Hi everyone,
Here is a short highlights package from a trip by Alan Collins, Mark Newman, and myself to the Paynes Find & Cue areas over Easter. Our basic itinerary was as follows; Friday: Perth to Wubin Saturday: Wubin to Cue, with a deviation to Warne River Sunday: around Cue Monday: Cue to Kirkalocka Station (between Mt Magnet and Paynes Find) Tuesday: Kirkalocka Station to Perth
The country seemed to be drying out, but it was still good and we had an amazing trip. Our only major dips were Slender-billed Thornbill and Grey Honeyeater (both very tricky) and night birds, which were sparse (one Tawny Frogmouth near Wubin, one Barn Owl between Wubin and Paynes Find, and an Owlet-nightjar heard at Kirkalocka). Best sightings included;
Malleefowl – 2 in a field north of Wubin Inland Dotterel – 15+ in a stony field on Austin Downs Station Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo – A single bird along the Great Northern Hwy between Wubin and Paynes Find White-browed Treecreeper – group not far from Paynes Find along the Paynes Find-Sandstone Rd Gilbert’s Whistler – pair at Warne River, very hard to get a good look at, but fortunately were calling. Orange Chat – Small group at Lake Austin including a couple of stunning males Banded Whiteface – 2 just before the entrance to Austin Downs Station Slaty-backed Thornbill – 2 on Kirkalocka Station and 1 along Maranalgo Rd Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush – Three (1 male, 2 female/immature) on Kirkalocka Station, fantastic views! Ground Cuckoo-shrike – Group of four on Kirkalocka Station near the Quail-thrush site Masked Woodswallow – 1000+ on Austin Downs Station, smaller groups elsewhere around Cue White-browed Woodswallow – 1 with Masked Woodswallows west of Cue.
Other good sightings included Little Button-quail (quite common around Cue), Black-breasted Buzzard (one on Austin Downs), Diamond Dove (common from Paynes Find north), Cockatiel (a few flocks around Mt Magnet and Cue), Mulga Parrot (a few sites), Budgerigar (a few flocks around Cue, no close sightings), Bourke’s Parrot (2 at Jackson’s Well on Nallan Station), Red-backed Kingfisher (1 on Austin Downs), Southern Whiteface (moderately common), White-fronted Honeyeater (a few on Austin Downs, less common than expected), Pied Honeyeater (a few on Austin Downs, possibly also Black), Crimson Chat (quite common around Cue), Grey-crowned Babbler (a few sites near Cue), Chiming Wedgebill (on Austin Downs, near Lake Austin, possibly at Maranalgo Rd), Crested Bellbird (common), Little Woodswallow (Walga Rock, just W of Cue, Kirkalocka), and Western Bowerbird (Austin Downs, Walga Rock, Kirkalocka).
Thanks go to Bruce Greatwich, who gave us the good gen on Lake Austin, Andrew Sutherland, who organised a similar trip last year and let me come along and get to know the area a but, and the various other birders who’ve posted trip reports from the area over the last couple of months. Also Frank O’Connor’s website which we used for some site info.
I will do an annotated trip list at some stage, which I’m happy to send to anyone interested.
Cheers, John
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