Where to See Wildlife in Western Australia — Complete Guide

Western Australia is one of the best places on Earth for wildlife watching — an extraordinary range of mammals, reptiles, frogs and birds, many found nowhere else in the world. This page is a complete index of everything on this blog, organised by animal group and by location so you can find exactly what you’re looking for.

All sightings are my own, from years of searching out wildlife across the Perth metro area, the wheatbelt, the south west and beyond. Click any link for the full trip report, photos and practical tips.

By Animal Group

🦘 Macropods — Kangaroos & Wallabies

Tammar Wallabies of Garden Island — A special night visit to HMAS Stirling with dozens of tame Tammars
Tutanning Nature Reserve with the WA Nats — Tammars, woylies & more on a group spotlighting night
Tutanning Nature Reserve — Phascogale, Tammars, Bats & Frogs
Rock-wallabies of the Wheatbelt and Frogs that go Hoot! — Black-flanked rock-wallabies at a remote wheatbelt site
Searching for Quokka in Jarrahdale
Searching for Quokkas at Canning Dam
Rottnest in Winter — Quokkas at their most accessible
Rottnest Is. — Quokkas, Birds and Fur Seals
Mainland Quokka at Two Peoples Bay — One of the few places to find quokkas on the mainland
Dryandra & Boyagin — Woylies & Numbats!
Frogs & Wallabies

🐾 Possums

By Location

📍 Perth Metro

Craigie Bushland — Northern suburbs; quenda, possums, bats
Victoria Gardens, Claremont — Easy suburban quenda
Piney Lakes Reserve — Quenda hotspot
Alfred Cove — Waders and waterbirds
Kings Park — Birds and reptiles in the city
Sullivan Rock, Jarrahdale — Reptiles; easy family herping spot
Sullivan Rock — Detailed Herping
Swanview Tunnel & John Forrest NP — Bats roosting in the old railway tunnel
Swan River — Bottlenose dolphins
Penguin Island — Little penguins, fur seals
Canning Dam — Reptiles and quokkas
Rottnest Island — Quokkas, birds, fur seals

📍 Wheatbelt

Dryandra Woodland National Park — My most-visited site; numbats, woylies, chuditch, echidnas, possums, reptiles. See all Dryandra posts →
Tutanning Nature Reserve — Tammars, phascogale, bats, frogs; nocturnal visit essential
Tutanning with the WA Nats
Boyagin Nature Reserve — Numbats by day
Rock-wallaby site, Wheatbelt — Black-flanked rock-wallabies

📍 South West WA

Busselton — Western ringtail possums; critically endangered
Busselton Holiday — Herps, Underwater & Possums
Ferguson Valley — Frogs and possums
Cheynes Beach — Honey possum, kangaroos
Two Peoples Bay — Mainland quokka
Bremer Bay

📍 Offshore — Perth Canyon & Whale Watching

Practical Tips

Best equipment

A torch or head-torch with a red light setting is essential for nocturnal spotlighting — red light doesn’t disturb animals the way white light does. I use a thermal camera for finding animals in dense vegetation; see my thermal camera posts for how it has changed the way I work. A decent telephoto lens (I use a 100–400mm) makes an enormous difference for photography.

When to go

Most mammals are nocturnal — starting at dusk and staying out for 2–3 hours gives the best results. Frogs are most active on wet nights, particularly June–September in the Perth region. Reptiles are best sought on warm days in spring and autumn when they’re active but not too fast.

Ethics

I always try to limit my impact on the animals observed — logs/rocks returned, no animals handled (maybe chuffed off a road if in danger) and aware that spotlighting can dazzle animals. The goal is to observe without disturbing. Please do the same.

This index is updated as new posts are published. If you have questions about a specific location or species, leave a comment below — always happy to help.

Wildlife Watching in Australia

Quenda at Victoria Gardens — found right next to the sign

Dryandra with family

Dryandra Woodland NP with my kids!