Hello fellow birders, Last weekend I had the pleasure of accompanying some excellent birders to and from Portland for the April Pelagic. I mentioned to an esteemed birder on the trip up that I had enjoyed watching the Western Gerygone on a recent trip to WA and that I had ticked it at Wyperfeld, He thought it very unlikely to see this species at Wyperfeld NP and that it would most likely be found north of the divide at places like the Warby Ranges NP. Normally I defer to the greater wisdom of more experienced birders but it was niggling at the back of my mind and I wondered how come I had ticked this species incorrectly. I checked the bird list that I had obtained from the excellent visitors’ centre on my trips to Wyperfeld and it listed the Western Gerygone. I also googled on the Internet and Eremaea listed the Western Gerygone as a 1 percent chance of seeing at Wyperfeld. I then found a trip report by Tim Dolby for the 9th April 2002 where he mentioned seeing the Western Gerygone at Wyperfeld. What has been the experience of other birders at Wyperfeld with the Western Gerygone? Happy birding, Patrick Scully ===============================
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G’day all
A great way to check if your sighting is unusual or out of range is to visit the Birdata site (www.birdata.com.au). This is where Birdlife Australia has a public access to its Atlas data.
Western Gerygone has been recorded in the new Atlas sporadically from near Dunkeld in sw Victoria to the Murray River in the nw Victoria. There are records in the western Grampians area, the Little Desert, Wyperfeld, Hattah and Murray-Sunset parks.
I haven’t seen them in this side of the state though!
Send your records in Patrick and add to the knowledge.
Cheers Steve Clark Hamilton ===============================
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Hi Patrick,
Yes, I’ve recorded Western Gerygone at Wyperfeld, in the mallee woodland at the beginning of the Desert Walk. They are clearly uncommon in the park – I’ve only seen them once (April 2002). I’ve also recorded Western Gerygone in the Little Desert, at Whimpy’s (April 2004), another site that’s out of their normal range.
Both reports were in April, so it may be that they were on the wander as part of their winter migration. (They should’ve turned right at Lake Albacutcha!)
So, to answer your question, yes, you may well have seen Western Gerygone at Wyperfeld. Nice report.
Hope this helps,
Tim Dolby
________________________________________ Sent: Friday, April 06, 2012 1:40 PM
Hello fellow birders,
Last weekend I had the pleasure of accompanying some excellent birders to and from Portland for the April Pelagic.
I mentioned to an esteemed birder on the trip up that I had enjoyed watching the Western Gerygone on a recent trip to WA and that I had ticked it at Wyperfeld, He thought it very unlikely to see this species at Wyperfeld NP and that it would most likely be found north of the divide at places like the Warby Ranges NP. Normally I defer to the greater wisdom of more experienced birders but it was niggling at the back of my mind and I wondered how come I had ticked this species incorrectly. I checked the bird list that I had obtained from the excellent visitors’ centre on my trips to Wyperfeld and it listed the Western Gerygone. I also googled on the Internet and Eremaea listed the Western Gerygone as a 1 percent chance of seeing at Wyperfeld. I then found a trip report by Tim Dolby for the 9th April 2002 where he mentioned seeing the Western Gerygone at Wyperfeld.
What has been the experience of other birders at Wyperfeld with the Western Gerygone?
Happy birding,
Patrick Scully ===============================
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Hi Tim, Thanks for your reply. I’ve had a few replies from Dave Torr and Tim Bawdon and hopefully they will now appear on birding-aus. As anyone who has looked at your postings and blogs over a period of time would known, and to me it seems you are a bit of an expert with the Mallee. I would rather not disclose the identity of the birder and top birder, who may not be such an expert for the Mallee but is an undisputed birder of great passion, power and dedication and knowledge. And as for me, I am not an expert, I try and refer to field guides and other peoples’ sightings and as such with an average birder, I may be mistaken with an ID. If I had been someone such as yourself, then the sighting would not have been in dispute. And as happens in the birding world, which is small, the next time I see him, he may be to pleased. But in all fairness, he did say that my sighting was not impossible, just unlikely, and that the likely place to see them in Victoria are the ones that most people say are spot on, the Warby Ranges and Chiltern etc. But as you know, they are on the park notes as birds for the Wperfeld and Mallee area and the field guides show them as being found over quite a wide area. They are certainly easy to see in the South-West of Western Australia and were one of the best birding highlights for me on a recent trip. It may seem corny but I often look in the back of Sean Dooley’s Big Twitch to see where Sean saw his birds and sure enough he saw the Western Gerygone near Busselton in SW WA. Happy birding, Patrick
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