Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island 22 January to 1 February 2011
Prepared by Peter Marsh
Neil Macumber, Barbara Harvey, John Paxton and I birded on Cocos (Keeling) Islands (CK) from 22 to 28 January 2011 and on Christmas Island (CI) from 28 January to 1 February 2011.
We had very mixed weather with hot and humid sunny periods interspersed with rain, sometimes very heavy. The rain , at times seriously impeded birding however overall we were able to undertake close surveillance of all suitable habitats. We were fortunate in having available to us the reports of trips in the past 2 months lead by David James, Richard Baxter and Mike Carter which had all enjoyed some exceptional birding. These reports greatly assisted us in finding the birds we did.
Our flight to CK transited through CI and at the airport there we picked up Nankeen Kestrel, CI White-eye, CI Imperial-pigeon, White-tailed Tropicbird, CI Frigatebird, and Linchi Swiftlet.
Upon arrival in CK and booking into the motel we took ourselves to the “quarry”. This had been previously described as being at the southern end of the airstrip but is in fact about 300m south of the end of the airstrip. We flushed a Striated Heron from the first pond and a Yellow Bittern from the second. A Common Sandpiper and a White-breasted Waterhen were seen on the edge of the third, and largest, pond in the Quarry.
We returned to the motel late in the day via the east side of the airstrip and saw large numbers of Green Jungle Fowl and White-breasted Waterhen and smaller numbers of Nankeen Night Heron and Reef Egrets (which could have been Eastern or Western but were predominantly White or plain Grey). A single female Watercock was seen beside the track just north of the radar installation at the southern end of the ‘strip. It was seen clearly but soon moved out of view into long grass.
The morning of the 23rd saw us make an early visit to the Bechat Besar swamp which was very full of water with no fringing mud. We found a few Nankeen Night Herons roosting in the palms and 20 Black Duck swimming serenely. We soon picked up the lone female Eurasian Teal seen by earlier parties at the far end of the swamp behind the Black Duck. It was swimming very noticeably faster than the other duck. The remainder of this day was spent traversing West Island from end to end looking for raptors and hawk-cuckoos with a total lack of success. Our only addition to our sightings was a large flock of Red-footed Booby well off-shore.
Early the next morning we took motorised canoes to South Island and found 2 Saunders tern among about 10 Common Tern. There were a host of waders on the sand flats including Golden Plover, Knot (I thought it a Red but others in the party suggested Great), Ruddy Turnstone, Greater Sand Plover, Red-necked Stint, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit and Sanderling.
We returned via the quarry where we picked up a small flock of Barn Swallow and a single Greater Frigatebird but no bittern. Another late afternoon search of the airstrip yielded Lesser Frigatebird, Western Reef Egret ( a grey morph bird with quite extensive white markings), a Little Egret (with bright yellow feet) and a couple of birds we (in our innocence) took to be Cattle Egrets. We took no particular notice of the last named and took no photographs being unaware of the discussion regarding their identification.
On the 25th we made our first visit to Home Island where we birded from the jetty to the banana plantation and back via Oceania House, the playing fields and the hen houses. This included numerous laps of the gardens surrounding the house. On the island we saw 4 White Terns, 2 Common Sandpipers, 5 White-tailed Tropicbirds and numerous Feral Chickens, White-breasted Waterhen and Reef Egrets. Soon after entering the gardens, and after seeking permission from the owner who was in residence in the house Neil saw a small blackish passerine flit into a large and luxuriant broad leafed tree (which we subsequently learned was an Alexandrine Laurel) located between a 2 storey out-building ad the lagoon. We started to search the tree to locate the bird when the heavens opened and we were forced to seek shelter in the adjacent 2 storey out-building. When the downpour finally finished we resumed our search and almost immediately I saw the bird fly from the tree upwardly and away from me into a larger adjacent tree. The observation time was short however the view was good and I noted the smallish size, generally black back, shortish tail and a wing shape with a strongly arcuate trailing edge. I believe that this was the Purple-backed Starling seen by Richard Baxter’s group in December.
On our return to West Island Neil and I revisited the swamp, without addition to our tally, and the northern end of the airstrip where we saw another Watercock on the western side of the ‘strip and a pair of Pin-tailed Snipe on the eastern side. Viewing of the latter was somewhat curtailed as I had just bogged the car on the sodden grassland beside the airstrip!
Early on the 26th we searched the northern end of West Island looking for accipiters and hawk-cuckoos with not a sausage seen. We then took the glass-bottomed boat to Horsburgh Island where we picked up CI White-eye and a single Black Duck but nothing exciting. On our return we searched the southern end of West Island and found a non-breeding Pond Heron. A short visit to the quarry produced a Yellow Bittern and another group of Barn Swallow.
Neil and I returned to Home Island on the 27th and repeated the route followed previously. As we entered the avenue of trees lining the drive into Oceania House we glimpsed a bird drop out of one of the trees near the far end of the avenue (some 200m away) and fly out of view. It was bigger than the starling but other than that we got no details and extensive searching failed to relocate the bird. On this occasion rather than stopping at the first banana plantation we followed a road going right around the lagoon just after passing the playing field. We passed an open field of rough grass where some of Mike Carter’s party saw a Cinnamon Bittern in early January. We then came to a triangular patch of closely mown grass which had the track we were walking on its lagoon side and a lesser track on its other side that lead into 2 banana groves. AS we came abreast of the entrance to the second of those banana groves I saw a small bittern or heron like bird walking quickly away from us. It was quite a bit smaller than a Nankeen Night Heron and seemed to be a soft brown colour on the head and back. It vanished almost immediately into thick vegetation. We were unable to relocate this bird but in looking for it we did flush 5 Pin-tailed Snipe from a rough grassy track just beyond the second banana grove. On our return past Oceania House Neil caught another glimpse of a small black passerine that appeared to be the bird we had seen on our first visit that I had identified as the Purple-backed Starling.
Our final morning on CK was spent in another extensive search for anything unusual flying or roosting in the open but we were again unrewarded.
Our first afternoon on CI on 28th January started with apprehension when we saw the island totally covered in cloud and the pilot announced “We can only make 2 landing attempts and then we are off to Perth”. Fortunately we got down on the first attempt through a break in the cloud! That afternoon we picked up a number of birds that we saw every day. These included Nankeen Kestrel, Red-footed Booby, CI imperial-Pigeon, CI Frigatebird, Great Frigatebird, CI Thrush, CI White-eye, Linchi Swiftlet, Tree Sparrow, Emerald Dove, and White-tailed Tropicbird (of both yellow and white morphs).
On the 29th we set off early to the tip and quickly picked up Red-collared Dove (spotted by John), and White-faced Heron. There was a brief moment of excitement when Neil called a raptor flying over the northern end of the tip. Unfortunately we had only very brief views of the underside of the bird, in my case made worse because I had just received a call on my mobile! Neil described the bird as having quite long and broad wings and pale underparts and underwings. He noted that in profile the wings arched upwardly from the body and then turned downwardly before rising at the tip. I noted that the tips of the underwings seemed quite dark.
In Silver City we made the first of many frustratingly unsuccessful attempts to call in an Asian Koel however returning through Poon Saan we saw 5 Java Sparrows beside the road feeding on grass seeds. This was our only sighting of the sparrows.
In the afternoon we braved the regular rain showers to bird around the entrance to the Casino. A large section of this area between the road and the coast has been mown since the last birding party was there. We did however flush a Yellow Bittern and had a brief view if the Oriental Reed-Warbler previously seen by Lisa Preston and others before it dived into the adjacent Pandanus. While we searched for the warbler again the air was thick with Linchi Swiftlet. Neil and I suddenly noticed a much larger all dark swiftlet with a fat, cigar like, body and a very slightly indented tail. It made numerous close passes at a little above head height. It looked identical to the bid shown on Tony Palliser’s web site and labeled as Mossy-nest Swiftlet. A bit later and with the light beginning to fade we saw another larger swiftlet this time with a white rump. It appeared only briefly and we were unable to see any real details of its underparts.
Previous groups had reported a Malayan Night Heron on Dolly Beach Road so we drove slowly along this road many times during our first few days on CI. We were unable to find any sign of the bird and Lisa advised that it had not been seen for some time. John Paxton, who is a Fellow at the Australian Museum in Sydney had been charged with picking up a bird specimen from CI National Parks and on our penultimate day on CI we dropped into the Parks HQ to find that the specimen to be collected was a Malayan Night Heron found run over at the start of Dolly Beach Road on the 19th January. We stopped our search for that crippler but did see it in a frozen and untickable condition on the afternoon of our departure as we helped John pack it in an Esky.
Multiple visits t the tip produced a couple of Grey Wagtails among the rotting garbage at the bottom of the site. During out time on CI we also picked up a single Black Bittern and a single Striated Heron along the Casino Road. We got another Striated Heron in the water tank at South Point Railway Station; a red tailed Tropic Bird at Rocky Point; a number of CI Goshawk including superb close up views along the EW Baseline Road; a few Eastern Reef Egrets; and two sightings of White-breasted Waterhen, one at the tip and one along the Casino road. We heard Abbots Booby on the nest towards the Detention Centre but were unable to see the birds. We looked unsuccessfully for Asian House Martin, CI Hawk Owl and the Koel.
While looking for Koel late on our last full afternoon (31st Jan) in Seaview Drive, Silver City we had our final raptorial frustration. A raptor flew low over us towards Flying Fish Cove and was immediately hidden from view by trees. It then appeared briefly a few times as it descended below us towards the Cove. It was Harrier like with a distinct white rump, wide and deep brown upperwings and as it banked it fanned its longish tail showing 4 or 5 dark brown bands (of varying widths) against a very pale (almost white to my eye) background. After it dropped from sight we sped down to Flying Fish Cove but as was the story of our trip the bird was not relocated. ===============================
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