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Hi Alan
I departed from Sydney on August 31
and arrived here in Broome on September 8 - a quick run, but not without many
joys which I will report upon in due course. Whilst on Woodswallows, I witnessed
an absolutely enormous flock of Masked and White-browed Woodswallows about
150kms south of Bourke at around 8:00am on September 1. We're talking flocks
along 30 kilometers of road, at least, with numbers building up to
the thousands of Woodswallows on either side as I journeyed along. I would
not be surprised to find that the numbers were over 100,000. When I finally
pulled over to the roadside, mostly due to stunned amazement, the noise of the
birds was incredible. A few kilometers north of where I stopped, the numbers
dwindelled, but not the memory of what must have been a fairly significant
event. I'll never forget the beautiful imagery of the colourswitching everywhere
as the myriad birds kept changing courses.
In the course of my journey, I saw
the entire suite of Woodswallows: Duskies near Sydney, Black-faced at Nyngan,
White-browed and Masked 100kms north of Nyngan, White-breasted at Katherine and
Little near Kununara. Of course, I witnessed these species at other sites too,
but these were the first places of sighting in the course of my
fantastic journey. One species or another was almost always present,
except on the Barkly Tablelands, so they became my friendly travelling
companions for the week.
I fulfilled a long held ambition with
a stop-over at Victoria River, west of Katherine, where I observed a family of 3
male and 2 female Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens in very tall grass by the
river. The whole event was like a beautiful dream. The males were in stunning
colour and the entire 10 minutes seemed to pass without a breath from me. I'm
not much of a ticker but this is one shared moment with a beautiful
creature (not just a meaningless "tick") that my life would have felt
incomplete without and I must admit I shed a tear as I never really believed
that the moment would come and yet there I was.
It's in the mid to high 30's right
now, as I write from my office where I can see my garden full of Grey-crowned
Babblers, Great Bowerbirds, Yellow White-eyes, Diamond Doves, Bar-shouldered
Doves, Mistletoe Birds, Long-tailed and Double Barred Finches, as well as Rufous
Whistlers and Agile Wallabies, to name just a few. Across the bright red
dirt road from my home is beautiful Roebuck Bay with its 100's of
thousands of waders. My wader list up here includes:
Spotless Crake
Ruddy Turnstone
Asian Dowitcher
Bar-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
Whimbrel
Eastern Curlew
Common Redshank
Common Greenshank
Marsh Sandpiper (on the lakes of
Roebuck Plains)
Wood Sandpiper (on the lakes of
Roebuck Plains)
Terek Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (lakes of
Roebuck Plains)
Curlew Sandpiper
Great Knot
Red Knot
Broad-billed Sandpiper
Grey-tailed Tattler
Red-necked Stint
Beach Stone-Curlew
Black-winged Stilt
Red-necked Avocet (lakes of Roebuck
Plains)
Pied Oystercatcher
Sooty Oystercatcher
Grey Plover
Red-capped Plover
lesser Sand Plover
Greater Sand Plover
Oriental Plover
Black-fronted Dotterel
Silver Gull
Crested Tern
Lesser Crested Tern
Caspian Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Whiskered Tern
Little Tern
Greater Egret
Lesser Egret
Striated Heron
White-faced Heron
Pied-Heron
White-necked Heron
Royal Spoonbill
Straw-necked Ibis (in the town of
Broome)
Brown Booby
Eastern Reef Egret (dark and light
forms)
Lesser Frigatebird
I've certainly left several out and
of course there are the many passerines which make the mangroves down the road
their home. The wonders of nature unspoilt just appear at every moment here and
every day brings something new and amazing.
Many of these waders are now back
in Australia from their breeding grounds in Siberia and it's not uncommon
to see flocks of over 5,000 to 7,000 waders roosting one the side of
the Bay at high tide, whilst many thousands gather in huge flocks and fly
back and forth above the brilliant aquamarine waters of Roebuck Bay. These are
sights never to be forgotten. I'll get a report to you and Birding-Ausers
of my trip from Sydney as soon as I've got the time to put my binos aside for a
while and of course there's the cannon-netting and flagging of waders which is
going on regularly. This sure is a great birding adventure I'm
having!
Regards - Ricki
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