STARTING SOON:
‘Forest Voices‘
Bird Language Retreat
Mount Hyland, North Coast NSW
24th – 27th September, 2026
Location: beautifully forested property adjacent World Heritage listed rainforests of Mount Hyland. Approx 1hr 45 mins drive from Coffs Harbour.
After running bird language retreats near Sydney, Bermagui and Melbourne, last year I finally found the perfect spot to hold a retreat experience in my own backyard on the NSW north coast – Mount Hyland!
It was such a sweet spot for our retreat in fact, that in September this year I want to do it all over again!
The Mount Hyland property, just 40 minutes west of Dorrigo is managed by NSW National Parks and is simply one of my most favourite pieces of forested landscape in the entire region. Unsurprisingly, it’s a bird paradise!
The Mount Hyland site has it all – birds, lush Gondwanan rainforests, lots of walking tracks, birds, gorgeous weather-proof spaces for workshops, dining and lounging, birds, hot showers, flushing toilets and we have exclusive use of the whole lot!
Over the last few decades many of us have been robbed of our capacity for focused concentration and sustained fascination. The global hijacking of our brains by social media has resulted in our attention economy becoming aggressively captured and monopolised. But we can, and we should fight back! This retreat will show you how learning the practice of paying attention to the language of birds can give your brain back to you.
This is not a retreat about bird ‘twitching” where we just tick birds off a personal best list. This is a retreat that adopts the approach of a naturalist, where everything we can notice in the environment is experienced through a lens of curiosity, scientific enquiry, humility and awe.
Your experiences during this bird language retreat will both firmly establish the naturalist principles but also advance your nature observation and interpretation capacities for a lifetime of learning.
Through a hybrid model of outdoor presentations, story and direct personal experience of sitting in nature, the retreat promises to lift your nature observation and connection skills to a whole new level.
As with all Bird Language retreats, our lunch and dinner meals will be fully catered, with quality, locally sourced meals prepared and delivered to us by a caterer. You only need bring breakfasts and snacks!
Here’s a couple of quotes from participants who attended the 2025 retreat:
My sensitivity was so attuned – soon afterwards when someone opened a fridge nearby I wondered what bird is that…?
I feel like it has changed my life forever, by changing the ways in which I pay attention and attune to my surroundings.
Hear more about what bird language can teach us in this recent interview I did (with my dear friend Dan Lyons from Wangat Lodge) talking bird stuff with David Marr on ABC’s Radio National Late Night Live program
“The hardest thing of all to see is what is really there” – JA Baker (The Peregrine)
For the vast majority of the human journey as a species we have been highly attuned to the natural world around us. In fact, it was through listening to the alarm calls of birds that our ancestors (mostly) evaded being devoured by huge predatory animals. In some parts of the world today, people still rely on bird alarm for survival.
For our hunter gatherer ancestors, paying attention to birds wasn’t a nerdy hobby. It wasn’t about keeping a personal brag list. It was, quite literally, about staying alive. And even though we generally don’t need to evade predatory animals in the forest today, paying attention to birds can still be life saving. That’s because scientific research clearly shows that spending quality time connecting to wild nature has a profound effect on our mental and physical wellbeing. Yeah, that’s right, listening to birds can improve and extend your life!!
This multi-day retreat introduces you to a fundamental understanding and experience of bird language and demonstrates how we can apply this knowledge to develop a lifelong practice of joyful nature connection. Through engaging teaching sessions and immersive time spent paying attention to the forest, participants are expertly supported to expand their sensory awareness skills and feel more engaged with wild nature.
The mindfulness-based experiences and unique learning offered at this retreat reawakens our brains to an older way of being in the world and offer a powerful opportunity to expand what you are capable of noticing.
Presented by bird language specialist, wildlife naturalist, educator and writer Andrew Turbill, this is a retreat for anyone interested in going deeper in their personal relationship to birds and wild nature.
Bird language retreats are a wonderful way to connect and have fun with others who value this nature and self-discovery. We will spend our time together in a village atmosphere sharing daily forest observations, curiosities and insights, as well as our stories and meals.
The skills and insights acquired in this workshop will fundamentally change the way you interact with birds and the natural world and can be readily applied in an urban-based natural setting as effectively as in wilderness. Every birdsong will become an invitation to listen, look around and learn. Every squawk will remind you we’re not alone in this world. Your friends will be amazed as you suddenly break off mid-sentence at work, dash outside and seemingly by magic “discover” a python resting in a nearby tree…or watch a falcon jet across the skyline.
Come join us to learn the magic of bird language!
‘Forest Voices’
Bird Language Retreat
Mount Hyland, North Coast NSW
24th – 27th September, 2026
Booking Information:
Adult Early Bird Ticket – $650 (first 10 tickets sold)
Adult ticket – $695
Child (12-16yrs) – $390
Your ticket includes:
- Daily facilitation, teaching and mentorship by Andrew Turbill (aka: andrewthebirdguy)
- Personalised small-group guidance from a hand-picked crew of awesome ‘flock guides’
- 3 nights camping out under the stars on a beautifully forested property surrounded by world heritage listed national park
- All lunch and dinner meals catered for (you just need to provide your own breaky and snacks)
- Limited to 30 participants to create a more intimate course and learning environment.
Accommodation
Participants bring their own camp set up (camper vans or trailers welcome), but we will also have access to communal, under-cover built gathering and eating areas. The property has toilets, showers, access to drinking (rain) water and a vast bounty of wild nature.
Requirements
- You should be comfortable being in nature, including sitting on your own in the forest for up to an hour at a time.
- No previous birding experience required (this is not a ‘twitcher’ event)
- Attendees must be able to sit quietly and pay attention for extended periods in both the teaching space and the forest. The retreat is therefore generally not suitable for children under 12 years.
Further info – Contact Andrew at info@andrewthebirdguy.com
RETREAT CANCELLATION TERMS AND CONDITIONS
| Cancellation timeframe (days prior to start date of retreat) | Cancellation fee |
| > 45 days written notice | 15% of ticket price |
| 45 – 15 days written notice | 50% of ticket price |
| < 15 days written notice | 100% of ticket price |
Additional notes –
- In instances of a ‘frustrated contract’ under the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012, meaning it is impossible to perform or carry out our contract due to events beyond all parties’ control, the ticket holder will receive a full refund minus a 10% admin fee. Tickets can also be transferred towards a future retreat date within 12 months.
- Examples of a frustrated contract situation may include a Government declared lockdown or border closure or natural disaster. A contract is not frustrated if the situation means it is only inconvenient, difficult or expensive to carry out.
- In the instance of a retreat cancellation being made by Andrew-the-bird-guy, ticketholders will be refunded their full ticket price, or have their ticket transferred to a future event.