Short visit from 17.20 on 4 Jan; by Mike Carter, Tony Palliser & Tom Smith to 17.00 on 6 Jan, and by David James, Ian McAllan & Frank O’Connor to 7 Jan. Local resident Lisa Preston of Island Explorer Holidays arranged this trip and our Cocos trip and directed or guided us to several vagrant target species. Accommodation at Sunset VQ3 Lodge. Transport for DJ & IMcA was by loaned 4WD and for others by hired Nissan X-Trail. Birded most daylight hours (06.15-18.15). Weather was generally warm, humid, overcast, with frequent drizzle, showers, some torrential rain; strong sunlight at times; fresh NW winds. Seas rough. PLACES BIRDED Flooded grass at entrance to Resort (erstwhile Casino), Golf Course, Waterfall Cove, Flying Fish Cove, Greta Beach road to flooded section below Ross Hill Gardens & pump station there, Pools at LB3, Rubbish Tip, North-West Point near Detention Centre, Settlement, Airport, Silver City, South Point & Grants Well. ANNOTATED BIRD LIST – 37 SPECIES RECORDED (As visit was short & coverage limited, number of individuals not given where irrelevant) Red Junglefowl/Feral Chicken 4-10 daily. Red-tailed Tropicbird 2 only on 5 Jan & just 1 on 6 & 7 Jan.
White-tailed Tropicbird Daily; conspicuous but not more than 20.
Abbott’s Booby 2 only, ad & juv in nest tree along North-West Point Rd.
Red-footed Booby Many but fewer than expected.
Brown Booby Scarce with as few as 3 in a day.
Great Frigatebird Daily but fewer than usual & not gathering to drink at pools.
Christmas Frigatebird Ditto
Lesser Frigatebird 1 on 7 Jan by IMcA & FO’C.
White-faced Heron 1-4 daily.
Eastern Reef Egret 1 on 6 Jan at Golf Course.
Striated Heron 1-3 between Golf Course & Waterfall Cove on 5 & 6 Jan.
MALAYAN NIGHT HERON 1 (photos) daily on Dolly Beach Track, 50 m from turn-off. YELLOW BITTERN In long grass of wetland at cliff-top before entrance to the Resort, at least 2 on 4th, 6 on 5th, 3 on 6th & 1 on 7th Jan. 1 at LB3 on 5th Jan. (Photos). Black Bittern 1 along road near Ma Chor Nui Temple on 5th, 6th & 7th Jan. Christmas Is Goshawk 1 heard at Ross Hill on 5 Jan. Peregrine Falcon 1 in Settlement on 5th & 1 at Airport on 6th Jan.
Nankeen Kestrel Daily.
White-breasted Waterhen 1 opposite Chinese Cemetery on 7 Jan. WATERCOCK 1 on Golf Course on 6 Jan was photographed.
Common Sandpiper 1- Waterfall Cove on 5th, 2- Lily Beach on 6th, 2- Flying Fish Cove 7th.
Pacific Golden Plover 30 on Airport on 6 Jan.
Common Noddy Normally 100’s but only 2 on 6th in Port area & 1 on 7th in Flying Fish Cove.
Emerald Dove Daily.
RED COLLARED DOVE 1 at Rubbish Tip on 5th & 6th Jan. Perhaps same adult male as first seen in 2005 and several times since.
Christmas Is Imperial Pigeon Daily.
Christmas Is Hawk-Owl Heard from VQ3 on evening of 4th Jan.
ASIAN KOEL 3, adult pair & a juv in Silver City on 6th Jan. 1 in Settlement on 6th.
Christmas Is Swiftlet Daily.
Fork-tailed Swift 1 at Margaret’s Knoll (LP). GREY WAGTAIL At Rubbish Tip, 6 on 5th & 8 on 6th. Wagtail sp. 1 on track to Greta Beach on 7 Jan (DJ).
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Common in urban areas.
Java Sparrow 6 in Settlement on 6th Jan (TP).
Barn Swallow At the Rubbish Tip, 2 on 5th & 1 on 6th. [ORIENTAL REED-WARBLER] 1 on 4-6 Jan. in wetland at entrance to the Resort.
Seen well, photographed & ‘song’ recorded. Morphologically apparently this species but voice thought not supportive of this ID so confirmation awaits voice analysis.
Christmas Is White-eye Conspicuous & abundant.
Island Thrush Common. Several juvs seen.
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 ===============================
