A Birder's Guide to Australia: O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat

Check my birding map for specific location.

This post relates to my 2024 visit to Lamington National Park. I have visited before and the post relating to that trip can be found here.

We stayed in the caravan park rather than the lodge and I much preferred it. Each morning and afternoon Crimson Rosella and Australia King-Parrots would look for food on the ground right outside the campervan. When we were really lucky the parrots would come and sit on our shoulders. It is a little disconcerting that the birds at O'Reillys are so tame but you can't help but enjoy getting so close to them.

Above campsite I could hear a new call, regularly repeating. It took me a while to track it down but I was very rewarded when I did. A male Rose Robin was singing and singing. It was present the whole time we were there and this is my best shot.

Rose Robin

Throughout Lamington NP are Albert's Lyrebird and while it cannot be guaranteed that you will see them, it is so worth looking for them. One morning we found one, just scratching away on the ground in front of us. The rusty colours were so vibrant and its tail feathers spectacular.

Albert's Lyrebird

As well as a huge number of birds in the area, there are also plenty of marsupials, lizards and other creatures. We were lucky enough to find some very interesting lizards including the Angle-headed Forest Dragon, a relation to the Boyd's Forest Dragon frequently seen in Far North Queensland.

Angle-headed Forest Dragon

There is a great walking track out to Python Rock which gives incredible views of the area. It is also a beautiful walk through the forest where you can find a variety of birds and animals. Our favourite sighting was of several Land Mullet, Australia's largest skink.

Land Mullet

The forest floor is also somewhere to keep a close eye on. Eastern Whipbird and Australian Logrunner work the leaf litter for food. I particularly liked the logrunner as they scraped away using the feet in a lateral motion. The females have an orange breast and the males are white. As they skulk around in the undergrowth, they are very difficult to photograph. As we sat still for a while, we managed to get close to a pair.

Australian Logrunner

Eastern Whipbird

There are several bottlebrush trees around the O'Reillys compound and the Eastern Spinebill can often be seen feeding there. One sunny afternoon I came across a young bird basking in the light. I took about 50 photographs, it was just stunning with such different colours to the adults.

Eastern Spinebill

We went out spotlighting a couple of times and were thrilled with what we found. Even on our way back to the campground, we came across a gorgeous small possum sitting just munching on leaves. It allowed us to get quite close, possibly as curious as we were!

Ring-tailed Possum

One of my favourite sightings was the White-headed Pigeon as I had only seen them once before and didn't have any decent photos. Although we saw lots of them, they were always flying high up and pretty fast. Then, one morning right in front of the campervan, one sat beautifully for me. The photo doesn't really do it justice, they are stunning birds.