Kimberley Birdwatching’s Ashmore Expedition 20-27 October 2013 Summary By Mike Carter, Rohan Clarke & George Swann (3 November 2013) Trip Details. The 2013 annual spring eight-day Broome-Ashmore-Lacepedes-Broome expedition organised by George Swann of Kimberley Birdwatching (KBW) ran from 20-27 October. The birding personnel were Graeme Barwell, Joan Broadberry, Ron Broomham, Alex Ferguson, Dougald Frederick, Gina Hopkins, Glen Pacey, Carol Page, Geoff Smith, Lynn Smith, Bob Sothman, Alastair Stevenson, John Weigel, Tom Wheller, Rohan Clarke, George Swann & Mike Carter. Two American World Travel Destination Collectors were also aboard. Having added Ashmore Reef to his list, Don Parrish joined another to share equal top place as the world’s most travelled person and his compatriot Bob Bonifas, moved into third place! Our boat was the air-conditioned 21 m MV Flying Fish V. The skipper was Anthony and the deckhand Paul (Chook). The previous owner George Greaves attended in an advisory role and assisted generally. His partner Jackie fed and nurtured us. We sailed from the beach near Gantheaume Point in Broome on 20 October (Day 1) at 08.40 and spent the next two days and nights travelling at sea. We maintained a NW course throughout Day 1 but at night changed our heading to NNE. By dawn on Day 2 we were in waters reaching depths of mostly 400 m or greater and cruised along the continental slope throughout the morning. Before sunset, we had passed west of and close to Scott Reef having traversed water depths of over 1,150 m. Early on Day 3 we encountered numerous Storm-Petrels in water with a depth of ~800 m so paused to observe this spectacle. Then we continued in a northerly direction across deeper water. At ~10.00 we turned to the east heading directly to Ashmore Reef. By 12.00 we were moored in the lagoon having passed the Australian Customs Vessel ‘Ashmore Guardian’ with its complement of customs staff anchored at the entrance. For the next three nights (Days 3, 4 & 5), we were secure at the inner mooring (12º14.35’S 122º58.84’E) just off West Island. Most members of the party went ashore on West Island each morning and afternoon of those days. On Day 4, we circumnavigated Middle Island ferried there by three dinghies but did not land. We also spent some time at the adjacent ‘Horseshoe’ sand bar viewing loafing shorebirds on the high tide. Next day we were ashore on East Island for ~1.5 hours and at high tide, spent an hour on Splittgerber Cay enthralled by massed shorebirds. After a last visit ashore on West Island, we released our mooring at Ashmore at 08.50 on Day 6 (25 October) and sailed throughout the day on a SSE heading through waters of depths between ~300-500 m. By dawn on Day 7, we were already over the shelf break on a direct course for the Lacepedes and during daylight hours were over shelf waters decreasing in depth from 110 m to 30 m. We anchored off West Island, Lacepedes (16º50’S 122º07’E) at 18.30. Next morning, Day 8 (27 October), we were ashore on West Island, Lacepedes, from 04.40 to 08.30. Back aboard and tenders stowed, we sailed for Broome, berthing at the wharf there (18º00.09’S 122º12.96’E) at 17.15. Weather was mostly very hot and humid with cloudless skies, nearly constant sunshine and little if any breeze. An hour-long squall with heavy rain hit us on Day 6. Light winds and slight seas prevailed for most of the trip except on Day 8 when inshore coastal breeze and choppy sea made the voyage less comfortable. Observations 82 species of bird were identified: 35 seabirds, 25 shorebirds, 7 waterbirds and 15 landbirds. In addition, 3-4 skulking passerines not identified to species were likely extreme rarities. One of these was photographed but images examined so far are insufficiently revealing. Nevertheless, a GRAY’S GRASSHOPPER WARBLER was identified in the field on 22 Oct. and is well documented with photos so should become the 1st Australian record. For most of the time, whilst at sea a continuous log of position and faunal observations was recorded on ‘Palm pilots’ as well as manually. At-sea highlights included 79 Swinhoe’s Storm-Petrels (twice as many as recorded on any of the 14 previous KBW trips), 5 of which were only 65 km from Broome and 16 Matsudaira’s Storm-Petrel. Others were Tahiti Petrel (6), Streaked Shearwater (98), Bulwer’s Petrel (24), and all three Jaeger species. On-land seabird highlights included Lesser Noddy (2) on East Island and over 30,000 Roseate Terns roosting in the lagoon at the Lacepedes Shorebird highlights included the incongruous sight of a Long-toed Stint standing on the sandy shore of Middle Island, Ashmore, 8 Asian Dowitchers together at a high tide roost on Ashmore and Common Redshank, (2) at the Lacepede Islands. In addition to the Gray’s Grasshopper Warbler, Landbird highlights on West Island, Ashmore, included Asian Brown Flycatcher (2) (different birds on 22 & 25 Oct.), Black-eared Cuckoo, (first Ashmore record, an immature on 24 & 25 Oct.), Collared Kingfisher, 1 of the nominate Indonesian race), Arafura Fantail (Timorese race, 1 daily), Canary White-eye (1 on 23 Oct.), Oriental Reed Warbler, (1 on 23 and 24 Oct.), Oriental Cuckoo (up to 6 daily), and Eastern Yellow Wagtail (seen daily with at least 11 together at once, mostly tschutschensis but at least one of the Green-headed subspecies taivana). The usual local tropical seabirds, Masked, Red-footed & Brown Boobies, Great & Lesser Frigatebirds, Common & Black Noddies, Bridled, Sooty, Great Crested, as well as White-winged Black, Common and Little Terns were seen. The first ten of these had bred or were nesting on Middle or/& East Islands, Ashmore. Many were also nesting on the Lacepedes where Lesser Crested Terns were also present. On West Island, Ashmore, there were 5 Red-tailed Tropicbird nests and White-tailed Tropicbirds were prospecting at Middle & East Islands. Cetaceans were scarcer than usual but we did have some wonderful displays from Humpback Whales and we saw Dwarf Spinner Dolphins and both larger offshore and smaller inshore, Bottle-nosed Dolphins. Reptiles included Green, Loggerhead, Hawksbill and Australian Flatback Turtles and various sea snakes. Fish and Rays of various species of were also welcome sights. Photos of many of the species mentioned above have or will be posted on http://www.pbase.com/wildlifeimages/vagrants This trip will be repeated next October. Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136 =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org =============================== 
Ashmore-Cruise-2013-Summary-3-Nov-2013.doc