Western Australia trip report Part 2 – the south-west

After the conference at Rottnest I had managed to organise three and a half full days birding to try and see as many of the south-west specials as I could. I got off the Rottnest ferry in the late morning, grabbed a hire car and headed straight down to Cheynes Beach. My plan was to get the bulk of the driving out of the way on the first day and then more slowly work my way back. It would also give me a little extra time at Cheynes if I wanted it. I tried to resist the temptation to stop on the way down, largely to give myself a couple of hours in the late afternoon at Cheynes but also to ‘save myself’ until I got to a good location. I had to stop about an hour south of Perth to grab something out of the boot and got distracted by a wattlebird flying past (just a Red) and thought ‘well I guess I could spent five minutes’. 45 minutes later I returned to the car with my first three new species of the south west, Western Spinebill, Western Thornbill (as it turns out, the only ones I would see on the trip) and Red-capped Parrot, as well as interesting local subspecies such as twenty-eight parrot and black-caped sittella. I continued to see the Red-capped Parrot and Australian Ringneck on the sides of the road for a good part of the trip. I ended up arriving at Cheynes a little later than planned but still in time to spend a little time birding and getting my bearings. I’d booked into the caravan park for two nights. The reception was very friendly and they are well used to catering for birdwatchers. I was provided with the latest advice on where to find key species and was provided with ‘the book’, notes from other birdwatchers on their successes and bird lists. I had a bit of an explore in the heathland area, getting sidetracked by the wildflowers and coming across two calling Noisy Scrubbirds. On one occasion a bird was clearly only 1-2 metres, and calling, but completely invisible. This was particularly surprising because the heath was so low, they were calling in heath that was barely knee high. The beach is beautiful, home to Silver and Pacific Gulls as well as Sooty Oystercatchers. I woke up the nest morning and headed out at about 5am on what was planned to be my only full day at Cheynes. I’d heard black-cockatoos while I was getting ready, but didn’t see them, or any others, for the rest of the day. For the whole day I saw a total of five individual fairy-wrens, but thankfully this included breeding plumage males of Splendid, Red-winged and Blue-breasted Fairy-wrens. The first two were in scrub near the public toilet between the caravan park and the beach. The Blue-breasted Fairy-wren, which I hadn’t actually expected to get here, was up on the ridge south of the park. This was also where I had some great views of Red-eared Firetail. I wandered through the heath for about 4 hours, enjoying the wildflowers, though the birdlife wasn’t prolific. New Holland Honeyeaters were everywhere but I only saw 2 or 3 White-cheeked, one Western Spinebill and I dipped on the Tawny-crowned altogether. I caught up with a dozen or so Southern Emu-wren in the low heath and had Osprey, Sea-eagles and Brown Goshawk flying over. I only heard two Western Bristlebirds for the morning but that was enough, with cracking views of one bird perched on a low branch being bothered by emu-wrens. This was in the most common location, on the sandy track that runs parallel with the road. I again waited on some Noisy Scrubbird, getting the briefest of glimpses (half a second at best) as it shot across the track. After a break during the warmest hours I hit the heath one more time, but still did not hear or see a Western Whipbird. I caught up with White-breasted Robin in the taller scrub just behind the beach and I meandered around the caravan park hoping the black-cockatoos came in to roost but it wasn’t to be. The last bird for the day was just about at my cabin, a Gilbert’s Honeyeater. Up at about 5am again the next morning I staked out the ‘regular’ Noisy Scrubbird spot, on the way down to the beach, across from the caravan park. While I could hear the male calling, I sat there for about an hour with no luck. In the end, people started walking through the spot, so I called it a day here. In the end I left Cheynes Beach with tickable views of only one of the three skulkers, but gives me an excuse to come back again to this beautiful place. After leaving Cheynes and turning back onto the highway, the roadsides were very productive for parrots. Perhaps it’s spillage from grain tracks, but for the 30km or so along the edges of the highway from the Cheynes turn-off back towards Albany, there was a steady stream of parrots feeding on the ground. I would have seen about 30 Red-capped Parrots, 20 Ringnecks and Galahs, about a dozen Elegant Parrots and two pairs of Western Rosella, the latter two being new species for me. Next stop was a short break at Porogurup. This would be the only tall karri forest I’d visit during my stay so picked up a few different species. The car park was easy for White-breasted Robin while dozens of Purple-crowned Lorikeets were high up in the trees around the same area. It was also the first time I was able to identify some black-cockatoos. There were over 10 flying around and making constant noise but the only clear look I got were at Baudin’s. The middle of the day was spent driving up to Dryandra and when I arrived, it was very dry, very hot (38 degrees) and pretty windy. Even at 5pm when I ventured out to do a bit of briding, it was still stifling hot. Given the heat, I started at the Old Mill Dam. Rufous Treecreeper were the most obvious and easily found species there and there were a couple of Grey Currawongs around the dam. A small stream of honeyeaters were coming down to drink on the edge, including Yellow-plumed, New Holland and Gilbert’s, as well as Ringnecks and Western Rosella. I caught up with my first Scarlet Robin’s of the trip and saw a few Elegant Parrots before heading back to the accommodation. On dusk, a flock of about 12 Carnaby’s Black-cockatoo came in to drink at the small dam there and after dusk, Boobook and Bush Stone-curlew made their presence known. I woke up the next morning with two clear targets, Western Yellow Robin and Western Wattlebird, two species that had eluded me so far. I tried the Ochre trail for the robin but without luck, but there were heaps more treecreepers. I finally caught up with the robin at the Lol Grey Lookout and then checked the couple of areas of heath along Kawana Rd for the wattlebird. Not much was in flower and again the wattlebird eluded me but I did hear and see a Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo ,as well as Varied Sitella, Blue-breasted Fairy-wren and Collared Sparrowhawk. Before leaving Dryandra I stopped at the Kawana Rd Dam. I think this is a better waterhole than the Old Mill as there is some scrubby vegetation right down to the water’s edge, providing better cover for small birds. As a result, it was buzzing with small honeyeaters in the morning, with Brown, Brown-headed, Gilbert’s, New Holland, White-eared, Yellow-plumed and Western Spinebill. The next stop was the rather odd twitch of the Mute Swan at Northam. The birds are semi-enclosed but are breeding and currently have three chicks. By now I was pretty exhausted and while I was tempted to head to north side lakes Herdsman and Joondalup, I was flying out the next day and needed to be south-side. As a result I headed down to Victoria Dam, finally picking up Western Wattlebird in the banskias on the road to the car park. Overall, a great few days in the south-west. Apart from the two skulkers I picked up all the endemics bar the Western Corella. By the time I realised this was to be the last one remaining, I’d moved out of its range. With so many new birds to look for I knew I’d end up missing something, I just wasn’t sure which it would be. I’d seen 120 species in my time in the south-west and will have a lot fewer targets next time I visit. Next – off to Christmas Island …