Rock Parrots South-west WA

Hi all, My thanks to everyone who gave me suggestions for Rock Parrots around Albany. I eventually found them on the golf course early one morning (0500). By 0600 the bird were gone though because the golfers came out and took over the course. All birding was a real struggle for the whole week I was there though because there was a strong wind warning in force for the whole time. And worse, the wind was from the south-east so there was no shelter anywhere along the coast. I briefly got onto a Western Whipbird, race *nigrogularis*, at Two People Bay in the heath beside the car park and then found a second one, race *oberon*, in trees beside the road 65 km east of Jerramungup. At Esperance I found the *grisea* race of Cape Barren Goose beside the wetlands behind town before we headed east to Cape Arid to look for Western Ground Parrots. We dipped on these BUT we did hear them calling. They even called really close to us but, like the Noisy Scrubbird does at Cheyne Beach, they kept well hidden. I also spent some time watching a family of magpies and was interested to find that their calls were different from what I hear around Victoria. But all the birds were special because it is so long since I have been in that area. Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos fed quietly beside us at Cheyne Beach, a Collared Sparrowhawk was nesting near the road to Betty’s Beach and Black-tailed Native-hens swarmed over Fisheries Road east of Esperance. It was even nice to see and hear the Laughing Doves in Perth again. cheers Jenny http://jenniferspryausbirding.blogspot.com.au/