The Broome region offers some of the best birding in Australia. To find out why, read on. If you want to know what we’ve been seeing recently, check our blog.
A SPECIAL PLACE FOR BIRDS
The Broome region is diverse country, where the desert meets the tropics on the shores of the Indian Ocean. A day spent here can take you across mudflats, ocean, mangroves, beaches, floodplains, saltmarsh, savanna, desert scrub and our characteristic pindan woodlands. This suite of habitats is home to an amazing diversity of bird species. The jewel in the crown is Roebuck Bay, the Shorebird Capital of Australia.
Broome also has an excellent record of turning up species that have rarely or never been seen elsewhere on the continent.
In total, 336 bird species have been recorded in Broome to date - a third of Australia’s total! You can find a full checklist here.
migratory shorebirds
Roebuck Bay is one of the world’s most important sites for migratory shorebirds. These species feed on the bay’s rich tidal flats, and roost on the beaches around the observatory at high tide.
Between March and May, breeding adults can be seen most evenings leaving the bay on incredible journeys to the northern hemisphere. Many species nest north of the Arctic Circle. They return between August and October, and their young follow shortly after. These young birds then stay in the bay for over a year before making their first migrations, and this means you can see migratory shorebirds in Broome all year round.
local specialties
There are some species that birders visiting Broome just love to get excited about, and we’ve compiled a gallery of our ‘Top 10 most wanted’ here.
These are the birds most likely to get you coughing up into our Twitchers’ Tax - a 50 c donation to the BBO for any new bird you see during your stay!
Hover over the images for information on each species.