Broome Bird Observatory is located on the shores of the stunning Roebuck Bay in northern Western Australia. It is 25 km east of Broome and 2400 km north of Perth. Opened in 1990, it is renowned as supporting the most diverse range of shorebirds anywhere in the world. Many thousands arrive from their Northern Hemisphere breeding grounds each spring to feed on the expansive mudflats, and then return in autumn. The area around Broome also prolifically produces rarities, especially migratory birds from Asia overshooting their wintering grounds. For example, Australia's first ever record of a Blue-and-White Flycatcher was seen drinking at a bird bath at the Observatory. Add these to a wide range of hard-to-see bush birds readily found nearby in the mangroves, and it is easy to see why Broome is a birdwatcher's mecca.
Eyre Bird Observatory is Australia's oldest observatory, established in 1977. It is nestled among the mallee woodland and towering sand-dunes on the coastal fringe of the Nullarbor Plain in south-eastern Western Australia. Its location makes it ideal for monitoring east-west movement of birds across the Nullarbor Plain, and it is also one of the few places where it is possible to monitor shorebird populations in the Great Australian Bight. No other place in Australia can boast sightings of Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Laughing Gull, as well as breeding Malleefowl.
