Hello everyone
I've just returned from a fabulous 7 week holiday to south-west Western
Australia, which seems to be a fairly common
pilgrimage for us eastern-seaboarders. The holiday concentrated on all things
natural, so birds were certainly a big part of
the trip, as were flowers (particularly orchids), lizards, mammals and gorgeous
landscapes.
In regards to birds, I have nearly 200 pages of notes to enter to my database,
so it's going to be a bit of a marathon over
the coming weeks. Here's the first instalment of highlights.
10 to 14 August 2002
In Perth 5-9 August. Then from Perth heading north on an inland route via
Bindoon, Mogumber, Watheroo, Morawa, Perenjori,
Mingenew, Mullewa
Tick No. 1 was Laughing Turtle-Dove in Perth. Had seen these in South Africa.
Even though WA generally has a policy of
eliminating ferals, this bird seems to be tolerated in the city and large
towns. During the 7 weeks in WA, I didn't see a
single Common Myna, House Sparrow or Common Starling - a pleasant feature of
the trip.
Tick No. 2 was Western Ringneck (nominate form) in Perth. These birds proved
to be everywhere during the entire 7 weeks
irrespective of habitat, in trees and often on roadside verges. They are quite
a big parrot and their chattering and other
whistling calls were lovely. I love how they waggle their tail sideways when
they call.
Walyunga National Park near Perth had nice flowers and despite the rain, lifer
Nos. 3, 4 and 5 - Red-capped Parrot, Western
Wattlebird and Short-billed Black-Cockatoo. Red-capped Parrot has a funny
halting cackling call which was easily remembered
and the call often alerted me to the presence of the always solitary bird.
The Bindoon to Mogumber road had a good swamp, revealing 30 swimming
Black-tailed Native Hen (I usually see them walking, not
swimming). Australian Shelducks were there, and also in paddocks throughout
the whole trip. My first sighting of a "WA"
Laughing Kookaburra (a bird introduced to WA in the early 1900s). A few WA
people I spoke to did not like the Kooka due to
its predatory nature and because it was "introduced", not native to the area.
The Yerecoin to Wongan Hills stretch gave me lifer 6: Western Corella. In
Wongan Hills they were feeding on muddy ground,
and really digging their bills into the ground to get at the roots of
vegetation.
Starting to see big fat Common Bronzewings now - no Spotted Turtle-Doves!
Watheroo area gave me a Pallid Cuckoo - the first of many, many of these birds
throughout the 7 weeks. They sure like
southwest WA.
Malleefowl near Morawa (S 29°20.557' E 115°50.700') was a fantastic sighting.
This was 5.43pm (nearly sunset) on 11 August,
and 2 birds crossed the road and went into a paddock, all the time walking
slowly and cautiously.
As well as species lifers, I've long been interested in forms and races of
birds. So Brown-headed Honeyeater, race
leucogenys was a welcome sighting on the Morawa to Perenjori road.
Near Perenjori, I went to a private property for the orchids. You are allowed
to go to the specifically marked "Orchid
Reserve" on the property at S 29°31.046' E 116°35.552'. Wow: Slender-billed
Thornbill !!
Also near Perenjori is Camel Soak, a granite outcrop where holes have formed
and hence retaining pools of water. This was
used in early days to water camels. Now it's a great basking place for
lizards. In general the Perenjori area was very dry
despite some rains earlier this year, with little undergrowth in some parts and
lots of leaf litter and twigs/branches on the
ground. This didn't put off the Mulga Parrots, Regent Parrots, White-browed
Babblers or White-winged Fairy-wrens.
Perenjori also has "The Salmons", an area of huge eucalypts which attracted at
the close of day 12 August: 90 Red-tailed
Black-Cockatoo (fantastic views including the crest very far forward over the
bill), 200 Western Corellas and 400 Galahs.
Time for another lifer (7): Blue-breasted Fairy-wren on Yandanooka NE Road
(Morawa to Mingenew). The colours are so rich.
Near Mullewa was Splendid Fairy-wren, nominate race (a "race lifer" for me).
No matter how many times I saw these birds, I
was still stunned by the vivid blue and how shiny they were. Australian
fairy-wrens are an extraordinary group of birds when
it comes to colour.
Coalseam Conservation Park north of Mingenew was sensational for the
everlasting daisy wildflowers. A pair of Weebills were
nesting in the hanging leaves of a eucalypt which was in a bit of a gully, so
standing on the slope put the Weebills at eye
level. They were busy flying out of the nest, foraging on the ground within 20
metres and then flying back to branches near
the nest before finally cautiously entering the nest after looking around.
Orawa National Park near Mullewa had a lovely river running through it,
revealing Black-fronted Dotterel, Black-winged Stilt
and White-winged Triller. The Trillers popped up a few times during the trip,
usually in groups of 4 or more, and always
actively moving about. Whooshing past me was Australian Hobby - 2 were nesting
near Mullewa in a nest with large twigs and
branches on the outside, lined with finer material, with the nest below the
uppermost crown of the tree.
So 7 lifers in these first few days, plus some races. Great start.
Please feel free to contact me for more detail regarding birds or specific
locations in the above areas. More Pilgrimage
Reports to come.
Irene Denton
Concord West, 12 km from Sydney city, NSW Australia
S 33°50.278' E 151°05.406'
Newsletter Editor, NSW Bird Atlassers
Preferred email address for NSW Bird Atlassers Newsletter correspondence:
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
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