December 20, 2015: Hobart, Tasmania — You know the game, “pass the parcel,” where a gift is covered in layers of paper and passed around to be gradually unwrapped? Today I felt like a parcel in that game, as I was passed from one birder to another. My mission, to find all of Tasmania’s dozen endemic birds, became a team effort. From 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. I went for a walk with Mona Loofs-Samorzewski, who led the way up a flank of Mount Wellington. This mountain rises next to Tasmania’s capital city and is crisscrossed by miles of hiking tracks, which must be awesome for anyone living in Hobart. We found a pair of Pink Robins (not endemic, but beautiful and easier to see here than anywhere else) and the endemic Tasmanian Native-Hen, Green Rosella, Yellow Wattlebird, Tasmanian Scrubwren, Tasmanian Thornbill, and Black Currawong. Half the endemics down before breakfast! At 9, Mona handed me off to Els Wakefield and Nicole Sommer. We got a call from Rob Hamilton, who I...