayed in a homestay.

We returned to Umbu Ratu Nggay at dawn for one more attempt at Sumba Green Pigeon, a species that had remained photographically difficult.

Afterward we revisited the buttonquail site (Yumbo Bridge). With the sun already up, the rocks were warm again, and thermal detection remained ineffective. The sandflies were really active this time, but I had covered up better so just got a few bites on the backs of my hands. This was really the end of the trip. The next morning was an early flight back to Denpasar and eventually home.

I recently spent ten days away from my home in Sydney travelling to Timor and Sumba in Indonesia via Bali. These are two islands in Nusa Tenggara in Indonesia (the eastern part of Timor is independent from Indonesia) and represented a part 2 for this region after a short stay in Lombok earlier in the year. I used Daris Pradikatama to organise the trip. He engaged a local guide on Timor and drivers in both locations. This blog post covers the Timor part of the trip - my intent is to publish separate posts covering Lombok and Sumba.

Most days in Timor were spent birding without large amounts of time stuck in a car.  The weather was generally pleasant - a little cooler and a little less humid than many other locations in Indonesia. The birds showed some wariness (with more in the lowlands), but overall they were not as difficult as Papua, though still noticeably harder than Australia.

After flying Sydney to Denpasar the night before, I slept at the airport hotel in Bali and took a daytime flight to Kupang where I met Daris. We immediately drove towards Soe. The roads were good and there seemed to be various shiny government buildings, but the locals themselves didn't appear to be particularly wealthy compared to other parts of Indonesia.

The first birding site was Mollo Selatan, working a small patch of forest for the Timor near endemic Orange-banded Thrush. The lighting was really poor because an afternoon thunderstorm was building. We saw the thrush and a few other things like Fawn-breasted Whistler and Supertramp Fantail. I took some photos but nothing amazing - the thrush mostly stayed pretty high up in the trees.

We called it a day when the thunderstorm started and went and checked into a hotel in Soe and had dinner. After dinner we returned to a nearby site on private land for some nocturnal work. Timor Boobook was straightforward and we heard several calling after a short walk into the forest. I had some initial success with photos and we also heard Timor Nightjar, so we switched to focussing on that pretty quicky. We successfully got quite close with the lights off using the thermal but when we turned on the lights it was occluded by vegetation and flushed immediately.

Dawn at Jalan Batu Putih was spent trying for species of drier open forest: Timor Friarbird, Timor Cuckoo-Dove, and others typical of the foothills. Very little came close but I scored quite a few lifers! 

Our final Timor morning at Noelbaki focused on Flame-breasted Sunbird, but although we located the birds, none allowed close photography. I did photograph a Pale-headed Munia and had some luck photographing a Red-backed Buttonquail.

Spinifex Ridges and Tank Hills in Mt Isa

Carpentarian Country

The area northwest of Mt Isa contains one of the remaining populations of Carpentarian Grasswren (Amytornis dorotheae). Much of this habitat has been recently affected by fire. The habitat here was different to Mt Isa itself. The habitat felt harsher: low sandstone ridges, creek depressions burnt spinifex patches, and flies.

The search took around forty-five minutes before the first pair appeared, jumping between two spinifex bushes in a creek depression. I hung around the area for the rest of the day. My initial shots were not great. But they became much less skulking as the sun went down.

Other species shared the same ridges. Highlights from a photographic perspective included Black-throated Treecreeper, Crested Bellbird and Little Woodswallow.  I heard Little Buttonquail as it got dark and I walked back to the car but I opted to have an early night because of a 4am start in Brisbane. Since I had done so well with the Carpentarian Grasswren I decided to retarget the Kalkadoon Grasswren the next morning.

Return to the Isa Hills

The following morning I was back on the same ridge as the previous morning well before dawn. I had considered trying other sites, but decided to go back to the same spot based on the previous success. I arrived early in the morning hoping to test out a prototype BeamMount Pro on spotted nightjar, but could only hear them distantly. Thermal imaging was nearly useless; the rock retained too much warmth overnight to pick out anything.

Normally the stillness of early morning is a great time to hear and locate grasswrens. I didn't hear anything! When the sun cleared the horizon, the slope where I had located came alive, but no grasswrens were to be seen - Rainbow Bee-eaters, Budgerigars and other birds all came to warm themselves in the first rays of sunlight. I worked from a low angle in my ghillie suit. A Brown Falcon swept through suddenly, scattering the budgerigars at close range. I didn't get a good photo.  No Grasswrens this time, but the morning light and birds at close range was great.

South to Lark Quarry and Opalton

By late morning I began the long drive of roughly six hours through towards Lark Quarry and Opalton. The afternoon air was dry and still, perfect for sound recording. In the spinifex at the airstrip near Lark Quarry I found both Rufous-crowned Emu-wren (Stipiturus ruficeps) to be active and vocal. I also encountered other good birds like Bourke's Parrot. The search for Opalton Grasswren (Amytornis rowleyi) was initially fruitless. I did a random walk for a few kilometers through spinifex. I didn't locate any until the sun had just set.

Towards Channel Country

Day three began near Winton with a search for Hall’s Babbler (Pomatostomus halli) south of Winton on the road towards Opalton. The habitat looked right - open mulga with dense shrub patches - but the species refused to show. I walked around a lot searching and photographed Hooded Robin and Spinifex Pigeon and other species. When I returned to the car, a group appeared in the nearby tree, almost as if waiting. Unfortunately the best light had gone, but I was glad to see my last Australian babbler species before heading to Boulia.

Morning Over the Gibber Plains

The final morning broke still and clear and I began the drive back towards Mt Isa. At one point I stopped to photograph an Australian Bustard gobbling locusts. This busted flushed a Gibberbird (Ashbyia lovensis) which was a confiding finale to the trip.

Conclusion

This trip was incredibly productive. With more time I would have loved to travel down to Birdsville and try for Eyrean Grasswren and Grey Grasswren. I also didn't focus on some of the finches and other birds on offer due to success from previous trips and time constraints. I think a week or ten days would have really been ideal. Still, it was a great trip and I would love to go back someday.