Hi everybody !
Actually on a long trip around Australia, I take some time to send you some of my last sightsings, what I forgot to do before…
(I tried to send this mail 1 week ago, but to the wrong adress, sorry for the delay !)
*Port Augusta, center, on 24th-25th May* :
-Purple-crowned Lorikeets common
*Port Augusta, Arid Landscape Botanic Garden, 24th May :*
-White-winged Fairy-Wrens (family)
-Variegated Fairy-Wrens (family)
-several White-fronted Honeyeaters
-several White-browed Babblers
-10-12 Chirruping Wedgebills
-several Masked Woodswallows
*Arno Bay (mangroves and beach)*, on 26th
-Blue-breasted Fairy-Wren (family)
-2 Rock Parrots
-2 Little Egrets
*Wrecker Beach, Port Lincoln NP, on 27th*
-2 Cape Barren Geese
-3 Hooded Plovers and 4 Red-capped Plovers
-1 White-bellied Sea Eagle
-10 Fairy Terns
-2 Rock Parrots
-2 Southern Emu-Wren
-1 Horsfield Cuckoo
*Fishery Bay, Port Lincoln NP, on 29th May*
-1 White-bellied Sea-Eagle
-several Silvereyes heard migrating by night
*Port Lincoln, Marina, on 29th May*
-1 Collared Sparrowhawk
*Big Swamp, 29th May*
-1 Musk Duck, > 50 Hardheads…
*Coffin Bay NP, on 30th May*
-several Emus
-1 Eastern Reef Heron (dark) at Yangie Bay
-1 Osprey and 1 White-bellied Sea-Eagle at Yangie Bay
-several Horsfield Cuckos at Yangie Bay
-2 Fan-tailed Cuckoos at Point Avoid
-1 Tawny-crowned Honeyeater at Point Avoid
*15 km south of Elliston, along the road, on 30th may*
-1 Shy Heathwren among many Yellow-rumped Thornbills
*Dirt Road to Talia Caves, on 30th may*
-several Southern Whitefaces
*Point Labbatt, Sea Lion colony, on 31st May*
-several dozens of Black-faced Cormorants
*Road Coffin Bay-Streaky Bay, 31st May and 1st June*
-several Emus
-6 Wedge-tailed Eagles
We had a chat with a farmer about the damages caused by the eagles on ships, and he told us he shot one the week before… But he admitted it was a beautiful (and protected) bird !
*Streaky Bay, Black Beach, on 1st June*
-4 Hooded Plovers (and 5 Bottlenose Dolphins)
*A few km west of Ceduna*
-30-40 Banded Lapwings in the fields,
-a few Brown Songlarks,
-1 Spotted Harrier
*Lake Macdonalds, south of Penong on 2nd June*
Good numbers of Shorebirds for the time of the year, this place should be very interesting in summer..
-ca 90 Red-necked Stints (all in non-breeding plumage)
-100+ Red Knots (20% in breeding plumage)
-ca 60 Red-capped Plovers
-4 Greenshanks
-40+ Fairy Terns
-35 Hoary-headed Grebes
*Cactus Beach, south of Penong, on 2Nd June*
-1 White-bellied Sea-Eagle
*Nullarbor Roadhouse, on 2nd and 3rd June*
Along the first km of dirt road running parallel to the main road, towards east
-3 Nullarbor Quail-thrushes at dusk, but none in the morning.
-1 Stubble Quail at dusk
-Rufous Fieldwren, White-winged Fairy-Wren, Horsfield Cuckoo, Rufous Songlarks all common
-1 Banded Lapwing
-several Southern Whitefaces and Slender-billed Thornbills
-2 Red-capped Robins (fem) and 1 Hooded Robin (fem)
*From a lookout between Nullarbor Roadhouse and WA border, on 3rd*
-1 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross close to the cliffs
*Along the road, Nullarbor*
-2 Cattle Egrets seen, 1 at the Floodini Bluff picnic area on 3rd and 1 about 40 km west of Balladonia on 4th. Seems usually absent from this area according to the bird book maps, but this species likes to move..
*Madura rest area, on 4th*
-Blue-breasted Fairy-wrens
-1 White-fronted Honeyeater
-the first Browns honeyeaters…
*Norseman, Beacons Hill lookout, on 5th*
-several Redthroats
-White-cheeked Honeyeaters
-Blue-breasted Fairy-Wrens
*Lake Douglas campsite, 13 km south of Kalgoorlie-boulder, on 7th*
-3 Grey-fronted Honeyeaters
-50+ Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters, 12+ Jacky Winters, 10+ Striated Pardalotes
*Great Ocean Drive, Esperance, on 8th*
-1 White-bellied Sea Eagle
-dozen of Common Dolphins
*Cape Legrand National Park, Esperance, on 9th (Lucky Bay)*
-1 Arctic Tern at Lucky Bay
-1 White-naped Honeyeater at Lucky Bay campsite
-Several Western Spinebills and Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters at Thistle Cove, just to the west of Lucky Bay
-2 Southern Emu-wrens and 1 Red-eared Firetail along the walking trail a few hundreds of meters west from Lucky Bay
-Fan-tailed and Horsfield Cuckoos
-Black-fronted Cormorants
*Windabout lake, Esperance, on 10-11th*
-5 Yellow-billed Spoonbills
-8 Black-fronted Dotterels and 2 Greenshanks
-200+ Chestnut teals
-1 Little Egret,
-2 Great Crested Grebes
-Fan-tailked and Horsfield Cuckoos
-4 probable Spur-winged Plovers : heard, and then seen from far away. I had no doubt on the identification and paid no further attention to them until I noticed in the guidebook that they were absent from this part of Australia… Is this species a regular vagrant in SW Australia, or did I make a mistake ?
**
*Lake Monjigup, Esperance, on 11th*
-2 Pink-eared Ducks
-20 Black-fronted Dotterels
*Stokes National Park on 12th*
-quite numerous Purple-crowned Lorikeets
*Fitzgerald River crossing, on 12th*
-several Purple-gaped Honeyeaters
(the Fitzgerald NP was completely closed due to dieback risk)
*Along the main road 5 km before Jerramungup, on 12th*
-several Purple-gaped honeyeaters
-several Black-masked Woodswallows
*Pallinup River crossing on 12th*
-2 Musk Ducks on the river
*Along the main road between Boxwood Hill and Cheyne Beach road, on 12th*
-Western Rosellas, Red-capped Parrots, Elegant Parrots
*Cheyne Beach Road, on 12th at dusk*
-Short-billed and long-billed Black Cockatoos
*Cheyne Beach, on 13th*
-White-breasted Robins and Red-winged Fairy-Wrens easy to see
-1 Golden Whistler
-1 Osprey
-1 Brown Goshawk
-The Noisy Scrubbirds were perfectly heard, even at 1 meter, but impossible to see in the cover !! What a skulker !
The strongs winds discouraged me to look for the Western Bristlebirds…
*Torndirrup National Park, Albany, on 15th*
-about 15 Humpback Whales at the blowing holed, beautiful !
-1h30 seawatching at the gap produced quite few birds : Yellow-nosed, Shy and Black-browed Albatrosses, 1 Great-winged Petrel and 2 Brown Skuas…
-1 Red-browed Firetail near the beach at the gap
-quite numerous raptors in the park : Little Eagle seen at the Gap, 1 Collared Sparrowhawk along the road, 2 Swamp Harriers, along with Wedge-tailed Eagles, Nankeen Kestrel and Black-winged Kites…
*Two People Bay, on 16th*
-Noisy Scrub-bird heard only again
-Western Bristlebird and Western Whipbirds both briefly seen on the hills, just before being told by the rangers that I was not allowed here… (dieback and other plant diseases…)
-2 Humpback Whales, 1 very tame southern brown Bandicoot at the little beach car park
*Denham area, on 17th*
-3 Red-tailed Black Cockatoos along the tourist drive in the forest
-White-breasted Robins, Red-winged Fairy-Wren, Western Rosella and Red-capped Parrots all quite common
-a group of Varied SIttellas and 2 Red-browed Firetails along the road near the cheese factory
*Dryandra Forest on 18th June (3 hours only, before dusk)*
-1 Regent Parrot on the Williams-York road
-Western Thornbills and bush Thick-nee near the lion’s village
-Rufous treecreepers and western yellow robins along Lol Grey lookout walk
-1 Southern boobook along the road back from Lol Grey
* *
*Dryandra-Perth on 18th*
-1 Common frogmouth about 10 km south of Wandering
-1 Pacific Barn Owl about 20 km north of Wandering (on the road, probably after a light collision with a vehicle. Still shocked, I kept it 5 minutes in the hands before it flew away)
-1 brush-tailed Bettong
*And these last days around Perth :*
-several sightings of Australian Hobby and ospreys at Fremantle
-Brown Goshawk seen twice at Melville over the canning highway, and in the Wireless Hill Park)
-One pair of Peregrine Falcon in Perth CBD
-Western Gerygone at the Wireless Hill Park
-WHite-cheeked Honeyeater quite common in Fremantle
-a Flock of Western Corella in Fremantle (and big flocks of Corella sp in Melville)
I hope this will be useful for somebody !
Bye
Maxime Zucca (France) ===============================
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Hi Maxime,
Very interesting report. We did a similar trip in reverse last October/November and there were some interesting differences.
First, we never managed to see Purple-gaped Honeyeater at all. Not surprising I guess as it is nomadic and there was little eucalyptus in flower when we were there.
Fairy wrens – I notice how easily you found Blue-breasted and Red-winged Fairy Wrens. We struggled with both of these, and when we did see them it was just a skulking pair. I assume that our timing meant that we were there just as they were breeding and they were keeping a low profile. Fairy wrens are probably easier when they are in noisy family groups – as indeed were the species in the interior and the north, which had already bred.
I am glad you went to Arno Bay – we thought we might have been the only birdwatchers ever to have been there! The (miniscule) community deserve support for developing their boardwalks and protecting the mangroves and saltmarsh. We walked around in the wind and blowing rain and were dive-bombed by a butcher bird for our pains!
Interesting that the ranger at Two Peoples Bay told you not to walk on the hills – we noticed that the tracks, which looked great for walking along, had chains across and “No Entry, Dieback” signs on – we weren’t sure if this meant just for vehicles or also for pedestrians – to be on the safe side, we didn’t walk along them and it appears we were right to do so. Could anybody else on the list clarify this?? (The tracks above Two Peoples Bay are recommended for WW and WB).
Thanks for the post
Rosemary Royle Wales, UK