Just returned from a trip looking for a Grey Honeyeater for Gil Langfield. It took 3 days!
We looked south of Payne’s Find. We looked at the Warne River. We spent a day between Mt Magnet & Yalgoo. We spent a day up to Cue and back to Mt Magnet. We didn’t just fail to find Grey Honeyeater, but I was surprised by the scarcity of birds throughout the region despite what looked like excellent conditions. The only birds that was reasonably common were Pied Honeyeater Rufous Songlark and to a lesser extent Crested Bellbird. The number of thornbills, robins, parrots, raptors, etc seemed to be way down. I guess the extremely long drought has taken its toll, and it will take some time for numbers to return to the levels that I experienced in the 1990s.
But we did have a little success.
On Sunday 7th, we stopped at the 40km marker north of Mt Magnet. We finally hit the jackpot with a Grey Honeyeater.
Warne River (50km east of Payne’s Find) (5th August) was quite active with a male Gilbert’s Whistler, a Chiming Wedgebill and two Bourke’s Parrots. And a Slaty-backed Thornbill on the road back to Payne’s Find.
The Banded Whiteface was still at the site west of Cue. It (or its descendents?) has been at this site since the mid 1990s. They seem to be very site faithful? As per the Erldunda site in the NT described in Thomas & Thomas.
_________________________________________________________________ Frank O’Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email : foconnor@iinet.net.au
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